Morning of April 13

81-year-old handsome Xu Genbao

and the Shanghai National Games selection team

Appears at Pudong International Airport

The team went to South Korea

Conduct a 15-day training session

Xu Genbao revealed that this time the team's training opponents are very strong. Although the members of the Shanghai National Games selection team have temporarily suffered losses in age, physical fitness and confrontation, they can hone their skills and temper their mentality by playing small and big.

The Shanghai National Games selection team went to South Korea for training.

On April 13, the Shanghai Shenhua team will face the Beijing Guoan team at home to start the football version of the Beijing-Shanghai War; on April 14, the Shanghai Haigang team will also face the Shandong Taishan team at the Pudong Professional Football Stadium. This was the "Battle of Tianwangshan" between the champions and runner-up of the Chinese Super League last season. According to usual practice, Xu Genbao and the young players in the base echelon will sit in front of the TV and watch the game collectively. Senior brothers Wu Lei, Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng, and junior brothers Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong, Xu Haoyang, etc., who are also produced by the base, are all role models for young players to observe and learn.

This weekend, Xu Genbao and the young players at the base had no time to watch the game, but were busy playing overseas. In the next 15 days, the Shanghai National Games U20 selection team, with Xu Genbao as head coach and Xi Zhikang as head coach, will play 9 consecutive games in South Korea, with their opponents also being South Korean college student teams.

On March 14, Australia head coach Muscat and club members of the Shanghai Harbor Team landed on the island to visit Xu Genbao, the owner of the Genbao base, and watched the match between the 2006 age group of Harbor. Most of the players in this echelon are also the main composition of the Shanghai National Games team (2005-2006 age group).

“韩国青少年足球的作风比较硬，技战术水平现在也很高，Our opponents in the past were relatively strong, and they were all college student teams 。”徐根宝介绍，上海全运选拔队的球员，大多数年龄在18岁、19岁左右，我们这支队伍在国内的比赛还是太少，踢比赛容易放不开，“这次韩国球队的平均年龄，要比我们大2岁左右，韩国好的大学生球队， Basically the level of China's Second Division League。未来我们这批队员要踢四年一次的全运会，心理素质很重要，这次出去拉练打比赛，更多也是锻炼他们的心理。”

According to the entry rules of the men's football U20 group in the 2025 Greater Bay Area National Games, the players are in the 2005-2006 age group, and most provinces and cities are dominated by players in the 2005 age group. An insider said frankly:"The youth team is much stronger than the first year, and the competition and strength will be much better. This will be very helpful for short-term results. Therefore, under normal circumstances, everyone will mainly focus on players in the 2005 age group, with age and body advantages, making it relatively easier to achieve results."

The Shanghai National Games selection team set off.

The Shanghai National Games selection team headed by Xu Genbao focuses on players of the age group of 2006 at the base. This time, it also selected some young players who are only 17 years old and resolutely beat the big ones with the small ones. On the one hand, the Shanghai National Games selection team needs to spend a lot of communication costs when recruiting school-age players from Shenhua and Haigang, and the relevant players do have many competition tasks in their respective clubs; on the other hand, Xu Genbao still adheres to the "technical football concept","Wu Lei and Yan Junling also played from small players at the beginning. They were two years younger than Cao Yunding, Zhang Linpeng, Wang Shenchao, etc., but they still played the main force in the National Games. Many members of our team are indeed one year younger than their opponents. Although they are young, as long as their skills are sufficient and their level is improved, they can still reach the level of playing in the National Games, and even strive to be at a higher level than some members of the same age." Xu Genbao also said that this overseas training session he would have to go to the details himself and strive to improve the team's competition ability through fast-paced and high-intensity confrontation.

这也是徐根宝和上海全运选拔队今年第二次前往韩国拉练，他表示自己在球队还是亲力亲为。“I definitely want to go to this kind of competition ，尤其现在球队更需要加强教练的力量。有时候我还跳下去做一些动作，不听话的还要下耳朵。”队员韩杨表示，这次去韩国拉练要多学习，“学习他们的脚下技术、训练的态度、防守的硬度，虽然现在还有差距，但我们一定会努力。”

The Shanghai National Games team currently ranks fifth and sixth in the country.

In May 2023, Xu Genbao, a veteran coach in Shanghai football who is nearly eighty years old, confirmed:As head coach, he once again led the Shanghai 2005/2006 age group men's football team to compete in the 2025 Greater Bay Area National Games. Over the past ten years, Xu Genbao and Chongming Football Base have cultivated batches of talents for Shanghai football and Chinese football with their unique "Genbao Model".

Today, the Shanghai team of this age coached by Xu Genbao ranks fifth and sixth in the country and does not have much advantage. Earlier, Xu Genbao bluntly said:"Our team's strength will not win the gold medal, but we can strive to enter the top four through good training. There has always been confidence and we have been working hard to achieve our goals. It takes a lot of effort to win the national championship."

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