U23 national team players shine brightly, continuing hope.

Journalist Chen Yong reports In the first round of the Chinese Super League, aside from foreign players, the performance of national team players, including those who recently won the U23 Asian Cup runner-up, also garnered attention. From the matches, U23 national team players shone brightly, continuing hope.

In the match between Zhejiang Team and West Coast, at the 8th minute, Wang Yudong dribbled past a defender and shot fiercely, saved by Li Hao. This moment became the best portrayal of the young national team players' performance in the first round of the 2026 Chinese Super League season. There was also a notable scene in this match at the 47th minute: Li Hao saved Park Jin-seong's close-range shot, the ball rebounded off Liu Haofan's arm into the net, and the goal was ultimately disallowed.

In the framework of the U23 national team, Li Hao is irreplaceable. In the match against Zhejiang Team, although West Coast lost 0-2, Li Hao made several brilliant saves. Besides the two scenes mentioned above, he also saved shots from Tao Qianglong and Gao Di at the 66th and 85th minutes respectively. It should be noted that in the first round of the Chinese Super League, the substitute goalkeeper of the 05 national youth team, Yao Haoyang, representing Tongliang Long, also performed excellently as a starter. The 05 national youth team is about to upgrade to the national Olympic team, where the original main goalkeeper Liu Qiwei has been very stable, and Yao Haoyang has joined the competition with his own performance.

In the Chinese Super League opening match, the young national team player Hu Hetao from Rongcheng scored a goal, helping the team achieve a 5-1 victory; another U23 national team full-back Yang Xi joined Harbor this season. Although the team lost 2-1 to Henan Team at home, Yang Xi performed well in both offense and defense, assisting a goal, and still showed up in the final moments of the match. After the match, Yang Xi was considered the biggest highlight of Harbor's performance.

The three main central defenders of the U23 national team are Peng Xiao, Liu Haofan, and Wu Miti Jiang. Liu Haofan is an absolute mainstay for Zhejiang Team, and in this match, he and the team secured a 2-0 victory; Wu Miti Jiang had to accept defeat along with Yang Xi; Peng Xiao substituted in at the 66th minute in the match between Taishan and Ironman, performing steadily; in the central defender position, He Yiran, transferred from Yatai to Rongcheng, substituted in at the 69th minute.

The absolute main defensive midfielder Xu Bin is currently abroad, Li Zhenquan and Xiang Yuwang together made their Chinese Super League debut. Away against last season's sixth-ranked Jinmenhu, as a newly promoted team, Tongliang Long matched their opponents in possession rate, with Li Zhenquan performing steadily.

In the defensive midfielder position, the rotational mainstay of the U23 national team is Chen Zeshi. Over the past two seasons, he mostly represented Taishan B Team in the China League Two. In the first match of the 2026 Chinese Super League season, Chen Zeshi substituted in at the 87th minute, showing active performance.

Yang Haoyu substituted in at the 77th minute, and Shenhua's fifth goal came from his through pass.

As a left winger, Wang Yudong is already an absolute mainstay of the national team. Although he didn't score in the first Chinese Super League match, his performance was good; Mutalifu returned to Rongcheng from West Coast and did not play in the Super League opener; Kuai Jiwen substituted in at the start of the second half in Harbor's match against Henan Team, but with his strength in breakthroughs, he did not have particularly standout performance under tight defense.

Comparatively, among the two forwards, Xiang Yuwang's main position is more stable, while Baihelm, transferred from New Pengcheng to Rongcheng, only substituted in at the 82nd minute.

Liu Chengyu, who was not selected for the U23 national team but attracted much attention, only played during the stoppage time, with insufficient performance time.

U23 national team players will represent China in this year's Asian Games. In the future, some players will be promoted to the national team. Wang Yudong, Yang Xi, Peng Xiao, He Yiran, Chen Zeshi, Kuai Jiwen, Yang Haoyu, and other players will also join the national Olympic team to compete for the next U23 Asian Cup and Olympic qualifiers. If they have stable appearances and performances on the Chinese Super League stage, the team's overall strength will also improve.