China's U19 National Youth Football Team won the Weinan International Football Invitational Tournament with a 2-0 victory over South Korea's National Youth Football Team on June 11th, and ThePaper.com published a commentary on the team's performance, providing insights into the team's performance and offering suggestions for future development.
In the closing stages of the match, Shenhua youngster Liu Chengyu scored twice to end an embarrassing 24-year record. The last time China's national youth beat a South Korean team of the same age was back in 2000. At that time, the Super Platinum Generation coached by Shen Xiangfu narrowly beat South Korea 1-0 at the Asian Youth Championship in Tehran with a header from Qu Bo.
In the previous two rounds of the tournament, the National Youth Football League (NYFL) beat Vietnam 1-0 and drew 0-0 with Uzbekistan. With the victory, the team topped the table with seven points, the first time since the National Youth was founded in 2005.
In September last year, Djurdjevic led his team to the Hangzhou Asian Games, but missed out on a medal in the quarterfinals with a 0-2 defeat against South Korea. After the match, the coach made it clear that the team lacked experience in high-level competition. Now, he has turned his attention to the U19 national youth team, once again emphasizing the importance of high-level competition. "We have plans for the U20 Asian Cup, but we need to make a decision after the Four Nations. We need to warm up against strong teams."
The so-called high level of competition includes both the improvement of individual skills and team tactics. For players, they need to fight for more opportunities to play in the league. Currently, there are players who have made their debut in the China B League, but the overall level is not the same. Take Wang Yudong and Liu Chengyu for example, who have performed well in the game. Wang Yudong got the occasional 10-minute appearance in the latter part of last season, while Liu Chengyu didn't get a chance to play at Shenhua, which isn't good for the growth of young players.
For players from Chinese Super League teams, instead of wasting time on the bench, they should actively seek loan opportunities to join the upper-middle level teams in the Central League, which might be a win-win situation.
Overall, playing against top Asian teams such as Uzbekistan and South Korea has been a significant boost for the National Youth League. In the match against Uzbekistan, the National Youth were once passive on the field, but achieved a draw with tenacious defense. Against South Korea, the young players performed steadily in adapting to the game.
It is reported that the CFA plans to organize training during international matches and participate in high-level competitions. Drawing on the European training experience of the last Olympic team, the CFA is expected to replicate the success and help the team gain experience.
