Chinese Super League's all-Chinese team suffered an embarrassing start with only 1 draw and 4 losses in 5 matches
At the beginning of the season, various powerhouses such as Guangzhou, Guoan and Seaport failed to show their best form, while defending champion Shandong Taishan, with its rich experience in the game and the thickness of its deep squad, struggled to win the first round of the opening match against the promoted team Zhejiang by three points. In contrast, Changchun Yatai's defensive counter-attacking strategy was even more in full effect, as they almost shut out their opponents in their match against Guangzhou City. Wuhan Three Town, on the other hand, romped to a 4-0 win over Hebei, and as the heavyweights of the winter transfer market, their steady investment seems to have been rewarded with immediate success, and is even expected to influence this season's league title race.
It is worth paying attention to the fact that the three teams that are currently considered to be stronger have full foreign aid lineups. Although the wave of golden dollar soccer has receded, the situation of the Chinese Super League's reliance on foreign aid has not fundamentally changed. High-level foreign aid is still the cornerstone of team strength. In stark contrast, in the first round of the league, the five teams that played in full Chinese classes only achieved a draw and four losses, including many league giants like Shanghai Harbor. In the match against Wuhan Changjiang, Seaport's full Chinese squad was defeated by an opponent with three foreign aiders.
Guangzhou City and Hebei were almost unable to make effective substitutions against opponents with strong foreign aid lineups. Although Guangzhou showed some competitive level, they still lost to luck in the end against Shenhua, who played with a single foreigner. The only praiseworthy team was the Dalian People, led by Xie Hui, who drew against the powerful Henan Songshan Longmen, which became one of the highlights of the first round of the Chinese Super League. However, the season is long, and the overall strength of the team and the depth of the bench is the key to the final decision, and the difficulty of supporting a full season with a full Chinese squad is comparable to climbing up to the sky.
Red cards are frequent and local players need to improve their understanding of the rules
In the first round of the Chinese Super League 9 matches, the referee showed a total of 4 red cards, local players red became a major focus of the first round of the league. It is worth noting that these four red cards were issued to local players, compared to foreign players to the Chinese Super League referees to grasp the scale of punishment more accurately.
There is an outside view that the frequent occurrence of red cards in the Chinese Super League is due to the Chinese Football Association's demand for strict enforcement of the law by referees. However, this is not the case, and it is only a misinterpretation of the phenomenon by outsiders. Before the league kicked off, the CFA invited Yao Qing, a former international referee, to give a lecture to the media, explaining the adjustments made by FIFA to the penalty rules. According to Yao Qing's explanation, Zheng Zheng, Xu Xin and Zhang Chengdong's actions should be shown a direct red card under the latest rules. Guo Hao "recklessly jumped at the opponent and caused unnecessary injury", two yellows turned into one red, which is also fully in line with the spirit of FIFA's latest rules. With the help of VAR, the four red cards were not controversial.
The main reason for the frequent occurrence of red cards is still the local players do not understand the rules of soccer penalties. Industry insiders said, "Many players are completely based on experience to play soccer, think I did not kick this action hurt, the referee will not issue a red card, in fact, they do not understand the spirit of the latest penalties. When they get a red card, they will think that they are targeted by the referee again."
