The same stadium in Shanghai, but the gap between the players is vastly different! One player was disgraced by the Chinese Super League team because of his lack of fighting spirit, while the other won the applause of the fans even though he was still holding out at the last minute!
In the second round of the Asian qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, even though our soccer team lost 0-3 to South Korea, the fans did not scold us as usual. In the past, when the game was lost, the fans would say bad words, but this time it is different, not because of habit, but because of a sentence: we may not be able to surpass others, but never lose the backbone!
In the past, our soccer team had poor performance, but the spirit is even more worrying, playing like a walk. However, in this World Cup preliminaries, all the players of the national soccer team have high morale, no matter facing Thailand or South Korea, such a strong team in Asia, all dare to fight until the last moment.
Zhu Chenjie, the solid backbone of Shanghai Shenhua, is also the backbone of the national football team in this World Cup qualifying match. In the 52nd minute of the second half, the national football team launched an attack, Wu Xi with the ball was pushed down by the opponent, the referee did not award a foul, signaling the game to continue. Wu Xi raised his hand in confusion and the referee could only get up in a hurry to catch up. South Korea passed the ball to the front, Sun Xingyu skillfully passed over Zhu Chenjie and passed the ball to Li Gangren. Li Gangren burst into the penalty area and faced the defense of Yan Junling, leaving only an open goal for the national team.
Fans expected the score to go to 0-3, but Lee Gangren's shot failed to score. Did he shoot wide or too high? No. Zhu Chenjie remained tenacious in his saves after Sun Xingyu was beaten, making it possible for the national soccer team's goal to be breached again only in the 87th minute. Zhu Chenjie's tenacity won him praise from the fans after the match.
This reminds me of what happened to Shanghai Port in the AFC Champions League, where Fu Huan faced a similar predicament. The Sydney FC midfielder passed the ball to a Shanghai Port defender and knocked him down while chasing Fu Huan, who took advantage of the opportunity to send the ball into the penalty area, creating an open goal opportunity. However, Fu Huan did not continue his pursuit and stalled while the Sydney player fired the ball directly into the goal, humiliating Shanghai Port.
Fu Huan's behavior has undoubtedly brought shame to the Chinese Super League team. Now he has been demoted from the Chinese Super League to the Chinese League One, but his performance is still unsatisfactory. Also in the Shanghai stadium, why is there such a big gap between them?
