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september 10, 2024 may be a day of mixed feelings for many chinese football fans.

in the morning, relevant departments held a press conference on the special rectification campaign against the problem of "fake gambling" in professional football leagues. 120 matches were found to be suspected of match-fixing and gambling, involving professional football leagues such as the chinese super league, china league one, china league two, fa cup, and women's super league. 41 chinese super league, china league one, and china league two club teams were involved. the wide range of leagues involved and the number of teams involved were shocking. 128 suspects of illegal crimes were arrested, 12 online gambling gangs were destroyed, and 43 former football practitioners were "banned" for life. the great efforts and determination to eliminate the "cancer" also made many people feel excited.

however, the asian qualifiers for the world cup in the evening did not allow this excitement to continue. after losing 0:7 to japan in an away game, setting a record for the biggest score in the team's history and breaking the bottom line of the fans' perception of the chinese national football team, the chinese national football team, which played with one more player for most of the home game, was reversed and defeated by saudi arabia 1:2. when the final whistle sounded, dalian soar bay football stadium responded with a heavy sigh. more fans who did not arrive at the scene may still be depressed, disappointed, regretful, and even angry.

image source: sina weibo

objectively speaking, for most of the game, the chinese players walked out of the shadow of the last round's disastrous defeat, and their mental state and concentration improved compared to the first round. however, the closer they were to the first point of the game, the more the only "0" on the same group's standings stood out, and the more this defeat and the blow and subsequent difficulties it brought seemed particularly unbearable.

football matches are undoubtedly full of accidental factors, but when losing becomes a habit, we can no longer turn a blind eye to the various problems exposed. outside the stadium, corruption and "fake gambling and black" problems have reappeared, seriously eroding the body of the football industry. relevant departments have used thundering means to rectify the chaos, increase governance efforts, build long-term mechanisms, and improve the effectiveness of joint rectification. in the stadium, similar determination and action must be taken. when problems are discovered, they must be corrected immediately, leaving no room for hesitation or backtracking. to put it another way, even if you lose every game, whether you can summarize the problems, draw lessons, and improve from each different way of losing, and whether you dare to fight and fight, use all your strength, and play with spirit in every game, the audience and fans will see it.

in the final analysis, the results are the key to success in competitive games. eliminating the "cancer" and scraping the bone to cure the poison may not produce immediate results. improving the competitive level and narrowing the gap with strong teams is not something that can be done overnight. the transformation and rebirth of chinese football is even more impossible to be completed in one game. what is important is to let everyone see the change in the right direction, to create a gap and a ray of light for all those who care about chinese football.

some people also saw hope from another match of the chinese national football team yesterday. in the third round of the changsha international football invitational tournament, the chinese u21 men's football team tied 0-0 with the uzbekistan u21 men's football team, ending the tournament with 2 wins and 1 draw. confidence and hope are more precious than gold. regardless of whether the bottom has been reached or not, facing the problems, getting rid of the old abuses, and climbing up step by step, step by step, whether on the field or off the field, this is particularly important for the chinese national football team.

source: people's daily commentary

process editor: u071