Deciphering U21
Large list
On February 8, the Chinese Football Association officially issued the first training notice of the 2001 age group U21 national youth team this year, and 50 players will train at the Shanghai Oriental Green Boat Base from February 10 to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The number of participants in this training session is relatively large, which is also a targeted special method adopted under special circumstances.
1
The new faces benefit mostly from professional leagues
Affected by the epidemic, the 2001 age group has participated in the middle two consecutive years since 2020, and the league training has helped the growth of young players quite a lot. Due to the Chinese Super League team sending youth troops to participate in the AFC Champions League and the National Games, players have been continuously transferred during the league period, and the team personnel have always changed, but for young players, as long as there is a game to participate, it is good. Therefore, whether it is the AFC Champions League, the Chinese Super League, the Chinese First Division or even the Chinese Second Division, the national youth team has adopted a strategy of all releases, because its own team is not to pursue results, but to give young players more opportunities to play and improve their level in actual combat. During the 2021 China Second League, the national youth team has 45 players appearing.
On the other hand, both the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division clubs, affected by the financial reality of the parent company, coupled with the impact of the epidemic, in the case of personnel shortage, in order to better implement the U23 policy, many players in the 2001 age group have also been enabled. Therefore, a group of players in the 01 age group who were not much concerned before have appeared on the professional field, which in turn has provided a wider selection of materials for the national youth team.
Therefore, in the latest issue of the list, the most significant feature is that many players who have never been selected for the 01 age group U19 national youth or U20 national youth team have directly entered the U21 national youth team. Head coach Cheng Yaodong has taken over this age group since July 2019, and has watched various games in two and a half years, and has almost all the players who can be screened. But because there are still very few competitions in this age group in China, there will still be lost pearls. About 1/5 of the players in this 50-man training list were called up for the first time because of their outstanding performances in all levels of the league last year.
For example, Shi Yan, a striker who was loaned from Shandong Taishan to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger, may have very few opportunities to play if he stayed in Taishan, but in the case of Jinmen Tiger's lack of major generals, he got a total of 13 appearances in the league last season and scored two goals. As a player of the 2002 national junior team, Shi Yan, together with the goalkeeper Guo Tong, defenders Su Bi and Liang Shaowen, who were also selected for the U21 national youth, did not have the opportunity to appear in the Asian arena because they failed to qualify in the Asian junior qualifying round. But last year's Chinese Super League gave Shi Yan an opportunity.
Cangzhou Lions full-back Zhang Xiangshuo was a very optimistic member when Shen Xiangfu, Qu Bo and Frenchman Gong Farong served as the head coach of this age team. But since 2019, it has hardly appeared in the field of vision, until last year's Chinese Super League had 10 appearances and a total of 479 minutes of performance opportunities, which re-attracted the attention of the U21 national youth coaching staff.
Young people like midfielders Wang Haoran and Song Xintao, strikers Chen Xiangyu and Zhao Jianbo, who have never had a national brand experience, are completely because they have become national players for the first time because of their debut in the Chinese Super League. Defender Ibraim Kurban from Xinjiang Tianshan Snow Leopards was selected for his outstanding performance in the Chinese League A, accumulating 860 minutes in 16 appearances last year, ranking eighth among all 01 age group players, including the returning goalkeeper Huang Zihao, forward Efelddin, Yi Xianlong, Tian Yuda and others.
From this point of view, although the Chinese Super League and the Chinese First Division really have no money, the teams face the reality to give young players more opportunities, which may be the so-called "misfortune and blessing, blessing and misfortune".
Goalkeeper Wang Xiaofeng's situation is relatively special. He has also been selected for the national brand, but joined Nagano Paseiro in the J3 League in March 2020, but unfortunately did not get a chance to play. On January 11 this year, he returned to China after his contract with the team expired, and this time he joined the team for inspection.
2
Tao Qianglong led the return of 14 people
In the 50-man roster, a total of 26 players who followed the national youth team to last year's China Second League retained, and these players should be said to have passed the inspection and can enter the 2024 Olympic Standing Reserve. That is to say, even if the national youth team encounters a club in the back or another heavy use, these 26 people can also form a team to play and deal with various matches.
In addition to the new faces, of the 6 players who were banned for disciplinary violations in May 2020, 5 returned after a year and a half, 4 of them performed quite well in last year's Chinese Super League, like Tao Qianglong and Liu Zhurun, who scored two goals, Han Dong and He Longhai also got the opportunity to play, only Peng Of Shanghai Harbor has not yet appeared in the Chinese Super League, but at the end of 2020, he played in the AFC Champions League with Harbor. These five were once the absolute workhorses of this team, but a year and a half later, as the players grew, they also needed to face competition from their teammates.
In addition, nine players also returned to the team after more than a year to receive a more in-depth inspection by the coaching staff. For example, Abra Khan Halik, Yang Zihao, Chen Haoyu, Zhang Yu, Huang Zihao, etc., were originally within the scope of the national youth team's inspection of the second division, but because the club clearly stated that they would be the players that the club focused on, the national youth team did not recruit them last year.
For example, Chen Yuhao represented Wuhan in last year's Chinese Super League, playing a total of 882 minutes, which is the most out-of-play time among the 01 age group players; Harrik, who plays for Shanghai Harbor, has made 17 appearances in 22 rounds of the league last year, which is the most frequent 01 age group player; Yang Zihao is the first 01 age group player to score in the Chinese Super League last year, if it were not for serious injuries, I am afraid that he would not have only 4 appearances to accumulate 238 minutes; and goalkeeper Huang Zihao started in the Midfield of the Chinese League A. With a cumulative playing time of 3,052 minutes, he would have been the only full-time player in last year's League A if he had not been substituted in the second half of the final round. After a year of training in the Chinese Super League, the improvement of the technical and tactical level and personal ability of these players is obviously more concerned by the coaching team. And that's what they're recruiting.
There are also two players who were favored by the coaching staff during last year's National Games, namely Wang Haisheng of The Harbor and Chen Qian of Shenhua. Due to the restrictions on the registration rules of the Chinese Second League, it was impossible for the team to temporarily call them into the team and play in the league last year. The two represented Zhejiang and Shanghai in the National Games respectively, among which Wang Haisheng, who helped Zhejiang team win the gold medal, has previously been selected for the 02 age group national junior team and played in the 2017 Asian Junior Championship qualifiers.
It should be pointed out that Liang Shaowen, Ruan Qilong, Duan Dezhi and Hu Jiaqi of the Beijing Guoan Team all failed in the training list. It is reported that during the consultation of the national youth team from the Guoan Club, the new head coach Xie Feng has made it clear that the new season is ready to fully use these young players, so the pre-season preparation period needs to focus on inspection and training. In this case, the coaching staff of the national youth team did not recruit them into the team this time because they knew more about these players and had always been the main force in the team. And if they can play the main force or main substitute in the Guoan team, they can get playing time in the Chinese Super League, which is of great benefit to both the players themselves and the 01 age group as a whole.