On the one hand, he was called the Chinese Robben, and on the other hand, he was called the "ball blind filter"! Looking forward to Yu Hai's second half being equally exciting

Yu Hai finally pressed the end button of his playing career at the age of 37, and he will go to SIPG U21, which has already qualified for the second division, as an assistant coach in the new season!

If we use one word to describe Yu Hai's career, many people will think of it - "Yu Ben". After all, Yu Hai at the time of his debut, broke through sharply on the side, and he did have a bit of Robben's heroism!

There will also be many people who will use regret to describe Yu Hai's career. Injuries have seriously affected the height of Yu Hai's career.

But being able to play until the age of 37 despite suffering 4 major injuries to both knees, Yu Hai's career itself is a controversial, but very inspirational story!

From the Chinese Robben to the stadium

At present, in the Chinese Football Professional League, there are only a few players who have played in the last generation of A-A such as Feng Xiaoting, Zhao Xuri, and Wang Song. But if you count the players who have played in the first year of the Chinese Super League, then you can add Yu Hai.

In 2004, Yu Hai was promoted to the Shanghai international first team by Cheng Yaodong; However, Yu Hai's first experience in the Super League, which may impress many friends more deeply, is the 04 Shanghai derby, Xiao Zhanbo deliberately shot his head at Yu Hai, Cheng Yaodong rushed into the field angrily, Wu Ming and Lu Wei, the two big brothers, chased Xiao Zhanbo for Yu Hai.

In 2005, this was the last glory of the Chinese men's football team at all levels. Many fans still remember Feng Xiaoting, Chen Tao, Hao Junmin, Zhao Xuri, and Cui Peng in the Netherlands. But at the same time that the 85 national youth shined in the World Youth Championships, there were also a group of frustrated people who practiced with the army for a long time and were finally brushed off. This includes Guan Zhen and Wang Yongpo, who were supposed to go to the Netherlands and finally missed due to injury, including Yan Xiangchuang, who still had an outstanding performance in the Chinese Super League last season, and Yu Hai (who returned to China a little earlier than Yan Xiangchuang and others). And it was also in that year that Yu Hai suffered a major cruciate ligament repair for the first time.

However, after returning from injury, he quickly returned to the national number sequence. In Jia Xiuquan's 87 National Youth, Yu Hai and Hao Junmin firmly occupy the two wings. And after Du Yi took over the National Olympic Games, he took Haiji very seriously. The outstanding performance in the Toulon Cup made the outside world begin to shout Yu Hai - Chinese Robben.

If there is no injury, Yu Hai is likely to be under Duyi and will get the opportunity to represent the national football team in the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa. If he hadn't been injured, he could have established himself in the Netherlands and ended up in the top five leagues. However, due to injury, he not only played for the national football team in the official match was postponed, but also missed the Beijing Olympics, and was finally terminated by Vitesse, and he also underwent two surgeries on the collateral ligament and medial cruciate ligament at the same time after missing the Beijing Olympics.

After three major repairs to his two knees, Cheng Yaodong brought him back to Shaanxi. That is, since returning to Shaanxi, Yu Hai has started the road of transformation. He is no longer the wind-chasing boy he once was, and the lost speed is made up for with physical fitness + execution. His excellent round-trip ability, excellent return ability, and excellent ability to grab points with his header allowed him to enter the national team and sit firmly as the starting left winger in the first stage.

When Gao Hongbo coached Guizhou, Gao Gui began to let Yu Hai play in the back according to Yu Hai's characteristics.

went to Camacho's national team to play Iraq's Asian Cup qualifiers, in order to solve the offensive problem, Camacho let Yu Hai play the front midfield.

When he arrived at Perran's national team, in order to solve the problem of weak forwards, he played Saudi Arabia in the first game of the Asian Cup, and Yu Hai became the starting center.

When Gao Hongbo entered the palace for the second time to play the top 12 matches, Yu Hai was the left-leaning midfielder in the 3 midfield system at the beginning;

After arriving at SIPG, Eriksen initially let Yu Hai play left midfielder/left winger, and after Dawei left, Yu Hai was withdrawn to play with Cai Huikang in a double midfield. In 18, Fu Huan was once hidden due to contract problems, and there was a vacancy in the fullback of SIPG, and Pereira asked Yu Hai to play left-back.

In 19, SIPG changed to three central defenders, but in the case of insufficient reserves of central defenders, Yu Hai was changed to central defenders.

The "Ball Blind Filter" Accompanied by Skepticism

The road to the transformation of Yuhai in an all-round way is relatively smooth. The excellent execution has made Yu Hai appreciated by many coaches in the national brand and the club! But at the peak of Yu Hai, he has always been accompanied by controversy.

In 2011, Gao Hongbo used Hai to play the starting left winger in the national team, which caused a very big controversy. Because Yu Hai's breakthrough on the side at that time was no longer sharp enough. And many fans in China are actually highlight fans, they saw that Feng Renliang was beautiful and played Feng Renliang there, and felt that Feng Renliang should replace Yu Hai's position.

When it came time for Perrin to lead the team to play the Asian Cup, public opinion at that time generally believed that Gao Lin should play the starter, and once again there was a local scorer Wang Wulei. It was really difficult for everyone to understand why Peilan abandoned Gao Lin and put Wu Lei in the center forward position and let Yu Hai play as the center forward.

In 2016, Yu Hai began to be fixed in the back position. Although Yu Hai's steals and running statistics in the league are relatively beautiful, he also shows good ball protection and confrontation ability in the face of pressure. But at that time, Yu Hai, the sense of playing the position of the back is still gradually familiar, that year SIPG was repeatedly scored by the opponent in front of the penalty area, so much so that the commentator who was commenting on the Shanghai Port game at LeTV at that time said in the live broadcast - "If there is a chance, I want to ask Eriksen in person, how to consider it for playing the back of the sea."

When Gao Hongbo led the team to play the top 12 matches, the outside world questioned him for recruiting Yu Hai into the national team, and even ridiculed Yu Hai as a "three-no player".

But along with doubts, Yu Hai has long become the biggest blind filter in Chinese football.

Yu Hai has many advantages in playing a winger, such as active defense, strong execution, and good at grabbing points. Many fullbacks like to defend one side with Yu Hai, because you don't have to worry if you go up and down, Yu Hai will come back to help you defend first. Generally, right wingers or right-backs will also like to have a teammate like Yu Hai on the left, because when they cross, Yu Hai has already rushed in to grab points, giving them one more choice.

In the second year of high school, when he played the top 12 matches, compared with Huang Bowen, the central midfielder on the other side, Yu Hai was given more tactical responsibilities by Gao Hongbo to protect the fullbacks and insert them later.

For Gao Hongbo, who emphasizes the balance between offense and defense, whether it is 4231 in the first phase of high school or 532 in the second phase of high school, Yu Hai is a very important piece of the puzzle in his tactical system.

However, many foreign teachers did not realize the tactical value of Yu Hai at the beginning. For example, Camacho was under the appeal of the outside world at that time, after the first two games of the top 20 in 2011, Yu Hai was taken out of the starter, and Feng Renliang went to play Yu Hai's position; In the game against Iraq, Feng Renliang created limited threat on the offensive end, and on the defensive end, the second brother who played at left-back often had to defend two. In the middle and late stages of Camacho's national football team, Yu Hai has returned to the main lineup of the national football team.

In the early stage of Lippi's first coaching of the national football team, Yu Hai left the national team for a while, but slowly recalled him again, until the warm-up match in Syria in Nanjing in 2018, Yu Hai was seriously injured and left the field, which also became the farewell battle of the Yu Hai national team.

After a legendary career of 20 years, he was inspired to become a qualified coach after retiring

You can complain about Yu Hai, who used to be a winger, and the dribbling was not sharp enough, and you can also complain about Yu Hai, who played at the back, and his sense of position needs to be improved. But for many coaches, wide assists can be given to full-backs, but Yu Hai's off-ball running, header and defensive tactical value are something they can't give up. This is how in the national team, Gao Hongbo, Camacho, Perrin and Lippi have used him to play the main team. In the club, in addition to Boas and Xavier who don't use him much (Xavier was because of his age), Cheng Yaodong, Cosa, Santrazi, Gao Hongbo, Gong Lei, Zhu Jiong, Eriksen, Pereira, and Leko all use him to play the main team. Especially during the national team, Yu Hai, who scored key goals many times, can be called a lucky general.

In an interview with Yu Hai in the early years, he made it clear - "After the injury, I knew how to observe my teammates better and began to use my brain to play football as a whole." With the deepening of his understanding of techniques and tactics, this has affected the transformation of Yu Hai's style, helping him complete the transformation again and again!

Four major injuries left two knees extremely fragile, and he was able to hold on until he was 37 years old before retiring, Yu Hai's career spanned 20 years, and the success of the transformation on the court is inseparable from the process of recovery after each serious injury, which is the embodiment of Yu Hai's tough will. Just two weeks after he was seriously injured in the warm-up match for the national football team in Syria in October 2018, Yu Hai followed the SIPG team to Guangzhou, and unexpectedly, participated in the last practice before the game. Even during the game, Yu Hai could only sit at the door of the locker room in Tianhe, put his injured leg on the stool, and watch his teammates defeat Evergrande and become the king in Tianhe;

As soon as he retired, Yu Hai started the road of transformation, and he will go to SIPG U21 as an assistant coach. He will calm down and learn more Xi and hone his own level, hoping to become a qualified coach!

Yu Hai's "second half" will also agree to be wonderful!