On the morning of April 21st, the U23 international squad began an intense training session in Haikou. Notably, three overage players - Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng and Zhang Yuning - joined the training session for the first time. The change drew the attention of media personality Cui Hengliang, who expressed his views on social media platforms, pointing out that even with these three new additions to the force, the U23 national football team still has a lot of shortcomings.
Cui Hengliang's full opinion on his social media platforms is as follows:
Although Jankovic's team seems to have been strengthened by the additions of Zhang Yuning, Wu Xi, and Zhang Linpeng, the midfield problems remain serious, as if he is overconfident and wants to challenge Japan and South Korea.
Looking back at the Dubai Cup matches, the biggest dilemma facing the U23 international team was the midfield layout, with a succession of errors and difficulty in stringing passes together, no matter how the back combinations were adjusted. Although the addition of Wu Xi has brought some changes, he is not good at organizing and is more adept at penetrating the penalty area to shoot; however, he has problems with control, and any player partnering with him will not be able to effectively deal with the layout dilemma. As for Dai Weijun, he is even better at blitzing, and layout is not his strong suit.
I think, U23 the national football team really need is Xu Xin, and the selection of these over-age players, whether it is out of Yankovic's considerations, or the arrangement of the Association?
If there is no effective layout of the midfield, Yankovic is not going to take the high-flying tactics, relying only on Zhang Yuning and Guo Tianyu to impact the opponent?
