Chapter 18 October 28, 2002

October 28, 2002, China, Beijing, Capital International Airport.

"The flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands..."

The airport hall bustled with people coming and going, and announcements about flight arrivals and departures played continuously.

A friend took the suitcase from Qiu Suhui, who was dressed casually. "Wow...this is heavy! What's in here?"

"Just some materials," Qiu Suhui replied nonchalantly.

"You only called me the day before yesterday to say you were coming back, and now I'm seeing you in Beijing. You moved fast!"

"I just grabbed a few things and left. Didn't need anything else. Just packed up and left!" Qiu Suhui patted his backside with both hands.

"What are your plans now that you're back?"

Qiu Suhui didn't answer his question immediately. They happened to be passing a newsstand. Qiu Suhui asked his friend, "What day is it today?"

"Monday."

"Oh. Give me a copy of *Sports News*."

Taking the latest issue of *Titan Sports*, he looked at the large photo of Yang Pan on the front page. The caption read: "Yang Pan Makes Breakthrough in New Position, Records a Hat-Trick of Assists!"

His friend saw Qiu Suhui staring at the front page and knew he was still concerned about the two Chinese youths. "Why did you have to come back? Wouldn't it have been better to stay in the Netherlands and coach them? They're lucky to have started their careers there. Otherwise…"

"Otherwise, what?" Qiu Suhui asked.

"Otherwise? In China, they would have been ruined! Studying for so long and then trying to become professional players… it's almost impossible to succeed in China…"

Qiu Suhui didn't hear the rest of his friend's words. The phrase "would have been ruined" struck his chest like a hammer, and the helpless, sorrowful face of old Peter floated before his eyes again.

Qiu Suhui rolled up the newspaper, turned his head, and said, "Let's go!"

"Let's go back and see your parents first. How long has it been since you've been back? No matter what you're back to do, see your parents first, spend a few days with them, and have a good chat." As he drove, his friend spoke to Qiu Suhui, who was in the back seat. They had grown up together. In the years that Qiu Suhui had been away from home, this friend had helped take care of his parents.

Qiu Suhui combed his hair back. "I should go back and see them. Otherwise, my dad and mom won't recognize me as their son. Other people's children take care of them while their own child is out gallivanting…"

"What are you talking about! What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine! They're our parents. Of course, I'll take care of them since you're gone!"

The car passed a very ordinary two-story building. The friend slowed down. "The Chinese Football Association. Want to go?"

Qiu Suhui rolled down the window and looked at the old building, hidden by green trees and covered with vines. This was the heart of Chinese football, the office building of the CFA. However, the building's appearance really matched the image of Chinese football. The CFA officials were truly far-sighted and insightful.

Qiu Suhui squinted and then rolled the window back up. "Let's go."

His friend was a little surprised. "Huh? Aren't you going?"

"Not now." Qiu Suhui spread out the newspaper. "But I'll be back. By the way, do you know if any of the club youth teams are short of people?"

"In China?"

"Duh!"

Qiu Suhui had originally hoped to join the CFA as soon as he returned, starting as an assistant coach for the national youth team. With his name and coaching experience, it shouldn't have been a problem. But now that he heard that Kaka was a classmate of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, he suddenly changed his mind. He knew something about the current players on the national youth team, but he felt that relying on these players alone to break out of Asia was a pipe dream. He thought that China was so big, there must be some undiscovered diamonds like Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, and he wanted to dig them out one by one. But this plan couldn't take too long. The current national youth team was like someone's personal army. Even if he dug out more diamonds, it would be difficult for them to integrate into the team. He still wanted to become the head coach of the national youth team. At that time, he would carry out a major reshuffle, replacing 75% of the team with the players he discovered in the youth teams of Chinese football clubs, who would also be the main force in China's bid for the Athens Olympics.

This process couldn't be too long. One year, at most one year, he had to become the head coach of the national youth team. Otherwise, China would lose a group of excellent players and a great opportunity.

"Chinese clubs? I'm not too sure right now, but if you check online, you should be able to find some information," his friend replied. "But let me give you a piece of advice. Don't go looking for those Jia A teams. They probably don't need any youth team coaches right now. On the other hand, lower-level clubs, because they lack effective supervision, might have some vacancies."

"Lower-level?" Qiu Suhui saw a line in the newspaper: "The head coach of the Henan Zhongyuan Club youth team was dismissed by the club's board of directors due to poor performance. The youth team is currently being temporarily coached by the former assistant coach in preparation for next year's national U21 football league…"

This sentence was mentioned in passing while reporting on Henan's preparations for the next round of the Jia B league. It was just an ordinary report. But Qiu Suhui, like an old hunting dog, smelled something that excited him.

Qiu Suhui closed the newspaper. "No need to check online. Book me a flight to Zhengzhou for the day after tomorrow. After seeing my parents, I'm going to Henan."

"Henan?"

"Yes, Henan Zhongyuan Club. I'm going there," Qiu Suhui said with a smile.

Wang Jianye looked at the person in front of him with some surprise. His resume listed the name "Qiu Suhui." Anyone who had followed Chinese football for twenty years would have heard of this name: the child prodigy, genius, and hope of Chinese football in the 1980s. Wang Jianye had been involved in football for nearly ten years and watching it for over twenty. He couldn't have not heard of this name. His premature retirement due to injury was a major loss to Chinese football, and then he disappeared as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth. He never expected that, more than a decade later, this former legend would be sitting in front of him, hoping to get a job coaching the youth team.

If the coaching experience listed on his resume was true… Wang Jianye swallowed. Then he would be qualified to coach a national-level team. But was that experience real? Assistant coach of the Ajax youth team in the Netherlands; assistant coach of the Anderlecht youth team in Belgium; assistant coach of the Nantes youth team in France; assistant coach of the Bordeaux youth team in France; assistant coach of the Celtic youth team in Scotland; assistant coach of the Freiburg youth team in Germany; assistant coach of the Red Star Belgrade youth team in Yugoslavia; assistant coach of the Chievo youth team in Italy; assistant coach of the Benfica youth team in Portugal…

Wang Jianye felt a little dizzy. They were all famous clubs. Serving as an assistant to Van Gaal at the Ajax youth team and leading Ajax to the Dutch youth league championship… that experience alone qualified him to be the head coach of the Zhongyuan youth team. He decided to confirm it one more time. "Mr. Qiu, do you really want to be the head coach of our club's youth team?"

Qiu Suhui nodded.

"Well then, Mr. Qiu, we Henan people are pretty straightforward, so I'll be blunt with you. I've heard of your name for a long time, but your coaching experience… to be honest, I don't know anything about it at all." Wang Jianye looked at Qiu Suhui. Qiu Suhui could see a kind of imposing manner on the part of this leader of Central Plains football, someone who could fight in the big dye vat that was Chinese football for nearly ten years without falling down. He must be an extraordinary individual. Before coming, Qiu Suhui had specifically looked up information about this general manager of the Zhongyuan Club, nicknamed "Big Mouth Wang" because he had written articles in newspapers exposing some of the inside stories of Chinese football and discussing the way out for Chinese football, thus offending many people in the circle. In 1998, Henan Zhongyuan was relegated from Jia B to Yi, which could also be said to have been caused by this reason. Perhaps many people still remember the Romanian foreign player of the Henan team, Iulian, making a money-counting gesture towards the camera after losing the game in 1997: "Chinese football too money, Henan football no money!" This has become a classic that people can't help but mention when recalling Jia A.

Qiu Suhui despised many people in the Chinese football circle, but he was still full of respect for this Henan person in front of him. The Zhongyuan Club was founded in 1994 and is the only professional football club in Henan, and also one of the few clubs that has persisted since the professionalization of Chinese football in 1994. It has suffered the misfortune of relegation twice, but then returned to Jia B the following year. With their good mental outlook, they have won the respect of the football circle and fans across the country, and are praised as a model of good operation for small and medium-sized clubs.

"Yes, I can understand. I've been in Europe for more than a decade and rarely return to China. And there hasn't been any news, so to speak, I've been living in seclusion. But I'm here to prove my ability to Chinese football," Qiu Suhui replied.

Wang Jianye nodded. "Although I don't know anything about your experience, I believe in your name!" Wang Jianye extended his hand to Qiu Suhui. "Welcome to the Zhongyuan Club youth team as head coach! The club will do its best to support your work!"

Qiu Suhui also extended his hand. "Thank you for your trust. I won't let the club down."

The two hands clasped tightly.

This day was October 31, 2002. Qiu Suhui found his first job in China in Zhengzhou, bringing him one step closer to the answer in his heart.

That afternoon, the two parties signed the contract. The contract was for a term of four years, linked to performance. Qiu Suhui had mixed feelings about the contract. He should say that he wanted to sign a one-year contract so that he could leave easily at that time, but Wang Jianye thought that one year was too short, which was not conducive to team building, so he had to sign a four-year contract, after all, he was the boss. Qiu Suhui also felt that a longer period of time was right. The training of young players really takes time, but with the Super League imminent, even small and medium-sized clubs like Henan Zhongyuan want to achieve results and advance to the Chinese Super League next season. The club's board of directors also regarded the youth team's performance as a bargaining chip - after all, the supporting facilities and performance of the youth team are also used as a condition for inspection in the Chinese Football Association's requirements for rushing to the Super League - so they wrote the quality of the performance directly into the contract in connection with the contract period.

This is really a strange youth team coach contract. Party B hopes to sign a one-year contract for the sake of their future interests, but Party A believes that youth team building takes time, so it is better to sign a four-year contract. However, Party A wants to achieve results quickly because of rushing to the Super League, and is eager for quick success in the construction of the youth team. Party B believes that this is wrong, but it is very much in line with his original interests, after all, Zhongyuan is just a stepping stone for him.

The interests of both parties are all intertwined on this white paper contract.

The next day, Qiu Suhui officially took office and became the head coach of the Zhongyuan Club youth team. The club held a small press conference to announce to some media in the province that the head coach of the youth team would be Qiu Suhui, a former player of the Chinese national team, and the acting coach Hu Li would continue to serve as assistant coach, and the other members of the coaching staff would remain unchanged.

Hu Li said to Qiu Suhui when handing over the work: "I think the club should have told you that they attach great importance to the U21 results next year, because this indirectly affects the club's rush to the Super League. Your predecessor was dismissed because of poor performance. So even if you used to be a very famous player, you may not be a successful coach, even if you are successful abroad, you may not be successful in China."

Qiu Suhui felt that this assistant coach was very frank, which was probably why he could only be an assistant coach and could not be a head coach. "Oh, why?" He asked knowingly.

"The football environment abroad is completely different from the domestic one. Your glorious coaching experience abroad is both an advantage for your successful appointment and may also become your disadvantage. Ah, don't mind me saying that, I don't mean anything else." Hu Li smiled, he was a fifty-year-old Henan native, and had been working at the Zhongyuan Club for five years, but had always been an assistant coach.

"What you said makes a lot of sense, but I'm here to succeed. I think I still have this confidence." Qiu Suhui smiled, "Give me all the players' information, and in a couple of days, I'll give you back a list of key players to train. In addition, President Wang has agreed that I will be fully responsible for everything related to the youth team, so there is no need to get the board of directors' approval for everything." He believed that he needed absolute power over the things within his job responsibilities, which was something Qiu Suhui valued very much as a coach. He believed that if he still needed to be told what to do by some laymen in the process of coaching the team, he would rather not do it than suffer this humiliation.

"Okay."

The youth team was doing 100-meter sprints under the leadership of the physical fitness coach. Qiu Suhui turned his gaze to the track, and a tall player happened to run past like a whirlwind.

"Eleven seconds seventy-three!" The physical fitness coach shouted, snapping his stopwatch.

"That person is a forward, right?" Qiu Suhui asked Hu Li, pointing to the back view of the person who had just finished running.

"No, he's a defensive midfielder."

"Defensive midfielder?" Qiu Suhui was a little surprised. "A defensive midfielder with a 100-meter speed of eleven seconds seventy-three? What's his name?"

"His name is Liu Peng, he's nineteen years old this year, and he's from Luoyang, Henan. The club accidentally discovered him in the Luoyang high school league two years ago. At that time, he showed very good physical qualities, so they signed him. He has strong explosiveness and is excellent at marking. But from the perspective of the past year and a half, his performance has not been very outstanding. Your predecessor once told me that he wanted to suggest that the club sell Liu Peng to a club at random."

Qiu Suhui stared at the tall figure for a long time. After he finished running, he returned to the queue, waiting for the next sprint. "Give me his detailed information, as detailed as his origins. This afternoon..." Qiu Suhui raised his hand to check his watch, "...give it to me before five o'clock."

"Okay, I'll go and do it now." Hu Li turned and left. Qiu Suhui was still standing there, watching with great interest as Liu Peng squatted on the starting line again, his eyes looking straight ahead, waiting for the whistle to sound.

"Luoyang high school league, defensive midfielder, Liu Peng..." he murmured.

When Hu Li saw Qiu Suhui the next morning, he was shocked. His eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night. He held a cup of coffee and said to Hu Li, "Old Hu, please go and call Liu Peng to my office."

"Ah...good, good!"

When Liu Peng rushed from the training ground to Qiu Suhui's office, covered in sweat, he was also frightened by the coach's appearance. His bloodshot eyes and messy hair made him look like a wild man. Qiu Suhui motioned for Liu Peng to sit down, then took another sip of coffee, gathered his hands on his face, wiped it, then put down his hands, looked at Liu Peng, and suddenly asked, "You, do you know Zhang Jun?"

Liu Peng was stunned for a moment.

Qiu Suhui seemed very satisfied with Liu Peng's reaction. He grinned and said, "Tell me, what kind of opponent is he?"

Liu Peng didn't understand why he was asking these questions, but he still honestly answered the coach's question: "He is someone that all defenders don't want to meet."

"Including you?"

Liu Peng nodded with a sullen expression.

"So you chose defensive midfielder instead of your best position, center back, in your senior year of high school? Just to avoid him?" Qiu Suhui stared at Liu Peng and asked.

Liu Peng raised his head and happened to see the look in Qiu Suhui's eyes: "Tell me, what are you playing football for? Family? Friends? Girlfriend?"

"Do you think you're happy now? Because you performed mediocrely as a defensive midfielder in your senior year, the team was eliminated after only two games. Now you're not performing well in the Zhongyuan youth team, and your form is good sometimes and bad at others… Have you read the recent newspapers?"

Liu Peng nodded.

"Zhang Jun and Yang Pan have succeeded in the Netherlands. What about you? The center back who was once the only one who could defend Yang Pan in one-on-one situations, are you just going to muddle along in the youth team like this? Living one day at a time? Watching your former partners achieve success one by one? Are you willing to accept this? Then why did you come to Zhongyuan in the first place? You could have relied on your sports major to go to any university, and then become a physical education teacher and mix until retirement." Qiu Suhui watched the sweat on Liu Peng's face increase.

"Liu Peng!" Qiu Suhui suddenly raised his voice.

"Here! Huh?" Liu Peng raised his head.

"Go back and tell Coach Hu that you want to play center back, not defensive midfielder!"