As soon as Li Zhifei walked into the office of the Olympic team head coach on the first floor of Building 1, Area A, Hongmangling training base, he saw Shi Wuyin.
The head coach of the Chinese U22 national team, who will also be the future head coach of the Chinese Olympic team, is staring at the computer screen and frowning.
When Li Zhifei walked up to him, he said hello without raising his head: "You're here?"
"Well, what are you looking at?" Li Zhifei leaned over and took a look at the computer screen, but he couldn't see clearly even without glasses.
"For the East Asian Cup in March, I want to make some changes to the team and examine other young people in the country." Shi Wuyin said to the screen.
There is the East Asian Cup in March this year. As a regional event, when it was first founded, teams from the three East Asian countries, China, Japan and South Korea, played each other in a round-robin tournament. After all, there is the Gulf Cup in West Asia and the Middle East, and the Tiger Cup is held by Southeast Asian countries.
Only in East Asia, there is not even a decent competition, and there is no place for the national teams to communicate and learn.
Under such circumstances, the East Asian Cup was born.
The original East Asian Cup was held every two years. It was an international A-level event. It was held on international match days. The participating national teams all sent their strongest lineups, and the gold content was pretty good.
But later, with the reform and expansion of the East Asian Cup, more and more national teams participated, and the schedule and rules were adjusted to a large extent.
It has changed from a single round-robin to a tournament system, with qualifiers and finals.
In addition to China, Japan and South Korea, participating countries also include teams from North Korea, Mongolia, Macau and Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Except for the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea, other teams must play qualifying rounds and then determine a team that can participate in the finals.
Most of the time this team is North Korea.
The East Asian Cup has undergone such reforms. There are more participating teams and it seems more lively. However, because all teams can participate, the gold content of this event has dropped a lot.
It's not even held on an international break.
Other participating teams may take this event very seriously, but the national teams of China, Japan and South Korea, the three original initiators of the event, are somewhat perfunctory.
Japan and South Korea were the first countries to use their second national teams to compete in the East Asian Cup. They no longer recall players who played in Europe to participate in the East Asian Cup, and only use purely local players.
The Chinese team did not do this because the Chinese team has no overseas players who can be recalled...the national first team is also a purely local lineup.
Later, Japan and South Korea felt that it was meaningless to send a bunch of domestic players who usually could not be selected for the national team, or were marginal figures in the national team, to participate in this competition, because it would not play a role in training for the national team. These domestic players who participated in the East Asian Cup
How many of them can eventually become a member of the first team of the national team and participate in events such as the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers?
Then they simply let their respective Olympic teams participate in the East Asian Cup. At the very least, it can serve the purpose of training for the Olympic team. After all, the events that the Olympic team can participate in are limited, and one more East Asian Cup is of great significance.
Especially every odd-numbered East Asian Cup is very important to the National Olympic team, because the next year will be the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Football Asian Qualifiers and U23 Asian Cup will also be held in the same year as the Olympic Games.
The East Asian Cup the year before had become an important competition for the Olympic team to inspect players, practice tactics, build confidence, and increase experience. The importance of the East Asian Cup to this East Asian Cup by national football associations has skyrocketed.
Japan and South Korea took the lead, and the Chinese team immediately followed suit.
Now China, Japan and South Korea all use their National Olympic teams to replace their national teams, but nominally they still say that the teams they send are national teams. After all, the East Asian Cup is not just the three of them, there are other participating teams.
Other teams have sent their own national teams, but the three of you are using the Olympic team as your opponent. It doesn’t sound good in name only...
Not only are they participating as a national team in name, the East Asian Cup competition is also an international A-level competition, and FIFA points are calculated.
In other words, the performance of the Olympic team will affect the national team's points and rankings, and further affect the qualifications of the seeded teams in the Asian Cup and World Cup qualifiers.
For various reasons like this, the 11th East Asian Cup, which will kick off on March 10, 2023, is one of the priorities of the respective national football associations.
This is especially true for China, because as the host country of next year’s U23 Asian Cup and Olympic Games Asian Qualifiers, the Chinese Olympic team does not need to participate in this year’s U23 Asian Cup Qualifiers. Although it can directly qualify for the main competition, it
There are fewer opportunities to practice in games, which is actually detrimental to the team's preparation for games.
Under such circumstances, the East Asian Cup as a training opportunity naturally becomes very important.
As the head coach of the team, Shi Wuyin did not dare to neglect, so he and his coaching team rushed to the Hongmangling training base in advance to prepare for the next training camp of the Olympic team here.
"It's good. Do you have a goal?" Assistant coach Li Zhifei nodded.
"How many of them are there? Please help me with my advice." Shi Wuyin turned the LCD monitor to Li Zhifei.
Li Zhifei took out his glasses from his trouser pocket and put them on, and then he could clearly see the content on the screen.
"Luo Kai?" Li Zhifei read out the name on the screen. "The one who claims to be the first student player to become a professional player in so many years of campus football?"
"Yes, in Hedong Thunder, I got the chance to play in the Thunder first team starting last season."
Li Zhifei shook his head: "No, he seemed to have played a lot in the Thunderbolts last season, twelve times, right? In the end, he didn't have much to show for himself. The Thunderbolts didn't give him much of a chance to express himself, with so many appearances.
, basically just playing in garbage time to make up the numbers. He needs to change to an environment where he can play more games, which will be beneficial to his growth."
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"Luo Kai, the club has reached an agreement with Lingnan Nanhai and agreed to their loan request for you. You will go to Nanhai next."
At the training base of Hedong Thunder, Luo Kai, who had just come off the training ground, met the club's general manager Wang Shoude, who came to tell him the news.
"Thank you, Manager Wang." Luo Kai said politely.
Wang Shoude nodded: "The club has always had great expectations for you. I hope you will continue to be strict with yourself when you go to Nanhai and play well there. We will always pay attention to your performance in Nanhai."
"I will definitely live up to the club's cultivation and hope." Luo Kai had a correct attitude.
"Okay. Go back to the locker room and change quickly. Don't catch a cold." Wang Shoude waved his hand.
Luo Kai turned around and was about to leave, but was stopped by the general manager: "By the way, Luo Kai. One thing I'm curious about is why you rejected Flash Star's loan request? That's obviously your hometown team, blend in and be familiar with it."
The environment should be easier, right?”
Luo Kai didn't expect that the general manager would ask him this question. It felt like a private matter that had nothing to do with official matters...
Why reject Flash Star?
To be honest, when he first learned that Flash Star wanted to rent him out, he was very shocked because he had not considered going to Flash Star at all.
Then he thought of Hu Lai and the boy's proud face.
Then he rejected the possibility of going to Flash Star without hesitation.
He knew very well that in Flashing Star, Hu Lai was the confidant of Director Zhao Kangming and the offensive arrow of Flashing Star. So what did he do?
Are you going to be Hu Lai's foil?
He won't do it.
He didn't choose to go to China League One on loan just to hug Hu Lai's thigh. Besides, Hu Lai's thigh wasn't worth hugging.
He went to the Chinese League One to improve himself so that one day he could take back all his own light from Hu Lai!
You know, there is another person waiting for you to chase ahead...
Thinking of this, Luo Kai said to Wang Shoude: "Manager Wang, just because it is a hometown team that is easier to integrate into, I don't want to go."
"Why?" Wang Shoude looked at Luo Kai with interest.
"There are many roads to success, and I want to take the more difficult one."
Wang Shoude smiled: "You have the talent. I personally wish you success."
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Li Zhifei is fifty-seven years old this year. He worked from a grassroots sports school youth training coach to a club coach, then to a club assistant coach, and finally became an assistant coach of a national team. He is very experienced and has a good eye for people.
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Shi Wuyuan agreed with his evaluation of Luo Kai.
So he closed Luo Kai's scouting report, opened another one, and then asked: "What about Chen Xingyi?"
"Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai have the same problem, they both lack game training. Dashun Golden Arrow's problem is more obvious than Thunderbolt, because Wang Xianke is a head coach who doesn't like to use young players, so under him, Chen Xing
Yi has fewer playing opportunities than Luo Kai."
Li Zhifei obviously knows a lot about these young players who are somewhat famous in China.
"Like Luo Kai, he and Luo Kai all have to see whether they can get sufficient training this season, and then see their progress and whether they are qualified to be selected for the Olympic team."
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"Son, there's a bit of trouble..." Chen Xingyi received a call from his father in the dormitory room of Dashun Golden Arrow's training ground.
"Dad, wait a minute." Chen Xingyi said as he got up and got off the bed, put on his slippers and walked out of the room, walking to a secluded corner. "Okay, tell me, what's the trouble?"
"Those Chinese League One clubs are very cunning and unwilling to indicate the guaranteed number of appearances in their contracts. They all talk about gentlemen's agreements and verbal promises... If this verbal promise can be believed, what kind of contract should we sign?" Chen Hantang
Complained to his son on the phone.
For more than a month, he has been busy with his son's loan.
From the Chinese Super League to the Chinese League One, some teams don't want to rent him out and want to buy out Chen Xingyi directly. Not to mention that Chen Hantang doesn't agree, even Dashun Golden Arrow's manager Xue won't agree.
Some teams were willing to loan Chen Xingyi and promised to give Chen Xingyi a lot of playing opportunities. But when Chen Hantang took a step closer and asked how many games these "many playing opportunities" would be, the other team started to play haha. Then this
It is obvious that Zhong has not seriously considered the arrangements for Chen Xingyi after loaning him out. Of course Chen Hantang is not willing to let his son go to such a team.
There are also some teams that have clearly told them that they are prepared to let Chen Xingyi play no less than twenty games throughout the season, but as Chen Hantang said just now, they are unwilling to implement this commitment into the contract and are unwilling to form a legally binding contract.
Who can say for sure about this kind of thing? Do you believe their verbal promises? What if my son doesn’t play enough games and I come to you, can you admit it?
Chen Xingyi also frowned after hearing his father's complaint.
He originally thought that with his ability, it would not be difficult to lower his stature to play in the Chinese League One and find a team willing to give him a chance to grow.
Who would have thought that reality would be so skinny...
"Well, after all, it is a loan, which is equivalent to helping Golden Arrow cultivate talents. Many clubs are unwilling to do this. Golden Arrow does not give them training fees, but also charges them rental fees..." Chen Hantang sighed. "How about my son?
If we stay and work hard at Golden Arrow, I can’t believe we’ve already won the league championship, and Wang Xianke still refuses to give you a chance?”
Chen Xingyi did not answer him because he was not sure yet what the next step should be.
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Shi Wuyin also closed Chen Xingyi's scouting report, opened the third report, pointed to the player photos on the screen and said to Li Zhifei: "I think this is okay."
Li Zhifei came up to look at the name, and then nodded: "I think it's okay too."
Shi Wuyuan laughed: "It seems that we two heroes have the same idea."
"Not only him, but also his teammates in the club, the central defender who is two years older than him." Li Zhifei said, "Is his name Wang Guangwei? In the Chinese League One last season, he was the main defensive force of the Flash Stars. Last season
They only conceded 33 goals and ranked third in the defensive list of the entire Chinese League One. Zhao Kangming’s training contributed a lot to this, but Wang Guangwei’s performance also contributed a lot.”
"Actually, my next report will be to Wang Guangwei."
"If Zhang Qinghuan hadn't been twenty-three years old, I actually think he could have been selected. His last performance last season made me believe that he really has turned around..." Li Zhifei rubbed his chin and said with regret.
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Shi Wuyin waved his hand quickly: "Come on, Lao Li. I want to recruit Zhang Qinghuan as well. Do you believe that Lao Zhao can fly to the capital tomorrow to kill me? As soon as the league started, you directly recruited the entire center of his team.
Axis, he really wants to fight you tooth and nail!"
Of course Li Zhifei knew it, and said with a smile: "So I'm just talking, but if I ask for his two favorite generals, one in front of the other, he may also want to kill you. Of course, it's you who will be killed, not me, haha
!”
On the LCD screen of the computer, Hu Lai in the background of the ID photo was grinning, very happy.
