Awkward! Huang Bowen and Xu Bin helped U23 national football team advance to the Asian Cup, and the fourth ranking is not as good as Vietnam

The embarrassment after the promotion! In the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers ended in Xi'an, the U22 national team played 0-0 with the Australian team. It is worth mentioning that Guangzhou team's former player Xu Bin finally made a debut in the last game, making great contributions to the team's midfield defense. After the game, Huang Bowen, a member of the coaching staff of the U22 national football team, updated the social media, posted the team's family photo, and wrote: "Continue..." Unexpectedly, the U23 national football team's division situation in the main competition was shocking - the Chinese team was actually ranked in the fourth level, not only in the qualifying situation, but even the ranking of the division was lagging behind the Vietnamese team (second level) that has risen in recent years. Such a division result undoubtedly poured a basin of cold water on Chinese football, which had just ignited hope.

When the U22 national football team scored 7 points from the U23 Asian Cup group stage, the team has been confirmed to have a ticket to the main game. Just when domestic fans were excited, they found that the Chinese team was assigned to the fourth level. The Thai team and Vietnam team ranked first in the second and third respectively, which also put the U22 national football team in the final stage of the U23 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia in January 2026, and the qualifying situation is in danger.

First level: Saudi team (host), Uzbekistan team, Japan, Iraq;
Second level: South Korea team, Vietnam team, Australia, Qatar team;
Third level: Thailand team, Jordan team, UAE team, Iran team;
Fourth level: China team, Syria team, Kyrgyzstan team, Lebanon team.

Of course, the disadvantages of grading may not be all bad things. As people often say, "forge the strong in adversity", the identity of the fourth level may reduce the psychological pressure of players and allow them to welcome every game with the attitude of competing with their opponents. Chinese football has always had no shortage of classic examples of defeating the strong with the weak. The key is whether it can show the courage and wisdom to burn the boat. It is worth mentioning that the old players of Guangzhou team performed well in this U23 Asian Cup qualifier, and Xu Bin made the final appearance to protect the team's midfield interception. The performance of young players such as Xu Bin also gave us a glimmer of hope. What they need is more high-quality game experience and a more scientific training system.

Huang Bowen's "continue..." may be an attitude - no matter what difficulties he faces, Chinese football can only continue to move forward. As we all know, Guangzhou team has won the eight-time Chinese Super League championship and the double-time Asian Championship in the past decade, becoming the top team in China and even Asia. Moreover, we have spared no effort in youth training. After more than ten years of development, the football school has achieved a lot of excellent results in youth competitions at home and abroad, and has also trained international players such as Zhang Linyan, Xu Bin and Liao Jintao. In other words, the Guangzhou team is bringing glory to the country in another way and exploring forward in another way.

As the saying goes, "You can't go a thousand miles without taking a single step." Chinese football continues to be eliminated in the World Cup, intending to reliably rely on the youth training talents invested heavily in the Jin and Yuan dynasties to achieve a comeback. Helplessly, Chinese football has made slow progress under the destruction of many forces, so it is difficult to enter Asian-level competitions. Therefore, the main competition division exposed the shortcomings of youth training ability and the progress of football in Vietnam, Thailand and other countries. Of course, as long as Chinese football faces the gap, finds the right direction, and moves step by step on the road of youth training, only in this way can Chinese football truly usher in its own spring. As Huang Bowen said: Continue.