China's men's soccer team has been relegated to a second- or third-tier competitive status in Asia, far from the top teams. In the last decade, no national team at any level has been able to secure a win. Losses against Thailand and Vietnam have been commonplace, and in 2023, in the first round of the 36-team Asian Qualifying Tournament, the national team beat Thailand 2-1 in a thrilling match, but the process was rather passive, and the win was a fluke as the opponents were overpowered.
At the development level, there is a clear gap between the national soccer team and Thailand, both in terms of playing skills and tactical systems. Thankfully, Thailand's weaker forward line enabled the national soccer team to gain three points. Recently, under the leadership of Cheng Yaodong, the national Olympic team lost 1-2 to Tajikistan in a warm-up match, further emphasizing the embarrassing position of Chinese men's football in Asia, and even the results of youth training are not as good as Tajikistan.
Cheng Yaodong has worked hard during his time coaching the National Olympic Team. Over the past year, he has led the team through long training sessions. During the three months of training in Europe, he even participated in the Croatian second division, but the team's wholeness has yet to take shape with frequent lineup changes. During this period, the growth of some players has been affected as a result, such as Hu and Tao and Mutalifu's form in the Chinese Super League has plummeted as a result of national team training.
Facing Tajikistan, the national Olympic team aims to prepare for the U23 Asian Cup. Before the match, the team will play several rounds of warm-up matches. Cheng Yaodong has yet to finalize his starting lineup and the training situation is not optimistic. He chose players such as Efirdin and Tao Qianglong to start the match, while Hu and Tao sat on the bench.
During the game, the Chinese team was in disarray and failed to form a synergy on both the offensive and defensive ends of the field. Defensive errors, the offensive end of the ability to grasp the opportunity is not enough, which has become a common problem of the Chinese men's football team. In the 34th minute, the national Olympic defense errors, Tajikistan rapid counterattack, the score became 0-1; 76th minute, the national Olympic defense errors again, the other side easily broke the goal, the score became 0-2.
The game went into the end, the Chinese team crazy counterattack. In the 86th minute, Baihe Lamu created a penalty kick, and Leng Jixuan hit the penalty kick to bring the score to 1-2 for China; in the 90th+2nd minute, the National Olympic team finished the whistle with a goal, but a foul was called and the goal was invalidated, and they were awarded a yellow card at the same time. Throughout the game, the National Olympic Team controlled 52% of the ball, the number of shots on goal 5-2 lead, but the shot on goal ratio of 3-2, and finally lost 1-2.
According to statistics, from 2016 to 2023, the Chinese team was a total underdog against Tajikistan, accumulating four defeats. Among them, the 97th echelon team lost 0-2 to Tajikistan in 2016, the 99th echelon team lost 0-1 to Tajikistan in 2016, and lost 0-1 again in 2018. During this period, Chinese teams at all levels have played Tajikistan nine times, with four losses, two draws and three wins.
