When it comes to that glorious period, veteran fans will be able to recall the "head team", a nickname that our soccer team was once famous in Asia. In that era when our country's soccer world was at the top of Asia, the national soccer team was famous for its unique tactical style, especially the use of high center tactics, two wings of the wind, the front line of a high and fast, so that countless Asian rivals suffered a lot. Especially in the face of Southeast Asian teams, we can often rely on the advantages of high center forward, easily break through the opponent's defense.
However, at some point, Chinese soccer seems to have developed an aversion to the title of "head team" and is trying to get rid of this label. The high center forward tactic was abandoned, and no more efforts were made to develop high center forwards. To this day, China's national soccer team has almost lost the figure of the high center forward. However, when we said goodbye to the "head team", a problem arose: we could no longer compete with the Southeast Asian teams. Without the support of a high center forward, the players are not as good as their opponents in terms of technique, speed and agility, and we lag behind in almost every aspect except physical confrontation.
I remember in the Asian Cup knockout match between the national soccer team and Thailand, we were down by one goal in the first half, and then we replaced Xiao Zhi, a high center forward, in the second half, and with his high altitude advantage, we finally reversed the opponent by 2-1. In the league, Shandong Taishan always maintains a good competitive status by virtue of the high center forward tactics. After the introduction of Italian high center forward Pelé, they were even more invincible and achieved excellent results in the Chinese Super League and the Asian Champions League.
Shandong Taishan's efficient performance once triggered teams in the Chinese Super League to follow suit, and the high center forward tactic became popular again. However, due to the lack of domestic senior center talents, we have to rely on foreign aid. In this, 24-year-old Shandong Taishan team high center Guo Tianyu is highly expected. Standing at 1.92 meters tall and with excellent physical qualities, he is expected to be Pelé's successor. 2021, Guo Tianyu won the Silver Boot with 10 goals and was recognized by everyone.
However, an unpleasant experience studying abroad in 2022 saw Guo Tianyu's form take a sharp turn for the worse. Upon his return to the Chinese Super League, he was never able to recapture his former style. Many fans began to worry that if Guo Tianyu couldn't carry the load, what other options did we have?
It was at this point that a 19-year-old young player brought us hope. He is the 19-year-old senior center forward Baiheramu, who plays for Shandong Taishan. Born in the same family as Guo Tianyu at the Luneng Soccer School, he is 1.88 meters tall. He excelled in both the AFC Champions League and FA Cup last year. Recently, he showed his strong overhead strength again in the national brand games.
Recently, our U20 national soccer team traveled to West Asia for a warm-up match and played an U20 match against Syria. We were defeated 1:2, with both goals conceded stemming from a breakaway pass by a winger and a hole in the middle of the defense. And our goal came from a magical header from a high center forward. At that time, the Chinese team used a free kick to cross the ball into the penalty area, and Baiheilamu jumped up to head the ball and equalized the score for his team.
Despite the National Youth's eventual defeat, Byeloram's goal gave us hope. Our Chinese soccer, it seems, is better suited to high center forward tactics, so why should we give up that advantage?
Do you think Byakuren could be the next Guo Tianyu? Can the national soccer team make more progress if we have more good senior centers in the future? Feel free to discuss in the comments section.
