The midfield king of football life

Chapter 1 Introduction
Reporter: Director Li, first of all thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to accept our exclusive interview with "Football Express"!The national football team reached the quarter-finals in the last Asian Cup. Director Li, do you think the national football team's performance in this Asian Cup will go further?

Li Feng: As far as the current national football lineup is concerned, as long as we play normally, it is not a problem to keep the quarter-finals. We still have the hope of competing for the championship if we perform well.

Reporter: What do you think is the biggest difficulty in your transition from a professional player to a professional coach?
Li Feng: The biggest difficulty is that as a coach, I cannot play for them, hahaha.In addition, the perspective is different. As a player, my responsibility is to fully implement the coach's tactical intentions. As a coach, my focus is on the team as a whole. It took me a while to get used to it.Fortunately, the club's performance last season was not bad.

Reporter: You have made brilliant achievements in European football. Based on your years of experience in European football, what do you think is the reason why Chinese football has not been able to achieve satisfactory results?

Li Feng: First of all, from the perspective of the general environment, the domestic system for training professional football players is still far behind that of mature European countries, especially in terms of youth training systems.The domestic youth training system is not sound enough, the pertinence is not strong enough, and there is still a big gap in professional guidance and other aspects.I myself was born in the Dutch youth system, and I know this very well.The youth training system in the Netherlands is very targeted. From U7 to U16, every age group has their standards for selecting talents. This standard is completely set for professional competitions. The usual training is also carried out according to these standards, which is completely aimed at actual combat.Take my experience as an example, in fact, I am not a very talented football player.My ball sense, speed, physical fitness, skills and tactics, etc. have all been cultivated since I was in the Feyenoord youth training camp.When I was 9 years old, I was spotted by Robbie, a part-time scout of Feyenoord Club. Robbie suggested that I enter the youth training camp of Feyenoord Club.It should be said that my club career has officially started since then.

Chapter 01 First Arrival in Rotterdam
In September 2003, the plane slowly landed at Rotterdam Airport in the Netherlands.

Rotterdam is the second largest city in the Netherlands. It has the largest port in Europe and is known as the "Gateway to Europe". There are three football clubs with a long history in this city, one is Feyenoord Club, the other is SBV Elite Team, and the other is Sparta Rotterdam. Unfortunately, Sparta Rotterdam was relegated last season, so now only Feyenoord is playing in the Eredivisie.

9-year-old Li Feng walked out of Rotterdam Airport with his mother, and was greeted by a dazzling blue sky. The buildings here are also different from those in China. The various geometric structures made Li Feng feel strange.

"Xiaofeng, we will live here from now on. I hope you can listen to your mother. I know that you will be very uncomfortable when you first come here. Your father has left us. You have to learn to be strong. You will have new classmates and friends here, as well as your favorite football. Let's start again here together?" Li Feng's mother said slowly.

Li Feng lowered his head and remained silent, but when he heard his mother say that his favorite football is here, he still looked at his mother unconsciously.

At this age, Li Feng is still in the third grade of school in China. The school has physical education classes every week, and Li Feng's favorite thing in sports is football. This may be a natural love.Li Feng is not tall, and his body is slightly thin, and his running speed can only be considered moderate among children of the same age.No one could have imagined that Li Feng would be able to play in the professional league in the future, and it would be one of the top five European leagues.

Li Feng followed his mother across the Neue Maas River in Rotterdam and walked south along the Olympic Street, where a huge football field stood beside the street. The driver of the car told Li Feng's mother that this was the main stadium of Feyenoord's football club, and also told Li Feng's mother that he was a loyal fan of Feyenoord because the great football player Cruyff once played for this team.Li Feng sat quietly next to his mother, staring intently at the huge stadium outside the car window, wondering if he could play here in the future.

The car soon drove to the place where Li Feng's family lived. Li Feng heard from his mother that there was a small park near where they lived, and there was a small football field in it.Li Feng thought to himself, this is the only news that can make him happy when he comes to this strange country.

"Xiaofeng, take a shower first, and then take a rest. Later, an uncle will come to have lunch with us. His name is Thomas. He is my mother's former classmate in the School of Architecture. Can you be polite?" Li Feng's mother urged.

"Oh, I see!" Li Feng replied.

After a while, Li Feng heard the doorbell ringing in the dimness. He walked out of the room wearing slippers, and saw a tall man with yellow hair and blue eyes talking to his mother in English. He guessed that this should be the Uncle Thomas his mother mentioned.

"Xiaofeng, this is your Uncle Thomas, come and say hello." Li Feng's mother said with a smile.

"Hello, Uncle Thomas!" Li Feng said coldly in poor English.

"Xiaofeng, hello, this is the first time we have met, I have a little surprise for you, I hope you like it." The tall man turned around and took out a brand new football from the trunk of the car while talking.

Li Feng stared at the brand new football in a daze, nervously clenching his fists, not knowing whether to catch it or not.

"Xiaofeng, hurry up, thank you, Uncle Thomas," Li Feng's mother urged.

"I heard from your mother that you like football very much, so I bought you a football. I hope you like it. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I am a fan of the Feyenoord football team. The next home game of Feyenoord will be next Saturday. May I invite you to watch the football game with your mother?" said the tall man with yellow hair.

When Li Feng heard his mother's translation, he was already gearing up with excitement, his eyes widened unconsciously, his face was filled with joy, and he almost cried out loud.It was the first time that he could go to the stadium to watch real people play football, and it was a professional league game. This was something Li Feng never dared to think about before.Suddenly thinking about it, it doesn't seem so miserable to come to this strange city, at least I can pester my mother to watch the ball game in the future.Thinking of this, Li Feng smiled foolishly.

"Why don't you hurry up and thank Uncle Thomas?" Li Feng's mother said while touching Li Feng's head.

"Thank you, Uncle Thomas!" After Li Feng nodded, he happily returned to his room with the football in his arms.

In Rotterdam, the second largest city in the Netherlands with a population of only 102 million, there are three football teams. Almost 90% of the people in this city are fans. This is almost unimaginable in China.

"Wei, I think you can consider letting Xiaofeng enter a professional sports school to learn football. I just saw the look in Xiaofeng's eyes when he saw football. It was like seeing an old friend. In Rotterdam, football is a national sport. In the future, Xiaofeng can also develop into a professional player. The club has professional football training courses since the child was 7 years old, and there are corresponding matches every week. I think Xiaofeng should like this kind of life." Thomas said to Li Feng's mother.

"Thomas, thank you very much. The thing I'm most worried about now is Xiaofeng's future study. I know Xiaofeng likes football very much, but football in China is different from football in Rotterdam. I don't know if Xiaofeng can adapt. Xiaofeng's physical fitness is average, and his height is not outstanding. I don't know whether to let him develop into a professional player. I can't decide now. I think I should talk to Xiaofeng before deciding, or let him experience the professional football school in Rotterdam. I just want him to be happy now." Feng's mother said slightly worried.

"Wei, you think too much. Football players have high requirements on physical fitness, but these can be trained. Now Xiaofeng is only 9 years old, and everything is possible. Of course, there will be many difficulties on the road to professional players. There will be unimaginable competition, and there may be injuries and so on. Well, you don't have to make a decision now. You can communicate with Xiaofeng first. If you have any questions, you can tell me. I think I can help you in this regard." Thomas said.

Li Feng, Li Feng’s mother had a formal Dutch lunch with Uncle Thomas at noon. Li Feng heard this tall uncle tell a lot of stories about Feyenoord. Feyenoord won the Champions League for the first time in 1970. Together with Ajax and Eindhoven, they are also known as the three traditional Dutch teams. Feyenoord has also produced many famous players, such as Cruyff, Van Hanegen, Van Bronckhorst and so on.

(End of this chapter)