The consequences of the battle were soon felt in the league three days later.

In the 23rd round of the game, Longteng Team, Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG coincidentally all went on an away expedition, and the results of the game were not the same.

Shanghai SIPG, which injured Akhmedov and Shi Ke in the FA Cup, was defeated 2:1 by Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng in Guizhou, thousands of miles away.

Guangzhou Evergrande, who rotated some players, challenged Shanghai Greenland Shenhua away, and after Gao Lin was sent off for a malicious foul, they relied on Diego Costa's brace to defeat the opponent 3-2 with ten men.

The Longteng team, who beat the opponent at home in midweek, was the most relaxed, although they flew to the far northeast to challenge Liaoning Shenyang Hongyun, but the score was a 5:1 victory, Nie Jiang completed a hat-trick again, and Chavez also scored twice, giving the home team struggling in the relegation zone another heavy blow.

After this round of games, the situation of the Chinese Super League championship gradually became clear.

Longteng team with 18 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss with 58 points ranked first in the league, Guangzhou Evergrande 16 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses ranked second with 52 points, Shanghai SIPG is slowly falling behind, because the head coach has been suspended for a long time, they are now 13 wins, 7 draws and 3 losses with 46 points, which is 12 points behind the first Longteng team.

According to the news revealed by the media, Shanghai SIPG has given up the competition for the league championship and began to invest all its resources in the FA Cup and the AFC Champions League.

Of course, Zhang Sheng will not pay too much attention to these two opponents now, because his real opponent has already appeared, and in three days, the Longteng team will meet the challenge of Urawa Ruby in the AFC Champions League on their home turf.

Urawa Ruby is the opponent of the Dragon Teng team for the second year in a row, this absolute local tyrant team in the J-League, is the favorite to win the championship every year, but it is so bad every year.

Last year, Urawa fought most of the 4th line battles to the end, except for the AFC Champions League eliminated by the Dragons, they narrowly defeated Osaka in the League Cup PK, lost to Kawasaki in the Emperor's Cup PK, and finally lost to Kashima in the league.

The coach of the team, Petrovic, repeated over and over again like Xianglin's sister-in-law: "The format is not reasonable, we should be the champions." ”

However, although they have been in the sand for many years, everyone is still optimistic about this team, their ambition has not faded, the super team, and the reasonable competitive age, it seems that they can't find a reason why they are not the favorites to win the championship from any angle.

In the new season, the personnel adjustment of Uamiwa and the cleaning of the two veterans in the back, the loan to make up for the current year of Tamura Yu, the midfield recalled a number of young players, the side introduced Daisuke Kikuchi to deal with the problems caused by the seriously injured Tsukasa Umezaki and the aging Hiraga, the forward line let go of the poor performance of Naoki Ishihara, the introduction of Japanese Olympic players Onai Wu Ado (Nigerian and Japanese mixed blood) and Silva (later Wuhan Zall's foreign aid), the goalkeeper to add the Yokohama veteran Enomoto, the lineup was expanded again.

Last season's Urawa squad was strong enough, and the introduction of newcomers to those who were unsatisfactory this time can be described as a proper strategy, depending on whether the newcomers can quickly integrate into the system.

If it is properly trained, like Yuki Muto and Toshiyuki Takagi, Urawa will play in two lines, and if it is unlucky, such as Sekiguchi Xunchong, who was bought with a lot of money, a famous player like Naoki Ishihara may not be able to play to his strength.

Perhaps it was providence that Toshiyuki Takagi said goodbye to the first three months of the game with an injury, indicating that the team's new season will not be so smooth. After all, whether it is Onai Wuadao or Silva, it is difficult for new players to integrate into Urawa's system.

At the beginning of the season, Urawa Ruby relied on the first set of starters, starting from the 4-goal slaughter against Western Sydney Wanderers, Urawa showed a terrifying competitive state, Urawa double-line 13 games, 10 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, with 5 goals in the AFC Champions League half, 6 goals to kill Western Sydney, and the league gave Sendai 7 bombs and other slaughter records, at that time, Urawa was determined to break through the league championship and the AFC Champions League.

However, in the next 15 games, 4 wins, 2 draws and 9 losses, the contrast is too obvious, the league basically withdrew from the championship, and the AFC Champions League reluctantly reversed Jeju United in overtime.

Petrovic, who had been in charge of the team for many years, finally let down the team's top management, and on July 30, after another defeat, Urawa Ruby announced the resignation of the old coach, and the team's assistant coach Takashi Hori took the historical position.

Coincidentally, Urawa Ruby was a meritorious employee who retired in 2001 and returned to the club in 2005 to take up the role of team manager - and was also temporarily the manager of the team for two months in 2011, and replaced the manager who was out at that time was also called Petrovic, but that one was called Jericho Petrovic, and the current one is called Hailo Petrovic.

As an assistant to Hailo Petrovic for many years, Takashi Hori has a lot of opinions about his succession, after all, he has repeatedly mentioned that Urawa Ruby should stick to possession and adhere to the back three, which is the same as Petrovic's tactical thinking.

Fans who have long been criticized for Petrovic's unchanged set are extremely unhappy, and the club has also taken a wait-and-see attitude - he has only signed a one-year contract.

And after he took over, although he won 2 wins and 1 draw in three games, stabilized the morale of the army, and also gave himself the capital to coach to the limit, but in the case of the same formation, he emphasized the defensive arrangement, and rarely tried to gamble.

Urawa Ruby has been using the 3-6-1 tactic for many years. Including the goalkeeper, the selection of materials for all positions of the team is a priority technology, coupled with years of cooperation, the degree of tacit understanding is extremely high, the passing control is very gorgeous, and a large number of one-kick balls make the opponent overwhelmed.

In last year's AFC Champions League group stage, the Longteng team saw their very ornamental performance.

The problem is that their slump this season has also been linked to the 3-6-1 formation.

The state of the main goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa has declined sharply, from the previous door god to "shoot on target", the three central defenders are also very unstable in the case of Pei Shuai becoming more and more obsessed with cronies and refusing to rotate, plus the team's spiritual leader Yuki Abe is getting older, and the contribution to defense is getting less and less, but the game has been playing - Japan's unique workplace rules, seniors do not easily give way.

There are so many problems that the team only ranked seventh in the league after 26 rounds of J-League, conceded 43 goals, and is the third worst team in defense in the entire league, not even a few relegation teams.

Of course, they still have something to rely on to be able to reach the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League, and that is the team's attack.

Urawa Ruby scored 18 goals in six games in the group stage, and scored three more goals in the two legs of the round of 16 (including one in extra time), and they are now the team with 21 goals to temporarily become the team with the most goals in this AFC Champions League, one more than the Dragons, and the attack is very powerful.

At the same time, the exit of the domestic league and cup competition also made them extinguish the idea of fighting on multiple fronts, completely abandoning the league, and specializing in the AFC Champions League has become the only fig leaf for Urawa Ruby this season.

Before the game, the scouting team, tactical analysis team, and video analysis team of the Longteng team's coaching staff had already made a very detailed understanding of the above various situations.

Through its ties in Japan, the team has mastered Urawa Ruby's recent employment and injury situation: the main defender Ryota Moriwa is injured and cannot play, and the defender Ryo Nasu and winger Uga Kamitomo are the team's old injuries.

Hori Takashi also appropriately promoted his cronies. Last season, Maritimo defender Mauricio transferred as a new signing in the middle of the season, replacing Endo as the team's main central defender, and this season, Daisuke Kikuchi, who transferred from Shonan Ocean, replaced Uga Kamitomo as the team's main left winger, and another reason why he can be promoted is because the stronger Takadai Sekine went to Germany to stay abroad.

In terms of rotation, in order to ensure the stability of the coach's position, in the last round of the J League, the main team of Urawa Ruby basically played the whole game, and this time I flew to China to play, and physical fitness was a big problem.

Considering the attributes of Urawa Ruby away bugs - 5 away games in the AFC Champions League, except for the Western Sydney Wanderers, who have a very poor winning strength, the others are all losing, and they concede more than 2 goals per game, it can be said that the Longteng team has a great chance of winning.

When Takashi Hori interviewed reporters at the pre-match press conference, he also looked very low-key: "This time we came to Jiangcheng to play the first leg against the Dragons, there were a large number of Japanese fans cheering for us, and there were also many fans watching our game on TV in Japan, we will do our best to play tomorrow's game and strive for a good result to return home and play the second leg." ”

When asked by reporters, "Is the good result a draw?", Hori Takashi replied vaguely: "I hope it will be better than last season." ”

Last year's AFC Champions League, the two teams met in the group stage, the Longteng team was a double kill opponent, and the second leg of the game was won in the absence of major generals and only two foreign aids.

Sure enough, Urawa Ruby showed their caution in the starting lineup.

"Just as we expected. The first time he got the information of the starting list, Zhang Sheng gently shook the piece of paper in his hand, "It's still a three-center-back, foreign striker Silva didn't play, and Li Zhongzhong, who is more active in running and has a better sense of defense." One thing that was different from what we expected, Yosuke Kashiwagi was not in the squad, and it seems that the rumors that he was injured in pre-match training are true. However, Shinya Yajima is such a defensive back, so he is really ready to defend to the end. ”

"Maybe it's our Dragons' home stadium that makes them have some scruples. Zhang Sheng's good friend, assistant coach Jiang Peng, said with a smile, "Then we should pay attention to their defensive counterattacks in the attack, especially their two wings." ”

"Let's follow our tactics. Zhang Sheng waved his hand indifferently, "In our home stadium, we can play as much as we want." ”

In this game, the Longteng team discharged the formation of the pseudo-three central defenders, Lu Yangyang became the central defender who was delayed, ready to do the chase at any time, Lu Zhihui and Liming stood in front of him to intercept the high-altitude ball, the two wingers were two foreign aid De Paul and Fernando, the midfielder Qu Wenming, Qi Ming and Tao Wentao lined up, and the forwards Chavez and Nie Jiang were in front and back.

The tactical tone arranged by the coaching staff for the team is: high pressing and horizontal involvement.

The reason for this choice is to look down on the backline of Urawa Ruby.

Their mid-league Brazilian foreign player Mauricio is indeed a good individual, and he is the absolute core of the Portuguese Super League's mid-table side Maritimo.

In his J-League debut against Tokyo FC, he stood in the middle of the three central defenders, which is the foundation of the team's defense, and it should be said that his performance is qualified, handling the ball calmly, and very trustworthy, which is much more reliable than Endo in this position before.

It seems that one of the most unstable holes in the Urawa Ruby defense line has been solved in one fell swoop.

However, a team's defense is definitely not something that can be completely changed by a temporary central defender, a certain period of run-in is essential, and their head coach Hori Takashi is not like the Longteng team with a hanging B like Zhang Sheng.

Therefore, this kind of temporary combination of defense, the most afraid is the opponent's oppression, once the opponent can do a good job of layered pressing, mistakes are inevitable.

The so-called strongest centre-back, Mauricio, is likely to be one of the most inconsistent factors in defence.

After the start of the game, Urawa Ruby played extremely embarrassed.

Under the strong high pressure of the Dragons, Urawa Ruby even struggled to pass the ball from the back.

As a 3-4-2-1 team, when defending, Urawa once had a spectacular scene of 7 men returning to defend against Tokyo FC in the J League, which is a very rare situation during the coaching of Master Pei, which is also the essential difference between Takashi Hori and Master Pei's tactical thinking.

When a team has as many as seven defenders at the back, you can expect him to be able to play a quick and sharp counter-attack, unless he has a player like Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo who is quick and technically outstanding.

In the fourth minute of the first half, Urawa Ruby finally used his super foot passing skills to destroy the high pressure of the Longteng team, but Makino Tomoaki, nicknamed "Brother Mentally Handicapped", had an excellent passing skill, and the players in his front court did not even pass the half.

Makino Tomoaki found that the head coach told him before the game that he must actively participate in the defense of Li Zhongzhong did not pass the middle circle, and the only one who was a little threatening was Shinzo Xingbai, the former passed the ball to the latter with a big foot, and as a result, Dawn jumped easily behind him and gave the ball to Lu Yangyang next to him.

It is a joke to expect a 1.75-meter, 31-year-old veteran and a 1.89-meter-tall, 19-year-old central defender with perverted physical qualities to grab a header with his back.

He Wei, who was in charge of commenting the game on CCTV, shook his head and had a very bad look at Urawa Ruby's performance: "In the first few minutes of the game, Urawa played too conservatively, and at the home of the Longteng team, once the team loses the flexibility of defense, it is a sure thing to lose the ball." ”

After Takashi Hori took over, there were many fans who complained about Petrovic. Xu Yang, his partner, also said, "Many people say that if Mauricio arrives at the team as soon as possible, Master Pei may not have to leave class." Because in all fairness, Hori Takashi didn't bring revolutionary improvements to the team. ”

The prelude to this game directly entered the orbit of the Longteng team.