Team China's 5-4 penalty shootout win over Croatia in the inaugural edition of the China Cup is a welcome morale-booster for the hosting side. But Chinese football fans have a bigger, and more consequential, outcome of the tournament to celebrate. The success of the China Cup is also the success of what can become a useful component in China's long-term football development strategy.
The Chinese national team stands to make important gains that are owed to the international experience provided by the China Cup. Indeed, the chance to take on a team like Croatia, a strong side who are currently at the top of their group in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, is an experience that - at least in the short term - can only be supplied by a platform like the China Cup.
Qualification for team China at the 2018 and 2022 editions of the World Cup is going to be a difficult task, but platforms like the China Cup will allow our national side to sharpen their skills against the world's top teams. There will be victories (like last night's result) for all of us to celebrate. But there will also be major setbacks, draws, injuries, and frustrations ahead.
There are several things China can do to ensure it is able to make the most out of these experiences, and all of them have to do with supplying the talent to feed long-term footballing success. The Chinese national squad of 2016 will look nothing like the national squad of 2024; new talents will arrive onto the scene in the intervening time, but it will take a concerted, nationwide effort to scout these talents out and give them the tools to reach their full potential. For this reason, China should remain laser-focused on youth training across the country, so prodigies can be identified and their talents fostered from a young age.
The perspective that can be gained as Team China's players meet the world's top competitors on the pitch can be augmented in another way: top Chinese talent can - and some would argue should - travel abroad to play in foreign leagues. These players can still perform their duties with the national side, and some (as has recently been reported with Zhang Chengdong's transfer to Hebei China Fortune after stints in Portugal and Spain) may even come back to play in the domestic league. These players will be able to impart their skills to their teammates on the national side and in youth training camps all across the country.
Creating footballing success is a task akin to constructing an ecosystem from scratch. All of the components in an ecosystem must work in tandem in order for life to thrive. Similarly, all of the components of China's footballing ecosystem must work together to create an environment for footballing to take off at all levels of society: from pitches at high schools in provinces all across the country to the training centers of its top teams.
Wang Jingbin, who scored the equalizer in China's victory over Croatia, had this to say after that match: "The goal is the result of teamwork. It's a good start for me, but I still have a long way to go." This is exactly the spirit that will make the difference for China as it strives to achieve its football dream. The success of football in China will only happen as the result of nationwide teamwork. There is a long way to go indeed, but while failures and successes lay on the road ahead, we are at least off to a good start.
