Data map: Before the first game of the 2013 Chinese Football Association Cup final, Zheng Zhi, the then captain of the Evergrande team, answered questions from reporters at a press conference.
Photo by Li Ke issued by China News Agency
China News Service, Beijing, August 22 (Reporter Wang Hao) On the evening of the 21st, with the referee's whistle, Zheng Zhi's first Chinese Super League game after returning as the head coach, Guangzhou team defeated Shenzhen team 4:1.
After ushering in a long-lost victory, the Guangzhou team ranked 16th in the Chinese Super League this season, still in the relegation zone.
In stoppage time in the first half, after Wei Shihao scored with a world wave, he ran to the sidelines and hugged his former captain and current coach Zheng Zhi.
In this game, he scored two world waves, which is the key to the victory of the Guangzhou team.
Zheng Zhi smiled and applauded Wei Shihao. Now his task is no longer to challenge the championship on the court as before, but to lead the team to avoid relegation on the sidelines.
Since Evergrande took over in 2010, this team has experienced countless glorious moments, and now it is worrying about relegation. The ups and downs are embarrassing.
Those fans who accompanied the Guangzhou team through the storm, cheered for the team's peak, sighed for the turmoil of the team, but it was always difficult to say goodbye.
AFC Champions League
On November 9, 2013, Guangzhou had not yet entered winter, and the temperature was just right.
On the east campus of Sun Yat-Sen University, located in the university town, students can occasionally hear words such as "AFC Champions League" and "Evergrande" floating over while walking at night.
This night, the second leg of the AFC Champions League final was played at Tianhe Stadium, 16 kilometers away, and Guangzhou Evergrande faced Seoul FC.
In 2013, the Evergrande football team won the AFC Champions League for the first time.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
This is the first time for Sun Yat-sen University student Ge Ran to watch Evergrande's game live. So far, he has never forgotten the purity, passion and hot atmosphere that filled the stadium.
"That game was a draw, but I still won the AFC Champions League. Although I didn't know many players at the time, it was very interesting to watch the game on the spot."
The enthusiasm of the fans for the AFC Champions League made it difficult to get a ticket for this game. The original price of 400 yuan was sold by scalpers to more than 3,000 yuan.
The peak era of Guangzhou football began here.
On the night of the finals, Guangzhou Tower, a city landmark in Guangzhou, printed the words "Come on Evergrande".
Countless Guangzhou people watched the live broadcast, including Ge Ran's friend Jiang Zhi.
At the moment when the final whistle sounded, there was a burst of cheers in the boys' dormitory of Sun Yat-sen University, and his voice was mixed.
Jiang Zhi, who grew up in Guangzhou, has been paying attention to this team since the Guangyao period.
"Actually, it's a bit blind. It's not because I like the playing style of this team. It's because there is a team that can represent my hometown, and I will support it unconditionally."
In 2013, the Evergrande football team won the AFC Champions League for the first time.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
When the Evergrande football team won the AFC Champions League for the first time, Ge Ran had just entered his senior year. After graduation, he joined the Evergrande Group to work.
In those years, Evergrande Group was in the limelight, and its jobs were very popular among college graduates in Guangzhou.
"After joining Evergrande, I began to regard this team as the home team. After all, it is the team named after my own company, and the team really dares to fight and work hard."
Ge Ran recalled the 2015 AFC Champions League final, and there was an unforgettable episode.
"I was working overtime in the company at that time, and I glanced at the live broadcast from time to time. I was especially envious that the leaders could go to the scene to watch the game. But then they all suddenly came back to the meeting. The team scored a goal as soon as they arrived at the office. After a lot of tossing, they didn't watch anything. arrive."
In 2015, the Evergrande football team won the AFC Champions League again.
Image source: Visual China
live streaming
From 2010 to 2020, the most successful club in Chinese football is undoubtedly Guangzhou Evergrande, with two AFC champions and eight Chinese Super League champions.
After graduating in 2014, Ge Ran and Jiang Zhi could no longer stay together in the dormitory to watch live games. Compared with their student days, life gave them more challenges and they had to spend more energy to cope.
Jiang Zhi said that after graduating, he seldom watched games because he was preparing to study abroad in addition to his busy work.
Their lives have entered a new stage.
In 2016, Jiang Zhi began to study abroad, and since then, Ge Ran also left the Evergrande Group and went to study in Hong Kong.
Re-opening the student days, they watched the live broadcast of Evergrande's game even more tortuously.
Jiang Zhi said with a smile: "I'm looking for that kind of weird live broadcast website. The host's commentary on the game is a mess, but it's not easy to see it. This is my spiritual sustenance overseas."
In the 2018 season, Shanghai SIPG was crowned the Chinese Super League champion one round ahead of schedule.
The picture shows Shanghai SIPG players toasting to celebrate.
Image source: Visual China
"My spare time in Hong Kong is also relatively monotonous. It is a very happy thing to watch the live broadcast of the home team's game with friends. Those messy broadcast sources may be snuffed out after five or ten minutes of watching, and they have to be Find something else." Ge Ran said.
They watched the most games in the 2018 season, when the competition between the top teams was fierce, and at the end of the season they hardly lost every game.
Although they can't meet, they also share their laughter and scolding through social software.
In the end, Shanghai SIPG won the 2018 Chinese Super League championship.
The following year, Guangzhou Evergrande made a comeback and won its eighth Chinese Super League trophy.
I don’t know how many people thought that this eighth crown was actually the afterglow of the sunset.
In 2020, Evergrande Club announced the construction of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium. The grand scene of the blueprint excited everyone who paid attention to Guangzhou football, but in the end the idea stopped on the desolate land.
Jiang Zhi said: "I want to watch a game with Ge Ran at Evergrande's home court. Unfortunately, at present, this idea may not be realized."
Screenshot of the chat between Ge Ran and Jiang Zhi.
teenager
At the beginning of 2021, due to the requirement of the Football Association to neutralize the name of the club, the word "Evergrande" disappeared, "Guangzhou Team" became the new name of the team, and big-name foreign aid and well-known foreign teachers also became history.
In March of this year, this once "trenched" club began to look for anchors to live broadcast and sell the team's peripherals.
The two teenagers participating in the live broadcast seemed a little cautious.
In Jiang Zhi's view, Zheng Zhi, who was officially announced as the head coach of the team's first team a few days ago, is also a "teenager".
"From the beginning to his retirement, he feels like a teenager. When there is no one else in the same position, he is the one who supports him. Whether in the Guangzhou team or the national team, he has the role of stabilizing the sea. Some players play in domestic leagues, and the situation is not good. It will be so bad, it won't work when we reach the international competition, we can only rely on this young player."
Data map: Zheng Zhi is in the national team game.
Image source: Visual China
Now, whether it is him or Ge Ran, they basically don't watch Chinese Super League games.
"What I'm most dissatisfied with is the youth training. Whether it's the current slump of the team or the past ten years, most of the great players did not come out through the Evergrande youth training system." Speaking of the youth training, Jiang Zhi's tone Some indignation.
"At that time, it was quite high-profile, and we cooperated with Real Madrid and set up a base in Qingyuan. Are there more gimmicks? In the end, I didn't see any players who could be used by the Evergrande youth training system."
The disappointment at the current situation of the Guangzhou team can be clearly felt from their words.
However, they do not believe that Evergrande needs to take the blame for the "Golden Yuan Era" of Chinese football.
In Ge Ran's view, commercialization is the only way for a high-level league, and the trough of Chinese football is not only caused by Jinyuan football.
Data map: Zheng Zhi, captain of the national football team, is on the field.
Image credit: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
"We are also getting older, and there may be very few opportunities to watch football in the future. Now even if I watch the Premier League or other countries' favorite players, they are not my hometown team, and there will always be a lack in my heart." 8,000 kilometers away, separated by an 8-hour time difference, Jiang Zhi said.
(At the request of the interviewee, the text is a pseudonym) (End)