In the just-concluded U23 Asian Cup, the football associations of Uzbekistan and Japan put the preparation of the U21 national team at the center of the national team's strategy, which is undoubtedly a positive response to the "Paris Olympics strategy". This type of strategy is not unique in the Asian football world, the Iranian team also U21 age group as the main force to participate in this tournament, even if they failed to get out of the group, the coach Madavikia still believe that this is the impact of the Olympic Games valuable experience.
According to the rules of the tournament, the teams for each U23 Asian Cup should be non-Olympic-age teams, but the AFC's push for a branded tournament has led some member associations to still field Olympic-age teams in the lower age groups. Take the Japan Football Association (JFA) as an example, they selected a local Olympic-age team in the U21 age group to participate in the third edition of the U23 Asian Cup in 2018, and although they were eliminated by the Uzbekistan U23s in the quarterfinals, such a loss will help the long-term development of the national team for the JFA.
The data shows that in the 2018 U23 Asian Cup, the 1995/1996 age group accounted for 57.38% of the players, while the 1999/2000 age group accounted for 42.72% of the Tokyo Olympics-age players. While the number of U23 players in the 1999/2000 age group dropped to 46.87% in this year's U23 Asian Cup, the number of players born on January 1, 2001 and after increased to 53.13%. In addition to Japan, Uzbekistan and Iran, which are dominated by the U21 age group, Australia and Malaysia also have more than half of their players in the U21 age group.
The preparation of China's National Youth Football Team, the new National Olympic Team, however, has been temporarily stalled, affected by the epidemic, the team has not been centralized so far, and the preparation plan has not been clarified. Previously, the Football Association had considered letting the U21 national Olympic team participate in the Central League in order to get a chance to play in real life, but this proposal was eventually abandoned.
The performance of Uzbekistan's U23 team (actually the U21 age group) at this year's U23 Asian Cup provides an example of the controversy over "national teams playing in professional leagues". After deciding to give full support to the 2001 age group team for the Olympics, the Uzbekistan U19 national youth team was dropped, while the U21 national Olympic team played in the country's top professional league, where, despite being in the bottom half of the league standings, a long period of time in a high-level league helped to build experience and confidence.
The CFA was hesitant to arrange for "national teams to play in the league" for fear of affecting the fairness of the league on the one hand, and fearing that the young players would not have enough practical ability and would suffer a heavy blow in international matches on the other. Therefore, similar proposals have not been adopted.
It is worth paying attention to, in the recent U21 national Olympic team training age players, only about 15% can get a certain rate of appearance at all levels of professional league, can play in the club starter is very few. Lack of league practice opportunities, but also can not participate in the national team to concentrate, how can such a representative team in the impact of the Olympic road to enhance competitiveness?
