In the late afternoon of April 17th, the Tiantan Sports Center witnessed the top match of the Dongcheng District Preliminary Match of Beijing's first Community Cup 8-a-side Soccer Tournament. The Stadium Road Street team and the Guomen Street team came out on top, winning the youth and middle-aged divisions respectively, and they will represent Dongcheng District in the municipal tournament in May.
The final of the youth division was played between Stadium Road Street and Longtan Street, with two star players - No. 10 Zhang Zhaohui of Stadium Road and No. 6 Xie Jun of Longtan Street - in the spotlight. Zhang Zhaohui, a former Beijing Guoan player in the 1989 age group, started from the Guoan ladder team and entered the first team in 2011, playing alongside teammates such as Yu Yang, Housen and Jiang Tao, etc. He was transferred to Chongqing to play in the Chinese Super League in 2012, but chose to retire due to various reasons.
Xie Jun, the 1989-born captain, who also came from Guoan's ladder team, practiced at the Dongcheng Sports School since childhood and was a childhood friend of Zhang Zhaohui. He played for Shenzhen Nanling Iron Wolves of the Indoor Futsal Super League before moving to Inner Mongolia's Manchuria Snow Wolves until his retirement in 2017.
With the referee's whistle, the game started officially. Xie Jun showed his amazing breakthrough ability, and in the 10th minute, he took a free kick from the front to help his team take the lead. However, Gym Road Street gradually took control of the game and in the 17th minute, they equalized the score through a brilliant inverted triangle play.
Before the end of the first half, Stadium Road scored two more goals to take a 3-1 lead. During the halftime break, Xie Jun motivated the whole team. In the second half, Zhang Zhaohui scored three goals in a row by using his nimble skills, while Xie Jun also completed his personal hat-trick to win the top scorer with 17 goals. In the end, the Stadium Road Main Street team won the championship with a 7-3 victory over the Longtan Main Street team.
After the match, Xie Jun shared his feelings: "As a Beijinger, I returned to Beijing after my retirement and joined Dongfang Rainbow Building Repair Company. Our company has a soccer team and we play regularly. This Community Cup provided us with a formal and intense competitive stage, and although we didn't win the championship, the teamwork felt really good."
