Chapter Eighty-Three: The Reluctant Choice
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And the physical strength of other players is also very pessimistic. Even Yu Hai, who has a good physical fitness, quickly followed Zhang Linpeng's footsteps. Even Li Bei, Korner, Rong Hao and Gao Mu, who are not easy to die, and are very good at distributing their physical strength, all showed signs of fatigue. The Shandong team took the opportunity to launch a big attack, hoping to seize the last ten or twenty minutes to tie the score or even overtake it...
But as the Oriental team all retreated to their own penalty area to defend, and the two central defenders' aerial defense capabilities were also very strong, although Qinei's team broke through Chen Cheng's ten-fingered pass with a header from Han Daniu, who came on as a substitute earlier, taking advantage of Du Wei's lapse in concentration, they ultimately failed to score again. In the end, this thrilling match ended in a 3-3 draw that neither side was satisfied with.
Although the result of this game is depressing, Dongfang team still has a lot to gain, or rather, lessons. Firstly, the whole team deeply felt the importance of physical fitness. Although excellent skills and suitable tactics can make up for the lack of physical fitness, there is a limit to this after all. Moreover, if only personal skills are considered, most of Dongfang's young players may not necessarily be stronger than those old-timers in the Chinese Super League who have played much longer. It's just that Dongfang team plays beautifully and smoothly, and most players have been playing together since they were young, with great tacit understanding, so it seems like everyone has good skills on the field.
So Xu Genbao, although he liked Wang Shengchao very much, could only let him temporarily return to the substitute bench and fix Zhang Linpeng in the right-back position. As for his original right midfielder position, it was replaced by Cai Huikang, who had a similar physical strength. In this way, if the opponent wanted to use their power advantage to suppress Eastern's tactical advantage, it wouldn't be that easy. Although Cai Huikang's lack of agility made him easily exploited, with Korhne covering a large area and even left midfielder Yu Hai coming over to assist in defense, the problem wasn't that big. If the side-back was blown up, generally the center-back would come out to make up for it, which would inevitably expose the weakness on the midfield, making the danger more obvious. And if the center-back was also broken through, the consequences would be unthinkable...
In addition, this Super League match also exposed the physical problems of Dongfang team. In fact, strictly speaking, the physical fitness of Dongfang team's main lineup is not bad in the domestic range. Li Bei, Ke Er and Rong Hua are all physically strong, and Yu Hai and Gao Lin also have physical fitness that exceeds the average level of the Super League. Even players like Gao Jun and 16-year-old Zhang Linpeng and Cai Huikang, who had physical difficulties in the past, have basically reached the average physical fitness level of Super League players. The central defender and goalkeeper positions also do not require high physical demands, so on average, Dongfang team's main lineup physical fitness can reach the mid-to-upper level of the Super League.
In addition, the training intensity of Dongfang team has always been very high, and after cooperating with Arsenal, the training quality has also improved greatly. As a result, the average physical condition of Dongfang team can even rank among the top few in the Chinese Super League. However, Dongfang team's basic playing style is "pressing" + "passing" (somewhat similar to low-level tiki-taka, which consumes physical strength), and after cooperating with Arsenal, they strengthened their speed in offense, further increasing physical consumption. In any case, more running is required, so the physical demands on players are much higher than the common "walking football" in China.
But that's not the worst part, the real problem is that Eastern has an AFC Champions League match to play this year. In this situation of multi-line combat, Eastern can't afford it even with a strong main lineup. Applying for a postponement of the league match is a solution, but it must be agreed by the opponent, and even if they agree, considering the heavy task of the national team this year, many players from Eastern will definitely be called up, not only the national team but also the U23 team. If these main players are not there when playing the additional matches, the game can't be won at all, it's better not to postpone...
In addition, due to China's vast territory, domestic league away games often require flying hundreds or even over a thousand kilometers, which is almost the same as the fatigue of traveling in the Champions League; while the away games in the AFC Champions League are even more exhausting, with flights of several thousand kilometers, causing astonishing physical and mental exhaustion for players. If we also consider factors such as jet lag, the fatigue of traveling for away games can be even greater than the physical and mental toll of a high-intensity match. Therefore, if Chinese teams play both league and AFC Champions League matches at the same time, playing two games in one week is equivalent to playing three games in Europe (note 1), so it's impossible to maintain a single lineup.
However, the substitute lineup of the Eastern team is really too weak. Many substitutes in various positions are not even 16 years old. If there are too many substitutes on the field, they may not be able to beat even the weakest teams in the Chinese Super League and Southeast Asia. So Xu Genbao's personality is not willing to give up, but under such circumstances, he has no choice but to make a trade-off between the league and the AFC Champions League. The current Eastern team simply does not have the ability to fight on two fronts...
As an old coach, Xu's sense of national honor is quite strong, and the high-level Asian Championship is obviously more effective in training young players than domestic leagues. In addition, even if the league temporarily falls behind in points, there is still a chance to catch up after the double-line battle days are over, while the Asian Championship is a knockout system, and if the front game is not played well, there will be no opportunity to play the next game, so Xu Genbao made the decision to temporarily give up the league and focus on the Asian Championship without hesitation.
Of course, the so-called "give up" refers to the fact that the Eastern team will send more substitute players in the league, but if anyone dares not to work hard on the court, they will be scolded by Coach Xu and even thoroughly abandoned.
However, when the substitute lineup is far inferior to the opponent in terms of strength, it is very difficult for the young players to win no matter how hard they try. Therefore, Coach Xu did not make excessive demands, as long as the players' mental state was good, even if the game result was a big score defeat, he would encourage more than blame.
Due to the next ACL match being on April 20 and at home, Shanghai SIPG still sent their main players onto the field for the away match against Tianjin Teda on April 14. However, possibly due to the dense schedule, SIPG's physical condition was not ideal in this match. In the end, they managed to take three points from the away game with a 2-1 win thanks to their advantage in grasping opportunities, and SIPG's league ranking jumped to fourth place, delighting fans.
Note 1: Moreover, the physical training value is still the effect of two games a week, so it's very troublesome for a vast country like ours to run a league. The NBA and Brazilian-style zonal tournament model are relatively better, but the Football Association lacks the courage to make such major changes to the competition system, so we can only watch our players suffer year after year.
