What do you think of when you think of the phrase "raising soldiers for the country"? I believe many Chinese Super League fans will think of one team, that is, Guangzhou Evergrande. At that time, Guangzhou Evergrande used to be the dominant player in Chinese soccer. They won 8 titles in 11 years in the league and won the AFC Champions League in 2013 and 2015. They not only made zero breakthrough in the Chinese Super League, but also became an Asian powerhouse. It can be said that Guangzhou Evergrande has achieved unprecedented results at the club.
Of course, the cost for Guangzhou Evergrande to realize all this is not small. The golden age of the Chinese Super League started with them. They first brought in major world-class foreign aid and then hoarded a huge number of international players, concentrating almost all of Chinese soccer's superior resources, and so the miracle was produced. Guangzhou Evergrande, in its heyday, hoarded almost one and a half sets of national soccer teams. So there is a saying that "Chinese soccer is dependent on Evergrande" because the international players are all at Guangzhou Evergrande, Guangzhou Evergrande performs well, the players are in good shape, and the international players play in more advanced competitions such as the AFC Champions League, such as the World Cup.
But then, the performance of the national brand began to be inversely proportional to that of Guangzhou Evergrande. A very important reason was that the 85-89 players gradually entered their 30s and their form began to decline, but the strength of the young players did not keep up, resulting in a lack of talent. The music department can also have foreign aid, but the national brand has no way to do so, so the performance of the national soccer team began to decline sharply.
But the slogan of "Chinese soccer relies on Evergrande" came out, and people stood up, so Chinese soccer is very difficult, Evergrande naturally rushed to the front.In the summer of 2018, the soccer association began the era of naturalization, and Evergrande took the initiative to bear the heavy responsibility, and began to re-naturalize the players. Evergrande naturalized Aixon, Gaolat, Luo Guofu, Alan, Fernando, Jiang Guangtai and Xiao Tao Tao, of which Aixon, Luo Guofu, Fernando, Alan and Jiang Guangtai also entered the national team.
It was because Guangzhou Evergrande naturalized too many players that they had to reduce the foreign aid quota to make room for naturalized players. That's why Cannavaro had a line in his press conference about "raising soldiers for the country". Because we wanted to raise naturalized players for the national team, we sacrificed the competitiveness of the club, which was thought to be a complaint from either Cannavaro or the interpreter at the time. But things did work out, and the man's design and signature were established.
It was supposed to be another contribution that Evergrande made for itself, but unfortunately, the national football team with naturalized players didn't do well in the Top 12 tournament, and then Guangzhou Evergrande terminated the contracts of all the naturalized players because of their own financial problems. When most of the naturalized players left the Chinese Super League and basically didn't come back, it also represented the complete failure of the first naturalization attempt in Chinese soccer. Evergrande's gold standard of "raising soldiers for the country" seems to have lost its value.
However, just a year later, Guangzhou Evergrande's golden sign of "raising soldiers for the country" seems to have been taken away. 2022 Chinese Super League promotion horse Chengdu Rongcheng team has taken away this sign. Recently, many media revealed that Evergrande's previous naturalized player and former national football team's main center forward, Ekerson, will soon return to China to join Chengdu Rongcheng team. In other words, the naturalized player who left from Evergrande was invited back by Chengdu Rongcheng team.
This time, Chengdu Rongcheng can invite Ixon back, a very important reason is that this can help Ixon back to the national football team, to participate in the Asian Cup. Is this "supporting the country"? Speaking of "supporting the country", Chengdu Rongcheng can also hold up. Because last season as a promoted horse, the results are not bad, finished fifth in the league, one of the very important reasons is that many of the young players in their lineup began to shine, especially Hu and Mutalifu, who are already considered the stars of tomorrow in Chinese soccer, the future national team may also rely on them.
Do you think the Chengdu Hibiscus business is worth it? Do you think Exxon can return to the national team upon his return? Feel free to discuss with your friends in the comments section!
