China News Service, Beijing, October 19 (Reporter Bian Liqun) lost to Spain 0:1. The Chinese U17 Women's Football Team ended the current U17 Women's World Cup journey on the evening of the 18th Beijing time.
After the final whistle, the women's football girls burst into tears filled with unwillingness and regret.
But for them, this is by no means the end, it is just a good starting point, and the same is true for Chinese football.
Chinese U17 women's football team.
Image source: China Women's Football Official Weibo.
Unexpected World Cup Journey
This time, the Chinese team's participation in the U17 Women's World Cup can be regarded as a surprise. After the North Korean women's football team retired, the Chinese team, which won the third place in the Asian Junior Championship, made a supplementary entry.
The last time the Chinese team participated in the U17 World Cup was back in 2014.
As the fourth and fourth position, the Chinese team, which is in the last place of all participating teams, cannot expect to get a good lottery in the group, and unexpectedly falls into the "group of death".
The Mexican women's football team in the same group was the last runner-up, the Colombian team has also gained momentum in recent years, and the Spanish women's football team was the last champion.
The Chinese U17 women's football team defeated the last runner-up Mexico women's football team 2:1 in the first match.
Image source: China Women's Football Official Weibo
The Chinese team, who has been away from the World Series stage for a long time, defeated Mexico 2:1 in the first game. Although they lost 0:2 to Colombia in the second game, there are definitely many opportunities in the game.
Facing Spain in the final battle, the Chinese team can only advance by winning. After tenaciously fighting with the opponent for 60 minutes, the Chinese team still failed to resist the stronger opponent. In the end, they lost 0:1 and failed to win 1 and 2 in the group stage. out.
Although the result is a little regrettable, but from the process, it is enough to surprise.
After all, in recent years in world competitions such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games, the adult women's national football team is no longer in the same class when it faces first-class teams such as Spain.
Now that I can play back and forth with strong players in the U17 age group, it is a good signal, and it has also accumulated valuable competition experience for Chinese football.
The starting lineup of the Chinese U17 women's football team against Spain.
Image source: China Women's Football Official Weibo
Stop decadence from U17?
Just as eye-catching as the women's national football team is the men's national football team.
In the Asian preliminaries that ended not long ago, the U17 men's football team defeated the Northern Mariana Islands 9:0 and 11:0, and lost 1:3 to the host Australia in the final battle with one player less.
Judging from the score, it seems to be somewhat expected, but judging from the process of the game, it is still somewhat different from the recent national junior teams.
Especially in the game with Australia, the teenagers of the Chinese team did not "frighten" their opponents, they dared to fight one-on-one and hold the ball reasonably, and the team showed a good integrity.
If it hadn't been for the junior team's early penalty in the second half, the result might have been very different.
China U17 men's football team.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
At the U17 level, the Chinese team failed to advance in the Asian preliminaries in 2016 and 2018.
In addition, the U19 national football team was also eliminated in the Asian preliminaries in 2019, missing the Asian Youth Championship for the first time in 25 years.
The downturn of the youth army has made the decline of Chinese football more and more obvious, and the problem of the lack of connection between the adult national team and the club has become more and more prominent.
Among the players in the 2000-2002 age group who were called up at that time, there were not many outstanding players at the national team level and in the league over the years, and they were the backbone of the 2026 World Cup and the 2030 World Cup.
Fortunately, this decline has now been stopped to a certain extent.
Before the national youth team advanced to the Asian youth competition, the Chinese national youth team also set foot on the Asian preliminaries, with 2 wins, 1 loss and 6 points in the group stage. .
Yang Chen, the head coach of the Chinese U17 men's football team.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
Chinese football road is long and difficult
Although the decline seems to have been stopped, objectively speaking, Chinese football has just returned to a relatively normal state, which is also the "bottom line" that Chinese football should have.
Moreover, judging from the performance of the National Youth Team in the Asian preliminaries, both in terms of individual skills and overall strength, there is still a considerable gap in strength with the strong Asian teams, and the prospect of the main competition is already foreseeable.
Shao Jiayi, the leader of the National Youth Team, said frankly in a previous interview: "Compared with the strong Asian teams, the Chinese team is obviously far behind. In the short term, it is the only way to focus on confrontation, on the whole, on transformation, and on physical reserves."
In 2006, the national youth team with players in the age group was in a slightly better situation. At least in the game with Australia, it showed the strength to compete with the traditional Asian teams, but whether it can continue to maintain a good situation in the main game, or even go further , need to continue to observe.
Data map: The Chinese National Youth Team in the 2019 Panda Cup competition.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
Looking at the records of the Asian Junior Team in recent years, in addition to missing the main competition in 2016 and 2018, and the 2020 Asian Junior Championship was cancelled due to the epidemic, from the 2008 Asian Junior Championship to the 2014 Asian Junior Championship, the Chinese team Failed to qualify for the group for 4 consecutive years.
The most glorious moment of the Chinese team in the Asian Junior Championship was in 2004. The national junior team, which was based on players of the 1987 age group such as Wang Dalei, Yu Dabao, Yang Xu, Li Xuepeng, won the championship. These players also became the impact of the 2018 World Cup. The main team, unfortunately, was only 1 point away from qualifying for the play-offs.
A player in the 2006 age group who was born 2 years later than the peak moment of the national youth team has now become a player of the right age for the national youth team, carrying the hope of Chinese football and continuing to move forward.
China U17 men's football team.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency.
Yang Chen, the coach of the national youth team, also affirmed these players in a previous interview: "The players' performance on the field and team awareness are very good. In the next 10 years, they may lead Chinese football, and I hope they will continue to work hard."
The same is true for the women's national football team. In the next 10 years, they will become the backbone of the women's national football team.
Fortunately, compared with their main competitors, they do not lack competition opportunities such as the World Cup and the Asian Youth Championship. They have accumulated experience in competitions, and they also know their opponents better in actual combat.
For Chinese football, this is a good start, but there is still a long way to go before the men's football returns to the first-class in Asia and the women's football returns to the world-class.
It is hoped that Chinese football will get rid of the decline and start from these players, not just a flash in the pan.
(Finish)