U19 national team suffers a crushing defeat at Toulon Tournament, a harsh "advanced test"

Reporter Chen Yong reports Losing 0-3 to DR Congo, the U19 national team (the 2007-born youth team) suffered their first defeat in this Toulon Tournament. Although the heavy loss was partly due to the goalkeeper's mistake, in reality, the 2007 youth team was extremely passive in overall play — they had zero shots on goal and zero corner kicks. Of course, we cannot ignore the objective reason: DR Congo was actually an U21 team, two years older than the 2007 youth team.

In this match, several players who had participated in the 15th round of the Chinese Super League arrived in France to join the team. Among them, Deng Jiefu, Yang Zhanpeng, and Jia Weiwei appeared in the starting lineup. Head coach Jurić also made some rotations in other positions, with Yi Heshan, Chen Zihan, and Peng Shunjie starting. Five players who started in the previous match continued in the starting eleven: Yue Ruijie, Huang Shenghao, Jiang Yixiang, Xie Chuyun, and Miao Rundong.

In the first half of this match, the 2007 youth team played very passively, but their overall defensive organization was relatively good, and the teams went into halftime with a 0-0 draw. After the start of the second half, the 2007 youth team maintained a period of stable defense. Unfortunately, in the 58th minute, goalkeeper Yi Heshan made a save error, allowing DR Congo to take a 1-0 lead.

This mistake and goal somewhat affected the mentality of the 2007 youth team. Four minutes later, in the 62nd minute, DR Congo scored a tricky shot to extend the lead to 2-0. In the 83rd minute, DR Congo scored with a header to make it 3-0.

Without the unexpected error, the scoreline might not have been so wide. However, we need to clearly recognize that the real gap is not the score but the physical confrontation, running ability, and technical-tactical level displayed by both sides on the field. More precisely, DR Congo's game rhythm and intensity were something the 2007 youth team simply could not adapt to. In this match, the 2007 youth team had zero shots, while DR Congo had 8 shots, with all 3 on target resulting in goals. Additionally, DR Congo had 6 corner kicks to none for the 2007 youth team.

One objective factor that must be acknowledged is that DR Congo's players were two years older than the 2007 youth team. This age gap, combined with the inherent technical and tactical differences, made it predictable that the 2007 youth team would be extremely passive. For the players of the 2007 youth team, the significance of this match is to see the gaps between themselves and their opponents—both individually and collectively—through higher-level competition, and thus find the direction for improvement.

This match itself offers many lessons to summarize, such as consistency in performance and mental stability. However, the more crucial point is how our young players can better transition to the level of professional footballers. Objectively speaking, in recent years, the momentum of China's youth development has been quite noticeable: nine years ago, in 2017, the Chinese Football Association introduced the U23 policy, when even 23-year-old domestic players relied on the policy to get playing time. Today, it has become common for young players to secure their places in professional leagues through their own performances rather than relying on policies. Nevertheless, our trend of youth development still lags somewhat behind on a global scale.

In this U19 national team, apart from Deng Jiefu (Beijing Guoan, CSL), Yang Zhanpeng (Qingdao West Coast, CSL), Wei Xiangxin (Meizhou Hakka, China League One), Yi Heshan (Shandong Taishan B Team, China League Two), as well as Wang Gengrui (CSL, not played in this match), Zhang Jiaming (overseas), and Yang Mingrui (CSL), the rest of the players have had relatively limited playing time in professional leagues this season. If there were more players with richer professional league experience, the overall technical and tactical performance would be more comfortable when facing high-intensity physical confrontations and fast-paced matches.

After two rounds of the Toulon Tournament, the 2007 youth team sits in fourth place in Group A with a record of one win and one loss. They will face Colombia U19 in the next round; Colombia U19 previously lost 3-5 to Saudi Arabia U21.