I believe that when it comes to Chinese soccer nowadays, many fans will not be surprised and most of them are even disappointed with the national soccer team. Because we used to be a first-class Asian powerhouse, but now we have fallen to the third-rate in Asia, losing to Vietnam, drawing with the Philippines and India on the road, and these shameful records are completely unerasable in the minds of many fans. Moreover, due to the fact that we did not pay attention to the development of young players in the previous years, the already weak national football team suffered from the absence of talent and the absence of green and yellow. It was predictable that we would get worse and worse, so many of our fans stopped wishing for them.
But I have to say that against the whole dark backdrop we still got a surprise this year, and that surprise was our local gun who plays for 27 year old striker Barton of the Tianjin Jinmen Tigers. Mention the name in the past and everyone's reaction must have been that this is a very ordinary player. That's because when Barton played for Beijing Guoan, only the U23 was promoted by then head coach Xie Feng to become the team's main U23, giving us some surprises. But after Xie Feng left, Barton became a complete replacement. Since then, it has disappeared from our view.
Barton later transferred to Tianjin Jinmen Tigers in the last minute of the 2021 season. Surprisingly, at Tianjin Jinmen Tigers, Barton quickly became a starter and the mainstay of the team's front line, where his aggressive running could successfully pull opposing defenses and then create chances for his teammates. Barton scored only two goals and three assists that season, which was unremarkable. But his tactical role still attracted then national soccer coach Li Tie, who also caused a lot of controversy when he called him into the team. Later, Barton scored a goal against Australia in the World Qualifying 12, but the first was awarded to the hand. But just ten minutes in, we were impressed. He ran aggressively and dared to act confidently in the face of a strong opposing defense, showing us that he has a general's style.
Of course, that was just the beginning. Later, Barton returned to Tianjin Jinmen Tigers as an international player, and his performance got better and better. in the 2022 season, he played 24 games for the team, starting 21 of them, and scored 7 goals and 2 assists, becoming the pillar of the team's attack. It was such great performances that new coach Jankovic couldn't resist using him. And with this use, surprise was born. In the second match of this year's national football team against New Zealand, the national football team faced the embarrassment of zero goals in two matches. That's when Barton came on as a substitute. He received a pass from Sun Guowen within a few minutes and scored a goal. This goal was not only the only goal scored by New Zealand's national soccer team at that time, but also the first goal scored by Jankovic's coaching of the national soccer team, and it also helped Jankovic to clear the ball. Barton was later loaned as an overage player by the Asian Games team. It was Barton's inverted triangle assist that helped Sun Chin Han win the game against Korea U24, helping the Asian Games team to pride.
Helping to create key goals for two national soccer teams, you can see that Barton is a big player. In the recent Chinese Super League match, Barton had a great performance. It was the 20th round of the Chinese Super League, and the Tenjin Tigers were playing away against leaders Shanghai Port. It was the 13th minute of the game. Barton took the ball in front of the top of the penalty area and chose to blast a heavy shot directly at the goal. National goalkeeper Yan Junling pounced and couldn't control the ball, so it gave Jinmen Tigers center forward Beric a chance. He went for the follow-up shot and put the ball in to make the score 1-0! Jinmen Tigers took the lead on the road.
Although the goal was scored by Belichick, Barton made a huge contribution. As you know, Barton sunk a few days ago and had a high fever for a few days. He's just recovered and is not in the best of health. But the fact that even then Barton could explode with such energy is a testament to his great mental strength. He is a reliable player and no difficulty can defeat him. Isn't this the most wanted player for our national soccer team?
