The U23 Asian Cup qualifiers ended. On the night of September 9, the U22 national football team drew 0-0 with its last opponent, Australian U22 men's football team at Xi'an International Football Center. With an unbeaten record of 2 wins and 1 draw with 7 points, it ranked second in Group D. It qualified with the top Australian team in the group with the same 7 points and advanced to the 2026 U23 Asian Cup final stage game in Saudi Arabia.
Before the game, the U22 national football team and the Australian U22 men's football team both won 2 games and 6 points. The Australian team ranked first in Group D with goal difference, defeated the Northern Mariana Islands 14-0, and defeated East Timor 6-0. The Australian team scored 16 goals in 2 games and conceded 0 goals.
When the Football Association announced the D-group match of the U23 Asian Preliminary Championship in Xi'an, it decided to go to the scene to experience and experience the Xi'an International Football Center. After all, it was a new high-standard professional football stadium specially built for the Asian Cup.
The son prepared early. He made an appointment to grab the tickets on the day of issuance. He picked two tickets for 288 yuan. After arriving at the scene, he found that the location was good. The middle position of 204-7 rows in Area A of the second floor stands was actually the fourth row. Because there were only 3 rows of audience seats in front, and further forward was a cover covering the advertising. It was also for safety reasons to avoid fans suddenly rushing into the arena under excitement.
On June 15, 2023, Argentina's match against Australia was held at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. A fan broke into the stadium and hugged Messi, causing the game to be interrupted.
The first two games of the U23 Asian qualifiers were watched through live broadcasts of CCTV5 and CCTV5+ Sports channels. I checked East Timor and Northern Mariana Islands before. One ranked 195th in the world, and the other didn’t even have the world ranking. To be honest, I really didn’t know that there was an Asian opponent “Northern Mariana Islands” without this Asian qualifier. I used to think that the most bottom teams that the Chinese team could meet in Asia were Maldives, Guam, etc.
So, the game decided to go to the scene was against the Australian U22 national football team on September 9, which was the last game in Group D.
U22 China team narrowly defeated East Timor 2-1 in the first game. The performance of head coach Antonio and the international team were criticized by the media and fans. The performance of Northern Mariana Islands 10-0 in the second game was better than the first game; 12 goals were scored in 2 games and conceded 1 goal, among which Baihe Lamu and Wang Yudong were the best players among the 19 players in the first two rounds of the national football team; and Xiang Yuwang, the local scorer king in the 2025 China League One, was obviously overrated.
Objectively speaking, the U22 national football team has poor ability to seize opportunities in front of the goal. They shot 16 times, 9 shots, 7 corner kicks, only 2 goals, and were scored by their opponents. Against the Northern Mariana Islands, the ball possession rate was 83%, shot 53 times, shot 23 times, and 12 corner kicks, and only scored 10 goals. In addition to the opponent's goalkeeper repeatedly making contributions to save, it is mainly because the mentality of the national football team members is unbalanced.
To be honest, the first row of the fans standings at Xi'an International Football Center is very close to the venue, with a great viewing viewing, and security guards are nearby to maintain order.
At around 17:40 pm on September 9, after passing the security check, it was found that many fans had entered the field early, especially the fan plaques on the east and west sides, with gongs and drums and gongs and flags flying, and there were red T-shirts prepared for fans on the seats on the scene.
Xi'an International Football Center is close to where you live. Subway Line 1 takes 3 stops to reach Shanglin Road, then turn to Line 16, and also take three or four stops. The station name is "Xi'an International Football Center". It takes half an hour and is very convenient.
The competition began at 19:35.
The starting list of the national football team announced before the game, the goalkeeper is Li Hao, the other players are Wang Shiqin, Liu Haofan, Peng Xiao, Wumi Tijiang, Yang Haoyu, Li Zhenquan, Xu Bin, Hu Hetao, Wang Yudong, and Baihe Lamu. The layout of head coach Antonio is almost the same as I expected before the game.
In response to this, I posted a comment: "Important: Xiang Yuwang substitute, Xu Bin starts."
In fact, when I saw that the captain Liu Haofan, Peng Xiao and Wumi Tijiang appeared on the first list, three central defenders, including Hu Hetao and Wang Shiqin, were on the same stage. The first reaction was that the Spaniard had set up a "Iron Barrel Formation" of the 5th guard, and the formation was either 5-4-1 or 5-3-2.
In fact, I saw it very clearly on the sidelines. In the 90-minute game, the U22 national football team played 5-3-2, and the three midfielders in the midfield were "Li Zhenquan + Xu Bin + Yang Haoyu" from left to right.
Yang Haoyu's position is not the right forward, but the right midfielder; Hu Hetao basically has no assists on the right, and the left back Wang Shiqin has more active assists, and his position is often on the same parallel line as the Australian back line players. The two forwards are Baihe Lamu and Wang Yudong, who run closer to the left.
Watching the game on the spot is a completely different experience than watching live TV at home. The atmosphere makes people involuntarily interact and shout for the national football team. The cheers of 33,022 fans have been constantly cheering, and there seems to be no "human waves" today.
The two teams in China and Australia continued to play more boringly. The U22 national football team started to act defensively at the beginning of the first half. The 11 players were guarding their own half-time most of the time. The two teams showed the fans the offensive and defensive drills at the half-time. The Australian U22 national football team was responsible for the main attack and the U22 national football team was responsible for the defense.
Technical statistics show that Australia's ball possession rate is 74%, China's 26%, corner kick 11-0, shot 5-3, shot 1-0, attack 66-36, dangerous offense 33-8, and shot 8 shots in total; the only time the Australian team shot in the 49th minute, Priestman shot without anyone in the penalty area, and was saved by Li Hao.
After 75 minutes of the game, both sides began to have a tacit understanding, and the Chinese team members retreated to their own half. Although the Australian team still pressed near the center circle, the midfielder Bozinovsky passed back to the center back Nathan Boer as soon as he received the ball, and the Chinese team did not step forward to press.
Antonio was very anxious when he saw that some players from the U22 national football team were going forward and snatched back. Even the Australian players played the ball in the final stoppage time. The premise for the two teams to understand is that they tied 1 point each, and both ranked in the top two in Group D with 7 points. No matter what kind of scores appear in other group games, it has nothing to do with the Chinese team and the Australian team. This is the key to the problem.
In fact, the U23 Asian Cup qualifiers, which started on September 3, is the second time I have been hosting a top football match in Xi'an in the past 10 years.
The last time went back to October 2016 - the third game of the national football team in the top 12 Asian Championships in the 2018 Russian World Cup. The then head coach was Gao. The first two games of the top 12 matches were the Chinese team 2-3 away games and the South Korean team 0-0 home games. The third game was 19:35 pm on October 6. The opponent was the Syrian team, and the competition was at the Shaanxi Provincial Stadium.
It was the "National Day" at that time. I bought two B-grade tickets through my friend - stands 23-24, seats 17 rows, No. 5 and 6, each ticket was 680 yuan. I took my son who had not yet gone to school to the scene for the first time. At that time, there was no subway, and I had already bought a private car. I was worried that there were many fans, traffic congestion, and parking was inconvenient. I drove to the provincial stadium early, found the parking space and entered the venue. There were also many fan arrays from all over the country, and there were no "laser show" before the game.
The 11 starters in the top 12 national football team were Gao Lin, Zhang Yuning, Huang Bowen, Hao Junmin, Zhang Xizhe, Yu Hai, Feng Xiaoting, Ren Hang, Zhang Linpeng, Zhao Mingjian, and goalkeeper Gu Chao; in the 46th minute of the second half, Jiang Zhipeng replaced Huang Bowen, Wu Lei replaced Zhang Yuning in the 57th minute, and Yang Xu replaced Yu Hai in the 64th minute.
In the 54th minute, the Syrian team counterattacked, Saleh assisted Mavas, who dribbled the ball. Unexpectedly, the goalkeeper of the national football team actually collided with his teammate, the left-back, and Mavas scored the empty goal. Of course, later facts proved that this goalkeeper was indeed having problems.
In the end, the Chinese national football team lost 0-1 to Syria at home. Before the game, public opinion generally regarded the home and away games against Syria as the national football team scored 6 points. In fact, Syria grabbed 4 points from the Chinese team. In that World Cup round of 12, the Italian coach Lippi who took over the middle of the team led the team to rank fifth in the group, with 12 points, only 3 points away from South Korea, which ranked second.
On the evening of September 9, after the Sino-Australia War, Xi'an International Football Center became a sea of joy. Antonio and the international players hugged and congratulated each other, after all, there was no need to look at other people's faces anymore; Huang Bowen is now an assistant coach of the U22 national football team. The live broadcast is "Singing the Motherland", and more than 30,000 fans sang in unison. This game day is very happy and very excited!
Xi'an will hold top football events again, and you will go to the scene if you have the chance.
