With the end of the 29th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), the winner was finally announced. In this much-anticipated key battle, Taishan failed to turn their numerical advantage into a win. Despite their efforts to equalize, a point was clearly not enough. After all, they are currently five points behind the harbor, and the only way to keep the suspense alive is through victory. As a result, Taishan regretted the draw and had to watch Seaport win the title. It should be said that there is no doubt about Tarzan's strength in winning the second place for two consecutive years, but there are still some imperfections in the details, especially in the case that they should not have conceded points.
Naturally, it cannot be said that the Taishan players did not work hard and individual players even fought for the victory. In the 17th minute of the match against Port, Wang Tong lost his balance and fell to the ground to avoid Oscar's flying tackle. After a short examination, Wang Tong could not hold on and regretted leaving. Taishan dared not ignore it and sent Wang Tong to the hospital for treatment for the first time. After imaging examination, Wang Tong's left leg was obviously injured, with patella dislocation, lower pole fracture and ligament damage, which required surgery after expert consultation.
With this in mind, Wang Tong was reimbursed early for the 2023 season. Looking back at the past season, the 30-year-old Wang Tong was the main flyhalf of Taishan and was heavily utilized by Choi Kang-hee. He played 28 games in a season, including 19 starts, and contributed four assists. With his outstanding performance, Wang Tong was also recruited by the national soccer team as an international player. Having to recover from an injury for a long period of time was a big test for Wang Tong. On the one hand, the injury itself, because at 30 years old, the recovery cycle may be longer, and the leg injury, which affects walking, will take a while for the body to recover, even if it does.
On the other hand, although Wang Tong is in the starting position, Taishan is a strong team in the Chinese Super League and the competition for positions is very fierce. Once a player is injured, a player will come up. After the latter has stabilized in the starting position, Wang Tong will face more pressure on his position when he comes back, and returning to the starting position will be the primary goal.
As for getting into the national soccer team, I'm afraid we need to perform better. After all, the coach touted Kovic's trend of selecting younger, and the number of international players over the age of 30 continues to fall. According to the schedule, Taishan's 30th round opponent was Henan, and since they had already locked up the runner-up spot, the pressure of the game was limited and Wang Tong's absence had little impact. However, the overall strength of Taishan's team was weakened by Wang Tong's unavailability in the subsequent AFC Cup final.
