With the passion of the Asian U17 Football Championship igniting in the four AFC member countries on October 1, our 2006 age group U17 national team departed on the morning of October 2, local time in Melbourne, heading to Shepperton, 190 kilometers away, to formally stay in the Group G qualifying tournament area. On the schedule, our youngsters will face Cambodia on October 5 at 3:00 p.m. (1:00 p.m. Beijing time), the first game is about the fate of the lineup, the coaching team and players have entered the state of critical battle.
On the night of September 6, Beijing time, this former U16 national team departed from Shanghai and flew to Australia. After a short stopover in Sydney, they flew to the Gold Coast, Queensland, in the evening of the same day, eventually arriving in Brisbane.
From September 7 to October 1, the U17 National Team, under the leadership of Coach Yang Chen, conducted intense training in both Brisbane and Melbourne. The move was made to acclimatize the team for the upcoming qualifiers. Since the venues of the tournament, Shepperton Sports City and Melbourne, are both located in Victoria, the choice of Melbourne for the second half of the pre-tournament training was more conducive for the team to acclimatize to the local environment.
Since arriving in Australia, the U17 National Team has participated in four warm-up matches. As the match day approaches, the team's preparation pace is slowing down. It is reported that a total of 26 players have traveled with the team to Australia, and the coaching staff will determine the final roster based on the preparations and warm-ups.
The schedule shows that the U17 national team will play three matches in five days from October 5th to 9th. Notably, due to the withdrawal of Timor-Leste from Group H, only three teams remain in the group. With the AFC failing to adjust the qualifying groupings in time, the rules of competition for the lineup were forced to be adjusted.
According to the original grouping, the 44 teams were divided into 10 groups, with the top two teams from each group and the six second-placed teams with the best results advancing to next year's final stage of the tournament. there were five teams in each of Groups A to D, and four teams in each of the remaining six groups. However, with the withdrawal of Timor-Leste, there are only 3 teams left in Group H. Therefore, when comparing the second-placed teams in each group, their records against the fourth- and fifth-placed teams in the same group will no longer be used as a reference.
The competitive situation for our U17s is such that if the team fails to beat host Australia in the group stage, then even if they finish second in the group, the U17s' results against the fourth-place team in the same group won't be counted as a basis for the rankings. As things stand, the Northern Marianas are the weakest team in Group G, but if that team ends up locking up the last place in the group, it will be futile for the U17s no matter how many goals they score against that team.
As a result, the U17 National Team will need to go all out for more favorable competition in the first round of the tournament against Cambodia, in addition to the final round match against Australia. However, considering the rapid development of Southeast Asian teams on the technical level, the U17 National Team will first need to secure a win over Cambodia in order to make it out of the tournament. In fact, the U17s are already facing a more difficult competition than the 2003-age U20s that participated in the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers.
According to the previously confirmed competition regulations, the U17 national team will play as the home team in the first round. At present, the coaching team has already made a detailed understanding of the opponents in the same group by means of modern technology, and combined with theoretical guidance, the team has arranged targeted technical and tactical training for the players in the venue. Although the team has been preparing for the game in a low-key manner recently, the whole team is full of confidence for the line.
It is worth mentioning that the Chinese women's basketball team has just won the runner-up of the new Women's Basketball World Cup in Australia on Oct. 1, and such a good result undoubtedly brings positive incentives to the boys of the U17 national team, who are also in Australia to impact on the U17 Asia Cup final round ticket.
