Cheng Yaodong: I wanted to get one point in the first game against Japan, but my contract ended after I went out of the group

After the end of the U23 Asian Cup, Chinese Olympic coach Cheng Yaodong was interviewed by Ma Dexing, a reporter from Sports Weekly.

The Chinese team's game is over, how are you feeling now?

Cheng Yaodong: From the coach's point of view, you will be more satisfied when the team and the players show in the competition are within your expectations, because the purpose of the coach's job is to hope that the players can perform at a high level, including implementing some of the requirements you have for them. From this point of view, I think the players have basically done it in these games, although it can't be said to be a perfect score, but at least I think it is above pass, reaching an upper average level.

Do you have any regrets?

Cheng Yaodong: There must be regrets. Of course, it's not the regret that the team's performance is not ideal, but the regret that I think it could have been better. As we all know, sometimes the decisive thing on the pitch may not only be ability, but also many other factors, one of which is the state of mind. In this respect, we are still a bit inferior to the top teams in Asia, especially in the handling of key balls, we have obvious shortcomings. I don't think it's something that can be solved in a few days, or the hardest problem for the team right now. It's what makes the difference between winning and losing, and if it's solved and it shows really well in the game, we could be a strong team. Some things and some factors cannot be solved by a group of people, and a generation of players can be solved, but it may still take a group of us to work together to solve them fundamentally. Maybe the next group of players will be well organized and prepared, especially when it comes to scoring opportunities at key moments, and the situation will be different. The so-called "strong team", in fact, they may be strong in this small aspect. Japan and South Korea are very good in this regard, so they are strong teams.

If we were to say anything from the three games, we had imagined that we would need at least four points to get out of this group, so our strategy was to get one point from the opponent in the first game [against Japan]. There were opportunities like that in the actual game, and for the most part we played with one more man. At that time, we were thinking that in the rest of the game, we should have a chance to score a goal to tie the score. But in the end, as mentioned earlier, we didn't handle the key balls, especially the scoring opportunities, and we missed such opportunities. This forced us to make a last-ditch fight to qualify from the group when we played South Korea in the future. But as in the first game, the opportunity presented itself and was not taken through. It is not easy to play against a strong team like Japan and South Korea, and it is no longer easy to have so many opportunities, and when the weak team and the strong team in the whole world football are playing, how many opportunities can appear in a game?

What has been your biggest experience since you took over this team?

Cheng Yaodong: My biggest experience is that Chinese football is actually very promising. I always believe that we should not be at the level we are now, and Chinese football should be able to do a little better. Of course, this doesn't mean that it will become a strong team right away, but I think we should be able to stabilize a little bit above the second gear, which is what Chinese football can do. Through this competition, I think we can show everyone a little hope, and this hope does not mean that we will be able to qualify for the World Cup or the Olympics immediately, but through the efforts of all of us, we can return to the previous position, I think it is feasible and promising. But it may take much longer to become one of the best teams in Asia, to compete with four or five teams at this level and to be one of them.

What do you find most difficult about coaching this team in the past few years?

Cheng Yaodong: Actually, each stage has different situations and encounters different difficulties. If I had to say that it was the most difficult, I think it was that there were too few teams and players, especially too few high-quality, high-level games. There are many reasons why the players have played fewer official league games in their respective clubs, but the main reason is that they are not capable enough. This will do have some impact on the Olympic team, as the players are still at the club most of the time. This is actually a very important reason why we organize so many training camps, including going to Croatia to train, in fact, we also want to solve the problem of fewer players.

From the coaching staff's point of view, of course, it is more desirable for the players to play for the club all the time, and then wait for the national team to come in and organize short-term training camps and play a few high-quality warm-up games. If that's the case, it's easier for our coaching staff. If a player can play in the domestic league, especially in the Chinese Super League, the situation may be completely different. And there is such a reality, most of the players in our team are from the top teams in the Chinese Super League, because the big clubs pay more attention to youth training and do better. If they can play in a quality team, then I'm very satisfied. But the reality is that because they don't play much in the club every day, we can only let the players gather together and arrange a large number of games, and it is best to be able to play games of a slightly higher grade and level than ordinary warm-up matches, such as organizing the four-nation tournament or the six-nation tournament, inviting 4 to 5 strong teams to participate, or going overseas to participate in high-level invitational tournaments, to participate in some regional tournaments in other regions, etc., the effect is definitely one or two levels lower than the league, but it is also better than sitting on the cold bench all the time.

If there are more opportunities in the first year or two of the team, and we can participate in one or two more formal and high-level competitions, I think it will probably help us to participate in the U23 Asian Cup this time. Unfortunately, in official competitions like the Under-23 Asian Cup, our players have had too little experience. Of course, we went to Croatia to practice and participated in more than 50 games, but Croatia training is just a warm-up match in the final analysis, although the form is to imitate the league, but the biggest difference is that the opponents are all adult players, and the senior players are different from the opponents we are facing at this stage, and what we need more is to play against high-level opponents of the same age.

Of course, in the past few years, it has indeed been affected by the epidemic, and our team has not played with Asian teams of the same age in the process of growth and development since its formation. The real full-fledged exchange actually started in November last year, after playing two qualifiers in September last year and qualifying, we played 10 warm-up matches before the start of this final stage competition, plus this group stage, a total of 13 games. Among them, there are the strongest teams namely Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan (Zbekistan), Saudi Arabia (Te), as well as teams from Southeast Asia and West Asia, and these battles are actually more valuable because the opponents are also of similar age. It's just that compared to teams of the same age in Asia, we still have fewer games. In the same cycle, the opponents will play a lot more high-quality and high-level games than us, which will obviously play a greater role and help for the personal growth and personal improvement of their players, including the run-in of the whole team.

Therefore, from the perspective of long-term construction and development, it is necessary to solve this problem in the future, how to better coordinate these two aspects, not only to ensure that more young players can play in the league, but also to take into account the national team, how to coordinate and run in well. The core of this is how to make it possible for players in this age group to play more opportunities and play at the highest level possible. I think this is probably also a problem that national teams at all levels need to consider in the process of preparing for the next competition.

Since its formation, the team has changed a lot, especially the average age of the 23 players who participated in the U23 Asian Cup is relatively small among all the participating teams, what do you think?

Cheng Yaodong: Actually, it's not just us who have changed a lot, but many teams, including Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates, have also changed a lot. Our overall idea is to first play this game well, complete the game tasks, as much as possible to let the players usually ask for what they usually ask for, can achieve the most ideal results, secondly, in this process, we also see some players who can participate in the next U23 Asian Cup or even the next one, they have the ability and more potential, especially the next U23 Asian Cup will be the Olympic qualifiers, we feel that these players can play in this team, even if they are not the main but sometimes substitutes are also OK, so we called them in and exercised in advance。

As a local coach in China, we should consider Chinese football as a whole, not only to complete the phased tasks, but also to think of the next session or even the next one. In the case of opportunities and conditions, smaller players will be included in the system in advance, so that the future Chinese Olympic team will have a more stable number of core players, after all, they have participated in the Olympic preliminaries, and they also have some experience, which will have some significance for the construction of our national team. However, by watching this tournament, I also saw that some teams in Asia also pay attention to the connection between different age groups.

This team from the original U20 national youth team to the current U23 national Olympic team, the technical and tactical play is also constantly changing, during the Croatian training has practiced the tactics of actively pressing out, but in the end still chose the U23 Asian Cup style of play, after retracting the emphasis on conversion and stage of high-pressure pressing. What do you think about the technical and tactical aspects?

Cheng Yaodong: That's right, including during the Croatian training period, we also had times when we played back, and we also pressed out to play, in fact, we have been trying different things, because we have to examine which style of play is suitable for the players to perform more realistically when the team adopts different playing styles. During the training in Croatia, in fact, we did not have too clear requirements in this regard, that is, what kind of technical and tactical play the team will have, including the personnel, is also groping and investigating.

Through various attempts, especially a series of warm-up games, the coaching staff felt that it was still necessary to adopt a relatively simple style of play, especially in attack, but we could not say that we completely gave up the ball, which is one of them. Second, we should pay more attention to efficiency or success rate in a relatively simple process. The so-called "efficiency" is actually reflected in a number of technical data. We're a weak team as a whole and when we play against strong teams, the opposition will definitely have an advantage, for example, the possession rate may be 60 per cent, or even 70 per cent, while we may only be around 30 per cent. With so little time on the ball, we can't just have a 50 per cent success rate, preferably with the same efficiency as the opposition, and if the opponent has more than 80 per cent success rate, we better be able to reach that level, which proves that we are a threat to them. The second is the number of shots, especially the number of shots in the frame, the number of forward passes, the number of times they score into the opponent's third, and so on.

After the match against South Korea, I looked at the technical statistics. South Korea had almost 65 per cent of the ball and we didn't even have 40 per cent, so they definitely had the advantage and made more than 200 passes than us. But the South Korean team spent more time in the horizontal pass, forward pass and success rate, the number of times to enter the opponent's third zone, the number of times to enter the opponent's penalty area and the number of shots, etc., the gap between the two sides is not very large, we are 10-14 behind in shots, but we have 5 shots in the frame of the goal, 2 more than the South Korean team.

The examples I have given are to illustrate that our vision of emphasizing success rates is in line with the realities of the existing players. And in this process, in fact, Croatian training played a great role in the finalization of the team's technical and tactical ideas. Although Croatia is a warm-up game against Croatian teams in turn, because the opponent is an adult team and the quality and level are higher than ours, it is in the games against these high-level opponents that we have a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the ability and level of the players. So from the qualifying stage, we basically clarified the overall tactical thinking. Of course, in the design process of this tactic, if the opponent does not take the initiative to press, at this time it is necessary to make a choice, when the organization can control the ball, it is still necessary to boldly control the ball, and it depends on what field it is in. If you can't control the ball, then it's clear that you play forward.

In fact, the most pressure is still in the qualifiers in September last year, because the team did not qualify for the previous Asian Youth Championship, and in the Olympic preliminaries qualifiers, it is necessary to ensure that they qualify for the final stage anyway. So in the qualifiers, our strategy was to focus on defense, choose to counterattack in attack, and didn't ask for possession. On the one hand, the player's ability to control the ball is not yet reached, and on the other hand, it is also because he is worried that there will be problems when the player chooses independently, and he is worried that if there is a mistake, it will be fatal at any time, so he chose to be stable at that time. And after qualifying, there is still more than half a year before the final stage, and we can rehearse again. So you might think that the team's tactics are always changing, because the situation is different at different stages and periods, and we can only adjust it according to the task.

After qualifying, our plan is to schedule 20 warm-up matches before the finals, with a focus on technical and tactical drills. Looking back now, it was almost about 20 warm-up games, in addition to the 10 warm-up matches with Asian teams of the same age group mentioned earlier, there were also 10 teaching matches between domestic and Chinese Super League teams, and the overall tactical design of the team was completed through these games. Overall, the players played what the coaching staff wanted and what they wanted, so I said earlier that I was happy with the performance of the players.

From a manager's point of view, what advice do you have for the future national team, and what should you pay attention to?

Cheng Yaodong: The Football Association will soon form a new U23 team, and now a new U19 team has been formed, and a younger national team will also be formed. I think that every team, whether it is a foreign coach or a Chinese coach, ultimately relies on our Chinese players. Chinese players must first have self-confidence and believe in themselves, we may not be at a very good level now, especially in Asian football, the performance and results are not stable, but I believe that as long as every team works together, they can do a good job. And I also believe that Chinese football will soon return to the second-rate level in Asia, and it will also have a certain competitiveness. No matter what age group we are in Asia, I think we will be competitive to push for the top rankings. The outside world requires our teams of each age group to at least qualify from the group, and then go to the semi-finals, that is, to enter the World Youth Championships and the World Youth Championships, I think this goal can be achieved, including the national team to impact the World Cup, when our teams of all ages can stably qualify from the group and enter the semi-finals, the national team will also be able to impact and complete this task in the near future. Therefore, I hope that the next U23 team can qualify from the group, and strive for further progress in the next edition, as a young player, we must have confidence, and we must work hard for Chinese football to achieve good results.

As a local coach, is there more pressure on the national team?

Cheng Yaodong: Definitely, this pressure mainly comes from the sharp decline in the performance level of national brands at all levels. Personally, I think this is also within the normal range, as a local coach, we must first understand the hearts and feelings of the fans, because the fans actually want us to achieve something. The second is to hope that we can give the fans a little bit of hope, and if you don't have results and people can't see hope, it's normal to be disappointed and have opinions. As a domestic coach, I should try to do my job well while understanding, try to lead the team well, and try to cultivate some good young players even if the results are not very ideal.

Do you think the future head coach of the national brand and the Chinese coach can still do it?

Cheng Yaodong: I don't think there's anything that can't be done, in fact, foreign coaches and Chinese coaches are the same, and the most important thing is to see if you find the right and capable one. In many cases, no matter how famous a foreign teacher is, if he is not suitable, he will not be able to succeed. From another point of view, I think we should believe that we must all work together and work together, because football is not something that can be done well by a single person, nor can the coach completely influence it, we can't completely pin our hopes on a certain coach, but should all aspects work together towards a direction and goal, and the cohesion and team spirit of the football project are more important. This team is not only the coach, not only the players, but also the leaders, the whole staff team, and a little bigger is the whole football environment, everyone must have a cohesive force, all parties encourage each other a little more, and the bad ones do have to criticize a little more.

In fact, Chinese football still has a foundation, maybe we have not been very good affected by various aspects and factors over the years, of course, the main reason is that the Chinese football industry itself has more factors, and they have not done a good job, especially in training. Therefore, the problem of Chinese football is still a problem of training in the final analysis. If the training of teams at all levels, not only the training of professional teams, but also the training of teams at all levels below can be better, I think the situation of Chinese football as a whole may be better.

This event is over, what are your thoughts and plans for the future?

Cheng Yaodong: Actually, as a Chinese coach, I must continue to contribute to Chinese football, I am afraid that it will not only be me, but also the most fundamental idea of all Chinese football coaches. As for what you do, I think it doesn't matter, as long as you are still engaged in this industry and still being a coach, no matter where you are, you are serving and contributing to Chinese football.

Sports: Then will you continue to lead the national team?

Cheng Yaodong (laughs): Take a break first, if you qualify, you will definitely continue to work and lead the team below. Now it's not qualified, and it doesn't seem like there's a problem in that regard, because the contract is over.