On October 16, our soccer team was defeated by Uzbekistan 2-1 in a friendly match. According to Sports Weekly, Mao Jianqing said on social media platforms that Wu Lei's performance in the national team was not in tune. He also pointed out that if the Chinese Super League fails to provide a high level of competition, the players will inevitably regress technically.
Reflecting on yesterday's match against Uzbekistan, Mao Jianqing admitted: "The Uzbeks were clearly the better team. a 2-1 defeat was expected and could have been even lower. a 1-0 lead was just a stroke of luck. Wei Shihao was excellent, as was his performance on the defensive end."
In yesterday's game, China's ball possession was low and the field looked too conservative.
Mao Jianqing further analyzed, "Our team is currently unable to show the style of soccer we expect. Once the number of passes was less than three, it was easy to make mistakes. The midfield also made mistakes in stopping the ball without pressure, resulting in only a simple and direct way of attacking. This blindly attempted approach had a very low success rate and was like the blind leading the blind. The game was anemic."
Talking about the process of the national soccer team from 1-0 lead to being reversed, Mao Jianqing said: "In the second half, as the tempo accelerated, the team's physical fitness declined and the field became passive. We could accept the embarrassing 1-0, but there was a contradiction in the face of the 1-1 situation. We wanted to attack, but could not launch our offense effectively. The pressure of this formalism pushed us to draw the game and once we were equalized, we struggled to escape defeat. The tempo was out of balance and the technical and tactical skills were nowhere to be found."
