"It's not wrong to practice well with Director Xu." Wishing the younger martial brother a good performance in the National Games and the mentor of the "Six Tigers of the Sea" collective tour, Xu Genbao | Genbao | National Games
On the afternoon of July 19th, the Shanghai 2005/2006 National Games men's football team, coached by Xu Genbao, played a warm-up match at the Shanghai Oriental Green Boat Sports Training Base. That night, the entire team of soldiers stayed at the "Fudi" Jianguo Hotel located in Xujiahui. Represented by Wu Lei, the "Chongming Island Phase I" group visited their mentor. As the "senior brother", the Six Tigers of Shanghai Port never forgot to bless the "junior brother": it was right to practice well with Director Xu.
Genbao welcomes new challenges
In the warm-up match on the afternoon of the 19th, Xu Genbao led the Shanghai All Games team to a small victory over a large one, ultimately defeating the Shanghai Port U21 team 2-1. After the return of national youth players such as Kuai Jiwen and Ouyang Jiaxin, the strength of this Shanghai All Games team has improved. Xu Genbao always carefully observed the game on the sidelines and gave the coaching staff some experience reminders in terms of technical and tactical aspects.
In the new round of the National Games, on the occasion of the formation of the new Shanghai National Games team, the Shanghai Sports Bureau actively sought the opinions of Genbao. The challenge facing Genbao is not age, not energy. Originally, there were only teams in the 2006 age group that cooperated with Haigang in Chongming Base, and there were six key players who had to play with the national youth team for a long time. Moreover, the U20 men's football preliminary round of the first National Student Games, which was a rehearsal for the National Games, was about to start, and it was less than a month before Genbao started forming a team.
In the end, Xu Genbao decided to serve as the head coach of the men's football team for the Shanghai 2005/2006 National Games. Xu Genbao's appointment means that by the time the Greater Bay Area National Games is held in 2025, he will lead the team to battle at the age of 81. At the end of May, after completing the team building, Genbao gave the whole team a two-hour class, mainly focusing on "grabbing, forcing, and surrounding". During this time, he repeatedly emphasized one word - grabbing! It was also in this class that Genbao had a sudden inspiration and proposed the nine word goal of "winning gold, producing talents, and having style" to all coaches and players.
In his speech at this year's summer training mobilization meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau, Genbao made a key statement when mentioning "winning gold": "Only by winning gold can talent be produced. For example, in the two terms I led the team myself, Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, Yan Junling and others are now the main players of the national team. Zhu Chenjie and Jiang Shenglong are also gradually taking the lead... They have been stronger than others in consciousness since childhood. If football wants to improve, it depends on their brains! Winning gold at the National Games is crucial for their growth."
Nowadays, Xu Genbao's Shanghai All Games representative team consists of members from multiple clubs such as Haigang and Shenhua, with Haigang's 2006 age group as the main team. These 2006 age group players were selected nationwide by Xu Genbao and his coaching team. The team was later acquired through cooperation with Shanghai Haigang Football Club and adopted a "targeted cooperation" model with Genbao Base to purchase daily training and competition services. The team remained at the Genbao Base. At present, Kuai Jiwen, Liming, Liu Tiecheng, Zhang Junjie, and Ouyang Jiaxin, who have completed the tasks of the National Youth Team, have returned to the Genbao Base to prepare for the National Games with peace of mind.
Six tigers from the harbor send their blessings
Xu Genbao usually claims to be a "half Chongming person", and usually after playing warm-up matches in the city, he and his team will rush back to the Chongming Island base. This time, Xu Genbao and his team did not immediately return to the island, but went to stay overnight at the Jianguo Hotel in Xujiahui. Originally, when Xu Genbao coached Shanghai Dongya team, the team stayed here all along. It was very close to the home stadium Shanghai Stadium and was considered a "lucky place" by the soldiers.
"Wu Lei, Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng, Cai Huikang, Wang Shenchao, and Lv Wenjun all played with me in China League Two, China League One, and China Super League. They are now backbone players of the Shanghai Port team and even the national team." Xu Genbao revealed that the "Six Tigers of the Port" learned that the team rarely stays overnight in the city, so they came together to visit. "The atmosphere of conversation and chat was very good. Back then, we played together in China League One and China Super League, and we always had a good understanding. It seems that everything has not changed."
In 2009, Xu Genbao led Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, and others to participate in the Shandong National Games. In a decisive battle amidst pouring rain, they laughed until the end, and Shanghai men's football won the gold medal again after a full 26 years; In 2013, Xu Genbao was appointed as the head coach of the Shanghai Men's Football All Games team, supervising the 1993 to 1994 age group players led by Cheng Yaodong, including Yang Shiyuan, Li Shenglong, and He Ci, from Genbao Base to win the championship in Shenyang; In 2017, Genbao led the team again and led Zhu Chenjie, Jiang Shenglong, and others to achieve three consecutive championships in Tianjin.
Now, Xu Genbao has once again taken the helm of the Shanghai National Games team. Big brothers such as Wu Lei and Yan Junling also have another task: to motivate the smallest group of disciples in the base and encourage them to represent Shanghai in the Youth League and National Games. At present, Kuai Jiwen, who plays as a midfielder in the team, has certain potential. Xu Genbao encourages him to be braver and has the ambition to surpass Wu Lei. However, the introverted Xiao Kuai was so shy that he couldn't speak when he saw Wu Lei. Wu Lei, who had seen the world of La Liga, never forgot to encourage him, "The key is to start from every training class, and it's right to train hard with Director Xu. Believe in your own abilities and become a better version of yourself."
In the following group photo session, the "junior brothers" and "senior brothers" freely combine according to the location of the court. The young forwards at the base surrounded Wu Lei, while the young goalkeeper boldly sought advice from Yan Junling. The defensive players quietly sought advice from Zhang Linpeng, Wang Shenchao, and Cai Huikang. A staff member at the base bluntly stated that on the birthday of Director Xu, the "senior brother" who returned to the Genbao base would also play an internal competition with the "junior brother", "allowing the team members to feel the aura of national champions such as Wu Lei".
After 17 rounds of the Chinese Super League, Shanghai Haigang team temporarily leads in points. Before Xu Genbao took the "Harbor Six Tigers" to a pickled Chinese cabbage fish hotpot near the Jianguo Hotel to chat about the past, the "junior brothers" also gave back their blessings to the "senior brothers": "We look forward to the excellent performance of the master brothers, and strive to win the championship of the Chinese Super League in 2023 season, and try to add new honor to Shanghai football."
