Chinese football has had more than a few false dawns. The great unrealised superpower of the world’s game remains that - unrealised.
This won’t change any time soon, but this year’s Asian Games have hinted at better times to come for the Chinese national team with the country’s U23 side reaching the semi-finals for the first time in 28 years.
Wednesday’s loss to South Korea ended China’s hopes of making the final, but victory in Saturday’s bronze medal match against Uzbekistan would represent their best Asian Games showing since 1998.
On top of this, China’s U23s finished runners-up at the U23 Asian Cup earlier this while the country’s U17 side is preparing to play in next month’s U17 World Cup.
If China can translate its recent growth at youth level into better results and performances at senior level, they could finally become a footballing force at the top level.
Is China’s development at youth level for real? Or is this just another case of the country overpromising and underdevelivering?
