Chapter 1 A Purely Fictional Story

Qiu Suhui quickly settled into his role, diligently fulfilling his duties as assistant coach, which greatly eased Adriaanse's burden. Sterre was a diligent assistant, faithfully executing tasks assigned to him, but lacking his own initiative. Qiu Suhui, on the other hand, brought valuable insights and tailored his approach to different individuals, demonstrating a thoughtful and adaptable nature.

Adriaanse was pleased that his ten years of study had not been in vain.

But what pleased Adriaanse most was Qiu Suhui's nationality. As a fellow Chinese, Qiu Suhui spoke fluent Mandarin, eliminating communication barriers with Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, and enabling him to provide them with more assistance and guidance. Adriaanse had privately entrusted Zhang Jun and Yang Pan to Qiu Suhui's care. It was a well-known fact that Ajax produced not only excellent players, but also excellent coaches, and Qiu Suhui was a top-notch product stamped with the "Excellent Product, Ready for Shipment" seal of approval.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan also welcomed their compatriot coach, sticking to him like glue. During training, they consistently received Qiu Suhui's special attention – in the form of very strict demands.

"Coach, why don't you join us for dinner?" Yang Pan, throwing on his coat, invited Qiu Suhui, who was accompanying them from the training ground.

"Me?" Qiu Suhui asked, surprised.

"Yeah! Uncle Wang's Chinese food is delicious. You've been in Europe for so long, you must miss home cooking, right?" Zhang Jun said.

Qiu Suhui rubbed his nose. In fact, Chinese restaurants had long been ubiquitous throughout Europe; wherever there were Chinese people, there were Chinese restaurants. If he wanted to eat Chinese food, he could easily find a restaurant. He wasn't exactly a gourmet constantly searching for authentic cuisine. But he couldn't refuse the two boys and Uncle Wang's hospitality, as declining invitations was considered impolite. So, he nodded, "Alright!"

Qiu Suhui soon discovered that dinner was just an excuse. The two boys were actually interested in his experiences and wanted him to share them. He, too, was happy to tell them about his past. He felt that exposing them to different football styles and broadening their horizons would be beneficial for their future development.

Thus, at the dinner table, steaming, fragrant dishes became supporting actors, although the cook didn't seem to mind at all, as he was also very interested in Qiu Suhui's story.

Speaking of Qiu Suhui's name, it was not unfamiliar to older generations of Chinese football fans. In the early and mid-1980s, he was synonymous with "genius" in Chinese football. Just consider that in the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship, he was recognized by FIFA as one of the world's six "Stars of Hope," alongside Marco van Basten and Bebeto, and was selected for the World Football Best Team (the highest honor ever received by a Chinese football player), and you'll understand what kind of figure he was.

Prior to 1994, when Chinese football had yet to become professionalized, there were already two players who could be considered world-class: one was Rong Zhixing, who was hailed by Pelé as the most world-class player in the Chinese team, the "Chinese Football King." In September 1977, the star-studded New York Cosmos team came to China and played two matches against the Chinese team in Beijing and Shanghai. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw. In the second match, the Cosmos team lost 1-2. Pelé praised the Chinese team's number 11: "His dribbling, shooting, and organizing skills are truly outstanding!" After the match, he even took the initiative to exchange jerseys with number 11. At that time, the Chinese team's number 11 was none other than Rong Zhixing, who had the title of "Chinese Football King."

The other was Qiu Suhui, who was now sitting in front of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan.

In 1983, at the World Youth Championship, Zhang Zhicheng led the Chinese youth team to a historic top-eight finish. A group of key players in the team, such as Qiu Suhui, Jia Li, and Liu Haitao, became the backbone of Chinese football in the future. Qiu Suhui was even recognized by FIFA as one of the world's "Six Stars of Hope" alongside Dutch star Marco van Basten. As a right winger, he was incredibly fast, known as the "Fast Horse," and his shooting and crossing were excellent. He was agile and adept at seizing opportunities.

Following his success at the World Youth Championship, he was selected for the national team at the young age of 20, which was a remarkable achievement in Chinese football at the time. In 1984, he accompanied the Chinese team to the Netherlands for friendly matches. Subsequently, he was recommended by the national team coach to stay in the Netherlands at the Zwaluw club for two months to study. And at that time, the coach of the Zwaluw club was none other than Adriaanse.

Later, due to systemic reasons, there were no examples of Chinese players playing abroad, so Qiu Suhui could only study and train, unable to play in matches. Two months later, he was recalled by the Chinese Football Association.

Although Qiu Suhui only stayed in the Netherlands for two months before returning to China, he had already been deeply captivated by Dutch football and European football. The European attitude towards football made him feel like he was in football heaven, a paradise he deeply longed for...

But the tragedy of a genius is that he is a genius. Qiu Suhui was technically skilled, and coupled with his exposure to European football in the Netherlands, his awareness had improved comprehensively. In domestic matches, he was naturally the opponent's biggest headache. Therefore, in order to win, many teams adopted destructive tactics. As long as Qiu Suhui had the ball, defenders often used all means, including fouls, to stop him. At that time, the penalties for flying tackles and tackles from behind were not as strict as they are today, so he was always covered in injuries after each match. Due to frequent attacks from opponents, Qiu Suhui was constantly suffering from minor injuries, and he was unable to play in many matches. But as long as he was on the field, he would definitely pose a threat to the opponent. No matter how fierce the opponent's attacks were, he defended a maxim of his predecessor Rong Zhixing with practical actions: "The best way to retaliate against the opponent's attacks is to kick the football into their goal."

I believe there are still many Chinese football people who will never forget the unforgettable "5.19 Incident," which was the most unforgettable and painful experience in Chinese football history. On May 19, 1985, the national team coached by Zeng Xuelin once again set off for the World Cup. At that time, the Chinese team was the runner-up in the Asian Cup, and the team had Asian-level stars such as Jia Li, Gu Ming, and Liu Haitao. The Chinese team's last battle in the group was at home against the weak Hong Kong team. A draw would have been enough to qualify, but public opinion and fans generally held the radical view that the Chinese team would not have won unless they beat Hong Kong by more than two goals. However, the result was enough to surprise anyone. The powerful Chinese team, despite dominating the entire game, lost 1-2 to the small Hong Kong team. The fans cried bitterly for this, and they surrounded the players on both sides, smashed public facilities, attacked foreigners, and demanded to speak to the leaders of the Football Association, resulting in the sensational "5.19 Incident." Afterwards, Zeng Xuelin took the initiative to take responsibility and resigned from his position as the head coach of the Chinese team.

That battle was also unforgettable for Qiu Suhui. Before that, he was recuperating from an injury and was not selected for the national team, so he could not represent the national team in the World Cup qualifiers. So he watched on TV as the Chinese team lost 1-2 to the weak Hong Kong team, watching the fans cry bitterly, watching the old coach Zeng Xuelin resign from his position as the head coach of the Chinese team with tears in his eyes... All of this had nothing to do with him. He just watched, watched, did nothing, and could do nothing...

Perhaps many people still remember the San Siro on August 17, 1995, "I have made a decision, I will end my football career." This short sentence shattered everyone's expectations and dreams. More than 80,000 people tearfully said goodbye to their hero Marco van Basten. This greatest center forward of the 1980s and 1990s was frequently attacked by defenders, and his ankles were covered in injuries. After two unsuccessful surgeries, he had to say goodbye to football, goodbye to the green field, and goodbye to the fans who loved him at the age of 31, an age when forwards could have continued to create brilliance. Qiu Suhui's injured area was the same as van Basten's, but he didn't even have the chance to wave goodbye to the fans on the field. He heard the death sentence for his football life in the best orthopedic hospital in Beijing.

Due to a serious injury, Qiu Suhui, who was only 27 years old, was like a shooting star, after shining his most dazzling light in the night sky, he was swallowed by endless darkness.

It is said that when Adriaanse in the Netherlands heard the news that Qiu Suhui had retired early due to injury, he was stunned for a long time, and finally murmured a sentence: "An angel with broken wings, China is not heaven, he shouldn't have gone back..."

Because of the backward management system, football concepts, low-level league system, and the combined factors of injuries, the name Qiu Suhui disappeared from Chinese football.

After retiring, Qiu Suhui was depressed for a while, and also wanted to find a job and live an ordinary life, but in the end he found that he could not leave football. He could no longer be a player, but he could be a coach. However, he would not be a coach in China, he understood too much about Chinese football. He finally came to the Netherlands, a country that he had longed for.

He found his former mentor Adriaanse again, followed him to learn the basic training of coaches, and participated in the youth football coach training class held by the Dutch Football Association. Half a year later, he graduated with excellent grades, and once again said goodbye to his mentor and began his wandering journey. A year later, he met van Gaal in Amsterdam. Van Gaal was very interested in him, a former Star of Hope in the World Youth Championship, and took him to Ajax. The two volunteered to become coaches of the Ajax youth team, and in just one year, they led the Ajax youth team to the championship of the Dutch Youth League. Since then, Ajax ushered in the second glory of this long-standing club in the early to mid-1990s. In 1995, Kluivert, Davids, Seedorf and the de Boer brothers led Ajax to win the European Champions Cup, creating another great glory for Ajax, and the behind-the-scenes heroes were Qiu Suhui and van Gaal, who had become the head coach of the Ajax first team at that time.

Van Gaal, who created this glory, was promoted to the head coach of the first team that year, and wanted to keep Qiu Suhui in the youth team and let him become a full-time employee. However, after a year of training, Qiu Suhui found that he was still far behind, and he did not have the ability to be a head coach, so he politely declined van Gaal's retention and said to him: "I am still very young, I want to learn." He packed his bags and left Amsterdam.

In the next ten years, Qiu Suhui's footprints almost spread all over Europe. The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, France, England, Spain, Italy, Portugal... Even in Yugoslavia, which was sanctioned by the international community, he studied the training of young players alone.

In Yugoslavia, Qiu Suhui had a very touching experience. On the one hand, he lamented the huge output of football geniuses in that land, and many young players were considered outstanding even in European age group competitions. On the other hand, he was heartbroken by the current situation of this country. Due to long-term sanctions by the international community, the lives of the people were very problematic, let alone systematically training young players. Many teams could not even guarantee their own survival, and even the national team could not participate in competitions for several years due to the sanctions of FIFA. In this case, who would care about those young players?

For those emerging young players, their future only had one path: to die young. Their parents could not afford the high training costs and daily nutritional expenses, and the club was unable to take care of them.

Whenever he saw a young player who had just emerged, the expression on the face of Qiu Suhui's old friend in Yugoslavia, Petkovic, was not joy, but worried heartache and helplessness: "Another one who died young..." Qiu Suhui will never forget the murmuring of the poor old Yugoslav.

Rich experience not only allowed Qiu Suhui to learn various coaching methods, but also integrated them in his usual practice, transforming them into his own use, and gradually forming his own coaching style, methods and football philosophy. He was always constantly seeing, hearing, and then thinking.

Everyone is a human being, and everyone is the same age, so why is there such a big difference? When he was still in China, he also met many talented peers. Dalian is a city with a good football atmosphere, but what about other places? Is it only Dalian that has geniuses? But why are only Dalian's players successful? Is it just that they are unlucky? Did they not born in Dalian?

For a player, from adolescence to becoming a superstar, it is indeed very important to meet excellent coaches during this period. But after all, excellent coaches can only be a minority and cannot save most people. Yugoslavia does not lack good seedlings, nor does it lack good coaches, but they lack a stable environment that allows them to work with peace of mind.

During these ten years, he also returned to China several times to visit his parents and old friends. Although the environment of Chinese football has changed, it has established its own professional league, and the professional team is gradually becoming standardized. However, the current situation of youth football is still worrying. The problem of changing age is just the tip of the iceberg. The Jianlibao football team, which was infinitely glorious and entrusted with countless hopes of the Chinese people back then, was beaten to pieces by the environment of Chinese football after returning from Brazil. A flower that was once extremely brilliant withered in the wind and rain. In China, no matter how many good seedlings or good coaches there are, it is useless. They do not have the right to speak and cannot change their own destiny. They do not lack a stable living environment, but a sound football system and a standardized football system, and a culture in which football has become a part of life in Europe and South American football.

The backwardness of Chinese football is not a draw, or a black three minutes, or someone else's calculations, or the embarrassing results of three World Cup games with nine goals conceded, no goals scored, and no points scored. What is backward is a hundred years, from the system, to the standards, and then to the overall backwardness of the cultural environment. The gap is like falling directly from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau into the Sichuan Basin, which is very difficult to accept, but it is the truth.

The closer he gets to those inside stories, the more he loses confidence in the future of Chinese football. He even doubts the role of an excellent coach, and doubts whether the path he chose at the beginning was right. He wants to be a coach, an excellent coach, but in that kind of domestic environment, he simply cannot exert his abilities. If you don't play fake matches, you will be besieged and calculated; if you don't change your age, you will be considered a heretic; your hard-trained team is defeated by a group of "adults" who have changed their age. What impact will this kind of blow have on those hopeful children? When the whole world is crazy, if you have to stay normal, you are the real madman. This is no longer a problem of football itself, but a problem of the entire society and the entire environment. And these, Qiu Suhui, a small coach, is powerless. He is really afraid that after returning to China, he will become like Petkovic, with the phrase "Another one who died young..." hanging on his lips all day long. If that is the case, it will be the end of the world for him and for Chinese football.

If he stayed at Ajax, or any European club, after ten years, he could become a famous coach with fame and money. But maybe it's the inertia of the heart. On the one hand, he doubts his decision, and on the other hand, he is like a ascetic monk, wandering from one place to another, searching for answers that he may never find. Ten years later, after walking around in a circle, he found that he had returned to the Netherlands, the starting point where he had embarked on the road without hesitation. Ten years have passed, and in addition to more and more question marks, and the helplessness of knowing what might happen but being unable to do anything, he still has nothing.

He had almost given up. He had just received an invitation from FC Barcelona. Van Gaal had returned to the Camp Nou again, and had once again issued an invitation to this former disciple and assistant. An invitation from Barcelona is extremely tempting to anyone, and Qiu Suhui also had to seriously consider his future development.

It was at this time that God let him see the match between PSV Eindhoven and Volendam. He saw Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, and also saw the shadow of himself in the past. So, he seemed to find his direction and purpose overnight. He once again declined van Gaal's invitation and came to Volendam. It felt as if he had seen the pilgrims in Tibet. When those devout pilgrims finally arrived at the holy land in their hearts step by step, their mood must have been as excited as he was at that time.

Although the road is long and the wind and rain are still there, Qiu Suhui has piously taken a step and prostrated himself. Because he has found the holy mountain in his heart, even if he dies of exhaustion, he will die on the way to the holy mountain.

Of course, Qiu Suhui did not tell all of this to Zhang Jun and Yang Pan. If they really want to know those things, it will have less impact after they mature and come into contact with them. They are still young now, and seem to have been playing football happily all the time. If possible, Qiu Suhui really hopes that they can continue to play so happily. He just told them interesting stories about his travels to various countries and the football styles of various countries to arouse their interest in yearning for high-level leagues.

In people's impressions, modern football was initially golden yellow, and the stripes were somewhat like the current volleyball. Later, with the acceleration of the commercialization of football, the appearance of football also produced various changes. Among them, the most classic is the black and white ball. It is composed of 12 black pentagons and 20 white hexagons. Football under commercialization, utilitarianism, everything represented by results, and rampant violence has also produced more and more dark sides, just like that football, with both white and black.

This is what football is now, with joy and sorrow; with light, there will be darkness.

Nike once launched a football with only a red Nike logo - a check mark - on the pure white ball. Qiu Suhui also hopes that Zhang Jun and Yang Pan will be like this red check mark in the future, making football more about joy than sadness other than football. Because it looks like that football, when it is straightened, looks like a person's smiling face.