The moment Dorado attacked the referee in the Yangtze River showdown between Henan and Wuhan is one I've watched over and over again. In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with Manning's call. That controversy over the fall, in the final analysis, exposed Dorado's lack of skill as a guest center forward. Stepping on the ball when a center has the ball on his back is a real no-no, as it may allow opponents to easily disrupt possession without committing a foul.
Dorado's anger was clearly unjustified, and Manning's enforcement was very different from that of Zhang Lei and Zhan Wei. Dorado's behavior was nothing more than an unprovoked provocation.
However, the low standard of Chinese soccer refereeing did lead to a number of referee attacks. Many people mistakenly believe that the low standard of Chinese soccer has led to the low standard of referees, but this is not the case. Referees as individuals and soccer as a collective sport, Chinese excellence in individual sports cannot simply be extrapolated to individual referees.
From Lu Jun to Zhou Weixin to Gong Jianping, the tragic fate of many Chinese soccer referees reveals the root of the problem.
The roughness of Chinese soccer in terms of selection and playing style has led to an influx of many unqualified people into the industry. Take this year's Chinese Super League Central League promotion playoff match on January 8 as an example, Dalian people surrounded the referee after the match and even assaulted the referee Li Haixin, who was eventually severely punished.
There is no injustice in the heavy punishment of the Dalian men, their loss of reason and imbalance of mind is the main cause of their ugly behavior after the match. Li Haixin and Xing Qi's performances in the Chinese Super League last season are proof enough of their professionalism.
The low quality of Chinese soccer practitioners and the fact that the industry is littered with garbage stems from a number of reasons. The first is the lack of culture, the second is the lack of good youth training coaches and systems, and the last is the serious premium of players' wages and prices, which leads practitioners to fall into a comfort zone.
The roughness of Chinese soccer, from selection to management, has allowed many unqualified people to enter the industry, who lack respect for society and the rules of the industry.
The recklessness of foreign aid in the Chinese Super League stems from the connivance of clubs. Before and after the bursting of the gold-dollar soccer bubble, foreign aiders were stranded and did not return, reflecting the lack of contractual binding of Chinese Super League teams.
The unprofessional and aberrant phenomenon of Chinese soccer is particularly evident in the issue of foreign aid. Chen Xuyuan's reforms to burst the golden dollar bubble in advance, although it has brought impact to Chinese soccer, but the face is no longer relevant.
The Dorado incident exposed the recklessness of foreign aid in the Chinese Super League and the overly pampered and indulgent management of clubs.
In the top five leagues, when clubs bring in players, in addition to focusing on technical and tactical integration, they also look at whether the player's temperament is controllable. When renewing Dorado's contract, Henan Songshan Dragons should reflect on why they renewed his contract when his temperament problem has been publicized.
Dorado's impulsive behavior revealed both his savage nature and his ignorance of the VAR era. It was a painful lesson for both Dorado and Henan Songshan Longmen FC.
