The best local team in the first stage of the Chinese Super League: the newcomers in the front court are eye-catching, and the midfield still relies on veterans

Reporter Chen Yong reports The Chinese Super League has entered a break period, combined with the comprehensive performance of the players in the first 13 rounds, and at the same time appropriately considering the balance of positions, this newspaper selected the 2025 Chinese Super League "The Best Local Team in the First Stage".

In the selection of the best team of local players in the "half" of the Chinese Super League, the more difficult thing is the midfielder. The performance of several candidate players was relatively close, and in the end, it was Wu Xi and Li Yuanyi that were mostly recognized.

On the contrary, the frontcourt players among the local players, especially the wide players, generally performed well, such as the three international players Wang Yudong, Wei Shihao and Lin Liangming on the left side performed very well, and there were also two post-00s players Xie Wenneng and Tao Qianglong on the right side. In addition, Kuai Jiwen and Mao Weijie, two players who are less than 20 years old, are also eye-catching. As a result, we have also named a local Under-21 Team of the Year.

The best local player this season is Wang Yudong, a rising star of the national football team who is not yet 19 years old. For Wang Yudong, the initial expectation of all parties is that he can play the game steadily, score some goals, and be able to sit firmly in the position of the main rotation of the national football team. But unexpectedly, Wang Yudong's performance this season was amazing. In the 13 rounds of the Chinese Super League, except for the first round of the U20 Asian Cup, he started the next 12 games and scored 8 goals, currently ranking second in the Chinese Super League scorer list and first in the local player scorer list.

In the center forward position, the previous choice of the national football team was Zhang Yuning, Bai Helamu and Liu Chengyu, which has technical and tactical requirements, as well as a younger direction. But the 37-year-old veteran Tan Long is not old, although he is in the Changchun Yatai team, which ranks first from the bottom and has only scored 5 points so far, he has scored 6 goals, ranking second in the local scorer list. The total number of goals scored by Changchun Yatai is only 11, and Tan Long also has 1 assist.

The third place in the list of local scorers is Wei Shihao, who scored five goals. Interestingly, Wei Shihao also had three headers in his five goals, in addition to two assists. In fact, Wei Shihao is better at the left position, but there is no problem playing as a right winger. Four of his five goals came from the right and centre, with only the first goal of the new season coming from the left to receive a cross from Hu Hetao.

In this selection of the best team in the Chinese Super League, considering that Chengdu Rongcheng, Beijing Guoan, Zhejiang Greentown and other teams are all three-back tactics, many players have changed the position they were more accustomed to, and the players of the domestic attack line performed better, we gave a 343 formation. However, whether it is a back four or a three, whether it is a diamond-shaped midfielder or a double back, local players in the Chinese Super League have always had a lot of problems in the middle of the midfield, and this problem has actually continued to the national team.

We chose Wu Xi and Li Yuanyi as the midfielders for the best team. Despite the attacking bias of the combination, both players are more versatile players with defensive qualities in the midfield position. The 36-year-old veteran Wu Xi is the player with the most appearances for Shanghai Shenhua this season, with 18 games in 13 league games, 4 AFC Champions League classic matches and 1 Super Cup, including 13 Chinese Super League games with an average playing time of 85 minutes per game, contributing 2 goals and 3 assists, and the number of tackles and interceptions is also at the top of the corresponding rankings. Shanghai Shenhua is currently leading the Chinese Super League, which is inseparable from Wu Xi's great contribution.

Lee Won-il has been at the top of the assist list for a long time and currently has five assists. His shortcomings are that with the recent decline in the Shandong Taishan team's results, there have been many consecutive rounds without goals and assists. In fact, if you don't consider the defense of the midfield position, Serginho, a naturalized player and more qualified for the No. 10 position, has also performed quite well, he has played since the third round of the Chinese Super League and has contributed 3 goals and 2 assists in the last 7 rounds. Rongcheng midfielder Yang Mingyang, who has just completed his transfer, is also a high-profile candidate, and he has scored two goals in 12 appearances this season, and has performed well at both offensive and defensive ends. In addition, in the absence of Shanghai Shenhua's Li Ke and Amadou, they also delivered good answers after a short period of adaptation.

In the wing-back position, Chengdu Rongcheng's right wing-back Hu Hetao has attracted the most attention: he has good defensive ability, but also good forward ability, and has scored one goal and three assists this season. Hu's main contenders are Tong Lei and Cao Yongjing. Tong Lei is similar to Hu Hetao, who can play as a full-back and wing-back, and has scored two goals and one assist, while Cao Yongjing has changed from attacker to wing-back and has scored one goal.

Beijing Guoan coach Setien's most successful transformation this season is Lin Liangming. Lin Liangming is currently playing as a left wing-back, and can also play as a full-back such as a striker. In the left wing-back position, Lin Liangming contributed 4 goals and 2 assists, and he has scored 3 goals and 2 assists in the last 5 rounds.

In the central defender position, Jiang Guangtai's ability is very outstanding, but he has been injured for a long time. In this case, the stable Shanghai Shenhua central defender pair Jiang Shenglong and Chen Jie were selected for the best team, and in the long-term absence of the main defender Amadou, Shanghai Shenhua is the team with the second fewest goals conceded in the Chinese Super League. Jiang Shenglong not only has good defensive ability, but also has 1 goal and 1 assist on the offensive end. Another central defender, we chose Chengdu Rongcheng central defender Yuan Mincheng, who has only conceded 8 goals in 13 rounds of the Chinese Super League. In addition to his excellent defensive record, he also performed well in the offensive end, scoring two goals and providing one assist. Chengdu Rongcheng's other centre-back, Han Pengfei, performed well in the round of 18 in March, but he missed a number of games due to injury.

In the goalkeeper position, we chose Chengdu Rongcheng goalkeeper Liu Dianzuo, who conceded the least number of goals, in addition to the fact that Rongcheng is still conceding single-digit goals, Liu Dianzuo's performance in the game has also been widely recognized.

Wang Yudong, who was selected as the best local team of the Chinese Super League, naturally leads the best team of the Chinese Super League U21. In the center forward position, Liu Chengyu has only played 4 times in the middle of the game, but in the last 3 games, he has started and scored consecutive goals, and the number of goals has reached 3. In the center forward position, Liu Chengyu's main rival is Zhu Pengyu of Dalian InBev Haifa, and the two are also the main substitute options for the national youth. Zhu Pengyu played in all 13 rounds, contributing one goal and two assists, and both of them have a reason to be selected in the U21 best team, but Liu Chengyu scored more goals. In addition, Meizhou Hakka's 17-year-old center Wei Xiangxin also scored the first goal of the 08 generation this season, and he has now completed a trial at Auxerre, France.

Mao Weijie and Kuai Jiwen have performed very well recently, although Kuai Jiwen has not scored, but has played in 5 consecutive rounds, and the just-concluded 13th round of the Chinese Super League created a penalty to help the team equalize. Mao Wei was more stable on the field, scoring 1 goal and 1 assist. The two men have similar technical characteristics and we chose one of them as the right wing-back. On the right side, 18-year-old Yang Mingrui of Dalian InBev Haifa also performed well.

Kuai Jiwen's teammate Li Xinxiang is also an attacker, scoring 1 goal and 2 assists in his debut in the Chinese Super League, although there were no goals and assists afterwards, but the game was very systematic, which showed the coaching staff's recognition of him, also because of the position, we chose Li Xinxiang as the left wingback.

In the middle of the midfield, Xu Bin is the main midfielder, he is the main midfielder on the west coast of Qingdao, ranking in the top 10 of the Chinese Super League in steals and contributing 2 assists. Another midfielder, Yang Haoyu, who is more attacking and more capable of playing as a midfielder or central midfielder, has scored two goals in five of his 11 appearances this season.

On the wing, some U21 players have emerged in the Chinese Super League, such as Changchun Yatai's Xuan Zhijian, who played steadily and contributed 1 assist. Although Qingdao Manatee's Wei did not play much, he performed well in the limited playing time. He Yiran, who can play on both the left and right wings, has more opportunities to play, and there is also Yang Xi from the west coast of Qingdao, who has started the last four rounds in a row.

There are almost no Under-21 players in the centre-back position, with only Fan Shuangjie of Beijing Guoan and Shen Huanming of Shenzhen Xinpeng City coming off the bench to play in that position. In fact, Fan Shuangjie's "one-goal fame" was to start as a midfielder in the game with Shandong Taishan. Another centre-back, Shi Songchen, has also made appearances, but he made a cameo at right-back. Based on the situation and position of the midfielders, we chose Xuan Zhijian (9 appearances, 8 starts, 1 assist), Fan Shuangjie (4 appearances, 2 starts) and He Yiran (7 appearances, 5 starts) as the three central defenders.

The goalkeeper position of the best team of the Chinese Super League U21 is the most unsuspenseful, Li Hao is not only the only U21 goalkeeper who has played twice (the other U21 goalkeeper is Yu Jinyong of Shandong Taishan), but also the only U21 main goalkeeper, and he also saved Romulo's penalty kick in the 13th round of the Chinese Super League, helping Qingdao West Coast draw 1-1 with Chengdu Rongcheng away. Of course, another Under-21 goalkeeper, Kim Yong, also performed well, especially his ability to deal with high balls in the Super League, picking up 9 high balls in 3 appearances (including 1 as a substitute), while Ma Zhen, who is currently ranked first, picked 18 high balls in 12 appearances.