The reporter reported coldly The 1/4 finals of the U20 Asian Cup are over, and all the teams representing Asia in the World Youth Championship have been produced. On the whole, the U20 Asian Cup and the Asian football senior national team are basically converging. Compared to two years ago, the gap between the top eight teams is narrowing. At the same time, these teams have also emerged some outstanding new stars, who will be the future enemies of Chinese football.
It should be noted that in this U20 Asian Cup, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Iran (Lake), who have more foreign players, are not the strongest lineup, but Australia's Jovanovic, Iran's Golizadai, Saudi Arabia's Haqawi, Japan's Takaoka Lingsa, South Korea's Kim Tae-won and so on are all performing well.
In this year's U20 Asian Cup, after the first four rounds of matches, some efficient new star goalscorers with outstanding individual ability and basic ability to undertake the team's scoring tasks have emerged. Jovanovic (pictured), who took the lead in equalizing for Australia in the quarterfinals, has 3 goals and 1 assist in 4 games, and is the arrow man of the Australian striker. A descendant of Serbian immigrants, he came through the Adelaide United youth system and won the AFL Best Newcomer award as early as the 2022/23 season. Last season, he scored four goals in 24 appearances (nine starts) in the Australian Premier League, in addition to two assists, and has scored four goals in just 12 appearances this season.
Bardolato, who played for Melbourne Victory, participated in the last U20 Asian Cup, this time with 2 goals and 2 assists in 3 games, and played a pass in the quarterfinals, first assisted his teammates and then equalized, and then scored the winning goal himself to eliminate the last runner-up Iraq. Like Jovanovic, Bardorato began to establish himself at Western Sydney Wanderers last season. At the World Youth Championships in Chile at the end of the year, if the two can perform, they are likely to stay abroad.
There are many foreign players in the Australian national youth, such as goalkeeper Hall (Brighton, Premier League), central defender Esposito (Lecce, Serie A), defender Engelst (Benfica, Portuguese Super League) and right wingback Benny (Queens Park Rangers, Championship).
The Saudi Arabian team, which eliminated the national youth, has been shortlisted for the last 4 World Youth Championships for 3 times, and this time, they are mainly youth talents from the four local giants, and the most eye-catching is Riyadh's victorious winger Hakawi. Although it is difficult to play in a club full of foreign players, it is a must-play in the Saudi national youth team. In the group stage, he participated in all three goals of the team, scored the winning goal in the first game of the group stage, scored the winning goal in the first game of the group stage, played a pass in the final game against North Korea to help the Saudi Arabian team qualify, and also played the whole game against the national youth team in the quarterfinals.
Iranian striker Golizadai scored 4 goals and 2 assists in 4 games, and in the first game of the group stage, the Indonesian team, which has a number of naturalized players, participated in all three goals with 1 shot and 2 passes, and also scored against strong opponents Uzi and Japan. In August last year, he also broke through the door of the national youth team.
Compared with West Asia, Japan and South Korea did not send the strongest team this time. The Japanese team has 9 young players under the age of 19, including goalkeeper Ryuwei Araki (17 years old), forward midfielder Ryunosuke Sato (18 years old) is the main force, and 17-year-old Takaoka Lingsa is a substitute, but contributed 1 goal and 1 assist. The captain of the central defender, Ichihara, played in the J2 and J3 leagues for two years, and the left-back Hitoki Takahashi, who was born in the La Masia Academy, participated in the 2023 World Youth Championships, and the main defender Yusho Oseki, and Rei Umegi, who assisted Konari Ogura in the quarterfinals, also played in the J3 League last season.
South Korea's national youth are attracting more attention for Kim Tae-won, the only player in Europe, and Yoon Yeon-yong, a winger with a professional resume in the K-League. In the group stage, Kim Tae-won handed over 3 goals and 1 assist in 3 games; The 18-year-old Yoon Yee-yong participated in the U17 Asian Cup and the U17 World Junior Championship two years ago, and as a right winger, he contributed 4 goals and 1 assist in the U17 Asian Cup to help the team reach the final, and was the main wing of the South Korean U17 and U20 national teams. In the future, the national football team will play against Japan and South Korea in Asia, and these opponents who already have professional resumes will be the main threat.
In addition, the defending champion of the U20 Asian Cup, Uzi, is also full of talent, most of the players in the main squad have domestic league experience, and the Golden Boot Ollimboyev has played in Tashkent cotton farmers four years ago; Goalkeeper Sobirov, centre-back Abdulaev, right-back Torkunbekov and rotational midfielder Karimov are all young players who are a year younger and have experience in the professional league.