Rising stars such as Shen Mengyu and Yang Shuhui are determined to enter a more competitive league in order to grow in the fierce grind.
They are at different stages of their careers, but in order to pursue their soccer dreams, they bravely embarked on this overseas journey that is both arduous and full of uncertainties. For Chinese soccer, which is experiencing a cold winter, this force has become a rare ray of light.
Sun Jihai, who played for Manchester City in the English Premier League and played alongside Crowe, had his playing moments in the spotlight. Photo courtesy of Osports All Sports Images.
Compared with the wave of staying in the ocean boom 20 years ago, the footprints of Sun Jihai, Li Tie, Fan Zhiyi and Zheng Zhi in the English Premier League, as well as Yang Chen in the German Bundesliga,...... nowadays, the wave of staying in the ocean seems to be much less than before. This is also a reflection of the gradual weakening of the competitiveness of Chinese soccer in the world football scene over the past 20 years.
Wu Lei, who is in the top circle of domestic men's soccer, still needs to fight for more opportunities to appear in the Spanish team of La Liga; Tang Jiali, who dominates in the domestic women's soccer field, is fighting for the starting position in the women's soccer team of Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League.
Li Lei, who is about to leave for China, can also be expected to work hard in the journey for the opportunity to play, even if he is not playing for a top five European league team.
The hardships of domestic players staying overseas are obvious. In the 1:1 draw with Australia in the Round of 12, Wu Lei resisted the pressure and saved his team with a penalty kick.
Even so, when Wu Lei returned to the national team, his "thigh" role is more and more prominent. In 14 matches in the World Cup, he scored 12 goals, especially in the 12 strong match, he took over the national football team 7 goals in 4, against Vietnam and Australia's game, there are decisive goals.
Wang Frost previously stayed in Ligue 1 Paris Saint-Germain women's soccer team, and also significantly improved after returning to the Chinese women's soccer team. It is believed that Tang Jiali will also show amazing progress in her future matches for the Chinese women's soccer team.
In long and tightly-paced matches, in a more professional and competitive soccer environment, the hardships endured by players staying in the country will in some ways translate into results.
Their experience will be a valuable asset for Chinese soccer in the future. For the national team's competitive level and the development of domestic soccer, staying in the ocean is undoubtedly a way for Chinese soccer to "save itself", and the CFA is constantly promoting the program for domestic players to stay in the ocean.
From Li Lei to Yang Shuhui, to the previous Tang Jiali, Shen Mengyu and other players, their choice to stay in the ocean are more pragmatic, and did not blindly pursue to join the top European giants.
In fact, in the past, there are many cases of failure of domestic players to stay in the ocean, such as Dong Fangzhuo to join the English Premier League Manchester United, Zhang Xunzhe played in the German Bundesliga Wolfsburg, Zhang Chingdong joined the West Liga Vallecano on loan, and so on. Whether or not to stay in the ocean, the key lies in whether or not it suits you.
With the Chinese Super League "golden dollar" bubble burst, in the comfort zone is no longer so comfortable, I believe there will be more players choose to stay in the ocean road. We look forward to more pragmatic and rational choice to stay in the ocean, become an important exit of Chinese soccer "self-help" road.
