When the Chinese Super League temporarily entered the rest period, Shandong Taishan, Wuhan three towns and Zhejiang team three teams but shoulder another important task - they need to fight the AFC Champions League.
In the second round of the AFC Champions League group stage, all three teams failed to win, especially Wuhan Sanzhen's 1-3 away defeat to South Korea's Pohang Steelers, which was a resilient performance but failed to escape defeat after all. Had it not been for Xie Pengfei's first half red card for shoveling, Sanzhen might have ended the match with a draw.
Xie Pengfei's shoveling action was not malicious, and the magnitude of his movement was not exaggerated, however, the red card was awarded with exceptional fairness. Any referee would not hesitate to show a yellow card when witnessing such a dangerous foul.
But the Chinese Super League referees seem to be an exception. Under the epidemic, the Football Association has not hired foreign referees for many years, and local referees have become the protagonists of the league. However, they have major deficiencies in enforcement ability, business familiarity and on-field control.
In many matches, the players' foul actions were not properly judged, and the yellow and red cards were often not shown as they should have been. In the match between Shanghai Seaport and Tianjin Jinmen Tiger in the 20th round of the Chinese Super League (CSL), the flying shovel of Seaport defender Zhang Lin led to the rejection of the season of the Jinmen Tiger player tomorrow, but Zhang Lin was only given a yellow card, and was not subjected to any additional punishment by the Football Association (FA) after the match, which triggered the questioning of the fans and the media.
Such unfair penalties have led players to develop the wrong concept of defense, believing that big fouls need not worry about red cards. This realization often costs Chinese players in international matches, as exemplified by Xie Pengfei's AFC Champions League red card. As a result, Wuhan's loss in the AFC Champions League was partly due to the Hong Kong team's mistakes.
Despite Wuhan Sanzhen's 1 draw and 1 loss in the AFC Champions League and finishing second last in the group, they still have a chance to qualify for the group. We hope that Sanzhen's players will learn a lesson and avoid losing points due to unnecessary fouls. At the same time, we also expect the Football Association to solve the problem of refereeing in the Chinese Super League as soon as possible, so that our teams will not suffer more losses in the international arena...
