On November 25th, the morning sun dawned and the men's soccer semi-finals of the first National Youth Three-Sport Games drew to a close. Jilin U18 team lost 2-5 against Shanghai U18 team, while Sichuan U18 team lost 0-3 against Shandong U18 team. A battle for the third place and a championship will take place between Jilin U18s and Sichuan U18s, and Shanghai and Shandong.
As the favorites to win the tournament, the Shanghai U18s performed spectacularly - winning all three of their group stage matches and sweeping the Hebei U18s in the quarterfinals by a score of 6-1. The Jilin U18s played a mixed lineup of 2006, 2007 and 2008 age group players against a very strong opponent. However, due to the obvious gap in strength and lack of experience, Jilin U18 team was passive in the first half - Shanghai U18 team knocked down the door of Jilin team one after another in the 4th, 8th and 18th minutes. This scene also became the turning point of the whole game.
In the second half of the match, Jilin U18s adjusted their lineup and launched a fierce counterattack. In the 61st and 65th minutes, Wang Zihao and Du Kailuo scored goals to bring the score to 2-3, however, Shanghai U18s came back in the 68th and 72nd minutes to make the score 2-5, and although Jilin equalized the score once in the second half, Shanghai's strength continued to be strong and they finally won the match.
Jilin U18s will start the third place battle with Sichuan U18s at 14:00 on November 27, and the answer to who will be on the podium will be revealed at that moment.
