According to on-site records, due to traffic jams in Saudi Arabia, the Chinese U23 team could not reach the training ground on time as requested by AFC.
To "fight the fire" for this issue, the team's communication department quickly arranged a quick interview for reporters to conduct an exchange.
Before 12 journalists from China and Vietnam, player Yang Xi shared: "We have 2 days to recover. Everything is quite stable right now and the players are also ready for the semi-finals. We will put our all into playing against U23 Vietnam.
Yang Xi added: "We need to be confident. This is important when the opponent U23 Vietnam does not show many weaknesses. The team needs to try their best if they want to overcome Vietnam to win the right to enter the semi-finals.
The Chinese U23 defender himself also felt reassured when the goalkeeper Li Hao - who has not conceded a goal since the beginning of the tournament - blocked the goal.
I always feel okay when Li Hao is behind me. I know he will successfully stop shots from the opponent. Especially, when entering penalty shootouts, I believe Li Hao always saves at least 2 matches of the opponent. We also had a similar match at the Olympics not long ago, both the goalkeeper and the players did very well," Yang Xi emphasized.
According to this player, in each training session, the whole team must practice penalty kicks and get used to the pressure when standing in front of a 11m penalty. This helps U23 China have more confidence when having to enter a penalty shootout.
Also in the recent general rehearsal, coach Antonio Puche changed a series of jersey numbers for Chinese U23 players to disperse information for reporters from Vietnam.
Even, the team's media staff paid attention to each working card of the Vietnamese working team. This shows the caution of U23 China before heading towards the important match with the "Golden Star Warriors".
