In a heated battle, the U15 China-Korea soccer duel ended in a draw.In the fifth round of Group A of the 2023 East Asian Football Confederation (EAFC) U15 Men's Soccer Championship, China's U15 National Junior League (NJTL) and South Korea shook hands in a 1-1 draw after 95 minutes of intense competition. In the end, Korea managed to lock up the top spot in Group A by virtue of goal difference (see below). The outstanding performance of Evergrande Soccer School is remarkable!
The U15 East Asian Cup is divided into two groups, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the semifinals. Japan advanced as the top team in Group B, followed by Chinese Taipei. As a result, the semifinal matchups are as follows: China U15 vs. Chinese Taipei U15, and Japan U15 vs. Korea U15.
Talking about this, we can't help but praise these young players of the U15 countries, not only as players but also as a coaching team. They managed to finish first in their group, successfully avoiding a strong opponent like Japan. As the semi-finalists were not very strong, it was almost like locking up a place in the final in advance.
This U15 national junior team was temporarily formed by Evergrande Soccer School and added strong reinforcements such as Luneng Soccer School, and was personally led by Masaki Nakamura, the Japanese coach of Evergrande Soccer School. In this game, for example, there are 8 players from Evergrande Soccer School in the starting 11, and there were similar situations in the previous games.
Many fans wondered if this was the strongest lineup for the U15 National Junior League! The answer is obviously no. This is because tournaments like the U15 Junior Nationals do not need to be screened on a national level. Usually, if the strongest team in the country is matched with other top players, they may achieve better results.
First of all, most of the players come from the Evergrande Football School, and the degree of tacit understanding is naturally better than that of other teams. In this case, the selection of players from other teams as supplements is mainly to make up for the individual deficiencies of players from Evergrande Football School. This way of team formation not only avoids the confusion of temporary formation of small players of each team, but also improves the technical and tactical level of Evergrande's team.
In addition, the U15 national team's advancement to the first place in the group is of great significance. In the past, Chinese soccer has often been eliminated when they finish second in the group against a tough opponent. Now, we're giving South Korean soccer a taste of that by letting them go head-to-head with Japan, while we can easily "sit back and watch the tigers fight". It's been a long time since Chinese soccer has been so calm!
Due to the technical characteristics and immature physical development of the players, a tournament at this level of U15 is full of variables. Just because we can finish first in the group now doesn't mean that the players in this age group will be able to maintain such a high level when they face Korea again in a few years. But at least for now, the 15-year-old Chinese players are not inferior to South Korea. This brings hope to Chinese soccer and also strengthens our confidence and patience to continue investing in youth training.
