Text/Tongcheng faction
There is only one tail left in 2021, looking back at Chinese football, a chicken feather, miserable: the hope of the men's football team to impact next year's Qatar World Cup is basically shattered; the women's football team was eliminated in the group stage of the 11-goal net swallow at the Tokyo Olympic Games; the Chinese Super League salary arrears are everywhere, the mourning is everywhere, naturalized players have played their way back home, and the World Sixth League, which once spent a lot of money, is in jeopardy.
In 2021, what else can Chinese football have to talk about? Oh, Wu Lei, the king of martial arts, he has just been named to the 2021 Best 11-man squad in Asia announced by the FIFA Federation of History and Statistics (IFFHS). Japanese football is clearly the biggest winner, with 3 people in the best 11-man squad and 2 more on the bench.
Wu Lei was the only Chinese player to be shortlisted, and although Only Son Heung-min was selected in South Korea, there was still one on the bench. Speaking of Son Heung-min, he has scored countless goals for Tottenham in a season, and the goals scored are almost the kind of games that kill the game. People are truly "Asian ball kings", which is comparable to Wu Lei.
IFFHS AFC Team of the Year 2021:
Goalkeeper: Matthew Ryan (Australia)
Defenders: Shah Rani (Saudi Arabia), Hassan (Qatar), Kanani (Iran), Kenyo Fuan (Japan)
Zhongyuan: Takeshi (China), Yuya Osako (Japan), Takehide Kubo (Japan)
Forwards: Son Heung-min (South Korea), Azmoun (Iran), Mabuhot (UAE)
The funny thing is that we all know that whether Wu Lei is in the national team or the club, his best position is the right wing forward, but FIFA has placed Wu Lei in the left midfielder that he has hardly played in his career in this best team. Is it a matter of making up numbers?
Why was Wu Lei shortlisted for the best team of the year, based on the results of the national team? The hope of qualifying for the National World Cup is almost zero, obviously not. By club performance? Wu Lei's position in espanyol is very awkward, or he does not enter the big list, even if he enters the big list, he can't play a few games in a year, how do you let him score?
But whatever the reason, it's always good that Wu Lei can be shortlisted for the best team in Asia, and it's also a long face for Chinese football, even if it's barely shortlisted, it's better than no one making a finalist. There is nothing wrong with the outside world's doubts, after all, a striker who takes scoring goals as his mission, caught in the club's "goal drought" for 342 days, is indeed an incompetent and unqualified striker.
What do you think of Wu Lei's nomination for the best 11-man squad in Asia, and what you want to say about the questioning of the last fig leaf of Chinese football.