On September 7, at 23:00 Beijing time, the Chinese national team started a fierce battle with Japan in the second round of Group B of the Asian World Qualification Tournament. In the first half, Zhang Linpeng was injured and left the field, Kubo Jianying's shot went out of the post, while Osako Yongya hammered in a goal to lock the score at 0-1. At the end of the half, China's national team trailed Japan by 0-1. At the end of the half, the Chinese National Team was down 0-1 to Japan. Alan, Luo Guofu and Artemisia substitutes came on the field, Yan Junling pounced on a one-two goal from Hisahei, and Wu Xi's header was slightly over the crossbar, finally the Chinese National Team was defeated by Japan 0-1, two consecutive defeats, and is now at the bottom of Group B. Stats: Possession 30.4% to 69.6%, shots on goal 3 to 18, shots on goal 0 to 3, breakaways 25 to 2, pass success rate 58% to 84%.
In the first half, China's defense was conservative and the scene was slightly dull, while Japan, who unexpectedly took the lead, controlled the pace of the game. Eighteen minutes into the second half, Coach Li Tie made a decisive substitution, replacing Li Ang, Jin Jingdao and Yin Hongbo with Alan, Luo Guofu and Artemisia Junmin respectively. In this way, the Chinese team had four naturalized players on the field. After the substitution, China's offense was significantly improved, bringing considerable pressure to the Japanese team, and showing obvious progress in the short term, especially in the continuous strengthening of the defensive end and more reasonable handling of details. Coach Li Tie expressed his satisfaction with the performance of his players after the match, and despite the final loss, the Chinese team has improved considerably in terms of tactics and players' spirit compared to the previous match.
After the match, we might as well discuss the current situation of Chinese and Japanese soccer. Since the 1990s, the national teams of China and Japan have gone professional, which has become a turning point, the fate of Chinese and Japanese soccer thus diverged. One has risen to become the dominant player in Asia and is close to the world-class level, while the other has gradually sunk and once did not reach the top ten of the World Cup qualifying matches. Objectively speaking, Chinese soccer has been in progress, 2006, 2010 and 2014 three World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese team even failed to enter the first round of the group stage, and now at least can participate in the top 12 matches, and the top teams in Asia to compete, which is also considered progress.
During this decade or so, the speed of development of Japanese soccer is visible to the naked eye, and the technical flow style of play has gradually matured to the extent that it can even compete with the strongest teams in Europe. The confrontation between the Japanese National Olympic Team and the Spanish National Olympic Team this summer is ample proof of this. In contrast, Asian players in South America and Europe have not been valued by top clubs, but Japanese players have still made their way in European soccer, and there are many Japanese players in the five major leagues.
Why is there such a big gap between Chinese and Japanese soccer? Let's look at a set of figures. in 2011, the total number of registered professional players in China was only 8,000, a number that at the time was not as high as that of Vietnam, where the Vietnam Football Association (VFA) counted 50,000 registrations, whereas in Japan the number had reached 500,000 a decade earlier, and this number has been steadily increasing. in the early 1990s, the number of young people participating in soccer programs in China also reached an all-time high of After the 21st century, this number declined rapidly, and around 2006 it had fallen to 180,000 people. Also in the 1990s, there were up to 4,000 soccer schools in China, but at one point that number dropped to just over two dozen by official calculations. There are 4,038 teams registered for high school soccer in Japan, with over 162,000 registered high school players alone. These figures visualize the gap between Chinese and Japanese soccer, and explain why Chinese soccer is sinking.
Turning to the basic figures for basketball, the Chinese Basketball Association has 13,000 registered regular players, the Japanese Basketball Association's figure is 750,000, South Korea's is 7,000, and the United States has 23 million. Of course, the overall quality of Japan's 750,000 registered players may be more watered down compared to soccer, which requires a higher level of physical conditioning, while soccer selection is closer to the general population. But the number at least means that there are 750,000 young people in Japan who can officially participate in basketball, regardless of their height or level of play, and they all have their own stage.
In fact, what is even more surprising is that our national sport, table tennis, has reached 350,000 registered players in Japan. There are only about 30,000 table tennis players in our table tennis schools and gymnasiums combined. Of course, this does not mean that Japan's table tennis strength will soon surpass our country and become the ruler of the next era. After all, the quality and strength of these 350,000 people in Japan can hardly be compared with the 30,000 people in our country. But these 350,000 people can indeed play the sport. In recent years, in international competitions, we can also find that the gap between the strength of Chinese and Japanese table tennis is gradually narrowing. Our netizens are laughing at players such as Ito Mijo who are dumbfounded when they meet our country, but we have to realize that they all have hundreds of thousands of Japanese table tennis players behind them. There is a table tennis media in Japan called Pool Kingdom, and this media has proudly said that Japan has 1.2 million table tennis players but only six of them have the chance to participate in the Olympics, but this mechanism is too cruel, and the Olympics should open up more places. There are said to be 87 million table tennis enthusiasts in China, ranging from kindergarten children to grandparents in parks. Out of these 87 million people, 30,000 table tennis players have been screened and there are more than 2,000 professional players. From a competitive point of view, there is no problem with this brutal elimination rate. But in terms of the sport itself, this mode of development is highly undesirable. If one likes table tennis but cannot advance to the level of professional athlete, the biggest stage of one's life may be at the table tennis table in the school or the park, and one may not even have the chance to participate in official competitions. The development path of sports in China has seriously deviated from the essence of sports and is not in line with the law of development of sports. This development path, which is utilitarian and based on the standard of performance, is gradually keeping many young people away from sports. In fact, it is not the opposition between the national system and the market system, but the opposition of values. The core of sports development is not to reach the final round of the World Cup, nor to get the Olympic gold medal, but to let more people participate in sports and have the opportunity to engage in their favorite sports.
The huge and well-established school leagues have built a strong foundation for Japanese sports.The 1980s were a low point for Japanese soccer. During this period, the number of registered youth players skyrocketed, tripling from just over 200,000 to 600,000, and has since stabilized at between 600,000 and 700,000 players. School leagues support the roots of Japanese soccer, with more than 20,000 schools in Japan participating in various school tournaments each year, with the All Japan Soccer Junior Football Conference, the All Japan Secondary School Football Conference, and the All Japan High School Soccer League garnering the most attention. Hundreds of thousands of youth players participate each year, meaning that each one plays an average of more than fifty matches a year. Of course, it's not just soccer, but every sport as well. We've all heard and read the comics of soccer and slam dunk player, and in fact, these dramas really happen in Japanese schools. It has been proved that when more young people have the opportunity to take part in the game, the strength of the national team of this country will certainly be improved rapidly.
It's not the World Cup winners we love, it's the soccer itself, so whether it's the atmosphere of the system, the working environment, etc., China and Japan really aren't the same concept at all. Of course, China is also changing step by step, just hope that the speed can really be faster.
