It's lonely at top for home heroes

By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2012-03-07

Wu Pingfeng was called up to play in the 84th minute of a CFA Super Cup game at the Guangzhou University Town Sports Center on Feb 25.

Nothing too special about that, except, besides captain Li Jianhua, the 32-year-old midfielder was the only other Guangdong-born player on the pitch in a game Guangzhou Evergrande won 2-1 against Tianjin Teda.

"The Guangzhou team achieved a good result in the last season thanks to a huge investment. But I am worried about its future performance - imagine how it would play without some top international players on the pitch?" said Huang Xinhao, a supporter of Guangzhou Evergrande.

Like Huang, many fans have suggested the team should include more young local players in its lineup.

"Now the team seems like an international squad. As a supporter, we want to see more local players serving in the team," Huang said.

Guangzhou Evergrande has 11 players from Guangdong, but few were picked for the starting lineup last season.

The team signed Argentine midfielder Dario Conca for $10 million and several other big international stars and Chinese national team players, like Zheng Zhi and Feng Xiaoting, after it was promoted to the Chinese top flight last season.

Xie Liang, a veteran soccer commentator based in Guangzhou, said the inclusion of more Guangdong-born players would help spur the game's development in Guangzhou.

"The stadium was full of enthusiastic home fans in the early 1990s when almost all players in the lineup of the Guangzhou team were from Guangdong," said Xie.

The best time of Guangdong's soccer was in the early 1990s, with four teams three based in Guangzhou and one in Shenzhen - competing in China's top league.

Some Guangdong-born players, including midfielder Peng Weiguo and striker Hu Zhijun, also played decisive roles with the national team in the 1990s.

"Home fans, local players and a healthy system to train young players are of great importance to boosting soccer development," Xie told China Daily.

Citing England's performance on the international stage in recent years, Xie said the inclusion of top foreign players did not boost local soccer development in the long term.

"The Premier League in England has become one of the best leagues in the world due to a huge number of big international names at clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United. But England's national team, for years, has not performed well at the World Cup and European Cup," Xie said. "That's because the Premier League has not nurtured good players from England. Many young players don't have the chance to line up with the local teams."

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 03/07/2012 page22)