At Qingdao Hainiu Football Club, Qiao Weiguang, the financier, is the same as Hu Baoshen, the head of Jianye Football, who has the same obsessive love for our country's soccer. They have always supported the team, and I have great respect for this passion. I think this dedication complements my persistence in soccer. Even though I was only a substitute in Henan Jianye and the national team, as soon as I was on the field, I was able to show my light. In a certain industry, a person who is professional and persistent will surely impress people. Qingdao Manatee Football Club has been established for nearly 30 years, and Mr. Qiao and Zhongneng Group have been working together for 17 years. This persistence and tenacity is worthy of the admiration of the whole industry, especially at a time when China's soccer is in the doldrums.
I played alongside Jiang Ning on the national team and worked with head coach Yin Tiesheng, whose reputation in the national soccer world is known worldwide. Although we have not coached together, many of my teammates are his protégés and Yin has an excellent reputation. Before I joined Qingdao Hainiu, I had exchanges with him and his professionalism and tactical philosophy are admirable and he always stays on the front line.
Earlier this year, I briefly played for another China B team, Hebei Zhuao, and joined Qingdao Hainiu after a second transfer. This transfer allowed me to experience the promotion process, what kind of experience was it for me?
Xiao Zhi said, "Qingdao Hainiu has expressed its willingness to join me from the very beginning, and I think this club has the ambition to make an impact on the high-level league. As the financier said, the first division is not our ultimate goal, but returning to the Chinese Super League is our ultimate pursuit, and these words touched me deeply. Qingdao is a beautiful city, Qingdao Hainiu is an old team with a long history, and the funders have invested many years of hard work, so Qingdao Hainiu deserves to return to the Chinese Super League, and there should be a place for Qingdao Hainiu in China's top league.
Regarding the team's strengths, Xiao Zhi believes that the team is well structured, with a good mix of old, middle and young players. The older players expect to play an exemplary role, whether in training, life or games, Jiang Ning and I expect to play an exemplary role. The young players are aggressive and have great potential, they need a good platform. In addition, the team's atmosphere is harmonious, young players respect the old players, the old players respect the coach, and the team is united. Under the leadership of Coach Yin Tiesheng, every detail has been done well, whether at the technical and tactical level or in the management of the players' lives, and the internal unity has brought the team a strong fighting force.
Qingdao Manatees have a couple of players from Guangzhou in their team, did that catch your attention? Jiang Ning and I both played for Guangzhou R&F, Xu Jiajun is also from Guangzhou, and Chen Jiaqi used to play for R&F and is now with Qingdao Hainiu. This may seem like a coincidence, but it shows the attraction of Qingdao Hainiu.
Regarding self-discipline and persistence, Xiao Zhi said that he can maintain such a good condition at this age thanks to following the team's training, and occasionally go to the gym to train more, to maintain self-discipline, and hope that he will not be described as "white chicken".
Wang Song, Jiang Ning and I have been insisting on high level training, if the competitive level declined too quickly, we would have been eliminated a long time ago. We hope that this persistence will play a positive role for our country's soccer, just like Zheng Zhi's example, and contribute to Qingdao Hainiu's successful run to the first division, a victory for persistence.
Regarding the exemplary power of the veteran players, Xiao Zhi said that young people will imitate the style of the exemplars in the process of growing up, and the power of the exemplars will also inspire the young people to grow up, so the exemplary modeling effect is of great significance to the growth of young people. For example, Wu Lei is a very good model, many children will learn from him in the process of learning to play football, imitating him, if there are children in the future can surpass him, then the future of China's soccer will be even better.
Regarding the China B League, Xiao Zhi believes that China B is different from the Chinese Super League and the Chinese A League in that China B has no foreign players and is a purely domestic players' game. He and Jiang Ning also exchanged this topic, all the players who play in China B are domestic players, therefore, China B League shows the most essential side of our country's soccer.
This year's goal is to go all out to win the China B Championship. Jiang Ning and I have been talking a lot, and we share the same idea, which is to help the team achieve good results on the offensive side. Now the team has a lot of players who can score goals, Jiang Ning in the midfield scheduling, I pull in the front line, we both expect to play a role in this team, and also expect that through our efforts and actions, to help the team to move forward, drive the young players to better growth.
