U22 Vietnam causes an earthquake, head coach of Chinese team is unexpectedly implicated

(Dan Tri) - After the defeat of U22 China against U22 Vietnam in the opening match of Panda Cup 2025, Chinese media suddenly criticized new coach Shao Jiayi, who just took the position of captain of the national team.

After the defeat of U22 China against U22 Vietnam (November 12), author Luo Zhanggui in Sina newspaper affirmed that although the host country's youth team does not have the strongest squad, there is still a squad with many stars participating in the tournament in Chengdu:

"In the opening match of the 2025 Pada Cup, the Chinese U22 team, despite missing many faces due to being busy attending the National Sports Festival, still fielded a squad consisting of many players currently playing in the Chinese Premier League and First Division. Many of these names are even pillars of their home clubs. However, the performance on the field did not match expectations when the Chinese U22 team suffered a 0-1 defeat to the Vietnamese U22 team and did not score any goals."

New head coach of the Chinese national football team, Shao Jiayi (Photo: Sina).

Luo Zhanggui asked whether the head coach of the Chinese national football team, Shao Jiayi, had thought about resigning when the future of the country's football was cast in a dark light:

"I wonder if Shao Jiayi, the newly appointed head coach of the national football team, who watched the game from the stands that night, frowned and considered resigning: Is this the kind of team we will rely on to advance to the World Cup in four years?"

U22 China is making the domestic media extremely disappointed (Photo: Sina).

The reason why Mr. Shao Jiayi was "called out" was because of his responsibility in selecting players for the U22 squad, even though the direct commander was Coach Antonio Puche. Analyzing more deeply the weaknesses in the current squad of the Chinese U22, the article said:

"The inherent weakness of Chinese football is the poor finishing, which was repeated in the last match. In this match, striker Baihelamu Abuduwaili, a mainstay of both the national team and Shenzhen Xinpeng City Club, played quite poorly. Assigned the position of striker, he missed important one-on-one opportunities and contributed little to the attacking situations. That image evoked the familiar limitations of Chinese strikers: lack of sharpness in decisive moments.

In terms of his playing record, Baihelamu is a player with a great spirit of training and playing. However, his lack of finesse in movement and his heavy reliance on physical strength makes his playing style easy to predict. Despite having left his mark in the World Cup qualifiers, the 22-year-old striker has yet to score or assist in 19 appearances for Shenzhen Xinpeng City this season. The team also struggled to escape the relegation zone in the penultimate round, and Baihelamu's role clearly has not met the expectations of the fans.

Behram Abduweli was heavily criticized for wasting a scoring opportunity in the match against U22 Vietnam (Photo: Sina).

In all fairness, Baihelamu’s journey through hardship is an inspiring one. Baihelamu grew up in poverty, and his brother sacrificed his education to support his football pursuits. However, on the pitch, results are the deciding factor. At 22, if he continues to maintain his unfinished playing style, especially his lack of precision in his final shots, his playing time at Shenzhen Xinpeng City will likely continue to be limited by competition from foreign players.

The fact that a striker who has not scored a goal all season is still given the position of number one striker of the national team certainly makes coach Shao Jiayi worried. And the 0-1 defeat to U22 Vietnam once again shows that Chinese football still has a lot of work to do if it wants to achieve the World Cup goal in the near future."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/u22-viet-nam-gay-dia-chan-hlv-truong-tuyen-trung-quoc-bat-ngo-bi-lien-luy-20251115074907101.htm