Where is the next Chinese player that Ronaldo will remember?
Recently, news related to Ronaldo's trip to China with Riyadh Victory Team has become a hot topic on social media. According to the arrangement, Riyadh Victory Team will play against Shanghai Shenhua Team and Zhejiang Team on January 24 and 28 respectively. Before the game started, Ronaldo and his teammates attended the welcome dinner on the evening of the 22nd.
At the dinner party, Cristiano Ronaldo moved forward surrounded by everyone. He accidentally glanced at the crowd and discovered a familiar Chinese face. He immediately walked up to hug and talk with him. This person is Ronaldo’s former teammate at Manchester United—retired Chinese player Dong Fangzhuo.
According to Dong Fangzhuo, the last time the two met was during Manchester United's trip to China in 2007. After not seeing each other for many years, Cristiano Ronaldo can still recognize Dong Fangzhuo in the crowd, which shows how deeply the latter left a deep impression on him.
It is worth mentioning that today is Dong Fangzhuo’s 39th birthday. Manchester United's official social media sent him birthday wishes and wrote: "Whether you joined Manchester United or played in the Olympics, you achieved a breakthrough as a Chinese footballer. I wish you the best in your journey as a youth training coach and football commentator. Keep moving forward and continue to contribute to Chinese football."
Older Chinese fans will definitely be familiar with Dong Fangzhuo. Twenty years ago, 19-year-old Dong Fangzhuo was spotted by Ferguson and transferred from Dalian Shide to Manchester United for a fee of 3.5 million pounds, becoming the first Chinese player to join the "Red Devils".
After signing, Dong Fangzhuo was loaned to the Belgian Royal Antwerp Football Club. In the few seasons here, Dong Fangzhuo performed well and was the top scorer in the Belgian Football League B. This was also the first time a Chinese player won the Golden Boot title in the European League.
At the beginning of 2007, Dong Fangzhuo returned to Manchester United. At that time, Manchester United's first team gathered big-name stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand, etc. Dong Fangzhuo ultimately failed to gain a foothold in the team. In 2008, Dong Fangzhuo returned to Dalian Shide. In the following years, he bounced between several small European teams.
At the end of his career, Dong Fangzhuo played for Hunan Xiangtao Team and Hebei Zhongji Team. Due to the continuous decline in competitive status, he finally chose to retire in 2016.
Many people think that Dong Fangzhuo's story is the real-life version of "Shang Zhongyong": he is quite talented and became famous after his debut, but the peak of his career flashed by like a shooting star.
There are different opinions on the reasons for Dong Fangzhuo's "fall". Some people say that he is introverted and not good at speaking, and he has never been able to break through the language barrier during his time at Manchester United; others say that his competitive status has plummeted due to injuries; others have labeled him as unself-disciplined, arrogant and complacent...
Although Dong Fangzhuo failed to grow into a star in the end, at his peak, he undoubtedly brought hope to Chinese football. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Dong Fangzhuo scored the first goal of the Chinese men's football team and the only goal so far.
Time has passed, and Dong Fangzhuo has long been away from the spotlight and the whirlpool of public opinion. It is a pity that after him, the number of Chinese players studying abroad is very rare, let alone their achievements. In contrast, South Korea and Japan, both in Asia, have emerged in recent years with a number of strong European players such as Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae, Mikaru Kaoru, and Minamino Takumi.
In this Asian Cup, 12 players in the South Korean team's 26-man roster are playing in Europe. There are as many as 20 players playing in Europe on the Japanese team's roster. Judging from the number of players studying abroad alone, Chinese football is already very behind.
Under the video of Cristiano Ronaldo and Dong Fangzhuo getting together again, some netizens commented: "Cristiano Ronaldo was surprised because he thought Dong Fangzhuo should start tonight, but he didn't expect it to be in Shenzhen."
That night, in the Asian Cup, the national football team lost 0:1 to the Qatar team, which started with a substitute lineup, and had little hope of qualifying. Wei Shihao said in an interview after the game: "I think Chinese football is lagging behind across the board. No matter which team we play with, we have no advantage. Now all teams are making progress, only we are standing still."
Wei Shihao expressed the dilemma facing Chinese football in one sentence. What's even more cruel is that, judging from factors such as youth training, the strength of the national football team may continue to decline in the next few years. In such a difficult football environment, when will the next Chinese player who can be remembered by Ronaldo arrive?
