Zhu's problem is he has ZZ and Shao and cant afford to drop either. As evident by the last game both played apart in the two goals. Neither should be sacrificed as a DMF and neither can be used on the wings. Therefore you already have 5 in the mid. The Q becomes to play 451 or 352. With our double Suns' we cant afford to play 352 or else they will not be full utilized, hence hes playing 4-5-1. In a way it is the formation that is best suited for this squad. As evident by the 1st half of the Iran game if we fully utilize it, it can be dangerous. Had we carried the 2-0 into halftime the result mightve been very different. Dong likes to roam around, hes not like Han, he is not really a target man, thats why I feel he cannot fit into the current formation. Krautzun led the team to a perfect 3-0-0 and a good QF game against Germany, so making a statement or not they were fine without Dong. Same with Haan and Sun Jihai.
Now that Li Weifeng is out,where the hell are Zhang Yonghai and Xiao Zhanbo when we need them huh? They're both way better than Du, plus Xiao can play DMF too. Zhu not only does not know his tactics, he also has no clue which players to pick.
Result alone means jack, especially in minor tournaments. When it really matters Haan's misuse of Sun Jihai cost China crucial matches. Good thing Krautzun didn't stay otherwise judging by the way he treated Dong he'd cost China big down the road too. Zhu's problem is much more than having too many midfielders he can't afford to drop lol. Zhu's problem? Where can we begin? Tactics? LOL. Forget it.
We might be beating this over the head too much But had we finished 0-0-3 and let Dong played all 270 minutes it wouldnt be a good result. Perhaps you dont remember but that youth team played really hard, I think they overcame two deficits in two games to overtake the opponents and won. I believe most on this board were very proud of the effort and the result. If I can recall Haan only lost two competitive games - AC Final vs Japan and WCQ vs Kuwait. The whole Sun Jihai situation was overblown, I don't think his impact would've been that big. Bottom line is I dont see Dong as someone who can dramatically alter the results, of course I hope I'm wrong since any breakout performance is good for our team!
If you think using Sun Jihai as striker and sitting Hao Haidong was not a big deal and didn't play a big part in China not making the WC finals then you're in disagreement with most people who were just ecstatic to see Haan packing. Bottom line is if there's anyone in this China team that has the potential to elevate the team, it's Dong Fangzhuo.
I hardly think its fair to say that Dong was "discovered" by foreign scouts before CFA. He was an up-and-coming player at Dalian when United signed him, but at that point he was quite obviously too young for MNT, though I believe he had some appearances in u-20s, u-17, etc... I only think it was 1 match in AC04 that Sun came on as a sub and played as a forward, I believe it was the Bahrain game in which we drew, though I'm not sure off the top of my head. I don't believe Sun was used in that way at all during the WC Qualifying...I also think Haan's record proves that his "misuse"/benching of Sun didn't have any effect, as I've said for awhile, there is no Chinese player, other than possibly Datou (and only because a lack of talent at that position), who is so good that he MUST be in the lineup, we have so many interchangable parts right now that it really doesn't matter too much which ones are on the field. I still don't see where Dong would have been brought on the field. The subbing of Mao was a stupid move, but it would have been made even stupider if Zhu put Dong on the wing. Taking out Han was needed and maybe he should have put in Dong as a 2nd striker, but at that point his hand was kind of forced and needed the defensive lineup, the choice of Du paid off in that it guaranteed the draw which, at that point, was all he was playing for.
Dong up front letting Shao stay back would have been a lot better than subbing in Zhu Tin who did nothing or keeping the invisible Wang Dong. Whatever up and coming means but he was not in any National teams (youth or full, in fact he was only in the reserve team of Dalian Shide) or known to many when ManUtd signed him. In all fairness, Hao Haidong did say Dong was the the one that reminded him about himself younger the most at the time. Similar case now with Yu Dabao, discovered and signed by a Europe team when he was a virtual unknown in China.
When Zhu Ting was brought on, Wang Dong had already been off the pitch for a long time... The CFA's sins are many, varied, and well known to all, we don't need to start making more up. Dong was in the Chinese youth nt before he made the move to Man U. Of course he was in the reserve side at Shide, they're a team that is competing for the title every year, they weren't going to put out an unproven 18 year old as a starter in every game. United signed Dong not because they saw unbelievable promise and had to have him because he was their next great star, instead they took a chance on a kid who showed some potential and was from the world's most populous country, thus getting them great headlines, and perhaps a little popularity boost, in China. If Dong panned out and could play for United, great, they'd sell a billion jerseys, if not, well, it was good media while it lasted. For his development, and China's sake, I personally think it would have been better if United bought him and loaned him back to Dalian, but that's neither here nor there. He's still nowhere near ready to start in a United jersey and if he isn't loaned to a lower division side, he'll spend the year(s) on the United reserves team... I just don't see the argument. Young players rarely get that much attention on a national scale, not only in China, but anywhere in the world. The fans of their clubs know about them and maybe if they truly stand out in a youth nt tournament they'll get some pub, but other than that, its too hard to track. To claim that these players were "discovered" by European teams while being virtually unknown in China is simply unfair. Chinese teams knew of their talents but couldn't match the Euro money or were willing to let a kid who'd probably be in Europe eventually go while the price is still specutively high. From the way you're phrasing it, it sounds like China doesn't know what it has and relies on Euro scouts to find its talent, that's just not the case. With so many good reasons to attack the CFA, we don't need to start doing it for bad reasons...