In last week's U20 Asian Cup qualifiers, Hong Kong, China's youth team suffered an unexpected defeat, defeating the Timor-Leste National Youth Football Team (TLNYF), which is ranked only 199th in the world, by a score of 1-2. The result was a shock to the soccer world, and many people were shocked to learn that the Timor-Leste team was only ranked third in this year's Asian tournament, so it seems that Hong Kong, China's youth team should not have lost to such an opponent.
Meanwhile, Vietnam highlighted its dominance in Southeast Asian football with a 4-0 home win over Singapore in a warm-up match. At the stadium, tens of thousands of Vietnamese fans waved national flags and reveled in the victory.
After experiencing the regret of not qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar, the Vietnamese team has not sunk, but actively prepared for the tournament, through intensive training and warm-up matches to prepare for the replacement of the old and the new and prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. This forward-looking strategy has clearly left the Chinese men's soccer team behind.
By contrast, the Chinese men's soccer team only had a short training session and East Asian Cup tournament in July after the conclusion of the Top 12 tournament. Now, during the gap between international match days in September, the FA is busy with the operation of the domestic league. It is expected that the next phase of training and preparation for the Chinese men's soccer team will not be on the agenda until after the end of the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League A this season.
