On December 26, this Sunday, the 19th round of the 2021 Chinese Super League will stage a major event, the leader Shandong Taishan vs. the former local tycoon Hebei team, in the standings, Taishan team is 10 points ahead of the Guangzhou team and Shanghai Harbor team behind them, in the case of only 4 rounds of the league, they only need to defeat Hebei team, they can firmly hold the Chinese Super League champion in their arms 3 rounds in advance. This will also be the second time that Taishan has lifted the Chinese Super League championship trophy after 11 years after the 2010 Chinese Super League. It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that Hebei team has witnessed an important moment for Taishan, in the 5 years after the success of the 2016 season, they can be called the most important witnesses of Taishan's bittersweet and bittersweet.
【2016 Season Relegation Horror】
The 2016 season is the climax of the Chinese Super League golden dollar football, Evergrande, Suning, SIPG, Huaxia Happiness and other teams have invested thousands of dollars to introduce strong reinforcements, tens of millions of euros of reinforcements are a piece of cake for them, even Liaozu, who has been poor, has spent 11.5 million euros to sign the Bundesliga bronze boots Uja. In this case, Luneng, who also won the third place in the Chinese Super League in the 2015 season and played with Evergrande and SIPG, was a bit caught off guard, and was once reduced to the deputy squad leader of the Chinese Super League after 10 rounds of winlessness, and Brazilian coach Mano Menezes also resigned. And after his class, Luneng's first game was to challenge Hebei Huaxia Happiness away, when Luneng's new coach Magath first came to the stands to watch the game, the Chinese coaching team leader Li Xiaopeng commanded the battle, and finally Hebei Huaxia Happiness won 2-1 with the captain Jiang Ning's 90-minute kill, giving Luneng 6 rounds of winless.
In that game, Luneng was unable to face the promotion of Mahebei Huaxia Happiness with big names such as Kakuta, Mbia and Gervinho, so that the disappointed Luneng fans after the game shouted out the angry words that let them run back to Jinan from Qinhuangdao.
【2017 Mars Iron Army】
After experiencing the horror of relegation in the 2016 season, Luneng changed its mind and sent away big names at home and abroad such as Yussire, Montillo, Yang Xu, Zhao Mingjian and Wang Yongpo, instead tapping into the potential of youth training, completely withdrawing from the armament competition of Chinese Super League golden dollar football, and re-growing into an iron army with a fierce and active style under the leadership of iron marshal Magat. The most unforgettable feeling of Luneng's iron-blooded temperament is precisely the happiness of Hebei Huaxia.
In the final battle of the 2017 Chinese Super League, Shandong Luneng, who had completely missed the AFC Champions League, faced Hebei Huaxia Happiness at home, and as a result, Luneng was not soft, playing offensive football at home, and finally won 5-4 thrillingly, Tardelli and Ravitch both scored hat-tricks. That defeat also allowed Hebei Huashan Happiness points to be surpassed by Tianjin Quanjian, who beat Evergrande away, and could only rank 4th, because Shanghai Shenhua won the FA Cup, and this Chinese Super League local tycoon also lost the low-hanging fruit of the AFC Champions League qualification. Jinyuan Football felt the strong foundation from the former giants of the Chinese Super League.
【The Power of 2018 Youth Training】
This year, the Chinese Football Association launched the 2.0 version of the U23 player appearance policy, and the number of U23 players who appeared in each game was the same as that of foreign aid. In this context, Shandong Luneng hoped to recall the U23 player Gao Zhunyi, who was loaned to Hebei Huaxia Happiness, but was blocked by the Hebei team, and the Chinese Football Association actually made a mud-like judgment, which finally allowed Gao Zhunyi to continue to stay in Hebei Huaxia Happiness. This incident also made the two clubs that had been a group of harmony completely break up.
In the third round of the Chinese Super League Luneng away to Hebei Huaxia Happiness, Luneng coach Li Xiaopeng, who has always been known for his conservativeness, put 3 U23 players in the starting 11, which is undoubtedly a naked show-off. Hebei Huaxia Happiness, which gao zhun wing avoided, was stretched in the use of U23 players, and only Xu Tianyuan, who was only 21 years old, was arranged at the beginning, and Gao Huaze, who was also 21 years old, and Che Shiwei, who was also 22 years old, came off the bench, and such an arrangement also made them completely lose their backhand. In the end, Luneng defeated the opponent 2-1 away to win three consecutive wins in the opening three games of the Chinese Super League.
That season, Luneng won the third place in the Chinese Super League and once scored three points with Evergrande and SIPG, and the U23 policy version 2.0 was an important reason for their good results, after all, a group of U23 players on the bench were eagerly looking forward to playing opportunities, which was in stark contrast to other teams racking their brains to deal with the U23 policy.
【The Power of 2020 Youth Training】
Although it is still a youth training, it is still very different from the 2018 and 19 seasons. In those two years, li Xiaopeng, the then coach of Luneng, was so conservative in the use of U23 players that people gave him the nickname "Li Taishou", and the young players were just his pawns. But after Hao Wei took over in the 2020 season, young players got more opportunities to play, and Luneng gradually became the only team in the Chinese Super League that can achieve self-sufficiency by relying on youth training. In the second leg of the qualifying match with Hebei Huaxia Happiness, Luneng defeated the opponent 6-3 in extra time, and among the 11 starters + 6 substitutes, a total of 17 players appeared, and Luneng was born in youth training as high as 10 people, which was simply eye-catching.
【2021 Giants Return】
In the first round of the second stage of the Chinese Super League this season, Shandong Taishan won 5-0 against Hebei, that game, Taishan's 5 goals were all covered by youth players, a big victory not only showed the power of youth training, but also announced the complete return of the former giants. And 2 days later, the Hebei team will become the witness of the Taishan team to regain the championship, such a fate, really with the lantern can not be found.