Fox in the Penalty Area

It is certainly worth gratifying to be able to win the first Chinese Super League game in the history of the club.

But the Flash Stars have already put this victory that was enough to make fans happy for a week behind them.

Fans don't have to think too much, just enjoy the game.

Happy when you win, cursed when you lose.

But players and coaches are not.

Just after the match against Yunyang Phoenix, Flash Star entered the AFC preparation mode.

As the champions of the Chinese Football Association Cup last season, what they obtained was the qualification to directly participate in the AFC Champions League, instead of having to play a qualifying round like the third place in the Chinese Super League.

In the group draw ceremony of the AFC Champions League group stage, Shining Star, who participated in the AFC Champions League for the first time, was drawn into a group that was not considered good.

Because of the vast territory of Asia, and the Australian and New Zealand Football Associations have also joined the AFC, teams participating in the AFC Champions League often face the embarrassing situation of flying almost one-third of the world around the earth for an away game.

This is no different from Western European teams going to Vladivostok to play away games in the Europa League-but this kind of thing has not happened yet, because the teams in Vladivostok have never participated in the Europa League.

But in Asia, a similar situation is real. If a West Asian team goes to Australia to play in the AFC Champions League, the flying distance is not close at all.

In order to solve this problem of increasing the burden on the team, the AFC divided the AFC into two halves, the East and the West.

The western half is made up of clubs from West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. All teams in this area are automatically assigned to the Western Conference and are drawn together in the group draw.

The Eastern Division is composed of teams from East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, fighting against each other.

The teams from the East and West halves will never meet until the final.

This is a bit like the NBA's competition system, in which the champions of the East and West are determined, and the champions of the East and West finally come together to determine the champion of the entire Asia.

And as long as they can win the championship of their respective half regions, they will be eligible for the Club World Cup.

It's not like before, you have to be a championship to participate in the Club World Cup.

The AFC learned from UEFA and also started the European War Points-in the AFC, it is called the Asian War Points.

The grades of participating teams are determined according to the points, so as to facilitate the group draw.

Because Flash Star has never had points in the Asian War, they were naturally assigned to the lowest tier and became the fourth tier team.

This level is very unfavorable for Shining Star, and it is easy to be with a group of strong teams.

So this time they were assigned to Group H, which put them in a group with teams from South Korea, Japan and Australia.

They are Seoul LG, the third runner-up of South Korea's K1 League last season, Osaka Seungri, the runner-up of Japan's J1 League last season, and Sydney Coast, the runner-up of the A-League last season.

Not only is the opponent strong, but he also faces the hardship of going to Australia to play the game.

As Anton Shining Stars participating in the AFC Champions League for the first time, many people are not optimistic about their prospects in the AFC Champions League. The team was eventually relegated-this is definitely not deliberately looking down on the stars, but there are many lessons learned from the past.

This situation is not uncommon in European football, where professional football is more developed.

There are some teams that were originally ranked in the middle and lower reaches. After hard work and a little luck, they finally entered the European competition next season.

At the end of the season, the images of fans wildly celebrating this great achievement are still vivid in my memory.

The team's performance plummeted in the new season. In the end, they did not perform well in the European war. It also disrupted the rhythm of the league, causing the team to rank at the bottom of the league.

Those teams that are more or less capable can still go all out in the league after being eliminated from the European competition, and finally succeed in relegation.

And some teams can no longer stop the downward trend, and at the end of the season, they fall into the second-level league.

A stadium full of joy a season ago,

At this time, it becomes the same as the morgue.

Flash Star was promoted to the Chinese Super League with great difficulty, and Anton fans have just tasted a little bit of sweetness. No one wants them to return to the Chinese Super League after only one season.

If there is a choice, I am afraid that many Flash Star fans would rather the team not participate in the AFC Champions League, but they can participate in the Super League every year.

Competitions like the AFC Champions League are games for giants, but anyone who can participate in this competition and achieve good results is a club that is willing to spend money on the team.

Flash Star is obviously not this kind of rich and powerful club, and the funders behind them will never use more aggressive financial means in order to improve the team's performance. Otherwise, they wouldn't have stayed in the Second Division and the First Division for so many years.

A large part of the reason why everyone was so happy last season was because the team won the FA Cup, not because they entered the AFC Champions League...

As if to prove the fans' concerns, in the first round of the AFC Champions League group match, Shining Star gave Osaka a 0:3 victory in the away game.

The 0:3 score is a good example of the gap between the champion of the Chinese Premier League and the runner-up of the J1 League in Japan-the former was completely defeated by the latter.

Junpei Morikawa started this game, but his running failed to help the team win the game, and even Baoping couldn't do it.

Jun Morikawa, who lost the game, was very frustrated, but after the game, he saw the head coach of the Olympic team Koichi Sato.

Obviously, Coach Sato came here to see his performance.

I play football in China, and Japan does not broadcast Chinese league games. If Coach Sato wants to pay attention to his game status, of course he wants to watch the AFC Champions League.

This also shows that Coach Sato really did not give up on himself as he said.

Thinking of this, Morikawa Junping's mood improved a lot.

But when he thought that he had just lost, his expression collapsed again.

How could Koichi Sato not understand what was going on in the mind of this middle school boy?

Seeing this, he smiled and patted Morikawa Junpei on the shoulder: It’s okay, the failure in this game has nothing to do with you, it’s because the overall strength of the Shining Star team is too far apart... You have done what the head coach arranged for you Tasks, in terms of personal performance, you can leave with your head held high.

Morikawa Junpei did not leave with his head held high in the end, because he still cared about the result of the game.

For many people, it is not surprising that Shining Star lost this game. From the comparison of the strength of the two teams, the loss is a matter of course, and no one will use the failure of this game to criticize Flash Star's poor performance.

However, many Shining Star players, including Junpei Morikawa, still seemed very silent on the plane returning to China.

Except for Qin Lin, everyone else in the Shining Star team participated in an Asian-level club competition for the first time, like someone from the mountains, coming to a big city for the first time.

Before they came, they always had all kinds of longings and fantasies about the feasting world.

Fantasizing about getting ahead in this new world where opportunities are everywhere, and walking to pick up gold is a blockbuster.

But after they came, they realized that the gap between fantasy and reality was so huge, it was like a moat lying in front of them.

Gold all over the place? He must have been beaten all over his head!

Dong Wen, who was traveling with the team, felt the team's depression. The plane was still in the sky before landing, so he couldn't wait to go to the team's head coach Zhao Kangming and express his worries to him.

After listening to Dong Wen's words, Zhao Kangming comforted him: Actually, don't worry too much, old Dong. This is the characteristic of young people. When we decide to play the card of young people, we should know that young people are prone to high emotions and low emotions. Come fast, go fast.

Then do nothing? Dong Wen asked.

Depends on why you are depressed. Is it negative because of the loss? On the surface, this is the case, but the deep-seated reason comes from the huge gap between their previous fantasy and reality. They thought the AFC too simply, perhaps because they won the Super Cup against the South China Tigers, and the first round of the Chinese Super League had a good start, which gave many of them the illusion that it was the AFC. No big deal either. Zhao Kangming explained patiently, under such circumstances, losing the game and seeing the real difficulty of the AFC Champions League, and the depression caused by it, I don't think there is any problem at all. It's fine after a while, and it also cools them down and makes them more pragmatic.

After listening to Zhao Kangming's explanation, Dong Wen was thoughtful, and then asked: "Old Zhao, don't you worry that the young people will be hit too hard, and the confidence they have built up so hard will be lost?"

Zhao Kangming kept waving his hands with a smile: That's too serious, Old Dong. Losing such a game, can you be completely devastated? Let me not talk about other things, just say where does our team's self-confidence come from? Is it earned by shit luck? Of course not. We won the FA Cup as a Chinese team and won the Super Cup as a newly promoted team. We built it up step by step. Our foundation is solid, and our confidence will not fall like a castle in the air. Although playing in the AFC Champions League will bring some troubles to our league, it does not mean that we were lucky enough to participate in the AFC Champions League. We also have the strength of the AFC Champions League.

Speaking of this, Zhao Kangming's tone became proud. This is his achievement in coaching the team. As the head coach, he naturally has some confidence.

When he was proud of his team, assistant coach Chen Mo interjected: Besides, Lao Dong, did you overlook a very important factor?

what factor? Dong Wen was at a loss.

Holly! Chen Mo patted his thigh and said: With Hu Lai here, do you still have to worry that the internal atmosphere of the team will be depressed and negative?

Dong Wen suddenly realized, his eyes lit up: Oh, look at my memory, I forgot about him... Yes, yes, Lao Chen, you are right, with Hu Lai here, I am worried about a hammer!

Zhao Kangming laughed when he saw him like this: This is the other reason I didn't mention just now. When did you see Hu Lai appearing in front of us with a dead face every day?

That didn't. Dong Wen shook his head again and again, and then he was completely relieved.

As the announcement that the plane would land in half an hour came from the cabin, the stone in his heart fell to the ground.

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PS, sorry, forgot to auto-update...