U17 Asian preliminaries: A great start for the national junior team, but stability is needed in the future

Reporter Chen Yong reported that on November 22, in the U17 Asian Cup qualifiers, the China U16 National Men's Football Team (hereinafter referred to as the "09 National Juniors") defeated the Bahrain team 4-0 in the first game. This game is a key battle for the 2009 National Junior Asian Qualifiers. A good start means that the 2009 National Junior Boys have a greater chance of qualifying. Of course, based on the recent very unstable performance of the 2009 national junior team, the subsequent games cannot be taken lightly.

In this game, the starting lineup of the national junior team is goalkeeper Qin Ziniu, defenders Zhang Xuyao, Nan Zixun, Li Juncheng, Jin Yucheng, midfielders Xu Zhengpeng and Zhou Yunuo, and the frontcourt attack combination is He Sifan, Wan Xiang, Kuang Zhaolei and Shuai Weihao. As far as this lineup is concerned, the back line has actually undergone major changes compared to the original lineup, mainly focusing on the three positions of goalkeeper, center back and right back, while the midfield and frontcourt lineups are relatively stable. In the substitute lineup, the two players on the offensive end are the key. Center Zhang Bolin and right winger Xie Jin are the backhand weapons of the National Junior Team. Liang Shiyu's absence is a big loss for the 2009 National Junior Team.

In this group, Bahrain was once considered the main opponent of the 2009 National Juniors, but surprisingly, the 2009 National Juniors won this game without any pressure.

In the first half of this game, the national junior team got a perfect start: in just 6 minutes, Shuai Weihao scored with a header and quickly took the lead; in the 24th minute of the game, Shuai Weihao received a pass from his teammate and scored with a two-goal lead; less than 2 minutes later, the national junior team got a penalty kick opportunity, and Wan Xiang made a penalty kick to expand the score to 3-0. In this half, the 2009 national junior team shot as many as 13 times, while the Bahrain U16 team did not take a single shot. What made Bahrain even more devastated was that in the 41st minute of the game, the Bahrain defender made a mistake in stopping the ball in the backcourt and was intercepted by Kuang Zhaolei. Then he was sent off for a foul that destroyed the scoring opportunity and was sent off with a red card.

In the second half, the 2009 National Junior Team played more easily. Xie Jin and Zhang Bolin came on as substitutes. During the game, Li Junpeng and Kong Xinuo both hit the goal post. Zhang Bolin scored in stoppage time, expanding the score to 4-0. In the second half, the Bahrain team still had no chance to shoot.

It has to be said that although the Bahrain national team has occasionally been competitive in the past, the strength of the Bahrain U16 team is indeed very poor. Even when the number of players was equal, the Bahrain U16 team also played very poorly and was completely uncompetitive.

From another level, China's youth national team has made significant progress in recent years, which is one of the important reasons for the outstanding performance of the 2009 National Youth Team: previously, the 2004, 2006, and 2008 National Youth Teams successively qualified for the Asian Cup finals, and the 2003 National Youth Team and the 2005 National Youth Team both reached the quarterfinals of the Asian Youth Championship. At the U23 national team level, this year China's 03-year-old national team has defeated the Korean team of the same age group twice in a row.

However, China's youth national teams at all levels are still separated from the World Cup by a layer of window paper. Now it depends on when this layer of window paper can be pierced.

For the 2009 national youth team, the team cannot relax at all after a big victory. In the past period, the biggest problem for the 2009 National Junior Team was stability: In June, the 2009 National Junior Team defeated the Saudi team 2-1 in the first game, but the two-goal lead in the second game was tied by the Vietnamese team. In the last game, the 2009 National Junior Team broke out and defeated the Australian team 5-2.

In the subsequent "Peace Cup" in Shenyang, the 2009 national team defeated Uzbekistan 2-1, drew with Japan 1-1, and lost to South Korea 3-4. The overall performance was relatively stable. But after the training camp in Xianghe in October, the 2009 Junior National Team experienced huge ups and downs: they first defeated India 4-0, but then lost to India 0-1, then lost to North Korea 0-2, and finally defeated North Korea 4-1. Just before this game, the 2009 National Junior Team first defeated the Myanmar team 4-0, but then lost to the Myanmar team 0-2. The contrast was jaw-dropping.

There are many reasons for this ups and downs. The more important point is that the 2009 National Youth League still lacks enough rotation players, especially the defense line, which has a large adjustment range and is not stable after the rotation. The midfield, especially the midfielder position, also has the problem of a large gap between substitute players and main players. The 2009 National Youth League also lacks stable attack ability. In comparison, with Shuai Weihao, Zhang Bolin and Li Songyuan on the front line, there is more room for choice.

For the 2009 National Juniors, after defeating Bahrain, they still need to face Bangladesh. This is also a team that is considered to have certain competitiveness. Considering that the 2009 National Juniors' previous record has been inconsistent and their ability to attack tough problems is insufficient, the 09 National Juniors must go all out for this game to avoid any accidents.