According to Football, the U19 national team recently defeated Iran U19 2-0 in the first match of the series invitation tournament at the Changzhi Sports Center in Shanxi, with 10,585 spectators cheering them on. This victory also extended Djurdjevic’s unbeaten streak since taking over the U19 national team to 5 wins and 3 draws.
After the match, head coach Djurdjevic said he wanted to win every game, but he placed more importance on the players’ performance and progress in different positions at this stage of the team’s development. “We fielded many new players in this game to see how they performed in international competitions because playing in club matches is completely different from playing in international competitions.”
Furthermore, Djurdjevic stressed that the team needed to continuously correct mistakes in matches, which was more important than the result. He said, “Overall, I’m satisfied. We played well in the first half, not so well in the second, and exposed some problems. This is part of football, nothing is perfect. Actually, I’m also happy that we made some mistakes because this allows us to improve quickly.”
Iran U19 was not at full strength, and some eligible Chinese U19 players were not called up, including He Yiran, the left back from Changchun Yatai, and Liu Chengyu from Shanghai Shenhua. Therefore, Djurdjevic wanted to use these two invitational matches to give new players opportunities. “We still have some first-team players who didn’t come, which gives new players enough space to perform. Some players may take advantage of this opportunity to grow and become part of our team.”
Djurdjevic said at the post-match press conference, “We will have better players and a better team.” The players in this training camp also understand the significance of the upcoming U20 Asian Cup played on home soil.
The two teams will play each other again at the same venue on Tuesday evening. Djurdjevic may give more players the chance to perform in an official match.
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