After losing home to Thailand, the former international taunted fans

On the evening of August 22, the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, is the "Qixi Festival".

That day in Shanghai, more than 15,000 people gave up the holiday and chose to go to SAIC Pudong Football Stadium for an "unforgettable night".

That night, Shanghai Port, who temporarily topped the Super League standings, played at home against BG Pathum United, who finished eighth in the Thai Super League. It was an AFC Champions League play-off, and before the match, almost everyone thought that Shanghai Port would easily win their opponents and enter the AFC Champions League main stage.

But Chinese football has never lacked "miracles", and after 90 minutes of matching, Shanghai Port lost 2-3 and did not have the opportunity to qualify.

Unfortunately, the loss of Chinese football to Thailand is no longer worth being on the hot search, so this match did not attract much attention. But Shanghai Port player and former international Cai Huikang is clearly not satisfied with such a result. A small essay he posted in the circle of friends after the game immediately put himself and Chinese football on the cusp again.

On August 24, at the pre-match press conference between Shanghai Port and Henan, Cai Huikang publicly apologized to fans, but fans did not buy it.

"They might be checking which bulb is broken"

During the evening match on August 22, the players of Shanghai Port did not show their dominance in the Chinese Super League at all, appearing dazed and lost, and even quite embarrassed in local attacks and defenses.

In the 12th minute, Sergeyev scored with a powerful volley to give away BG Pathum United a 1-0 lead. In the 26th minute, Sergeyev scored after two consecutive additional shots to extend the visitors' lead. In the 31st minute, Murehematijiang scored with a long-range shot to pull back a goal for Shanghai Port.

Yi Bian fought again, and the Shanghai Port team, eager to equalize the score, once again had holes in the defense. In the 61st minute, Sergeyev scored a "hat-trick" with a powerful shot from inside the box. In the 86th minute, Vargas crossed diagonally in front of the goal to assist Pingke's goal, and Shanghai Port chased the score to 2-3. Near the end, Wu Lei missed a winning chance in the penalty area, and BG Batton United won 3-2.

Wen Wei Po reported: On the night of the game, the Shanghai Port team was criticized by fans, and after the game, the sky over the Shanghai Pudong football stadium was even surrounded by shouts of "Javier leaving class" and "shame".

Some Shanghai Port fans chose to turn their backs to the stadium to express their dissatisfaction. Photo: Shanghai Red Sun Fans Association public account

At the same time, some fans in the stands chose to express their dissatisfaction with the poor performance of the Shanghai Port team by facing away from the stands. The fan's behaviour was apparently seen by former Shanghai Port international Cai Huikang, who was replaced at half-time.

After the game, Cai Huikang posted a long article in the circle of friends: "This is a sad day... My son asked me why they were facing away and I told a lie, they might be checking which bulb was broken on it... Try harder... Look back and try to imitate the inspection bulb on the podium..."

When Cai Huikang's text was exposed by the Internet, the fans who were "offended" were angry.

On August 24, the Shanghai Red Sun Fan Club publicly released an article to scare Cai Huikang.

Shanghai Red Sun fans will write: "I don't know how to describe this game, I don't think it's necessary to describe it, the process is no longer important, it's a knockout game, and we were eliminated... You say the fans don't work hard? It rained heavily during the Qixi Festival, but I still came over and shouted desperately... Adults should face the problem with an adult attitude, it's a man, if you don't kick well, you kick back. Instead of seeing the backs of the fans, making up a story for the child to say, 'They're looking at a broken light bulb', fooling the child and fooling yourself is done. ”

"The fans will have a lot of children who have watched the team since they were young, and they have been watching it for more than ten years. They, like the children of the players, grew up treating the players as supermen and heroes. ”

"When you pick up your phone and send out the 'light bulb theory' to protect the superhuman image in the hearts of your children, you destroy the superhuman image in the hearts of the children in the stands. How can their fathers explain these children's hearts that are hurt? Do you tell them the truth, or do you use another 'light bulb theory' to deceive them? ”

The response of the Shanghai Red Sun Fan Club was supported and praised by a large number of fans. This rather "humiliating" match was also seen by more people because of the conflict between Tsai Huikang and the fans.

Originally, few people knew about this.

I never expected it

For the fans of Shanghai Port Team, Cai Huikang can be described as his own person. Cai Huikang is not only from Genbao Football Base with Wu Lei, Wang Shenchao and other players, but also local players in Shanghai.

Since entering professional football in 2006, Cai Huikang has not left Shanghai, from Shanghai East Asia to Shanghai SIPG to Shanghai Port, the team has changed its name several times, the coach has changed one after another, Cai Huikang has always worn a red shirt.

He accompanied the team from the Chinese League One to the Chinese Super League, caught up with the Jin Yuan era, and as a meritorious player of the club, he ate all the dividends of the Jin Yuan era.

Cai Huikang, who has played for the national team many times, even became the captain of the national football team in January 2017 during Lippi's leadership of the team. Since winning the Chinese Super League championship with Shanghai SIPG in 2018, Cai Huikang's tactical status in the team has declined sharply as he has aged, and he has been reduced to a "water cooler administrator" for a time.

There were several reports last year that Chua Huikang would leave Shanghai Port, but in the end, the 34-year-old Chua Huikang remained with the team and played well in some of the Chinese Super League games this season.

Chua Huikang (right) in the Chinese Super League. Photo by Wang Hua of China News Agency

In this season's Chinese Super League, Cai Huikang, who represented Shanghai Port, caused two of the opponent's main players, Yang Liyu and Wu Xi, to be seriously injured in the confrontation against Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Shenhua, which shows that his maintenance of his own form is still at a high level.

The fairy tale of "one person, one city", which is talked about by the sports world, seems to be about to be played out on Cai Huikang.

Xinmin Evening News once used "humble and cheerful" to describe Cai Huikang. Shanghai Port players and fans prefer to call Cai Huikang "Old Cai". Just after the first round of this year's league, some Shanghai Port fans posted on social media: "I am quite content to see Lao Cai still running on the field." ”

There are even many fans who believe that Cai Huikang's performance this season is worth letting the new manager of the national football team, Jankovic, focus on it, and may solve the current situation of the national football team's "weak waist".

Shanghai Port fans never expected that after a "humiliating" game, his own person Cai Huikang actually "backstabbed" himself.

As the saying goes, "a thousand should not, should not, should not be you Cai Huikang".

Be beaten upright

Where did Cai Huikang's mentality of such an "explosion" come from? As a player, it can be said that it comes from pressure, and it is pressure accumulated over the years.

Indeed, as an international player who has lost in international competitions for many years, if you don't accumulate some pressure, you really don't know what you have accumulated.

From the onlooker, mature professional athletes cannot become good athletes if they do not have a way to relieve stress, but such a statement is somewhat high-sounding for Chinese professional footballers.

The lost games are indeed kicked by them, but to say that all the problems facing Chinese football today are the problems of the players, I am afraid that this is not the case, and the players who have been at the bottom of the public opinion field for a long time often have bitterness and cannot be said, which is also the norm.

The mentality of the fans is also understandable, it is uncomfortable not to watch, it is even more uncomfortable to watch. Lose to Thailand, lose to Vietnam, and lose again.

Because both sides have been in a situation of mentality "explosion" for a long time, it is not uncommon for players and fans to have disputes and clashes. Mutual intimidation on social media occurs from time to time, often with the following example: "You greet my parents, I entertain your whole family." "You say I kick stinks, you can come up and kick." "You said my feet were too dirty, you come and look at my bruised thighs."

However, these conflicts are completely different from the nature of Cai Huikang's statement this time.

As Shanghai Red Sun fans will say, Cai Huikang, as a professional Chinese football player, but also as a father, may have many explanations in the face of his son's question of fans rushing back to the stands after his loss, but it must not be "they are checking the light bulb".

Chua Huikang (left) fights with Thailand's BG Pathum United. Photo/Visual China

Because he is a professional player in China, Cai Huikang should have more to tell his son. Game content, physical condition, team run-in, psychological quality, on-the-field play... These may have been the reasons for the loss of the game, and the fans turned around in disappointment, which may also be an incentive for the players.

It's hard to imagine that the son of a professional footballer would not be able to accept such an answer from his father. If he doesn't get such an answer, how can the fans believe that the players will really sum up after the loss?

Chinese fans, have long been accustomed to the cynicism around them, "kick so smelly and watch" heard their ears callouse, but they still have expectations and expectations in their hearts, maybe the next time will be good, maybe the next time will be good...

Is there really nothing worth summarizing in the match between Shanghai Port and BG Pathum? Of course not, both sides have a large number of Chinese and Thai internationals, and China and Thailand happen to be the direct opponents of the World Cup Asian qualifiers, and whether they can win Thailand is the key to the further development of the national football, so the gold content of this game is self-evident.

But if professional players choose to "lie" in the face of the result of the loss, then the loss really can no longer summarize any meaningful gains other than the loss itself.

This may be the real disappointment for the fans.

I want to ask Cai Huikang, this time the fans turned their backs to the stadium, you said they were "checking the light bulbs", if next time they don't come and the stands are empty, what are you going to lie?

Did they collectively go buy light bulbs?

Author: Hu Kefei