Marked for Anderson Lessa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Henan FC is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Henan FC
Liao Jintao and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zhong Yihao, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
He Chao falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Henan FC are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Wei Boqing chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Xu Haofeng is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Wuhan Three Towns will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
He Chao left out for tactical reasons at Henan FC
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Henan FC's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Henan FC has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Maia, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He Chao falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Henan FC would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Maidana wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Henan FC have no good answer.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Henan FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anderson Lessa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Li Xingxian and Henan FC agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market7 Sep 2026
Henan FC and Maidana are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Zhang Junjie named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Zhang Junjie is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Liu Weiguo, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Henan FC bring in an old head
Anderson Lessa is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Shandong Taishan in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clock does Maidana’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Henan FC could ask drops and the wages Maidana can ask rise.