On February 22, Beijing time, the recent announcement by the Guangzhou team to build the club into a "cradle platform" has aroused heated discussion, which means that the Guangzhou team will use a large number of young players from football schools in the new season, and even accept relegation, which is considered to be a bit too aggressive. However, a more radical team than Guangzhou was born.
This team is not a Chinese Super League team, but a relegation team from the Chinese Second Division, Kunming Zhenghe Boatmen. Last season, Kunming Zheng He Boatman lost 4 draws and 10 defeats in the first stage of the Chinese Second League, and finally relied on 2 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in the second stage to make a thrilling relegation, ranking 18th in the second season in the second season.
However, yesterday, this relegation team suddenly announced a major decision to move the club's U16 echelon players to the first team. According to the official information of Zheng He Shipwrights, the mixed formation of the team U15 and U16 played a teaching match with the first team on the 20th. After the teaching match, the club announced that the age-appropriate players of the U16 echelon will come down to train with the first team to prepare for the 2022 season of the Chinese Second League.
Zheng He said the move was aimed at building a better platform for young players to develop, and it was also a milestone day for the club since its establishment in 2017. However, Zheng He's boatman only announced this news, and has not yet given a specific list of U16 echelon players promoted to the front line.
I have to say that Zheng He's approach to the boatman is quite bold, after all, most of the local players are more "late-ripening" now, and there are very few players who can play professional leagues at the age of 16. For these players, being able to train with the first team and have the opportunity to play in the new season's Central B league is indeed a very good opportunity, but it also carries certain risks.
You know, last season, our U20 national youth team also participated in the Chinese Second Division. In the first stage, 5 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses in 14 rounds, and 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses in the second stage of 7 rounds, they finally ranked 11th in the Central B League, which is the middle level of the Central B. However, Zheng He's U16 echelon players are a full 4 years younger than our U20 national youth players, and whether they can really adapt to the Chinese Second Division is still a big question mark.
This question mark also exists in the Guangzhou team, which is about to use a large number of football school players, although some of the football school players of the Guangzhou team performed well in the second stage of the game last season, but this does not mean that the football school players have been able to gain a foothold in the Chinese Super League. Many football school players have trained with the first team for a long time before slowly increasing their chances of playing. If they are promoted to the main position all at once next season, will the players have enough ability to withstand this pressure?
As li Xuan, a media person, said, it is acceptable for Zheng He to let U16 players play in the middle B, but there must be enough wisdom in the use of players, otherwise it may greatly discourage the confidence of players.
Attaching importance to young players and reusing young players is indeed in line with the expectations of fans, but the basis of all this should be that the players themselves have this ability, and hope that such "promotion" will not eventually become a tragedy of "seedlings".