This year's Games were different, what do you remember most about it?
The extraordinary thing about this National Games is that our Shui guide (Shui Qingxia) was not on the team, and the team members went through changes such as national team transfers, Shaanxi team exchanges, and overseas stays. Nonetheless, our entire team fought hard, both young and senior players, and the coaching team was no exception. We overcame all the difficulties and finally achieved our goal of winning the second place.
How do you guys feel about the water guides heading to the Olympic Combine?
It's a mixed feeling indeed. Guide Shui went to a higher stage, but her departure also meant that we lost our head coach. Director Pan (Pan Weimin) is temporarily acting in this capacity. Director Shui was our center of gravity, and her departure left us feeling uneasy and unsettled. However, it is difficult to have both, and we are happy with her choice to go.
After the semi-finals of the Games, you said in an interview that you were the "strongest center back", what made you say that?
I'm telling the truth, just trying to express what I really think. I think I am the strongest center back. I say this because I prepared in advance and proved it with my performances. My performances in the national team over the past years are there for everyone to see. First of all, if I didn't have such strength, I certainly wouldn't have dared to say such a thing; secondly, in my seven or eight years in the national team, I have experienced many big competitions, including the Asian Games, the Asian Cup, and the quarterfinals, and I was a starter in all of them. As for what others say, I don't care and I am not afraid.
FOOTBALL: You've said before that you've felt "stifled" by being on the bench for two consecutive World Cups, but now you're getting better and better, and you've claimed to be the strongest center back in the game.
Li Jiayue: I think it's okay, the previous experiences were growth. I experienced setbacks and grew a lot. In fact, before I always felt that I was not mature enough to handle the ball, but in the last two years, I've improved, and it's not that I'm playing as well as I can, because all of us work hard and we all have our own strengths. I think I'm a bit more mature now than before.
Where specifically?
In the game, I do a better job with some of the balls, if something happens, than I did before.
Your personality is very different from the traditional image of a Shanghai girl, is this caused by playing soccer?
No, I grew up like that, whether I played soccer or not, that's just the way my personality is, not that I'm the way I am because I play soccer.
But your personality has caused you some "setbacks" as you put it?
Yes, this personality did affect me a bit, but not in the way that outsiders say it did, but in the way that it affected my own racing and training. I'm not smooth enough and I probably make people think I'm a prick, so it makes others feel less comfortable. I was a starter in the national team before, and suddenly I wasn't a starter when I played in the World Cup, so maybe I didn't handle it very well mentally, and I was a substitute in both World Cups, so maybe I was okay the second time around, and I didn't have too many mood swings, but the first time I did have a lot of mood swings.
How was it adjusted then?
To be honest, it's very difficult. It's a slump in form because you've been a starter before, but suddenly you can't play, your form is bound to suffer, and you'll be all sorts of thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking, and your form is a mess, and you're drilling, and you're just all sorts of upset.
When did you walk out?
It's been a long time, half a year or so. Of course, this experience has helped me, and it is with this experience that I have grown and matured.
Is it that personality that makes people think you're healthy on the field?
It's not character either, I guess, because you have to be healthy when you're playing, even if you're delicate off the field. We have a lot of guys on the team that are weak off the field, but are healthy on the field.
How did you adjust it the second time?
The second time around the mindset is normal, I just think do your best. Because it's the coach's decision to use whoever he doesn't, there's no right or wrong, only need or no need. If the coach doesn't let me play, it must be because I'm not indispensable, it must be my own problem, I'll train hard to make myself stronger. In fact, I have been happy in the national team, always good, no bad, unhappy.
I entered the national team in 2012, two times in and two times out, I have always tried to show the best of myself, to show the strongest strength, no hiding. In the national team, just like in the Shanghai team, and teammates get along quite happily, my character here, whether it's training or competition, there is nothing bad.
What do you think about your character?
I'm just straight forward, heartless, big-headed, and I think it's okay.
During this period, you posted quite a few videos on social media, such as a day in the life of an All-Conference athlete and the income of a professional player, what was your original intention?
It is to let more people understand our players, because many people think that the National Games kicked off, get medals, got a lot of prize money, many people say that athletes are very earning money, think that athletes' life is very comfortable. I just want to tell you, all walks of life are very hard, behind the glitter and glamor of the pay, is many people can not afford. One minute on the stage, ten years of work under the stage, work has the pain of work, athletes also have the pain of athletes.
FOOTBALL: How was your physical condition after playing in the National Games?
Li Jiayue: I'm okay, it's just that the body is not very good half a month before the Games, did a surgery, and the wound did not grow well.
So you're playing with an injury?
Yes, the wound didn't grow, and there was blood all over after the kicking game. But there's no way out. No one goes up there unless I do. I have to go up there.
Tired?
Definitely tired, and there's nothing you can do about being tired because you consume a lot every day, and your wounds aren't recovering very well, and they hurt all the time, but you have to keep training and keep competing.
Any more thoughts on the Nationals?
Yes, why not? Playing soccer is to enter the national team, for the country to compete for glory, can't stay in the Shanghai team for the rest of your life. Kicked to this point, no matter what, I want to fight for the country, play the World Cup, the Olympic Games, the Asian Games, every girl who plays football has this idea, representing the national team to play international events, this is the highest honor.
What do you think of the strength of the current national team?
Now the results are not so good, the ranking in Asia is not very good, but I think the real strength of China's women's soccer team, not as bad as the performance in the Tokyo Olympics, I think in Asia, China's team is still able to fight, not worse than Japan, South Korea, able to fight, of course, depends on the play.
Don Chia-Li is now staying overseas and you've been to Korea, what do you have to say about her?
Definitely go for it, it's more boring abroad and many of the concepts of playing soccer are different, but I think it's normal, it's all about the experience. In fact, whether in Korea or Europe, you will encounter such problems. The concepts are not the same and must be overcome, I think it's good to be gold plated, many people want to go not necessarily have such an opportunity.
