In the fifth round of the AFC Champions League group stage, Shandong Taishan lost 0-4 to Daegu FC, which was obviously retained. Compared to the 0-7 in the first leg, this time it should be a more real gap between the two teams. In other words, the Tarzan junior's two fiascos against Daegu FC and Urawa Red Diamonds in the first two rounds were agnostic, while the two Lion City Sailors won a draw and two goals were extraordinary, and the fifth round finally returned to normal. This seems to be a relatively objective assessment.
(4:0, is a normal play)
The outstanding performance of the Lion City Sailors in two matches has caused the status of the Taishan Youth Army in people's minds to rise sharply, and many people have asked whether it is possible for Taishan to achieve more than expected results if they play at the same level. In The Second World War, Daegu FC, Yu Yuanwei made it clear before the game that he hoped to score again in the last two rounds, which was a reflection of this mentality at the team level. However, although Tarzan has created opportunities for possible goals, from the process of the whole game, Daegu FC, which has a very large rotation range and does not go all out, still has a crushing advantage over Tarzan, and Tarzan's long-cherished wish to complete the goal is a small probability event, and the big score loss is not surprising.
The young players who represented Taishan in this year's AFC Champions League cannot be compared with the three strong opponents in the same group in terms of strength and experience, and because of the lessons learned from the AFC Champions League Beijing, Guangzhou, and Haigang Youth Army last year, they and the domestic public opinion that pays attention to them are mentally prepared for their continuous brewing tragedies in Buriram. The "massacre" suffered in the first two rounds of the group stage by Taishan and Guangzhou youngsters is not only a reflection of the difference in strength between them and their opponents, but also the result of frequent low-level mistakes in a state of psychological tension. However, from the third round onwards, Tarzan, who gradually adapted to the environment of the game and tended to be peaceful, laid down his baggage, coupled with the physical excellence of the young players, and played two good games against the Lion City sailors. In fact, if their group had met the Lion City Sailors in the first or second battle, I am afraid that they would have lost more miserably, but not necessarily as much as against Daegu FC and Urawa Red Diamonds. After successive fiascos, the Guangzhou youngster seems to have been encouraged by his Taishan peers, and lost only two penalties in the fifth round of the re-battle against Johor, which was a significant improvement over the first leg.
(Tarzan juniors fight to Daegu players cramps)
Before the AFC Champions League group stage began, I always believed that the club sent this level of youth to participate mainly as a last resort, and the value of "training the team" was very small. After the Taishan two lion city sailors played a highlight performance, some people questioned my point of view: the AFC Champions League is of great value to the training of young players in the Chinese Super League, how can it be said to be small? My reply is that I still stand by my opinion. Sending a youth army that has not even participated in official adult competitions to compete in the AFC Champions League is not in line with the law of training young players. In these two games, The Taishan youngsters played really well, as far as the matter is concerned, they paid tuition to learn things, unfortunately, if these children have no balls to play before participating in the AFC Champions League, and after participating in the AFC Champions League, they still have no balls to play, no matter how bright their performance in the AFC Champions League, is only a flash in the pan after all.
The only reason why they finally went to the Thai race was the 23 Taishan echelon players with an average age of less than 20 years old, rather than the "mixed team" that had been rumored before, and the only reason was that they were not in the club's first-team list for this year's Chinese Super League. After they returned to China after playing in the AFC Champions League, after a 14+7 quarantine period, when they returned to the club, the registration window of the Chinese Super League had long been closed, and the Chinese Super League may have started. At the same time, due to the end of the transfer period, the way to rent out other Chinese Super League Chinese League A and B teams to participate in the competition has also been blocked. They have to hope that the reserve league or the G21 league can recover to maintain their form, but it is impossible to continue the AFC Champions League's training value for them by relying only on the level and atmosphere of the reserve team league or the G21 league.
(Yu Yuanwei: I can clearly feel the progress of the last one without regrets)
What I am looking forward to now is whether Hao Wei can squeeze out one or two places in the first team registration list for individual top players who have played prominently in this competition and were not originally within his plan, such as Yi Xianlong, BaiHelamu, Lu Yongtao, Liu Guobao, etc., to reserve a little fire for this youth army? Of course, being on the registered list doesn't mean you can play the ball. Tarzan registers more than 30 players each year, and one-fifth to one-quarter of them have a hard time actually playing. As for the many more people who are not on the registration list, the future is bound to be uncertain.
On the one hand, there are too few children who choose this path; on the other hand, children who have chosen this road are buried in the middle because there is no game to play. If this situation does not change, how much practical significance does it make for a certain team and some players to occasionally appear in the AFC Champions League?