The soccer world is in flux, the news of Chinese men's soccer coach Li Tie stepping down is like a heavy bomb, and the news of Li Xiaopeng taking over the baton came immediately, like a passionate restart after the intermission! In a wave of "down with Li", the CFA completed the change of the national team's managerial position.
I have some conflicting views on this change of manager for the national soccer team. On the one hand, I agree with this decision, because Li Tie's dismissal is not due to tactical failures, but his long-winded remarks in the press conference after the China-Australia game, which triggered public anger. From the point of view of appeasing the public, Li Tie's "too much talk is bound to be lost", placing himself on the opposite side of the fans and the public, making the situation difficult to end, and ultimately can only leave the scene, the resignation seems to have become the only option. Therefore, from a certain point of view, journalists support the change of command.
However, my "disapproval" is more for business reasons. Li Tie and Li Xiaopeng, as well as the local young coaches in the Chinese Super League and the Chinese League One, are valuable assets of Chinese soccer. Over the years, we often say that Chinese soccer has a "talent gap", which not only refers to players, but also coaches, managers, referees and other aspects of the talent is in a state of shortage.
Cultivating talents is a long-term and arduous task that requires great patience. From the perspective of coaches, cultivating excellent coaches requires not only individual efforts, but also the creation of conditions that allow for failure, growth, and sufficient space. Taking this Top 12 tournament as an example, although the performance of the national soccer team was not satisfactory, the overall trend is actually moving in a good direction. From 0-3 against Australia to 1-1 later on, this is undoubtedly a best proof.
We recognize that Li Tie has many shortcomings, but we should also see this positive development trend. Compared with Lippi and other international managers, the gap is needless to say. But Li Tie's independent coaching just over 100 games, while Lippi has been close to 1000 games. If given enough time, Li Tie's number of coaching games reached 500 or even more, the situation may be completely different. However, going from 100 to 500 takes exactly that amount of time. Unfortunately, at least in the recent past, Li Tie has lost that opportunity for the very reason of his own words.
For his successor, Li Xiaopeng, it will also take time. He faces the same problem as Li Tie, although he has coached more games than Li Tie, but only about 150 games, also need a long time to accumulate. So, are we willing to give Li Xiaopeng that kind of patience and time?
