This season, Shanghai Shenhua's journey has been a roller coaster, with fascinating ups and downs. At the beginning of the season, the team was so strong and successful that it once became the favorite of the Chinese Super League fans. However, the team's recent form has taken a sharp turn for the worse, losing several rounds in a row, and it was only in the match with vice-champion Shenzhen that the team recovered slightly.
The first 21 rounds of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Shenhua with 11 wins, 5 draws and 5 losses accumulated 38 points, although still ranked second in the Chinese Super League, but with the leader of the 14-point gap, so that the dream of winning the championship gradually dashed. However, in the AFC Cup, Shenhua's performance was eye-catching. In the just-concluded 1/8 final of the FA Cup, they beat Zhejiang by a score of 5:1, advancing to the last eight, becoming one of the favorites to win the FA Cup this season.
However, there is a hidden time bomb for Shanghai Shenhua to win the AFC Cup. This bomb does not originate from the team's tactics or players' individual abilities, but is closely related to the upcoming Asian Games. Even if the coach Wu Jingui is very skillful, I am afraid that this "bomb" will be difficult to disarm. Once detonated, Shenhua's hopes of winning the championship will be in vain.
The reason for this is that the Chinese Asian Games team may draw a large number of Shenhua players in the upcoming Hangzhou Asian Games. Shenhua is expected to lose at least 8 young players, considering the overlap between the Asian Games game time and Shenhua's double fronts. In the last selection of the Chinese men's Asian Games team, Shenhua had seven young players selected, plus naturalized player Dai Weijun, a total of eight players may be drawn.
Shenhua's success this season has not been dependent on foreigners or veterans, but rather on these local young talents who have made a name for themselves in the Chinese Super League. Shenhua's journey in the AFC Cup will be challenging once the Asian Games draws eight young players.
In the face of this predicament, coach Wu Jingui will undoubtedly fall into the situation of "a skillful woman can not cook without rice". Although Shenhua has long anticipated this situation, but can not do anything about it. This is undoubtedly a desperate situation. If you want to blame, you can only blame the young players Shenhua cultivated is too good.
