The results of the 2024 U23 Asian Cup draw show that the Chinese team’s opponents are all very strong.

The 2024 U23 Men’s Football Asian Cup group draw ceremony was held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on the 23rd. The Chinese team was in Group B with the Japanese team, South Korea team, and the United Arab Emirates team. The 16 participating teams will compete for the Asian Cup championship. At the same time, the top three teams will advance directly to the 2024 Paris Olympics, and the fourth place will compete with non-football teams in a play-off to compete for Olympic spots.

This U23 Men’s Football Asian Cup will be held in Qatar from April 15 to May 3, 2024. The draw results are as follows: Group A: Qatar, Australia, Jordan, Indonesia; Group B: Japan , South Korea, United Arab Emirates, China; Group C: Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Thailand, Tajikistan; Group D: Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Kuwait, Malaysia.

The Difficulty of Qualifying for the National Olympics

The last time the Chinese National Olympic Team appeared in the Olympic finals was back in 2008 as the host nation and "directly to Beijing". Since then, it has made three Olympic journeys Both were eliminated in the qualifying round. Even in the U23 Asian Cup, the Chinese team's record was average. In the history of the competition, they participated in the first 4 competitions and were eliminated in the group in each competition. The Chinese team did not participate in the fifth U23 Asian Cup in 2022. Therefore, they entered the fourth pot in this draw. As a result, they directly entered the "Group of Death".

This Olympic team has been established for nearly 4 years, but it has experienced many twists and turns during this period. They participated in the Chinese League Two in the early days of their formation, but were absent from intercontinental competitions for a long time due to the impact of the epidemic. It was not until this year that they were able to go to Europe for long training sessions and play many warm-up matches. In terms of time span, this Olympic team has sufficient preparation time, but the team's lineup is constantly being adjusted, and the team's performance is not stable.

In order to realize their dreams, the Olympic team is also actively preparing for competition this month. On the evening of November 22, 2023, they played their second warm-up match with the Tajikistan team. Tao Qianglong missed a penalty kick, and the two teams finally shook hands with each other 0-0. In this way, in the two international warm-up matches this month, the Olympic team's record was 1 draw and 1 loss.