Reporter Wang Wei reports At the beginning of April, the U17 national team will play the U17 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. The Under-17 squad is in the same group as hosts Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Thailand, and if they make it out of the group, they will qualify for the World Junior Championship in Qatar in November.

Some of the players in this team have already made their debut in the Chinese Super League, and after the U20 national team, they also have the opportunity to impact the world stage. However, opportunities have always come with challenges. In the recent preparations, in addition to injuries, hot weather is also a test that this team must face. Kenichi Uemura, the Japanese head coach of the U17 national team, sees qualifying from the group as the primary goal, and he believes that this young team needs to perform on a higher platform, and any achievement is inseparable from the accumulation of bits and pieces on weekdays.

On March 11, Foshan, the U17 national team lost 0-2 to the U18 national elite training team. Two days later, the U17 national team lost again to their opponents with a score of 0-4 after rotating the entire starting line-up.

It's difficult to play big at this age, but the two warm-up games still reflect the difficulties faced by the Under-17 national team. The first is the hot weather. After the first game, Kenichi Uemura said that the players were in average condition on the field, and "70% of them were affected by the hot weather". "The heat causes a huge drain on the players' energy, making it impossible for them to think and make decisions on the pitch in a timely manner," he said. "It is worth mentioning that the weather in the Guangzhou-Foshan area has been hot and humid recently, and the temperature is as high as 30 degrees in the afternoon.

In addition to the heat, another challenge the team will face in Saudi Arabia is playing at high altitudes. "There are usually two ways to adapt to the plateau, one is to go to the plateau more than two weeks in advance to acclimatize, and the other is to go to the local area two to three days before the competition to prepare. According to the recent training abroad situation, these two methods are not realistic. Kenichi Uemura said.

While climate issues will have an impact on the team's performance, Kenichi Uemura prefers to emphasise the use of team strength to deal with it. 'The way to deal with these problems is to improve our teamwork, and we can't just stick to 11 starters for every 90 minutes, but we need to increase the depth of the bench and improve the tactical understanding and execution of the game by the substitutes.

At present, nearly half of the players in the national junior team are affected by injuries, including Wang Gengrui, Elinizar Luo Heman, Yao Junyu, Abibulla and other main players who did not participate in the warm-up game due to injury. In this regard, Kenichi Uemura hopes that the injured players can recover as soon as possible and the team can play the U17 Asian Cup with full health, "As the head coach, I definitely hope that they can recover from their injuries as soon as possible and return as soon as possible." ”

Two consecutive warm-up games ended in defeat without scoring a goal, and the results were clearly not satisfactory. But revealing the problem three weeks before the opening game of the Asian Cup is not a bad thing for preparation. "The players' understanding of tactics is not much different from before, and even through the accumulation of games, there is still some improvement and improvement." Kenichi Uemura said.

Finding problems in the game and then solving them through training, forming a virtuous circle between finding problems and solving them is one of Kenichi Uemura's coaching philosophy. "Every coach has their own style and way of doing things. It is enough for the professional team to maintain the intensity of one game per week, and it is more important to find problems in the game and solve them through training. Rather than playing in the warm-up games, I prefer to ensure the time and quality of the team's daily training. He said.

Looking back on the preparation process of the U17 national team, after the team qualified for the Asian Cup through the qualifiers in October last year, it started training in Kunming and Japan at the end of last year and February this year. Before the official start of the Asian Cup, they will also travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates for 10 days of preparation, during which they will warm up with the teams participating in the tournament.

Regarding the goal of this event, Kenichi Uemura made it clear: "First qualify from the group, and then strive for a better position." ”

"I've heard that some players have set a goal to win the title, not to mention whether it can be achieved, but at least that high goal is good for the players. They will work hard to achieve this goal, including daily training and off-field life management, although there is still a gap between us and the strong teams, but as long as we can keep doing our best, it is not impossible to achieve the goal. Kenichi Uemura added.

In the U20 Asian Cup in February this year, the U20 national team lost to Saudi Arabia in the top 8 and missed the World Youth Championship; In September last year, the Chinese team lost 1-2 at home to Saudi Arabia in the round of 18 with one more player; This week, China will play Saudi Arabia away in the round of 18; In the upcoming U17 Asian Cup, the U17 national team will meet the host Saudi Arabia team in its first game, which is also the fourth time that the national team has played Saudi national teams at all levels in a year.

When asked if the previous quarter-finals between the U20 national team and Saudi Arabia were relevant, Kenichi Uemura gave a negative answer, "We are a different team and will not be affected by other previous matches. These players have their own characteristics and I will make the most of them while continuing to stick to the technical and tactical style of play that suits this team. ”

Kenichi Uemura pays great attention to the team's pressing in the front court, and the two goals scored by the Chinese team against South Korea in the Asian Cup qualifiers last year were both from the quick attack launched by the front players after the steal. In his system, every defender up front is a number 10 and can score as long as he can deliver a quality final pass after a break. For this Asian Cup, he believes that the characteristics of the three opponents in the group stage are conducive to the U17 national team to play its advantage when switching from defense to attack. Kenichi Uemura is reluctant to expand too much on the specific vision of the game process before the game, he believes that the analysis of the game should be specific to each game moment, and the coach needs to make reasonable tactical adjustments based on the situation on the field.

Kenichi Uemura also believes that the performance of the U20 national team in the Asian Youth Championship has given people expectations for the future of Chinese football, and this expectation is not only the driving force for the U17 national team to move forward, but also the "pressure" that they must overcome on the way to becoming professional players.

Kenichi Uemura came to China in 2020 and has been in China for 6 years. His first stop in China was the Guangzhou R&F team, so he still lives in Guangzhou when he has no national team preparation tasks.

Kenichi Uemura told reporters that he used to live in the city center because he liked to raise dogs, and later moved to a place a little farther away from the city center. Uemura is well acquainted with school football and youth football in Guangzhou, and he watches youth games in Guangzhou whenever he has time.

Because of his understanding of Guangzhou campus football, there will be a special player like Yan Yuzhe in the U17 national team this year. He is a member of the U17 national team and a sophomore at the High School Affiliated to South China Normal University, and played three games as a starter in last year's qualifiers. Regarding Yan Yuzhe, Kenichi Uemura said: "Whether the players are from professional clubs, youth training institutions, or schools, my selection criteria are the actual level of the players and whether their tactical characteristics can be used to the maximum extent in the team. On the other hand, Yan Yuzhe was selected for the national junior team as a player of campus football, and he can also adapt to the training intensity here, which shows that he usually trains very hard. ”

Kenichi Uemura is a China expert, he has his own knowledge and understanding of Chinese football, "I have been in China for 6 years, and I have seen many potential players here, as long as we can find the right and suitable path and stick to it, plus we have so many excellent players, I think the future of Chinese football is very promising." ”

Kenichi Uemura continued: "China has not advanced to the stage of a world-class competition for a long time, although this is an objective fact, but this does not mean that we have to deny all the technical and tactical play styles of the past, there are positive experiences in this, we must retain those good aspects, form our own technical and tactical play, and the most important thing is to persevere." It is through the continuous exploration and persistence of the past that Japanese football has achieved its current prosperity. ”

Referring to the areas where youth football needs to be improved, Kenichi Uemura believes that the format of all kinds of youth competitions should be mainly league-based, "Japanese youth competitions are generally concentrated on weekends, and teams with similar strength in the same region will play teaching matches or official matches. Despite China's size, it would be a great help for young people to develop a regional-scale league with at least one high-level and high-confrontation warm-up match per week. ”

"For the team and the players, what topics they need to complete in the short, medium and long term, they need to plan in advance. The cyclical performance of the league allows coaches to instill tactical thinking in young players on a continuous basis, allowing them to progress in different aspects at different stages. Kenichi Uemura explained his advice.

Regarding the expectations of the outside world, Kenichi Uemura said: "I believe in the ability of these players, and I hope that they can show themselves on a bigger stage, and I hope to see them become a member of the national team in the future and take on the mission of Chinese football." ”