On March 6, Beijing time, according to the updated information of the football data website, former internationals Song Zhenyu and Tan Yang showed that they had retired. Next season in the professional league, there will be no more two veteran "international" level players galloping on the field, they will both begin their careers as coaches, in another field to continue their football life.
It is understood that Tan Yang will join the first-team coaching team of the Zhejiang team after retiring, but the specific position has not yet been revealed. Song Zhenyu will start next season as the goalkeeper coach of Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic Team.
The 33-year-old Tan Yang, the first international player trained by the Zhejiang team, is more than 1 meter 9 tall, he was once famous for his good air superiority, known as the "air bully", can serve as a center and defender, twice represented the national football team, and also played for the Portuguese league team Mafra. Since the 2016 season, Tan Yang has returned to his parent team Zhejiang and played for the team for many years as the main force. Last season, despite the success of the Zhejiang team, Tan Yang did not get the opportunity to play, so it was not surprising that he finally chose to retire.
Compared with Yang, the 41-year-old Song Zhenyu is more well-known in Chinese football and has a more brilliant career. Whether it is in Sichuan Guancheng, Changsha Jinde, Changchun Yatai, Chengdu Sheffield United or Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic, Song Zhenyu has served as the main goalkeeper of the team for a long time. During the 2010 World Preliminary Round, Song Zhenyu gained the trust of the then national football coach Petrovic and replaced Zong Lei as the main goalkeeper of the national football team, but in the end, the national football team returned home after the first round of group matches.
In January 2009, the national football team lost to Iran in the warm-up match, which was also Song Zhenyu's closing performance in the national football team, and later with Gao Hongbo as the national football coach, Song Zhenyu was quickly "beaten into the cold palace", and since then there has been no connection with the national football team.
According to statistics, Tan Yang has played a total of 97 times in professional leagues. He scored 35 times in the middle of the game and scored 3 goals. Song Zhenyu made a total of 227 appearances in the professional league, including 153 in the middle of the league.