Special correspondent Jiang Hai reports Since Jiangsu Suning withdrew, Nantong Zhiyun has become the representative of professional football in Jiangsu with its strong fan base and local government support. After the success of the 2022 tournament system, Zhiyun has experienced two years of thrashing in the top league and returned to the Chinese League this year, but in the minds of most Jiangsu fans, they are still the boss of the Jiangsu team in the Chinese League, and their status even exceeds the Suzhou team with a better economic foundation and the Nanjing team in the provincial capital. However, after a head-to-head encounter, Jiangsu football's seat may change. After Suzhou Dongwu's 2-0 home victory over Nantong Zhiyun on May 3, the Dongwu team is likely to become the forefront of Jiangsu football in the future with the city's economic foundation and the care of local leaders.

Jiangsu: Professional football's Japanese and South Korean coaches PK

Suzhou Soochow used to give people the feeling of turmoil, coaches kept changing, players kept changing, management kept changing, and the club culture did not match the city image of Suzhou, which was also related to the late development of professional football in Suzhou and the lack of experience. However, professional football depends on the economic foundation, and once Suzhou intervenes in professional football, the lower limit will not be low. Before the start of last season, after a major management change, South Korean coach Kim Dae-yi appeared in the position of the team's head coach. Before Jin Dayi, Suzhou also had contact with Jin Zhongfu, who briefly coached Nanjing City, but Jin Zhongfu fell in love with Nanjing City, the provincial capital team of the same Central League (the ending of the cooperation was also very bleak). The reason why the target coaches selected are all Korean, perhaps related to the operation team behind Soochow Club, on the one hand, they have close contacts with Korean agents, and on the other hand, they also hope that the toughness of Korean coaches can contribute to the gentle style of Suzhou football. Therefore, you can see the difference between the two teams and the change of style in the match between Suzhou Dongwu and Nantong Zhiyun.

The frequency of changing coaches in the history of Nantong Zhiyun Club can definitely be ranked in the forefront of Chinese professional football, although it is just a few candidates used upside down, but the frequency is extremely high, and even some fans in Nantong have a lot of complaints. This season, Zhiyun made an early decision on the issue of coaching, and his style is very different from the past, changing the habit of using the Spanish school and new local faces, and officially announced the joining of Japanese coach Shinoda Yoshiyuki on January 1 this year (Zhiyun's echelon also briefly used Japanese coaches before). However, the easy-going Japanese coach seems to be incompatible with Nantong Zhiyun's usual ferocious style, and in a key battle like Soochow, Zhiyun's shots on goal are far behind 5-12, and even the number of yellow cards is 1-4 inferior to the opponent. Although it is not encouraged to use too many unconventional actions on the court, Nantong Zhiyun's ruthlessness on the field in the past has not been reflected. At present, Zhiyun's record of 2 wins in 7 games is not far from the fans' desire to return to the Chinese Super League this season.

This time, the direct confrontation of the Japanese and Korean coaches of Jiangsu professional football also temporarily divided the winners and losers, and the winning side also rang the bell for the losing side.

Suzhou: The five-year bitter lord raised his eyebrows

Although it can't be consequential, but it can beat Nantong Zhiyun by two goals, Soochow can raise his eyebrows. Because in the past five years, the two teams have played each other a total of 6 times in official competitions, Soochow has only drawn once, and the other 5 duels have all lost.

On the evening of the 3rd, 10,326 fans came to the Suzhou Sports Center Stadium, which can rank among the top three in the team's history, although more than 3,000 of them are Nantong fans.

After the start of the 2025 season, the opening performance of the Soochow team is not as strong as that of several other teams, but the stable card is still the absolute core strength of the big city of Suzhou. As one player said when he stepped on the pitch, "This is what a big city centre stadium should look like!" "It is also true that this year's Soochow can be fixed at one home stadium, and there is no need to be driven back and forth like in previous seasons, and the care of local leaders is indispensable. Although there may not be Nantong or Rugao in terms of financial support, the direct concern of the city leaders more than once has also made the team's managers dare not do things as rough as before.

Soochow had a mediocre start to the season, with 4 games, 1 win and 3 draws, and it was not until April 19 that they slowly got back on track after a 4-0 away win over the Champions League in the FA Cup. The 2-0 victory over Shanghai Jiading Huilong and Nantong Zhiyun in two consecutive games allowed the team to not only open the scoring machine, but also find experience on the defensive end. At present, in the 7 games of this season, Suzhou Dongwu has scored 7 goals and conceded only 1 goal. Suzhou is a low-key city, and the team is the same, they don't say they want to surpass before the start of this season, but their hearts are itchy. The support and concern of the city leaders have made the team more and more stable, and in such a large economic city, no Chinese Super League team seems to be unreasonable.

Nantong: The back hand that can be used may be to change the coach

In addition to the players playing better than before, Soochow has introduced Liu Tao, a Suzhou meritorious player from Chengdu Rongcheng, to join the coaching staff this season, and he has worked with Jin Dayi, and his wife is Song Xiaoli, a former Chinese women's football player and now the director of the Suzhou Women's Football Youth Training Center. Liu Tao, who has returned to his roots, is very suitable for the development of the team in Soochow, and his experience as the captain of Rongcheng can also help Soochow in turn.

Soochow is developing in a good direction, but Nantong Zhiyun, who ended in the Sutong derby, is far from being sad, after all, they have strong fan support, and the two years of experience in the Chinese Super League also allow them to have more plans when dealing with the Chinese League games. Before the game, a local blogger in Nantong revealed that Lu Bofei would join the club to assist the first-line coaching staff, but on this away trip to Suzhou, Lu Bofei did not appear on the bench, and there is a saying that he accompanied the club's investors to watch the game in the stadium box. Judging from the style of the team and Lu Bofei's coaching, the two are indeed more suitable. At least in the current situation of lack of major generals, Lu Bofei's "steady, accurate and ruthless" characteristics can help Zhi Yun to have a target.

Speaking after the defeat to Soochow, Yoshiyuki Shinoda said: "It's a shame that the first half was not good in terms of organising the attack and moving, and the game became more difficult after conceding the first goal, so we have to say sorry to the fans who came to the away stadium to think about how to play team football in our own way." "If you can't play team football, Shinoda Yoshiyuki will most likely take responsibility for the team's performance in the previous rounds, so whether Lu Bofei assists him or replaces him in the future, it is estimated that the effect will not be worse than now. In addition, in the case of insufficient investment, local coaches can also piggyback on solving the ideological problems of some players.

There was a small episode between the two teams before the game: before training the day before the game, Nantong Zhiyun's bus stopped in the parking space slightly ahead of the line, and the late Dongwu bus stopped in the second position, so the front of the car was back. On the second day of the game, Soochow's red bus took the lead and stopped at the location of the Zhiyun bus the day before, while the latter could only stop slightly behind. This is very similar to the recent trajectory map of Suzhou Dongwu and Nantong Zhiyun.