In the competitive field of football, the potential and achievements of young players are evident very early. Feng Junyan, a former player from Guangzhou Evergrande, once pointed out that the ball quotient of domestic players often matures after the age of 30. This has been reflected in the careers of players such as Wu Lei. At the same time, South Korea's veteran international Ji Sung-yong stressed in an interview that in Europe, young players are already able to show excellent playing ability at the age of seventeen or eighteen, while players between the ages of 21 and 22 have reached maturity.
These perspectives not only provide us with a new understanding of the development cycle of young players, but also challenge the youth training system in Chinese football. Are our young players getting enough game training at a critical age? Are they ready to grow from a promising star to a mature player?
In the Chinese League or the Chinese Super League, there are not many young players who can get a stable chance to play at the age of seventeen or eighteen. Some promising young players have missed out on training opportunities at club levels because of the national team's training camps. At the same time, we also need to reflect on how to better develop young players so that they can be technically and tactically in line with the international level.
Looking back on the past, our older generation of international players, such as Sun Jihai, Fan Zhiyi, and the current Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, etc., have all shown strength beyond their peers at a very young age. They entered the professional arena at a very young age and had a steady playing time. However, the current problem of the Chinese national football team is that the ability of the players is insufficient, even with the support of the U23 policy, the level of domestic players still does not meet the requirements, and it is difficult to become high-level players.
As Zhang Kangyang, the owner of Inter Milan, said, we want our Chinese players to gain a foothold in the top five European leagues, but there is no player who can meet the standards. It also makes us question the level of the next generation of internationals. At the same time, we have also seen the success of neighbouring Japan in youth football. Their players have not only established themselves in overseas leagues, but have also performed well in domestic leagues. In contrast, our young players have basically no place in the top five leagues, and very few have been given a starting role in domestic clubs, except for a few such as Mao Weijie of Dalian InBev. It's not what an Internet celebrity said: Japanese football is over, but our national football team has not yet reached the end.
Accumulation of practical experience
The ability of young European players to excel doesn't come out of nowhere, as young European players are trained and involved in a lot of games from the age of seven or eight. At least one game a week, sometimes even high-intensity confrontations, allows them to constantly hone their skills and awareness in real combat. It's only against real opponents that they can apply what they've learned in training to the game. And our players are tired of not having high-intensity physical confrontation since childhood, and it is difficult to play one game a month. At the professional level, football isn't just about playing a ball. The ability to read the game is more important than the ability to kick. This reading ability includes judging the situation of the game, choosing the appropriate strategy, etc., which requires a lot of game experience.
Personal opinion
In the face of such a situation, we can't help but ponder: where is the future of Chinese football? The performance of the U23 national team has shown us that the national football team is not optimistic in the ranking of Asia, while other countries are steadily advancing, but we seem to be swimming against the current. In the next decade, if we don't rely on foreign aid, will we still have a chance to show our skills on the World Cup stage? How can we break through the status quo and catch up? How do we develop players who are truly internationally competitive? Feel free to leave your insights in the comment section. How do you think Chinese football should be reformed and developed? In your opinion, how far are we from the World Cup?