Fox in the Penalty Area

It seems that just after the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, it seems very far away to talk about the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

But in fact, seventeen days later, Shining Star will usher in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

In just half a month, the preparation time is not too long for a game challenging the sixth place in the Chinese Super League. Moreover, there will be three league matches in the Chinese Premier League.

The entire Flash Star team has switched the preparation mode to the FA Cup from top to bottom, with Poseidon as the target for all preparations.

As for the Chinese League One, Flash Star just took the time to play...

A week after the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, on Sunday, August 20th, Flash Star will challenge Kunyang City away.

The Flash Stars did not carry out a large-scale rotation in this game, because there is a week between the two games, and there is enough time for the players to recover.

Zhao Kangming only made normal personnel adjustments in individual positions.

Flash Star beat the opponent 3:0 away.

Hou Lai came off the bench in this game and did not score. This is also the first time he has played off the bench in the league this season.

Now he is the well-deserved main core of the flashing star. Last season, his position was unstable, but this season his position in the flashing star is unshakable.

This time he was replaced by Zhao Kangming. Considering that Kunyang City is not strong, there is no need for Hu Lai to waste his energy on such an opponent.

After all, until September 9th, there will be double matches a week. There is also a FA Cup semi-final.

Of course Zhao Kangming hoped that Hu Lai would keep all his strength and use it wisely.

Anyway, playing against a team like Kunyang City, without Hu Lai, Flash Star also won 3:0.

Three days later, on Wednesday, August 23rd, in the twentieth round of the league, Flash Stars played against Meiling Rangers at home.

When this opponent played against each other in the first half of the season, Flash Star drew 1:1 away from the opponent. At that time, both Hu Lai and Wang Guangwei did not participate because of the East Asian Cup.

Now at home, Shining Star has sent a full lineup, and Hu Lai has also returned to the starting lineup.

Although Meiling Ranger is currently ranked fifth, in front of Shanxing, who is playing with all the main players, he still cannot resist Shanxing's aggressive offensive.

In the end they lost with a score of 0:2.

Chen Xingyi was in very good form in this game, scoring all the team's two goals.

His individual league goals reached eight, plus five assists. Chen Xingyi, who was loaned to Xingxing, was completely reborn.

Flash Star fans are already discussing on the Internet that the club should try their best to keep Chen Xingyi next season. After all, the team will need Chen Xingyi's strength to play in the Super League next season.

Now the club and the Golden Arrow are negotiating a one-year lease. After one year expires, Chen Xingyi has to return to the Golden Arrow. At that time, whether it is to continue the loan or transfer to a buyout, it will need to be renegotiated.

It's different from Zhang Qinghuan's situation. At that time, the capital Tenglong was eager to sell, so it agreed to Flash Star to buy out Zhang Qinghuan at a price of 5 million yuan after renting Zhang Qinghuan for a season.

As for Chen Xingyi, it was obvious that the golden arrow was placed on the flashing star to exercise.

This is also the reason why Shining Star fans are conflicted - the better Chen Xingyi performs, the more they hope that Shining Star can sign Chen Xingyi, but the Golden Arrow is also less likely to let Chen Xingyi go easily. If Chen Xingyi's performance in Shining Star is not good, making Jin Arrow feel that this person has no future in training and rushing to transfer, then the fans of Shining Star will naturally not want to pick up trash...

Therefore, on the one hand, they hoped that Chen Xingyi would perform well, and on the other hand, they hoped that the collective brains of the Golden Arrowhead management would be overwhelmed. This is really too demanding.

Chen Xingyi's outstanding performance helped Flash Star beat Meiling Ranger 2:0 at home.

Flash Star currently has one less game due to playing in the FA Cup. But even so, they are still ranked first.

In terms of points, they are tied with the South China Sea team, which has played one more game than them, but due to the advantage of goal difference, they still rank first.

The third place became Ning Tianyong'an, who had three wins and one tie in the last four league rounds,

They currently have 40 points, 6 points less than Shanxing and Nanhai.

The former Chuannan Chongshan had already dropped to fourth, but he was only one point behind Ning Tianyong'an.

These teams all played one more game than the Flash Stars.

※※※

The following Sunday, August 27, in the 21st round of the league, Flash Star traveled to Heihe Province to challenge Heihe Jixing.

This time, Zhao Kangming made a major adjustment to the team's lineup, replacing almost all the main players, including Hu Lai, Chen Xingyi, Zhang Qinghuan, Qin Lin, Wang Guangwei and many other main players. They didn't even go away with the team.

Flash Star, who used all the substitutes and even brought a few reserve team players to the bench, overturned in the away game.

They lost to the Heihe Polaris with a score of 1:2 and suffered their second defeat of the season.

Whether it was Zhao Kangming's formation or the team's attitude towards the game after the game, it caused a lot of controversy.

Although everyone knows that Zhao Kangming did this to prepare for the FA Cup semi-finals in the next week.

But the question is, with the strength of Shining Star, is there a chance to eliminate the No. 6 Poseidon team in the FA Cup semi-finals?

Even if everyone knew about the grievances between Zhao Kangming and the Sea God Club, they still couldn't understand what Zhao Kangming did.

Could it be that Zhao Kangming was really dazzled by anger, and didn't know what was most important to Shan Xing right now?

Of course it is an upgrade, upgrade!

You put all the main players in Jincheng, and you brought a bunch of substitutes and reserve players to play Heihe Polaris away. Do you really think that you can beat Polaris with just these people?

The results have also been seen, and the players of Heihe Polaris obviously feel that they are looked down upon.

So irritated, they played very well in this game, and finally pulled the leader from the first position in the league 2:1-because of the failure of Flash Star in this game, the South China Sea team played an extra game Returned to the first place in the league with a three-point lead.

At the same time, Ning Tianyong'an, who was ranked third, had 43 points, only three points away from Shining Star.

Because there are only two places for promotion, the difference between the third place and Shining Star is what everyone cares about the most. Now Ning Tianyong'an and Flash Star are only three points apart. With so many rounds left in the league, it's hard to say, anything can happen...

In the opinion of many people, Zhao Kangming should give up the FA Cup decisively and send out the main lineup in this away game against the Heibei Stars to ensure victory. Even leading by six points is not a very safe advantage.

So some reporters questioned Zhao Kangming's choice at the post-match press conference.

"Flash Star will not give up the league. There are still 13 rounds in the league, and we have one less game. I don't think the team's situation is already bad. Of course, I did it for the FA Cup semi-final in the middle of the week. But unlike what many people think, I have no conflicts with the Poseidon Club. I have played and coached there for so many years, and I have known many people. My family still lives in Lingnan...I am also very grateful to the Poseidon Club for giving me the opportunity to become a coach...I am only grateful to the club, and there is absolutely no contradiction."

That's what he said, but none of the reporters present believed his "nonsense".

He said that he has met many people and made many friends in the Poseidon Club for so many years, which is correct.

But it would be nonsense to say that there is only gratitude to the club and no contradictions.

But as a public figure, what else can you say?

He couldn't tell the truth, saying that he was very dissatisfied with the club's decision back then, and it was even more impossible to scold the senior management of the Poseidon Club in front of so many reporters at the press conference, right?

We are all grown-ups, and we still have some basic manners and tact, no matter how much we scold in private, we won't put these words on the table.

As for whether Zhao Kangming is really dissatisfied with the Sea God Club, can't everyone see it from his choice?

If he really let go, why hold back all his energy to play in the FA Cup semi-finals?

Zhao Kangming may have guessed what everyone was thinking. He continued: "...But the team finally reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup. For the semi-final match and the respect of the opponent, the Poseidon team, we Flashstar must also go all out in this match." He paused for a while before saying, "And I have already told my players Now, I don’t care much about the results in the FA Cup match in the middle of the week, as long as I do my best, I will have no regrets.”

"Is it okay to lose to Sea God?" A media reporter from Nanling Province asked.

"As long as we do our best, it's acceptable even if we lose the game." Zhao Kangming replied after a few seconds of pondering.

"So the focus is on the process, not the result?" asked a reporter raising his hand.

"Yes. As a Chinese team, it is already a remarkable achievement for us to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup." Zhao Kangming said.

"That being the case, why not deploy the main players normally in this league, and then use the rotation players in the FA Cup? As a result, we lost in the league..."

"As I said before, it is to show respect to the FA Cup. I don't think everyone wants to see the semi-finals of the FA Cup, but Flash Star uses a rotation lineup to face the Chinese Super League team?" Zhao Kangming patiently explained .

The reporters below looked at each other in blank dismay, but they had their own understanding of Zhao Kangming's attitude.

Obviously Zhao Kangming was not telling the truth.

From the selection of the lineup, we can see his true thoughts. He would rather lose three points in the league, but he will keep the main lineup until the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

He can lie, but his selection of people betrays his true thoughts, which cannot be faked after all.

If he really doesn't care about the grievances with Sea God, how can he let all the substitutes and reserve players come to play the Black Hebei Stars away?

He can completely let only half of the main players rest at home, so as to ensure the result of the game against Heihe North Star, and not lose too badly in the FA Cup in midweek-and after losing the game, he also has a The perfect excuse is that half of the team's main force went to Heihe three days ago, and they were exhausted and in poor physical fitness.

But he didn't do that, which meant that he was extremely concerned about the match against Seagod, hoping to field the strongest lineup when facing Seagod.

He wanted to win, and even though the chances were very slim, he wanted to win.

It's just that he couldn't say that directly, so he didn't tell the truth to the reporter because it was the only answer he could give.

Or else?

Do you still want to say "I'm not happy with what the Poseidon Club did to me back then, now that the three-year period has come, I want the Poseidon Club to pay the price"?

Even if Flash Star eliminated the same Chinese Super League team Haihe Shuanggang in the quarter-finals, can Haihe Shuanggang, currently ranked 11th in the Chinese Super League, be compared with Lingnan Haishen, who is currently ranked sixth?

Obviously, Zhao Kangming himself knew that with the strength of his team, he couldn't beat Sea God.

So even though he had a million dissatisfaction with his old club in his heart, he couldn't show it.

Otherwise, he would spit out his mouth full of fun, and then he would be taught to be a man by the sea god in the game. Wouldn't it be that he loses the game and loses the team, loses the ball and loses face?

Just like this, because the team is not as good as others, no matter how much dissatisfaction and grievances Zhao Kangming has, he can only hold it in his heart. At the same time, he has to force a smile, saying that he has a very good relationship with the club, and he doesn't care about the fact that the club kicked him out. Breaking things.

He can only express his resentment towards the Poseidon club by leaving all the main players in Jincheng to prepare for the game and the Poseidon FA Cup semi-finals.

It's just that such an approach seems sad and helpless to many people, and it is even meaningless in the end, and it may affect the prospect of Shining Star.

※※※

Through media reports after the game, Zhao Kangming's words were spread.

Just like what the reporters thought, most of the fans felt that Zhao Kangming had no choice but to say that after seeing Zhao Kangming's answer, and they didn't believe that he really let go of his relationship with Sea God as he said. The grievances of the club.

But they also didn't believe that Zhao Kangming's calculations for the Sea God Club would be of any use. After all, the strength gap between the two teams was too great.

This actually makes Flash Star fans helpless.

The head coach of their team has been treated unfairly at the Sea God Club. Of course, they are well aware of the grievances Zhao Kangming has suffered, and hope that Zhao Kangming can seek justice from the Sea God Club.

It's just that the strength of the two teams is so different, even if they go all out, how can they beat their opponents?

Not to mention that the players may not be willing to do their best in this game that is doomed to fail-even though Zhao Kangming said so, does he say that the players will do that?

In fact, after a Chinese Super League team was eliminated in the quarter-finals, many Flash Star fans felt that the team had completed its task in the FA Cup.

The next semi-finals were completely tasteless.

If you can't fight again and again, you have to waste your energy and risk getting injured...

Everyone still pays more attention to the results in the league. This season's promotion is the only goal, and everything else is just an addition - anyway, it is impossible for the team to win the FA Cup. If you win the championship, you can still participate in the AFC Champions League next season. If you don't win the championship, it is meaningless, almost equal to zero.

Fans of Shining Star supported Zhao Kangming's revenge on the Sea God Club emotionally, but rational analysis felt that doing so was really...not worthwhile.

Some Flash Star fans are even worried that this semi-final, which represents the best performance in the FA Cup in the history of the Flash Star team, will become a turning point on the way to the FA Cup.

When the time comes, does this count as picking sesame seeds and losing watermelon?