Toulon Cup: Saudi U-23 team 1-2 France U-20, Panama 2-1 Mali, China gives up participating

The 2025 Toulon Cup International Youth Invitational officially opened last night. Eight teams, including France U-20, Mali U-20, Panama U-20, Saudi U-23, Congo U-20, Denmark U-20, Japan U-20, and Mexico U-20, participated. The first four teams were divided into Group A and the last four teams were in Group B, among which Saudi Arabia sent U-23, and the other teams were U-20. This Toulon Cup event is basically a training battle to help all teams prepare for the U-20 World Cup in the second half of the year.

Last night this morning, the first round of Group A started.

Saudi U-23 men's football team 1-2 French U-20 men's football team: In the 22nd minute, Saudi Arabia made a single pass, and Latif swung past the goalkeeper and pushed the ball to a shot; in the 59th minute, Saudi Arabia hit the crossbar with a free kick; in the 63rd minute, Saudi Arabia went in and sent a point, and Ngula shot to help France equalize the score; in the 67th minute, France took a corner kick, Zidane headed and entered the net, and France completed the overtake. In the end, Saudi Arabia lost 1-2 to France, and its age advantage did not turn into victory.

Panama U-20 Men's Football Team 2-1 Mali U-20 Men's Football Team: In the 21st minute of the first half, Herrera (Panama) scored twice and helped the team lead with two goals; in the 84th minute, Jose (Panama) was sent off by a red card, and Mali, who played more and less, relied on Samak's goal in the 90th minute to score a goal. In the end, Panama defeated Mali 2-1 and had a good start.

The Chinese U-20 National Youth Team, which was originally expected to participate, missed the World Youth Championship because they did not advance to the semi-finals in the U-20 Asian Cup in February, resulting in no official competition in the next two years, so they also gave up their plans to participate. This decision has caused controversy. Some people believe that competing with world-class teams of the same age can improve the strength of the team and train the players' abilities; some people feel that they miss the World Youth Championship, so it doesn't matter whether they participate in this friendly match. After all, there will be no major competition to test in the next two years. Even if the participation is not very meaningful, this group of players will re-group at the earliest in 2027. At that time, the lineup will be at least half changed and needs to be re-opened.

The Chinese national youth participated in the competition many times before the epidemic. In 2007, the then U-22 national youth team was sent to the event in big or small, and finally won the best result of the runner-up in the event (lost to France 1-3 in the final). In addition, in 2004, the 85 national youth team from the Golden Generation also won the third place. The last two competitions were from 2018 to 1019, winning 10th place (1 draw and 3 losses) and 8th place (1 win and 3 losses).

After the first round, the Group A standings are: 1. Panama 3 points; 2. France 3 points; 3. Saudi Arabia 0 points; 4. Mali 0 points. The Group B game starts tonight, at 8 pm, Congo faces Japan, and at 11:30 pm, Mexico faces Denmark. The second round of the Toulon Cup group stage will be held from June to 7, and the third round will be from June 9 to 10.