Since more than a decade ago.
national soccer team
Then it stepped into a period of lows in the team's history. The seemingly prosperous center
China Super League (soccer league)
Behind the league, it is a false prosperity where local players are squeezed by foreigners and the space and opportunities for development are drastically reduced. This talent gap is not only reflected in the national team's performance, but also exposed in the national youth team's games.
Looking back at the national youth team's performance in the Asian Youth Championship in the new century: third place in 2000, top eight in 2002, runner-up in 2004, consecutive top eight in 2006-2010, group stage exit in 2012, top eight in 2014, group exit in 2016, group exit in 2018.In 2020, the national youth team was eliminated from the preliminaries and did not qualify for the final round, making it a great shame in the history of national football , but the incident did not attract widespread attention, reflecting the neglect of youth soccer by our media and fans. From the results of the Asian Youth Championship in recent years, our long-term youth training level is evident. The FA's naturalization policy, in addition to ensuring a chance to compete in the World Cup, is also designed to cover up the lack of youth training. In the 2014 Asian Youth Championship, although the national youth team with Vietnam, Japan and South Korea in the same group, the outside world is generally believed to be the "group of death", but under the leadership of Coach Zheng Xiong, the national youth team managed to break through to the last eight, and in the knockout rounds of the loss of Qatar, the performance is noteworthy.
In the three group matches that year, the National Youth Football Team won 2 and drew 1, while Japan won 2 and lost 1. The National Youth Football Team came out undefeated, edging out South Korea.
One of the matches, the 2-1 victory over Japan, has become a classic battle for China's youth soccer in the past decade. Facing the individual ability of Japan's leading scorer Takumi Minamino, the National Youth Football Team managed to turn around and win with Wei Shihao's second goal and goalkeeper Zhou Yuchen's excellent play. The 2014 AYC corresponds to the 95-96 age group, which is in the midst of the gold dollar soccer trend of 2014-2015, and this group of players has also been going out of the country in search of development.
Seven years on, the members of that notoriously strong national youth team are now mid-career players. So, which clubs did they grind at and how many of them really stood out? Here's a look back at the 23-man roster from that year.
The best of the bunch is undoubtedly Wei Shihao of Portuguese Premier League veteran side Boavista. In the 2019 CPL, Wei Shihao scored 11 goals and dished out 6 assists in 25 games, while in the 2020 CPL he contributed 8 goals in 10 games.
As you can see from the list, the players currently playing in the Chinese Super League are Zhou Yuchen (Guangzhou City), Liu Junshuai (Shandong Luneng), Gao Junyi (Guangzhou), Mingri (Wuhan), Yan Zihao (Cangzhou Lions), Wei Shihao (Guangzhou), Zhang Xiowei (Guangzhou), Yao Junsheng (Shandong Luneng), Chen Korui (Tianjin Jinmen Tigers), Chen Zhechao (Guangzhou R&F), Lv Pin (Shanghai Shenhua), for a total of 11 persons.
If you have entered the national team list as a reference standard, that year, only Gao Zhunyi, Mingzhi, Wei Shihao three people really play out, have a debut experience is only Li Tie's direct pro-disciple Mingzhi a person.
