not sure about Cai Huikang...I'd rather have Hao Junmin or Jiang Zhipeng there. Also Mei Fang at CB = trouble
According to Sina it's 4-3-3 with Mei Fang at LB and Ren Hang as CB, three man midfield with Zheng Zhi, Cai Huikang and Wu Xi and a front three with Ji Xiang, Wu Lei and Sun Ke. This team looks set for counterattacks, expect Australia to dominate possession
HT 0-0 Started off brightly but started to lose offensive threat by 15 minutes. We are being dominated in possession but our defense has been great. However we are looking quite susceptible towards set pieces.
Can I just point out that formation looks more like a 4-1-4-1 in this first half Lineup: Wang Dalei Zhang Chengdong- Mei Fang - Zhang Linpeng - Ren Hang Cai Huikang Sun Ke -Zheng Zhi - Wu Xi - Ji Xiang Wu Lei
Ji Xiang has wasted a couple of opportunities on the left flank due to having no left foot. I don't understand the inclusion of him at all, especially when looking at the wingers at our disposal. I understand that he's there as a more defensive approach as he's quite tall and physical but he hasn't done that much on the defensive end either.
Good old fashioned Aussie play, Cahill knocks-out Zheng only for Zheng to play him on-side for the rebound. Anybody who thought that just because the ref was S Korean might mean he would be kind to the Chinese was obviously mistaken
Perrin shot himself in the foot on this one. Not resting players in a meaningless game against North Korea, getting injuries to Zheng Zhi and Zhang Linpeng, easily our two best players, and quite possibly leaving the others fatigued. Perrin himself complained about the lack of fitness from our players yet he still did not rest them, and now in the biggest game of the tournament he decides to rotate players.....
Perrin gave too much credit to Australia, he played too much of a defensive line-up and took too much of a defensive approach to this game. Ji Xiang, Mei Fang and Cai Huikang should not be anywhere near the starting line-up. Once we conceded I thought Perrin would switch things up but no, he kept the defensive approach and from that point it was impossible to turn it around. Why wait until 83rd min to bring in Yang Xu? Why wait until 72nd min to bring in Yu Hai? Had Perrin had balls to come out and play with a strong attacking line-up we could've gotten something from the game but the way Perrin handled this was like he gave up even before the game had started.
China was not in the mindset of attacking at all until very late. Seemed complacent and disorganized. Wang Dalei was no doubt the player of the match for China. Zhang Chengdong was great. Zhang Lipeng was solid. Zheng Zhi was OK. The rest of the players all had subpar performance. Wu Xi was terrible. Ji Xiang was pitiful. Looking ahead, it's hard to expect a lot from this team. But it is still a better team than what we had just a couple of years ago. Zhang Chengdong and Zhang Linpeng anchor a reasonably solid backline, a major upgrade from the Leak Weifeng backline we had. In the front, we now have Wu Lei to play alongside Gao Lin (I don't know why Gao Lin didn't play today). And Wang Dalei is maturing into the best keeper China has had in quite a while. Coach is still the same old, uninspiring, sometime baffling breed of mediocrity, but at least this coach can communicate with the players thanks to a good translator. I still remember how annoying Camacho's translator was.
I think our backline is looking solid if anything but our attack needs to be sorted out. At the moment i don't think any offensive players has really made a good case for themselves to be starting. What really worries me is we have no replacement for Zheng Zhi right now. From what I can tell from Perrin is that he gets alot out of the players, but his selections are questionable to say the least. Tactically he seems decent and he's really got the players to play the way he wants them to, but sometimes he's asking too much from the players, especially when he keeps playing them out of position. Anyway a quarterfinal exit was what i had predicted coming into the tournament so I shouldn't be too dissapointed, but the way we exited just made me a bit frustrated.
The battle was lost in the midfield. China players physically were no match vs. Australia who muscled them off easily whenever the ball went to the middle of the field - so they can't play their counterattacking game effectively. This plus defensive tactics means we bound to concede sooner or later. As for the Aussies, Cahill made the difference - if not for him the game might be a draw or only 1 goal win for them. The rest of the players could handle the ball well but didn't take their chances at goal. Overall, I think it is a good sign for China this Asia Cup. We're still some distance away from World Cup standard, but we at least show some promise as seen in group stage - we have some idea how to play a game without panicking or playing rough. For the WC qualifiers, all we have to do is beat the Uzbekistan and Arab teams (at the same level as us) then we can seriously talk about taking on the top 4 (Japan, S. Korea, Australia, Iran) and trying to book a ticket to Russia.
Were we watching the same game..? The ref was lenient towards us if anything for most of the first half. The goal itself was no foul either from better angles. It was Zhang Linpeng who knocked over ZZ. The game was a foregone conclusion by then... we hadn't attacked since the 20th minute, and only started after their 2nd goal. The idea was good in the first 20 min. High pressuring and fast paced play. Think they either tired out for the rest of the game, or there was a change in tactics. Perrin's fault was playing too defensive of a line up while employing a high pressing technical game (this may not be helped by the fact that our technical players like Hao and ZZ are likely fatigued). Had we had the quality on field to score within those first 20 minutes, who knows how this would have ended up. Most of the time though it was just Wu Lei by himself and the few chances we had were scuffed either in the box or with terrible crosses. My god, our crossing this tournament has been atrocious. Honestly though this has been a good tournament. Didn't expect to get out of group stages and ended up 3-0 and in the Ro8 bowing out to the strong hosts. At least gives me some optimism with this group going into WCQ.
You guys put up a spirited fight in the first half. It was just after that first goal where I guess the squad's tournament inexperience showed and overall team organization and spirit crumbled. Both goals had to be well taken by Cahill as well, your GK wasn't going to be beat otherwise the way he has been playing. IMO you guys had a good tournament here and I look forward to facing your team in the upcoming EAFF (which hopefully will be similar to this squad).
My exact feeling as well. Maybe Perrin has his reasons. But I thought players like Yu Hanchao and Gao Lin should get some chances. I especially think Yang Xu was a good fit for this game. Wu Lei can't score all by himself at this level. Socceroos played a good second half especially after the first goal. We still need to find the solution to a team like Australia.
I thought Wu Lei had his first good game of the tournament. He looked lively and energetic, willing to go after balls and push forward.
Promising signs for China at this year's Asian Cup. Next competitive matches up are the East Asian Championship and World Cup qualifiers.
sad that we got knocked out like this, but still a good tournament, probs to perrin, who surprised us all, i think, hope foreign clubs got attention for our young players, at the ac
Totally agree that Perrin was too defensive in his selections and in the first 20 mins you could see that the Aussies don't have the best first touch which China should have exploited more, however I stand by my comments; It was a reply to gold4278 comments about China receiving their first non-west Asian ref and how historically China has often found themselves at the wrong end of many a West Asian call. The ref was consistently inconsistent at best towards both teams. He decided to allow a very physical game (I'm not saying that its wrong but it is true) this suited Australia and Jedinak who was booked early within the 1st half conceded a foul after his booking, I'm not saying he should have been given a second yellow but it meant he knew he was able to continue to rough up the Chinese midfield with immunity unless he did a horror tackle. As for Cahills 1st goal I never actually said there was anything wrong with it, though lets be blunt if that was a South American ref he would of favoured ZZ and given a foul. The ref set the tone of a physical game and the Aussies took full advantage of it, I just merely pointed it out.
Maybe Perrin should give a Zhang Xizhe a call. Perrin got this Chinese team this far but was also partially responsible for their downfall as some of his choices today in terms of personnel were suspect
Isn't it clear Perrin's priority is to decide the defensive system this time? I thought Zhang Huikang + Wu Xi will be the holding pair for years to come. Now plug in different offensive front line plus the two fullbacks depending on the opponent we at least have some sort of a base system.
My general impression for the tournament was that China was much better organized defensively than in the past and that the players did a much better job at staying in position. That said, the attack needs a lot of work. Two big problems that I could see....the first is playing too slow...always making the obvious pass and taking to long to move the ball from the midfield into the attacking zone. The second is more tactical...too much focus on maintaining possession, not enough on creating good chances. Even in the group stage, China spent too much time passing the ball around the midfield while accomplishing nothing.
Bad luck fellas you guys had a good tourney personally was very impressed with wu lei Your fans were good as usual