On April 15, 2024, 81-year-old soccer celebrity Xu Genbao led the Shanghai men's soccer all-games team to South Korea for a training trip, and before the trip, he opened his heart to the local media. Talking about the 2025 Greater Bay Area National Games, Xu was full of confidence and said that the team is expected to get the gold medal.
For this trip to South Korea training, Xu Genbao narrated: "We picked a good strength of the opponent, they are slightly older, the main purpose of this time is to enhance our formation and tactical quality through confrontation. There are not many domestic tournaments, so we have to go overseas to seek exercise. We hope that through the tournament, we can sharpen the players' mental qualities more. I strongly believe that participation in such tournaments is crucial, especially at the moment when the players need to strengthen the guidance of the coaching team and they have to take the initiative to participate in training. Sometimes, they jump into practice excitedly and if they slack off, I gently tug on their ears."
Xu Genbao envisioned that if Chinese soccer can catch up to the level of Japan and South Korea, fans will be pleased, and then we will be able to frequently witness the World Cup on the Chinese figure.
In the face of reality, Xu Genbao frankly, the Shanghai men's soccer team in the national competition usually ranked five or six, to impact the gold medal is undoubtedly more difficult. But the goal has been set, will go all out, vowing to realize the dream.
