Montague Cup: The U16 men's team has set a record, and the U16 women's team finished second

The reporter reported coldly China's national teams at all levels are playing in a step-by-step manner. The U17 national youth team finished the U17 Asian Cup group stage in Saudi Arabia and missed the U17 World Cup, and the U16 national youth is playing the Montague Cup in France, which is the most important warm-up match before the U17 Asian Cup next year.

On the evening of April 19, Beijing time, the U16 national junior team coached by Japanese coach Toshi Ukishima defeated the Vendée U17 selection team 2-1 and ranked second in the group stage with a goal difference. This is the first time that the U16 national football team has reached the semi-finals in 10 times, and it is also the first time that they have scored and scored points, which has set a record in the history of participating teams. At 19:15 on Monday, the U16 major general and the Mexican U16 national junior compete for the third place.

At the same time, the U16 women's national junior football team, which participated in the Montague Cup women's football competition, entered the final for the first time in the Montague Cup, and lost 0-1 to the Japanese U-16 women's football team in the final, missing the championship and winning the runner-up of this event.

Founded in 1973, the Montague Cup is a famous junior invitational tournament in Europe and even the world, and Deschamps, Desailly, Hadji, Nedved, Pirlo, Thierry, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez, Benzema, and Mbappe have all participated in this event. The previous 9 U16 national youth in the tournament is zero wins and zero goals, the most recent experience was in 2017, the national football U16 selection team first lost 0-2 to Cameroon in the group stage, 0-3 to France, and then 0-4 to England in qualifying, 0-1 to Morocco, 4 games all lost 10 goals and no goals.

This time the participants are the U16 national youth led by Japanese coach Toshi Ukishima, in which defenders Huang Zijie, Wang Xiuhao and striker Kwong Zhaolei play in Europe. Before the competition, the team had been training in Europe, beating Wolfsburg 3-1 and Borussia Mönchenchen U16 1-0 in the warm-up match.

The U16 undergraduates of the Montague Cup are in Group A with France U16, Cameroon U16 and Vendée U17, who replaced the Ivory Coast U16 team, and stubbornly drew 0-0 with France U16 in the first game, which has accumulated confidence for the players. Evergrande Football School central defender Lu Qizheng served as the captain, sitting in the defensive line, Kuang Zhaolei on the left side of the offensive end, goalkeeper Xu Zengfu in the starting lineup, defenders Zhang Xuyao, Li Junpeng, midfielder Kong Xinuo, winger He Sifan are all from Taishan Academy, accounting for almost half of the main lineup.

In the second match against the Cameroon U16 team, the U16 national youth scored directly with a free kick by Xiao Chenxi in the 36th minute and won 1-0, which was the first victory of the U16 national youth in the Montague Cup. Xiao Chenxi is also from Taishan Youth Training, and Wang Feinia of Evergrande Football School and Kuang Zhaolei of Liuyang are also performing very well. The U16 national team with one win and one draw in the first two games locked in the semi-finals in advance, but the goal difference was three less than the French U16 team that beat Cameroon 4-0 and ranked second in the group.

The Vendée U17 selection team is a temporary substitute for the retired Ivorian U16 team, and according to the regulations, the match between the U16 national youth team and the Vendée U17 selection team will not be counted in the points, and the victory will be automatically 3-0. In order to better prepare for the third-place match, the U16 national youth team rotated the lineup against the Vendée U17 selection team on the evening of April 19. In the 11th minute, Zhang Xuyao pushed the empty goal and missed, and after losing points from a free kick in the second half, substitute Xie Jin shook two defenders and volleyed to equalize. Subsequently, defender Li Junpeng nodded the ball and shot to reverse the game.

Judging from the performance of the three games in the group stage, this U16 national youth team has good technical and tactical literacy, and the offensive speed characteristics are outstanding. The three foreign players Huang Zijie, Wang Xiuhao and Kwong Zhaolei started together in the second game against Cameroon, and their performances were stable, and the organization on the defensive end was relatively formed, and what needs to be improved is the offensive efficiency.

The Montague Cup women's football tournament began in 2019, and the first tournament U16 women's national junior football team defeated Spain U16 women's football team 1-0, lost 0-1 to France U16 women's football team, and defeated North Korea U16 women's football team 0-4, ranking third. This time, the U16 team of Shenzhen 2028 Club, the champion of the first stage of the 2025 China Youth Championship, defeated the Swedish U16 women's football team 2-1 in the group stage, and then defeated the Mexican U16 women's football team 4-1 to enter the final with two wins. Liu Yuke scored twice in both group stage games and is undoubtedly the most eye-catching player in this competition. Fang Pearl also scored twice against Mexico, and the performance was remarkable.