Football: The immortal legend on the green field

Shen Yuanchao was a native of Jinling, Heilongjiang Province. A few years ago, he was the head of a small department in a state-owned factory.

As the country's reform and opening up continues to deepen, private enterprises have risen rapidly, and the state-owned enterprises' work style of having too many people but not enough work has gradually lost out in the fierce market competition.

The factory closed down a few years ago and Shen Yuanchao became a laid-off worker.

Shen Yuanchao wandered around in society for half a year without finding a job, so his wife divorced him and left home, leaving the father and son behind.

Fortunately, the sky is endless.

In 1994, the Chinese Football Association's First Division League Group A officially opened, marking the entry of Chinese football into the professional era.

This year, the Chinese Football Association Jia A League kicked off in Chengdu, marking the beginning of the professionalization of Chinese football. At that time, the Chinese Football League began to implement professionalization, introduced foreign players and foreign coaches, implemented a home and away game system, and aligned itself with international standards.

This reform not only marks the substantive operation stage of China's football professionalization reform, but also makes football one of the most popular sports in China.

With the booming football market, all kinds of incredible phenomena have emerged. In the past, the only reason that prompted parents to agree to let their children play football was that the state would provide jobs for the players after they retired, and the children would have a stable job in the system for life.

Players who used to have a hard time finding wives have now become popular. A typical example is the Gao Feng of the Yanjing Guards who captured the hearts of the pop diva Yehenala Ying.

She is a princess from the Beijing circle, and she is at the top of the music industry and social status.

The players' income also increased from a few hundred yuan per month to over a million yuan per year. What was the concept of a million yuan annual salary in the millennium? As a civil servant in Jinling, the capital of the economically developed province of Longjiang, the annual salary was less than 10,000 yuan!

The income from playing football for one year is equivalent to working in a government agency for a hundred years. This is too scary.

It is no exaggeration to say that the period from 94 to 04 was the golden decade of Chinese football.

Since 94, the number of people playing football has increased almost exponentially. Every afternoon, regardless of the weather, in the metropolis of Heilongjiang Province, as long as there is a larger field, you can see adults or children playing football.

It was at this time that the provincial finance department allocated funds to build several new professional football stadiums to meet the people's spiritual needs.

Shen Yuanchao's old house happened to take advantage of this wave of dividends and was demolished to build a stadium.

Not only did the father and son receive several thousand yuan in temporary resettlement fees, they also exchanged two two-story storefronts for the stadium, which provided them with a living security.

The three large tiled rooms and two side rooms of the old house were replaced with two two-story storefronts with a total area of ​​140 square meters at the east gate of the stadium.

Since the father and son owned these two stores, Shen Yuanchao opened a sporting goods store.

Not bad. Although there is not much money left, it is still enough to provide for the living expenses of the father and son.

Shen Yuanchao has no other hobbies in his spare time, except to go to the baseball field to play football with his old friends.

I don’t know if it’s genetic, but his son Shen Bin has been fascinated with football since he was young. Ever since he was old enough to understand, he has regarded Shen Yuanchao’s football as his own. He is inseparable from the football all day long and even holds it when he sleeps.

As the child grew up, he also showed his good football talent. In recent years, domestic football has been the hottest.

As the capital city of Longjiang, a major coastal economic province, Jinling has also developed a booming youth football industry, and youth training classes have been set up in all the districts and counties under its jurisdiction.

Shen Bin joined the school team at the age of 6 when he was in primary school because of his excellent footwork skills. He was selected by the city's youth sports school at the age of 9, and joined the U10 team of the provincial A-B Jia Jia team at the age of 11.

In the beginning, both the professional teams and the local youth sports school teams were competing for talented children. Later, the football culture gradually began to change. From giving subsidies to children every year, they began to charge training fees in return, and the fees were higher every year.

The year before last, Jia Jia's U15 team still charged each player 2 yuan in training fees. In order to help his son pursue his dream, Shen Yuanchao scraped together the money and paid it.

Last year, the training fee increased to 5 yuan. Shen Yuanchao borrowed money from all his relatives, friends, and neighbors to raise the 5 yuan.

But in mid-December last year, the child came back from the training base and brought back a verbal notice from the team that Shen Bin had been promoted from U12 to U15 of the Jiajia team, although this should be something worth celebrating.

But it brought pain to Shen Yuanchao, who could no longer afford the training fee which had risen to 8 yuan a year.

Ever since he knew that he would never be able to return to the team, Shen Bin has been in a daze the whole day, and the smile has disappeared from little Shen Bin's face.

In the middle of the night, Shen Yuanchao got up to cover Shen Bin with the quilt as usual, fearing that the child would kick off the quilt again. However, he saw that the child's face was covered with tears and the pillow was wet with tears. Shen Yuanchao's heart felt like being pierced by needles and was in excruciating pain.

From that day on, Shen Bin didn't touch football for half a year, and his originally cheerful personality became silent and taciturn.

"Since you like football, then play as much as you can. It's all dad's fault that he has no ability. Since dad can't afford to let you become a professional player, you can also treat it as a hobby. If you want to play football and there is no one to accompany you, dad will accompany you. Dad's skills are still pretty good..." Under Shen Yuanchao's constant guidance, Shen Bin once again picked up the dusty football.

Why has the kid been playing on the court for nearly ten years? Isn't it just for his dream?

When he just saw hope, but encountered such a result, he was no better than those classmates who had no chance to continue their football dreams. At least they could face it all calmly because they had no talent.

But the lucky man that Shen Yuanchao was once proud of ended up with nothing but painful memories!

"He's a little young, but looks pretty strong. Have you signed a contract with the Jiajia team?" Guo Jiangping asked.

This time Shen Bin didn't answer and looked at his father.

"Coach Guo, listen to me, this is what's going on. This kid is not here to play football..." Sweat broke out on Wan Anlong's forehead. He hurriedly explained in a low voice, but the old coach didn't listen to him.

Shen Yuanchao bent over and said, "I signed it before. When it was returned before New Year's Day, the contract had been terminated. Our house is opposite the east gate of the stadium, and it only takes 10 minutes to go back and forth. If you don't believe me, I will go back and show you the contract termination document. Our Shen Bin is very good at playing football..."

Guo Jiangping stood up and said, "Whether you are a mule or a horse, you will know it by taking it out for a walk. If you are a foal, you will have a chance today. Let's go to the field and practice and see if your team's youth training coach is blind. It's rare to enter the U15 at the age of 17!"

Since Guo Jiangping has already said this, Wan Anlong has to give the old coach some face in front of everyone and it would be difficult for him to insist.

He was also wondering what Shen Yuanchao said. Is it possible to enter the U15 team at the age of 17? Nowadays, there are no children under 17 in all U17 teams! The youngest one is probably 17 years old, and 17 years old is still a talented young player. Normally, U17 players are between 18 and 20 years old.

Judging from the child's height and appearance, he might really be only fifteen or sixteen years old, or is it really because he is short as he said?

Short? Isn't that a joke? A fifteen-year-old is normally shorter than a seventeen-year-old!

Even at the age of fifteen, this seemed incredible.

Just like the training with the Longjiang Jiajia team, Guo Jiangping divided the team into two groups for half-court confrontation training. Two assistant coaches acted as temporary referees on the side. Whichever side scored a goal would switch to defense.

"You join the attacking side." Guo Jiangping said to Shen Bin.

He didn't even let him warm up or change clothes. Instead, Shen Bin went to the bench to borrow a pair of socks from the only player who was not scheduled to play, and also borrowed his shin guards.

The player who was half a head taller than him stared at him in confusion. Although he didn't say anything, it was obvious that he didn't understand what was going on.

Wasn't this guy here to deliver water? How did he replace his trainer? He was already considered short in the team, could such a small guy withstand the impact of a guy who was a head taller than him?

Watching Shen Bin run 30 meters with the ball, Guo Jiangping said to Wan Anlong: "Give him a contract!"

"Why?" Wan Anlong didn't see what this kid was capable of. Wasn't he intercepted by the player in the red vest when he was dribbling? Why should he be given a contract?

"No reason, just because this little guy has a left foot! His left foot is worth this contract!"

Seeing Wan Anlong and Guo Jiangping accompanying a child, the players and coaches on and off the field understood that there were new players reporting to the team.

They couldn't help but feel curious about who this person was and why the club paid so much attention to him.

Some people still vaguely remember Shen Bin, the shortest player among all 24 U15 teams in the Jia Jia team that was defeated by them two years ago. His footwork skills once caused a sensation.

When people saw Shen Bin borrowing the uniforms of the players who were taking a break, they couldn't help but wonder, according to the rules, the players who signed the contract should receive the uniforms, shorts, shoes, socks and other equipment, but why didn't this guy have anything? And he didn't even warm up, just put on shin guards and prepared to play?

The team members, who had been working hard in the sun for more than an hour, had already started to slack off. When they saw Shen Bin stretching his legs, waist and ankles, they finally perked up a little.

A person who can make the head coach and the team leader come out to accompany him must have some weight!

As soon as the assistant coach blew the whistle, the ball was passed to Shen Bin's feet after three or two passes. As if it had been discussed beforehand, a player in a red vest immediately pounced on him.

He wanted to give Shen Bin a warning and let him know that it was not easy to survive here.

Shen Bin guided the ball with the inside of his left foot along its direction, allowing the ball to stop under his feet. When the defensive player rashly stretched out his foot to try to block the ball, he used the toe of his left foot to pick up the bottom of the ball, and the ball suddenly slid forward.

The defensive player obviously didn't expect that his supporting leg was his right leg. In the time he was stunned, Shen Bin had already passed by him...

Guo Jiangping held a cigarette in his hand and stared at Shen Bin, who was dribbling the ball along the sideline, with a frown on his face.

"Who is this little guy?" asked an assistant coach.

He looked at Guo Jiangping and then at Wan Anlong, but neither of them was obviously interested in answering his questions.

He had no choice but to ask another staff member who followed him, "Who is this little guy?"

The staff member didn't want to miss this opportunity to show off, but it was really not something that could be explained in a few words, and he hadn't even memorized Shen Bin's name yet. So he had to turn his head away and pretend that he didn't hear what the assistant said.

"...The movement is too stiff. It seems like he hasn't touched the ball for a long time." The assistant had to find a way out.

That's right! Guo Jiangping took a deep puff of his cigarette, then threw the butt onto the grass and stepped on it hard.

But it's not a big deal. After two more days of training and getting familiar with the temperament of football, this state will be restored. He turned to Wan Anlong beside him and said, "Give him a contract!"

Wan Anlong was stunned. He glanced at the old coach and said nothing. With so many people present, it was difficult for him to refute Guo Jiangping's words, but the fact that he did not agree to the matter showed his opinion on the matter.

Shen Bin just dribbled past a player, how could he get a contract? Even if the club is rich, it can't do this, right?

And he seems to be just a brush. Wasn’t the ball intercepted by the guy in the red vest who came up from behind just now?

"He has a left foot! He deserves a contract just based on his left foot!" Guo Jiangping reiterated his previous point: "Besides, we just happen to be short of a midfielder, let him play as a left winger!"

After a long while, Wan Anlong said, "What if Wang Dong comes in a few days? Lu Feng has already promised Wang Dong's parents that he will give him a starting position. Besides, he hasn't discussed the training fee with his parents yet. How can we say whether his family can afford 8 yuan?"

"If that's the case, let him be Wang Dong's substitute. We also have to be prepared for the possibility that Wang Dong can't come.

Besides, Wang Dong was already overweight in the team and his physical strength was not enough to sustain the entire game.

He hasn’t had systematic training for a long time, so it’s hard for him to survive such a dense schedule. With this kid as a substitute, the left wing is basically ready.”

Seeing that Wan Anlong was still hesitating and refusing to agree, Guo Jiangping became anxious and his words were no longer so pleasant. "Why are you still thinking about your 8 yuan? The more strength we have, the less chance our opponents have. Now that the battle is about to draw blood, why are you still caring about that little bit of money?

How much does it cost you to raise such a little kid? If his family can't afford it, you can deduct it from my salary. If we lose this little guy, we can't even show up in the group. If we go back and lose this lucrative job, you won't even have a place to cry..."