That's not our squad for the tournament. We left some of those players out and brought in other players.
REMINDER: China U-19 plays South Korea U-19 tomorrow morning at 8:00 ET / 5:00 PT. After last game's morale-boosting performance, hopefully China can come out on top again!
Starting Line-up: Zhou Yuchen Xiang Hantian, Gao Zhunyi, Liu Junshuai, Chen Zepeng Wei Shihao, Cheng Jin, Zhang Xiuwei, Chen Zhechao, Wei Jingzong Gui Hong
Zhang Xiuwei looks like a promising player, very smooth movement with the ball, he kind of resembles Luka Modric in his playstyle, that haircut also resembles Modric's old hairstyle
Full-time 0-0 with South Korea. I've only watched the last 20 minutes or so. South Korea seems much weaker than Japan, about on-par with China, we could finally pass the ball around and the players made some good chances. If we get 3 points vs. Vietnam, we should have a good chance of topping the group since South Korea vs. Japan are usually very close matches, and Japan will go all-out because if they don't win, they're out. A draw for Japan is not enough as their goal difference is weaker than South Korea and they lost vs. China, so even if China loses, Japan will still be lower-ranked than China in the group.
FT 0-0 Boring game, China defended better today but is still lacking alot on the offensive end. Much better passing and chemistry between the players though which was nice to see, but still way to many long balls who aren't accurate. Zhou Yuchen made a suberb save at point blank range and the Korean forward somehow missed an open net on the rebound, other than that there weren't that much of importance. China could've won it at the end when a loose ball scrambled around in Korea's box but they failed to make a shot. Good result nonetheless against a strong opponent.
Congratulations! A way better performance than at Asian Games with u23 team. You have quality in this team.
Hope these guys can stay in Europe and perform well, get into the key European leagues, please don't return to CSL and let your starting positions be taken over by the foreign stars. And I really hope Fu Bo don't ruin this team when they get promoted to U23.
It's not over yet. Vietnam may have lost two games in a row but they played well today against Japan and we tend to struggle against small, quick and technical teams like them. Vietnam created alot of chances against Japan so they won't be an easy task at all.
You guys only need a draw. If you play like the match against Japan and Korea, you can definitely keep a clean sheet and move on. If you think our team is weak and only attack, you can face counterattack and may loose the game. You guys have the best chance to move to the next round. If you don't loose to us, the match between Japan and South Korea will be a tough match for both of them. Because in this case, you already have a ticket to quarter-finals, and they need to fight for the left one. Chance: China > Korea > Japan. In bad case, you guys loose the match, you need to pray for the Korean to have a win against the Japanese (the more goals the Korean score, the better your chance is). At the moment: 1. South Korea: 4pts +6 goals 2. China: 4pts + 1 goals 3. Japan: 3pts + 1 goals China and South Korea only need a draw to continue the tournament. Japan U19 is stronger than VN U19. That's why I say you have the best chance to go to the next round. By the way, good luck to three teams!
Well in terms of tactics and playstyle this U-19 team is pretty much identical to Fu Bo's style of play. Same with how the U-16 was aswell. That's our problem, the system is taught from a young age and it's hard to stray away once they get older. Biggest difference with this U-19 team is that a huge chunk of them are playing abroad, that way they can stay away from this useless long ball tactic that the Chinese teams loves.
Obviously we're in a very good position to advance, getting 4 points from arguably the two strongest opponents in the tournament, but it still won't be easy to just get a draw. Vietnam's offense has been good and while we have defended well, it's mostly due to the poor finishing from both Japan and Korea that we have 4 points, I am certain Vietnam will create alot of chances against us. Another problem is our offense, we've only managed like two shots on goal from open play in two games. There's so much talent in this team but it's wasted by the tactics. But I guess I can't really complain when they have achieved these results so far.
Really hoping that Gao Zhunyi can be picked up by a team in the J1 even if its a team facing relegation.. If not a move to Evergrande would be good if Kim Young Gwon leaves during the next transfer window. Really excited about Tang Shi and Wei Shihao. Imagine if they could link up with Wu Lei. Missing a premier striker. Maybe Xiang Baixu could be that guy.
China barely made it through wih a late goal from Tang Shi in the 87th min to equalise 1-1, Japan beat Korea 2-1 which meant we had to get the draw to advance. Vietnam outplayed us for pretty much the whole game but tired out in the last 20-25 mins. China once again with very poor passing and very questionable decision making. There's pretty much no chemistry at all between the players. There's no positives to take from this game, I can't see us getting anything against Iraq or Qatar in the quarter final.
Do you think it is because our players are indeed weaker than Vietnam's in terms of abilities, or is it because the coach's tactics were too conservative? Or something else?
In terms of individual skill id say we're about even, Vietnams players may have slight edge. The problem is chemistry between our players. They are clueless as to whom to pass and where they should pass it to. Their overall football iq seems suspect as some of their decisions are baffling. The Vietnamese players knew what to do with the ball even before they recieved it, our players started looking for options after they recieved it. That has been one of the biggest differences between us and all the teams in this group so far.
I don't know why our coach still used Duy (No 7). Every match he left his place and created lots of space for the opponents. Every team attacked from his side. The problem of our team is the left back and right back. The Korean scored 6 goals when they attacked from the sides. By the way, this result is still OK when we could also pull the Korean out of the tournament. You guys must be very happy entering the quarter-finals. I saw some guys cry when they heard the final whistle. Good luck! Full match: Highlight: P/S: All of our matches started at 15h30 when it was still very hot, and our players (smaller, shorter, and weaker than other three teams) didn't have enough strength to play well the whole game. If we hadn't had to play all three matches at that time, I thought we could have had a better result in the table.
Thanks for the nice words! Even though Vietnam lost 6-0 to South Korea, they played really well against Japan and China. With this U-19 team, Vietnamese football has a bright future.
Your team is pretty strong, if I'm not wrong Vietnam U19 once beat both Arsenal and Australia's U19. But why did you lose to South Korea by such a big margin?
Yeah, they beat Arsenal U19 3-0, and Australia U19 5-1 in 2013 and 1-0 last month. The match against South Korea might be the worst match of theirs. I've been watching them for a bout 2 year and I didn't recognize them in that match. Their biggest weakness is being short and weak. You could see every time they faced the Korean one-on-one, they failed because the Korean are taller and stronger. But this team is good, maybe the best of our all U19 teams. One big reason that made them not play at their best was the pressure from people in VN, who expected a lot from them. And right before the match, the vice-president of VFF came and told them: "If anyone plays dirty football or reacts against the referee, I'll send him home right away!". And he sat there watch the boys. The boys were scared and had to play football and pay attention to him at the same time. He also commanded them to beat the Korean (=))). This was stupid saying that to them right before the match started. Because they had never played dirty football before like some elder players playing in V. League. He could've told them that any time, but not before the match. Committing many fouls is not good, but sometime it is necessary to make some fouls to prevent the opponent. He didn't get this. Also, the left back is one of our weaknesses, in many previous matches every one could see this, but our coach still used this player. He should play in the position of a midfielder, not a defender. I think after this tournament, he will loose his place in the team. So will the goalkeeper, who always makes mistakes of positions in important matches (in less important matches, he plays very well).
China U-19 will play Qatar U-19 in the quarterfinals on October 17. It'll be hard match because Qatar has a lot of good young players, most playing abroad.