As we all know, the weakness of today's national football team is no longer the weakness of the forward line. With the addition of powerful foreign aiders such as Aixon, Alan, Luo Guofu, Fernando, our team's striker strength has realized a qualitative leap, and can be said to have been among the ranks of Asia's top attack. Therefore, the most important thing to strengthen the national football team is not the front line, but the strength of the midfield.
Since Zheng Zhi's withdrawal from the national team, our midfield has been lacking a core that can control the offense. Most of the local midfielders in the country play a tandem role in the league, which has led to most of them forgetting how to play as the core and how to take the responsibility of scheduling the attack. This has led to the national team's midfield being in disarray from time to time. A typical case is that in the China Cup at the beginning of 2019, our team played against Thailand and was fully suppressed by the other team, failing to organize even a single decent attack and eventually losing 0-1 at home. Therefore, a midfield out of control is a pretty scary thing.
Although our country has strong reinforcements in the midfield, such as Guangzhou Evergrande's Golat and Jiangsu Suning's Teixeira, the actual situation is quite cruel. Golat has not been able to play for the national team since 2014, while Teixeira left the Chinese Super League due to salary issues and lost the opportunity to play for the national team. Therefore, the national midfield still needs to rely on local players and their awakening.
In the last four matches of the 40-team tournament, which ended some time ago, national football team manager Li Tie insisted on using Beijing Guoan midfielder Zhang Xizhe, whom he firmly believes has the ability to do so. However, Zhang Xizhe, who is also a tandem player at his club, was criticized by fans for his poor performance in the first three games, with inaccurate passes, inactive defending and less offensive contributions. It wasn't until the fourth game that Zhang Xizhe found his form, but with him going back to the league after the game and not starting until the 12th round of the tournament in September, it's doubtful that he'll be able to find his form quickly.
However, in these four games, a local midfielder has given us some hope, and it's not Zhang Xizhe, but Yin Hongbo from Hebei. Even though he is the team's substitute, every time he comes on as a substitute he brings surprises, because we finally see someone who hardly misses and plays very sensibly. Even the AFC spoke highly of him, calling him the "Master of Pie". The AFC said that in the last four games, Yin played a total of 122 minutes, but was able to make 16 forward passes and three assists on goal, showing excellent dispatching skills. In the final stage of the road to Qatar, his accurate passing will continue to be a major weapon for the Chinese team. As you can see, even the AFC sees the potential in Yin Hongbo.
In the recent league matches, Yin Hongbo has been even more brilliant, as he has made two consecutive shutout goals, helping Hebei to win two consecutive matches. For example, in the recently concluded 10th round of the Chinese Super League, Hebei played against Tianjin Jinmen Tigers. In the 40th minute of the game, Hu Rentian received the ball on the left side of the inverted triangle back to the center of the penalty area, and Yin Hongbo rubbed the ball to break through the goal, making the score 2-1, and Hebei once again exceeded the score. The score remained unchanged until the end of the match, meaning it was a killer goal.
And in the last round of games, it was also Yin Hongbo who made the killer goal. At that time, the Hebei team's opponent is Dalian people, the 21st minute of the game, Zhang Chengdong in the center circle near the wonderful direct ball, the line of Yin Hongbo gently pick to change the line of the ball, a hit through the Dalian people's defense, the u23 player Zhang Wei sharp forward, in the defenders and the goalkeeper to destroy the front, will be the ball poked into the door! The final score was 1-0, and Yin Hongbo's pick was a masterclass, which is why the Henan fans called Yin Hongbo Jianye Iniesta. He handles the ball really well, it's awesome!
It is believed that Yin Hongbo will have continued wonderful play in the league, Li Tie has already seen in the eyes. Perhaps Yin can quickly become the team's main midfielder in September's Round of 12 matches, and show his Asian opponents the strength of Iniesta in the Chinese Super League. Do you think Yin Hongbo can serve as the centerpiece of the national team? What are his advantages over Zhang Xunzhe? Welcome friends to discuss together in the comment section!
