The Qingdao Hainiu Herald
Squad1 Jan 2035
93 days out for Gao Zheng after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Qingdao Hainiu will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Francisco Falcao honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Qingdao Hainiu had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Liao Rongxiang in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Qingdao Hainiu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
Dai Wai Tsun gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dai Wai Tsun is on it.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
The manager makes an example of Chen Wei
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Prince Guèye still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Qingdao Hainiu would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
- Market The Germano story refuses to die
- Market The clock does Huang Chengjian’s negotiating for him
- The dugout Dong Baiyang knocks on the manager’s door