Reporter Chen Yong reports On February 12, in the first match of the U20 Asian Cup, the Chinese U20 national team (hereinafter referred to as the "05 national youth") defeated Qatar 2-1, and on the 15th, the 05 national youth defeated Kyrgyzstan 5-2 and advanced to the quarterfinals one round ahead of schedule. In two consecutive games, there are 5 Taishan players in the starting 11-man lineup, which happens to form the central axis of the midfield, they are: goalkeeper Liu Qiwei, central defenders Shi Songchen and Peng Xiao, and midfielders Yi Mulan and Chen Zeshi. Among them, Yi Mulan showed excellent midfield combing ability, and Chen Zeshi was named the best player in the first game.

In fact, Shandong Taishan has as many as 7 players in the U20 Asian Cup, the other two are central defender Qi Qiancheng and winger Wang Haobin, both of whom are players in the 2006 age group. In addition, Chen Shihan from Rochefort United in Belgium is also from Luneng Academy. They came together 10 years ago, and today, 10 years later, people can see the hope of Mount Tai for the next 10 years.

As we all know, the players in Xinjiang have achieved a blowout outbreak at all levels of national brands and leagues, and many youth training institutions have also paid full attention to Xinjiang players, but for Luneng Football School, they are the earliest practitioners to discover Xinjiang players, and they have insisted on it for 24 years: as early as 2001, Kekevic, who was the head coach of Luneng Football School, went to Xinjiang to select materials, and then Luneng Football School established a perfect selection system in Xinjiang.

Yi Mulan's enlightenment coach is his father, and with the support of his father and the support of Luneng's Xinjiang material selection system, Yi Mulan came to Luneng Football School in 2016. From 2015 to 2016, Yi Mulan, Shi Songchen, and Chen Zeshi became teammates, and it has been nearly 10 years now. Chen Zeshi joined Luneng Football School in 2015; In 2016, Shi Songchen went to Luneng Football School for trial training accompanied by his father and finally stayed at Luneng Football School; Peng Xiao joined Luneng Football School a little later, he joined Luneng Football School after graduating from primary school.

In 2018, this group of Luneng 2005 players began the journey of the national competition, but that season gave these children a blow to the head: Guangzhou Evergrande U13 team won the triple crown of the Youth Super League, FA Cup and Champions Cup, of which in the Youth Super League, Taishan U13 team only won the third place, however, Chen Zeshi was selected as the most valuable player of the Youth Super League that season. At the end of the year, Zhang Tao, the meritorious coach of Luneng Football School, served as the coach of the team, and in 2019, Shandong Taishan U14 team won back the championship of the Youth Super League and FA Cup, and won the double championship.

At that time, the fans were more familiar with and all parties were more concerned about the "Erchen" of the Taishan 05 echelon, namely Chen Zeshi and Chen Shihan, in addition to the tall Peng Xiao also stood out and attracted the attention of all parties.

"Chen Zeshi is a very well-rounded player, at that time in my team, he can play forward, midfield, midfield, etc., including the wing, of course, he can be said to be a midfield free man type player. Chen Shihan is also very good and very distinctive. Peng Xiao can play at central defender, but in the 2019 season, he mainly played as a midfielder, and he can also play as a guest striker. Zhang Tao said.

At that time, Shi Songchen and Yi Mulan were not particularly prominent, Zhang Tao also gave an interpretation of this: "In fact, they are both very good, Shi Songchen faced the biggest problem at that time was young age, he was born on December 30, 2005, two days away from the age of 06, at that time the children were just puberty, not to mention a year, half a year of physical difference is very large, and later after his physical development is good, the talent will naturally appear." Yi Mulan is low-key, doesn't talk much, but is very down-to-earth, and is improving every year, and it is really pleasing to watch his game this time. ”

The Chinese Football Association has also noticed the problems that Shi Songchen once faced: the Chinese Football Association organized a number of training camps for the 2011 age group last year, the last of which was for players born after July 1, in order to give younger children equal opportunities.

This U20 Asian Cup, Zhang Tao is very, very gratified: "In Luneng Football School for more than 20 years, I have brought batch after batch of children, 85 that batch everyone knows, and it is also the last time we qualify for the World Youth Championships, and that batch of Luneng Football School players have developed very well, 20 years later, I have seen the shadow of the past from this batch of 05 age children." ”

Zhang Tao hopes that they can fully realize their talents in the future: "When I took them in 2019, I was not worried about their football path, what I thought about the most was that they must be self-disciplined during the period from adolescence to qualified professional players. Now they are 20 years old, in this U20 Asian Cup, I also see their self-confidence, their hard work, they are all very down-to-earth children, I believe they will have a better development in the future. ”

This group of Shandong Taishan children also has a clear label on their bodies: China B League. In the past 2024 season, at the age of 19 or 18, they competed in the 2024 season of the China B League with Shandong Taishan B team, and finally helped Shandong Taishan B team to reach the championship group and won the sixth place in China B.

Shi Songchen only returned to the B team from the first team in the middle of the 2024 season, and in the first half of the year, he played 11 minutes as a substitute in the first round before not being able to play again. Since returning to the B team, he has made 14 appearances in the second division. In the new season, in order to avoid similar problems among young players, a "B list" has been set up between the first team of the Chinese Super League and the B team of the Chinese Super League, and the players in the list can represent the first team in the Chinese Super League and the B team in the second league.

Yi Mulan also returned to Taishan B in the second half of the season due to injury, and played 11 games in the 2024 season. In fact, before the U20 Asian Cup, Yi Mulan also suffered an injury, but fortunately it did not affect the final game. However, judging from the situation of Mulan in the past year or so, due to the impact of injuries, his competitive condition, especially his physical condition, is far from the best, and as far as the game is concerned, we will also find that head coach Djurdjevic will also replace him for proper protection.

Liu Qiwei, Peng Xiao and Chen Zeshi participated in the 2024 season of the Chinese Second League in full, of which Liu Qiwei played 20 games, Peng Xiao played 24 games with 3 goals and 1 assist, headers are his advantage, Chen Zeshi played 23 games, scored 3 goals and 4 assists.

In addition, Qi Qiancheng also made 18 appearances, Wang Haobin almost missed the 2024 season due to injury, and returned to the B team to make 3 appearances at the end of the season. At the end of last year, two players also represented the Shandong U18 team in the first three major ball games, Wang Haobin scored twice in the first game, and Qi Qiancheng was the team's defensive gate.

In an interview, almost every member of Taishan B team lamented that they had made great progress in the Chinese Second League, because this was their real contact with the professional league and the real beginning of their experience of the professional scene that they had not been exposed to during the youth training period. Han Peng, the head coach of Shandong Taishan B team, was also full of praise for several players, and he also said that the training value of the 2024 season of the China B League is very huge: "There are more difficulties than imagined, the tension under pressure, the crampedness under the big scene, the inadaptability of the confrontation, the inadaptability of the rhythm, the lack of experience, everything is different from the youth game, but just like that, after a year, the whole team and every player have received a very, very big exercise." ”

In the past few days, Taishan fans have been very happy, first on February 11 when Taishan team defeated Gwangju FC 3-1 in the AFC Champions League Classic, and then on the 12th and 15th of the U20 Asian Cup, a number of Taishan youngsters performed well. For this reason, fans also sighed: "This Lantern Festival is happier than the New Year." "In the eyes of many fans, at least judging from the performance of this game, the central axis of the Taishan team's midfield and backfield for many years to come has been determined.

A question then arises: how should their future develop? After all, they are already 20-year-old adults.

The natural support is Shandong Taishan B team and the China B League, such as goalkeeper Liu Qiwei, the possibility of him playing in the first team is extremely low, so his main task is naturally to continue to compete in the China B League. There is also Wang Haobin, he is only 19 years old, and he has just returned to the field not long ago, the left side of the first team of the Taishan team is even more crazy, the two major foreign aid Cressan and Kazaishvili are used to the left side, and Chen Pu in this position, he has not many opportunities to play in the Chinese Super League, and the Chinese League B is undoubtedly a very good choice. Central defender Qi Qiancheng is only 19 years old, and it is also a good choice to continue to compete in the second division, Peng Xiao's performance in the U20 Asian Cup has some ups and downs, and further training is also needed.

It should be noted that with the recovery of professional football in China, including the entry of two new Chinese Super League B teams into the Chinese Second Division, the competition in the new season of the Chinese Second League will be very fierce, and the value of training is undoubted.

But for the Taishan team, Shi Songchen, Yi Mulan and Chen Zeshi are very necessary to be included in the first-team training plan this year: in the central defender position, Khazar's performance is relatively stable, with his foundation, it is completely possible to give Shi Songchen, of course, Peng Xiao some opportunities to play, and further adapt to the Chinese Super League, the training of central defenders is very critical for the Taishan team; In the back position, Cui Kangxi likes to strangle the back, but Yi Mulan's excellent combing ability is not useless, against the middle and lower teams, Yi Mulan can start or come off the bench, and he also has the ability to help the team; Chen Zeshi got the opportunity to play in the middle league as early as the 2021 season, breaking the record of the youngest appearance in the history of the Taishan team at 16 years and 239 days, and it is necessary to accelerate the training, but the problem he faces is that the competition is too fierce, and he is more suitable for the midfield.

In any case, we expect that in addition to being able to play in the Chinese Second League stably, the Taishan 05 youngsters can also gradually play in the Chinese Super League, accelerate their growth through higher-quality games, and gradually realize the dream of fans: to build the excellent midfield configuration of the Taishan team with a local lineup, and on this basis, it can naturally further help the national teams at all levels.