Guoan has waited six years to reach the top, how far is it to win the championship again?

Contributing Writer / Song Ci On the evening of June 17, Beijing Guoan defeated Qingdao West Coast 1-0 at home in the 6th round of the Chinese Super League, and reached the top with an unbeaten record of 14 rounds. Although the league is not yet halfway through, this top position has made Guoan wait for 6 years. The last time, in 2019, when he occupied the top spot in the league with 10 consecutive wins, no one thought that it would take such a long time to lead the standings again. However, if you want to finally realize your dream, Guoan still has a lot to do, just like the second half of the championship with the West Coast, which is by no means smooth.

Four days and two games, not only for the players' physical fitness is a test, the fans are also quite hard, the last game in the capital rained all day, this time it was unbearable heat, not to mention that it was a working day, in the end, there were 40,516 fans to the scene. It can be said that every fan who came to the scene can be called a warrior, and everyone interpreted what it means to "fight side by side" with practical actions.

There is only one belief that supports the more than 40,000 fans, hoping to see the team return to the top after six years - before this game, everyone knew this situation, as long as they win, they can overwhelm Shenhua in the first place by virtue of goal difference. Although this ranking is only temporary, it is still too eager for Guoan fans, so many fans shouted in unison after the game, "Guoan wants to be the champion." ”

Indeed, Guoan fans are too hungry for the championship.

This is also true within Guoan, where everyone knows that after the losses of Shenhua and Rongcheng, this good opportunity must not be missed. After the game, captain Wang Gang said frankly: "Today's victory and this ranking mean that our efforts in the past six months have not been in vain, but there is still a long way to go, and we need to work hard step by step to maintain our style of play." ”

In this game, the Guoan Club awarded the veteran Li Lei a commemorative jersey for 200 games on behalf of Guoan. After the game, Li Lei was quite excited when he thanked his teammates together, and in the face of the fans, he shed two lines of tears, "Thank you to every brother, everyone worked together today to help the team reach the top." No matter what happens in the future, we must cherish every moment now. I have been in Guoan for 10 years, and we know what it feels like to be a workers' body for Guoan. Whether or not I can stand like this in the future, I hope we must win this championship this year. ”

Although he won 1-0 as he wished, he temporarily occupied the top spot in the standings. But for the vast majority of Guoan fans, they are not very excited in their hearts, because it is too difficult to win, and they were even suppressed by their opponents in the second half, and they played so hard against opponents who were not at the championship level at their home stadium. No wonder many people ask the same question: can you win the championship if you fight like this? Of course, there are also people who give this response: if you can always win by playing like this, you will endure it.

No matter which voice it is, it can be seen that they are worried about the next 16 rounds of national security, and the national security generals have not avoided this. Wang Gang said after the game: "The opponent created a lot of difficulties for us in the game, although we controlled the game in the first half, but we didn't create many chances in the first half, we had more control in the middle and back. It was probably because of fitness, the West Coast pressing put us under a lot of pressure and lost control of the game, which is something we have to go back to and sum up. ”

Head coach Setien summed up the game very straightforwardly, "I was happy with the result, but the process was not satisfactory, especially in the second half. But I would say that we can't play well and win every game, it's how we face the difficulties that matter. ”

Setien rarely used "adversity" to describe Guoan's passivity on several occasions, "In the first half, we failed to extend the results when we were dominant, and we failed to control the situation in the second half. A lot of my players were tired, but luckily we were able to handle the details and not get caught up by the opponents. In the face of adversity, the team showed quality, especially in the second half when we were passive. In this game, we had more possession and created a lot of chances, which taught us how to face adversity and keep the goal in the net. ”

When asked about the impact of the nation's rise to the top of the table for the whole year, Setien said that the league is still a long way to go and everything is not yet known, "All we can do is play every game and stay in the first group. It's going to be game by game and we're going to keep going on the right path so that we can talk about pursuing it at the end of the season. ”

For West Coast head coach Shao Jiayi, Guoan and Gongti are good memories that he will never forget in his life. Although this time it was an opponent, Shao Jiayi returned to the capital again and stepped on the turf of the workers' stadium again, and still received cheers and applause that were not inferior to those of the year.

Before the game, when asked if he would shed tears when he returned to a familiar place, Shao Jiayi, who cried red eyes at the retirement ceremony, said with a smile this time: "It's a pleasure to come back, don't cry this time." Sometimes, I also ask myself, how can he be virtuous? I'm really grateful to them, no matter what the situation, they have always supported me and I hope that the national security team can achieve the dream that I have been dreaming of for many years. ”

Shao Jiayi's thanks to the fans was exchanged for more applause. When the starting list was broadcast live, the fans in the stadium erupted in thunderous cheers as the name of the visiting team's manager was pronounced. And after the game, when Shao Jia thanked the fans in Beijing, the shouts of the fans made each other seem to return to the past.

Of course, Shao Jiayi led the West Coast to cause trouble for Guoan, which is also the greatest respect for the former parent team. Setien admitted: "The coach is not only a great player, but also a great coach. I'm very thankful that there isn't a player in the squad who is as good as him back then, otherwise he would have scored every time he came out and would have caused problems for my team. ”