When it comes to the Chinese Super League in the past decade, many people will think of a word, that is, the Golden Dollar Era. Indeed, since Guangzhou Evergrande has opened up a path to quickly become a giant, other teams have begun to follow suit. The first step is to introduce world-class big-name foreign aid and big-name foreign coaches, and the second step is to hoard more international players and excellent local players, so that the dominant resources are concentrated enough to make their squad strength and thickness difficult for other teams to match. It can be said that many teams have achieved success in this way, such as Shanghai Haigang, Jiangsu Suning and Tianjin Quanjian.
However, then there was a bug in this way, that is, there were many local tycoons, and there were not enough good players, so the competition for high-quality teams began to heat up, and at its peak, even potential young players who had just entered the first team could get an annual salary of millions. In other words, playing football has suddenly become a quick and prosperous industry, and even if you don't need to play well, you can get a very good annual salary. For players, it is of course a good thing to have more income, but the money is too good to earn, and it is easy to lose the motivation to struggle. Young players are not willing to suffer for the improvement of football skills, and old players are not willing to fight for a game. Therefore, the decline in level and the lack of hard work have become two important reasons for everyone to question and even insult the national football team.
But are our Chinese players just looking for money, as some fans think, just picking up money? Obviously not, recently our Chinese football has had a retrograde. The average player who chooses a team will basically choose the best team in the top league, and if he can't go, he will choose the second. But this player is different, with his ability and fame can obviously play in the top league, obviously can go to a good team, obviously can get a better salary. But he didn't, he eventually chose to go back to his hometown and join an amateur team. He is Zhang Cheng, a 32-year-old veteran.
I believe that many fans know that Zhang Chengdu scored in the 2018 season 4 years ago, when Tianjin Quanjian team played the AFC Champions League for the first time, and when he faced the powerful Korean hegemon Jeonbuk Hyundai on two occasions, Zhang Cheng scored goals. In the third round of the group stage, Quan Jian lost 3-6 to Jeonbuk, and Zhang Cheng scored a world wave. Immediately after the fourth round of the AFC Champions League group stage, facing Jeonbuk Hyundai again, Zhang Cheng scored another header to help the team succeed in revenge 4-2. It is also these two games that let our fans know Zhang Cheng. Because before that, he had always been considered an ordinary player, only a player at the level of the middle two and the middle league.
But in fact, when we found him, we saw his advantages, although his speed is not particularly prominent, the passer is not very sharp, the pass is not very accurate, but he can really run, like a perpetual motion machine, never turn off, never give up running. In the 2017 season, Zhang Cheng ranked third in the total running distance ranking of the Chinese Super League and was one of the five players who broke through the 300,000-meter mark with a total running distance. It can be said that looking at the ordinary player like this is because he runs endlessly and shows the level of more than 80 points.
And later, Zhang Cheng also participated in sports variety shows, and everyone can see that he is a very simple person, in addition to playing football, he is an extremely simple person who plays games with his own boring head. It was his simplicity and love of football that gave him what he achieved that year. Later, after the dissolution of Quan Jian, Zhang Cheng also joined the Chinese Super League giants Jiangsu Suning in the 2020 season, and won the 2020 Chinese Super League championship with the team, realizing the dream of the Chinese Super League championship.
However, it is a pity that after winning the championship, Jiangsu Suning disbanded again. Zhang Cheng has once again become a free agent, and originally with his performance and fame, he was able to stay in the Chinese Super League and join a good team. But he did not want to move, and instead chose the Suzhou Dongwu team of the Central League, which was not far from Nanjing. In Suzhou Dongwu, Zhang Cheng almost became the core of the team's defense, playing 27 games for the team, starting 26 games, scoring 3 goals and 3 assists. It can be seen that his ability to cope with the middle division is completely more than enough.
And the new season began, I thought Zhang Cheng might return to the Chinese Super League, but he made a shocking decision, that is, to go home, return to his hometown Tianjin, join an amateur team, called Tianjin Fusheng, and this team was established in 2017, previously won the 2021 Tianjin Super Football League, Tianjin Football Association Cup double, intends to participate in the 2022 Chinese Champions League.
With the ability to play in midfield, he played in the middle of the first division for one year, and then he went to play the middle crown the next year, and the span was too large. Zhang Cheng is really a retrograde in Chinese football, others want to play in the Chinese Super League and make a lot of money, but he went directly to the amateur team. Is it true that you don't care about income at all? In fact, for Zhang Cheng now, he has already achieved success and earned money, and how much he earns now is not much of a concern for him. And playing football is something he likes to do, where to play, in what level of league, he doesn't care too much. On the contrary, now that he wants to go home, he will go home and find a team to play, which is to enjoy football, which is another realm of playing football.
How do you understand Zhang Cheng's joining the amateur team? Friends are welcome to discuss together in the comment area!