March 23 - In today's warm-up match, the national soccer team drew 0-0 away to New Zealand, with port center back Wei Zhen making his debut and helping his team score zero goals. Wei Zhen summarized his and the team's performance in an interview with Sportsweek.
--First time representing the national team at the Class A level
Wei Zhen: This is the first game for the new national team and my first time playing for the national team. I was excited and maybe a little nervous. But as the game went on, my nerves went away and I focused on the game itself.
-Talk about whether you expected to make a debut
Wei Zhen: I thought about it, but I didn't think about it that much. I thought that since the national team needs me, I must put all my energy into it, show all my strength, be ready to go to the national team, and when I arrive at the team, I want to play every national team game.
--Talking about the feelings of the competition
Wei Zhen:I think the quality of today's game was quite high and the opponent was not weak. We carried out the manager's intention in the game and everyone showed the spirit of tenacity and hard work. However, unfortunately, we should have had a good chance to win the game, but we still didn't win.
-Talking about one's performance
Wei Zhen: It feels okay, and then it still feels a little bit regretful that I didn't win this game, and I hope I can win the next one.
-- on whether the next game will be more difficult
Wei Zhen: In fact, we were ready before this game because the opponent's striker, Wood, is from the Premier League and I wanted to play with him. Now I can only wait for the next game to see if I have a chance and I hope he can play in the next game.
--Talking about improving self-confidence
Wei Zhen:Yes! Because the national team game is still very different from the club game, the national team represents the honor of the country, we fight for the country. After today's game, I feel my self-confidence has improved a lot.
-Talking about the difference between AFC Champions League and national team games
Wei Zhen: It's also an international game and the gap between the two is quite large. In addition, for reasons that are well known from a couple of years ago, our team has also not participated in the AFC Champions League for some time. Therefore, when we come to the national team for this kind of competition, we still feel different. If I could play for the national team for the first time, there would definitely be a lot of areas for further improvement. From my own point of view, I hope that this is just the beginning and that there will be more opportunities for better performances in the future.
I would also like to say that it feels different to go into the stadium today and see a lot of fans, especially Chinese fans, because we had an empty Chinese Super League before, and today there are so many fans, and it feels like it's giving us a boost, so I'm very thankful for their support as well.
