Six wins in a row! Tongliang Dragon continues to lead the way

Reporter Lu Mi reports On the evening of May 3, in the 7th round of the Chinese League, Chongqing Tonglianglong hosted Dingnan Ganlian. In the first half, Zhang Yingkai blasted out the world wave, and Tonglianglong led 1-0; In the 69th minute, the opponent scored an equalizer; In the 73rd minute, Carrillo scored with a header, and finally Chongqing Tonglianglong defeated Dingnan Ganlian 2-1 and won six consecutive league victories.

In the past April, Chongqing Tonglianglong ushered in the devil's schedule, with 5 games and 4 away games, including a wave of three consecutive aways. This young team has shown great fighting spirit in the intensive schedule, winning all five matches in the two-line competition, and the Tongliang Dragons are currently at the top of the standings with six consecutive wins and 19 points in the Chinese League.

In the past April, the Chinese league teams not only had league tasks, but also the FA Cup came as scheduled. Not only will the Dragons face the challenge of a two-line three-game away team, but they will also have to grab points in the league in order to grab a favorable position in the standings. In the face of difficulties and pressures, El Salvador led the youth army, using reasonable tactics and timely rotation, to achieve a complete victory.

The first game in April, and the first away game of the season, was against Shenzhen Youth. El Salvador's starting line-up was nothing short of impressive. The average age of the starting lineup he arranged is only 23.1 years old, and at the same time, there are 21-year-old Zhang Yingkai, 19-year-old Wu Yuxi and Wu Zitong, who has just turned 18, and 24-year-old Tian Xiangyu and 21-year-old Zhang Haixuan are even called "veterans" in the team. From this set of starters, it is not difficult to see El Salvador's bold idea of appointing young people as the main force.

Considering the tight schedule that followed, the team adopted a rotation strategy after sealing the win, and the main players were also given the opportunity to conserve their strength. In the end, they won 3-0 away from home to get their first away win of the season and get the April campaign off to a good start.

On April 12, he returned to his home stadium to face the strong Shaanxi United, and in the case of the last big win, El Salvador only made adjustments in the goalkeeper position, and Wu Zitong replaced Yao Haoyang to start the game. In this very close game, Chongqing Tonglianglong won 2-1 with the captain Xiang Yuwang's brace.

After this wave of consecutive wins, Tonglianglong's three consecutive guests followed. First of all, in the second round of the FA Cup on April 19, Tonglianglong challenged the young people in the northwest of Shaanxi in Weinan away, El Salvador made a relatively large personnel rotation, even so he controlled the situation, Ruan Qilong, who joined the team this season, scored the only goal, 1-0 victory, the main players got a reasonable rotation at the same time, won the game with the minimum cost, and successfully advanced to the next round.

Subsequently, on April 22nd and 26th, Chongqing Tonglianglong went to Jiangsu to face Nantong Zhiyun and Nanjing City respectively for two consecutive away games. Nantong Zhiyun was the Chinese Super League team last season and is also regarded as the favorite team to surpass this season. Even against tough opponents on the road, El Salvador has reduced the average age of their starting line-up to 22.9. The team remained hot in the game, Xiang Wang scored twice, foreign aid Carvalho broke the goal drought, and also staged a brace, 4-2 victory over the opponent, Tonglianglong sat on the top spot in the standings. Carvalho then continued to score in the match against Nanjing City, helping the team to a narrow 1-0 victory to end the entire April schedule and continue to lead the standings.

The average age of the Chongqing Tongliang Dragons team this season is only 23.8 years old, which is not unrelated to El Salvador's team building and employment philosophy. Chongqing Tonglianglong scored 11 goals in five games in April, and what is even more rare is that the average age of the team's starting line-up is 23.1, 23, 21.4, 22.9 and 22.9 respectively. In addition to trusting Chongqing players such as Xiang Yuwang, Li Zhenquan and Liu Mingshi, who have proven themselves in the team last season, El Salvador also gives full trust and sufficient playing time to newcomers who have just been loaned and transferred to the team this season. Ruan Qilong, who has just transferred to the team this season, has started 6 consecutive games, with an average playing time of 82 minutes per game, and another new signing, Wang Wenxuan, has played every minute of the Chongqing Tongliang Dragons this season. In addition, young players such as Zhang Yingkai, Wu Zitong, Zhang Zhixiong, Wu Yuxi, Bai Yutao and other young people have been given varying degrees of playing time, and in important and intensive games, these young players have shown maturity beyond their age group in terms of ability to advance with the ball and pass scheduling.

As of the end of the schedule in April, Xiang Yuwang's personal goals have come to 7, and he has won the best player in a single round in a row, and is tied for the top of the scorer list with Liaoning Iron Man's Mbenza. Although the height advantage is not outstanding, Xiang Yuwang's core strength, confrontation ability and fulcrum role are quite prominent, combined with his excellent goalmouth finishing ability and ability to pull the air, his offensive efficiency is very outstanding. In the round of 18 in June, Xiang Yuwang may be included in the national football team.

After five games on both fronts in April, Chongqing Tonglianglong led the standings with 16 points. For Chongqing Tonglianglong, May will face a new test. Throughout May, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons played a total of 6 games, namely the Chinese League against Dingnan Ganlian, Guangdong Guangzhou Leopard, Yanbian Longding, Guangxi Pingguo, Foshan Nanshi and the FA Cup against Henan. These opponents range from tough opponents in previous leagues to super-big favourites. On the other hand, captain Xiang Yu Wang was injured in the match with Nantong Zhiyun, and was diagnosed with a fracture of the nose bridge after the game, but he still insisted on playing the follow-up game, and his injury still needs 3 weeks to recover, during which he needs to wear a mask to play, which will inevitably affect the on-field performance. How to ensure the continuous output of the team's offensive firepower is a key issue for coach Salvador, in addition, Zhang Zhixiong's return to the lineup and set-piece defense, need to be gradually solved in the dense schedule.

On May 3, Chongqing Tongliang Dragons faced Dingnan Ganlian at home.On this match day, many Chongqing fans took the "Chongqing Tongliang Dragon Rail Transit Special Train" from the main city to Tongliang District to watch the game, and this special train has also become a beautiful scenery on the game day. In the first game in May, with Zhang Yingkai's world wave and Carrillo's consecutive goals, Chongqing Tonglianglong won 2-1, continuing the journey of victory, and also made a good start for the May campaign.

In order to speed up the development of Chongqing's football industry, on May 1, the "Chongqing Tonglianglong Rail Transit Special Train" was officially put into operation. In fact, this rail line itself is called Bitong Line, which is an east-west metropolitan area rail express line in Chongqing, which started construction on November 29, 2019 and will be put into operation on January 2, 2025. As a demonstration line for the integration of Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration and the coordinated development of "one circle and two groups", the Bitong Line is a strong support for the "main urban area on the track" and meets the needs of the integration and co-urbanization development of the western Chongqing region and the central urban area. Every time Chongqing Tongliang Dragons play a home game, a large number of fans take the Bitong Line to travel between Chongqing city and Tongliang District. Starting from March 2025, in order to meet the needs of fans to watch the game and return after the game, Bitong Line will also open 4 additional special trains for fans.

The "Chongqing Tonglianglong Rail Transit Special Train" was put into operation, which is a phenomenal IP jointly created by Chongqing Tonglianglong Football Club and Chongqing Communications Investment Railway Group Bitong Line Operation Company, and is also the first rail transit train with a professional football team as the theme in China, creating a precedent for in-depth cooperation between Chinese professional football clubs and urban rail transit.

As the country's first normalized operation of sports IP-themed carriages, the special train not only facilitates Chongqing fans to watch and travel to the game, but also gives fans a new "check-in place" to further enrich fan culture. The exterior design of the carriage combines the elements of the Tongliang dragon, which means "the dragon travels thousands of miles", which is the combination of football and the intangible cultural heritage of Tongliang District. The interior of the carriage is dominated by the red color of Chongqing Tonglianglong, including the "Xiongqi" character spelled with classic photos of the team, records of major events in the team's history, team posters and fans' blessings to the team.

The match with Dingnan Ganlian on May 3 was the first home match day after the "Chongqing Tonglianglong Rail Transit Special Train" was officially put into operation. On the occasion of the May Day Golden Week, the special train shuttled between the main urban area of Chongqing and Tongliang District, and the fan organizations and tourists took the special train in the afternoon of the same day, on the way to the stadium, immersed in the charm and humanistic customs of football, and visited Tongliang while watching a game, which effectively promoted the integrated development of local cultural tourism and football industry, and was the best embodiment of "sports to promote consumption, sports to promote cultural tourism".

Li Ping, general manager of Tonglianglong Football Club, said: "The opening of the Chongqing Tonglianglong special train is of great significance to the development of the club, the purpose of the opening is to facilitate fans, and secondly, to build Chongqing's local football culture in a more in-depth way. Before the opening of the special train, Chongqing Rail Transit was very supportive of fans going to Tongliang District from the main city to watch the game, and actively increased the return flight on the game day, delaying the last train time of Bitong Line and Line 1. The club also wants to create a unique football experience for fans, hoping to make fans feel a unique fan culture from the moment they come to the stadium. The opening of the 'special train' is also part of the club's combination of competition and business. In the next step, in addition to giving some brand promotion returns to commercial partners on the special train, we also hope that fans will drive local consumption after coming to Tongliang and contribute to the development of Tongliang area. ”