Chapter 66 Do you want to give up the AFC Champions League?
After playing in the AFC Champions League in midweek, the Flash Stars rotated for the second round of the weekend league, with most of the main players sitting on the bench.
This arrangement is not surprising to everyone. After all, after the AFC Champions League group stage starts, there will be double games in a week. With the thickness of the Shining Star’s bench, if they don’t rotate, they may run out of gas after half a season. ****...
...No, the whole team collapsed.
So the Flash Stars used a rotating lineup to challenge Nanjiarui Lions away from home.
After a hard fight, they finally lost to their opponent 1:2.
Li Rong scored his first goal after joining Flash Stars in this game, but still could not prevent the team's defeat.
After winning two consecutive games in the Super Cup and the first round of the league, Shining Star suffered two consecutive defeats in the AFC Champions League and the league. The mood of Shining Star fans was like riding a roller coaster. They had just risen to the clouds and were about to start.
Fall down...
Fortunately, most Flash Star fans still have a good mentality. They know the strength and positioning of their team, and they also know the actual difficulties they are currently facing.
After all, it was a double match in a row and we encountered strong opponents, so losing was normal.
Besides, the season has just begun. Even if they lose the game, Flash Stars are currently ranked eighth in the league and are still far away from the relegation zone. There is no need to panic.
So the mood of Star Flash fans is still very stable.
The discordant voices mainly come from the media.
Of course the team has lost, and the media has the right to comment on it, but the voice in the media now is not criticism, but a pessimistic prediction.
The media believe that given the thickness of the Stars’ bench and the current state of their two-front battle, the AFC Champions League may be a sweet trap for the Stars.
Him is not optimistic about Stars’ relegation prospects this season.
The evidence is naturally not only the performance of Shining Star in the last two games. In the schedule that can be seen, people who know football can see at a glance the difficulties that Shining Star will encounter in the future.
At the beginning of the season when the players' physical reserves were at their best, the Flash Stars encountered the AFC Champions League's double matches in one week, which was a torture to the players' physical fitness and disrupted their game rhythm.
As a result, it is impossible to gain more points in the league standings.
Finally, the six group matches of the AFC Champions League ended in mid-April, and the Football Association Cup began again.
The most serious impact will come from this summer’s Olympic Games.
Shining Star plays the youth card. Many outstanding young players made them invincible in the Chinese League One last season. However, there is also a hidden danger, that is, once the Olympic team wants to play a game, the main players of Shining Star will be transferred.
players.
Although the Olympic football competition only starts on August 8, the Chinese Olympic team will have to train for a month before then to participate in the Olympic Games in August.
This means that the three main players of the Chinese Olympic team, Hu Lai, Chen Xingyi, and Wang Guangwei, will be taken away from the Stars starting from July. They are also the main players of the Stars.
By the way, Junpei Morikawa, the main midfielder of the Japanese Olympic team, should also be transferred to the Japanese Olympic team for training and to participate in the Olympic Games.
In addition, Zhang Qinghuan, who is only one year older than the Olympic age, may also be recruited by the National Olympic team as an over-age player to compete in the Olympics. After all, the tacit understanding between Zhang Qinghuan, Hu Lai, and Chen Xingyi can be seamlessly transplanted to the National Olympics team.
Going to the Olympic team will definitely not have the problem that Qin Lin couldn't integrate into the team last time he went to the Olympic team.
If Zhang Qinghuan is really called up to the Olympic team as an over-age player, Zhao Kangming will probably vomit blood.
Suddenly, the team is missing five people, and half of the main lineup is gone...
How to play?
It is expected that they will basically miss at least seven league games. When they return to the team, there will only be seven rounds left in the league.
If the Flash Stars cannot maintain their dominance in the two months of their absence, then when Hu Lai and the others come back, they will really have to fight for relegation. This is still a relatively good result, at least it can still
Fighting for relegation.
The worse outcome may be that it is too late.
After all, the early stages of the league will still be affected by the AFC Champions League.
How you look at it now, this first Chinese Super League season for Flash Stars has been a hell of a challenge.
It’s no wonder that Zhao Kangming said after winning the Super Cup that the team’s goal is still to avoid relegation.
And they may have to fight for relegation at the beginning of the league.
※※※
March 13, Wednesday The Andong Provincial Sports Center ushered in its first AFC Champions League game since its establishment.
Stars, who are currently at the bottom of the group stage, face third-placed Sydney Coast.
But Star Flash fans have mixed feelings about this game.
On the one hand, this is a moment worth remembering in the history of Anton football. It is the glory of Anton football.
But on the other hand, it’s unclear whether the AFC Champions League is good or bad for today’s Anton Flash.
Everyone hopes that Flash Star can perform well in the AFC Champions League, but they are worried that trying their best in the AFC Champions League will affect the subsequent league games.
If there were no Olympics this year, they wouldn't have to worry so much, because even if they were ranked low in the league due to the impact of the AFC Champions League in the early stage, they could slowly catch up later. At least relegation should not be a problem.
But with the Olympics, Hu Lai and the others will have to miss at least seven rounds of games, and the impact on the team cannot be ignored.
After all, there are only thirty rounds in the Chinese Super League, so they were unable to play a quarter of the games.
※※※
"Recently, there is a saying on the Internet that we should give up the AFC Champions League. The reason is naturally because we have sacrificed the league in order to play in the AFC Champions League. With our strength, we will not be able to go far in the AFC Champions League, so why should we do it for
Why work so hard in a competition that is destined to be eliminated? Why not put this energy into the league? If we completely abandon the AFC Champions League and only play in the league, the prospect of relegation will be bright..."
In the locker room, in the last five minutes before the game started, Zhao Kangming asked the players: "Are you willing to accept this strategy? Give up the AFC Champions League and concentrate on playing in the league."
Everyone shook their heads: "I don't want to!"
They have actually heard more or less what Director Zhao said online, and have discussed similar issues in private.
So Zhao Kangming’s current question has already been answered among the players.
"Actually, the club and the coaching staff have no specific requirements for the team's performance in the AFC Champions League." Zhao Kangming continued after getting answers from the players: "But this does not mean giving up on the AFC Champions League. I think
For us, the AFC Champions League is a very rare opportunity, an opportunity for us to play against the best teams in Asia. Just like last season, we were a Chinese League One team, but in the Football Association Cup and the Chinese Super League team
The benefits are the same. So I have different opinions from those guys outside. I don’t think playing in the AFC Champions League is a bad thing for us, and I don’t think playing in the AFC Champions League will prevent us from relegation. On the contrary, as a newly promoted team, we can win in the AFC Champions League.
We learned a lot in the AFC Champions League, and these gains will in turn help us achieve better performance in the league. Can you understand what I say?"
The team members nodded.
In fact, they feel this very deeply. After playing against Haihe Shuanggang and Lingnan Poseidon in the Football Association Cup last season, everyone felt that they had obvious clues in terms of ability and mentality.
Such an improvement gave the Flash Star team a crushing advantage in the Chinese League One. They completely crushed their opponents in the sprint stage of the league and maintained a stable performance without allowing competitors to take advantage of them.
"But if we just play the AFC Champions League with the mentality of coping with the game, then I believe we will not learn even a little bit from these games. So even if we have no performance requirements in the AFC Champions League, I
I hope everyone will go all out in every game... 'After playing the AFC Champions League in the middle of the week, what should I do with the league on the weekend?' This kind of question should be considered by the coaching staff, not you players. You just have to think about it.
You just need to give your best in every game. The same is true for today’s game, go all out and not be distracted!”
After he finished speaking, Qin Lin, as the captain who was about to play in this game, stood up, turned to his teammates and said loudly: "No matter what our final result is in the AFC Champions League, if we leave nothing behind,
Then we are just here to make up the numbers! We have come to participate in the AFC Champions League in vain! When your relatives and friends ask you, what is it like to play in the AFC Champions League? What do you want to say? 'I don't know, I just played.'
?You can’t even brag about it...what a loss!”
Hearing what he said, the Flash Star players in the locker room burst into laughter.
Amidst the roar of laughter, Qin Lin raised his voice: "Come out now! Don't let the 'friends' who come from afar wait too long!"
Hu Lai jumped up and said loudly: "There are friends coming from afar... Even though they are far away, they will be killed!"