Reporter Lu Mi and Han Bing report. At 18: 00 on March 12th, China U20 men’s soccer national team will face South Korea in the quarter-finals of the 2023 U20 Asian Cup. After nine years, the U20 national football team has once again entered the knockout stage of the Asian Youth Championship, which has broken many people’s expectations. Their biggest weapon to complete the qualifying task is the team’s strong execution. This time, in the face of South Korea, a strong Asian enemy, they will continue to choose to go into battle lightly in mentality, put pressure on their opponents, and insist on taking me as the main factor in tactical execution.
It should be said that Antonio’s team was able to qualify as the second in the group, which has already overfulfilled the task. After all, it broke through from the death group where the two-time Asian Youth Championship champion was located. The strength of this team itself is not optimistic, and even coach Antonio’s tactics of giving up possession and holding high and hitting high have long been questioned. However, judging from the performance of three games, the existing personnel and Antonio’s tactics just match.
Because of this, from the players themselves, there is not much pressure. After the group match in deus ex, what makes the players more excited is that they can bring the unique joy of football to the people of the whole country. Antonio’s passion also infected these young people, and they could not wait for tonight’s battle.
Although the opponent is very strong, the players do not intend to put pressure on themselves. They are very aware that this battle needs to be carried out lightly in thought and continue to stabilize their technical and tactical execution. After the baptism of three group matches, the players realized more clearly that all three matches were based on their strong execution. The advantages accumulated by experience need to be implemented for a long time. This consensus can be felt from the speech of player Yang Minjie at the pre-match press conference yesterday: "We can advance to the quarter-finals, which is the best reward for this team’s previous efforts. Now, we have the last step from our final dream. We will play the next game with the expectations of all fans. "
Of course, going into battle lightly is by no means an unprepared battle. Antonio has a clear judgment on the South Korean team: "The South Korean team is very different from the teams we have played before. They have a strong will, they are fast and changeable on the court, and their coaches are excellent. They are a strong team. " But he also made a firm statement, "I believe that 10 days ago, perhaps no one thought that the head coach of the China team would be sitting here today. In the football world, anything can happen. We must be ambitious. For us, tomorrow’s game must be extremely difficult. Even if South Korea has won the Asian Youth Championship many times, it will be a contest between 11 people and 11 people on the court tomorrow. We will see tomorrow. "
The suspension of Baihelamu will affect the formation of troops to a certain extent. After all, he started as the absolute main force in three consecutive group matches and played a vital role in both offensive and defensive ends. Two days before the game, the coach has made a video of the game for the players to watch. In the training on the first day before the game, he also arranged targeted deployment, and the final plan will be taken out on the day of the game.
According to Korean media statistics, in the U20 age group national youth team, the historical record of South Korea’s national youth against China’s national youth is 18 battles, 13 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, and 7 wins and 1 draw in the last eight meetings are absolutely superior.
China fans with long experience should be familiar with Eun Jung Kim, the coach of Korean National Youth Team, who played in the Super League with Jung Hwan Ahn in 2009. Moreover, when he was a player, Eun Jung Kim participated in the U19 Asian Youth Championship with Li Dongguo in 1998, and beat the China National Youth Team 3-2 in the first match of Group B, showing obvious psychological advantages. At yesterday’s pre-match news conference, Eun Jung Kim also admitted that he had played in China and was familiar with China football. South Korea’s national youth team rotated its lineup at the end of the group match, and had an extra day off than China’s national youth team. However, Eun Jung Kim didn’t underestimate the enemy at all, and he thought that the South Korean team should be prepared to attack the enemy.
Chosun Ilbo paid great attention to Eun Jung Kim, saying that with Klinsmann in place, the coaches of South Korea’s adult national team, U23 Olympic team and U20 national youth team were all led by coaches who played as strikers in the player era, which made the tactical style of South Korea tend to attack football. Eun Jung Kim scored 132 goals in K1 League and is one of the best shooters in K1 League. Moreover, like the more famous Huang Shanhong and Klinsmann, he wore the No.18 as a player. Eun Jung Kim’s former Daejeon citizen even retired No.18 permanently to pay tribute to Eun Jung Kim. It is worth mentioning that in 2009, Eun Jung Kim joined Changsha Jinde in the Super League, winning 7 goals and 10 assists in 28 games and becoming the golden boot in the team. This World Youth Championship is an opportunity for Eun Jung Kim to prove himself.
Naver Sports Channel, a Korean portal, said that this quarter-final is also the best opportunity to inspect some South Korean national youth team players who performed well in the group stage. The team’s only player studying abroad, winger Jin Longhe (Portuguese super Polti Mang), can only stop in the second team at present. He was selected by coach Eun Jung Kim to participate in the four-nation tournament held in Lisbon last September. At that time, he scored a goal against Portugal U19 national youth team, and he scored the first goal against Oman for South Korea in this World Youth Championship. In addition, he assisted the shooter Cheng Zhenrong of Korea University to score a goal.
Pei Junhao, the Daejeon citizen midfielder wearing the No.10 jersey, is the core player of the Korean team. Last year, he played eight games for Daejeon citizens and played two upgrade play-offs to help Daejeon citizens return to the K1 League after eight years. In the group match against Jordan, he grasped the opponent’s mistake and scored a long-range goal, which gave the South Korean team a lead because it could not break through the opponent’s iron drum array. Naver website believes that if Jin Longhe and Pei Junhao can lead the team to the World Youth Championship, they are likely to be selected for the Korean adult national team.
Not surprisingly, South Korea’s national youth team will set up a 4141 formation that has been tested in the group stage. The goalkeeper is Jin Jiong-hong, a warrior in Jin Quan, with Jin Zhishu, the central defender of FC in the south of the city, as the core, and Huang Renze, who is attached to Seoul in K2 League, is more likely to be his partner. Daejeon’s left-back Pei Xuzhun and FC Seoul’s right-back Zhao Rongguang are separated, Gangwon FC’s Li Chengyuan and Daejeon’s midfielder Jin Jinghuan are in the midfield, and the latter’s club teammate Pei Junhao and Jeonbuk Hyundai’s Jiang Shangrun will also start with high probability. Cheng Zhenrong of Korea University continues to serve as the front arrow, and the only player in Europe, Jin Longhe, moves on the right. Jin Longhe and Jiang Zhencheng of FC Seoul will pose a great threat to the national youth team’s flank.
