In the third round of the AFC Champions League group stage recently, the two Chinese Super League teams did not let the "tragedy" continue. Guangzhou lost 0-3 to South Korea's Ulsan Hyundai, Shandong Taishan drew 0-0 with Singapore's Lion City Sailors, and the youngsters of the two teams also won back some dignity for themselves under pressure.
Since Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan planned to send youth troops to compete in the AFC Champions League group stage, the outside world has a premonition that the prospects of the two teams are not good, and after two rounds, the two Chinese Super League youth teams have played four battles, swallowed 25 bullets and scored zero goals. In response to such a situation, more voices are questioning what such a fiasco means for these young players, and more foreign media have said that Chinese Super League teams should be expelled from the AFC Champions League. In the third round of the group stage, K League leader Ulsan Hyundai played against Guangzhou. Before the match, the South Korean media said: "If Ulsan Hyundai does not win 8 guangzhou teams, it is equivalent to defeat." And Guangzhou's veteran Kim Young-kwon also appeared in the starting list of Ulsan Hyundai for this campaign. Due to the objective gap in strength, Guangzhou eventually lost 0-3, but the team did not let the tragedy happen again. It is worth mentioning that Guangzhou goalkeeper He Lipan, who made a low-level mistake in the first round of "laying eggs", resisted high in this game and contributed up to 9 effective saves, not only helping the team to save face, but also completing self-redemption.
In another game, Shandong Taishan also showed tenacious fighting spirit against the Singapore Lion City sailors who had just won the first AFC Champions League in the history of the team. In the first half, the two teams attacked and defended each other, and Taishan's Yi Xianlong also used his personal ability to complete a wonderful breakthrough, but his shot was regrettably deflected and missed the goal. In the second half, the Lion City sailors attacked continuously, and the substitute of the old Chinese Super League player Jin Xinyu also created a big threat to the Taishan goal, but Taishan goalkeeper Cao Zheng repeatedly defused the danger. In the end, Shandong Taishan drew 0-0 with the Singapore Lion City Mariners, ending a two-game losing streak while also getting the first point of the Chinese Super League team in this AFC Champions League, and they were also the first Chinese Super League team to complete a clean sheet in the AFC Champions League for the first time in the past two seasons.
From losing five, losing eight, to losing three, or even not conceding a goal, maybe that's progress. The value of the so-called exercise lies in going all out. After consecutive big scores, the young players did not give up, the team did not collapse, facing more mature and professional opponents, spelling out the best of themselves, worthy of encouragement. Perhaps, the discussion of whether such a game is meaningful should also be terminated.