Wu Xi, captain of the national football team: Back to the place where the story began丨 Choice 2021

Wu Xi (Nong Jian, Liang Shuyi/Photo)

On January 17, 2021, Wu Xi ushered in the highlight of his personal honor - winning the 2020 China Golden Globe Award. He is considered the best performing Chinese football player of 2020. At the award ceremony, Li Tie, then head coach of the national team, handed him a trophy.

"When [the organizers] contacted me, I thought it was me again this year, so it was you who made me fail to complete the hat-trick of the Chinese Golden Globe Awards." In the live blessing video, Wu Lei, who has won the Chinese Golden Globe Award twice, joked.

In November 2020, Jiangsu Suning beat Guangzhou Evergrande by a total score of 2:1 to lift the first Chinese Super League championship trophy in the history of the team, and captain Wu Xi played the whole game in the two-legged match.

"After the whistle, the players ran to the fan stands to celebrate, it was an unforgettable picture." At the end of December 2021, Wu Xi recalled to southern weekend reporters in a video interview. The Chinese Super League has not yet ended, he is still in Suzhou division for fully enclosed training, competition, can not be in direct contact with the outside world.

Winning a league title is no easy feat. In the past decade, Guangzhou Evergrande has won eight of them. In 2018, Shanghai SIPG won the Chinese Super League championship, preventing Guangzhou Evergrande from winning the eighth consecutive championship. Wu Lei was the star of Shanghai SIPG at the time, and he won the Year's China Golden Globe Awards.

"On the day of the award ceremony, Wu Xi relaxed and didn't have to think about football that day." Roman recalled to Southern Weekend reporters. He was Wu Xi's first agent and worked with each other for six years.

On the wall of Roman's office, the names of all the co-op players are pasted on the timeline. When Wu Xi was signed, Roman had been working as an agent for nine years.

After the Spring Festival, other Chinese Super League teams have begun to train, but the Jiangsu team has not been gathered for a long time, and the negative information of the club has poured in.

As the captain of the Jiangsu team, Wu Xi organized the players to return to Nanjing for training. The original training base was no longer available, and the players called the old base. Without a coach, Wu Xi and his teammates found Cao Rui, the assistant coach of the Jiangsu team at the time, and took the players to maintain their form.

"At that time, a group was set up, and whoever came to practice today and who did not practice spoke in the group." Wu Xi explained, "As a professional player, the biggest problem facing me is how to maintain my form, and it is also a challenge for my future, I don't know which club I will play, and then there will be national team matches." ”

On February 28, 2021, Jiangsu officially announced the suspension of operations, just over 100 days after the team won the first Chinese Super League championship in the team's history. This also means that Wu Xi, the captain of the Jiangsu team, the captain of the national football team and the winner of the Chinese Golden Globe Award, was unemployed on this day.

In the past decade, it has been called the "golden dollar football" era of Chinese Super League clubs, which is mostly supported by real estate developers as investors. Since 2019, the policy has been tightened, and the costly football club has become the first project cut by real estate developers.

As a professional player who has experienced the "Golden Dollar Football" for ten years, Wu Xi believes that players and practitioners are both beneficiaries and victims, "the most important thing is that the industry can operate in accordance with the laws of football, give everyone a sense of security, and will not affect the development of football itself because of off-court events." To this day, Wu Xi understands and regrets the unexpected bankruptcy of his old club Jiangsu Suning Football Club (the predecessor of Jiangsu team).

In the eight years of Jiangsu, Wu Xi played 238 games for Jiangsu in all competitions, scoring 29 goals and contributing 15 assists. As the core of the team, Wu Xi led the team to win the Chinese Super League championship, the FA Cup championship and the Super Cup.

After the team stopped operating, he once wrote in a Weibo review of the Jiangsu team's career, "It is a pity that I could not wear the uniform of the chest embroidered star for one day, but that star will always be in my heart." "As is customary, teams that win league titles generally have a star embroidered on their jerseys for the new season.

The transfer decision of the star player can affect the fate of the team and the ownership of the championship. Once they become free agents, a large number of teams will come to them, hoping to be part of the team's championship puzzle, at least not to leave them to potential opponents.

But Wu Xi's choice was relatively passive. At the peak of "Golden Dollar Football", he did not leave as a free body and had no transfer plans. The dissolution of the Jiangsu team surprised him and other players, and the opening day of the league was approaching day by day.

As China's top midfielder, many Chinese Super League teams have thrown olive branches to Wu Xi. "From the negotiation to the transfer decision, it was only about a week. The two of us also had relatively close ideas, and didn't even meet, it was all phone communication. Roman recalled.

On March 11, Wu Xi officially announced that he would join his old owner Shanghai Shenhua. Between 2010 and 2012, Wu Xi spent the first three years of her Chinese Super League career here before being traded to Jiangsu until the transfer. "There are teams with higher prices than Shanghai Shenhua, but Shenhua is the first team to issue an invitation after jiangsu team announced the suspension of operations, and it is also Wu Xi's old owner, and the club's investors are also very stable, familiar with all aspects, and it is convenient to travel to and from Nanjing to take care of the family." Roman explains.

Those two days Wu Xi was running between work and family. On the afternoon of the second day after the transfer was announced, Wu Xi's second child was born in Nanjing. His wife, Wang Yufei, recalled, "There were many things on the day, he hugged his son in a hurry in the hospital, and the next day he went to Shanghai. ”

In the eyes of his teammates, team reporters, agents, and wives, Wu Xi is self-disciplined and calm, and there are few emotional ups and downs on and off the field. A former reporter from the Shanghai Shenhua team told Southern Weekend that around 2010, the then head coach of the national Olympic team, Blazevic, selected four players from Shenhua, including Wu Xi, only Wu Xi was not scolded, "In addition to his excellent skills, there is also his calm character." ”

After most of the Jiangsu team members were settled, Wu Xi had a meal with his former teammates in Nanjing. Li Ang, a teammate of the national team and Jiangsu team, recalled to southern weekend reporters, "Several players shed tears, including Wu Xi. Wang Yufei also remembers this day, in her eyes, Wu Xi has strong self-control ability in weekdays, and his emotions are rarely exposed, which is his "rare moment".

Jiangsu Team's training base is 308 km from Shanghai Shenhua's Kangqiao Base. Because of the large amount of luggage, Wu Xi and her friends chose to drive there. "Nine years ago, I came to Nanjing to play football, and I also came by car." Wu Xi sighed, "Back to the Kangqiao base, it is very familiar, and the room layout has not changed much from before." ”

At the press conference, Wu Xi talked about returning to the role of "old" newcomers and adapting to the team. In jiangsu, Wu Xi has been wearing the no. 22 jersey. After Shenhua player Sharawi's early termination, the 22nd was vacant, but he finally chose the No. 12 shirt. Wu Xi said, "The son was born on the 12th, the eldest daughter was born on the 12th, and the wedding anniversary with his wife was also on the 12th, so this time I chose the No. 12 jersey." ”

Affected by the epidemic, the Chinese Super League continued the conference system last season, with players concentrated in Suzhou and Guangzhou for closed matches, no home and away divisions, no large-scale fan cheering, and only a small number of spectator seats. After returning to Shanghai Shenhua, Wu Xi has not been able to return to the home of Hongkou Stadium.

In the cold format, fans are still watching where the star's midfield goes. "Before the start of the league, a fan gave me a nail painting, which was a photo of me holding up a jersey when I joined Shanghai Shenhua, with nails pressed out, and now hanging in the room of the Suzhou base." Wu Xi said.

On April 23, 2021, Shanghai Shenhua made his debut against Beijing Guoan in the first round of the Chinese Super League of the new season. In the 65th minute, the unguarded Wu Xi swept the ball into the net to score the team's second goal, and Shanghai Shenhua also won 2:1 against Beijing Guoan. In the stands, Jiangsu fans pulled out banners to wish Wu Xi.

After winning the "opening red", Shanghai Shenhua's league road was not smooth. After 14 games, he scored 22 points, ranking fifth among the eight teams in Group B, and slid into the relegation group. Last season, Shanghai Shenhua also entered the championship group.

The regular home-and-away mode is generally one game a week, with more training time. Under the tournament system, players can only cope with intensive matches, and the tight schedule compresses the matches to about one game in three days. This has caused Wu Xi to integrate into the team, "lack of more time to participate in training, to understand what the team is like, to improve the understanding between teammates." ”

Olaroyu, who served as the head coach of Jiangsu and led Jiangsu to the 2020 Chinese Super League championship, is not worried about Wu Xi's adaptability in the new team. 'Wu Xi is one of the top players in China and his excellent skills and understanding of football are enough to help him adapt to any system or tactics." Olaroyu told Southern Weekend reporters.

Outside of the league, Wu Xi has a bigger task in 2021 to play in the national team. In 2011, he was selected for the national team for the first time, and it has been ten years since then, and he has also become the captain of the national team. For the 32-year-old, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is almost the last chance.

In May 2021, in the first match of the second round of the World Cup qualifiers held in the United Arab Emirates, China defeated Guam 7:0, Wu Xi scored a goal, and the next three matches, China also successfully won. Four consecutive wins have allowed fans as far away as China to see another chance to approach the World Cup 19 years later.

However, in the final stage of the game, the Chinese team only defeated Vietnam, losing to Australia, Japan and Saudi Arabia in succession, accumulating 5 points, ranking second from the bottom. With four games remaining, there is only a theoretical possibility for China to qualify.

Wu Xi was most impressed by the match with the Japanese team, "The first half was basically passive defense, handling the ball was also passive, there was no way to pass the ball comfortably, this came from the opponent's oppression of us, in addition to ability, but also psychology." After changing formations, we also had a few attacking opportunities that threatened the opposing goal, but there was still a gap. ”

In that match, Japan player Jun Ito also broke through the cross quickly on the right side, and teammate Daisuke Yong also grabbed the point in the penalty area and scored the only goal of the game. "Defending is also a difficult thing, the more impressive thing is the ball lost, maybe two or three people can break through the defense of six or seven of us." Wu Xi recalled.

Li Tie, head coach of the Chinese men's national football team, said at the post-match press conference, "I am very satisfied with the hard work of all the players on the pitch. Personally, I feel that the players have worked very hard and have done their best. On December 3, the Chinese Football Association approved Li Tie's resignation application, and the head coach of the Chinese men's football team was taken over by Li Xiaopeng, the head coach of Wuhan Club.

During the West Asian match, Wu Xi also accidentally met former head coach Olaroyu on the court. After leaving Jiangsu in 2021, he came to the UAE to coach. Olaroyu recalled that when he met Wu Xi and another Jiangsu team member, Li Ang, "Wu Xi has hardly changed, and has always been very humble. ”

It is blissful to meet familiar people. The Chinese men's football team will fly to West Asia three times in 2021, and each time it returns to China, it will need to carry out a "14+7" isolation, coupled with the long closed league, it is difficult for players to get together with teammates, family and friends other than staff.

In 2021, Wu Xi spent most of the time abroad, closed, isolated, and spent less than two months with her family. He had only seen it five times since his son was born. "During the 7 days of home isolation, my wife would come to Shanghai with her two children. For children, it may be the happiest time. Wu Xi said with a smile.

On Wu Xi's left arm, there is a string of blue English letter tattoos. He explained that it was the English name of his wife and two children, and in 2016 he added the names of his wife and daughter, and in 2021 he added the name of his son.

Unable to get together with their families, the foreign competition and the format of the tournament system have given players from different teams more opportunities to meet. Zheng Zheng and Wu Xi of the Shandong team joked, "It is because of this state of isolation that everyone has seen each other for a lifetime." ”

At the end of January 2022, China will face the next opponents Japan and Vietnam. Wu Xi will most likely fly to Japan with his national team teammates to chase the last chance to enter the World Cup. When she won the 2020 Chinese Super League, Wu Xi shed tears. He said, "Hopefully the next tear will be to reach the World Cup." ”

Southern Weekend reporter Wu Chao