China striker Wu Lei admits big gap between Chinese and European football

BEIJING, Nov. 8– Chinese striker Wu Lei said he perceived a considerable gap between the totally different Chinese and European football after he joined La Liga side Espanyol. Wu is expected to join up with the Chinese national team as their only overseas-based player on Tuesday in Sharjah, the UAE where the Chinese side will face Oman and Australia as hosts in…

BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) — Chinese striker Wu Lei said he perceived a considerable gap between the totally different Chinese and European football after he joined La Liga side Espanyol.

Wu linked up with Espanyol in 2019 January just over two months after finishing as the best player and top scorer of the Chinese Super League campaign.

“I came to Spain with a thought that we could accomplish something with Chinese football if we made a little more effort, but after arriving here I found there existed a gap simply too big between Chinese and European football,” he said.

“They are totally different in terms of training methods and the club and league’s operation and administration,” he said.

The 29-year-old striker said he was impressed by the work ethics of the Espanyol coaches.

“I saw a change of five coaches in my first year at Espanyol. There were some old-school coaches, but more of them were younger ones with a strong sense of responsibility and different attitude,” he said.

“Their approach to their jobs was meticulous,” he said.

Wu is expected to join up with the Chinese national team as their only overseas-based player on Tuesday in Sharjah, the UAE where the Chinese side will face Oman and Australia as hosts in their next two FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Chinese head coach Li Tie has bemoaned on several occasions that the lack of overseas-based players like Wu has made it very hard for China to compete with Asian top teams such as Japan and Australia.

The former Everton midfielder blamed some of his players’ poor performances in their recent World Cup qualifiers on lack of playing high-quality games.

“When I played in the Premier League, the players I faced on the field were the likes of Patrick Viera and Paul Scholes,” said Li, who played with Everton from 2002 to 2006.

“Then when I went back to play for the national team, I felt nothing uneasy facing the midfielders of other Asian teams. Only by playing high-quality games can you improve,” he said.

“The best way for our players to improve is to play abroad, so I always encourage our players, especially the young players, to do that as soon as possible,” he added.

Li’s team will meet Oman on Thursday before facing Australia five days later.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this is the third time that China went to Sharjah to play home games in their turbulent World Cup qualification campaign.

With one win and three losses, China currently sits nine points behind Group B leader Saudi Arabia, which has the maximum 12 points from their first four games. Australia stays in second place with nine points.

The top two from both six-team groups in Asia qualify directly for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The two third-placed teams will then face each other in a two-legged playoff, with the winner of that tie entering an intercontinental playoff. Enditem