Talking about it丨Winning the championship is difficult to hide the controversy in Hong Kong, who is Wu Lei's tears for?

Chinese football is going through its darkest moment. In this context, the result of Shanghai SIPG once again becoming the champion of the Chinese Super League is also full of controversy. But at the moment of the end of the game, we saw Wu Lei's tears, and we also heard Zhang Linpeng talk about his Chongming Island background and his mentor Xu Genbao. This gave us a touch of warmth, and it also made us wonder about a question: can the Chongming Island model become the future of Chinese football?

Written by丨Brother Blood

Editor丨Feng Xiao

After a focused dialogue full of red cards, violence, and controversy, the 2023 Chinese Super League crown finally fell to Shanghai Port. After 5 years, this is a significant moment for the harbor, but the harbor at this moment is no longer yesterday, and Chinese football at this moment is even more earth-shaking - but all changes are not born to the sun, but to step on the reverse button.

For SIPG, this intricate season seems difficult to describe in a highly generalized word. With a succession of victories and smooth sailing in the first 21 rounds, the championship seems to have been in the bag for a long time. But since then, the four consecutive winless games have rekindled the already dead suspense of the championship, coupled with the humiliating exit of the AFC Champions League qualifiers, which has caused SIPG's reputation to fall into the abyss. Fortunately, thanks to the fact that there are only a handful of opponents in today's Chinese Super League, even if they stumble, even if they face all kinds of controversies and doubts, Harbour finally won the league championship. Although it was not decent, judging by the results, the purpose was achieved.

It's just that this championship is too different from 5 years ago, as if it doesn't seem to be a product of the same era at all. 5 years ago, the Chinese Super League was in the most fierce "arms race" stage, for this championship trophy, the port's investment is staggering, Xie Hui drunk said "12 billion" may be a slight exaggeration, but the annual investment of 2 billion is traceable. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a champion who is "burned" by money. And today, 5 years later, when the entire Chinese football has experienced another major earthquake, when the entire football market has fallen into ruins, just to do not owe salaries, the ability to strengthen has become an outlier, SIPG relies on a group of veteran players, coupled with the aftermath of Oscar's super foreign aid, "recovering lost ground" has become a reasonable thing.

When the references are falling rapidly, it seems that "standing out from the crowd" has become a less difficult thing. How high do you say the gold content of the championship trophy of SIPG? I really don't dare to compliment, especially after suffering the humiliating exit of the AFC Champions League, which makes Chinese football in the already cold winter take another breath of coolness. But it is also extremely important for personal destiny, not only to complete some good stories, but also to show us what attitude we can take to face the tattered life even in the darkest moments.

After the final whistle blew, Wu Lei couldn't hold back his emotions anymore and knelt on the ground and cried bitterly. Perhaps, there are multiple layers of meaning behind this cry.

The first meaning is actually for yourself. is no longer the wind-chasing boy of the year, but a 32-year-old veteran, Wu Lei has accepted this fact and accepted reconciliation with life. Although in terms of process, it is not as good as winning the Super League trophy five years ago, he said that winning the championship is happier than five years ago because they are much older than five years ago, because there are fewer and fewer opportunities in the future.

I fully believe that Wu Lei's words are from the bottom of my heart. In the season of winning the championship five years ago, Wu Lei scored 27 goals to win the Golden Boot, breaking the 11-year monopoly of foreign aid on this honor. Since 2019, when he chose to stay abroad, he has had a hard time in the past 4 years. The invasion of the epidemic, the tormented stay abroad, the defeat of the national team, everything is not satisfactory, when all the ideals and ambitions are beaten by reality again and again, returning to the place where the dream began seems to be looking for the original intention of playing football, which is extremely important.

The second meaning may be for the teacher, for the youth of an explanation. After the game, Lu Wenjun, Wang Shenchao, Yan Junling, Cai Huikang, Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng and their children took a group photo. This picture is also an explanation of the past 16 years of football career.

6 people, 89-91 years old, this is the sustenance of Xu Genbao's "Chongming Dream" taking off. In 2007, the "Chongming Six Tigers" won the championship of the second division with Shanghai East Asia. Two years later, he won the National Games. In 2010, with Zhang Linpeng's transfer from Shanghai East Asia to Guangzhou Evergrande, the "Chongming Six Tigers" have been separated for more than ten years; In 2022, Zhang Linpeng and Wu Lei will return to the harbor, and the "Chongming Six Tigers" will be re-"combined".

After the game, Zhang Linpeng's words were a little moving, "I finally fulfilled a dream when I was a child, when I was a child, we hoped that the six of us could win the championship in the top league together, and today I finally fulfilled my dream, and also fulfilled the dream of Coach Xu." Hopefully we can go back to Chongming and hang the medal around Director Xu's neck. ”

Respecting teachers is a fine tradition of Chinese culture. Even if these players have different degrees of stains on the field, there is really nothing to blame for treating their mentors. Every year during traditional festivals or some important nodes, the "Chongming Six Tigers" will meet to visit their mentor Xu Genbao. And Genbao and his Chongming model, to a certain extent, have also supported the basic plate of Chinese football over the years: after the "Chongming Six Tigers", Yang Shiyuan, Li Shenglong, He Xi, Fu Huan in the 93-94 age group, and then Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong in the 00 age group.

Although these people have not reached the expected height, but taking a step back, if there are more and more Genbao models, instead of the various "youth training" and "football schools" that have been piled up like lofts in the sky by crazy money burning money in previous years, will there be a little more possibility that Chinese football will get better tomorrow? 

The third layer means that it may be for the sake of the whole of Chinese football. Although Wu Lei is still a teenager when he returns, Chinese football is full of holes and lifeless. Although the "Chongming Six Tigers" can still build the most powerful league basic plate even in today's Chinese Super League, and even the basic plate of the national team, they are all veterans with an average age of nearly 33 years old, and the aging of the squad can be said to be very serious. The most fatal thing is that it seems that it is difficult to find candidates who are much better than them in various positions in the entire Chinese football world.

The classic meme left by General Fan after the humiliating loss to Thailand in the national football team is still popular on the Internet today, because it can always be accurately used again and again, and has been repeatedly fulfilled in real life. In the years when Wu Lei was at the top, Chinese football still had the strength to win against strong teams such as South Korea, Uzbekistan, and Saudi Arabia, but what about now? Really, it took a lot of effort to even play Vietnam. The vigorous "naturalization" has long been a chicken feather, and in the end, Wu Lei is still entrusted with the most important task. Wave after wave of officials and coaches have embarked on the journey of stepping on the sewing machine, when will Chinese football be the head? Wu Lei has no answer, and Chinese football itself can't say anything.

Three layers of emotions rushed in his heart, mixed feelings, and Wu Lei cried bitterly. These tears deserve to be respected, and the difficulties of this road can be understood. And as a practitioner, he has no other way than to do his best to fight for every step. In a difficult situation, self-pity is only a dead end, and only those who are strong in heart can find a way to survive.

In any case, this night, Wu Lei's tears are different from this ruined Chinese football. There is still a bit of truth and a bit of unwillingness. I hope that the power that tears can convey can be transmitted to more football people, and I also hope that more "Genbao models" can blossom and nurture hope in the barren soil of Chinese football.