In an Oct. 28 news spotlight, Beijing Youth Daily revealed that a top FA official, after witnessing China's U16 national junior team's thrilling battle with South Korea, commented with confidence, "This is where the future of Chinese soccer lies."
Looking back at the night of October 27th, a key matchup in Group C of the U17 Asian Cup Qualifying Tournament in Dalian saw the Chinese U16 Men's Soccer Team draw 2-2 with the South Korean U16s. Despite finishing second in the goal difference by one goal, both teams had equally brilliant records of three wins and one draw. Out of the 10 groups, five teams advanced to the second place in the group, and China U16s, with their outstanding performance, became one of them and embarked on the final stage of next year's tournament without any problems.
In this matchup, the Chinese U16 team showed impressive strength. According to statistics, their ball possession rate was as high as 60%, and the number of shots on goal reached 12, which is three times that of the South Korean team. Such a strong performance is rare in the history of China and South Korea's men's soccer team. Japanese coach Kenichi Uemura's technical innovation has begun to bear fruit, injecting new vitality into this team. Therefore, instead of focusing on the line or not, these positive changes are more worthy of our praise, but also injected a shot in the arm for Chinese soccer. After the match, the top management of the Football Association said, "The performance of the U16 national football team has shown us where the hope of Chinese soccer lies."
