Jiangsu Suning Club "crazy" disappeared as soon as it was thrown
Tomorrow or the unexpected, which one comes first? When Chinese football in 2021 began with the withdrawal of the new Chinese Super League champion Jiangsu from professional football, every practitioner in the industry was more or less worried about the future, and this uneasy mood ran through the past year, during which many clubs were in deep financial crisis and unsustainable, and the extraordinary coaching experience of the men's and women's national teams also exacerbated their uneasiness. The Chinese football that has been stripped of its gold dollar coat has restored its plain face like removing heavy makeup, which is really not good-looking, but it is the true face exposed under the chaos.
At a time when the vast majority of non-new year-old professional leagues around the world have ended the 2021 season, the Chinese Super League is still insisting in the cold winter. Affected by the epidemic and the national team's participation in the World Preliminary Tournament in Qatar, this season's Chinese Super League has been split into four pieces, so that it has to finish the game on a rare New Year's Eve.
The Tarzans won because of their respect for professional football
However, what is even colder than the cold winter of counting nine is the current ecological environment of Chinese professional football, especially in the Chinese Super League. Compared with the same stage last season, the suspense of the Chinese Super League title competition this season has been cracked early with the emergence of Shandong Taishan. In this regard, the outside world can be understood as shandong Taishan team card strength, bench thickness top the league. But behind Tarzan's strength is their solid economic foundation, and when only 3 of the 16 clubs do not owe wages, you will find that such a league is actually very unhealthy. Compared with the various competitions that have arisen in previous years, "carrying until the end of the season" has become the common psychology of most Chinese Super League clubs. Therefore, in the 2nd stage of the Chinese Super League, in addition to Taishan riding a dust, the vast majority of teams, including the 8-time champion Guangzhou team, are waddling. After the departure of super foreign aid and naturalized internationals, many clubs have turned the league stage into a training ground for cultivating new talents, which does not seem to match the competitive nature of professional leagues, but it is a helpless passive move.
A year ago, after Jiangsu Football Club withdrew from professional football due to the economic crisis of its parent company, practitioners expressed their appreciation for the league and the entire industry in addition to lamenting. But the embarrassment that occurred in the Jiangsu team sent a warning to them: even if they cherish the present, no one knows the tomorrow and accident of Chinese football, which one will come first. In other words, even if clubs stick to the end of this season under the influence of professional conscience, what is the future of Chinese professional football? Can the much-anticipated share reform turn clubs around? In fact, there is no clear answer in everyone's mind.
The national football team still has "one breath left" in 2021
There is no doubt that the main reason for the "sacrifice" of the 2021 Chinese Super League is to cooperate with the national football team to prepare for the world cup and participate in the Qatar World Preliminary Tournament. Although the idea that "the Chinese team is in the World Cup finals" has always remained in the fantasy of the industry, this obsession at least gives practitioners a reason to stick to it. Make them believe that "sacrificing" the league is also the right choice. The breakthrough of the national football round of 40 just intensified their illusions about higher but unrealistic impact on the target, so the strongest national football logistics support in history plus the then coach Li Tie's 5-year long contract came into being.
But top security and ambition don't dictate the laws of football. The record of 1 win, 2 draws and 3 losses in the first 6 rounds of the national football round of 12 does not exceed the scope of football laws, or such achievements are just another true portrayal of Chinese football' difficult return. China did not let the outing happen early in 2021 after the draw with Australia in Sharjah, UAE. But for the "theoretical survival, fact out", every member of the team has long been tacit, they only hope that this team can play the final 12 in a normal and stable atmosphere.
Li Tie himself "blocked" the way forward
But unfortunately, when the Chinese team was at a normal level at the technical level, coach Li Tie had a problem in emotional management, thus shifting the attention of public opinion from the team's weakness to its personality display. The 32-minute speech after the China-Australia match was not smooth, but unfortunately, at the same time as the emotional catharsis, Li Tie also completely stood on the opposite side of the mainstream of public opinion, so that some media and fans tirelessly "fired" at him.
The so-called too many words will be lost, and Li Tie's controversial remarks have also attracted criticism from relevant parties. Li Tie, who had calmed down, regretted his uncool actions, but he also had to take responsibility. Judging from the way new coach Li Xiaopeng took office and the results of the sports management department's intervention in the management of the national football team, the price Li Tie paid for his personal inappropriate words and deeds was far beyond his imagination or affordable.
Li Xiaopeng took over as nothing more than a firefighter, and his future life may not be better than Li Tie's
Objectively speaking, changes in the management model cannot change the fact that national football skills are inferior to people. After a toss-up, the new coach and management team still need time to familiarize themselves with the new working environment, and they and the players also need to go through a new cycle of running-in. Expecting a noticeable improvement in a short period of time is as unrealistic as expecting a team to qualify for the Round of 12, and the Chinese team, like all aspects of Chinese football, has remained chaotic in the past year. After the Chinese women's football team created the "2-7 tragedy" at the Tokyo Olympics, Jia Xiuquan's dismissal was the same as that of Zhang Haitao, the protagonist of the "0-8 massacre" at the Athens Olympic Games 17 years ago, the only difference being the way the manager's successor took office. However, regardless of whether Shui Qingxia's takeover shows the embarrassment of the Chinese Football Association's coach selection process, her appointment is just another "correction" of the national team's team building work. The constant cycle of trial and error and error correction may be the most reasonable annotation of the trajectory of Chinese football.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Zhao