The uproar of delight which rose up at the final whistle, as exuberant home supporters belted out from all sides a spine-tingling rendition of "Blooming Life," a hit single by Chinese rock star Wang Feng, was extraordinarily cathartic. Wuhan Zall can ultimately consign all those harrowing memories of banishment to the dustbin of history.
They can forget the seasons of mayhem after the disastrous expulsion from the Chinese top flight due to a overly harsh retrospective punishment a decade ago, years of excruciating in-fighting and finger-pointing at various levels, and even draw a line under the crushing, soul-destroying disappointments of near-misses.
After a five-year hiatus, Wuhan Zall sparked a thunderous promotion party by holding Meizhou Meixian Techand to an entertaining 2-2 draw at a small but packed university stadium Saturday night, to ensure a return to the Chinese Super League.
Brazilian striker Rafael Silva's last-gasp goal, which seal Zall's promotion to Chinese Super League, sends the home fans into delirium. /VCG Photo
Li Tie's team have played a lot better at times this season but there can be no doubt they have been the best team in the country's second tier. They have occupied top spot of the China League One since early May and achieved promotion with three games to spare.
Yet the air of inevitability of the outcome didn't dampen the excitement in the slightest of the team or its supporters. The encounter finished with Li receiving rapturous applause in front of a sellout crowd. Two of Zall's recent head coaches, Ciro Ferrara and Chen Yang, lost their jobs after jarring defeats at home. That, however, felt like a long time ago as jubilant Zall fans went through their victory songs.
Cue the wild celebrations as the triumphant players and staff bounced, sang and embraced, and decided it was time to start throwing Li in the air.
Wuhan Zall coach Li Tie is thrown in the air by his team as they celebrate after securing promotion to the Chinese top flight. /VCG Photo
"My backroom staff and I had a really difficult year because the fierce competition within the China League One is outrageous," said Li after the euphoria subsides. "Just take a look at [relegation candidate] Meixian's performance tonight, it showed anyone can beat anyone."
"It's a huge challenge for me this season because I'm the general manager, the head coach as well as the sporting director of the team. I wonder who else in Chinese clubs has as many roles and titles as I do. To be honest, I'm feeling a bit worn out and my backroom staff are also exhausted. But I'm really satisfied with everyone's hard work."
"You would have been called crazy if you thought that Zall would secure promotion with three games to spare at the start of the season – all the more so after we lost our first home game against Heilongjiang FC. But what we did best is that as the season goes on we are more consistently performed than all other teams."
Li Tie and his backroom staff roar and jump with huge delight after the full-time whistle blows. /VCG Photo
Li's role in Zall has been extremely pivotal. The 41-year-old, who spent three years as Marcello Lippi's assistant at Guangzhou Evergrande, had inherited a team that felt spent and broken at the tail end of 2017 after the club oversaw four managerial changes in one season, but he rapidly restored them into title contenders with his tactical and impeccable man management skills.
His ability to mold a bunch of no-hopers, journeymen and bargain basement signings who then failed to achieve promotion for the fourth time in five seasons is a measure of the coach's exceptional pedigree.
The team Li shaped have been the most consistent performers in the division, an appetizing blend of foreign talismans and homegrown youngsters. Ivorian winger Jean Evrard and Brazilian striker Rafael Silva, who helped J-League side Urawa Reds claim the Asian Champions League crown last season, provides the incision and firepower, with 32 goals between them so far this term. It was Evrard who won the last-gasp penalty which Rafael calmly converted to banish any lingering doubt on this defining night.
Nie Aoshuang and Ming Tian, both of whom are youth-team graduates and conduct themselves like a mature and grounded professional all year, will relish the bigger stages next season, while the contribution of the veterans should not be underestimated. Goalkeeper Sun Shoubo has proven characteristically reliable when called upon, Yao Hanlin has been a calming influence throughout, and it was hard to fathom how Ai Zhibo, intercepting and blocking all night, could possibly be 35.
Rafael Silva (L) and Jean Evrard applaud the Zall fans at the end of a rollercoaster 2-2 draw. /VCG Photo
This was also a triumph for Zall chairman Yan Zhi, who literally saved the team on the brink of collapse in 2011. The Hubei-born real estate mogul, during his seven-year ownership, has poured a huge amount of money into his hometown club, building a brand new youth academy and a much improved training center at the sparkling Donghu New Technology Development Zone. The club did have come a long way since their days at Xinhua road.
"We're deeply convinced that such a great metropolis as Wuhan is crying out for a top professional football team to fill with local people's passion and love for this city," read an emotional public letter posted by Yan late last night.
"For the last seven years, we have been through all the trials and tribulations, we have been misunderstood, we have experienced let-downs but we never give up at any point and still keep our commitments to the city of Wuhan, to the development of football."
Wuhan Zall chairman Yan Zhi is one of the architects of the promotion triumph after he bought the club in 2011. /VCG Photo
And true to form, Yan and Zall are ready to write a new chapter in their battle against fate and failures in the team's fabled history.
