Controversial penalties should not be a fig leaf for the weakness of the national football team, and it is lucky to get a point in the first game of the Asian Cup
The Chinese team's performance in the 2023 Asian Cup debut was not better than the performance in the previous warm-up games. Behind the blank draw with the Tajikistan team is not only the penalty controversy caused by Zhu Chenjie's goal being blown away, but also the passive beating of the national football team for most of the game. Song Kai, the president of the Chinese Football Association, who was sitting next to AFC President Salman and watching the game, could not leave the stands with a good mood anyway.
After the game between China and Tajikistan, Zhang Linpeng said in an interview with the media, "We deserve to win, but unfortunately the goal was blown up." However, the shooting ratio and possession ratio of the game clearly show that the overwhelming side of the game is actually the Tajikistan team. It is no wonder that the coach of the team, Segert, said bluntly, "The goalkeeper of the Chinese team saved a lot of our goals." The implication is undoubtedly that the Tajikistan team is not playing badly, and even better than the Chinese team.
In the past one time, it has been enough for the Chinese team to prepare for the Asian Cup. However, the Chinese team, which appeared in the first round of the Asian Cup, played particularly hard in front of opponents who were nearly 30 places lower than their own team in the international rankings. The defenders' accumulation of more than 40 long passes and Wang Shangyuan's collar yellow all prove the simple and rough style of play of the Chinese team, and also prove the overall low technical ability of the Chinese players. Judging from the actual performance of the team since Jankovic took charge for more than a year, it is difficult for the Chinese team to dominate no matter which opponent it faces. This seems to indicate that the team is likely to continue this "give up possession and play simply and directly" style of play for a long time to come.
Zhang Yuning, who came on as a substitute in the second half of the game, maintained a humble attitude towards the evaluation given by the outside world that he "can change the situation". In his opinion, the first game of the tournament was not good for all teams, and the poor performance of the Chinese team in the first half was mainly due to the slow pace of getting into the form.
After the game, many professionals and fans in the football circle attributed the important reason why the national football team failed to score all three points to the referee on duty controversially blowing Zhu Chenjie's goal away. However, such a controversy can at most divert the attention of the outside world from the game to a certain extent, but it cannot be used as a "fig leaf" to cover up the team's overall low technical level and poor performance.
Faced with the reality that the national football team struggled to draw the opponent, Jankovic did not shirk his responsibility. Commenting on the controversial decision, he said: "Blaming the verdict is a very simple excuse and I don't want to use it as an excuse to escape. In the football world, crying nose and complaining can't solve problems, we have to start with our own problems. We've got a point, so we can just look ahead and try to get the three points in the next game. ”
In fact, in the lounge after the game, Jankovic did not blame his disciples for the team's failure to get off to a good start to the tournament or for being passive. He even reminded his players not to dwell on refereeing issues. Instead, look and focus on the distance and focus on preparing for the next game against Lebanon.
In a way, Jankovic and his colleagues should be thankful that they led their team to the first point of the Asian Cup, or that they didn't get off to a bad start. Under the "24 into 16" Asian Cup group qualifying rules, the first draw is not the "end of the world". In the last half hour of the game, Jankovic changed the situation on the field through substitutions, and the national football team also created certain offensive opportunities. The 0-0 result was a comfort and reward for the team's dedication and hard work. The Chinese team has no time to look back on regret or blame themselves, and they will face Lebanon next with better attackers with better individual ability. There is not much time left for the Chinese team to "patch up" at both offensive and defensive ends.
Text/Beiqing Sports Xiao Yun