Reporter Jia Yanfeng reported that for 23-year-old Wang Yi, December 12, 2021 is a memorable day, in Shenhua's 3-0 win over Qingdao, he completed his debut in the Chinese Super League, before, he had been in the competition list five times, but has not had the opportunity to play.
In Shenhua's 1-1 Cangzhou match, Wang Yi contributed an assist, which was his first direct involvement in scoring a goal. In the three games of the second stage of the Chinese Super League, he started all in a position of right-back to which he was accustomed. Shenhua acting coach Mao Yijun said that Wang Yi has great potential, and if he has more opportunities, he will play better.
Wang Yi, who has regained his Chinese citizenship, has a simple goal of becoming an international footballer. As a Chinese born in Italy, in addition to Italian, he can also say Chinese, but the speed of speech can not be too fast, and at the same time, the use of words can not be too complicated. In this interview with this newspaper, he used Chinese.
Wang Yi and his brother were both born in a small Italian town called Alba, about an hour's drive from Turin.
Wang Yi's parents opened a Chinese restaurant in the local area, before going to school, his brother often took him to play in the back alley, his brother originally wanted to take the road of professional players, but then there was no room for growth, but Wang Yi played professional football.
"I live in a very small city, I started school at the age of six, my parents saw that I liked to play football, so I found an institution in the local area that specializes in teaching elementary school students to play football, and every day after school, I followed my classmates to play football there until I graduated from elementary school, and later, Juve scouts found me." Wang Yi said.
In Italy, there are many youth training institutions that teach primary school students to play football, most of which are not for profit, but only symbolically charge some tuition, and the coaches basically have no professional player background, just because they like football. In addition to these youth training institutions, there are also some professional club football schools or echelons, at that time, Wang Yi did not want to take the road of professional players, and his parents did not consider those.
Wang Yi's city has a special youth regional league, which plays the main and away games every week, and the regional youth league at the primary school level has more than a dozen teams in each age group, with a lot of participants and a very high elimination rate.
"We are based on the year, every year before Christmas, football training institutions will send a letter to each family, explaining the situation of the trainees, if they are very talented and suitable for continuing to play football, the coach will directly tell the parents that they should continue to support, if it is not suitable or the progress is not great, the coach will be more gentle, asking 'If it is only as a hobby, will you support your children to continue?' Some will persist, and some may give up. "Wang Yi has been persevering, he has also done a good job, at the age of 12, one of Juve's scouts watched him play several regional league games, praised his performance, invited him to juve youth camp U14 echelon trial training.
His parents supported him to go to Juve, where Wang Yi played for a total of five years.
Wang Yi said that Italian children play a lot of football when they are young, but only a few really play professional football, "the competition is particularly fierce, the elimination rate is very high, many factors may lead to the interruption of the player's football career, injuries, learning, as well as physical development and personal interests." I had a couple of strong teammates, and because of the move, the football dream was forced to stop. Wang Yi said.
Wang Yi was 13 years old when he entered the Juve Youth Academy and was in junior high school.
"At that time, the scout recommended me to go to the Juve academy U14 echelon for a trial, and within a few days I was selected. I had to train for two hours a day, but my school was in Alba, so every day after school at 4:30, my dad took me to Turin and came home after training, almost 9:30 p.m. At that time, for Wang Yi, staying up late was a common thing, because when he returned home, he still had to write homework, often until one or two in the morning, and occasionally got up at four or five in the morning to write again.
"This kind of day, almost lasted for a year and a half, my father was very hard, and he had to work and pick me up, but my parents were more distressed about me, and they felt that staying up late was not good for my health, and then they discussed it and moved their family to Turin." It can be said that his parents gave Wang Yi the greatest support, and he has always been grateful, never afraid of suffering or tiredness in training, but in the end, he did not sign a professional contract with Juve.
"The competition is too fierce. I went to a Serie B club where the youth team played a lot of games, but still failed to get into the professional league and play official matches. Wang Yi said, "My parents have always paid attention to the Chinese professional league, after all, we are Chinese, they hope that I can have the opportunity to play for the Chinese team, after some operation and communication, I have restored my Chinese nationality, and my people have also returned." After a period of trial training at Shenhua, in March this year, Wang Yi signed a contract.
During the five years of Juve's youth camp, Wang Yi said that he had learned a lot. "The Juve echelon is all elite, but the elimination rate is very high, almost every year some people are eliminated, so everyone is very hard and self-disciplined, without too much restraint and management of the club. At that time, we were training, basically based on the concept of Italian football, constantly expanding and improving, such as defensive training is particularly meticulous, on the basis of doing a good job to improve the attack. Wang Yi said.
At Juve, Wang Yi played full-back, the coach's requirement is that doing a good job of defense is always the first, the concept of defense is not to try to cut off the opponent's ball at once, but to have prejudgment, while cooperating with teammates, blocking the opponent's passing route, not allowing the other party to take the ball comfortably, passing the ball.
'Italy's football philosophy is very focused on team defence, and the coach often stresses that don't feel like one person can solve all the problems, learn to cooperate with teammates, or ask for support, for example, if I am physically exhausted after a few times, then I will ask the full-back to defend for me, and the two of us must also have a plan and cooperation in the distribution of physical fitness." Wang Yi said.
In training and competition, Wang Yi and Zhu Baojie communicate a lot, and they often have to help each other make up for the position. In addition, Jonik also gave Wang Yi a lot of help, and he also quickly adapted to the Chinese Super League.
As a professional player, you have to keep your mouth shut. When Wang Yi was in the Juve Youth Training Camp, in addition to basic education, sports nutrition is also a very important course that must be exposed to from an early age. "Professional players have to give up the obsession of 'like to eat', the first thing to consider is what they should eat, and what is most helpful for maintaining physical fitness. How to eat before and after training, how to eat before and after the game, and what to pay attention to when you are particularly tired. Wang Yi said, "Overall, the food culture of athletes should be monotonous and light."
In Italy, before the game, you will generally eat some vegetable salad, a little boiled chicken plus a little pasta; after the game, depending on the individual situation, the general principle is not to eat too much, otherwise the blood will be concentrated in the stomach to help digestion, thus affecting the decomposition of lactic acid, and there is a threat of injury after a long time. For the Chinese Super League, Wang Yi said that after playing the game is generally more tired, after taking a bath, I want to rest early, and basically eat some fruits and vegetables for dinner.
At Juve Academy, the diet plan is developed by dietitians and chefs together, with dietitians playing a leading role. In addition to weighing each month, body fat and body function are also measured. "In Juve, being overweight is punishable by fines." Wang Yi said that he was not worried about this, he was distressed that he could not gain weight, and in the full-back position, he had to be stronger.
"Every day, I increase my muscles and strengthen my confrontation by adding strength, and every time I go to the gym, I find that my teammates are almost all there, all spontaneously after the game." Wang Yi said.
When he first arrived in Shanghai, Wang Yi had diarrhea almost every day, for the simple reason that he was not adapted to his diet. "There are more vegetables, oils and spices here, and I don't seem to absorb them very well, so I always have diarrhea, but now I'm getting used to it." Wang Yi said.
While in Shanghai, teammates would take Wang Yi to eat some more authentic Chinese dishes, such as hot pot and barbecue. "In Italy, there are also fondue restaurants that Chinese opened, but I haven't been there. The first time I ate hot pot in Shanghai, I was scared silly. What scared Wang Yi silly was the pig brain flower, "That's something that Italians absolutely don't eat, and I will think a lot about that shape and color, as well as hairy belly, louvers, pig blood, duck blood, I won't eat it." I only eat clear soup shabu-shabu or some slices of meat, and I rarely eat spices, really, this is a very different food culture. Wang Yi said. Later, his teammates stopped ordering dishes that scared him.
"For roast meat, I only eat steak, lamb loin, beef offal and the like, I will not eat, the last thing I can stand is spicy." I had a spicy one, and for a few days afterward, I was worried that my mouth would spew fire when I spoke, and there was a feeling that my mouth was not my own, and it was difficult to control the shape of my mouth. After that, every time he went out to dinner with his teammates, Wang Yi made a request, not spicy.
Wang Yi said that playing football in Shenhua is very happy, there is a feeling of home, although he has not seen his parents and relatives for almost two years, but everyone in the team is very kind to him and cares about him, which allows him to fully focus on football. And his biggest wish is to be able to go from Shenhua to the national team and become a Chinese international.