In a historic moment, Chinese soccer broke down Japan for the first time in nearly five years. Going back to the 2019 East Asian Cup, Jin Jingdao made a clever assist and Dong Xuesheng hammered in a brace, but the national soccer team ended up with a 1-2 defeat. Further back, looking back to the 2004 Asian Cup, the national football team under the leadership of Li Ming, although 1-3 defeated Japan, but left a valuable goal scoring record for the national football team.
Intriguingly, Li Ming, who scored the only goal for the national soccer team in the 2004 Asian Cup, has now turned into the general manager of Beijing Guoan. And Lin Liangming, the current Guoan player, it was Li Ming who recognized his talent and brought him to Guoan. Lin Liangming's soccer career has not been a smooth one, as he started at Guangzhou R&F Soccer School, joined Real Madrid's U19 team at the age of 18, and was promoted to Real Madrid's second team, Castilla, at the age of 19, where he made seven appearances and contributed two assists.
After saying goodbye to Real Madrid, Lin Liangming traveled to Portugal, joining Gondomar and later on loan to Madeira Mariners. However, during his time in Europe, he rarely got a chance to play and almost wasted his golden years in Europe. 2020, Lin Liangming chose to return to China and joined the Dalian People's Team. In his four seasons in Dalian, he made 86 appearances, scoring 26 goals and dishing out 8 assists.
With the dissolution of Dalian, Lin Liangming once again embarked on a journey to find a new home. Last winter, he finally chose to join Beijing Guoan. In his first season at Guoan, he made 29 appearances, scoring 10 goals and dishing out 3 assists, earning Ivan's trust and gradually becoming a key player up front for the national soccer team. Today's goal against Japan was his third for the national team, as well as his goals in warm-up matches against Myanmar and Malaysia.
Lin Liangming has emerged as one of the most reliable local scorers in the Chinese Super League after a couple of fruitless seasons in Europe following his rise to prominence at Real Madrid. Today's goal against Japan not only recognizes his talent, but also proves that the "Real Madrid veteran" name is not just for nothing!
