Chinese newspaper: "We are behind Vietnam in training young players"
Thang Nguyen•DNUM_DAZABZCABI 08:48
Sina newspaper continues to comment on the success of U23 Vietnam at the 2018 AFC U23 Championship finals just ended in China.
Coach Park Hang-seo and his team reached the final of the AFC U23 Championship despite being ranked 14th out of 16 teams before entering the tournament. Meanwhile, China, the host team, was seeded but was eliminated in the group stage. This made many people, including the country's football legend Fan Zhiyi, doubt the backwardness of Chinese football.
However, the sheetSinaThe paper, which was first published in 1998, was not too pessimistic about the final result of the tournament on home soil. "China were in a group with champions Uzbekistan and third-placed Qatar. Obviously, the hosts were in a difficult group and could have achieved better results if they had been in a different group," commented the paper, which was first published in 1998.
SheetSinaDoubts about the ability to maintain the success of Vietnamese football. Photo:OS.
Sinaalso believes that Vietnam is a pioneer in youth training with famous clubs in the world, when HAGL joined hands with Arsenal to open the JMG training center. "It was not until September 2012 that China had similar plans when the Wanda Group sent 30 players each year to Spain for transitional training. After that, the Shandong Luneng Academy also linked up with facilities in Brazil. To be exact, we are 4 to 5 years behind Vietnam," the newspaper based in Beijing and Shanghai analyzed.
Training young players cannot be rushed. According toSina, if Vietnam needs more than 10 years to enjoy the sweet fruit, China cannot burn the stage to immediately succeed in the continental arena. "Before Iceland's success at Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, they also had limited achievements," China's leading sports newspaper continued. "We need to learn from the successful model of countries like Iceland. With a little success like Vietnam now, what can we learn from them?"
"China does not downplay the success of Vietnamese football in recent times, but we should not be self-conscious, obsessed, and pressured to succeed quickly," the newspaper concluded.
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