Zhang Chenliang was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Li Songyi 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chengdu Rongcheng in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Li Hao signs something — a contract at Yunnan Yukun or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
3 goals in 26 games at Henan FC — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Yunnan Yukun updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Yunnan Yukun can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Yunnan Yukun close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Yunnan Yukun can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
Li Ang was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Yunnan Yukun will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Zhang Chenliang was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Andrei Burcă 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alan Ovelar. 3‑1 against Wuhan Three Towns, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Yunnan Yukun will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Beijing Guoan spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Yunnan Yukun can pretend not to have heard.
Zhang Chenliang 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oscar Maritu. 2‑1 against Beijing Guoan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yan Chengyu kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Yunnan Yukun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrei Burcă was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Everybody at Yunnan Yukun saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Yan Chengyu on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Yunnan Yukun they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tsui Wang Kit and Yunnan Yukun agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yunnan Yukun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Alexandru Ioniţă’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Yunnan Yukun.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Masahito Ono 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.
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
Ye Chugui 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jiang Weilang’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Yunnan Yukun needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Yunnan Yukun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Yunnan Yukun now know that too.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oscar Maritu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zhejiang FC have kept their man, and Yunnan Yukun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Yunnan Yukun have done the hard part with Lanús, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Boca Juniors is saying, and nobody at Yunnan Yukun is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oscar Maritu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Argentinos Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The phone has started ringing about Oscar Maritu again, and this time the name on the line is Melbourne City. Yunnan Yukun are listening politely and promising nothing.
Zhang Chenliang 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
Yunnan Yukun asked and Liniers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Argentinos Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Yunnan Yukun are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Yunnan Yukun can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Changchun Yatai for Zhang Yufeng was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Yunnan Yukun have done the hard part with Shanghai Shenhua, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oscar Maritu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beijing Guoan have kept their man, and Yunnan Yukun go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yunnan Yukun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Yunnan Yukun have made the call to Zhejiang FC. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Yunnan Yukun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Yunnan Yukun, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Yunnan Yukun, and it is not being withdrawn.
Zhang Chenliang and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
In brief
The dugoutLiu Baiyang knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Li Songyi
Martín Reinoso was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Zhang Yufeng 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yunnan Yukun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Li Songyi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Yunnan Yukun will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Yunnan Yukun have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yunnan Yukun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Yunnan Yukun has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Yunnan Yukun will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Juan Velázquez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.69
A mark of 9.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The match ball belongs to Juan Velázquez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Maritu 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Yan Chengyu kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Yunnan Yukun
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Yunnan Yukun are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hou Aihui has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Yunnan Yukun had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zhang Chenliang and Yunnan Yukun agree another 4 years.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Oscar Maritu 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Yunnan Yukun is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Yunnan Yukun know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Oscar Maritu 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.
Liu Baiyang was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 20, and nobody at Yunnan Yukun signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Yunnan Yukun will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Yunnan Yukun will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Ye Chugui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Yunnan Yukun training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zhang Yufeng 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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Yunnan Yukun would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Yunnan Yukun have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexandru Ioniţă was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Song Long and Yunnan Yukun agree another 1 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oscar Maritu 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Yunnan Yukun who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Yunnan Yukun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Song Long 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.