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text/wu lichuan, special commentator of jiupai news

on the evening of september 10, in the second round of the asian qualifiers for the world cup, the chinese men's football team lost a 1:2 reversal at home to the saudi team, losing a good opportunity. the chinese national football team did try their best, but they were still "killed" by their opponents even though they were ahead 1:0 at the start and their opponents had one player sent off, showing their shortcomings in on-the-spot adjustments. the fact that can be seen with the naked eye is that compared with the timely and targeted substitutions of the saudi team, the substitutions and changes of the chinese national football team were obviously a beat slower and not in place. in particular, several starting players were obviously unable to run, but they did not send in new players in time to stabilize the situation. the head coach bears the main responsibility for this.

however, the problem of one game is just the tip of the iceberg. in other words, even if the chinese national football team draws or even wins against a strong opponent in this game, it cannot change the overall situation of the further "slippage" of chinese football in recent years. the chinese national football team has fallen from a first-class or quasi-first-class team in asia more than 20 years ago to the weakest among the top 18. there are factors such as "fake gambling and black" gnawing at the foundation of the league and even disrupting the structure of the national football team, causing the rapid decline of the national football strength, and there are also factors such as superficial youth training for many years, which has led to a lack of successors in the national football team. in last night's game, several young players took to the field, but some of the young players obviously did not have solid basic skills and lacked tactical training, which is a clear proof. the problem is that they are already the best among the new generation.

in the case of both the basic strength and talent inventory being extremely embarrassing, it is okay to discuss the head coach's gains and losses, but the fundamental direction is to jump out of the temporary issue of winning and losing, and see and start to solve the fundamental problems of chinese football. only when chinese football "recovers from a serious illness" and returns to the right track, will there be fewer regrets of "the cooked duck flew away", and more and more games that should be won will be won.

one issue that cannot be ignored is that while paying attention to the performance of the national football team, we should also pay attention to the football atmosphere in society. in the china-saudi arabia match, there were more than 40,000 spectators on site. at a time when chinese football has sunk to a low point, such an attendance rate is not simple, and it also gives chinese football an incentive. although the national football team has been "fought and defeated" for several years, which has also hit the confidence of fans, in general, among the people, "chinese football" has another way of expression. this is especially the case with the rise of the village super league and the village world cup. the national and even international reputation of the village super league is impressive. in guizhou and xuzhou, jiangsu, this football enthusiasm has infected fans across the country, giving people hope that chinese football can get out of the quagmire. all these scenes show that chinese football is not dead.

image source: xinhua news agency

the grassroots football craze represented by the village super league and the village boundary cup is inspiring, but it is obvious that the village super league and the village boundary cup alone are not enough.

"rebuilding the country and waiting for the next generation", rebuilding chinese football and making it turn around, cannot bypass the following issues: making the football atmosphere in the whole society stronger and making the youth football movement develop colorfully.

objectively speaking, we still have a lot of room for improvement and progress in related fields. the author has been active in the "wild ball" circle in nanjing for many years, and is deeply aware that in addition to the enthusiasm of grassroots football, there is also a skinny side. for example, most of the people who support the city's "wild ball" pattern are middle-aged people, and more young people are needed to "strengthen". in youth football, although the number of children participating in football training is gradually increasing, whether the passion for training can continue is a test. in fact, the burden of academic studies, the alienation of material selection, and the lack of venues have caused some good seedlings to disappear outside the threshold. the phenomenon of "retirement at the age of 12" by domestic football enthusiasts, which has attracted media attention, has become a pain point.

from a holistic perspective, we can see the great impact of this phenomenon. the narrow selection of national youth teams, the scarcity of good players, and the uneven level of the coaching team have long plagued the construction of the "chinese team". it is heartbreaking that the national youth teams have been hovering on the edge of "breaking out of asia" for many years. fortunately, the latest u15 and u16 national youth teams have a wider selection range than before, and many new stars have emerged, which has also enabled these two teams to win in many tough battles, including the u15 national football team's 4:1 victory over south korea. this is a real example of "a strong youth means a strong country."

it is always the easiest to be discouraged, but it is the hardest to be encouraged. today, when chinese football is facing unprecedented difficulties, we need more village super leagues and village world cups to cheer for chinese football. we need more xu genbao and sun jihai to devote themselves to grassroots football and youth football, and jointly retain a trace of vitality for chinese football. to this end, from professional football to amateur football, it is extremely important and urgent to really calm down, act according to the rules of football, work together to improve the football atmosphere of the whole society, attract more young talents to enter the training ground of chinese football, and connect the "broken" links in the football inheritance system.

[source: jiupai news]