On October 4, 2022, the final of the Shanghai Stars of Tomorrow Champions Cup soccer match was played at Shanghai SAIC Pudong Football Stadium. Shanghai U15 Blue Team, led by Xu Huashu's penalty kick and Wang Ziheng's hat-trick, beat Zhejiang Energy Greentown U15 Team 3-0 to be crowned the champion.
The Shanghai U15 Blue Team, based on the Shanghai Shenhua U15 unit, has achieved great success under the leadership of Tao Jin. Tao Jin, a former Shenhua player, transitioned to coaching after his retirement in 2019, leading the team to keep pursuing their dreams at the Kangqiao base.
After winning the championship, Tao Jin said that the excellent play of the players was the most crucial. Trained at Jiangzhen Middle School, they decided to enter the Kangqiao base early to enjoy better facilities and conditions for better freedom.
"Soccer Magazine interviewed Tao Jin: about the team's future arrangements, Tao Jin said that the team has entered the Kangqiao base, which was previously trained in Jiangzhen Middle School, but decided to enter the base earlier in consideration of the epidemic prevention policy. Here, the team can better prepare for the challenges ahead."
Talking about leaving Kangqiao base, Tao Jin said, here let him feel back to the "city", training conditions and accommodation than the Jiangzhen High School is better, the most important thing is that the freedom of training here is higher.
"Soccer Magazine interviewed Tao Jin: on his thoughts about his team winning the championship, Tao Jin said that winning the championship is a recognition of the team's efforts, but that the championship doesn't mean everything. He believes that it is vital for the kids to be able to play at a high level."
Talking about the team's performance in the Youth Super League, Tao Jin said that due to the epidemic, the preparation period for the Youth Super League was not sufficient, which led to the team's poor performance. He believes that problems can only be remedied in training if they are identified in official matches.
"Soccer Magazine interviewed Tao Jin: about the reasons why the team won the championship, Tao Jin said that the team was better bonded, had a deep understanding of the age group, and the players performed well in the game. He believes that the team's effort and hustle was the key to winning the title."
Talking about the difficulties encountered by the team in the process of youth training, Tao Jin said that the team faced a lot of difficulties in the early stage of formation, but with the improvement of performance, the situation gradually improved.
Tao Jin said the biggest problem the team is facing is that there are too few opportunities to participate in official matches and high-level games. He hopes that such matches can be held more often to provide players with more stages to show themselves.
Speaking about the encouragement of Shenhua's first-team head coach Wu Jingui for his team to win the championship, Tao Jin said he appreciated the leadership's emphasis on youth training and believed that the first-team's success was an incentive for youth training.
