On the evening of January 27, the Chinese men's national football team lost 0-2 to Japan in the seventh round of the Qatar World Preliminary Round of 12 at the Saitama 2002 World Cup Stadium. This is an expected result, but also a reasonable result. Although the national football team has changed coaches, Li Xiaopeng also hopes to change the status quo of the national football team after taking office, hoping to let the national football team play a good game, but it has to be said that the current Chinese football is not a problem that can be solved by changing the coach.
Like the first round of the Doha battle, today's Chinese football is still playing the "football of the last century", which is fundamentally contrary to the development trend and trend of modern football. Moreover, more importantly, because our football concept and concept are outdated, and we do not talk about football every day, and the players we have cultivated are also "players of the last century", so for the time being, we should forget about "entering the World Cup", and when Chinese football has a group of excellent players who conform to modern football playing methods, let's talk about the impact of the World Cup. This is not a matter of negativity, criticism, or dissatisfaction with the performance of the national football team.
1
The essence of the Sino-Japanese war and the Doha war has not changed
After the end of the Japan-China battle, head coach Li Xiaopeng expressed responsibility for the 0-2 result and apologized to the fans. But in fact, there is no need for Li Xiaopeng to "apologize", because what the national football team showed in the whole game was not caused by Li Xiaopeng, if it were not for Li Xiaopeng, even if it was replaced by a world-class big-name coach, I am afraid that the process would not have changed too much. This is not to "excuse" Li Xiaopeng, but to determine the quality of the current Chinese players.
A very simple situation: in the first leg of the Sino-Japanese battle in Doha on September 7 last year, the ratio of shots between the national football team and japan was 3-18, and none of them hit the goal frame, and the three shots of the Chinese team were all outside the box; the number of corners was 1 to 6; the possession rate of the whole game was 30% to 70%; the passing rate was 278 to 651, the pass success rate was 58.6% to 83.9%,; the number of crosses was 5 to 21. In other words, the Chinese team is almost completely suppressed by the other side, and basically has no ability to fight back.
Now, the head coach has been replaced by Li Xiaopeng, and from the beginning of the game, the 532 formation from the last game has been converted to the 4231 formation, it should be said that in tonight's Japan-China battle, the national football team has not been very conservative from the beginning. And, as coach Li Xiaopeng said after the game, the strategy of the national football team is to "strengthen the defense in the first half, hoping not to concede the goal." In the second half, a few attacking players were replaced, hoping to make a difference on the offensive end. "The overall thinking and strategy can be said to be not much different from the first round of the Battle of Doha.
But the end result is 0-2, not only that, but more important than that, it is the whole process of the game. In this game, the ratio of the number of shots from the national football team and the Japanese team is 2-16, and none of the shots are within the range of the goal frame, and the two shots of the Chinese team are all outside the box. In terms of corners, the national football team is 1-11; the possession rate of the whole game is 37.3% to 62.7%; the passing rate is 359 to 583 times; the pass success rate is 67.7% to 83.2%; the number of crosses is 5 to 27. In other words, the Chinese team is still completely suppressed by the other side, and the national football team did not shoot once in the first half.
Of course, we admit that Li Xiaopeng has taken over this team for a short time, and his preparations are indeed very inadequate. However, even if the preparation time is long, is the Chinese men's national football team sure that fundamental changes can take place? I am afraid that it is difficult, at least in the short term, especially before there are no new players, players who conform to the trend and style of play of modern football, it is difficult for the Chinese men's national football team to make fundamental changes. Because the decision of the football game is ultimately up to the players! Moreover, two or three naturalized players are unlikely to change the course of the entire team.
2
There are no players who fit modern football
Before the Japan-China match, Japan's Yoshida Maya and Kenhiro Fuan were absent from two absolute main centre-backs, and Japan coach Hoichi Mori used two "new" people, Itakura and Akira Taniguchi. The so-called "newcomers" mean that they have not played much for the Japanese national team, and the national football team also knows that perhaps this is a place that can be used in the offensive end. But the question is, has the national football team gained a good offensive opportunity in actual combat? This is like head coach Li Xiaopeng said after the game, "When we analyzed before the game, we felt that the two wings of the Japanese team might be areas that we could use, but there was no way to use them in the actual game." ”
Why? The fundamental lies in the fact that the Japanese team has implemented high pressure and tight front from the beginning, so that after the Chinese players take the ball, they simply cannot effectively pass the ball forward and cannot complete the transition from defense to attack. Because we simply don't adapt to this style of playing by the Japanese team. We are still accustomed to the kind of "one slow and three passes" in the Chinese Super League, and after taking the ball, we can only pass back and cross.
A very simple fact: how many teams in the Chinese Super League can now implement the full-court pressing, forward-facing pressing style of play? Even with the introduction of so many world-class big-name stars, is the overall technical and tactical playing style and technical and tactical requirements of the Chinese Super League in line with the development trend and trend of world football? When those world-class big names have just arrived in the Chinese Super League, they may still be affected by inertia, and they can still show that kind of high-pressure and tight kicking style in the initial stage. But after a little longer, he was immediately "assimilated" and began to play "health ball" and "old man ball".
Because domestic football has long been this way of playing, this kind of technical and tactical requirements, therefore, in the face of Asia's top Japanese team, the Chinese team did not adapt at the beginning, everywhere into passivity, it is perfectly normal. In this case, the Chinese team's desire to enter the World Cup is basically "self-deception" and "over-the-top". If, in the 1980s and 1990s, Chinese football had a number of outstanding players who could rank in Asian football, and the most prominent problem was that our coaches did not have a broad vision and could not lead the national football team to complete the task of impacting the World Cup, and the main contradiction was "coaches can't do it". So, twenty or thirty years later, the contradiction has been transformed into: we are now difficult to find even a top Asian player, and how to impact the World Cup?
The disconnection of excellent players is not just a matter of "youth training", but in the process of youth player training, what kind of young players need to be trained? The so-called "youth player training" is not for the current training, but the need to cultivate players who adapt to the future development trend and trend of world football, and this player needs to be able to meet the development trend, trend and playing style of world football in the next seven or eight years. This requires our current youth coaches to first need to be clear about the current trends and trends, and more importantly, to predict the future trends and trends. So, what kind of qualities and abilities do coaches in Chinese football who are engaged in youth training need now? Relying on our so-called campus football coaches, can we really change the backward status quo of Chinese football? Of course, this is already off-topic.
Back to the Battle of Japan itself. What we need now is to accept reality calmly, rather than pinning our dreams on the so-called "shortcuts", "curve overtaking" and other means and methods, such as "naturalized players" and other unrealistic operating methods, or to be down-to-earth, spend twenty or thirty years of effort, and patiently cultivate a group of young players who conform to the development trend and trend. Before China's youth teams can't enter the World Junior Championships and the World Youth Championships, don't talk about the "empty cannon" such as "entering the World Cup".