In their AFC Champions League debut, Shanghai Seaport battled with Malaysia Johor in a thrilling battle that ended in a 2-2 handshake. However, observers wondered if the match was too much for Shanghai Seaport.
As a matter of fact, Shanghai Seaport looked a little bit lousy in the match, as if the opponent had already mastered the winning strategy - frequent fouls, deliberately falling to the ground, and waiting for the opportunity to launch a quick counterattack from behind. The strategy seems simple, but Shanghai Seaport is tired of dealing with it.
Nonetheless, it was not easy for Shanghai Seaport to draw with their opponents in the absence of Wu Lei. Many fans said that Wu Lei is the pride of Chinese soccer, as evidenced by his La Liga goals, Barcelona goals, league goalscorer and national team goalscorer titles.
Nonetheless, the pace of the game was really fast, and Shanghai Seaport's defensive mistakes came as a result, and they had no choice but to have only one reliable defensive line player in Jiang Guangtai. Apart from that mistake, Wei Zhen's performance was quite stable enough to prove that he is a qualified Shanghai Seaport player. However, the mistake at the crucial moment was enough to be fatal.
Perhaps what Shanghai fans should reflect on is why Shanghai Seaport lacks efficiency on the offensive end. In the face of the opponent's pressing and bus tactics, Shanghai Seaport is difficult to open up the situation in the side and middle of the road, and can only rely on the chaos of the battle, and to be able to equalize the score is also not easy.
In that case, does this AFC Championship game really live up to expectations? Does it really have practical significance? Looking back at history, this kind of grass tactic was only encountered when East Asia first participated in the Central League, facing a team like Nanjing Friends. I'm afraid that today's Central League wouldn't dare to be so bold, right?
Nonetheless, Shanghai Seaport still needs to play its part as the Chinese Super League champions. Go Shanghai Seaport!
