China News Service, Hulunbuir, June 6th, title: Chinese herders "World Cup": play a different kind of excitement

　　China News Service reporter Li Aiping

　　On June 8, Beijing time, the Chinese national football team will play against the Philippine team in Dubai, once again embarking on a trip to the World Cup.

　　However, what has never occurred to the outside world is that there is a team of herders in the Inner Mongolia Prairie, who use their own methods to compete in the "World Cup" in another sense.

　　Tamir is one of them.

　　The 37-year-old Tamir has bright eyes when talking about football, showing a different spirit.

　　This "post-80s" who has been living in the Hulunbuir prairie in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region said, "As a grassroots team, our'World Cup' here is not only a cup match, but also a football spirit. It is different and exciting."

　　The match in Tamir's mouth will take place on July 18, 2021.

　　Their grassroots team will participate for the first time in the football event of the 14th China Games.

The picture shows the scene of the herders' World Cup competition.

(Data map) Photo courtesy of the interviewee

　　Unlike many amateur teams, Tamir and his teammates are from the Xini River area of ​​the Ewenki Autonomous Banner in Hulunbuir. These players are all local herders.

　　In the past 34 years, this grassroots team has become widely known due to media reports.

　　"In 1986, my elder parents, because of their passion for football, organized a football match on this grassland in the form of a'World Cup', and this grassland has its own'World Cup' since then." Tamir said. .

　　"I like the feeling of touching the ball. A few years later, I appeared on the court as a caddie to pick up the ball. It was so happy.

　　Time came to 1997, when Tamir was 13 years old. He officially became a member of this team. His favorites are Italian star Baggio and Brazilian star Ronaldo.

The picture shows the scene of the herders' World Cup competition.

(Data map) Photo courtesy of the interviewee

　　In the following years, Tamir noticed that the football matches held every summer attracted the attention of local herders. They were dressed in Mongolian costumes and some even drove a tractor to watch the match.

　　Since 2015, the grassroots team that is gradually on the right track established the Sini River Football Club, and Tamir was lucky enough to become the coach.

　　He told reporters, "Currently there are 224 registered players in the club, the youngest is 7 years old, the oldest is in his 40s, and there are cases where father and son are registered at the same time."

　　On the evening of June 5th, as a coach, Tamir was planning for the next game.

　　This is a game held in the Hailar District of Hulunbuir. Tamir and his teammates are almost the main lineup.

　　"A total of 16 teams participated, and now we have entered the finals. If we don't make upsets, we should be able to win." Tamir told reporters modestly, "This lineup will also be the lineup for the 14th China Games."

The picture shows the scene of the herders' World Cup competition.

(Data map) Photo courtesy of the interviewee

　　Tamir, who especially hopes to win this game, said: "As a member of the team, everyone really loves football. Everyone thinks that it is the most exciting to play well."

　　Galabat, who has now been "retired", is also called "Maradona on the grassland" because he won the top scorer in a game.

　　In an interview with the media, he once said, "Since I watched the World Cup for the first time on the TV of my relatives in 1986, football has become my belief."

　　Due to the special admiration of Maradona, many people on the grassland even forgot his real name and called him Maradona.

　　There will be more than a month to usher in the football event for the mass competition of the 14th China Games. Tamir said that this is a new beginning and hopes that all sectors of society can have a new understanding of our herders team.

　　"Inner Mongolia is a pilot province of China's football reform. I sincerely hope that the whole society can really like football and enjoy it." After Tamir said this, his eyes sparkled.

(Finish)