retired_blondie_524

Time for a quick run down of the 2007 Zhiejiang squad (Part One)



Cui Kai first choice keeper, turned 20 last month, just signed in the off season and previously capped at U19 level for China. Yet to play a senior game but has shown great potential in our six pre-season games so far.

Tian Ye 35 year old backup keeper. Signed for us in 2002 and has made 41 appearances including 14 last season conceding 20 goals, picking up four clean sheets and two M.o.M. awards.

Hua Erkang 20 year old starting right back and club captain. Signed in 2004 he has made 68 appearances, scoring five times.

Dai Xiaotao 19 year old backup right back. Came through the youth system, made his one and only senior appearance last season.

Jiao Fengbo 23 year old first choice left back. Signed in 2005 he has made 28 appearances over the last two seasons.

Anthony Baffoe 24 year old Ghanian centre back, capped three times for Ghana. Signed in the off season he will be a starting centre back and one of our two allowed foreigners.

Zhang Shuai 25 yr old centre back. Signed last season from Super League Beijing Guo'an for 1.5M RMB, he made 26 appearances with three assists.

Li Haotian 22 year old centre back signed in the off season from Guoli for 10,000 RMB. Everybody at the club is looking forward to Li breaking into the first team, he will get his chance sometime this season. He made eight starts for Guoli last season.

Cao Xuan 21 year old backup centre back, capped once at U21 level for China. Joined Zhejiang's youth set-up in 2000 and has made 39 appearances over the last three seasons, scoring twice.

Zheng Kewei 27 year old defensive midfielder. Signed in 2005 from Shenhua and has made 22 appearances scoring twice.

Hu Minghua 27 year old defensive midfielder. Signed in 2004 made 27 appearances then but yet to make a league appearance since, just one in the cup.

Tang Xiaofei 27 year old defensive midfielder. Signed in 2005 and has made just one appearance.

retired_blondie_524

Ma Liang 24 year old first choice left winger. Signed from Guoli last season for 50,000 RMB he has made 7 appearances with one assist . Impressive in pre-season with two assists and one M.o.M. award.

Zhang Shu 26 year old winger signed in 2004. Twenty-two appearances and two goals that year but just five appearances since.

Bai Long 20 year old midfielder who can also play up front. Signed in off season from Jiangsu for who he made 25 appearances in 2006 scoring five times. Has been a sensation at central midfield in pre-season, scoring three times in five appearances and two M.o.M. awards.

Shen Liuxi 27 year old attacking midfielder. Signed in 2004 he has made 75 appearances scoring 12 times, 10 of them in 2004. Playing on the right side of a three man midfield in pre season he has scored once and has two assists.

Wang Zhenxing 25 year old who is comfortable on the left or right wing as well as up front. Signed in the off season, we are his fourth club. He has 48 senior starts scoring five times.

Yang Zheng 21 year old right winger. Started in our youth system in 2000 he has 42 senior starts to his name with six goals and one assist.

Wang Jinxu 21 year old striker. Signed in the off season from Hailifeng for whom he made 6 appearances registering one assist. In pre season he has one goal and one assist from five appearances.

Bertin Tomou 28 year old Cameroonian striker. Signed in 2005 for his second spell as Zhejiang's foreign import he has 20 goals in 46 appearances since then and 64 in 141 appearances for six Chinese clubs.

Yang Siyuan 24 year old striker. Signed in 2005 from Hunan he was scored 7 times in 16 appearances. Has netted twice in two pre-season substitute appearances.

Qian Feng 25 yar old striker. Signed in 2003 he has 7 goals in 39 appearances plus one in five appearances on loan to Ningbo.

retired_blondie_524

28/02/07 away to Biayun liangqian (pre season friendly)

In our final pre season game we traveled to non league side Shanghi Biyun Liagquian. Starting with a mainly reserve side Zhejiang are down to 10 men inside the first minute when Li Haotian is red carded for professional foul when he brings down XXXX who is bursting clear. Yang Siyuan latches onto Longs through ball and bursts through the defence to open the scoring after nine minutes. Long himself scored the second when he headed in a corner from 12 yards out and added his second on 25 minutes when he picked up a long ball over the top of the defence and drilled the ball home. Siyuan added his second before Shanghi were also reduced to ten men just before the break.
Substitute striker Quian Feng drives home the only goal of the second half in injury time. Right back Dai Xiaotao got the M.o.M. award for setting up two goals and Yu Shunping who came on when we re-organised after Haotian's dismissal also played well.
Biyun Liangqian 0-5 Zhejiang
(Siyuan 9, 33, Long 21, 26, Feng 92)

Friday March 2nd 2007
The loss this month is down to 923,000 RMB better but still a lot.
We have been drawn at home to Super League side Changchun Yatal in the Chinese FA cup 1st round.

International have been made the 6/4 favourites to gain promotion this year with Sichuan & Jiangsu priced at 7/4, Hunan and Nanjing at 2-1 while we are at 3/1.


3/03/07 home vs Hailifeng (National 1st division)

Wang Jinxu scored his debut goal for Zhenjiang after 29 minutes when he connected with Long's header over the defence and tucked it away inside the near post. Siyuan had to replace Tomou at the same time after he picked up a knock.
Two minutes into the second half Jiao Fengbo scored his first ever goal for us when his 35 yard lob into the area evaded everyone and dropped into the net. A clean sheet for Kai's league debut and a comfortable performance all round.
Zhejiang 2-0 Hailifeng
Zhejiang scorers: Jinxu 29, Fengbo 47
Hailifeng scorers: none
Att: 4,386

Five of today's eight games ended in draws, Jiangsu, Changbo and us being the only winners.

Bertin Tomou has suffered a pulled hamstring and could miss up to a month.

retired_blondie_524

7/03/07 home vs Sichuan Guancheng (National 1st division)

We entertained on of the leading promotion candidates with only one change, Yang Siyuan in for the injured Tomou. Zhejiang were playing brilliant flowing football and it was no surprise when they took the lead just after the half hour. Supurb one touch football led to Liuxi carving open the visitors defence, finding Bai Long unmarked on the edge of the box and he crashed his first ever league goal into the top corner.
There was no further scoring before the break. Ma Liang was dismissed on 71 minutes for his second yellow but Cui Kai showed what a bargain he was, making some fantastic saves as Sichuan went 4-2-4 in a bid to equalise. We finally wrapped it up in stopage time when Shuai's ball over the defence was totally missed by their keeper and substitute striker Qian Feng was left with an 18 yard tap-in to an empty net.
Zhejiang 2-0 Sichuan
Zhejiang scorers: Long 34, Feng 92
Sichuan scorers: none
Att: 4,416

Jiangsu beat Hunan 4-1 to lead the division and favourites International lost 1-0 at Lijiang.

retired_blondie_524

10/03/07 away at Shanghai International (National 1st division)

In our first televised match we traveled to Shanghai to face a side relegated from Super League last season. They were the bookies favourites to go straight back up but they're lost their first two matches, the TV pundits predict a bore draw, we'll see. Zhenxing starts in place of the suspended Liang and the soon to be transferred Wenyi sits on the bench but otherwise we're unchanged. To be honest there wasn't much in the first half, the home side maybe just shaded it but Qian Feng had to replace Siyuan at halftime after he picked up a knock.
The game was still very even but we looked to have won it in the last 10 minutes. Erkang won the ball just inside the opposition half and pushed it forward to substitute Yang Zheng. His wicked cross found the other substitute, Cui Wenyi, to slide it home at the far post. International stole a point in the final minute though as the defence left Li Yan all alone to nod home a cross from six yards out.
International 1-1 Zhejiang
Inter scorers: Yan 89
Zhejiang scorers: Wenyi 80
Att: 7,239

It felt like a defeat but it was a good performance and it was a shame to concede our first league goal of the season in such a sloppy manner. Jiangsu drew 0-0 at Sichuan and are joint top of the table with us, both have 7 points and g.d. of +4 with Nanjing who beat Jiucheng 2-1, also on 7 points but with a g.d. of +2.

Sunday 10th March
I got a phone call from my old assistant manager, Egiziano Frediani and we talked about how my old club TNS are doing. They're top still, six points clear and both Michael Wilde and John Toner have 13 goals, Nicky Ward being the surprise with eight goals and eight assists. Martin Naylor has secured a big move to Shrewsbury and David Mathieson has gone back to Scotland to play for Aberdeen. Tottenham have won the Coca-Cola Championship, with seven games left, they are 22 points clear of Southampton as well as playing Barcelona in the UEFA Cup second round!

retired_blondie_524

14/10/03 away at Dalian Changbo (National 1st division)

Today we visit the current fourth placed team. Ma Liang returns to left wing after his suspension so Wang Zhenxing drops to the bench. A real homer of a referee, he must have given six or seven free kicks to Changbo in the first five minutes. Unfortunately we failed to deal with two left wing kicks pumped into the area and both were headed into the net. We settled down and pulled one back when Siyuan kept his nerve faced with the onrushing keeper and slipped it to Jinxu at the last moment, leaving him with a simple sidefoot into the empty net. Changbo scored almost straight away though when Li Xin intercepted a pass, dribbled through the whole defence and planted it into the net. I cannot believe how much of the play we've had yet we go into the break 3-1 down.
We just cannot make any inroads in the second half with wayward shooting, 9 out of 12 shots off target. 12 shots to 5, 6 corners to 1, 53% of the possession, we should have been easy winners.
Changbo 3-1 Zhejiang
Changbo scorers: Xuebai 2, Yao 5, Xin 38
Zhejiang scorers: Jinxu 37
Att: 1,000

Our first loss drops us to fourth. Jiangsu win 4-1 at Hailifeng, Changbo take second while Nanjing's 1-1 draw against Xi'an enable them to pass us.

retired_blondie_524

17/03/07 home vs Dongguan Nancheng (National 1st division)

We started slowly in this meeting with 7th placed Nancheng but slowly built the pressure. The game changed in the 27th minute when Kai was caught dwelling on a backpass from Fengbo and Nancheng nipped in to score. We lost our way a bit after that but still managed to go into halftime level as Long scored with a 20 yard scorcher in injury time.
Bai Long's second goal gave us the lead on 54 minutes when Fengbo's deep cross found him ghosting past his marker and he slotted it in at the keeper's near post. Despite our best efforts that's how it finished but I did send Li Haotian on for his debut with 20 minutes to go.
Zhejiang 2-1 Nancheng
Zheijang scorers: Long 45, 55
Nancheng scorers: Xiaocong 28
Att: 4364

Jiangsu maintained top spot with a 1-0 win over Changbo, Nanjing's 1-0 win at Yanbian moved them up to second while we took third. International's second win moved them into 7th, three points behind us.

retired_blondie_524

Wednesday 21st March 2007

Bai Long's two goals earned him a place in the National First Division team of the week.

24/03/07 home vs Changchun Yatai (Chinese FA Cup 1st round)

Today we face a difficult tie against the team currently second in the Super League. Long is suspended following two yellows last season so Liuxi moves to central midfield and Zheng starts at right wing. We started in fine form and were soon scything through the Super League visitors. Shen Liuxi opened the scoring on 37 minutes when he evaded his markers and planted Fengbo's searching cross into the net. Zhejiang were running riot now and they stung the palms of the Changchun keeper on several occasions. It was to be Liuxi that added the second when his free kick 10 yards from the corner, out on the touchline, curled wickedly and somehow found the net.
The visitors pulled one back with 25 minutes left when Cao Ming managed to squeeze between two defenders in the area and toe poke it past the outruhing Kai. I send the message out to play deeper but Changchun fail to pose another threat and indeed we almost add to the score when Baffoe's 88th minute free kick found Siyuan and the keeper was lucky to just fingertip his shot over.
Zhenjiang 2-1 Changchun
Zhenjiang scorers: Liuxi 37, 44
Changchun scorers: Ming 66
Att: 1,019

Jiangsu also beat Super League opposition 3-2 away at Wuchen but International got hammered 4-1 at Dalian. Biggest shock was First Division bottom club Hailifeng putting out Super League Shenyang on penalties.

Sunday 25th March 2007

Our reward for knocking out the second placed Super League side is to draw the third placed side, Chogqling Lifan, in the 2nd round with the first leg at home.

retired_blondie_524

28/03/07 away at Habin Guoli (National 1st division)

Fourth plays third as we travel to Guoli. Long returns after his cup suspension and although Tomou is now back in training it will probably be at least a week before he gets into the matchday squad. Both sides have early chances including a point-blank save from a Siyuan header but it was a dodgy backpass that led to the opening score. The Guoli keeper was left staring at both Jinxu and Siyuan charging towards him as he tried to scramble out for the ball, he paniced and Jinxu beat him to the ball, slipped it sideways leaving Siyuan to fire home from 18 yards into the empty net. Ma Liang will be cursing his luck when he failed to convert a good chance three minutes from the break.
Guoli came at us all guns blazing but we were handling it well until Jinxu's sliding tackle sent the ball back to our penalty area and caught Baffoe out of position. Sun Wei, who we sold to Guoli in January, nipped in and buried his first ever goal for them. Five minutes later a shot deflected off him and looped into the net for the winner.
Guoli 2-1 Zhenjiang
Guoli scorers: Wei 66, 70
Zhenjiang scorers: Siyuan 18
Att: 5,103

Jiangsu race ahead at the top, winning 1-0 at Nancheng while Nanjing move into second with a 2-0 victory over Lijiang

31/03/07 home vs Nanjing Yoyo (National 1st division)

Today we entertained second placed Nanjing with Shen Liuxi entering the club's record books by making his 83rd appearance beating the previous record of 82. Liuxi created to opening goal after 20 minutes when his dinked ball found Siyuan who ramed it home. We dominated the first half but once again fell to a sucker punch as Nanjing headed an equaliser a minute from half time.
Zhejiang were in control and pressured the visitors all the second half looking for a winner but had to wait until the 79th minute when one substitute, Zhenxing found another, Qian Feng and he slipped the ball across the keeper into the far corner of the net. Nanjing almost got it back again but their 83rd minute effort was ruled offside. Wang Zhenxing limped off in injury time with a sprained ankle and could miss quite some time.
Zhejiang 2-1 Nanjing
Zhejiang scorers: Siyuan 22, Feng 79
Nanjing scorers: Yucheng 45
Att: 4,462

In the TV game Jiangsu beat Guoli 3-1 and top the table with 19 points from the seven games and a g.d. of +11. Nanjing are still second with 14 points (+4) while we're up to third on 13 points (+3).

retired_aurie

At least you're heading in the right direction, even if you've had a slight setback in the odd game.
KUTGW :thup: