Chapter 300: Ups and downs
The second game of the Dragons' warm-up tour in West Asia was still disappointing, although the players' form recovered compared to the first game, and their enthusiasm in the game also increased, but they still failed to show any dominance in the game, and were forced to draw 0:0 by Bahrain.
With regret and criticism, the Dragon team ended this chicken-ribbed warm-up trip, and Wu Lei, Zhang Xizhe and others, who had successfully landed in Europe, separated from the team and returned to their respective clubs after the game with the Bahrain team.
The remaining players who played in the Dragon Super League, after flying back to Yangcheng together, disbanded on the spot, returned to their respective teams, and continued the journey of the Dragon Super League.
The Dragon Super League held another round of matches before the Dragon Country team training warm-up, and the Jianye team defeated the visiting Yatai team 2:1 at home, finally ending the draw during this period.
At the end of the international break, the Dragon Super League continued, and Jianye team first beat Sway team 3:1 away to maintain the lead in the league standings.
After returning to the home stadium, Jianye team first played a match with Jeonbuk Hyundai in the second leg of the AFC Champions League quarterfinals, Jianye team did their best in this game, although they won 2:0 as they wished, and advanced to the semi-finals of this season's AFC Champions League, but the team also suffered huge losses, many players fought hard in this game, and even had some injuries.
In the 23rd round of the Dragon Super League, the Jianye team was affected by the previous game, and under the watchful eyes of more than 30,000 Jianye die-hard fans in the Navigation Stadium, it lost to the Luneng team 3:4 and suffered its first defeat of the season.
Although Jianye is still as many as 10 points ahead of second-place SIPG in the league standings, with only seven rounds left in the Dragon Super League, the situation of winning the championship is gradually becoming clear.
However, the loss of the Jianye team also made the SIPG team, Evergrande team, and Guoan team see the possibility of continuing to close the score.
It's a pity that the direct dialogue between the Jianye team and the Shanghai Port team and the Evergrande team in the Dragon Super League this season has ended, and the Jianye team has achieved a double kill against them, occupying an absolute advantage in the direct dialogue.
Judging from the results of the game, the Luneng team can be said to be the bitter master of the Jianye team this season, the Dragon Super League has two games home and away, and the Jianye team has one draw and one loss, which is the worst record of the team so far.
Then, in the second leg of the FA Cup semi-finals, Jianye team drew 1:1 with SIPG away, and the two-legged match was 4:2, reaching the final of the FA Cup for two consecutive seasons.
At this stage, the Jianye team can put aside the FA Cup for the time being, because according to the schedule, the FA Cup final is a two-legged match, which is scheduled to be played after the end of the Super League season.
Moreover, at that time, the final of the AFC Champions League had already been decided.
In the previous quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League, Jianye defeated Jeonbuk Hyundai 2:0 over two legs as desired and advanced to the semifinals of this season's AFC Champions League; However, another team in the Dragon Super League, Kwon Jian Team, was swept by the Kashima Antlers with a total score of 0:5 in the two-legged competition in the quarterfinals, and missed the semi-finals with the Jianye team.
As a result, in the final of the East Asian zone of this season's AFC Champions League, there was a very interesting situation - the opponents in the two group stages will eventually meet in the semifinals!
Jianye team and Kashima Antlers, in the group stage of this season's AFC Champions League, are in Group H and have already played each other twice, and Jianye team has the advantage of one win and one draw.
Now that they meet again in the semi-finals, the Jianye team has a clear advantage at the psychological level.
However, it should not be taken lightly, and the fact that the Kashima Antlers were able to defeat SIPG and Kwon Jian all the way in the knockout stage is enough to prove that they have real strength.
In an event like the AFC Champions League, any team that goes to the back relies on strength, not luck!
The two legs of the semi-finals between Jianye and Kashima Antlers are scheduled to be played on October 3 and October 24 respectively, with Jianye playing away first and then at home, and if they can get through smoothly, the final two legs will also be played in November.
In this way, if Jianye team wants to achieve the "treble" of the Dragon Super League, FA Cup, and AFC Champions League, it is best to be able to end the competition for the Dragon Super League championship before mid-October, that is, it is best to be able to defend the Dragon Super League title five rounds in advance, or even more.
However, due to the unexpected loss to the Luneng team at home, the gap between the Jianye team and the second place in the league standings has not been able to continue to expand, and there are still only 10 points.
Unfortunately, the sky did not meet expectations.
In a match in the 24th round of the Dragon Super League on September 29, the Jianye team sat in the Navigation Stadium and was forced to draw 2:2 by the visiting Huaxia Happiness team.
Then in the 25th round of the Dragon Super League on October 5, the Jianye team was affected by the AFC Champions League semi-finals against the Kashima Antlers team who went to Japan before, and drew 0:0 with the Jingren team away - this also became the first game that the Jianye team did not score in the Dragon Super League this season!
Fortunately, under the test of such a tight devil's schedule of 7 days and 3 matches, although the Jianye team slowed down the pace of progress in the Dragon Super League, it defeated the Kashima Antlers 2:1 away in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semifinals and grasped the initiative to advance.
Affected by two draws and one loss in the last three rounds, Jianye team's lead in second place in the league standings has been narrowed to 8 points.
With only 5 rounds left in the Dragon Super League, Jianye won the championship of this season's Dragon Super League, which is no longer a big problem, but it is still a problem to be able to defend the title a few rounds in advance.
Of course, the Jianye team wants to be as early as possible, so that they can focus more on the AFC Champions League and FA Cup, but the Shanghai Port team, Evergrande team, Luneng team, and Guoan team behind are unwilling to let the suspense of the championship of this season's Dragon Super League be revealed early.
Jianye team's opponents in the next two rounds of the Dragon Super League, namely R&F team and Guoan team, can achieve the goal of winning the championship in advance, and these two games will play a decisive role!
However, as it is another international break, Jianye can only wait a little longer if they want to achieve their desire to defend the title of the Dragon Super League as soon as possible.