Written/Hot-Blooded Brother
On the evening of March 7, 2012, the AFC Champions League group stage Group H began a Sino-Korean showdown. New Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande face K League kings Jeonbuk Hyundai. This is Evergrande's AFC Champions League debut, and I thought the rookie would pay some tuition on the top students, but the result was a 5-1 crush. Evergrande is the former.
That night, there was another set of numbers that was equally eye-catching: 14 million. That's the win for that one game alone. That number deserves the phrase "unprecedented."
After that night, many fans fanned this Chinese Super League club that symbolized "eternal and far-reaching", and even shouted, "The spring of Chinese football is coming." ”
Evergrande did not fail them, and shortly after that, they twice lifted the AFC Champions League trophy above their heads. The scene of the three armies laughing and smiling, like the Xu Boss who has a big H at his waist and a Rolex on his wrist at the extreme celebration dinner, and a laughing look when he raises his wine glass at a high level.
Ten years later, an ordinary night is still the group stage of the AFC Champions League, or the number of games played by Evergrande. This time the score was 8-0, and Evergrande became the latter.
In contrast to the former 14 million per game, the team now has a cap annual salary, the number of first places has increased by 6 times, and the tail has taken out two zeros. The young players of the youth team who have experienced this tragedy may earn only 10,000 yuan per month.
What was once seen as a profession of wealth cryptography is now like walking into a space that everyone despises. Everything is like a dream.
In the past ten years, one or two sentences cannot be said clearly, but in the final analysis, it is Evergrande and Chinese football itself, little by little, pushing themselves into a situation of no return.
For the score of 0-8, in fact, everyone has already done a good job of psychological construction. In its debut three days ago, Evergrande had swallowed five bullets and was only a Malaysian team. This "big gift" made the current secretary general of the AFC, Malatian Datauk Windsor John, really unable to hang on to the face, and said that he would conduct a thorough investigation.
What to look for? Check why Chinese football is willing to lose this person.
The epidemic is a hurdle that no one can overcome, especially under China's implementation of the world's strictest prevention and control strategy. Therefore, Changchun Yatai and Shanghai Haigang have both chosen to take the initiative to withdraw. Such a choice is beyond reproach, no one can blame anything, under the concept of life first, football cannot be higher than life and death.
But Evergrande and Luneng have made different choices: the AFC Champions League still has to be played. How to play? Let the young people kick. However, for Chinese football, which is now devastated by the construction of the youth training system, going out to practice this time is not like studying and upgrading, but more like being tortured.
0-5, 0-7, 0-8, 0-5, two rounds of 4 games, Evergrande and Luneng lost to no dignity. For Chinese football, it's like the scorching sun, and it's even more true for the players themselves. Such a game has no exercise value, but is enough to destroy the torment of self-confidence in purgatory.
Others can not care about your lineup and intentions, so the Japanese media is mocking, the Korean media is mocking, and even the Vietnamese media and malaysian media can also be unscrupulously ridiculed. This is beyond the category of "massacre", and your opponents are dancing with their teeth and claws, eager to engrave the words "Sick Man of East Asia" on your face. If you think about it, has the new China 49 years later not suffered such humiliation?
In the AFC's view, the practice of sending young players to play reduces the prestige of the game, and also lacks respect for the opponent, deviating from the essence of football. However, there is also an unconfirmed statement that I have heard, which sounds even more ironic: the purpose of Evergrande's trip is only to earn enough appearance fees. Equivalent to a cost of only one hundred thousand yuan, in the past, Boss Xu may not have looked at it squarely, but now evergrande can endure the humiliation of heaven to receive it.
Kabuki still knows that selling art does not sell itself, but Chinese football does not sell its art. For Evergrande after the ebb tide, this money is not a small amount. The annual operating expenses of the former king are not worth the wins of a decade ago.
Perhaps, as parties, they may have become numb, because such a tragic case is not the first time. Last season' Evergrande and Guoan lost a total of 1 draw and 11 losses in the group stage, and the goal conceding data was 4 goals and 40 goals conceded. What is even more speechless is that coupled with accidents such as infection with the virus, a group of team members have experienced more than 150 days to return to China. Is it worth spending nearly half a year for a humiliating ending that has long been doomed?
Such questions are always asked over and over again: Is it worth it? Maybe the club itself didn't realize that the history-breaking fiasco they swallowed one after another, destroying confidence in the entire industry, would not be much less than the 1-3 game when the national football team played against Vietnam at the beginning of the year.
Chinese football has lost without a bottom line. Naturalization is a complete failure; the Chinese Super League has left a dime of chicken feathers; the youth training is almost a complete defeat. Even if you look at the entire army of foreigners, only Wu Lei is struggling to support the last glimmer of hope and face. Chinese football has lost to the point where there is nothing to fear of losing.
Oolong balls, funny mistakes, and red cards that violate professional ethics are the few marks left by two Chinese Super League teams until now. After the first round, Evergrande fired the red card perpetrator Guan Haojin for the first time. The most interesting thing is. After Evergrande experienced 0-8, an account with the ID of "Guan Haojin" posted a blog in two minutes and liked the same topic, the name of the topic was #Guangzhou team to refresh the AFC Champions League record of Chinese Super League teams.#
This speed is even faster than the speed at which Evergrande fired Guan Haojin. It turns out that it was just a prank of netizens who privately modified their IDs, making countless people believe it. But this is also the real situation of Chinese football: everyone is entertaining and consuming, seeking to maximize the value of entertainment, so they can hype the so-called "Feng Gong War" wildly, and also tolerate people like Dong Lu.
Evergrande is still walking in their great journey of "eternal and far-reaching", and we can only wish it a little longer and longer. We see it rise, and we don't want it to fall right in front of our eyes.