Chinese international Dai Weijun was interviewed by Wang Wei, a reporter from the "Football" newspaper, and talked about the FA Cup championship, the World Preliminaries, the Asian Cup, his own experience in foreign countries and so on.
Dai Weijun: My grandmother is from Xingtan, Shunde, a year ago, I went back to Shunde to visit my family, I felt very cordial, at that time, I also entered the campus to communicate with the young players. I am deeply impressed by the suitable climate and good football hardware facilities in Shunde, and if I can have good guidance, I believe that we will be able to cultivate football talents belonging to Shunde.
It's not been a great season, it's not going well overall, and that's what I'm going to take stock of and adjust to hopefully integrate into the team.
I'm very excited, it's the first championship in my career, and it's the first time I've been in the team, so I'm very happy, it's very rare.
The performance in the national brand is a normal performance, relatively stable, hoping to get better results for the national team, and even win trophies, and also hope to score the first goal on behalf of the national team as soon as possible. Let everyone see the hope and direction of Chinese football and regain trust.
I think it's the last two World Preliminary Tournaments, I went from not playing a ball to returning to the national team to play in international competitions, the experience of this half year is really very memorable, and I can help the national team get three points away from Thailand, I am very happy.
This is a certainty, seeing so many fans, I feel very shocked, and I will be more excited and more combative. This game in Shenzhen, almost full, this is what I didn't expect, this is also the first time I played at the Shenzhen Universiade Center, a few years ago, because of the competition system, I have not had the opportunity to play in front of Shenzhen fans.
Their finishing ability is something to Xi, with South Korea scoring three of our set-pieces, and they are very effective in executing set-pieces, with very lethal crosses and final kicks.
I feel quite proud, and it is a great honor to represent the Chinese team, which is the proudest moment for a Chinese player.
Dai Weijun: Yes, when I watched the game, I really wanted to play, but unfortunately I couldn't help it, because there was a lawsuit at that time. However, at that time, because I had to prepare for the Asian Games team training in June, I had to insist on training, and I had to find the court by myself for training, and the things I practiced were also very boring, which were more memorable.
I think it's better to calm down and be yourself.
Don't think too much about it for a while, and do what you can control. The next event is the Asian Cup, what we need to do is to adjust our physical condition and prepare for the training camp, starting with the Asian Cup.
You have watched the first two matches of our World Preliminary Tournament, and there are good and bad aspects in terms of content, but the national team is a very united and very hard team, no matter who the opponent is, we will go all out to strive for the best results and live up to the expectations of Chinese fans.
Definitely, I'm looking forward to this event, after all, it's been almost 5 years since it was closed. Personally, I haven't participated in the Provincial Hong Kong Cup, and when I was a child, I would watch it every year, including going to the scene, so I was very much looking forward to it, and I also talked to some players from Guangdong about this topic.
Actually, I don't like to rest for a long time, so if I kick in a row, my physical condition will be better.
Dai Weijun: I hope that through my own experience, I can infect the next generation, and I also hope that more local children will insist on playing football, and if possible, you can also try to take the professional path. In addition, I also gave a suggestion to the children, the most important thing to play football is mentality, football games are like a performance, to show their ability like participating in a performance.
Football is all about competitiveness, at the level of children, and most importantly about the exchange of knowledge and, of course, the exchange of games. I see that there are so many children in Guangdong who like to play football, and I hope to build a platform for them to have a little competition every week, so that Guangdong's ball market can gradually improve.
For sure, in the past, I just went out to play games and lost many times, but in the process, I am actually growing slowly, because I will grow because I have lost.
In fact, these are not special experiences, the English youth system is very cruel, a ball or even a kick, can determine whether the club is willing to sign with you. In the UK, my body developed later than others, and I was rejected many times, but these will make me grow faster.
I was very late in my body, I was relatively short, and when I was in Hong Kong and England, I was very uncomfortable with the confrontation, but through training and perseverance, I gradually became a professional footballer.
At that time, I was always practicing, losing, being rejected, and being eliminated would practice harder, but the real development was around fifteen years old. Before that, I was adapting to the rhythm of the English academy, and after the age of fifteen, my body started to grow taller and my strength came up, so I was able to keep up with the rhythm and play my own characteristics.
At that time, it was very difficult to get a Xi contract for the club, and only two or three people could get it for thirty people in an echelon.
It's true that when I first went to the UK, I probably didn't even think I could become a professional footballer, but my dad kept me playing professionally when I was about 10 years old. I think you have to have a goal, and maybe a lot of people thought I couldn't play in England, I couldn't be a player, but I persevered.