In the 21st round of the Central League, Kunshan met the challenge of Heilongjiang Bingcheng and returned home in defeat with a score of 0-1. On the night of the match, a sudden change in the Kunshan team's internal affairs, although not announced to the public, but the head coach Gao Yao has announced that he has stepped down, and the reserve team coach Sarko has been appointed to take over the position of the head coach for the time being. Salko will take over when the coaching team is formed.
Three consecutive rounds without a win and Gao Yao's dismissal in dismay
Looking back on last season, the Kunshan team stepped into the Central League for the first time as a promoted horse, with tenacious fighting spirit, they managed to break into the super group, and eventually ended up in third place. This achievement proves that the Kunshan team has a certain potential, "I think it is still a matter of mentality, the previous year's schedule is partly due to the fact that the tournament system is very fortuitous, and the opportunity is left to those who are prepared, we did a good job of winter training last season, and the players trained very hard, and we achieved a good result in the first stage. In fact, the previous year's schedule was still very intensive, we played one match in three days, and very often, before we could fully adjust after the last match, the next match came." Player Wang Jiajie recalled.
This season, Kunshan has made a lot of moves, signing as many as 11 new players, such as Zhang Chenglin, Xu Junmin and Feng Bowen, whose arrival has injected fresh blood into the team.
At the beginning of the season, the Kunshan team did not clearly put forward the goal of the Super League, but the team's actions still make people full of expectations. In the team, many veteran players believe that the team has the strength of the Super League, but the system is different from last season, the schedule is longer, which reduces the probability of unexpected situations.
"I want to lead the team to the Super League, to achieve better results, to help the team on a higher platform, playing on a higher platform, we have to try to do well, and try to add color to Jiangsu soccer. In fact, this is not my responsibility alone, I hope our team work together to struggle, as long as every game is struggling, the results are not important, but we do not like to lose, even a draw is not like, our goal is only one, win the game." At the beginning of the season, in an interview with reporters, Cui Peng said.
However, the start of the season was not ideal for the Kunshan team. In the 21 matches led by Gao Yao, the team won 8, drew 9 and lost 4, and ranked 9th in the table with 33 points, 12 points away from the fourth place in the league, and basically no hope of overtaking the league this season.
Especially in the last three rounds of matches, Kunshan's results have been disappointing, starting with a 1-1 draw against Chang'an Athletic, followed by a 0-0 draw by North Polytechnic, and finally losing to Heilongjiang Bingcheng by 0-1. While the draw with Chang'an Athletic was acceptable, the draw with BeiTech was unacceptable. Although soccer is round and anything can happen, Kunshan had to take down their opponent against BeiTech, who had a poorer record. Therefore, the loss made Gao Yao's dismissal inevitable.
Against Heilongjiang Bingcheng, Kunshan lost 0-1 again. During the match, Kunshan had a chance to equalize, but in extra time, Feng Boyuan scored a goal, but the referee ruled the goal invalid because of a foul for lifting his foot too high.
It was reported that on the night of the loss, Gao Yao was told by the club to step down and the next day, he left the tournament.
In the 2015 season, Gao Yao began his transition to coaching, joining Huaxia as the team's assistant coach; in the middle of the 2019 season, Gao Yao replaced Ocuka as the head coach of the Kunshan team. Taking over this team, time is very tight, the team was away to play Shenzhen Pengcheng on June 23, he rushed to Shenzhen on the 22nd, and led the team to play the game the next day.
Strictly speaking, Kunshan FC was the first team that Gao Yao brought as a head coach, and being a head coach is still very different from being an assistant coach, "I think it's time for me to go out and coach a team on my own, and the team atmosphere is also very good, and there is trust between us, although the team was still far away from reaching the top of the league at that time, but I worked hard in that direction. " Gao Yao said at the time.
That season, Gao Yao led the team to play 16 games, the result was 12 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses, Kunshan failed to complete the goal of the first division. Gao Yao was of course not satisfied with this result, "If I was satisfied, the team should have gone to the first division." Fortunately, Kunshan was given the opportunity to enter the Central League as a substitute.
In the 2020 season, Gao Yao led the team to play in the Central League, Kunshan entered the Super League group and finally finished third, as a promoted horse, such an achievement is something to be proud of, and it also gives people more expectations for Kunshan's 2021 season.
But what I didn't expect was for Gao Yao to step down after suffering three rounds without a win.
After Gao Yao's dismissal, Kunshan reserve team coach and Spaniard Salco became the team's acting head coach, and after the coaching team is formed, he will officially become the team's new head coach. Sarko was once a professional player, retired at the age of 22 due to injuries, and then transformed into a coach, both in youth training, and also led the professional team, Ibáñez and Atletico Madrid's captain Gabi, who had played the 2006 World Cup with the Spanish team in the capacity of a starter, have both studied under Sarko. 2012, Sarko came to China as Evergrande's football school coaches, and two years ago he was invited to coach the Kunshan team, responsible for the team's youth training work.
The match against Sichuan Jiuniu is the first competition that Sarko commanded, the team finally drew 1-1, after the match, he said he would like to help the team find a good state as soon as possible, the most important thing is to do a good job of physical recovery in the case of the intensive schedule.
