If life is a straight line, many people want to run all the time; if on the court, some people can run and fly, that speed and passion will make people bloody. What many people overlook is the regret and helplessness that those flyers on the court have to endure after running wildly. Recently, the 35-year-old Lu Zheng just helplessly announced his retirement, his speed winger, in his career has been controversial, similar to the situation is Feng Renliang, after the previous goal to become famous, this breakthrough player, now the situation is also worrying.
The flying boy of the athletics family
On September 18, 2004, in a home match between Shandong Luneng and Tianjin Teda, the 19-year-old Lu Zheng came on as a substitute and scored twice in his career debut to help the team reverse the opponent 3-1.
Although the two goals scored were all headers, their amazing speed was eye-catching. After the game, coach Tuba rarely named Lu Zheng and sent praise and encouragement.
(Pictured) Lü Zheng made his first appearance for Luneng and completed the second degree
After becoming famous in World War I, Lü Zheng's growth experience was also disclosed by the media. Lü Zheng was born in a Beijing sports family, his father loved football, and his mother won the Beijing Municipal Games in the 200 meters of athletics. At that time, Lu Zheng's mother also trained with Lang Ping in the Beijing Third Sports Team, and later because of her poor family's situation, she regrettably gave up the opportunity to study abroad.
Lu Zheng entered the Chaoyang Sports and Sports School at the age of 5, and at the peak of the 100-meter speed can run into 11 seconds, you know that in 2004, the world men's 100-meter record was only 9 seconds 78 seconds. Lu Zheng, who has such a speed, often enters the no-man's land on the court, but he has never received professional training, and he has always played amateur football.
Lu Zheng, who originally could not see hope, was selected by Luneng at the age of 16 and has since entered the fast lane of professional football.
Whether in the Luneng echelon or in the adult team, everyone marveled at Lu Zheng's speed, but gradually his shortcomings became more obvious, that is, a foot in the door was too bad, and even often hit the empty door. This is also the reason why Lu Zheng could not determine the main position after completing his debut in the Chinese Super League.
Three good students who give up their studies
Feng Renliang is not a sports family, but he also embarked on the road of football with the advantages of speed and body.
When a sports school coach in Tianjin's Hedong District came to the school to select good seedlings, he saw Feng Renliang, who was running wildly with children, with his bones and talents, so he called him and other classmates to make a long jump. As a result, Feng Renliang jumped the farthest in this extraordinary jump, and when the coach asked him if he would like to play football, Feng Renliang gladly agreed.
After he became famous, the coach of the year recalled that Feng Renliang's explosive power was very good, even better than many children who were two or three years older than him at that time.
(Pictured) Feng Renliang was a child
From then on, after Feng Renliang finished his classes at school, he had to rush to the sports school for 2 hours of training. According to Feng's mother, as long as the training or competition performance is not good, Feng Renliang will still be beaten by his father, which makes the mother very distressed. When he was in elementary school, Feng Renliang has always been excellent in character and learning, and has also won the title of three good students at the district level. However, in order to be able to embark on the road of football, after repeated deliberations, the family still let him give up his studies.
In 2000, Feng Renliang entered Lokomotiv Football Club, and with his excellent physical and speed advantages, coupled with his own efforts, he was quickly selected for the 2003 national junior team. But after watching his teammates Wang Dalei, Deng Zhuoxiang and others gradually play in the professional league, he still could only play in the amateur league.
After playing locomotive for 10 years, Feng Renliang saw the opportunity, and in early 2009, TEDA came to select people and selected Ma Leilei and Lu Wei, but there was no Feng Renliang. The reasons for the failure are various, and the Oriental Sports Daily once introduced that it was because of the infighting in the top management of the TEDA Club that Feng was unable to get off the TEDA. But soon Shenhua's Zhu Junhui saw the gold and packed him up with Song Boxuan and Wang Guanyi, and the price was only 600,000 yuan.
At the beginning of the 2010 season, under the tutelage of Blažević, Feng Renliang quickly adapted to the team, and in his third Game of the Chinese Super League, against Zhejiang Greentown, he staged a good play of fame, using speed and breakthrough to score a super world wave 30 meters away after connecting several people on the left side.
This season, Shenhua has blown a youth storm in the Chinese Super League, and Feng Renliang is unstoppable and has become the absolute main force. He made 29 appearances throughout the season, scoring four goals and assisting five times, and was called a sharp knife in front of Blažević.
Similar to Lü Zheng, Feng Renliang is characterized by fast speed and strong explosiveness, but unlike it, Feng's dribbling ability is better and he is more calm on the door. After playing in the Chinese Super League for less than half a year, Feng Renliang was selected for the national team. The young man, who had worried about playing football 2 years ago, quickly soared, and his value soared by more than 100 times.
Struggle: From the main force to the marginal characters
On the football field, players who are known for their speed will encounter such bottlenecks.
First, as we age, our explosiveness and impact ability decline, and the wind-like masculine traits are no longer there.
Second, the way of passing and the technical characteristics are familiar to the opponent, and the previous model needs to be changed.
Mourinho's wing ace killers when he was in charge of Chelsea, Duff and Robben, both fell into a slump and bottleneck in the third season, and then both left the team. After Robben suffered a serious injury, after moving to Real Madrid to Bayern, he changed the way he played and returned to the top; Duff was devastated, and it was difficult to reach the heights of the Blues.
The problems of Lü Zheng and Feng Renliang are also very similar. Lü Zheng gradually became the main force of Luneng at the age of 22 (2007), but he could not become an absolute main force due to competition and his own ability. There are also many fans who jokingly call it: the churning stick, although it can not be a fatal blow, but it can disrupt the opponent's defense line.
Studies have confirmed that after the age of 25, people's physical functions decline rapidly, and the data also confirm this. In 2010, Lu Zheng's appearances at Luneng dropped to 18 times in the whole year, with only 2 goals, compared with more than 25 appearances in the previous three seasons from 2007 to 2009.
In 2014, after Lü Zheng, who was nearly 30 years old, completely lost his main position, he joined Shanghai Shenhua.
The speed advantage of survival has declined, and in addition to bearing the reduction in the number of plays, players must also adjust their psychology and think about how to change. This is a very serious problem.
Feng Renliang had the opportunity to stay in the Ocean after Shenhua became famous, and also went to Villarreal in La Liga for a trial, but in the end he did not make the trip. Before the 2013 season, 25-year-old Feng Renliang came to Guangzhou Evergrande.
Evergrande and Shenhua are completely different, the competition is beyond imagination, and Feng Renliang's ball power has dropped greatly. The manager Lippi here and his mentor Blažević are also completely different, and the Italians have no time for young players as long as they are the best.
In the 2013 season opener, Evergrande played against Shen Xin, and the team performed badly in the first half, and an angry Lippi spit gum into his mouth and threw it out on the sidelines. Shortly thereafter, he replaced Feng Renliang, who had made multiple crosses.
Although the Silver Fox played round after the game and said that Feng was a very good player, he was not mentally strong enough. But because of his condition and injury, he was still beaten into the cold.
This season, Feng Renliang made 12 appearances for Evergrande, with only a pitiful 3 starts. Just a year later, he was loaned to Yatai. Although there was a goal after a brief return, Feng Renliang still gave a discount to the then Guizhou Moutai in 2015.
Go Again: After a brief moment of hope, still disappointed
Feng Renliang, who is looking for change, handed over a good report card in the first season of Guizhou Renhe, scoring 6 goals and assisting 1 time in 25 appearances in the Chinese Super League, which is the most goals scored in a single season since his career. But soon with the ups and downs of the team, coupled with constant injuries, he once again fell into the bottom and it was difficult to return to the peak.
Last season in the Chinese Super League, Feng Renliang only made a pitiful number of appearances, 2 starts, and 0 goals and 0 assists. His last league goal seems to date back to the 8th round of the 2016 China League A season, when his header helped and defeated Wuhan Zhuoer.
Feng Renliang on the field still worked hard, but because of his age, he could no longer come up with the wonderful and killer skills of that year, and even the level of the crowd was difficult to achieve.
In the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he made a total of 51 appearances for the team (41 starts) scored 4 goals and assisted 7 times, but in 2017, the 32-year-old Lü Zheng also fell into a dilemma, lost the main position again, and could only come to Beijing Beiti University in the Chinese League one to make a living.
What Feng Renliang and Lü Zheng have in common is that they have a single characteristic and insufficient ability to defend themselves. Feng previously said that in Locomotive, the coach does not require offensive players to return to defense, so it takes time to change this thinking and playing style; Lu Zheng is known for his speed, although he runs actively, but the defense is a system project, not simply chasing back to grab the ball.
In addition, their common crux is that after getting older, it is difficult to reproduce the running and breakthrough ability of youth, and after there is no uniqueness in other aspects, they naturally fall behind in the competition.
No longer a teenager, the future is as thin as a cicada's wing
Although Lu Zheng is 35 years old, he can still cope with it in the Chinese First Division, as exemplified by scoring five goals in 200 minutes last season. He wants to play for a few more years, forced to retire, the biggest factor is still a man-made disaster, but it is undeniable that in these seasons, Lu Zheng is indeed going downhill.
During the epidemic, there was also news that 32-year-old Feng Renliang would transfer or retire. He also said in his personal media: Pick up and put down everything with fate. But for now, he is still in Beijing.
Forced to helplessly Lu Zheng has bid farewell to his playing career, whether Feng Renliang can continue is still unknown.
When Tuba talked about Lü Zheng that year, he said that if he could receive professional training earlier, his performance and achievements would definitely be higher. When Blaževich talked about Feng Renliang, he once thought that he was Shenhua's ace player and could penetrate any defense.
Time has passed, Lu Zheng and Feng Renliang are not the teenagers who ran wildly on the stadium in the past, they are over 30 years old, their dreams and hopes for football are still there, but the reality and physical condition no longer support them to conquer the stadium with their original advantages.
Behind the only fast and unbreakable: only regrets and sighs remain
The world's martial arts are only fast and unbreakable, and the same is true of the court, absolute speed can instantly conquer opponents and kill the game. But sometimes, these advantages do not accompany a player throughout his career.
After Dutch flyer Overmars joined Arsenal, Wenger warned him: In addition to speed, you also have some other specialties, because you also have to think about your career after the age of 30.
German player Odongkol, whose 100-meter speed reached a staggering 10.12 seconds, had been a big hit in the Bundesliga, but those advantages soon vanished.
Feng Renliang and Lü Zheng's problems are somewhat similar, they both have superhuman speed and explosive power advantages, but in addition, they do not seem to have the characteristics of being able to take it. So under such a setting, their careers have become a parabola.
Such helplessness has both universality and particularity. As one of them and witnesses, when Lü Zheng and Feng Renliang look back on the stormy years of that year, they may only be left with sighs and regrets.