Unexpected! Five U23 China National Team Asian Games Absentees Revealed, Led by Zhang Hongfu and Li Xinxiang

Recently, the U23 China national team announced its final squad for the Asian Games. Surprisingly, many players who had previously been highly expected by fans, including Bunyamin, Li Xinxiang, Zhang Hongfu, Zhang Zhixiong and Du Yuezhen, failed to make the squad and did not convince head coach Antonio. First, Zhang Hongfu was unable to enter the U23 China national team squad, mainly because the team already has sufficient options at center-back. Compared with him, players such as Peng Xiao, Zhu Chenjie, Wumitijiang and Liu Haofan have stronger abilities and more experience in major competitions. In addition, Zhang Hongfu had not previously successfully made the U23 China national team and was not very familiar with Antonio's tactical arrangements, so his omission this time was understandable.

Compared with Zhang Hongfu, Bunyamin has one advantage: he was previously promoted by Antonio as an exception and became the youngest rising star in the U23 China national team training camp. Although he had only performed well in youth national team and youth competition matches at the time, Antonio's call-up undoubtedly showed the coach's keen eye for talent. It is worth noting that Bunyamin has performed very well for Yunnan Yukun this season, rising quickly and earning the favor of renowned coach Jordi.

During his time representing Yunnan Yukun in the Chinese Super League, Bunyamin earned widespread praise with multiple important goals and threatening assists. Since the U23 China national team already has plenty of wide players, Bunyamin therefore failed to enter the U23 China national team squad. He is likely to join Zhang Hongfu in the training camp of the 2007-born China youth national team to prepare for upcoming competitions. As for Li Xinxiang, the U23 international who was once especially favored by Antonio, he has had multiple experiences of leading national youth teams to score goals in national team competitions. However, the reason why he was not selected for the U23 China national team remains unknown. In theory, Li Xinxiang's goal-scoring record in this season's Chinese Super League should have earned him a place in the squad.

The failure of Zhang Zhixiong and Du Yuezhen to make the U23 China national team may be related to their recent form. They performed impressively for Chongqing Tonglianglong at the start of the season, scoring multiple goals, but as time went on, their form gradually declined, affecting their chances of selection. Antonio gave them opportunities during the training camp, but due to the team's difficulties in the second half of the season and the failure of their individual performances to recover, their omission was considered normal.

In the end, the officially confirmed 23-man squad includes almost all of the best-performing players in the current Chinese Super League. If they can maintain their form, the U23 China national team's goal of reaching the quarterfinals or even advancing to the semifinals in the future could become achievable soon.