On November 1, Zhejiang's new star Gao Tianyi revealed that he spent three months of intense training with the U21 national youth team in Croatia and shared his journey in an interview.
"As the mainstay of Zhejiang U23, when the National Youth League called up, did the club have any objections?" Gao Tianyi rhetorical question, and then answered himself: "did not hear any objections, received the call-up notice, the club will arrange for me to leave directly. At that time our team is in Haikou to participate in, I do not even have a passport, but also special leave in the local passport."
**Croatian soccer experience**
Talking about his experience in Croatia, Gao Tianyi exclaimed, "The impression I got from the Croatian team is that they have excellent overall coordination, and their passing and coordination are very smooth. I also stayed in Japan, the Japanese soccer pass with the experience, Croatia also focus on this point. The physicality of the players here is better than in Japan, which is very beneficial to the overall layout of our team. For the young players, more matches are definitely a good thing, it exposes problems and allows us to improve both on a technical-tactical and psychological level."
**Personal growth and team competition**
Regarding individual progress, Gao Tianyi said, "The pace of the game here is faster, the games are longer and the intensity is greater than at home. We still need to strengthen and our overall performance is not good enough at the moment."
**The Fascination of Croatian Football**
Talking about the difference between Croatian soccer and Chinese Super League, Gao Tianyi believes: "Croatia is full of love for soccer no matter which level of the team. Even when facing the fourth level team, we can feel their desire, they go all out, every ball will fight. This kind of passion is worth learning from us. Although the pace of play in the first division is faster than in the Chinese Super League, the top teams in the second division are comparable to the Chinese Super League teams, while the bottom teams are relatively weak. We won three games here, and it would definitely be more difficult to play against a Chinese Super League team."
**Chinese Super League vs. Croatian matches**
When asked which is more rewarding, playing here or in the Chinese Super League, Gao Tianyi confessed, "I think the value of playing in the Chinese Super League for exercise at home is probably higher. The matches here are fun but not formal. Chinese Super League matches, on the other hand, involve points, rankings and team goals, and there is a lot of pressure to play. Here, we just have to focus on how to play well and how to fight. But the pressure of a proper match is incomparable."
