In the last round of Group A of the 2024 Asian Cup, the Chinese men's football team lost to the host Qatar 0:1 and ended up ranking third in the group.
Didn't win a game, didn't score a goal, just a little bit of useless bravery, without a trace of life. Frankly speaking, the performance of the Chinese men's football team in this Asian Cup is worse than in the past 12 years.
In 2002, the Chinese team participated in the World Cup for the first time. The classic three-step strategy of "score a goal, get a point, win a game" is still in my ears. In the blink of an eye, 22 years later, in Asia, where the overall level is much lower, this once-competitive team For a team with the most championship power, even "scoring a goal" has become an impossible task.
01
once again performed stably
Ironically, even if they play like this, the national football team still has an extremely weak possibility of qualifying:
Palestine in Group C must draw with Hong Kong, China, while Group B Syria draws with India 0:0 and gets at least two games yellow card.
is complex enough, just like how everyone feels when watching the national football team.
Whenever the familiar stages of calculating points, goals and goal difference, calculating the relationship between wins and losses, calculating discipline points, and calculating the fate of others come, people who are still watching football will say:
Hey, it doesn’t matter? forget it.
Former international player Feng Xiaoting said that
has scored at least one goal in every Asian Cup in history. But this national football team said that
history is meant to be broken. (Picture/Feng Xiaoting Weibo)
Such calculations and calculations are like a shot of tonic filled with the helplessness and pain of the family members, just to alleviate the suffering of watching death. But the patients who were sent to the ICU said: Oh, the overall level in Asia has improved, but we have not. We played too badly and we have to face up to our problems.
In fact, this sports team, which is in trouble every year, is not unconcerned.
Although the classic hip-pulling plot has been staged again and again, people who love Chinese football are the most forgetful people in the world: the match between the National Football Team and Qatar ended at 1 a.m., and the ratings of the entire game on cctv5 exceeded 1%. At its peak, it even Nearly 1.2%, which does not include fans who watch football on online event platforms.
What is particularly regrettable is that for the Chinese team, the grouping of this Asian Cup cannot be more friendly.
Embracing the thigh of the host Qatar, the opponents in the same group cannot be very strong. One is the inexperienced youth army Tajikistan, and the other is Lebanon, which is weaker than Tajikistan.
When the Chinese team could not find any flaws in Qatar, who played almost all substitutes, and was teased by the main players replaced by Qatar, the three Tajikistan forces, who had no way out, fought hard to defeat Lebanon, and won the second place in the group to directly qualify. .
At the moment when Lebanon was defeated, the crazy celebration of the Tajik people was moving. This is the original sincere charm of football, and it is also the passionate spirit that countless people watch in front of the screen and even fly to Qatar to watch the game.
On the other hand, the Chinese team used its stable performance to stop the fans who were still concerned about its fate from vain thoughts, and their hearts felt as cold as a suddenly cooling night in the south.
02
Chinese fans, when will
wake up?
Before meeting Qatar, the Chinese team failed to win Tajikistan and Lebanon, which "seemed weaker than themselves". Both games were tied 0:0, and the fans were choked.
The contents of these two games are like the scores, which are too dull to comment: when the opponent plays defensive counterattack, they can't attack; when the opponent is full of loopholes, they can't seize the opportunity; if Yan Junling and the goal post are not amazing together, Losing is also reasonable.
Before the final game, Qatar, the defending champion of the 2019 Asian Cup and already qualified with two consecutive wins, rotated 9 main players and even replaced the third goalkeeper midway. They played with the Chinese team for 65 minutes with almost all substitutes, leaving It saves face and room for maneuver.
In the 67th minute of the game, Qatar captain
Haydos, who came on as a substitute, received an assist from Afif's corner kick and scored the world wave. (Picture/cfp)
This is already within the rules, the most tacit and friendly signal, which was unimaginable in the past.Qatar's move is a mixture of favor (leaving the Chinese team means leaving more attention) and absolute contempt (playing China with all substitutes can ensure that nothing goes wrong), and the Chinese team faces such an obvious charity, and it is not surprising. No choice. Like many pre-match comments, they hope to draw or even win the game and seek a qualifying spot with a tacit understanding - the other party is doing this, so you can't do that, right?
But in competitive sports, food is the original sin. A good situation and a good outcome are often unrelated.
Qatar gave up 65 minutes and gave up a lot of opportunities. The Chinese team failed to seize them. Later, Qatar's core main players Afif and Haydos came on the bench together. What is even more dramatic is that Qatar's starting third goalkeeper was injured and the first goalkeeper came on as a substitute.
Immediately, Afif's corner kick floated outside the unguarded penalty area, and Haydos volleyed the ball into the net.
As a result, the Chinese team became a strong candidate for the best goal in this Asian Cup, and basically threw away the top 16 tickets sent by Qatar.
The final 30 seconds of the game were a heartbreaking moment that encapsulated the plight of Chinese football.
Afif and his teammates passed the ball skillfully to each other, as easily as training to grab a lap. The Chinese team was still struggling hard at a loss and could not touch the ball.
The gap in technical and tactical levels between Chinese football and higher-level teams is the lack of ability to properly pass the ball, organize defense, and solve difficult problems. The more this is the case, the more unrealistic expectations and efforts regarding Chinese football appear.
Commentator Zhan Jun adhered to professionalism and remained rational in the final explanation, saying that the national football team still has time.
The commentator beside him, former national football captain Feng Xiaoting, who played in the last Asian Cup, has stopped talking. When summing up after the game, Feng Xiaoting's eyes were red and he murmured that he couldn't accept it.
had two draws and one loss, without scoring a single goal.
was basically out of the group with a weak overall strength.
This is the first answer sheet handed over to the fans by the Chinese men's football team in 2024.
How should the next World Cup qualifiers continue? (Picture/cfp)
Feng Xiaoting was criticized by fans for his defensive problems in the last Asian Cup. Somewhat ironically, the national football team that failed in the previous term is now hating the national football team that failed in this term. Fan Zhiyi, Sun Jihai, and Li Yi have also become celebrities commentating on football on various platforms. They have all been criticized for losing the national football team, but now the poor Chinese fans can't ask for or wait for players of this level.
So, will Wu Lei and Wu Xi sit in the studio in the next generation and sigh helplessly at the next generation of players?
The referee blew the whistle on time in the 10th minute of the long stoppage time. Once again the game is over.
In the end, behind the "very small probability of qualifying" is the "high probability of failure" caused by various illnesses.
What is worse than the results is the miserable environment. It is the reality that the will and skills of football have collapsed against the background of another round of anti-corruption and anti-corruption campaigns in Chinese football.
When you wake up from one dream, another dream will begin.
Between half asleep and half awake, between impassioned slogans and habitual defeats, between watching football or not watching football, decades of youth just ran away.
Proofreading: Yang Chao, Operation: Ono, Typesetting: Tan Xin
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