When Xu Genbao left Yunnan he returned to his training to become a professional manager, which led to him take advanced courses at Beijing Sports Institute from 1984 to 1986. Upon finishing, he was given the opportunity to manage the newly formed China B team, which was essentially the Chinese youth team which was allowed to play in the league system. His time with them was extremely successful and he was even able to win the league title with them in the 1989 league season. Impressed with his leadership, the Chinese Football Association removed the team from the league and allowed him to take the team to play international tournaments. This led to him being offered the Chinese senior team position; however, his reign was extremely short when the Football Association decided it wanted a more experienced manager in Klaus Schlappner to lead the team to the 1992 AFC Asian Cup. Nevertheless, Xu Genbao stayed with the Chinese team as an assistant until 1993.