"It's heartbreaking, the reality is so cruel"…Chinese soccer despair and sigh of frustration at World Cup as all-time prospect
"It's heartbreaking, the reality is so cruel"…Chinese soccer despair and sigh of frustration at World Cup as all-time prospect
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"Chinese football's dream of returning to the World Cup continues to be postponed."
Both the U-20 World Cup and the Youth World Cup do not give China a chance. Even the U-20 national team, which China considered as its all-time record, failed to secure a berth to advance to the World Cup.
The 2025 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-20 Asian Cup is in full swing in Shenzhen, China. The tournament, which involves 16 countries, will also serve as a preliminary round for the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Chile in September. All participating countries have been determined while they have to advance to the semifinals to get a ticket to the finals.
South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Australia will head to the U-20 World Cup on behalf of Asia. South Korea ranked second at the 2019 Poland competition and advanced to the semifinals at the 2023 Argentina competition, becoming a U-20 World Cup powerhouse. This time again, it will beat its rival Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals through a penalty shootout and advance to the semifinals to play in the World Cup.
On the contrary, China missed the ticket that it had hoped for. China, which had scored eight goals during three group matches to post the most goals scored in a single event since its participation in the U-20 Asian Cup, is now full of hope to advance to the World Cup. China even beat Saudi Arabia, which it met in the quarterfinals, and was confident of its win.
Before the match, Chinese media "Sina Sports" analyzed Saudi Arabia's match in the quarterfinals and said, "We are a team with high spirits. We beat North Korea at the last minute of the group stage, but there was a chance that we lost until the very last minute. The team scored only three goals after 35 shots during the three matches. The team's offense efficiency is not very good."
"China has met with Saudi Arabia often. Unlike before, the U-20 team is not psychologically disadvantageous to Saudi Arabia," he said. "China will be able to return to the U-20 World Cup for the first time in 20 years."
China's self-confidence is based on its squad ability. "Young players are very good at teamwork, tactics and personal skills. Playing with No. 10 in his team's uniform, Kwai Jiwen makes us see the hope of Chinese soccer," said a media outlet, vowing to participate in the World Cup for the first time in 20 years since the 2005 World Cup in the Netherlands.
The dream was shattered. China performed well against Saudi Arabia with its home ground spectators' support. However, the Chinese team failed to achieve its goal, as its offense, which it called its strength, remained scoreless. China had a 0-0 match with Saudi Arabia for 90 minutes before kneeling down 0-1 due to a loss due to extra time.
Young Chinese players shed tears. "The mood was heartbroken by 메이저놀이터 the feeling of helplessness that the world was about to end. There are still so many obstacles that Chinese soccer still has to face. The reality is so cruel. This age group is closer to the World Cup than ever before. But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment," Sina Sports said.
"The national team has prepared for a year starting with the Panda Cup last year, and has shown overall improvement," he said. "Chinese youth soccer is on the verge of a breakthrough. If we continue to persevere and do it more without collapsing, we can achieve our World Cup dream."