Special correspondent Liu Zhun reports Changchun Yatai was killed at the last minute, losing 1-2 to last season's runner-up Shanghai Shenhua. "It was very difficult at home at Shanghai Shenhua, we didn't give the opponent too many chances, it was the result of the hard work of every player. Today, every one of our players was in very good shape. At the last minute, luck wasn't on our side. Losing his season debut, Xie Hui appeared like a winner in the post-match press conference, and he was positive about his disciples' performance in this match.

Controversial decisions shape the game

Xie Hui walked into the Shanghai Stadium with respect for his old club. This stadium is not only the current home of Shanghai Shenhua, but also the former home of Shanghai Port, where he has left an indelible footprint. Xie Hui believes that playing well is a sign of respect for his old club, but this is just a game, and he hopes that his hometown in Shanghai will pay more attention to the game than to himself.

Because of Xie Hui, Changchun Yatai in the new season has injected more Shanghai elements, in addition to the retained Li Shenyuan, the newly introduced Sun Qinhan, Xu Yue, and Zhou Junchen have all played for Shanghai Shenhua. In addition, Su Zu landed in the Chinese Super League in the 2015 season and was the first to settle in Shanghai Shenhua.

In the first half, Xie Hui discharged a lineup of three foreign aids, and Shenhua's five foreign aid lineups were rounded. In the 29th minute, Shanghai Shenhua Mineiro took the lead. In the 42nd minute, Changchun Yatai veteran Tan Long rushed to shoot back in color.

For a coach who insists on 442 play, Xie Hui changed to 433 in the second half of this campaign to reduce the defensive pressure on midfielders. In the 61st minute, Xie Hui sent Beric and Cyprian to officially start a duel with 5 foreign aids. After Beric came on the field, he formed a triple arrow with Tan Long and Omoi Juanfu to impact Shenhua's backline. In the 80th minute, Beric received Tan Long's cross and pushed the goal, but was ruled invalid for offside when receiving the ball.

Although he didn't kill the game directly, the game was coming to an end, and Xie Hui even informed the assistant coach to let Jing Boxi and Xuan Zhijian, two 17-year-olds, warm up and get ready to play. However, the situation on the field became tense with Shenhua's crazy counterattack, and Xie Hui had no choice but to postpone the debut of the two youngsters in the Chinese Super League.

In the 90th minute, the fourth official raised his card and added 6 minutes of stoppage time. Xie Hui was very emotional about stoppage time, and the protest complaints also attracted a yellow card from referee Li Haixin. However, the biggest controversy occurred in the third minute of stoppage time, when Shanghai Shenhua Jiang Shenglong trampled on Yatai goalkeeper Wu Yake without having a chance to get the ball, and Li Haixin only showed a yellow card to Jiang Shenglong when the VAR referee intervened and watched the video. After the resumption of the game, Shenhua scored the winner in the 7th minute of stoppage time, which of course caused Yatai's displeasure.

The outside world thinks that if Jiang Shenglong receives a red card, Shanghai Shenhua's lore may no longer exist. Xie Hui also noticed this, and in the post-match press release, he responded: "Luck wasn't on our side at the last moment, and I didn't see the scene where VAR intervened, I don't know if it should be a yellow card or a red card." If it's a red card, the result may not be the same. ”

Seven of the nine new signings were unveiled

In the first two rounds of the new season, Changchun Yatai challenged Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai Port away in a row, "Unexpectedly, we pulled the difficulty coefficient to the peak at the beginning of the season, and in the first two rounds we met the champion and runner-up teams last season." However, it's not a bad thing, we have hope, we don't have any worries, we just want to play at our level. Xie Hui said, "The season is still very long, today's game is a very good start, I hope the players don't give up." ”

After being killed in the last minute of the first round, captain Tan Long thought that he should forget about this game as soon as possible and welcome a new opponent. At 19:35 on February 28, Changchun Yatai will be a guest at SAIC Pudong Stadium to challenge the defending champion Shanghai SIPG. Affected by the climate, Changchun Yatai could not return to Changchun to prepare for the war, so he could only continue to garrison Shanghai, which also saved the trouble of traveling back and forth and adapting to the weather.

From January 3 to February 22, Changchun Yatai completed two stages of winter training in Haikou and Shanghai (27 days in Haikou and 23 days in Shanghai), completed the introduction of 9 recruits, and played 8 warm-up games. Among them, in the warm-up match with Shanghai SIPG, Changchun Yatai won 3-1, accumulating a certain amount of confidence for the players.

In the 2025 season, Xie Hui prepared from scratch, whether it was the quality of reinforcements or the winter training plan, it was completed according to his own ideas. In the case of poor finances, it is not easy to have the central axis of foreign aid of forwards Berridge, Omoi Juanfu, midfielder Ciprian, defender Rosic and Suzu. In addition, Xie Hui also introduced Mo Xuchen, Zhou Junchen, Sun Qinhan, Xu Yue, Xu Haofeng, 5 players of the U20 national football team in the Jangovic era (1999 age group).

In the debut of the new season, Xie Hui's starting lineup focused on a "new" word. In addition to goalkeeper Wu Yake, new players (Xu Haofeng, Xu Yue, Park Taoyu, Zhao Yingjie, Omoi Juanfu) and old players (Tan Long, Rosiqi, Li Shenyuan, Su Zu, Di Li Yimiti) each accounted for half. In the second half, Berridge, Cyprian and Mo Xuchen, one "old" and two "new" substitutes.

At present, 7 of Yatai's 9 recruits have appeared, and Sun Qinhan and Zhou Junchen have not yet appeared, among them, the latter did not appear in the game against Shanghai Shenhua because of the avoidance clause. U20 national football player He Yiran went to Shanghai to meet the team after finishing the Asian Youth Championship on the 23rd.