In a friendly match that concluded on January 21st, Beijing time, the Chinese U20 men's football team (national youth team) faced off against the Thai U20 men's football team while training in Thailand. The match ended in a 1-1 draw, marking two consecutive winless friendlies for the national youth team during their Thai training camp.
Prior to this match, the national youth team suffered a 1-4 defeat against the strong Korean league team, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, in their first friendly during the Thai training camp. For this encounter with the Thai national youth team, China's starting lineup was as follows: goalkeeper Liu Qiwei; defenders He Yiran, Peng Xiao, Shi Songchen, Yang Xi; Xiong Jizheng, Chen Zeshi; Wang Yudong, Kuai Jiwen, Mao Weijie; Liu Chengyu.
The first half of the match saw no goals from either side. In the second half, at the 31st minute, Thailand unleashed a world-class shot from outside the penalty area, which hit the crossbar and went into the net, giving Thailand a 1-0 lead.
However, just six minutes later, 19-year-old midfielder Chen Shihan, who plays in the Belgian league, responded with an impressive long-range shot from the top of the penalty arc, helping the national youth team equalize. Neither team managed to score again, resulting in a final 1-1 draw.
According to the plan, the national youth team will face Yonsei University of Korea and Bangkok United U23 on the 25th and 26th of this month. They will then fly back to Shenzhen in the early hours of the 27th to disband locally. After the Spring Festival, the team will reconvene in Shenzhen to make their final push for the U20 Asian Cup opening on February 13th.
Before their first match against Qatar on February 13th, the national youth team will also play two more friendlies in Shenzhen, against Uzbekistan's national youth team and Syria's national youth team.