national soccer team
return home in triumph
in-depth conversation
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
Under the planning of head coach Li Tie, China's men's football team was ranked second in the group with a brilliant record of four wins after a fierce battle in the Asian quarter of the World Qualifying Tournament 40, and then advanced to the Round of 12 as the best of the eight second-placed groups, realizing the small goal of the national football team in 2021. Li Tie also perfectly fulfilled the vow he made when he took over the team, that is, to win all four matches to qualify for the tournament. After leading the team to qualify for the Top 12, Li Tie was interviewed by a reporter on his way back to his home country to reflect on his journey. The first half of the interview was published in the last issue, and the second half continues in this issue.
"Veteran motivation is significant."
Reporter: What do you think is different about this national team?
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
Joining the national team is all about honor, no money, and that honor is more important than anything else! These players took it very seriously, which was surprising to me. In our days, some players even joined the national team to avoid fitness tests, and perhaps for other purposes, which I won't mention. But nowadays the players, especially the older ones, have a strong emotional attachment to the national team, and more importantly, they are able to lead the team in an exemplary way.
For example, like Artemisia Junmin, due to injury, this year's Chinese Super League on behalf of Shandong Taishan team only played four rounds, accumulating less than 20 minutes of playing time. After the game, I called him to ask about his situation, he replied: "No problem, don't worry!" After the end of the first five rounds of the Super League, Shandong Taishan team from Guangzhou back to Jinan, while Artemisia chose to stay in Guangzhou alone to train. A 34 year old player, it is completely unnecessary to do so, completely can say to me, "I have a bad leg, Tie, this time will not go first, and wait for you to play the back of the 12 strong match when you come back." Even if he had said that, I would certainly not have had any comments or suggestions, because I have been through injuries of athletes before and know the pain and process. However, he did not! I could feel the player's strong desire to play for his country. When he came to the national team, daily training and everything else followed, not a word of nonsense, do you think his behavior can not inspire other players?
The older players are practicing like this, can those slightly younger ones not understand what to do? There are also older players like Yu Dabao, Wu Xi and others who do the same thing, and I won't list the specific ones. Perhaps, at one time, these players do not have a strong talent for speaking and expressing themselves, and it seems that they are not good at talking on the outside, but with age and insight, these core players in the national team like Dabao, Artemisia, Wu Xi, etc., they are now more and more significant in the role of the team.
Therefore, why I have been saying earlier that what I am most pleased with in this year and a half is that the face of the national team has changed quite a bit. This kind of change is not overnight, but needs a long period of precipitation, the team's own construction needs to be carried out in every aspect of daily life, every step, including the team headed by leader Zhang He in the daily work and life of the meticulous, but also includes the importance of the leadership of the Football Association. Not to mention other things, let's say this temporary and sudden move to the United Arab Emirates, as a leader, Du Bureau (Deputy Director General of the General Administration of Sport of the People's Republic of China and China)
national soccer team
Du Zhaocai, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Association) and Chairman Chen (center)
national soccer team
Association President Chen Xuyuan) personally led a team to the UAE. Under the present epidemic, whose life is not a life? These two leaders are in their 60s, no matter in terms of rank or other aspects, if they stayed at home, they just need to make a simple command, make a phone call, maybe everything will be OK, and outsiders will not say anything. However, the two of them chose to come to the UAE with everyone else, and just because of this attitude of the leadership, whether it's our coaching staff, team members or players, what else is there to say? We'll just go up together. The leaders are personally on the front line, so of course their words are convincing!
Team building and team spirit change, it involves all aspects
. Of course, while we emphasize honor, this time Chairman Chen announced the reward system very early, which is also a very important part of team building. And, just like tomorrow's injury this time, the two leaders personally visited tomorrow and promised to provide the best treatment and protection after returning home, these tangible things are also indispensable in team building.
"I've met a lot of people along the way."
Reporter: In the post-match conference after playing Syria, you took the initiative to thank Lippi, what was the reason for this?
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
I thank Ripley from the bottom of my heart. To tell the truth, I can come this far, and I can say that I have met many honorable people along the way. For example, when I was the head coach of the national team, if it wasn't for President Chen's insistence, I might not have had this opportunity. Because initially when selecting the coach, many people said that I was young, inexperienced, and that the 40-team tournament was a task that had to be accomplished to get out of the tournament. I have to admit that Chairman Chen took a risk in picking me, but he also had the guts. Maybe another coach could have made it out of the tournament, but I was lucky to be the head coach who got the job done.
As for Lippi, in fact, I don't want to say, we all know very well, after Lippi came, many people wanted to go to work for Lippi as an assistant, but I was lucky that Lippi accepted me. After I left, many people recommended to Lippi, hoping to be his assistant like me, but Lippi didn't want any of them. So, how can I say I'm not lucky? And, if it were anyone else, they might think: to be an assistant to Lippi, firstly, no risk, do not have to take too much responsibility, because if you lose, it is also by Lippi in front of the top; secondly, in the club as Lippi's assistant, the money will not be less. However, that year, I considered again and again, found Lippi said I want to go out to lead the team independently, and just in time to have such an opportunity. Lippi said to me, "First of all, I don't want you to go, and I can't let you go. But you have to go, because if you want to achieve something, you have to coach independently and judge independently, unless you don't want to achieve anything. So I agree with you to go."
As a young coach, if you really want to achieve something and become a good coach, you really have to lead the team independently, to face all kinds of possible situations by yourself, if you just just be an assistant, you can't become a good coach. So I'm really grateful to Lippi for his understanding and support. Imagine if I hadn't left Lippi and gone out on my own, I'm afraid I wouldn't be where I am today. Because when the coach is not just follow the study can learn, but also need to think, to face a variety of complex situations to make quick decisions and choices independently, sometimes may choose right, sometimes may also choose wrong. After that, you can evaluate and review the situation. But just as an assistant, never really be able to experience the huge pressure of the invisible, more unable to understand what is the responsibility.
However, there was a period of time later on when I felt I owed the "old man" (referring to Lippi) a bit of a debt, because we all know that Lippi's later years of coaching the national team were not very good, and one of the reasons for this was that there were fewer people like me to communicate with up and down the hierarchy. After all, Lippi is a world-class coach, many times, we do not dare to tell the truth to Lippi, many problems arise due to miscommunication. So, I had called Lippi and said, "I'll be right back if I need to." But Ripley reassured me that he could handle it himself. Unfortunately, by the time we lost to Syria later on, he announced his resignation straight away.
Whether it is my personal growth or the progress of our national team, Lippi has made an important contribution in it. Regardless of what has happened, regardless of what will happen in the future, from my point of view, Lippi will always be my mentor, as well as my honored one, and it is he who has helped me grow up. So, after playing Syria that day, I was really thankful to Lippi, so I said those words from the bottom of my heart.
In fact, not only Chairman Chen, not only Ripley.
I came all the way over really met a lot of people, the earliest Zhang Yin coach, Zhu Guanghu coach do not have to say more, say now to the national team, like the leader Zhang He and all the logistical support team, without them, our national team can have to go to today?
Besides, my whole coaching team, they are all important forces that our national team can successfully accomplish the task this time. Especially my first assistant coach Zheng Bin, according to his ability and level, I do think he is fully qualified to be the head coach, but he chose to work with me and play a behind-the-scenes role. So, I am really grateful to him, he is a very thoughtful person.
Sports: Yes, when Ali Han as the national team manager during the time, when the outside world on why Ali Han insisted on using Zheng Bin to play left back is the most criticized, but Ali Han looked at him in addition to the technical characteristics of the obvious, the most prominent point is to use the brain to play football.
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
: Yes, you've been through that history, so you understand it, and so it makes sense why it's important to me to say that Zheng Bin is important to me. We are not only teammates of Jianlibao, but more importantly, we share the same soccer philosophy and see eye to eye on most issues. After receiving this mission, we both traveled all over the region to watch matches together, how many matches did we watch? How many games did we watch? We can't say for sure, but after we watched the games, we analyzed them together, and we made plans together for possible future situations, how to use the players, and so on. The team can accomplish the task, it is not the work of one person, it is the work of the whole team.
"Teamwork is our biggest reward."
Reporter: We are going to face the Top 12 next, have you considered adding some young players before the Top 12?
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
I don't know if I'm going to do it or not. How can I answer that question? I'm telling the truth, it has nothing to do with contracts or anything like that, but rather the completion of a phase. After the completion of the stage, I can choose to continue, but people also have the right to make another choice. It's a normal situation. So I'm really not joking.
I made it very clear to all the players from the moment I came to the national team, because we took this assignment differently from the regular one.
The so-called "regular task" is that we sit down with the Association and have a chat, and I would say can you give me a four-year period to transform a team or build a team, which direction should I go, and what are my goals?
Exactly what methods and approaches will be included, what should be achieved at different stages and so on. This is what I expect.
However, we came up here to take over the task of winning all four games, and there was no room for negotiation. In this situation, I think about a lot of things differently than I would normally.
I don't have any capital to make mistakes, and I won't allow even the slightest of them.
We have to be very careful, or foolproof, we have to win the game. This is the only work I need to consider, which is also different from other times, we have to be more meticulous when doing the work. In fact, as you know, this time, we are in the logistics, security, including the collection of intelligence information and other aspects, all are trying to find ways to give the team points.
Before this Top 40 match, I told everyone that I said that we can only move on to the next game if we win this game, and that if we falter in even one game in between, there will be no next game. So, I was playing every game as a final! Originally, the four matches in this 40-team tournament were a "ladder" because we played Guam, Maldives, Philippines and finally Syria. This is the best order of matches. But as we all know, the sudden arrival in the UAE upset everything. After playing Guam, we were in the mood to play, but then we were greeted with a cold shower and a home game that turned into an away game.
In fact, when we played the Philippines, I was feeling this passive pressure that the players were facing, and I was a little bit worried, I'm being truthful. However, I think the players adapted very quickly. In the first three days here, you should know why I wore long sleeves all day. I can indeed carry the load better than the average person, and I can also suffer more than the average person. However, in the face of such a hot climate, in fact, there is no other way at this time, is to grit their teeth, is to fight willpower. Do you think any of these national team players will not play hard? No, but, in the face of such objective conditions, there are times when it is useless to say that the teeth are broken! If there is not a good training, in the critical time to be able to grit their teeth to withstand, all for nothing. However, a good combination of the two, that is, you usually have good training, and can bite the bullet at critical moments, the strength of the team has grown.
So, whether it's this time with the team or ever, I've always felt that the energy level of a team is very important, and then it reacts to the physical level. Don't have to look at anything else, when I look at these things I look at the defense, who is playing defense? You run 30 meters alone or more, but maybe the rest of the team can run 100 meters less.
When we are really willing to pay to do this work, he will not just think about himself
Instead, they will keep running back and forth, so that their teammates can run less and rest even for a while. This is the team spirit. I think at least in the UAE, every player on the field was willing to run a little bit more in order to let their teammates run a little bit less. That's one of the biggest gains we've made this time!
In retrospect, from my own point of view, I did the best I could anyway, to the best of my ability. In that case, I don't have any regrets for myself! That's the most important thing. Next, summarizing or summarizing, I can say this. If you summarize by saying that I may not have experienced it, then you will have regrets. But now that I've experienced it, and I've accomplished it, I have nothing to regret, at least as far as this experience is concerned. Otherwise, I might have regretted it for the rest of my life. At least at this point in time, I can say that. As for the next step in the 12-team tournament, I think it's better not to think about it yet and wait until we get back. No matter what, you should promise me to give myself a little proper mental relaxation, right?
"Playing in the Big 12 isn't the whole mission."
Reporter: It's certainly okay to relax, but I'm sure with your personality you wouldn't choose to give up, right?
Li Tie (1977-), footballer
: to tell the truth.
The second round of the 12 is not a good one! This "bad job" is not just a situation where the opponents are stronger and we could lose.
Around the Big 12, I should say that we have started our preparations very early, including the collection of intelligence and information about possible opponents and so on. I won't expand on these in detail. Let's just talk about the team itself.
A more practical problem now is that the average age of our national team is over 30. As a national team, do you think it is normal to have such an average age? There is a lot of talk about this outside, and as the coach of the team, can I not think about it? However, why did you choose this group of players to play in this 40-team tournament? I've already said a lot of things, because this is an unusual task, but not to promise you any blunders, not a single mistake, <
