Speaking of Zeng Cheng , everyone knows that he is the main goalkeeper of the national team and Evergrande. His steady performance and handsome appearance on the court made him deeply loved by fans and he also won the nickname "Saint Zeng Cheng". However, few people should know that Zeng Cheng had experienced studying abroad. Our national goal has played in the Indonesian league!
In 2005, 18-year-old Zeng Cheng was still the third goalkeeper in Wuhan, but the club believed that he had great potential and would definitely be able to grow into an excellent player in the future. However, under the circumstances at that time, it was difficult for the team to let an 18-year-old player be the main goalkeeper, so the Wuhan team decided to loan Zeng Cheng out for training. Whether it is the Chinese Super League team or the China League One team, it is difficult to give Zeng Cheng the opportunity to play. Only in some small national leagues can you guarantee the opportunity and time to play. Therefore, the Wuhan team eventually loaned Zeng Cheng to Subadia team in the Indonesian League.
18 years old, many people are still in high school and live with their parents. Zeng Chengze came to Subadia, Indonesia alone, living alone in a foreign country.
After joining the team, Zeng Cheng realized that his team had just won the league championship the year before. It is a lot of pressure for Zeng Cheng to become the goalkeeper of the league championship team at the age of 18. On the day he arrived in Subadia, Zeng Cheng participated in the team's training that day. The head coach of Surabaya team is Brazilian Jeffson. After watching Zeng Cheng's first training class, he decided to give Zeng Cheng a salary increase, from a monthly salary of US$1,000 to US$2,000. Wuhan team boss Chen Xudong said: "Among the 18-year-old players in China, this salary is also very good."
In Indonesia, Zeng Cheng not only wants to play well, but also needs to integrate into local life. This is not an easy task for an 18-year-old player. Zeng Cheng first learned to drive a motorcycle. Since the rental apartment was not very far from the team's training ground, he could drive a motorcycle by himself. During training every day, Zeng Cheng rode his motorcycle to the training ground just like a local. In addition, language is also an obstacle. Not many Indonesian players can speak English, and Zeng Cheng's own English is not good either. When he first arrived at the team, he almost turned a blind eye. Fortunately, the goalkeeper's training did not require much language communication. The club invited an overseas Chinese as a language teacher for Zeng Cheng, who taught Zeng Cheng Indonesian . Three months later, Zeng Cheng was able to communicate with his teammates in Indonesian.
On March 5, 2005, the Indonesian League opened. Surabaya team played against a team ranked middle and upper in the league at home at Surabaya Stadium, and Zeng Cheng entered the substitute lineup. Jeffson said to Zeng Cheng: "You just arrived at the team and couldn't even call your teammate's name. If you play at this time, it may break the team's inherent rhythm, but you must be prepared and be ready to play at any time." Sisai Stadium can accommodate more than 30,000 people, but this game squeezed into more than 40,000 spectators. Surabaya quickly won the initiative. Brazilian Fabio, who had played for Wuhan, was very active and scored two goals. When the team led by a big score, all the fans shouted "Shang Zeng Cheng". But Coach Jeffson did not let Zeng Cheng play. In the end, Surabaya won 5-1. Zeng Cheng's Indonesian days have even exceeded his 18 years of exposure in China.
In the year Zeng Cheng played, Subadia also reached the finals of the Indonesian Super League, but later, for some reason, Subadia withdrew from the finals. Because he did not win the championship, Zeng Cheng, who performed well, did not win a personal award. After that season, Zeng Cheng left Indonesia.
When recalling this experience in his career, Zeng Cheng himself was also very impressed because this short year taught him a lot. "I learned how to restrain myself as a professional player and live alone. This had a great impact on my later career because before that, everything was managed by the coach and the team, but that year, everything was up to me," Zeng Cheng said.
I think this experience in Indonesia playing football is also one of the reasons why Zeng Cheng becomes quite stable.Zeng Cheng is still very low-key and humble even though he has won the five consecutive Chinese Super League championships and two Asian Championships with Evergrande, even if he has become the main force of the national team.
Among the fan group of our WeChat account "Guangzhou has not won enough" (search ID: gzhdwin), there are many Zeng Cheng's fans, and they always ask Yaojimei for a picture of "I Zeng". However, your idol is too low-key and rarely appears in front of the camera. Sometimes I can’t help it!
