Original title: Li Xiaopeng, the new coach of the National Football Team, arrived in Beijing today to discuss the details of leading the team
Official channels announced the decision to change coaches Yesterday afternoon, the Chinese Football Association announced through official channels that it agreed to Li Tie’s request to resign as the Chinese men’s football coach, while appointing the 46-year-old current Chinese Super League Wuhan coach and former international Li Xiaopeng as the new Chinese men’s football coach. According to the plan, Li Xiaopeng came to Beijing on the 4th after completing the work handover at the Wuhan club on the 3rd to further communicate with relevant parties on the details of the team’s work.
On the 2nd, the Chinese men’s football delegation ended the 14-day collective isolation in Suzhou, and collectively transferred to Shanghai to continue 7 days of independent observation. The night before the departure, Li Tie, the then team coach, gave a “goodbye speech” to the team members before the end of the last group dinner of the current training camp, marking that his departure from the coaching position of the national football team is a foregone conclusion.
Earlier, rumors that local coach Li Xiaopeng was expected to take over the national football team had already spread. In terms of specific new coaches, there are differences between the sports management department and the candidates recommended by the Chinese Football Association. The candidate recommended by the Chinese Football Association is the current U22 national football coach Jankovic of Serbia.
Yesterday, the sports management department quickly made the decision to hire Li Xiaopeng after communicating with the Chinese Football Association, and the Chinese Football Association announced the results through official channels yesterday afternoon. It is understood that later last week, Li Xiaopeng was invited to Beijing to meet with the relevant person in charge of the sports management department. The content of the meeting was about taking over the national football team. It was only a few days from the meeting to the official announcement. It can be said that the relevant parties have been very determined on the issue of the coaching change of the national football team and the reuse of Li Xiaopeng.
Whether to become a “transition coach”?
It is not difficult to judge from Li Xiaopeng’s appointment that the sports management department has further intervened in the management of the national team. It is understood that after Li Xiaopeng took over the Chinese team, his assistant team during the coaching period of the Wuhan team will not follow him in coaching the national football team. As for who will assist Li Xiaopeng in coaching, he himself is not clear at the moment, and the specific candidates need to be further clarified after the sports management department communicates with the Chinese Football Association.
Speaking of the selection of the Chinese men’s football team, the selection of the Chinese women’s football team has to be resumed soon. Like Li Xiaopeng, the women’s football coach Shui Qingxia is also recommended by relevant parties. This is evident from the fact that Shui Qingxia did not sign up for the Chinese women’s football coach to hire a six-man lineup. It is reported that the sports management department has initially confirmed that a person in charge of a unit within the system will be the leader of the Chinese women’s football team and has launched a working group for the Chinese women’s football team.
Will the Chinese men’s football team leader and other management personnel and management mode change after Li Xiaopeng takes office? If there is a change, then the Chinese Football Association may play the role of a waiter and coordinating guarantee work in the work of the national team. However, regardless of whether the relevant parties further intervene in the management of the Chinese men’s football team as rumored, the difficulties faced by the Chinese team in the top 12 matches of this world preliminaries are all at hand. The final selection of Li Xiaopeng by the relevant parties and the Chinese Football Association is also based on more long-term goals, such as the Asian Cup in China in 2023 and the next World Cup preliminaries. From this perspective, Li Xiaopeng did not take over the team as a “transition coach”.
Great challenges in the future
Judging from the experience of the Chinese team in selecting and using coaches in the past 20 years, most coaches in this position will inevitably bear the pressure of leading the team and public opinion. Prior to this, although Li Xiaopeng had been coaching in domestic professional clubs for a long time, his coaching experience with the national name only had the experience of coaching the Chinese women’s football 10 years ago. It can be seen that this change of coaches poses a huge challenge or even a risk to the entire Chinese football career, the national football team, or Li Xiaopeng himself.
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Li Xiaopeng completes “late date” with the national football team
Compared to the outspoken Li Tie, the two-year-old Li Xiaopeng seems to be better at dealing with people, but the pressure and difficulties he faces next can not be easily overcome by humorous conversation and the way of being a human being. In the world of competitive sports, in addition to maintaining his love and bravery for his career, Li Xiaopeng also needs to show a convincing leadership level and record, an undisturbed temperament and a mature mentality to resist heavy pressure.
For Li Xiaopeng, taking over the Chinese team this time is tantamount to a “late date” on both sides. Two years ago, when the relevant parties pushed for the U25 national training team, Li Xiaopeng, then the coach of Shandong Taishan (formerly Luneng) team, was the number one candidate to lead the team. Later, when the Dutch coach Hiddink confirmed that he left the original Olympic team coach in the 1997 age group, Li Xiaopeng was also a popular candidate for his successor, but in the end, for various reasons, Li Xiaopeng failed to take over the team.
Regarding whether Li Xiaopeng is suitable to take over the Chinese team, all parties inside and outside the football circle have different attitudes. Some people questioned-before taking over the national football team, Li Xiaopeng led the Wuhan team to only 1 wins, 8 draws and 5 losses, and the first victory did not come until the first stage of the final game.
It is undeniable that Li Xiaopeng, like Li Tie, is full of love for football, and can even make huge personal sacrifices for this. Although he failed to lead the Taishan team to a league or cup championship, he was able to win the title of the best coach in the Super League for two consecutive years. Li Xiaopeng has been generally recognized by the industry in terms of business ability and personality. The Taishan team finally won the FA Cup under the leadership of Hao Wei last season, and this success was partly due to the accumulation of Li Xiaopeng for the team in the early stage.
Of course, although Li Xiaopeng used his efforts to help the national football team enter the World Cup in Korea and Japan and ushered in a high profile in the player era, he may still be “a rookie” on the coaching stage of the national team, especially the men’s national team. 10 years ago, as the head coach of the Chinese women’s football team, he led the team to participate in the London Olympic preliminaries, but unfortunately he was out of the game at home. This has to be said to be an unforgettable bitter experience in his coaching career. However, Li Xiaopeng has always been humble and optimistic, and handled his relationship with all aspects properly, which has won favorable conditions for him to simultaneously improve his business ability in management and coaching positions.
Li Xiaopeng said in a private chat with his familiar friends in the industry that in today’s football, none of the coaches’ jobs is “light-weight”. If one day he can become the head coach of the national team, it will be his great honor as a footballer and also his highest dream.
This group of articles/Reporter Xiao Zhe, Coordinator/Du Rui
Photo courtesy/Xinhua News Agency
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