Reporter Chen Yong reported that on the eve of the Spring Festival, in Meizhou Hakka Hengpi Football Town, the reporter met the Jiangsu U15 team (2007 age group) and its head coach Zhai Weizhong, when the Jiangsu U15 team was warming up with the U15 team of Hubei Xinghui Youth Academy, xinghui youth training academy is a strong team in the rise of Chinese youth training in recent years, its U17 team once won the U14 championship in 2019, and the strength of the U15 team is also quite outstanding.
But what surprised the reporter was that this little-known Jiangsu U15 team performed very well, and the Xinghui U15 team had mutual attack and defense, and also showed good tactical literacy and technical ability in the game.
In the process of talking with Zhai Weizhong, head coach of Jiangsu Football Association and coach of Jiangsu U15, the reporter also found that this Jiangsu U15 team and the original Suning echelon did not have much blood relationship, but a young team that had been established for only two years. "The training level of our team is higher than the level of competition, so we are also trying our best to solve the problem of competition level, this winter training came to Guangdong and Meizhou, but also hope to play with more excellent teams like Hubei Youth Academy, accumulate game experience."
During the interview, reporters who did not know much about the history of Jiangsu football also found that Zhai Weizhong was also the mentor of Ji Xiang, Zhou Yun, Sun Ke, Li Ang, Huang Zichang and many other famous players in Jiangsu football. At the beginning of 2021, Jiangsu Suning withdrew from the Chinese Professional League, so far Jiangsu Football lost the top football clubs, but in the predicament, more low-level professional clubs in Jiangsu Football are adhering to and developing, and the good performance of this Jiangsu U15 team also makes people see the dawn of the future of Jiangsu football.
Jiangsu U15, there is only one Suning echelon member
In the reporter's initial speculation, this Jiangsu U15 team is most likely a team that was acquired by the Jiangsu Football Association after the dissolution of Jiangsu Suning, but Zhai Weizhong told reporters that this is a brand new team, in fact, it is not related to Jiangsu Suning.
"Our team was founded in December 2019, when Suning did not organize teams in the age group of 07 and 08, so the Jiangsu Football Association selected this team to prepare for the National Games in the province, such as Wuxi, Suzhou, Xuzhou, Nantong and other places, which is a brand new team." Zhai Weizhong said.
In two years, the team has also increased or decreased its personnel, but at present, there is only one player in this team from the Jiangsu Suning Echelon.
At present, Zhai Weizhong also serves as the head coach of the Jiangsu Football Association, which currently has 6 men's football coaches and teams in the 2007 age group and the 2009 age group team.
After forming a team, it is to prepare for the game, and this team and other teams of the same age group in the country can be described as "not in time": the team in the 2007 age group was originally scheduled to play in the U13 League as a U13 team in the 2020 season, but because of the epidemic, the Youth Super League was suspended, and it was not until the 2021 season that this team played the National U15 League, when the team was in a group with Guangzhou Evergrande, Shenzhen and Dalian people, and achieved a record of 1 win and 2 losses, considering that the opponents were all Chinese Super League echelons. And the team is only the U14 team, the record is actually not bad.
In 2021, Jiangsu U14 team also participated in a jiangsu traditional competition: the 2021 Yangzhou Grand Canal City Football Elite Invitational Tournament, which included Xinghui Youth Academy, Wuhan Sanzhen, and two teams from Suzhou and Hefei, and Jiangsu U14 team participated as Baonan School U14 team 1 team and 2 team. The reason why it is called Baonan School U14 Team is because the Jiangsu 2007 age group team officially entered Baoying Baonan International School in April 2021, and before that, in 2009, Jiangsu Youth Women's Football Team also entered the school.
Another base of the team is the Jiangning Football Training Base, which has more than 10 pieces of turf, and has perfect accommodation, catering, rehabilitation medical treatment, strength room, swimming pool and other supporting facilities, the football national team has been training here for a long time, the Chinese men's football team, the Chinese women's football team has also been training here, and the base also holds youth invitational tournaments all year round.
In the end, Zhai Weizhong led the team to win the Grand Canal Invitational Tournament, which was also the team's first championship, which greatly boosted the morale of the team.
However, Zhai Weizhong also told reporters that in two years, Jiangsu 2007 age group team played the regular game, that is, there are only 6 games with regular referee law enforcement, of which 3 are the Grand Canal Invitational Tournament, the other 3 are last year's U15 Youth League group stage, the rest is just a warm-up game, although there are referees to enforce the law, but it is not a regular game. "This is also why I say that the team's training level is higher than the level of competition, after we formed, we have not had the opportunity to play more games, many games can only be tried to play, such as we played warm-up matches with Jiangning Football Training Base and Jiangsu Women's Football and Jiangsu Youth Women's Football in 2020." In this case, we can only carry out stricter requirements in terms of training on a daily basis. ”
The luck of this group of young players is that Zhai Weizhong is a youth coach who has been deeply involved in youth training for more than 20 years, and it is precisely under the coaching of Zhai Weizhong and other coaches of the Jiangsu Football Association that this team has shown very good technical ability and tactical quality.
Zhai Weizhong has been deeply involved in Jiangsu youth training for 21 years
Perhaps fans across the country are not familiar with Zhai Weizhong, but as long as he mentions another identity, fans will suddenly realize: his other identity is Ji Xiang, Zhou Yun, Sun Ke, Li Ang, Huang Zichang's mentor.
Zhai Weizhong was born in 1969, in 1994 A A first year in Jiangsu Mater, playing as a defender, at the end of 2000, Zhai Weizhong retired, and then began to serve as the youth coach of Jiangsu Sainty Football Club, responsible for forming the club's 1989 age group echelon, in 2001, Zhai Weizhong began to continuously visit all parts of Jiangsu to inspect the team, that is, at this time, Sun Ke, Ji Xiang, Zhou Yun and Ge Wei were selected into the team.
Many years later, Sun Ke, Ji Xiang and Zhou Yun have become international footballers, of which Sun Ke once became the main force of the national team, although Ji Xiang did not become an absolute main force in the national team, but his career went more smoothly, following the Chinese Super League championship with Jiangsu Suning in 2020, he joined Shandong Taishan in 2021, and once again won the double crown of the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup as the main force.
"Sun Ke has been a football fanatic since he was a child, he is really obsessed with football, when he was young, everyone liked to go online, other people played games on the Internet, and as a result, he went online to find football videos to watch." Speaking of the story of Sun Ke's childhood, Zhai Weizhong was both relieved and distressed. When the reporter interviewed Li Weifeng earlier, Li Weifeng also told the story of Sun Ke in Tianjin: "In our team, other people I would like to let them study football in the house, watch videos, only Sun Ke, I just want him to come out and relax, because he likes to stay in the house and study football." ”
As for the technical characteristics, Zhai Weizhong also said: "Sun Ke plays full-back, winger, in fact, he is not fast, the reason why he plays well in the full-back position, it is very important that his ball sense is particularly good, combined with the ball is very good, not his absolute speed." ”
As for Ji Xiang, Zhai Weizhong also told reporters that Ji Xiang's growth to today's point is entirely the result of diligent and hard work. "Ji Xiang has been flat since he was a child, and generally speaking, flat feet are not suitable for playing football, but Ji Xiang is now playing very well, and has also achieved high results, winning the championship for two consecutive years, really happy for him, and he is very comprehensive, all of which he has practiced hard."
Speaking of Zhou Yun, Zhai Weizhong felt very sorry: "He is also very capable, and he can play for a few more years." ”
Since 2001, in the following 20 years, Zhai Weizhong has been in the youth training position, Li Ang and Zhang Xiaobin in the 1993 age group, and Huang Zichang and Li Yang in the 1997 age group are all from Zhai Weizhong's coaching.
In Jiangsu Suning, the last batch of players coached by Zhai Weizhong was the 2003 age group echelon, but his group of disciples can only find a way out with the dissolution of Jiangsu Suning.
Speaking of the dissolution of Jiangsu Suning, the coach who has been deeply involved in youth training for more than 20 years is also sighing: "What has happened, it is useless to say more, but Jiangsu football is still moving forward, on the one hand, Jiangsu has a number of professional clubs, many of which are in the middle division, which is the hope of Jiangsu professional football." On the other hand, Jiangsu youth football is also developing, and the Jiangsu Provincial Sports Bureau, the Football Control Center and the Football Association have given us enough support to form youth training teams at all levels so that the team can continue to move forward. The inheritance of Jiangsu football will not change. Zhai Weizhong said.
In the first year of the A in 1994, Jiangsu Mater was the founding team of China's top league, but then Jiangsu football had ups and downs, and its fate was uncertain:
At the end of 1994, Jiangsu was relegated, in 1996 he was relegated to the Second Division, and in 1997 he won the Second Division and returned to the First Division B. At the end of 2008, Jiangsu finally had a stable period after returning to the Chinese Super League, including the FA Cup in 2015 and the first top league championship in Jiangsu football in the 2020 season, but in early 2021, Jiangsu Suning was dissolved.
At the beginning of 2022, the Jiangsu U15 and U13 echelons flew to Meizhou, Guangdong Province, for training, showing a good level of technical and tactical skills, and in the plight of Jiangsu football, hope is also being nurtured.