On January 18th, the Chinese national football team's 10-day winter training in Haikou is about to come to an end. Coach Ivan is very satisfied with the performance of the players, especially Wei Shihao. Ivan rarely praises individual players, but he praised Wei Shihao during this training camp. He believes that Wei Shihao has played a role in passing on and helping in this national team. In an interview, Wei Shihao also said, "This is the best atmosphere within our national team. I am one of the oldest in the team, so I should take good care of them."
Once upon a time, Wei Shihao was still a U23 player. Nowadays, he has become the leader of the national team. Born in 1995, Wei Shihao is about to turn 30 years old. However, his experience in the senior national team has always been bumpy. Whether it was during Lippi's coaching period or later when Li Tie took over, Wei Shihao never received real importance. It wasn't until this 18-strong match that Wei Shihao enjoyed the treatment of a core player under Ivan, and he repaid Ivan's trust with his relentless spirit.
Wei Shihao became famous at a young age and has always been the main player of various youth national teams, as well as the backbone of the team. However, in the senior national team, he did not make his debut for the national team until he was 22 years old. Wei Shihao, who will soon be 30 years old, has only played 34 games for the national team, scoring 4 goals and assisting 6 times. Wei Shihao did not get many opportunities in the national team, which has a lot to do with his personality.
During Lippi's coaching of the national team, Wei Shihao was repeatedly caught as an example. On the training ground, Lippi once publicly pushed Wei Shihao. And in one training session, Wei Shihao was banned by Lippi for joking around with Yang Liyu. He was directly excluded from the squad for the match against the Philippines. After returning to Guangzhou Evergrande, Wei Shihao was also fined 300,000 yuan by the club.
During Li Tie's coaching of the national team, Wei Shihao was also a thorn. At that time, Li Tie stipulated that each national team member must stay in the restaurant for more than 30 minutes and cannot carry mobile phones. Wei Shihao once played with his phone while eating. Li Tie discovered this and directly knocked his phone to the ground, almost leading to a physical confrontation between the two. After that training camp, Wei Shihao left the national team.
In addition to the "flower basket" incident at the China Cup, Wei Shihao's reputation in the national team was actually not good. However, after Ivan took over the national team, Wei Shihao seemed like a different person. Do you remember the game against Indonesia? While Zhang Yuning went on a solo run, Wei Shihao accelerated and sprinted from the back row to seize the opportunity for a supplementary shot, which moved many Chinese fans. According to insiders from the Chinese team, Wei Shihao used to be quiet, but now he always openly supports head coach Ivan, and his transformation is very significant. Ivan also revealed that Wei Shihao's performance in the team makes him very satisfied.
