Shandong Taishan have so far failed to show their face on the Elite stage, and the prospect of facing an away challenge from Kobe Victory ship is a worrying one. Even so, the players are still clinging to a glimmer of hope, seeking to avoid a crushing defeat. A 0-3 loss for Shandong Taishan would certainly be a great shame in the history of the Chinese Super League.
In the face of such a predicament, we can not help but ask: the Super League team suffered a succession of three-goal defeat, the responsibility in the end who?
Some have blamed the Football Association, arguing that the intensive schedule of matches has worn out the top teams in the Premier League. There may be some truth in this view. Super League teams generally rely on fixed lineups, especially Shanghai Harbour, which has a badly aging team and insufficient lineup rotation, which is their shortcoming.
Although Shenhua's squad has more rotation and younger players, their over-reliance on Teixeira has put them in a scoring dilemma. Worse still, Teixeira's frequent injuries have become a major concern for the team.
To analyze the above reasons, on the one hand, the schedule is too tight, and on the other hand, there are obvious flaws in the team's lineup. However, we can't just blame the FA for the schedule, because our failures are manifold. In fact, the AFC Champions League is more like a "patchwork monster", with the biggest "flaw" being the lack of restrictions on the use of foreign aid.
For example, Johor Bahru is a typical example of clever use of the rules. Their lineup is almost exclusively made up of foreign players, something that is difficult for Super League teams to match.
In the last round of matches, SIPG barely managed to draw with Johor Bahru with 6 foreign aiders and 1 naturalized player, while this time Shenhua had only 4 foreign aiders available, and the defeat was sealed.
There are not enough foreign aiders, which is the reality of our soccer and the bottom line of the Chinese Super League teams. We will not blindly increase the number of foreign aiders in pursuit of results. Therefore, in the future, we can foresee that crushing defeats will become the norm for Chinese Super League teams, and this is what we should be psychologically prepared for.
It is interesting to note that although Japanese and Korean teams also have restrictions on the use of foreign aid, why do they still manage to do well in the AFC Champions League? This is certainly a question worth pondering.
