Recently, the country's top soccer teams have been engaged in frequent warm-up matches, with both the national team and the national youth team preparing for the U23 Asian Cup. Despite having progressed through the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the National Youth Team is not relenting and has set higher goals to stand out in the subsequent tournaments. To this end, the Cheng Yaodong coaching team is working tirelessly, focusing on improving the team's internal strengths, especially the tacit understanding between players. Looking back, Seng's coaching team has often used matches as a mirror to look for deficiencies. They have traveled to Croatia twice to participate in the Second Division League and gained valuable experience. Now that they are back in China, they also plan to start exchanges with Chinese Super League teams.
In October, the National Olympic team's warm-up matches came one after another. The first game with veteran powerhouse Guoan, once leading, but lost 1-2. Despite the loss, the overall performance of the team was still recognized. Next, the National Olympic team played against the Jinmen Tigers, who are ranked in the middle of the league. Although the Jinmen Tigers were a bit weaker, the National Olympic team had an advantage with the collective power of the domestic U23 elite players and the tacit understanding from the long-term training together. Coach Cheng Yaodong is confident of victory.
In order to enhance the effectiveness of the workout, both sides decided to play a three-quarter game. At the beginning of the game, the Jinmen Tigers were no longer satisfied with playing the role of a chaperone, and the midfield was extremely competitive. Jinmen Tigers used a roundabout tactic, not rushing to attack. The National Olympic team attacked aggressively, but was too impulsive, and the holes in the back defense were exposed. Jinmen Tigers scored consecutively and finally beat the National Olympic Team 5-2, playing a cold game.
Coach Yu Genwei helped his players adjust their form through the warm-up. Similar to the last warm-up game, the National Olympic team added penalty kicks to help the goalkeeper find his touch. However, the two warm-up matches in three days ended in losses, both at the hands of Chinese Super League teams. Although it is understandable to lose to a strong team such as Guoan, it is really puzzling to be attacked by the Jinmen Tigers with 5 goals.
Despite the National Olympic Team's consecutive losses, the warm-up matches continue. The Sung Yew Tung coaching team wants the players to participate in more matches and plans to complete at least 20 matches by April 2024 to gain more match experience while selecting the best starting lineup.
