For the national football team, every head coach is a matter of great attention. Whenever a new head coach takes office, fans across the country will pin high hopes on him, hoping that under the leadership of the new coach, they can change the depressed state of Chinese football and revitalize the development of football.
During the period from 2000 to 2002, world-class coach Milu served as the head coach of the Chinese men's national team. Despite having such a coach with a glorious record, good results were not achieved, and Milu had no choice but to step down. According to media reports, opinions on Milu at the time were mixed, and the only fair evaluation of Milu heard was from Xie Hui.
Even during his playing days, Milu had outstanding performances. During his career, Milu reached the pinnacle of his career while playing for Club America in Mexico.
At that time, he was undoubtedly the main player of the club. Through working together with his teammates, Milu led the team to win the Mexican national championship trophy. Soon after, Milu won the championship again in the Central American National Club Tournament.
Later, Milu encountered a low point in his career. Years of injuries and declining physical fitness made him no longer adapt to the harshness of the court. Out of necessity, Milu made the decision to retire. However, Milu was still unwilling to give up football, a project he loved so much, and he simply decided to transition to becoming a coach.
The process from athlete to coach is not simple. Fortunately, the rich football experience accumulated during his career helped him take on the position of head coach of Club America in Mexico.
Gold shines wherever it is, and Milu still had an excellent performance during his coaching career. In his first stint coaching the national team, Milu led Mexico to create history. Under his command, the Mexican team stumbled into the quarter-finals of the World Cup!
Later, Milu accepted the invitation of the Costa Rican men's national football team and took on the role of head coach once again. This time, Milu also performed outstandingly, leading the Costa Rican team into the World Cup finals.
Subsequently, Milu served in various national teams such as the United States and Nigeria. Milu's coaching career reached its peak during this period, and every country he coached entered the top 16 of the World Cup. As a result, Milu became the first coach in the world to lead different countries into the World Cup consecutively, creating history!
Such achievements are remarkable for any coach. This caught the attention of the Chinese Football Association.
Chinese men's football has always been a tough problem. Perhaps there was a glorious history during the period of Fan Zhiyi and others, but since then, the development of Chinese football has fallen into a slump and never recovered.
In such circumstances, the Chinese Football Association extended an olive branch to Milu, hoping that he could coach the Chinese national men's football team and lead the Chinese men's football out of the mire. Milu did not think too much about it; he was determined to accept this challenge and came to China to take up the post.
The position of head coach of the Chinese men's football team is not easy to handle! After arriving in China, Milu discovered the severity of the situation. Milu actively used his coaching experience to conduct special training for the national team, facing the most severe challenge of his coaching career.
Under Milu's efforts, in the 2001 World Cup, the Chinese team unexpectedly broke the deadlock and qualified successfully! At the end of the match, not only the players themselves couldn't believe it, but the fans felt the same way.
This was the first time in the history of Chinese men's football that they had entered the final round of the World Cup, and such a brilliant achievement received unanimous praise from fans across the country. Everyone looked forward to Milu's next wonderful performance.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. In the following year's South Korea-Japan World Cup, Milu disappointed the fans who believed in him. He led the Chinese team into battle, but they suffered defeats in all three group matches. It's not funny to lose, but what's funny is that in three matches, the Chinese team didn't even score a single goal!
This situation is even worse than the coaches he used to coach! It's a disgrace to Milu's reputation as a world-class coach. The attitude of fans across the country towards Milu changed instantly, and they scolded him, believing that he should be held responsible for the loss in the World Cup.
That's how it was, and Milu stepped down and left the Chinese team.
In the view of most media people at the time, the Costa Rican team that Milu coached back then was not a traditional team. Not only were they inferior to the current Chinese team in terms of physical fitness or ball skills, but their logistical support was far from comparable to that of the Chinese team.
Under such circumstances, Milu was able to lead the Costa Rican team into the finals, while the national team with better basic conditions was eliminated without scoring a single goal. That really doesn't make sense. Based on such considerations, the Chinese Football Association made the decision not to renew Milu's contract.
This also led to Milu's trip to China ending in failure, and many people, including players, became dissatisfied with Milu. There was one exception, however, who remained objective in evaluating Milu despite not being favored by him. This person is Xie Hui, a former member of the national team.
When Milu took over the national team, Xie Hui was playing in the German second division and had not yet returned to the national team. It was Milu who proactively called Xie Hui and invited him, which led to Xie Hui's decision to return to the domestic scene.
It should be noted that the German second division had an excellent performance this season, and Xie Hui himself also performed outstandingly. If he hadn't returned to the national team, he might have had a chance to win the Golden Boot!
But in the face of national honor, Xie Hui decided to give up the glory of his personal career and bid farewell to the German second division to play football domestically. Xie Hui was originally full of expectations for this return, but when he returned home, he found himself on the bench.
Milu did not live up to the promise he made on the phone to make good use of Xie Hui. Throughout the season, Xie Hui only played two games as a substitute. In the crucial South Korea-Japan World Cup, Xie Hui did not even get a chance to play, which became a permanent regret for him.
Xie Hui was also very regretful back then, not knowing which link caused him to be abandoned by Milu. At that time, he may have been dissatisfied, but he didn't say much. Many years later, Xie Hui, who also turned into a coach, has come to terms with everything that happened back then.
In Xie Hui's view, Milu is indeed a well-deserved good coach who has achieved some good results during his time leading the national team. Xie Hui also said, "Leading different national football teams to participate in the World Cup five times is enough to prove how amazing Milu is."
This is the most objective evaluation of Milu by the Chinese people, especially after becoming a coach himself, Xie Hui realized how difficult it is to be the head coach of a team.
Indeed, during his coaching of multiple national teams in the past, Milu had already proven his coaching ability. And he did lead the national team to achieve the best results in history, a fact that cannot be erased by a failure in the South Korea-Japan World Cup.