Chapter 65: Halfway runner-up
After carefully checking the information, Chen Long has a more comprehensive understanding of Evergrande Taobao Club.
In recent years, Evergrande Taobao Club has become increasingly popular in world football.
That's not to say that the club's squad is at the top level in the world.
It's the pace of its expansion, which is too huge. Three years ago, Evergrande Taobao Club announced the full acquisition of the traditional giant AC Milan Club in Serie A, which caused a strong response in world football.
In fact, in today's Serie A, or in today's European football, the phenomenon of Chinese capital holding clubs can be seen everywhere.
Before Evergrande, Suning had already announced the full acquisition of another traditional Serie A giant, Inter Milan Club.
In the nineties of the last century, the Serie A League, known as the "Little World Cup", has now begun to be comprehensively revitalized with the full support of Chinese capital, and it is just around the corner to regain its former glory.
In today's Serie A, those traditional giants are more or less connected to Chinese capitalists.
Seeing this, Chen Long was inevitably a little excited, how could he miss it if he was competing in Serie A
The next day, a new round of the league began in full swing, and Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Reserve Team hosted Chongqing Lifan Reserve Team.
In this game, head coach Li Yi did not let Chen Long start, but left him on the bench, after all, Chen Long has not participated in the reserve league for almost a month, you know, the intensity of the reserve league is much higher than that of Yashao.
At the beginning of the game, Evergrande gradually mastered the rhythm of the game, after all, there is still a big gap between the strength of Chongqing Lifan and Evergrande.
The Evergrande frontcourt attack group led by forward Wang Hao launched a fierce impact on the Chongqing Lifan back line.
However, the defenders of Chongqing Lifan were particularly tenacious, and the film and television did not let Wang Hao and them successfully break through.
Throughout the first half, Evergrande had 80 per cent possession, but in stark contrast, they did not score the slightest goal
In this way, with a score of 0:0, the two sides started the second half of the game after a halftime break.
At the beginning of the second half of the game, Evergrande head coach Li Yi took the lead in making personnel adjustments, and Chen Long was replaced.
After Chen Long was replaced, the situation improved for a while, especially in the 74th minute of the game, Chen Long assisted winger Zhang Chao to open the scoring for Evergrande.
However, in the 88th minute of the game, Chongqing Lifan Li Zongheng made a mistake in clearing the siege and played an efficient defensive counterattack tactic to equalize the score.
After that, neither side scored, and the score remained 1-1 until the end of the game.
Counting this one, Evergrande has won two draws in a row, which is obviously not a good sign for them who are aiming to win the championship.
In the last game of the first half of the league, Evergrande challenged Tianjin TEDA away.
The result of this race directly determines the ownership of the half-marathon champion.
Prior to this game, Guangzhou Evergrande and Beijing Guoan had 38 points, with Guangzhou Evergrande topping the table with a goal difference and Beijing Guoan in second place.
Therefore, if Guangzhou Evergrande wants to win the half-way championship, then this game against Tianjin TEDA must be won, which is the safest.
In this game, Chen Long made his debut, but in the 10th minute of the game, Chen Long was shoveled by a TEDA player in a forced rush and injured his ankle and had to leave the game early.
After getting off the field, the team doctor hurriedly checked the injury, but fortunately it was only a mild sprain, and he could recover after a period of recuperation.
With the loss of Chen Long, Evergrande's forward attack group gradually fell into a dull state.
In the 32nd minute of the game, Tianjin TEDA took advantage of the set-piece opportunity to score the first goal and took the lead.
The Evergrande players who lost the ball gradually reacted and gradually found their form, but, it seems, their luck was not good, and many threatening shots were rejected by the goalpost.
In the second half, the game continued, and Li Yi used two substitutions in one go to strengthen the attacking strength of the frontcourt.
Tianjin TEDA, who scored in the first half, had a clear goal in the second half, that is, to focus on defense and maintain the lead until the end of the game.
Therefore, when Li Yi made personnel adjustments, their head coach also made a move to strengthen the team's defensive intensity in the backcourt.
So, throughout the second half, the two sides had an offensive and defensive battle.
Unfortunately, Evergrande never broke through Tianjin TEDA's goal and finally lost the game 0:1.
Because, at the same moment, Beijing Guoan defeated Changchun Yatai 2:0 at home, so the final half-way championship belongs to Beijing Guoan, and Evergrande ranks second.
After the game, the players of the Evergrande reserve team were very disappointed, they did not win and won the halfway championship, and everyone still had some regrets.
However, with Li Yi's encouragement, everyone's feelings gradually improved, after all, this is only a half-way league, and they still have a great chance.
After this game, the league also went into the off-season, and the game started again, about a month later
Chen Long's plan for the offseason is to recuperate from his injuries and recover as much as possible, and on the other hand, to continue training at the training base.
His immediate goal now is not only to help the club win the league title in the second half of the season, but also to continue to improve himself and prepare for the end of the season to go to Italy, where he is very much looking forward