About thirty years ago, Chinese and Japanese soccer embarked on the professionalization of the transformation of the journey; the flow of years, today, the gap between the strength of the two countries' soccer has become more and more significant. Recently, Japan's soccer reform pioneer, former chairman of the Japanese Football Association, Saburo Kawabuchi in accepting the Xinhua News Agency reporter in-depth interview, elaborated on the success of Japanese soccer, and the plight of China's national football team conducted a profound analysis.
The interview took place in the reception room of the JFA building and lasted a full 90 minutes. The words of the octogenarian founder of the J-League were poignant but insightful. He pointed out: "Among the three strongest soccer nations in East Asia, Chinese players have the highest salary levels. Why is it so difficult to improve the strength of the Chinese national team? There are many reasons for this, and one of the key constraints is the lack of motivation to compete with stronger teams due to high salaries. In contrast, the goal of J-League players is to work hard at their clubs and fight for a ticket to the national team and then to the World Cup, which is their biggest dream and pursuit. In order to realize their dream, many players even get the favor of European teams and play in Europe for a short period of time, but their ultimate goal is to be selected for the national team and represent Japan on the World Cup stage. However, I have not seen such a goal in Chinese players."
He further said, "In this Qatar World Cup Asian qualifying tournament, I watched two matches between China and Japan, and the Chinese team lost both matches, which was a disappointing performance. I think this reflects that Chinese players lack the strong will to represent their country in the World Cup, or at least I failed to feel this determination."
"In the past, the national soccer team had the strength to compete with the world's strongest teams, and the players were aggressive and courageous. However, I am deeply disappointed by this match. What has happened to the national soccer team? From the perspective of individual ability, the team can not find outstanding players; from the team level, also lacks the will to win."
Saburo Kawabuchi continued: "Thirty years ago, when China was preparing for a professional league and the J-League was just beginning to take shape, I was invited to give my opinion on the Chinese league. I told the media who interviewed me that if the World Cup were to be held in Asia, China would be the first place to host it. And I did, because that's what I think. If the World Cup were to be held in Asia, the winner would be China, because back then the national soccer team had a lot of good players and a huge population. However, now the national soccer team has regressed."
Saburo Kawabuchi pointed out that the lack of willpower of Chinese players and the lack of internal unity are the major problems restricting the development of the national soccer team. Takeshi Okada, a famous Japanese coach who was the head coach of Hangzhou Greentown (now Zhejiang), has revealed this problem to him.
"Coach Okada told me after he returned to China that coaching in China is very difficult. There is a phenomenon of grouping together in Chinese teams centered on provinces, regions and cities. Players can be united when centered on provinces, regions and cities, but it is difficult to feel the unity and cohesion of the players when centered on China. China is a vast country with a long history, but it seems to lack a grip when it comes to representing the country. If we don't change this sense among the players, it will be difficult for the national soccer team to realize its rise."
He continued, "Similar to the Spanish team, despite having top clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona, they are unable to be cohesive at the national level. Spain's clubs are all capable of winning the world championship, but the national team struggles to dominate. This is quite similar to the national soccer team. As a result, Spain worked to strengthen the national team and finally won the 2010 World Cup."
Saburo Kawabuchi believes that if the national soccer team wants to achieve a breakthrough, it still needs to start from the children. First, Chinese parents should change their mindset and encourage their children to love soccer; second, national soccer administrators should establish national tournaments at all levels to tap soccer talent from a young age.
"There are far more parents in China who don't let their children play soccer than in Japan. Japanese parents don't think that children who play soccer have no future. They give their children a dream to study and exercise at the same time and develop a sound personality. I think it is necessary for China to start from this point, so that parents can realize the importance of sports for their children's growth, and that sports can promote brain development. Sport is vital to a long-lived society and to keeping people healthy as they reach old age, and it's important to start from this point to give Chinese parents a new understanding and abandon the idea that only studying is the right way to go."
"Through national tournaments, players will be able to develop the belief that they must win, one game at a time, and then represent China to compete with the world's strongest teams. Winning the provincial, regional and municipal championships first, which can be at the league level, and eventually deciding the champion through knockout matches, will surely make soccer popular throughout the country. By selecting national team members in this way, players can be trained to have the belief and will to represent the country."
At the end of the interview, Saburo Kawabuchi said that despite his pessimism about the current state of the national soccer team, he believes it will be better in the future. (To be continued)
