Li Yi: It is gratifying that the FA Cup can always maintain the "dark horse" Jiuniu can score 85 points

Beijing, October 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Football Association Cup, every year there will be a cold door, there will be different dark horses. Yanjing Beer 2021 Chinese FOOTBALL Association Cup, the name of this dark horse is Sichuan Jiuniu. In the ongoing quarter-finals, Sichuan Jiuniu is the only Chinese League one to break into the top eight of this year's FA Cup. In the first leg of the just-concluded quarterfinals, they drew with the Henan Songshan Longmen team, which has three foreign aides.

This dark horse team, there are no big stars, the team can reach the quarterfinals, mainly rely on the unity of the whole team, in every game the whole team is united. However, the manager who led them to charge is well-known in domestic football. When it comes to Sichuan Jiuniu, almost everyone's first reaction is the name of their head coach: Li Yi.

Yes, it is the "Emperor Li Yi" who once made a big splash in Chinese football. Over the years, Li Yi has become accustomed to accepting this "nickname" given to him by netizens. In fact, whether it was in the past or now, Li Yi never thought of being an "Internet celebrity". This is also the most li Yi said when he picked up the teaching whip: Once I got on the football field and saw the greenery, I was extremely excited. That's what I want. That's why I chose to be a coach. After all, I have been following football since I was a child for so many years and know more about football. When I can, I also want to do something to see if I can give a little warmth to the colder Chinese football.

To dedicate a little warmth to the relatively cold Chinese football, this warmth is to lead their disciples to play exciting games on the football field, and still devote themselves to the FA Cup in the face of physical and mental exhaustion of the two-front battle. On the 65th anniversary of the Chinese Football Association Cup, Li Yi and the Sichuan Jiuniu team used practical actions to transmit positive energy to Chinese football, no matter how far they can go in the end, they can gladly accept the applause given to them.

Opportunities are always left to those who are prepared

In the first leg of the FA Cup quarterfinals, Sichuan Jiuniu drew with the Henan Songshan Longmen team of the Chinese Super League, which made the outside world impressed. In fact, in the pre-match and post-match press conference of the quarter-finals, Li Yi has been saying that if it is a single knockout match, the chances of Jiuniu advancing will be great. In this regard, Li Yi frankly said: Since we have come here and have come here, it is very difficult for each of us. Every player, coach, staff, this year, it is not easy to play until now. And every step you take can be a miracle. I feel like these players, coaches and staff are ready to get the best results. Although we face many difficulties, the opponent is a Chinese Super League team, with a high level of foreign aid, we just need to do our best, fight every game, and leave no regrets. Because football games actually end up with a lot of contingencies. Up to now, these lads are already very good.

For the Sichuan Jiuniu team, participating in the FA Cup is a real two-front battle, Li Yi revealed: There is an interval between the third and fourth stages of the Chinese First Division, and the time is very short. Many players, including the staff, have arranged weddings and children at this time, but they did not expect that our FA Cup could go so far. So many people have no way, some team members go back for a day or two, the child is born, and they come back after meeting. Some people have already set a date for the wedding, but they have to follow the team to Dalian, so the wedding has to be postponed. Through these things, I can feel that it is really not easy for everyone to pay for this team. I think wherever I go, I have to say thank you to all the players, coaches, and staff.

In fact, Sichuan Jiuniu, as the only Chinese League A team to break into the quarterfinals, has created the best FA Cup result in team history. Talking about how to evaluate Jiuniu's performance in the FA Cup this year? Until now, when we can score a few points and whether we can go further, Li Yi said: This year, due to the epidemic, it is the 65th anniversary of the FA Cup, as far as we are concerned, since it is a game organized by the FA, as long as we have the opportunity, we will play with all our strength. We want to play and we don't want to go through the motions. Including our coming to Dalian, including us facing Chinese Super League teams that are stronger than us. Even if we don't rest enough, our personnel is not tidy, we will do our best to play every game. We will not go through the motions, and this will lose the meaning of the FA Cup. The team has come to this point, and I think it is difficult to score. Because after all, we have a certain amount of luck, this is an objective fact, such as we eliminated Beijing Guoan. If Guoan's foreign aid, international footballers are there, and the players playing in the AFC Champions League are all there, we may not be able to draw with Guoan. Guoan's personnel irregularities, including the final penalty, may have been a factor of luck.

Although in Li Yi's view, there is some luck in being able to eliminate Guoan, but luck has always been accompanied by strength, and opportunities will not be left to those who are not prepared, for which Li Yi also admitted that he did do a lot of analysis before playing with Guoan, including the existing personnel and playing style of Guoan. Of course, there is also a reason that the Chinese League A has been playing, and its players are in a state of competition. After all, the Chinese Super League has been suspended for two or three months, and the state of Guoan is slowly recovering. For various reasons, I think I can get to the present, I can score 85 points.

What was the mood of Li Yi, who used to play in Guoan, and now that he has eliminated Guoan in the FA Cup? In this regard, Li Yi said: In fact, the mood is still quite complicated. After all, Guoan was the first team I played in the top league and grew up there. Now sometimes I think back to the first stage of my career, and I can also think of the time when Guoan was. But the best way to get your opponent to respect you is to beat him.

Speaking of which year of the FA Cup he was most impressed by, Li Yi recalled the 2004 FA Cup: I was still a player at that time, and Shandong had a double-legged, four-in-two match. I was particularly impressed. We played 1-1 away from home, we led 3-1 at home, but in the end we were pulled twice by the other side, 3-3, and the other side eliminated us because of the away goal. I was more impressed with those two games because I scored three goals in those two games.

It is gratifying that the FA Cup has been insisted on keeping

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the FA Cup, and Li Yi, who has always liked to think about the future development of the FA Cup, has also given his own advice: From my personal point of view, I think the FA Cup is for non-amateur teams and grassroots teams, creating opportunities for these teams to become dark horses. Try to be a single-game elimination system. It can be imitated in the FA Cup, or the League Cup. They are a lot of small teams, playing against the Premier League, the Championship team, to increase his popularity. So he wanted to play. If there are two rounds, there are fewer opportunities for weak teams. Because of the depth of your bench and the serendipity not big enough.

Why are such big competitions as the World Cup and the European Cup unpopular? Because he was eliminated in a single game. If there is a two-game elimination system, the probability of being unpopular is small. If you want to have a dark horse and want to have a cold goal, you have a one-game elimination system. I remember that the FA Cup has been in the past: when low-level teams and high-level teams play, the lower-level teams are at home. It is to create the conditions for these teams to qualify. Of course, the last two years may be due to the epidemic, and it is understandable that only closed events can be carried out. In general, the FA Cup can be sustained, or thanks to the leadership of the FA. For a while the FA Cup was stopped, disappearing from 2006 until 2011. By then I had retired from the army and had already been a coach in the FA Cup.

Now, as the head coach of Jiuniu, Li Yi has led the team to achieve a good record in the FA Cup, how do you feel about coaching the team for more than a year and your future goals? Li Yi said frankly: It is very difficult for our team to get to where it is now. When I first took over the team, it was these players. After more than a year, we have not changed much overall, and there is no foreign aid, only one foreign center-back. But after a year, I was able to see the growth of the players. When I first took over, I didn't say that I had played against the Chinese Super League team, and most of the players had not even played in the Chinese First Division. But after more than a year, they have proved themselves on the platform of the Middle Division. They can not only play against the Chinese First Division teams, including the Chinese Super League teams, they are not bad. Many times, they still lack self-confidence. But through more than a year, we can see the growth of each of their players. As each of their players grows, the team grows. I think that's the most gratifying thing about being a coach. What you give, you can see the gain.

As a player at that time, Li Yi was the main striker of the national team, and the famous star began to adjust the players after becoming a coach, what is the biggest difference from being a player, and what is the biggest difficulty encountered? In this regard, Li Yi also said his own words: the difference is that when you are a player, you only need to manage yourself, and you don't have to care about others. But now, you are the brain of the team, you have to manage everyone, including the main force, the substitutes, the coaches, the staff, this is a big family, everyone you have to know what they think, what they want to do. You have to know their physical condition, you have to know their hearts. Especially the players, you can only better control and control the team if you have a better grasp of their hearts and know what they are thinking. The biggest difficulty is at the beginning of the year. Our team was previously a tripartite shareholder, and at the beginning of the year, probably because of some shareholder changes, when we were at sheffield United base, the team may have faced several times at that time. But the players persevered and kept the team alive. And with the passage of time, they have also slowly grown. So here, I still have to thank everyone who has paid for the team.

Referring to the difficulties faced by Jiuniu at the beginning of the year, in fact, it is also a problem encountered by many domestic clubs this year, when talking about how to hope that China's professional leagues and clubs should develop in the future, Li Yi also gave his own suggestions: I think it is still done according to the law. Do it normally and hope that our league can grow healthily. Including the previous bubble, it is now slowly returning to rationality, and I hope that our league and clubs can slowly achieve their own blood production in order to function well.

Source: China News Network