Emilio Estevez Tsai, a rising star in Taiwan's soccer scene, made a spectacular turnaround from the Canadian Premier League to join ADO Den Haag in the Dutch Eredivisie, only to find himself in a situation where he has yet to play a single match, and on January 30th, 2021, Taiwan time, he was unceremoniously dumped by the Hague.
In the early days of the franchise, Li-Jing Cai was part of the adult team, but was soon transferred to ADO Hague's U21 youth team. Before his departure, Emilio made only two appearances in total: in the first match against Feyenoord U21, he came on as a late substitute and held the lead for only one minute, and in the second match against FC Twente U21, he was brought on in the 72nd minute on the left side, and although The Hague was ahead by a goal, Li-Jing Cai came on and scored in the 81st minute after he was brought on as a result of a goal scored by D. Rots, a Twente winger. Rots scored to give the two teams a 1-1 draw. Cai Lijing played 18 minutes in that game and failed to even manage to squeeze in a substitute throughout the rest of the season.
As mentioned in last year's August 4 article Taiwan's rising stars, Shen Zigui and Tsai Li-Jing, are both challenging for their professional debuts in Europe this season? As mentioned, ADO The Hague is a team with Chinese connections, and many players of Chinese descent have stayed here for a short time just to improve their education. Mentioned Chinese player Yuning Zhang, who has now returned to the Chinese Super League after not being strong enough to play for West Bromwich Albion and Werder Bremen during their spells in the English Premier League, moved to the Dutch Eredivisie's ADO Hague to further his education.
Just two days before The Hague released Cai Lijin, they had just signed Chinese player Sam Sirong Li, a handsome outsider who is the son of former Chinese international Li Ming and is currently playing for The Hague's U18 team on a contract until 2024. Li Ming said of bringing his 11-year-old son to the Netherlands to play soccer, "He has never expressed to me his desire to become a star, earn more money or join the national team, but his goal has always been to become a good professional soccer player. In addition, he loves the culture, history and people of Europe, something I strongly agree with."
Lee Si-Yong, the player who mainly plays as a right back, in an official interview with ADO The Hague team, fluent in English and Dutch as he came to Holland at the age of 11, replied: "I'm very happy, the past year was very hard for me, suffering a serious knee injury and going through a lot of things. But now that I've signed a contract here, I'm very happy. Having trained with the team for six years, it was very difficult at first, I was the least skilled in the team. But after 6 years, things are completely different. I have always worked hard and tried to do my best, I often train by myself and sometimes with the technical coach. At ADO Hague, I have grown a lot not only as a soccer player, but as a person."
While many players of Chinese descent have made brief stints with the Chinese-owned side, and it is uncertain whether Li Si Rong will be able to gain a foothold on the Dutch Eredivisie stage, Taiwanese fans are more concerned about the departure of Tsai Li-Jing, who has left Holland after Emilio's Instagram update, which clocked in at Madrid, Spain, a few hours ago.
Li-Jing Choi's last official appearance was on September 30, 2020, and keeping up with his game will undoubtedly be a major challenge. Just looking at his resume alone, it already subtracts a lot of points. The instability of the epidemic has led to budgetary constraints for professional teams in various countries, and health regulations such as quarantine rules have made it more difficult to bring in foreign players. Compared to last year when he joined The Hague in the Dutch Eredivisie, Cai Lijin's transition has been more difficult.
