Gaudí: A few years later, this is the end of my career

Reporter Jia Yanfeng reports on the first close encounter with Gaudí, he is an ordinary player of Luneng ; At the time of goodbye, he was already Ivankovich's beloved general; The third time I saw him was in Lao Bu's Olympic team; In the Antic era, when the reporter interviewed Luneng again, Gaudí had already left there.

"One man, one city" is a great hold, but it is not the norm in professional football. Gaudí's career has been drifting, the Chinese Super League One, the North and the South, in fact, he just wants to find a suitable long-term foothold.

Blazević once said: "Success is not linear, nor can it be represented only by championships, titles, power, fame or money." Success can be a process of constant self-knowledge, growth, improvement and development of a person. Every day turn yourself into a better, smarter, more conscious person ... No matter how the environment changes, whether you are a celebrity or an ordinary person, as long as you can pursue a more perfect belief in your own faith, work hard for eternity, life will not fail everyone who works hard. This passage could not be more appropriate for the current Gaudí.

Gaudí is a native of Qufu, Shandong Province, and has liked to play football since he was a child. Qufu's youth training is average, so most of the time he plays with his friends and practices his skills by feeling. When Luneng Football School was established in 1999, nine-year-old Gaudí was the first batch of students, but because he had not learned football systematically, he was placed in ordinary classes and focused on academics. Despite this, the professionalism of the football school is much higher than in Qufu.

For football, it didn't matter if the starting point was zero or not, and soon Gaudí's life changed. In his second year of football school, the LG youth team of Anyang South Korea came to play friendly matches. At that time, several main players of football school age were absent, and the younger Gaudí was given the opportunity to play. As a substitute, he made Cokovic in the stands thrilled with a few beautiful goals. After the game, Cokovic spoke to Gaudí alone, and then signed him into the exclusive echelon of the Luneng club in the football school.

"Compared to my peers who can enjoy the affection of my parents, I spend most of my time training on a field full of loess, and I secretly feel homesick alone after lights out." Gaudí said, "At that time, Luneng Football Academy was just established, and the conditions were not comparable to now, but we were also very simple and pure, and we wanted to be professional players, play professional leagues and enter the national team. Perhaps because he suffered a lot in his youth, Gaudí also knew how to cherish it more.

Gaudí spent 8 years at Luneng Football School, during which Luneng won the domestic double twice, so playing in the first team is the dream of every football school player. "The conditions of the football school are getting better day by day, and the results of the first team are getting better and better, and Tuba has brought Luneng to a new height. I was looking forward to being in the first team every day. He said.

In 2008, Gaudí and seven other football school players were given the opportunity to "try" for the first team. At that time, Gaudí was already a member of the national youth team, and he was in the first team at the same time as Zheng Zheng and Ma Long. During winter training, Gaudí impressed Tuba and was left in the first team.

"I thought I was one step away from realizing my dream, but it's actually even further away from my dream." Gaudí said he didn't know if he was lucky at the time. Tuba began promoting young players in 2004, from Han Peng to Wang Yongpo, Zhou Haibin and Lu Zheng, who had just played as the main team when Gaudí arrived, so he spent most of the time on the bench until Ivan's arrival.

"Li Gang and coach Kokovic made me enter the professional team smoothly, and Ivankovic was the first noble man after I became a professional footballer. He admired me and gave me a lot of opportunities, and Zheng Zheng and I were able to play in the professional league thanks to his promotion. Zheng Zheng was luckier than me, and then became the main force. 'Gaudí said that Ivan gave him a chance to play away from home in the AFC Champions League, and I will never forget the atmosphere. It's a pity that Ivan's time in charge is too short, and it's a pity that I couldn't fight for him with performance, but I am forever grateful to him. "Gaudí knew how to be grateful.

After Ivan left, Gaudí was on the bench again waiting for his chance. This waiting made him more and more confused.

"I have been anxious and reflected, whether my strength is not enough, or the platform I am on is not suitable for me. At that time, Luneng was the best team in China, and entering Luneng as a substitute was a dream of many people, and to be honest, I was reluctant to leave. But there's always a voice in my heart that reminds me that I'm going to be dead if I don't play again. Gaudí thought carefully about how he was going to develop.

Although Gaudí's performance impressed coach Antici in the 2013 winter training season, who also retained him, he eventually chose to join Hangzhou Greentown on loan.

"In Hangzhou, Okada Takeshi's absolute trust in me was enough to make me memorable, so I bowed to him. I got 21 starts, and sometimes he wouldn't replace me easily even when the situation was bad, he gave me enough time. "Gaudí was grateful for Takeshi Okada's kindness, and he bowed deeply to Takeshi Okada, touching many people.

"Okada is a very special coach, he and Choi Kangxi are the kind of people who are full of oriental subtlety and special charisma, and every time his name flashes in my mind, I want to stand up and bow to him immediately." Gaudí said Okada saved him during the most lost and confused period of his career, giving him the confidence and opportunity to persevere.

Gaudí was impressed by Okadahei's humor. He remembers Okada saying after training: "I originally wanted to be a baseball player, but if I hadn't been beaten by a bat more than I had with a bat, I wouldn't have played soccer (it was common for Japanese baseball coaches in the Okada era), so I didn't play well and had to be a coach (Okada used to be a Japanese international)." When I led the Japanese team to the World Cup in South Africa, the performance of the players made me very emotional, fortunately I retired early, and I can still be a coach, otherwise at my level back then, the bowl of coach is gone. If I'm a coach, I don't look at a player or a coach like me. ”

After Okada finished speaking, there was a roar of laughter in the training ground, and in these laughter, Okada narrowed the distance between him and everyone. And Gaudí slowly realized that the stronger the person inside, the more able to face and accept his own shortcomings. For Gaudí, Okada suggested that instead of demanding perfection, he should strive for continuous improvement, which made Gaudí enlightened.

Takeshi Okada once said that he did not see many professional players in China who have a heartfelt love for football that has nothing to do with money and fame. He likes Gaudí because he can see this dedication in Gaudí, so he is willing to do everything he can to give such players a chance, and he knows that Gaudí is a person who can manage himself well without supervision.

Gaudí was once known as the "lucky star" by the media, he once helped Yatai and Zhejiang team to overtake, and now he is back in the AFC Champions League with Zhejiang FC.

"I like our team culture, simple, simple, transparent and professional. Everyone was happy and united. Gaudí said. Although Zhejiang FC has changed its name now, many traditions of the Greentown era have been well inherited, such as cooperation and mutual trust between players, the improvement of club rules and regulations, everyone's execution and the integrity of the club.

The club's new shareholder investors, who can continue to invest steadily in such an environment and motivate everyone to achieve the best results in the history of the team last season, is crucial for Chinese football in the real world - no matter how harsh the environment, and clubs like Zhejiang are constantly seeking to improve, which leaves a glimmer of hope and hope for the revival of Chinese football.

Gaudí can stay, and the recognition of coach Jody is essential. Jody is a rigorous and rigorous coach, there are no vague concepts in his dictionary, everything must be clear and precise. "Jody is very dedicated, his training is informative and demanding. He is very similar to Choi Kang-hee's philosophy that only by giving more in training can he play more consistently in the game. Training is not a random comparison, but it must be done right and better. If there were tactics in training that he repeatedly said that we were not playing well, he would seriously ask us to repeat until we met the requirements, and then he would laugh. ”

Jiao Fengbo, general manager of Zhejiang Club, once said that in the selection of players, Zhejiang team has its own standards and requirements, competitive ability is only a part, players' personal cultivation and quality, personal pursuit and the compatibility of club culture are also considered. Gaudí is clearly a player who meets Zhejiang's standards.

"Mr. Jiao has told us many times that there is always an invisible bond tied to everyone in an effective team. Coaches shape us with tactics on the pitch and clubs connect us with that bond off the pitch. Gaudí said. Zhejiang FC has a good tradition, whenever a new player joins, the club will hold a special orientation party, everyone sits down to talk and talk about each other, and close the distance between each other. Usually, the club also cares about the personal life of the players, and will help the players as long as it can do its best.

After Gaudí joined the Zhejiang team, he was shocked by the culture here. Many of the players in the Zhejiang FC first team are from their own youth training, and they naturally have a strong sense of identification with the club and strong cohesion. Moreover, the cultural level of Greentown's youth players is generally high. "Luneng Football School also attached great importance to cultural classes and invited very good cultural teachers, but we trained all day three days a week, and we were very tired after practice, and we couldn't read much at all. I actually regretted a little, if I had read a little more at the time, I might have better understood tactics and many things. Therefore, I would like to say that although you can't work as hard as ordinary students, children who play football should also try to squeeze in time to study, and the importance of cultural classes and the power of knowledge cannot be ignored. This is Gaudí's heartfelt advice as a professional footballer.

Now Gaudí no longer cares whether the individual is dazzling, but is focused on how to contribute more to the team and play the role that the team needs. He dreams of one day in a few years from now to end his career here.