Special correspondent Zuo Ruiyuxi reports The round of 18 is about to rekindle the flames of war, with two identities, spanning two centuries, seven times for Chinese football to hit the World Cup Ou Chuliang, calmly told the "Football" newspaper that compared with whether the national football team can break through, what he is more looking forward to is the sustainability of Chinese football development and the "repeatability" of the national football team's winning method, and what he is more concerned about is to "return to the top in Asia" based on the improvement of strength and the cycle of ten-year struggle.

How many beats can life have? The 57-year-old Au Chuliang's unprecedented record of hitting the World Cup consists of one success and six defeats. As a goalkeeper, he followed Schlapner and Qi Wusheng in the 1994 and 1998 World Cup qualifiers, and in 2002 he advanced to the South Korea-Japan World Cup under the leadership of Milu. After retiring, as a member of the national football coaching staff, he participated in the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 World Preliminaries, and successively assisted Forado, Camacho, Peilan, Gao Hongbo, and Li Tie. Looking back on the past, the new technical director of Yunnan Yukun and the head of the Chinese coaching staff looked light: "The four times (the four times I played as a coach), none of them were particularly regretful, and it can be said that they were all regrettable, because they didn't qualify." ”

Why did all four of these results fail? From the perspective of goalkeeper coaches, Ou Chuliang boils it down to three shortcomings: limited information, limited understanding of modern football, and limited preparation. "There will be a lot of interventions, but I can't touch on the core of what works inside the inside. As far as I know, there is, and the impact of these interventions when they clash with the manager's understanding is clear. ”

He doesn't go into the details of whether these interventions are right or wrong, whether they are necessary, because "1,000 people have 1,000 understandings of football", but "since you choose this person, you have to let him do it". In addition to the confusion in the way of selecting people, he does not grasp more specific and deeper information, "In fact, there may be." ”

So what is the difference between qualifying for the 2002 World Cup and the six times before and after? "The biggest feature is that everyone has a lot of confidence in the game." The reason for this is still reflecting on and verifying. Even if the warm-up game was lost, the fans defected, the media was dissatisfied, and even the first victory was still scolded, and the head coach was called out of class...... But that national football team still qualified for the first time in history. "Why is that? How should I make sense of these things? He pondered for a moment, "In short, that national team was the most harmonious, happiest, and most passionate for everyone." ”

How did the whole team fight confidently to the end with their heads held high? After more than 20 years of thinking and comparison, Ou Chuliang feels that the ability and charm of the head coach are important, but "correct intervention, proper protection, and proper handling of many detailed problems" are equally important. He recalled the news briefing at the Hongta base every Thursday, where reporters from all walks of life crowded into one room, and it was almost commonplace to talk about each other, so how did Milu resolve external contradictions? "It's a charisma, but looking back now, it's a PR ability." Subsequent managers have either gone their own way behind closed doors or turned a deaf ear to outside voices – many of which are incomprehensible, but how do you get others to resonate with the team? He finds this point worth noting, and that is the "handling of public relations".

In addition to the above reasons, there is another key factor and major difference between Mi Jiajun's qualification, that is, the "quality of players" is different. "In the past, we were leading or in the best of Asia in terms of individual technique and fitness. It's just that we need to improve in terms of technique and tactics and on-the-spot psychology. He said, "Milou came and settled both of these points." ”

Back in the 20th century, Ou Chuliang participated in the earlier two World Preliminaries. In his opinion, there is no difference in player quality between the national football team in 1993 and 1997 and the subsequent Mi Jiajun. "There was no problem with the people at that time, there was no problem with the coaches and the players." However, the "perception of the outside world" of the two national football teams is very different from that later.

Take the 1997 team as an example, the self-confidence is obviously not as good as the later national football team. "We always think of our opponents as too strong, and always think of ourselves as weak, but in fact, our level and ability at that time have always been in the forefront of Asia, and we can completely let you study what to do with me, not what to do with you." He doesn't deny the importance of knowing who you are, "but you should have the confidence to crush your opponent, but a lot of times, we don't do that. ”

In 1993, the 25-year-old sat on the bench at Irbiid and witnessed the famous 1-0 defeat to Yemen in the group stage of the national football team. He believes that the huge gap between this result and the expectation may come from a human weakness, "either over-inferiority or over-inflated, both of which can make a huge difference in a team's performance".

Thoughts drifted to an even more sensational defeat 40 years ago - in 1985, the national football team lost 1-2 to the Hong Kong team in Beijing, known as the "May 19" incident. "Isn't that a kind of infinite expansion? You just need to win the game, but everybody thinks that if you don't score five goals, you don't win, and not only from the outside, but also from the inside, and it will have a huge impact on the normal performance of the players. At that time, Ou Chuliang, who was still playing for the Guangdong youth team, followed the national football team's impact on the 1986 World Cup through televising. His unique vision, unique vision, and unique insight may be due to the goalkeeper - this responsibility he has taken on since childhood, and the unique role on the field.

If a team's physical fitness, individual ability, and technical level decline, the vertical comparison is not as good as the previous editions, and the horizontal comparison cannot lead in Asia, then the head coach's job must be harder than Milu's, and he even has to find another way - relying on naturalized players. "But what is the quality of those naturalized players? You may not know it, but we know it. Ou Chuliang said that there is a large amount of data from the national football coaching staff to prove that the level of naturalized players has improved after intensive training, rather than "he was like this at the beginning".

"People will have different performances and states in different periods and different mentalities, which is a problem." Supposedly, these players have proven themselves in the league before naturalization, "yes, I agree. But are they top-notch? Has there been any change? "For example, if you come back after two months of not training during the training period, your weight and body fat are seriously exceeded, and you can't play when you return to the club." Fans don't think about this, they have the impression that the level of naturalized players should be very high. But have we tried to settle this difference, or to reach a consensus on it? ”

Far from it, Hou Yongyong, who is under the account of Yunnan Yukun, is one of the naturalized newcomers. "Hou Yongyong has made two appearances this season and has become one of our core players, his number of runs, his dedication to the game and his contribution to the team are obvious to all, but the Chinese Super League is different from the round of 18, and I am not sure how he will perform in the national team."

As for the other naturalized player with the highest demand recently, Serginho, a former midfielder from Brazil, Ou Chuliang admitted that he had not worked with him, paid little attention, and could not evaluate his role in the national football team. He feels that naturalisation will give the manager more options and increase the confidence of the whole team, "I don't have anything else to think about. ”

At present, in Yuxi, Ou Chuliang, who is not in the national football team, pays attention to the national football team from the perspective of technology and fans; When he reunited with Milu in Hangzhou earlier, the latter believed that the national football team could enter the 2026 World Cup. When revisiting this old saying, his reaction was to ask: "What will you do when you enter the World Cup?" He asked, does returning to the World Cup mean returning to the top of Asia? I don't think so, because the law of development of football is not like this, it must be that you have accumulated through more than ten years of continuous efforts, and go up layer by layer. We are now eager to get into the World Cup, but if we work hard for ten years and use ten years to solve the problems exposed in different periods, at that time, you will find that it is a natural thing to enter the World Cup. ”

If the current goal of the national football team is to compete for 8.5 places, and everyone likes to be upset and yearn for miracles, he also wants to. But for him, in the next five to ten years, he does not expect a significant and substantial breakthrough in the national football team. "I hope to really establish a complete system, really strengthen the strength and improve the technical level." He said.

The question continues: "What capital does this national team have to deal with others now?" Is it particularly fast, or is it particularly tough defensively? Is the midfield particularly well organised, or is the frontcourt particularly skillful? He used the Hong Kong, China team to reach the top four in the Asian Games as an example and asked, what will happen if you play again? In fact, there are many things in football that need to be repeated. It's what I did today, I can do it tomorrow, I can do it one minute, I can do it the next minute, the next minute. ”

"We often say 'there is one, there is no two, three', you do it again and I'll see? It can be hurtful to say, and what we're asking for is 'one has two and three'. He said that this is not a personal opinion, but the attitude of all football people, "Football people must strive for excellence. Whether you can really recognize this problem or not, this is the first and foremost first step, otherwise you will never do it. ”