By Long Bing, Special Correspondent, Heilongjiang Bingcheng drew 1-1 with Shijiazhuang Kungfu on the afternoon of Oct. 31, placing them in fifth place in the 26th round of China's First Division League.
One detail that Heilongjiang fans may be concerned about is that for the first time this season, the word "Heilongjiang" is printed on the chest of the Ice City jersey. And these three words, half a month before the 34-year-old team's new coach Jia Shunhao, in the two days before the game personally printed.
Jashunho has been coaching the IceHogs for just over half a month. He is young and has never had a resume as a first team head coach of a professional team. It only took him two games to conquer the Heilongjiang fans, and even make them re-recognize that the Bingcheng team is still a team that can truly represent the spirit of Longjiang's soccer team, "Better to die than to fight". 34 years old in the middle of the league is young, handsome, and a little bit of everything!
When Jashunho took over the reins of the IceHogs, how was this team doing?
Before the start of the season, Heilongjiang Bingcheng Football Club went through a change of investors, then from the club management to the coaching staff, the player level went through a huge change. Then the team's record was naturally bad, and even the team's jersey chest was blank for a long time - in the previous seasons, if there was no chest advertisement sponsorship, the jersey's chest position would print out the words "Heilongjiang" which was regarded as a kind of evidence of "fighting for Longjiang" by the fans. The three words "Heilongjiang" were seen by fans as evidence that they were "fighting for the Dragon River".
All this makes more and more Long Jiang fans question: what is the motive of the new investor to take over the team? Will you still fight for the honor of Long Jiang soccer?
It's safe to say that before Jashunho took over, the IceHogs' support was basically at its lowest point since the club's inception in 2016.
However, when the IceHogs officially announced the coaching change on Oct. 14, Ja'Shunho made more than a good impression on fans. Though at the time, everyone could find very little information about him.
"Traveling to the United Kingdom doctor", "academy young manager", "in the Villa ladder and a number of first-team coaching staff of the Chinese Super League"... ...These labels were basically the first time people knew about Jia Shunhao at the time. But at the same time, there are hidden concerns: Jia Shunhao has long been responsible for technical and tactical analysis, but will there be? The problem of "paper"? As a professional team head coach of the first team, I do not have a coaching resume. I'm about the same age as the veterans on the team. Can I convince the team management public? These are also things he needs to prove with his performance.
It is worth mentioning that on the night of the official announcement, the club arranged a live online broadcast for Ja Soon Ho to talk to the fans in this way. About two hours of live broadcasting time, the handsome and elegant Jia Shunhao increased the fans' favorable impression of him. He neither publicized nor praised Haikou nor avoided facing various questions from the fans. For example, when talking about the state of the team, he said "Whatever the ability, physical condition and mentality are much better than they thought, there are no injuries."
Such an answer is not only an affirmation and motivation for the players, but also a hidden "The players are good. If the results are bad, I won't throw the pot." Meaning. In another example of how teams often have players guesting in different positions in terms of employment, he cited Rafa Benitez's transformation of center back Wong Ka Fai into a midfielder during his stint with the Dalianese. He sees nothing wrong with this approach. The key is to fully understand the characteristics and abilities of the players. This frank and insightful talk deepened the fans' goodwill towards him.
Of course, competitive sports do not depend on speeches, but on the performance of the game. The competence of the head coach depends on the ability to lead the team. Jia Shunhao's first official game in charge of the Bingcheng team was a 3-2 victory over Shanghai Jiading Huilong in the 25th round of the Chinese First Division League on October 27th. The most noticeable change in his starting lineup was the use of 19-year-old Wang Jinpeng and 22-year-old Shi Ming at left and right back.
The use of the left and right defenseman positions were arguably the biggest slots in Ice City's previous game of the season:Team veterans Sun Yifan and Yu Xiang left the team after a few rounds early in the season, with no reason given, which in itself caused some discussion; since then, Bu Xin and Chen Liming have made guest appearances in a number of games, to poor effect.
Jia Shunhao's use of Wang Jinpeng and Shi Ming was not bold either. Wang Jinpeng has played more as a striker or attacking midfielder before and the occasional cameo as a midfielder was ineffective; Shi Ming is indeed a wingback but the problem is that he has had so few chances before and has only played once in the FA Cup this season that being a starter makes one sweat. However, in terms of the reality of the game, the two young players were to be commended for their performances, with Shi Ming also providing the assist for wing-back Sun Bao to tie the score. In the Round 26 match against Shijiazhuang Kung Fu, Shi Ming continued to start and Wang Jinpeng's place was taken by Zhang Yujie, supposedly as a countermeasure against a different opponent, and it worked well.
From the perspective of the team's overall tactics, we respected Xie Hui "pressure to play" Jia Shunhao also used high-intensity tactics, which is the core of Duan Xin's tactical thinking. A senior Longjiang fan called it "in line with our aesthetic" style of play. This style of play in the face of slightly less powerful Shanghai Jiading Huilong completely formed a suppression, in the face of beyond the group powerhouse Shijiazhuang to limit the opponent's offense.
Ja Soon Ho, apart from delivering high scores in terms of tactics and employment, also showed high emotional intelligence, which awakened the team's morale and was the key to winning fan support for the team.
In the match against Shijiazhuang Kung Fu, Chen Liming was injured shortly after the start of the match and was replaced by foreigner Eddie; in the final moments of the match, Jia Shunhao replaced Eddie with Ohandeza. Jia Shunhao revealed in the post-match press conference that he apologized to Eddie for the first time after replacing him, saying it was due to an accident on the pitch. For Eddie, a young 22-year-old foreigner, Jashun Hao's sincerity was the best consolation. Shijiazhuang Kung Fu broke up Ice City's goal at the end of regular time, leaving only four minutes of additional time. It was in those four short minutes that stand-in captain Bushin completed the tie in the second period, earning a valuable point.
Although Bu Xin only joined the ice city this season, but as the core of Harbin Yiteng, he has always been a special position in the hearts of Longjiang fans "king of the exhibition". Bu Xin is nearly a year and a half older than Jia Shunhao, and the relationship between the veteran and the young coach is more delicate. Although Buxin's simplicity and low profile are well known, he didn't get a chance to play against Shanghai Jiading Huilong, but people inevitably worry whether his mentality will be affected.
But Buxin proved everything with the equalizing goal - his ability, his form, his heart to fight for Longjiang. After the match, Jia Shunhao wrote on social media, "No one understands the meaning of the word Heilongjiang printed on his chest better than Bu Xin." A simple sentence is his greatest affirmation of Bu Xin, but also reflects his deep understanding and recognition of the spirit of Longjiang.
In the video released by the official microblog of the Bingcheng club on October 29, Jia Shunhao personally printed the words "Heilongjiang" on the chest of every jersey of the whole team. A video released by club executives after the game proved that Jia Shunhao fully regarded himself as a member of Heilongjiang.
In the video, Ja Soon Ho shouted to the whole team, "For the first time in this game, we have a black dragon. Buxin understood what those three words meant to us. Lao Li (Note: Ice City defender Li Boyang played for the team for more than five seasons and got married in Harbin) also understood ...... although we have not been home for two years, two years did not participate in the exhibition, two years did not let the fans (live) to see our performance, but they are in front of the TV, on the Internet to follow us. Play our team stuff for those three words on the chest!" This kind of motivation, for the morale of the whole team, for once again to prove to the fans "fight for the Dragon River" determination, the effect is self-evident.
Admittedly, for the young Ja Soon Ho, more than half a month of coaching and two games of performance is just the beginning of his career as a head coach of a professional team, and there will always be new problems and tests ahead. However, in such a short period of time to reshape the spirit and image of a team, his performance much be expected.
