Shandong Taishan lost 0-1 in the group stage of the AFC Champions League, a result that dropped them from the top of the table to third place, with their hopes of qualifying for the group seemingly getting slimmer and slimmer. Facing Yokohama Mariners' resistance and Incheon United's relentless challenge, Shandong Taishan's situation is getting tougher and tougher. The loss in the group stage has undoubtedly made Shandong Taishan recognize their true strength. This result reflects that the overall level of the Chinese Super League needs to be improved. Although Shandong Taishan is invincible in the Chinese Super League, they have struggled to make a breakthrough in the AFC Champions League. Choi Kang-hee's coaching career will face a real test, this season Shandong Taishan team under the leadership of Choi Kang-hee has not seen a qualitative leap, they are in dire need of more high-level competition opportunities.
However, Shandong Taishan team is full of confidence in this game. After all, Shandong Taishan's recent morale is significantly higher compared to their opponents. In their recent matches, Shandong Taishan have achieved 4 wins and 1 draw, including defeating strong teams such as Qingdao, Kaya, Wuhan, and Dalian Ren. However, the loss once again exposed the inadequacy of the Chinese Super League level. Nowadays, Shandong Taishan urgently needs to train themselves in international matches in order to improve the overall strength of the team.
Shandong Taishan seems to be caught up in the illusion that there are no defeats, causing them to lack a sense of urgency in their matches. Currently, the team is in dire need of quality matches to improve themselves. Only after experiencing the baptism of the AFC Champions League can Shandong Taishan truly recognize their strength. As a matter of fact, Shandong Taishan's strength is mainly concentrated in the domestic league, and there is still a big gap between the strength of foreign players and domestic players. Yokohama Mariners are relatively balanced in the strength of domestic players and foreign aid, which is where the gap between Shandong Taishan team and Yokohama Mariners lies.
From this game, we can see that the Shandong Taishan team coached by Cui Kangxi did not make a substantial breakthrough. Next season, Cui Kangxi will face more challenges, including the departure of important foreign aid, the introduction of new foreign aid and the training of young domestic players. How to maintain the stability of the team's strength in the midst of the turbulence will be a key issue that Cui Kangxi must address. Although Shandong Taishan is still strong in the Chinese Super League, how to improve the strength of the team is still a difficult problem that needs to be solved. In order to improve the quality of the team, it must be constantly exercised in the game.
However, with the limited number of matches in the AFC Champions League and the low level of the domestic league, how Shandong Taishan can improve the quality of their matches has become a major problem for Cui Kangxi. For now, Shandong Taishan can only hope that the overall strength of the Chinese Super League will improve, as Shanghai Port did, so that the league will be more competitive. At the same time, it is also hoped that the Chinese Super League can bring in more good coaches like Cui Kangxi to improve the overall level of the league. What do you think?
