Reporter Lu Mi and Han Bing report At 16:15 on February 22, China's U20 national youth will usher in the key battle of the U20 Asian Cup 1/4 finals at the Shenzhen Youth Training Center, the opponent is Saudi Arabia U20, and the winner of this game will directly advance to the 2025 Chile World Youth Championship - this is the only chance for China's U20 national youth to return to the World Youth Championship after 20 years, this is the most important game in the football career of this group of young players, and it is also a call of mission from Chinese football.

Djurdjevic said: "We are not at a disadvantage against any opponent, we have shown [we] have the ability and hope to occupy a high position in Asia," Djurdjevic said. "After 20 years of waiting, at this moment this afternoon, the Chinese U20 national youth aims to break the fate, enter the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, and once again go to the historical mission of the world.

Therefore, for this encounter, the Chinese U20 national youth did not feel too much pressure from the opponent, the real pressure comes from the meaning given by this game - the Chinese U20 national youth has missed the final promotion (2006-2023) for 5 consecutive Asian Youth Championships, once we have the hard power to break the fate, the expectation of breaking the game itself will become a kind of motivation and pressure.

In the group stage of the last U20 Asian Cup, the Chinese U20 national youth defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 with the goals of Mutalifu and Xu Bin, and finally beat the opponent to advance. However, Saudi Arabia has gone to Europe many times in recent years for training, and its overall strength should not be underestimated. Djurdjevic said in an interview: "I have forgotten about the previous Saudi Arabian games and focused on their last few games. It just so happened that I also went to watch the Saudi Arabian game, and we know enough about the opponent now, and I also know that there is no running track in the venue for our next game, so I hope the fans will come and cheer us on. ”

Djurdjevic, who has always been calm, made a rare invitation to the fans, which shows that he also has a keen desire for this match.

From the point of view of preparation, in the third round of the previous group stage, the Chinese U20 national youth adopted a rotation strategy, and the main force was fully rested, while the opponent ended the game one day later, and the main force was dispatched in the game with the North Korean national youth, the game process was very difficult, and the overall consumption was relatively large. In terms of physical fitness, China's U20 national youth has certain advantages.

The Chinese U20 national youth is likely to continue the previous style of play in this game, because the technical and tactical style of the Saudi Arabian national youth is easy to make mistakes under high-intensity confrontation, and the Chinese U20 national youth can learn from the experience of defeating Qatar in the group stage, and use the skills and speed of Wang Yudong and Kuai Jiwen to create a threat. And the opponent lost points twice because of set-pieces in the group stage, and the Chinese U20 national youth can also use this to break the game.

As the most important game of the U20 Asian Cup, the Chinese U20 national youth must stabilize their defense, avoid the problem of unstable defense exposed in the group stage, and on this basis, give full play to the offensive advantages they are good at, and the hope of promotion is still relatively large. This campaign is not only related to the qualification of the World Youth Championships, but also carries the historical mission of Chinese football to rebuild the confidence of youth training. As Djurdjevic said, this national youth team has fully demonstrated the quality to be in a higher position, and when the opportunity comes, all we have to do is give it our all.

After qualifying from the group, the Saudi Under-20 national youth team began training on Thursday. Brazil coach Luis Suarez divided the squad into two groups, with the main squad against North Korea recovering and the rest of the players training normally, and finally arranging a small match. Suarez said that Saudi Arabia has one day less rest than China, and the main focus is on physical recovery before the quarterfinals. It is worth noting that the Saudi U20 national youth team has no injuries and suspensions and can play at full capacity.

Saudi Arabia's "Sports Daily" believes that Suarez will make fine-tuning to the starting lineup, the team will still play the 442 formation, the main central defender Saleh Banawi, who was suspended in the third round of the group stage, will return to the starting lineup, and he will return to the starting lineup in the two games he previously played as the starting central defender, and the Saudi team only conceded 1 goal against the strong enemy Iraq. In addition, right-back Issa, who came off the bench against North Korea, is likely to start. Compared with the inefficient offensive end, the Saudi media is still more comfortable with the defense of the Saudi U20 national youth team.

Saudi Arabia's midfield will not change much, especially the attacking core right winger Al-Hakawi and midfielder Hazazi. However, there are doubts about whether North Korea's midfielders Ziad Ghamdi and Rakan Ghamdi, who were substituted at half-time, will be able to continue to start at that time. However, as the only foreign player in the Saudi team, Rakan Ghamdi is still very likely to start on the right side. In addition, Suarez's arrangement up front is also in doubt. In addition to centre-forward Haji, who already has a resume as a senior Saudi international, another candidate is uncertain. In the three games of the group stage, Suarez used Shamrani and Attar successively, but they were not satisfactory.

Khybari, who came off the bench against North Korea and scored the winning goal to ensure Saudi Arabia's top spot in the group, is likely to get a starting spot. In the group stage, Al Khaibari, who has been selected for the Saudi senior national team, came off the bench and finally scored the decisive goal in the third game.

The Saudi media is more worried about the home advantage of the U20 national football team, and they believe that the Chinese national youth has excited the fans. Moreover, in the 2010 U19 Asian Youth Championship held in China, the U19 national youth team defeated the Saudi Arabian team 3-1 at home in Zibo in the group stage. (Of course, two years ago, in the Uzbekistan U20 Asian Cup, the U20 national football team also defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the group stage.) ）

However, in the quarterfinals of the 2004 U19 Asian Youth Championship, Saudi Arabia defeated the U19 national youth team 4-1, which was the only meeting between the two teams in the knockout stage of the competition. Moreover, in the U19 Asian Youth Championship/U20 Asian Cup held in the East Asian region, the Saudi Arabian team has achieved good results before. In 1998 (Thailand) and 2010 (China), they both reached the top 4, and in 2018 they won the championship in Indonesia.