Recently, there has been nothing more on the minds of our fans than the showdown between the national soccer team and South Korea at the Asian Games. Prior to the encounter, the two teams had already met twice. In the first match, our team lost 1-3, and despite the pressure felt by South Korea, our team managed to break through. In the second match, we showed the spirit of tenacious counterattack by winning 1-0 in a reversal of passivity. As a result, people are expecting our team to perform well in the Asian Games, and even if we cannot win the championship, we can still see the players' fighting spirit.
However, this expectation may have fizzled out after half time as we found ourselves unable to put any pressure on the Korean team, whether it was in terms of defensive firmness, offensive aggression, or the threat of counter-attacks, we just didn't seem to be up to the task. Overall, we looked like we were being used as a target by the Korean team, much to the disappointment of many of our fans. Although the final score reflected the strengths of both sides to some extent, our players lost the opportunity to compete with high-level opponents and to show themselves because we couldn't even hold a sword.
However, our players can actually learn a lot from this game, as the opponents have several players playing in the top five leagues, and their calmness, rhythm and confrontation are difficult for us to experience in the Chinese Super League. So, no matter what the result is, as long as the players can learn from it and improve their understanding of soccer, the game will have value.
Recently, we have witnessed this growth. After the Asian Games tour, the team's star striker became a hero in Qatar. Tao Qianglong expressed his heart and reset his goals in an interview with Sportsweek. He confessed, "There is a gap between us and the South Korean team in terms of technique, body, confrontation and mind, such as Lee Gang-in, who is different from us in every aspect. After all, he plays in the top European leagues. Look at the pace of his game (how fast and powerful), we can only look back. The gap is really big and it makes us work harder.
We should know that Tao Qianglong and Li Gangren were selected together as one of the world's top 60 rising stars by the British Guardian in 2001. However, the development is very different nowadays. Li Gangren is playing for Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain, while Tao Qianglong can only be a substitute in the Chinese Super League. This huge gap is embarrassing. So, Tao Qianglong now sees the gap between each other and starts to adjust his goals. After all, he is only 21 years old at the moment, and there are infinite possibilities in the future.
So, do we expect Tao Qianglong to go abroad one day? Chinese players are now in desperate need of working out in fast-paced, high-confrontation, high-level leagues. The only way to achieve this is to go abroad. Do you think Tao Qianglong will study abroad?
