The mystery of motives, the unpredictability of people's hearts, the topics of mercenaries, money above all else, naturalization of players, the mouthpiece of the All China Class, playing with big names, and over-reliance on foreign aid are always hotly debated.
However, the professionalism of the players and the energy they exude is often taken for granted.
If Iverson returns to the Chinese Super League, he will be 34 years old at that time, wearing the Chengdu Rongcheng jersey, with rich experience in the Chinese Super League and the advantage of free agency, without taking up the foreign aid quota, it is the perfect candidate for Chengdu to strengthen the forward line.
The news of "Exxon ends study abroad" appeared frequently in the newspapers. At first, I suspected that this was a form of black humor, but with the analysis of numerous articles, I have come to believe that their views are heartfelt.
Ten years ago, Elkeson made his debut in the Chinese Super League and won the league's top scorer at the Tianhe Stadium. In that year, Guangzhou Evergrande won the Vulcan Cup three times and the first AFC Championship, and these brilliant achievements have become the best stories of Chinese soccer.
With the decoupling of sporting achievement from national pride, naturalized players are no longer in the spotlight.
The Naturalization Maze
"I am proud that China has chosen to return."
At the beginning of 2019, 21-year-old Hou Yongyong joined Beijing Guoan as one of China's first naturalized players. Naturalized alongside him was Li Ke, both of whom share the same Chinese bloodline.
At the age of 16, Hou Yongyong made his debut with Norwegian supergiant Rosenborg, was selected for the Norwegian national youth team, was hailed as one of the "Three Norwegian Heroes", and won the Norwegian Football Talent Award. That's why they want to revive Chinese soccer.
Guangzhou has become another major naturalization force, transforming the Chinese Super League's best foreign aiders into "foreign aiders" for the national football team.In 2019, Guangzhou paid 870 million yuan in transfer fees, wages and settlement fees for six naturalized players.
After a large-scale change, "Elkeson" became "Aixon", "Aloysio" became "Lokok Fu "Aloysio" to "Lo Kok Fu", plus naturalized player Jiang Guangtai, the "Second Palace" Lippi led the national team to participate in the World Qualification Tournament.
However, with the Philippines drawing and Syria losing, the situation of the national football team's 40-team tournament is in jeopardy, and Lippi suddenly resigned, taking "the players have no sense of national honor" as the final evaluation of Chinese soccer.
Li Tie took over the national football team, Alan, Jiang Guangtai additions to the lineup, and ultimately succeeded in advancing to the top twelve, Luo Guofu and Fernando also gradually get the opportunity to play.
In the World Cup, Li Tie's controversy over the use of naturalized players, triggering issues such as "closed training" and "lack of home field", deepened the rift between Li Tie and the media.
Ackerson scored a penalty kick in the 68th minute of the national football team's match against Australia and Wu Lei followed up with a breakaway goal, making it his swansong in this year's national football team's last 12 matches.
Meanwhile, Guangzhou had been defaulting on its wages for months on end, and Ickerson decided to leave China, ending his nearly decade-long stint in the league.
"I'm Chinese and as soon as the national team calls me up, I'll be back." Ickerson said as he left China to return to the airport in Brazil.
After half a year's rest, Ackerson joined Pakistan B team Gremio as a foreigner. This is the impression most Chinese fans have of the naturalized players after the World Qualifiers.
Li Xiaopeng led the team to participate in the World Qualification Tournament, "whether to recruit naturalized players" has become a hot topic, Ixon failed to make the list.
Madsen gave a "reasonable" explanation: "Ickerson said he would not return to the team for the last 12 games and therefore was not included in the national team list."
However, a reversal ensued, with many media outlets revealing that Exxon's non-selection to the national roster was due to a lack of infection.
The strange thing about China's soccer media is that the demonizing portrayal of various opinions makes Chinese soccer look even more chaotic, and there are even many traditionally decent people who consider themselves "authoritative" and wave the flag of "justice".
The Golden Dollar Falls
Looking back at the past four years, the naturalization of Chinese soccer has not caught up with any element of "right time, right place, harmony".
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.
Maybe it's just a matter of time before Li Ke leaves and Jiang Guangtai remains in the Premier League as Shanghai Port is one of the few stable teams.
Ackerson is almost destined to return to the Chinese Super League, with media personality Wang Xiaorui publicly stating, "His current level of competition is not good enough to be selected for the national team again. With the likes of Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning, Lin Liangming, Xie Pengfei, Wei Shihao, and even Xie Weijun and Chen Pu on the rise, he should consider retiring as soon as possible."
Such questions may have stemmed from media announcements that Ickerson wanted to play with the national team in this year's Asian Cup.
Indeed, the media ridicule is endless. Lokomotiv is currently playing for America Mineiro and has stated that he has begun to consider retirement. Allan returned to Brazil to play for Fluminense.
Fernando has no playing record since his naturalization and is a free agent, and Gallagher is in the process of applying for reinstatement of his Brazilian citizenship.
As for Delgado, he won't be eligible to play until at least next year, but there's no real point.
With the Asian Cup approaching and only four months left to go, the national team has yet to even identify a head coaching candidate, and lately it's been more like disappearing from the public eye.
As a member of the Naturalized Legion, Exxon's professional attitude is beyond reproach. Unfortunately, however, they have never been recognized by the majority of the population due to the fact that there has never been a trace of immigration in their history.
I'd rather see the likes of Hu and Tao and Wang Haijian gradually show their value to the national team, which is the legacy this country wants to see the most.
In the cold winter of Chinese soccer, the trend of naturalization is like drinking hemlock to quench the thirst of the future people will use "farce" to sum up the national team of Li Tie, Li Xiaopeng era, but I still want to believe that "Exxon" to the original belief in soccer.
