Many people say that it is difficult for players who are nearly 30 years old to make progress, but in the World Cup preliminaries between the national football team and the South Korean team, Shenhua full-back Yang Zexiang, who played for the country for the first time, and who will turn 30 at the end of this year, showed it with his performance. World: As long as you work hard enough, age will not be an obstacle to progress.
Caption: Yang Zexiang (first from right) in the match against South Korea. Xinhua News Agency photo
The last few years have been a dream for Yang Zexiang. From a "little transparent" who could only play in the reserve team, to a rotation player in the Chinese Super League; from a laughing stock who received a red card 2 minutes after making his debut in the league, to serving as the starting lineup for the league leader, to being selected for the national team A strong player on the roster and competing in the World Cup qualifiers, this low-key and down-to-earth player off the field and hardworking on the field has completed a career leap.
The first show of representing the national team is a key battle to determine the right to qualify for the World Cup. He is facing off against Asia's number one star who has been famous for a long time. No matter how creative the screenwriter is, it may be difficult to write such an inspirational script. , but that’s what Yang Zexiang experienced on Tuesday night. Under the gaze of more than 60,000 spectators at the Seoul World Cup stadium and the attention of hundreds of millions of fans in front of the screen, the "Xiang Warrior" wearing the national football jersey No. 21 stood opposite the South Korean captain Son Heung-min and began his journey for The first game of the Chinese national team.
Caption: Yang Zexiang is training with the national team. Photographed by Xinmin Evening News reporter Li Mingshen
After the opening, Sun Xingmin focused on Yang Zexiang’s national football team’s right wing and continued to break through, trying to use his personal ability to overwhelm the Shenhua player. But it didn't take long for the former top scorer in the Premier League to discover that things seemed to be much more difficult than he expected. With good defensive awareness and timely help from his teammates, although the right wing guarded by Yang Zexiang always encountered attacks from opponents, most of the attacks seemed to be loud and small, and no substantial gains were achieved.
Late in the first half, Son Heung-min, who failed to penetrate the national football team’s right-side defense, tried to switch to the left, but Yang Zexiang also followed. In a counterattack after taking a free kick from the national football team, the South Korean captain was knocked out of the sideline by Yang Zexiang just as he tried to speed up. Although the Shenhua Titans paid a foul for this, it is not easy to have such a performance on behalf of the national football team for the first time. .
"'Standing at Thirty'" I am really happy to be selected for the national team at the age of 30. I will play every game as the last one. I cherish every hard-won opportunity. Thank you to the fans across the country for your company. Brothers who fought to the end! Fighting with all their strength to win glory for the country and never leaving any regrets!" Yang Zexiang wrote this on social media the day after the war between China and South Korea. "Xiang Warrior" has used his performance in training and games to prove his strength to the two famous coaches Slutsky and Ivankovic, as well as fans across the country. He also told all players with dreams: Keep working hard and you will succeed. The ladder to success. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Lu Weixin)
