Photo: Guangzhou player Wang Tianqin (L) and Kawasaki Frontale player Kobayashi Yo in a fierce competition, taken by Xinhua.
In last night's second round of the AFC Champions League group stage competition, Guangzhou, with a lineup dominated by second-tier players, defeated Japan's Kawasaki Striker by a score of 0-8, which not only set the record for the largest difference between Chinese teams in the history of the AFC Champions League loss, but also let the record of five goals conceded in the first half of the rewrite of the AFC Champions League history of nearly 16 years.
Guangzhou suffered what can be described as back-to-back defeats in this season's AFC Champions League, going down 0-5 to hosts Johor, Malaysia in the first round of the competition. Another Chinese Super League team, Shandong Taishan, also suffered a 0-7 defeat in Daegu, South Korea, in the first round. In the second round, Shandong Taishan again lost 0-5 to Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds.
These two Chinese Super League teams have failed to score in their first two group games of the AFC Champions League this season, conceding a total of 25 goals.
Affected by the Chinese Super League (CSL) schedule clash and the epidemic, this is the second consecutive season that a CSL team has competed in the AFC Champions League, having suffered back-to-back defeats last season as well, with Beijing Guoan going down 0-7 to Kawasaki Frontale, who have recorded a brilliant record against the CSL team for two years in a row. Beijing Guoan also lost 0-5 to South Korea's Daegu, while Guangzhou went down 0-5 and 1-5 to Japan's Cerezo Osaka and Thailand's Port of Lion respectively.
Such back-to-back defeats beg the question of whether there is any value in continuing such an entry.
The so-called "exercise value" of letting a group of young players who have hardly ever appeared in the top domestic leagues compete directly in the top Asian games is not to let them "feel the big game", but rather like letting elementary school students do college entrance exams. The value of such technical and tactical exercises is doubtful, as they are tired of dealing with the opponent's scheduling on the field, and it would be better for them to practice running at home rather than traveling long distances to come here.
Moreover, as the competition is open to the public, consecutive crushing defeats may have a serious impact on their psychology, which in turn may affect their future careers. Former national soccer goalkeeper Au Chuliang has made it clear that he is against allowing young players to participate in top-level tournaments like the AFC Champions League too early.
Regrettably, the young players at least have a spunk and drive to make up for the lack of technical and tactical skills; however, this time, Guangzhou players in the last game, Guan Haojin mistakenly touched an opposing player's face when he fell to the ground, and the red-card penalty itself was not controversial, but Guangzhou announced after the game that Guan Haojin had been dismissed outright. The penalty, which lacked sufficient basis, sparked more controversy than the foul itself, and what happened to the not-so-young Guan Haojin gave a bad demonstration to his young teammates.
As expected, in the second match, Guangzhou players were afraid of repeating Guan Haojin's mistake in the scramble, conceding 5 goals in the first half, but committing only 4 fouls, the number of fouls was even less than the number of goals conceded. In soccer, such a ratio is extremely rare, when the weaker side even scramble to be tied, the fiasco has been inevitable.
This season's AFC Champions League, Shanghai Harbour and Changchun Yatai have both opted out, with Guangzhou and Shandong Taishan insisting on competing, although the lack of Chinese Super League teams in the AFC Champions League has been avoided, but will the AFC be moved by this? I'm afraid not. Sending teams to participate in the competition reduces the competitiveness and spectacle of the game, and may even affect the fairness of the game - because the teams participating in the group with the first team to participate in the group, the intensity of the six rounds of the group stage may be far from the same.
Undeniably, now the survival of the Chinese super team environment is very difficult, facing a lot of uncertainty, go abroad to participate in the competition is even more difficult, but now thousands of miles to go abroad to play the AFC Champions League, but it has become all aspects of "more than enough to lose" things.
Fiascoes aren't scary, what's scary is pointless fiascoes.
Is the "value of competition and training" really that significant? Does the Chinese Super League really need to "assist" AFC to maintain the face of the AFC Champions League? What lessons can young players learn from such a fiasco? All of this is for the club's decision makers to think about again.
