In the global soccer world, China's soccer strength does appear to be a bit stretched, this status quo has long been an open secret. Opinions vary, what is the problem? Recently, the senior media person Ji Yuyang from the perspective of the game, wrote an insightful social commentary. Ji Yuyang bluntly, compared to the European national team players, our national team players on the field of play there is a significant gap.
Ji Yuyang found out by checking the information, in 2023, Wu Lei made 30 appearances in the league, 1 cup match in club matches, 3 cup matches last season, 1 match in the AFC Champions League, 8 friendly matches for the national team, 2 matches in the World Preliminary League, and about 45 appearances in the whole year.
Another high-profile player, Liu Yang, plays for Shandong Taishan. He has appeared in over 40 games this season, while Zhu Chenjie has appeared in about 38 games. Taken together, Chinese national team players make around 40 appearances per year.
However, this is a far cry from other international players who play in European leagues. In the case of Tottenham Hotspur, for example, players can make 58 appearances a year even without Champions League matches. If you add in other European club competitions, European players will make even more appearances throughout the year. In the case of Rodri, for example, he will play almost 70 matches in 2023. In fact, 70 games has become the basic standard for international players trained by wealthy families. This number far exceeds that of our players, and with the intensity of competition in European leagues far exceeding that of ours, the difference is clear.
There is a huge gap between our players and European players in terms of technical ability, intensity of play and frequency of play. It is not easy to catch up with top-level soccer. Currently, the only solution is to assist players to study abroad, but this is not an easy path. Our players do not have a strong will to play abroad, and with their limited level, it is difficult for other European league teams to accept them. This has undoubtedly become a thorny problem.
Compared with European, American, Japanese and Korean players, our players only play 40 games a year, while they play more than 70 games a year. This means that the gap between our players and them is about 30 games. These 30 games determine the players' form. Although the national soccer team trains regularly, players can only find the feeling of the game better in real matches. Some fans have pointed out that our players are only required to play 40 games in the Chinese Super League, where the overall level is low and the players have gotten used to this comfortable life. However, once they stepped into the international arena, they suffered a bitter blow.
At present, this national soccer team can no longer be expected to have high hopes. If we want to promote the development of soccer in China, we also need to start with youth training, train more soccer youngsters and let them go abroad as early as possible. This is the most ideal way.
