80-year-old Xu Genbao is sick and "practicing trumpet", and the guidance through the barbed wire fence is moving, and it is difficult to find a successor

The day after Shanghai Port drew with Shandong Taishan at home and won the championship one round ahead of schedule, Wu Lei, Wang Shenchao, Zhang Linpeng and other Port players returned to the Chongming base and thanked their mentor Xu Genbao. After the video of the master-apprentice reunion was uploaded on the Internet, fans couldn't help but sigh that Xu Genbao, who has been doing sports all his life, is mentally strong and his body is tougher than his peers, but after all, it is difficult to resist the erosion of the years. Xu Lao's sentence "I'm old now, who will take over" made the fans feel the ruthlessness of the years.

However, not long after the harbor disciples left Chongming, the 80-year-old Xu Genbao went to Hezhou, Guangxi, and embarked on the journey of the Shanghai Yangpu team in the 2005-2006 age group (the first national student youth games). In the first group game, Xu Genbao's Shanghai Yangpu team defeated Fujian Xiamen team with a score of 2-0 and made a good start to this tournament. But few people know that Xu Genbao suffered from fever during the game. After the game, Xu Genbao, who was dragging his sick body, instructed the young players through the barbed wire fence to guide the details.

Compared with the "ten years of sharpening a sword" in Chongming Island, the difficulty of cultivating Shanghai Yangpu this time is undoubtedly higher. The ultimate test of this team is the Greater Bay Area National Games in 2 years, but the team was officially formed only half a year ago, and it is still in the run-in stage. In order to better prepare for the Youth Conference, Xu Genbao once led a team to South Korea for training. Before the start of the event, Xu Genbao also frequently contacted local clubs such as Shanghai Shenhua and led the team to conduct a number of "small fights" warm-up matches.

If there is no accident, this batch of U18 players in the 05 to 06 age group will be Xu Genbao's masterpiece. After leading this group of players to play in the 2025 Greater Bay Area National Games, Xu Genbao will also retire and bid farewell to the football industry that he has struggled for a lifetime. From stepping into the Shanghai Jing'an District Junior Sports School 60 years ago, to now "transfusing blood" for Chinese football at the age of 80, Xu Genbao has really dedicated his life to his favorite Chinese football.

However, just like Xu Genbao said in front of Chongming's disciples, "who will take over", who will pick up Xu Genbao's baton in the future and re-walk the old path of his predecessors is probably a question that Shanghai football and even national football have to think about and face. Perhaps, the youth training format of Chinese football will not disappear in the future, and if the policy orientation becomes better, there will be more and more institutions engaged in youth training. But whether there will be anyone like Xu Genbao who endures loneliness, dedicates himself to youth training for 20 years in an impetuous social environment, and perhaps no one dares to guarantee. Therefore, the future youth training of Chinese football is not as simple as Wang Shenchao and Cai Huikang's two sentences of "I do".