中国日报 | Searching for the Chinese Cruyff
来源：China Daily 2018.11.19
Budding young soccer players take a breather during a September training session at Guangzhou R&F Football Academy in Meizhou, Guangdong province. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Ajax, the Amsterdam giant which has produced so many Dutch masters, takes talent factory to Guangdong, AFP reports.
MEIZHOU, Guangdong province - "You let Glasgow score, what were you thinking?" plays a video, as a class of budding Chinese soccer players stare at a large screen, their backs ramrod straight and arms folded neatly on their desks.
This is the daily lesson in soccer English at the youth academy of Chinese Super League (CSL) side Guangzhou R&F.
Among these 11-year-old boys could be a Chinese Johan Cruyff.
That may sound unlikely, but Dutch giant Ajax has teamed up with R&F and together vowed to build the best soccer academy in China.
R&F is not even the most famous soccer club in its own city - that is seven-time CSL champion Guangzhou Evergrande.
But under coach Dragan Stojkovic, a legendary playmaker for the former Yugoslavia who won the Champions League with Marseille, R&F wants to play "the most beautiful soccer in China".
And while real-estate developer R&F has the deep pockets to shell out on expensive foreign players, it wants to focus on youth, in line with Chinese government policy.
That is where Ajax - renowned for developing the likes of Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert and many others - comes in.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Back to basics
"It's a long-term commitment we made with R&F of five years, but maybe we will need a couple more years because we have to start with the basics," said Ed Engelkes, technical director of R&F Academy.
"When the fundamentals are not good, you have to start all over."
The deal between Guangzhou R&F and Ajax was announced last November, but Engelkes and the three other coaches from the Amsterdam club are still getting their feet under the table.
The academy is in Meizhou, a city 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Guangzhou in the southern province of Guangdong and known for producing a number of Chinese players.
The academy has about 330 boys aged eight to 17, who live on the site, training and having school lessons.
The best boys come on a scholarship while the others pay. Many are local, but those from farther afield may see their parents just once or twice a year.
"That's quite a commitment to make," the 54-year-old Engelkes said, as youngsters fan out across the academy's pitches.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Language lessons
Training is no-nonsense and sessions are captured on video for subsequent scrutiny.
One coach occasionally stops a match between 10-year-olds to bark instructions in English, which are then translated.
Patience is needed, Engelkes admits, especially because of language differences.
With the midday sun burning down - it is fiercely hot even in autumn - the boys then troop inside for a quick shower and their lesson in soccer English.
R&F says that it is the only Chinese club with such a class, although it is questionable how much of the video the well-drilled boys understand.
After a healthy canteen lunch of seafood, rice, salad and fruit, the trainees retreat to their dormitories for a nap. Mobile phones are only allowed on Saturday.
Sam, an 11-year-old striker from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in the far northwest, returns home just once a term.
His favorite player is Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo.
"He's very good at controlling the ball and scoring," Sam said.
Other European clubs have struck similar partnerships or have set up schools independently in China, though few can rival Ajax's reputation for youth development.
Engelkes wants to replicate in Meizhou the structure at Ajax HQ that has been so successful down the decades.
That goes as far as the interior of the academy offices - minus carpets, which are not practical in humid southern China.
"It's very important that an Ajax player - and an R&F player - has a certain attitude," said Engelkes, who previously coached Ajax women's team.
"They must be creative. We want to think very attacking, attractive (soccer), taking initiative, but also be dominant in the game they play."
It's a bold blueprint in a country that has never produced a world-class player and does not share the deep-rooted Dutch soccer culture.
Kids are put through their paces at the school, which is co-run by Dutch giant Ajax. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP
Challenges
Engelkes said one particular challenge is that Chinese kids - due partly to a rote-learning education system - are used to being told what to do.
"They don't think for themselves ... but if you are in the game, you need to make your own decisions," he said.
The ultimate goal is to produce players for Guangzhou R&F's first team and the Chinese national squad, while also training Chinese coaches to carry on the project after the Dutch leave.
So what does Ajax get out of this?
It receives an annual fee and when the multimillion-euro agreement was announced, Edwin van der Sar, the former Netherlands and Manchester United goalkeeper who is now a senior Ajax official, spoke about growing the Dutch club's brand in Asia.
But he and Engelkes stress that coaching is the prime motivation.
"You have to extend and share your knowledge, and maybe (in return) that will bring us other things," said Engelkes.
For example, Ajax will be in prime position to snare any particularly talented local players or coaches.
So will a Chinese Cruyff, Bergkamp or Kluivert roll off the production line one day?
"Why not? It's a big country so there must be talent here," said Engelkes.
参考译文
“你让格拉斯哥进球了，你在想什么?”投影播放着视频，一群初露头角的中国足球运动员盯着大屏幕，他们的后背挺直，手臂整齐地交叉在课桌上。
这是中超广州富力足球俱乐部下属足球学院每天的足球英语课程。
在这些11岁的男孩中，可能有人能成为中国的约翰·克鲁伊夫。
这听起来可能不太可能，但荷兰巨人阿贾克斯已经和富力联手，发誓要共同建立中国最好的足球学院。
广州富力甚至不是自己所在城市最著名的足球俱乐部——七届中超联赛冠军广州恒大才是。
但是在前南斯拉夫传奇的组织核心德拉甘·斯托伊科维奇的带领下，他们想要踢出“中国最美的足球”。
虽然房地产开发商富力集团有财力投巨资，但他们希望把重点放在年轻人身上，这符合中国政府的政策。
阿贾克斯以培养了克鲁伊夫、范巴斯滕、博格坎普、克鲁伊维特等很多传奇球星而闻名于世。
回到基本
“这是我们与富力合作五年的长期承诺，但也许我们还需要几年的时间，因为我们必须从基础开始，”富力足球学院的技术总监Ed Engelkes说。
“如果基础都没打好，你就必须从头再来。”
广州富力和阿贾克斯是去年11月份宣布合作的，但Engelkes和其他三位来自荷兰俱乐部的教练仍在做基础性的工作。
该学院位于梅州，距广州400公里(250英里)，这个城市以培养出多名国脚而出名。
该学院大约有330名年龄在8岁到17岁之间的男孩，他们住在这里，接受训练，上课。
优秀的学生能获得奖学金免费入学，而一些则需要缴费。
许多人是本地人，但那些来自更远地方的人可能一年只见一次或两次父母。
“这需要很大的决心和承诺”54岁的总监Engelkes说，年轻的球员们在学院的球场上一展身手。
语言课程
训练是严肃的，训练的过程会被录像记录下来，以供后期仔细观察。
一位教练偶尔会在10岁孩子之间的比赛中叫停，让他们用英语讲解，然后翻译成英语。
Engelkes承认，耐心是必要的，尤其是因为语言差异。
中午太阳火辣辣的——即使是在秋天，天气也非常炎热——男孩们成群结队地走进屋里，冲了个澡，去上足球英语课。
富力足球学院说他们是中国唯一拥有这类课程的俱乐部，尽管目前这些训练有素的孩子们能理解多少视频中的内容还是一个疑问。
在享用了一顿由海鲜、米饭、沙拉和水果组成的健康午餐后，学员们回到宿舍小睡一会儿。
他们只有在星期六才允许使用手机。
Sam是一名11岁的前锋，来自中国西部偏远的新疆地区。
他最喜欢的球员是尤文图斯前锋克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多。
“他很擅长控球和进球，”Sam说。
其他欧洲俱乐部也在中国建立类似的合作关系，或在中国成立足球学校，不过很少有俱乐部能与阿贾克斯在青少年培养方面的声誉匹敌。
Engelkes希望在梅州搭建跟阿贾克斯总部一样的，几十年来一直非常成功的架构。
这些甚至细化到学院办公室的内部改造——去除地毯，在中国南方潮湿的地区，地毯是不实用的。
“一个阿贾克斯球员和一个富力球员——有一定的态度是非常重要的，”Engelkes说。
他们必须有创造力。我们想要踢有攻击性，有吸引力(的足球)，主动，要在比赛中占主导地位。
在一个从未培养出世界级球员的国家里，这是一个大胆的蓝图。
自己做决策
Engelkes说，一个特别的挑战是，中国的孩子——大部分都处在死记硬背的教育系统——习惯于被告知该做什么。
“他们不擅于自己做决策……”
但如果你在比赛中，你需要自己做决策。
我们的终极目标是为广州富力的一队和中国国家队培养球员，同时也是在培养能够接班的中方教练团队。
阿贾克斯能从中得到什么？
他们每年都会收到一笔费用，当这个价值数百万欧元的合作官宣时，荷兰前国家队门将、现阿贾克斯CEO范德萨(Edwin van der Sar)也谈到了俱乐部在亚洲的品牌发展问题。
但是Engelkes强调足球才是最主要的动力。
Engelkes说:“你必须扩散和分享你的知识，也许(作为回报)这会给我们带来其他的东西。”
例如，阿贾克斯对特别有天赋的中国球员或教练有优先签约的权利。
所以中国的克鲁伊夫、博格坎普或克鲁伊维特有朝一日也会从这条生产线上走出来？
“为什么不呢? 这是一个大国，所以这里一定有足球天才。”Engelkes说。