Reporter Lu Mi and Han Bing report On February 18, in the final round of Group A of the U20 Asian Cup, the national youth lost 1-2 to Australia and won the second place in the group, and the opponent in the 1/4 knockout round will be the first in Group B. On the 19th, the chaotic Group B ushered in the end, Saudi Arabia defeated North Korea in 85 minutes and finally won the first place in the group, so, at 16:15 on the 22nd (this Saturday), the national youth will face Saudi Arabia in the 1/4 finals. This match alone will determine who from both sides will qualify for the World Junior Championships.

After 2005, the national youth team has been absent from the World Youth Championships for 20 years. In the group stage of this Asian Youth Championship, under the background of the outstanding performance of the U20 national youth, the outside world is expecting them to break the game.

In the final round of the group stage against Australia, because both teams have qualified ahead of schedule and the situation in Group B is not yet clear, this battle for the top spot has also become a training battle for both sides. Among them, the national youth started to rotate 6 players, although coach Djurdjevic arranged Wang Yudong, Mao Weijie and other main players to play, but on the whole, the players have been given a certain degree of rest.

On the 19th, the national youth did not arrange outdoor training, and the whole team had a day off to accumulate strength for the 1/4 finals on the 22nd.

The good news for the youth team was that there were no injuries and no new yellow cards for the Australian game. But it can be seen from the game that there are still problems in the defense of the national youth, and the national youth have conceded goals in the 3 group games. However, fortunately, the offense of the national youth is not bad, Liu Chengyu, Kuai Jiwen, Wang Yudong, Mao Weijie, including Zhu Pengyu, who was substituted for the second game, all showed good offensive ability.

In October last year, the national youth went to Saudi Arabia to practice, drew 0-0 in the first game, and lost 0-2 in the second game. Liu Qiwei, Peng Xiao, Shi Songchen, He Yiran, Chen Zeshi, Wang Yudong, Liu Chengyu and others all played. The two goals conceded in the second defeat came from set-pieces, which is believed to be the focus of Djurdjevic and the national youth players.

Judging from the performance of the previous three games in the group stage, the Saudi team's skills are relatively delicate compared to the opponents in the same group, but they are not as tough as Iraq and Jordan. However, no matter who the opponent is, the national youth will take it seriously, while emphasizing that "I am the main one." ”

Speaking before the start of the Under-20 Asian Cup, Djurdjevic said: "No matter who the opponent is, all we have to do is work according to the plan that has been made, do every training session and play every minute of the game. As long as you can do this, you can achieve good results. ”

"In the quarter-finals, the opponent may be stronger, we have to defend well first, and then look for offensive opportunities." Xiong Jizheng said that the team will implement the tactical arrangements of the coaching staff, play their own games, and "do their best to win every game." ”

If there are no accidents, the starting point of the national youth should not be much different from the first two games of the group stage. It is worth mentioning that the venue of this game is not the Baoti Center Stadium in the last two games of the group stage, but the Shenzhen Youth Training Center in the first game against Qatar.

The Saudi national youth coach is Brazilian Suarez, who has previously coached Santos, Corinthians, Botafogo and Riyadh Crescent Under-17 in 2021. In November 2022, he became the coach of the Saudi national youth team, and in January 2024, he also became the coach of the Saudi U23 team. In last year's U23 Asian Cup, he led the team to lose to Uzi in the quarter-finals.

The Saudi national youth team has been to Europe for training many times, and has played against the U19 team of strong teams such as the Netherlands, Slovenia, Croatia, Turkey, Uruguay and Morocco. In the U20 Asian Cup qualifiers in September last year, Saudi Arabia won all 3 games and kept a clean sheet against the opponent to qualify, and before the U20 Asian Cup, the Saudi team played 3 warm-up matches with Uzi and Iran, and defeated Uzi 1-0.

Most of the players in the Saudi national youth team come from the four major domestic giants, and only midfielder Ghamdi plays for Nijmegen in the Eredivisie. The biggest name in the team is the 17-year-old main striker Haji, who not only played in the Saudi league, but also jumped three levels in a row, was selected for the Saudi U20, U23 and senior national teams, and was even selected for the Saudi Arabian team Asian Cup squad early last year. In June last year, when he participated in a warm-up match with the Saudi U23 team, he broke through the door of the Mexican U23 team. However, in the group stage of this tournament, he played almost 3 games but did not score anything. Also playing in the Saudi league are the main central defender Banawi, right-back Gulemish, strikers Shamrani, Haibari and so on.

The Saudi national youth mainly plays the 442 formation, and the starting lineup is relatively fixed. Goalkeeper Shankidi (Jeddah United) has been selected for the senior national team squad as early as 2023, but has not been able to play; The main central defender combination is Mu Banawi and Sa Banawi, the latter was sent off against Iraq, but returned after the 1/4 final suspension, which is good for the Saudi Arabian team's defense; The left and right wing-backs are Oman and Issa respectively.

Among the midfield four, the national youth should pay the most attention to Riyadh Victory's left winger Al-Hakawi (pictured above), the Saudi Arabian team scored three goals in the group stage, he participated in all of them, scored the winning goal in the first game against Jordan, equalized in the second half of the final game against North Korea, and Khaybari's goal to overtake the score came from his assist. In addition, Hazazi and Ghamdi are in charge of the defense, and on the right is the Liuyang attacker Ghamdi, who is responsible for opening up space on the wing.

The only uncertainty about the main team of the Saudi team is the forward line, except for the absolute main Haji, Shamrani and Atal took turns to play, but the performance was not satisfactory.At present, the Saudi team's offensive efficiency is not high, with a total of 35 shots on goal in the group stage, and only 3 goals were scored in 15 shots. In addition, although only 2 goals were conceded in 3 games, the defense was not consistent against strong teams. Recently, they have conceded goals against Uzi, Iran, etc., and even North Korea conceded first in the first half in the final game of the group stage. Therefore, if the national youth can show their offensive strength, they have every chance to complete the breakthrough.