Reporter Cheng Shan reported that about a week after the end of the Swiss Super League, Li Lei, a Chinese foreign player, appeared in the live broadcast room of "Football" as promised, sharing his feelings about staying in Foreign Countries with fans. Li Lei, who appears in the camera, is on vacation, and compared with Guo Tianyu, who is also in quarantine with lianmai in this newspaper, the beauty of Lake Zurich is easier for people to relax. Perhaps because of the tempering of Liu Yang, Li Lei under the sunshine looks a lot thinner, and people look very energetic.
Li Lei told us that as soon as the team's game ended last week, he took the time to go to Italy and visit Zaccheroni, who had previously coached Guoan, "Probably because he was infected with the new crown before, so he looked a lot older than before, and I talked to him for a while." Li Lei said. Li Lei asked his friend to buy two tickets to prepare to see the Champions League final, before because the domestic league is in progress, so there is no way to go to the scene to feel, this time because the holiday is very short, there is no way to return to China, so I want to feel the atmosphere.
During the whole exchange process, Li Lei was very frank and could feel that his career in Yangyang brought him more thinking about football. As for his future career in foreign countries, Li Lei said that he still has the strength to compete in the team, "I am not convinced, I still want to participate in the competition, and I have no intention of returning to China." ”
It is worth mentioning that today, it is also Li Lei's 30th birthday, and I hope that he will really enter the year of standing and have greater gains in the new season.
◆ "Football": Let's start from the beginning, what prompted you to make the decision to stay in the Ocean in the first place?
Li Lei: At that time, my contract with Guoan was still half a year away, and my agent came to me and said that I had the opportunity to play abroad and asked if I wanted to go out and try it. At that time, I considered that the quality of domestic matches and training quality were gradually declining, so I wanted to go out and try it, after all, this was indeed my childhood dream, although it was not the top european league, but I could go abroad to feel the atmosphere of European professional football, I was still willing to try it.
At that time, I really didn't think about it a lot, after meeting with my agent, it was exactly the end of the top 40 competition, because I couldn't leave Shanghai during the holidays, so my family came to Shanghai to see me, I told my daughter-in-law that I wanted to go abroad to play football, she was very supportive of me, I had two children, my parents were getting older, but they were still more supportive of me, my wife and my two mothers helped me to keep my home very well, let me play here without pressure.
◆ You said before you stayed in Yangyang that you hoped to play the main rotation of grasshoppers in April, but you have already done this in February.
Yes, but I didn't expect to delay the four games of the national team for various reasons, for me it is more regrettable, I can only say that there are gains and losses, football is always changing, everyone still looks forward. Next year's Asian Cup, I hope to work with everyone to make some changes on the stage of the Asian Cup, and I also hope to give the fans and friends some confidence, so that everyone is more willing to go back to the stadium and let their children also work on this project, I think this is what we need to do. In fact, I am out now, it is difficult to think about how much improvement, but I hope to make everyone have confidence in football again, everything still starts from the child.
◆ What is the biggest feeling for you about the rhythm of training and competition abroad?
In Europe, you will not be given too much breathing space, everyone thinks that we are not good at stopping the ball in the game, the technical action is deformed, these things are often accumulated through the intensity of the game and the intensity of training, not as everyone says that our technology and basic skills are not good. Sometimes in the game we are in an anaerobic state, when lactic acid is piling up, and the opponent is always at this rhythm in training and competition, so it is easier for them to adapt to the game. Like in the domestic league we are all foreign aid with kicks, our domestic players only need to do the work involved; in the international arena, in Europe, everyone is a domestic aid, you are a foreign aid, you need you to help the team, if you can't do this, you come to Europe to play is meaningless.
◆ Can you feel a strong competitive pressure?
When I first arrived in Switzerland, it was a physical reserve period, so the team practiced three times a day, went out to run across the country at eight o'clock in the morning, ran for half an hour, and then trained in the gym in the morning and field confrontation training in the afternoon. Winter in Switzerland is cold, you need to have a lot of willpower, it doesn't give you a lot of respite and rest, it's the same in the game and in training, I trained on the first day of training in the grasshopper, the team striker kicked my leg blue, it was just a normal training confrontation, even if it was training in the team, they wouldn't let you, no matter where you were.
◆ How about the amount of training in Grasshopper in Switzerland compared to the amount of training in Guoan in Beijing?
In the usual training season, our team has a larger training volume than other teams, and Europeans have complained to me that it is very difficult, and the physical coach has practiced too much. We still have to talk about the results. Beijing Guoan is a strong team in the Chinese Super League, controlling the ball at the foot, or saving some physical energy; our team last season was in the lower middle position, need to defend, fight physically.
◆ After watching your team's games, in the games that have played for Grasshoppers this season, it feels like you are very close to the front as a full-back.
Because our team plays a three-back formation, we need more attacks from full-backs, the Swiss Super League's offensive and defensive conversion is very fast, if you don't press too far ahead, and then you want to press up, you will be very slow, the running distance will become longer, it will affect your rhythm of the game. Playing three-back here, I feel more like a full-back, a winger or a wing-back, and there's more pressure on this side.
◆ "Football": The 2022 season of the Chinese Super League is about to start, how to view the prospects of Guoan this season?
Li Lei: Guoan has introduced a lot of people this year, including foreign aid, and I don't know what level of foreign aid I am not training in the team now, but I think the whole framework of Guoan is still there, so this year they still have a good chance. Although the age of the main force is one year older, but the overall experience is still there, especially this format, the weather is so hot, which is not a bad thing for the old players to some extent, they can rely on experience to control the ball under their feet, but there will be a different effect.
As Schmidt said before, he likes to use young players very much, but in July and August, the physical advantages of young players cannot be played, but the old players can control the ball under their feet, which can save a lot of physical energy. Guoan's structure is still relatively competitive, last year we were also a better framework, but in the middle of the period Vieira left the team, and Augusto has not returned, and this year the team has become more complete, more united, and has a better performance in performance.
◆ Guoan's workers' stadium is the devil's home of the Chinese Super League, in the Swiss Super League this season, which stadium has left a deep impression on you?
St. Gallen, they are also green, the home capacity is almost eighteen thousand people, it is a professional stadium, very small, but every game is full, and the fans cheer very neatly. The best stadium is basel's, but it's St. Gallen that has influenced me the most, because their venue is small and gives you a strong sense of oppression.
◆ After this period of exercise, is your language problem solved now?
The coaches speak English, the official language is German, there are a lot of players in the team who speak Italian and French, and many people in Switzerland speak three languages, but English is not the most popular here, although they basically speak English. Sometimes in the team meeting, I need to listen to the coach's technical and tactical arrangements very carefully and carefully, but even if I listen carefully and carefully, I can't understand it, and sometimes I still encounter communication problems, which I think is a big part of the reason why we Chinese players come out to play football and encounter problems. The language barrier and cultural differences make our communication with our teammates and coaches poor, which is a problem that young players need to overcome when they come out to stay in the west, and they have to learn the language first.
◆ You and Guo Tianyu stayed in the ocean at the same time and talked about the past of the confrontation between the two of you.
I had a confrontation with him in the national team, I remember very clearly, it was hot at that time, I dragged Guo Tianyu's clothes, he dragged me for ten meters, and finally I couldn't drag him, so I let go and gave up, let him run, if I could, I didn't want to play with him, I still wanted to play full-back.
◆ In terms of personality and psychology, how do you feel after staying in The Ocean?
I think everyone must sink the impetuous mentality and be rational. After I came to Europe, I stopped watching the news because I was worried that my mentality would become bad after watching it. Originally, I was quite lonely after I arrived here, and sometimes I would think that it was easy to give up, and I wanted to go back to China after saying a word or two, and I could find the team to go back to play, and it took some motivation to insist here. I now feel that I should have the strength to compete in this team, so I am not convinced, and I still want to participate in the competition, and I have no intention of returning to China.
◆ "Football": We know that you have experienced many difficulties in this stage of your career in the west, looking back on this period of staying abroad, do you think it is worth a trip?
Li Lei: There have been difficulties in the middle, and I have thought about retreating, including the idea of going back, but I think this experience is still very valuable to me, I still want to prove myself here, our Chinese players are not worse than others, as long as we are given a certain amount of time, whether it is in the top league in Europe or the second level of European league, we can adapt. Even Japanese and Korean players cannot all play in the five major leagues, there are also many Japanese and Korean players in the Swiss Super League, and there are also Japanese and Korean players in the leagues of small countries such as Austria and the Netherlands, and they are not necessarily in the five major leagues.
◆ What is your evaluation of the Japanese and Korean teammates in the team?
There are two Japanese players in our team, one is a midfielder, the other is a center-back, the center-back is 2000, came with me this winter, and there is a Korean player born in 2002, known as Kylian Mbappe, his personal ability, dribbling and speed are relatively good, but because of language problems, communication is more difficult, so the game is played less. Those two Japanese players occupied important positions in the team.
Like Kawabe Jun's basic skills are more solid, the round-trip ability is relatively strong. I watched his games online in the first half of the year and said he was bad at the top, but after I went he got noticeably stronger in the second half of the year, and they were able to strengthen their bodies after coming out at the age of twenty-five or six. He is the most stable midfielder in the team and his position is unshakable.
The centre-back (SekobuYuki) is younger, because the other centre-back is injured, so he has more opportunities to play, and the more he plays, the better he plays, he has won the best rookie in the J League, so the ability he shows is really not like a player of his age. We must face up to the gap with Japanese and South Korean players, instead of taking a cloth to cover it when we see the gap, thinking that it is okay not to let people see it.
◆ Zhu Chenjie and Sekobu Dream were both born in 2000, do you think Zhu Chenjie will have the opportunity to embark on the road of staying in the Ocean like SetoBu Dream in the future?
In my opinion, Zhu's ability to go to European leagues like the Netherlands and Austria is no problem, but the ability problem and the adaptation problem are two different things. Before (Zhang) Xizhe went out at that age, he had the ability to play football in Europe, but the ability to adapt hindered his development, and when he arrived in Europe, he needed to communicate with everyone, like I was not very good at English, but in Switzerland, even if it was a dance, it was necessary to communicate and try to integrate into the culture of the team.
◆ Two days ago, I saw you and Wu Lei communicate in the live broadcast, and now that I have gone out, is it better to understand Wu Lei?
For example, Wu Lei, if he wants to return to China, there must be a good contract waiting for him, but he is still insisting on playing time for ten minutes abroad, which is not easy, and he can really feel his difficulty after coming out. A lot of times the outside world will look at you with discrimination, you are a Chinese player, you join a Chinese team to play, in fact, this kind of thing I think there is no shame, our country is strong, we go to our country to invest in the team to play, this is very normal.
◆ When do you plan to return to your home country for vacation at the end of the season? You just said that there have been times when you want to retreat, so when do you plan to return to China (after ending your stay in the West)?
I was going to wait until I felt like I couldn't play, or that I couldn't compete with players in the same position, and then I would go back to China. When do I return home for vacation? Next summer, I am now trying to find a way to let my wife and children come over, but now because of the epidemic abroad, it is more difficult to apply for a visa, and I am waiting.