Reporter Lu Mi reports On the 22nd, a few hours before the opening of the 2025 Chinese Super League, the U20 national youth team suffered a stoppage time kill from Saudi Arabia in the 1/4 finals of the Asian Cup, and the dream of returning to the World Youth Championship after 20 years was shattered again.

The national youth team is not without opportunities, but when they grasp the initiative in the game, they miss good opportunities and lose good games. The powerlessness of the end of the world made the national youth general cry bitterly. But the reality is so cruel, there are still too many difficulties and obstacles to face on the new Long March of Chinese football.

This is of course the most important test of their careers so far for the national youth players who have carried too much expectation since this tournament, but failure does not mean that there is nothing left, just as the fans in the stands sang "Mariner" for them after the game, their long professional football journey has just passed the first stop: young people, wipe away tears and look up.

China's U20 national youth finally ushered in the most important game of this U20 Asian Cup, facing the Saudi Arabian national youth in the knockout round. After the final round of the group stage, the number one striker Liu Chengyu also returned from the ban, and head coach Djurdjevic lined up his most commonly used lineup in the group stage, continuing to dominate the high press and wing attack to seize the opportunity of the game.

At the beginning of the game, the Saudi team tried to use high pressure to force the Chinese players to make mistakes in the back. After the national youth team won possession of the ball, it continued to divide the sides through the midfield organization, and Wang Yudong on the left side formed a breaking point, playing a smooth combination of side and center.

In the 16th minute, the Chinese national youth played a quick counterattack, Wang Yudong ate the opponent's right back, quickly killed near the opponent's penalty area, crossed to the middle, and followed the goalkeeper to keep up with the shot, but unfortunately, this shot did not hit the opponent's interference and missed a great opportunity to rewrite the score.

After withstanding the opponent's high pressure and playing the offensive effect they wanted, the national youth became more confident, strengthened the steal in the opponent's half, took the initiative to find physical confrontation, and took over the initiative in the game. In the 30th minute, it was still the connection between Kuai Jiwen and Wang Yudong, but the latter's push in the far corner of the goalkeeper and defender almost passed the post. In the first half, the counterattack played by two transitions, the national youth vividly showed their advantage in the ground attack.

In the 58th minute of the game, Yi Mulan took the ball and made a quick transition, and Wang Yudong on the left side once again exploded the opponent and created a penalty opportunity. Just when everyone saw the hope of scoring, Liu Chengyu took the penalty without hitting the angle and was saved by the opponent's goalkeeper.

In the eyes of many, it may have been a very demoralizing moment, but after that, the national youth were able to continue to create a threat in front of goal. Five minutes after the penalty kick, Liu Chengyu got another good opportunity, Mao Weijie's cross from the right swept to the goal, but the No. 9 national youth who failed to adjust his body kicked and kicked the shot, and he angrily beat the ground with remorse.

Each time he came closer to the goal, but he was never able to change the scoreline, and the balance of victory gradually began to tilt. In this game, the Saudi national youth adopted a partial rotation strategy, and several main attackers on the offensive side were placed on the bench, with the purpose of gradually hitting the court when the national youth had physical problems.

The opponent also chooses the wing first, and the number one winger Hakawi mainly corresponds to the right wing-back Yang Xi, who is also excellent in attack. The main defensive pressure of the national youth in this game also came from the right side. However, for the defensive end, Djurdjevic clearly made an important deployment, and when the opponent held the ball to the side, the help defense in the middle was quickly put in place.

When the opponent wants to play a quick counterattack, it is often the three offensive players who face the return defense of the national youth six, blocking the opponent's passing line, and also doing a good job of man-to-man defense. For most of the game, in the defensive third zone of the national youth, it was difficult for the opponent to penetrate by relying on ground attacks.

It must be said that the mentality of the national youth team in this game is stable, whether it is in the face of the continuous pressure of the opponent in the opening stage, or the failure to score many goals in the game, including after missing a penalty, the players did not have any hesitation and frustration, but constantly attacked the opponent's defense.

Although the team did not suffer from a premature decline in fitness as in the group stage, with the Saudi Arabian team launching a round of onslaught after a race-like substitution, the national youth team was still difficult to cope with with only two substitutions - in stoppage time, there was a huge gap in the wing defense, and the opponent was killed, and there was no way back.

Objectively evaluated, whether in terms of the intensity of the game or the difficulty, the test brought to the national youth team by this game is all-round, and the team has overcome most of the problems that arose in the previous group stage. However, in the case of controlling the situation, he repeatedly missed the opportunity to rewrite the score, and that unwillingness still made many players cry silently after the game.

Speaking after the game, Djurdjevic said he was proud of his players: "I thought about a lot of results, but I never imagined it. It's hard to say, that's what we are in the industry. Sometimes you lack luck, but you can't do anything about it. We deserved a win and I'm happy and proud of my players, they gave it their all and the lads are the perfect players. ”

'We played in our own way, we controlled the game but only made a small mistake after 90 minutes and we missed a penalty, what can I say? It's tough, but it's just the beginning, and that's the lesson of life. They're going to play professional football for 10 to 15 years and sometimes you have to be prepared to accept disappointments like that. Djurdjevic sighed.

Djurdjevic made only two substitutions in the second half when the Saudi Arabian team continued to make five substitutions from the 63rd minute, namely Wang Yifan replaced Mao Weijie in the 78th minute, and Xiong Jizheng replaced Mulan in the 87th minute, which caused a lot of controversy after the game.

Djurdjevic said: "It's complicated to explain, sorry, but you don't understand this, I don't want to say anything about this. We were waiting for extra time, we were waiting for another 30 minutes of the game, so we kept some players and we did the calculations. But such an explanation clearly did not satisfy everyone.

For Liu Chengyu, who missed the penalty, Djurdjevic did not blame, "Because we prepared all the situations in advance, and I know the situation on the field well, but I didn't expect him to miss the penalty." Liu Chengyu is a good player and he will be an important part of the Chinese team. He's the first penalty taker, you can't change it, and he's taking the penalty because it's his responsibility. He said.

Because of the failure to participate in the World Youth Championships, the next team will not train for a period of time this year, and whether Djurdjevic will continue to lead the team depends on the results of the comprehensive consideration of the Chinese Football Association.