BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Four years on, what has naturalization left behind for Chinese soccer?
"I am proud to have made the choice to return to China."
At the beginning of 2019, 21-year-old Hou Yongyong returned home as one of the first naturalized players, landing with Chinese Super League side Beijing Guoan.
Returning with him is Li Ke, also of Chinese descent.
Hou Yong Yong joined Beijing Guoan in early 2019. Photo credit: Beijing Guoan Football Club.
Handsome in appearance, Hou Yongyong has received great attention and expectations from the outside world from the very beginning. Of course not only from the handsome image, but also from a good growing resume.
At the age of 16, he made his debut for Norwegian supergiant Rosenborg, and was selected for the Norwegian national youth team several times. Along with Ödgård and Ajer, he became known as the "Norwegian Trio" and won the Norwegian Football Talent Award for youngsters...
He's clearly a rare young talent for Chinese soccer, which is notoriously youthful.
Hou Yongyong joined the Beijing Guoan poster. Photo credit: Beijing Guoan Football Club.
Four years later, Hou Yong left Beijing Guoan for a free return to Norwegian second division side Langheim.
"I've been missing the locker room and music culture of the team since I last left. It feels great and fun to be back again." Hauyong said in the team's official video with his familiar trademark smile.
Norwegian second division side Langheim have announced the return of Houyon. Social media screenshots.
Injuries and other factors have caused Hou to not perform as well as expected upon his return, making far fewer appearances. He made only one substitute appearance last season and sat out the 2021 season. Such a performance, not to mention the selection of the national football team.
The huge gap between expectation and reality is not only seen in Hou Yongyong, but also in Chinese soccer.
Screenshot from the official Lanham announcement video.
fantasize
Apart from Beijing Guoan, the other major naturalized team in Chinese soccer four years ago was Guangzhou. The latter team has mainly helped to transform the best foreign aiders from the Chinese Super League over the past five years into "foreign aiders" for the national soccer team's participation in the world preseason.
Elkeson became Ekerson, Fernando became Fernando, Aloysio became Lo Guofu, Allan was still Allan, and Jiang Guangtai, a naturalized player with Chinese ancestry... The scene was quite shocking.
Undeniably, the "naturalized army" to Chinese soccer has brought a ray of hope and fantasy, after all, are the real fighting force.
Poster of Li Ke joining Beijing Guoan. Photo credit: Beijing Guoan Football Club.
Returning to the Chinese Super League for the first time, Li Ke has become a major bulwark in Beijing Guoan's midfield. In the first eight rounds of the 2019 season, Li Ke not only scored two goals, but also contributed 4.1 steals per game, ranking first at Guoan and second in the Chinese Super League. Among all Chinese Super League midfielders at the time, Li Ke ranked first with 7.35 points per game.
Not to mention Ackerson, Allan and others who have proven themselves in the AFC Champions League and domestic competitions, and were rising stars in the Europa League before being introduced to the Premier League.
Naturalized international footballer Eckerson. Photo by Luo Yunfei, CNA.
realism
With a wave of naturalization and ambitions to hit the World Cup again, "second-timer" Lippi leads a renewed national football team to the Qatar World Cup qualifiers in the summer of 2019.
Supposedly it's an update, but it's really still a bunch of 87 and 89 year olds who are the starters, with most of the younger players on the bench. Ackerson and Lee were the first players to complete naturalization and make the national soccer team.
0:0 Philippines, 1:2 Syria, the national football team 40 strong match out of the situation is in jeopardy, can not bring the national football team Lippi suddenly resigned after the game.
Turning to Li Tie to take over the national football team, naturalized players Alan, Jiang Guangtai further additions, the national football team had a shock to qualify for the top 12, but also ushered in the naturalized players Luo Guofu and Fernando.
However, the use of naturalized players has caused considerable controversy.
Until the 12 strong fourth game against Saudi Arabia, the second half of Alan, Luo Guofu, Ackerson successive substitutions, the national football team for the first time four naturalized players on the field, the final 2 games :3 regrettable.
Then the naturalized players got more playing time, but in a do-or-die game, the national football team drew 1:1 with Oman and basically lost hope of advancing. However, accident 1 happened after accident 1 accident. :1 drew with Australia and kept the faint hope alive again.
It was also a brief bright moment for these naturalized players to make a substantial contribution to the game for the National Football League.
Li Xiaopeng succeeded Li Tie as head coach of the national soccer team amid the festering off-field storm of Li Tie. The newly improved fighting force of the national soccer team experienced some turbulence, accompanied by slim hopes of advancing in the last four matches of the Top 12.
From Li Tie leading the team in the second half of the 40-team tournament to Li Xiaopeng leading the final four games of the 12-team tournament. The four naturalized players did not play the role they thought they would.
Only sparse fielding stats will show -
Eckerson started 8 games, made 2 substitute appearances, and contributed only one goal. Kwang-Tae Chiang started 10 times.
Allan made only 4 starts and 6 substitute appearances, scoring 3 goals. Luo Guofu made only 3 starts and 2 substitute appearances, scoring 1 goal.
Fernando continues to hang his exemption card on the grounds of injury and has never played for the national soccer team. Li Ke also missed the Top 12 due to injury. Although Gallart was naturalized, he was not eligible to play for the national football team.
Generally speaking, the only truly naturalized players at this critical stage of the Big 12 are Akerson and Jiang Guangtai.
Eckerson (right) grapples with an opponent in the Asia 12 preliminaries.
This comes after news that Guangzhou paid 870 million yuan in transfer fees, wages and settlement fees for six naturalized players, Golat, Allan, Ekerson, Fernando, Luo Guofu and Jiang Guangtai, in 2019 alone.
The huge cost of naturalization is not proportional to low utilization and returns.
fate
With the first batch of naturalized players, Hou Yong Yong, leaving Beijing Guoan, only Jiang Guangtai and Li Ke are still playing in the Chinese Super League, but in general, it may only be a matter of time before Li Ke leaves.
Jiang Guangtai stays in the Super League because he is backed by one of the few stable teams like Shanghai Harbour.
Fernando, Gaolat, Allan, Ickxon and other players have returned to Brazil after losing their high salaries. There are even reports that Gallart is applying to regain his Brazilian citizenship.
DATA PICTURE: The national soccer team prepares for the World Qualifier. Photo by Zhang Henwei
Looking back at the past four years, the naturalization of Chinese soccer has not caught up with any of the elements of "time, place, people and harmony".
The second half of the World Preliminary Round 40 and the stage of the Round of 12 were affected by the epidemic. The national football team can not play at home for a long time, coupled with a long period of closed training, objectively has a great impact on the competitive state.
In addition, the impact of the epidemic on domestic leagues and clubs has been considerable. In addition, "gold dollar soccer" is rapidly receding, and one of the major factors supporting these naturalized international players has disappeared.
In addition, most naturalized players are past the prime of their careers and are not in as good of shape as they used to be.
The naturalized players have been far less effective than expected due to a combination of factors.
Jiang Guangtai (second from right) during the game. Photographed by Luo Yunfei.
Four years later, the wave of naturalization in Chinese soccer "originated". With another collapse in the World Preliminary 12, that fantasy was mercilessly destroyed.
For Chinese soccer to get out of the doldrums, a good foundation must be laid down on the ground. The days of spending a lot of money to bring in naturalized players will never return.
On March 23, Beijing time, the national football team will take part in the international a-level friendly match against New Zealand again after nearly four years.
In the round, a new cycle of Chinese soccer is about to begin again.
