After the first game since returning to China, Qin Xiong returned to the Xianghe National Football Training Base with the team. Early the next morning, Freddy picked him up and left.
The national team would rest for half a month after this world qualifier and concentrate on preparing for the Asian Cup at the end of June. There were two warm-up games in early July and the Asian Cup would begin on July 17!
Freddy came in two cars. Qin Xiong sat in the back of the first car and curiously asked Freddy who was sitting in the car behind.
Freddy replied matter-of-factly, "Bodyguard."
"Do you need one?"
"Yes."
Qin Xiong did not ask any more questions.
He felt a little strange. He did not need a bodyguard when he played in Europe, even though he sometimes encountered some small problems in life. But when he returned to China and walked out of the airport, he found that it seemed that he really needed a bodyguard.
What happened in the locker room during the halftime of the game was not widely reported by the outside world. The head of the Chinese Football Association probably issued a gag order to Li Yi and the other teammates. The management model of China's sports industry was abnormal compared to many countries in the world. The involvement of political forces became the rule of the bureaucratic class. In other sports industries besides football, there were also many unknown things that were covered up. For example, in the case of Qin Xiong, who was not fully responsible for the violence, the Chinese Football Association officials immediately "suppressed" the matter. Even the media that found clues, such as discovering Li Yi's disappearance, his lying in the hospital, and a close-up of Qin Xiong's right fist, etc., did not report these things. When the national football fans were immersed in the joy of celebrating the national football team's 8: 0 massacre of Malaysia, no one wanted to pour cold water on them. Moreover, Qin Xiong's influence and strength on the competitive field was gathering the long-lost hearts of the national football team!
For the next half a month, Qin Xiong's schedule was full.
Suddenly, like a spring breeze, Qin Xiong became a household name in the sporting world.
It was not only because of the influence brought by football.
It was also because he became the favorite of advertising endorsers and sponsors during this period.
He was pressed for time and didn't have time to attend the sponsor's activities. Therefore, he stayed in the hotel during this period of time. He either worked out and rested, or was asked by Freddy to complete the shooting of the advertisement as soon as possible after finalizing the content of the advertisement endorsement with the newly formed management team.
Nike, Pepsi, McDonald's, Gatorade, Tsingtao Beer, China Mobile, China Life Insurance, Apple, EA Sports Games, Internet portal Tencent, Shanghai Volkswagen …
Other than exercising and sleeping, Qin Xiong spent the rest of his time shooting commercials. Sometimes, he could finish two or three commercials in a day. Sometimes, he would take two or more days to shoot one commercial.
In the process of changing clothes, posing, reading advertising slogans, and learning how to smile handsomely in front of the camera, his personal wealth was also increasing rapidly.
By the time they finished shooting the advertisement, it was already close to the end of June.
He still had to attend a Central TV Sports program.
World Football
It was a special program called "China's Superstars".
On the evening of the shooting, Qin Xiong had a short exchange with the host, Duan Xuan, at the Central TV Sports program studio in Beijing. He roughly understood what he was needed to do in the program and what questions he would be asked.
His management team was tidying up his outfit backstage. The female makeup artist walked up once again, intending to put on some light makeup for Qin Xiong. Just like when he was shooting the advertisement, she wanted his face to look fair and clean. Combined with the lighting and the angle, he looked very handsome.
Qin Xiong was a little disgusted with makeup. For the sake of shooting the advertisement, he did not raise any objections. But since it was a live interview program, he raised his hand to stop the female makeup artist and said, "No makeup today."
The female makeup artist hesitated for a moment before stepping back and walking away.
In the middle of the studio stage, Duan Xuan had already played a short introduction on the big screen for the live audience. It was the highlights of Qin Xiong's Eredivisie, Dutch Cup, Champions League, and the FIFA World Cup qualifiers between China and Malaysia. Finally, Duan Xuan smiled and asked the live audience, "I believe everyone must know him! Now let's call out his name and invite him to come on stage! "
The live audience shouted out Qin Xiong's name in unison. Then, wearing the national team's training uniform, Qin Xiong walked out from behind the scenes with a natural and gentle expression. From the moment he appeared, the atmosphere of the scene reached a climax.
Qin Xiong shook hands with Duan Xuan, then turned around and waved to the audience.
He didn't know what popular phrases were in China now.
But when he saw a group of beautiful girls sitting in the front row holding his poster and shouting in a light voice, "Qin Xiong, Qin Xiong, I love you, like a mouse loves rice." Qin Xiong couldn't help but lower his head and laugh.
Qin Xiong sat alone on the two-seater sofa with Duan Xuan. Duan Xuan turned her head and gestured Qin Xiong to look at the big screen.
Qin Xiong saw three photos on the big screen.
They were photos of him winning the Eredivisie title, the Dutch Cup title, and the Champions League title in Europe.
Duan Xuan asked, "As a China player, you have achieved unprecedented success in the Netherlands. We would like to understand the transformation that happened to you in the past season through you, so that we can better understand your life in European football."
Qin Xiong nodded and asked, "Where do you start?"
Duan Xuan smiled and said, "Let's start with why you chose to go to Ajax for a trial at the beginning of your career. Oh, yes, I want to confirm one thing. You will transfer to the Premier League powerhouse, Arsenal, right? "
Qin Xiong replied, "Yes, tomorrow I will go to London to officially sign a contract with Arsenal. There will be a medical examination before signing the contract. The club officially informed me today that the Football Association has approved my application for a work permit. It is almost certain that I will play for Arsenal next season."
"Congratulations!"
When Duan Xuan congratulated him, the live audience applauded.
"Back to the topic just now, why did you choose the Eredivisie?"
Qin Xiong pondered for a moment, and his expression became solemn and serious. He felt that this kind of question was not a casual chat, but a very professional and serious topic.
"I am fully prepared to step into the professional football world. In addition to the training and improvement of strength before the age of 18, there is also thinking and awareness. I think that many people now do not fully understand the cruelty of football competition. Even if we exclude the areas outside Europe, just take European football as an example. How many leagues are there? There are more than 20 national leagues. If you include the low-level domestic leagues, then there will be more than 50 leagues, or even more leagues. These leagues will have rankings. The rankings represent competitiveness, and competitiveness is reflected in the league environment.
This constructs a pyramid!
The greatest cruelty of the career of a football player is that your starting point almost determines your ending point. On average, every two or three years in your career, you will face a major turning point!
This is different from other careers. You may be an ordinary employee when you are 22 years old, become a small department leader when you are 25 years old, and move up a level when you are 30 years old. You will continue to struggle, step by step. You may become one of the decision-makers of a company around the age of 45. This is a perfect success, and it is a case of the birth of many inspirational stories in the industry.
But football is different.
Players want to climb up the pyramid in the Grassi world. If you start at the bottom, it is almost impossible to climb to the top.
The reason is very simple. The environment is different!
The players who are in the same age group as you have a higher starting point than you. Their diligence is not worse than yours. Their professional attitude is also very good. They have more opportunities. In the same 10-month season, can the experience and training you gain in the lowest league be the same as the experience you gain in the middle or upper league?
No!
Therefore, in the football world, the players who can become top star players are divided into two categories.
The first category is born in the top league! From the beginning of their career, they receive the cruelest test. They hold on, they persevere, and then they succeed. They are more successful than others.
The star players that we are familiar with now are of this type. Maldini, Nesta, the members of Manchester United's Class 92, Liverpool's Three Greats, Spain's flag star players, Germany's Bayern Munich's youth training system players, and so on.
The other category is the players who have a high starting point and make a major career transition in the early stages of their career, which is what I just said, on average every two or three years. They step on the more challenging stage at the right time, and then rely more on their extraordinary talent combined with actual combat to quickly improve themselves. This span is not big, but it is very important.
I think there is a master like Zidane. He started in the Cannes team. How many people know about the Cannes team? Zidane did not transfer to a better French club, Bordeaux, in 1992, and went to Juventus in 1996. This was his way to world-class fame. If he had stayed in Cannes for two more years, or stayed in Bordeaux for a few more years, I don't think there would be the current Zidane. The reason is that there is almost no possibility of fame by climbing up the ranks in the football world.
If such a thing is possible, which world-class star player in the five major leagues is successful by climbing up the ranks one by one year?
Almost none.
This is the cruelty of football. You don't have more time than others, and don't think that you have put in more sweat than others!
Different competitive leagues help you improve your strength and maintain your condition, and the leap in your actual combat power on the field. They are all different. When you start at the bottom, you hope to surpass your peers who have been fighting in the top leagues since the beginning five or six years later? This is a dream, a dream that is almost impossible to realize.
So I rejected the invitations of many clubs in the Chinese Super League. There were also teams in the Japanese and Korean leagues who threw me an olive branch last year, but I also rejected them.
The Eredivisie is ranked in the top ten in Europe, although I think the starting point is still a little low. After all, Ajax only has two or three opponents in the Netherlands, so this reduces the difficulty of surviving in that league. More energy is focused on internal competition. This is why I chose the Eredivisie, and why I left Ajax and joined Arsenal. "
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