A few weeks of military service will do them good. As punished for the calamitous results of the national team, young Chinese footballers joined the barracks for a new type of training ... to the chagrin of their supporters.
In lattice and the ball to zero, fifty players under 25 years were integrated in the flag in October for a month of intensive military exercises at the initiative of the Chinese Football Federation, a government agency.
The measure, which illustrates how far the Chinese power seems to have run out of ideas to improve the results of the national team, proved to be very unpopular: some of the best among the young players were thus removed from the last matches of the national championship.
The federation remained very discreet on his initiative and on the precise content of the training followed by the players. But photos circulating on social networks showed the players, skull shaven and in military uniform, following mid-October the national selection held in check by India (1-1).
Above the heads, in an austere, white-washed room, a red banner encouraged sportsmen to become good citizens. Soccer News magazine has released more photos showing players jumping shirtless in the snow at this northern military camp, as if it were trying to tease young people softened by beer and games. video.
This martial training in the ranks of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) aims to "consolidate the ideology of young players," said the federation, quoted by the Beijing Youth Daily. "During preparation matches, some members of the national team have been criticized for their lack of work and lack of sense of honor," commented the Beijing Evening News.
'Education of opinions'
It must be said that we do not joke with the football ambitions of a country that has qualified only once for the World Cup in 2002. President Xi Jinping has set a goal that China become a power of the round ball, one day hosts the World ... and wins.
In the meantime, tens of thousands of young people have been integrated into football schools, Chinese clubs are hiring millions of euros from foreign players, and big bosses are investing in European clubs. Without much success at the moment: China is ranked 75th in the world rankings of Fifa, just one step below Syria at war.
After the national team, the clubs of first division seem in turn tempted by the career of arms: this is the case of Shanghai Shenhua, former club of the Argentine striker Carlos Tevez, who encaserned his under 19 years . In a site of the Air Force, the young players followed this week a session of "education of opinions" , reported the club on the social network Weibo.
They "studied propaganda messages, visited the air unit's history museum and did basic military training exercises , " according to the Shanghai club. Before going to bed early, the players had the right to watch religiously the news, a big daily meeting of the Chinese with the propaganda of the Communist Party in power.
But on social networks, fans accuse the leaders of Chinese football to lose their heads again. Already this year, they have banned their players from appearing in public with tattoos. The tattooed had to play with bandages.