Special correspondent Xu Yi reported on the pain of this second, which is unforgettable. In the last round of the Chinese League One, when Zhejiang won 2-1 against Wuhan Sanzhen, many Zhejiang players hugged and celebrated. But then the result of another game came: Meizhou Hakka scored a last-second goal to tie Kunshan, the 1-1 score allowed Meizhou Hakka to reach 75 points, and Zhejiang, which accumulated 74 points, won the second place in the Chinese League A this season, "stealing" the opportunity to directly rush overtake. The experience of riding a roller coaster made two foreign assistants of the Zhejiang team, Frank and Matthews, cry with headaches, and one player walked off the field with a crying voice: "If the kick is kicked away, the goalkeeper puts the ball, and the game is over!" ”
Just like life, if you miss a second, you may miss a lot. This second of pain, the Zhejiang team will have to use 17 days to redeem. From the end of the China League A on December 22, 2021 to the first leg of the Super League A play-off on January 8, 2022, Zhejiang team will have to spend a short and long 17 days.
After 17 days, will the Zhejiang team get the New Year's gift they want?
The Zhejiang team used the warm-up game to find the status
On the last day of 2021, at the Zhongtai base of Zhejiang Professional Football Club, Zhejiang and the newly formed U21 team played a warm-up match.
Finding who to be the warm-up opponent has become a very headache for the Zhejiang team after the end of the Chinese League One. After the end of the league, most of the Chinese League A teams have taken a holiday, and the Chinese Super League teams are still playing in the league, so it is difficult for Zhejiang to meet a suitable warm-up opponent. In the view of the coaching staff of the Zhejiang team, if only relying on training, it is difficult for the team to maintain its state, and finally the Zhejiang team asked the Zhejiang U21 team to warm up. The Zhejiang U21 team is a team formed by the Zhejiang U20 team that won the National Games this year, and they will simulate the play-off opponents of the Zhejiang team in the warm-up match.
With goals from Gaudí and Shao Renzhe, Zhejiang won 2-0. Zhejiang also won a penalty in the match, and as a result, Ai Shajiang's penalty was saved by the goalkeeper of Zhejiang U21 team. "We have to play a good sparring role, to let the first team find the feeling through the warm-up game, so that they can find a solution as soon as possible when facing various problems." For example, I adjusted my playing style in the game, sometimes putting a high school striker, sometimes playing defensive counterattack, which is a situation that Zhejiang team may encounter when playing in the play-offs. Xu Lei, head coach of Zhejiang U21 team, said: "From the perspective of individual ability of the players, we are not as good as the players in the Chinese Super League, after all, they are all young players, but we try to simulate the play-off scene as much as possible, so as to help the first team better prepare for the two play-offs." ”
In order to play two play-off matches, Zhejiang Professional Football Club is working hard in all aspects, the U21 team is trying its best to "simulate the opponent", and the players of the first team are doing their best to improve their form. The whole Zhejiang team wants to relieve the depression in their hearts through the play-offs - the last second of the last round of the Chinese League One, which makes all the players feel extremely depressed.
It was a somewhat eerie afternoon, and some Players from the Zhejiang team described it as "winding Meizhou". Zhejiang kept the score at 2-1 at the end of the game, and when the final whistle was heard, some of the players of the Zhejiang team had already begun to celebrate. Cheng Jin suddenly made a gesture of pressing down with his hands solemn, asking everyone not to celebrate first. Subsequently, all the players heard a message that broke their hearts...
Since being relegated in 2016, the Chinese Super League has always been so close and so far for Zhejiang.
Before the last round of the league in 2018, Zhejiang was also 1 point ahead of Shenzhen, as long as they defeated the desireless Meizhou Hakka on the road, they could secure the Chinese Super League place. But in the end, Zhejiang lost 1-2 to Meizhou Hakka, and as Shenzhen won a big victory at home without suspense, Shenzhen finally completed the dream of overtaking.
In 2020, Zhejiang won the second place in the Chinese League One, and according to the rules, they faced Wuhan in the Super League Play-offs. With two goals behind in the first leg, Zhejiang equalized 2-2 before the end of the match, but eventually lost to Wuhan in the second leg due to a controversial penalty 0-1, thus missing the opportunity to rush to the top. At the beginning of 2021, The Zhejiang team almost nailed down in the Chinese Super League, but the Jinmen Tiger "came back to life", and the Zhejiang team missed the Chinese Super League at the last moment.
Do a little better and you can win
In the first half of the final round, behind Wuhan Sanzhen, Zhejiang coach Jody angrily cracked the tactical board in the locker room at halftime, and he wanted to "wake up" the players in this way. And when the Zhejiang team lost the direct rush to the top spot in the last second, Jody calmed down, he knew that there was no point in blaming the players at this time, the team needed encouragement most of all, after all, there were still two play-off games to play.
"You've done your best, and I'm proud of you. You can walk out of the stadium with your head up, and then you have to use the same courage to meet the next two play-offs. Jody told the players.
After playing a warm-up match against U21, Jody gave the players a short break, and the team regrouped yesterday afternoon to start sprinting for two play-offs. But most of the players stayed at the base, they knew the importance of the two play-offs, some players chose to practice, and almost all the players watched the penultimate round of the Chinese Super League Qingdao and Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the room, because they knew that Qingdao was likely to be Zhejiang's opponent in the play-offs. Sure enough, Qingdao lost 0-1 to Tianjin Jinmen Tigers. In this way, qingdao, which has accumulated 11 points, locked up the 16th place in the Chinese Super League this season with only one round left in the league, and Zhejiang will compete with Qingdao in the super league play-off for two legs.
'It was a real coincidence that I met a team I've coached before. Qingdao, a team that Jody is very familiar with, said he was very grateful to the Qingdao team owner for bringing him to China. However, when Qingdao became a play-off opponent, Jody thought about how to win the Qingdao team and let Zhejiang team win the place in the Chinese Super League in the new season. Jody analyzed: "I know the situation of the Qingdao team this year, they have many problems this year, such as economic problems. The Qingdao team should have been mentally prepared to play the play-offs long ago, and they must have been fully prepared for these two games and attach great importance to these two games. However, because they have a lot of problems this season, they will be more psychologically fragile, and if we can put a lot of pressure on the opponent after the opening, they will be defeated by setbacks and morale will not come up. ”
Playing a good start is what Jody wants to do, but if he wants to make a good start, Jody also has to solve Zhejiang's own problems: "This is a total of 180 minutes of competition, we have to stay in good shape in the game." This season we have created a lot of chances in the game, and the number of chances created can be ranked at the top of the teams, but in the game we are not able to take the opportunity enough, which caused us to fail to win some games. ”
For the performance of Zhejiang this season, Jody scored 90 points: "The team is playing more and more maturely, and the whole team is very united. The 10 points lost were deducted on the grasp of the goal, which we had to improve in the play-offs. ”
The Zhejiang goalkeeper is full of confidence in the play-offs: "I have always been very confident and optimistic about the super league, and the last two games, which are the real finals, we must maintain a high concentration of 90 minutes and go all out to attack the Chinese Super League quota." ”
Cheng Jin, because he was injured in recent training, has been training alone and has not appeared in the warm-up match. 'The injury is recovering well and there's nothing wrong with playing in the play-offs. Cheng Jin said, "Such an important game, how to play with all your strength to fight." Regarding the two-legged play-off match with Qingdao, Cheng Jin said: "The strength of the Chinese Super League team is not weak, but we also have very good strength and have a strong desire for the Chinese Super League. The team is united now, everyone is bent on playing two play-offs, and for the two-legged play-off, we are ready. ”
Will Mushekwi be able to catch up to the playoffs?
Mushekwi scored 23 goals in the Chinese League A this season, becoming the golden boot of the league, but for this honor, Mushekwi did not feel anything: "I don't care too much about becoming the top scorer, if I don't rush, it is useless for me to score 100 goals, if I can help the team to rush with goals, this is the thing that can make me happy." 」 Mushekwe's "indifference" to the Golden Boot is more due to regret for missing the opportunity to directly rush overtake: "The moment I heard Meizhou score, I cried. Everyone thought we had already rushed over, all ready to celebrate, who knew that the final waiting came such a news. ”
Commenting on the upcoming play-offs, Mushekwe said: "The play-offs will definitely be difficult, no matter which team we meet, it will be difficult, because the strength of the Chinese Super League teams is very strong, and we must use 10 times the effort to prepare for these two games. Although qingdao is the 16th place in the Chinese Super League, they also have a good game, and we must not take it lightly. ”
Talking about the reasons for the loss of points, Mushekwi said: "At the beginning, the attention was not enough, the entry was slow, the opponent suddenly scored, and it would be very difficult for us to chase back or overtake. At the beginning of each stage, it is not easy to enter the state, like the fourth stage was just forced to draw by the Guizhou team, if we win that game, we may eventually rush directly to the top. So when it comes to the playoffs, we have to get into shape as soon as possible, and the playoffs don't give us any chances to make mistakes. ”
Mu Xiekui knows the situation of the Qingdao team very well, he said: "The foreign aid of the Qingdao team is a variable, and I don't know which foreign aid they will have when the time comes." Some of the players in the Qingdao team are very experienced, and this is something we have to be careful about. The play-offs are two very interesting games that require each of us to pick up the spirit and win the game as a whole. ”
Like Mushekwe, foreign aid Frank was in tears at the end of the final round of the league. As the league progressed, Frank got better, and in the final rounds of consecutive goals, Jody also put the captain's armband on Frank's arm. 'The game went from tears of joy to tears of sadness, which was impressive and pushed us to play two play-offs. Frank said: "After going through moments like that, we will no longer be afraid, and the whole team is full of confidence in playing the play-offs. ”
However, in the warm-up match, Mushekwi and Frank did not appear. Mushekwe was injured before the final round of the league, while Frank was injured in the final round. Mushekwe watched the warm-up game on the sidelines in his tracksuit, but Frank simply did not appear on the sidelines. A team staff member said: "Both foreign players are currently injured, the injury is not light, and Jody can't use them to play." Now the two are racing against time and don't know if they can come back from injury in the play-offs. ”
What the Zhejiang team is praying for now is that Mushekwi and Frank can recover and appear in the play-offs at their best.