“Gothia Cup China is a good chance for my boy”—Listen parents’ words
Gothia Cup China 2018 attracts thousands of players to take part in. There are also a lot of players’ parents come to Qingdao to watch their kids’ performances. What’s their opinions about Gothia Cup China.
Lili Bastidas is a mother of two LAUFA’s players—Alexander Bastidas and Anthony Bastidas. This is a Los Angela’s football team. Anthony is the captain of the team. We met her and boys at the Citizen Sports Park Stadium on the second match day.
“Even if Basketball and baseball are more popular in USA, but my boys like football more,” said Ms. Bastidas.
The whole team has experienced a very long flight to Qingdao, China. But in her opinion, it is still worthy for them. “This is a great experience for my children,” she said, “Since they like to play soccer, I think why not let them come to Qingdao.”
Ms. Bastidas is not the only one parent who expressed these words. Qingdao XinMing FC’s forward, Chen Guanlin’s father also believes that the tournament is a great for his son.
Mr. Chen said: “Gothia Cup China is a rare opportunity for my kid to help him get experience. He and his teammates have trained for a long time. This tournament is very high-level so I hope his ability can be tested by it.”
He was very proud of his son. “Guanlin is younger than his teammates but he still did well in the past game. He has been playing football for 5 years.”
Gothia Cup China is aimed to develop young footballers and attract more children to take part into the sport. What’s more, as an international tournament, there are a lot of good teams and this is helpful for rising players’ ability.
“LAUFA’s players are more physical. They are not common to meet if you only play in domestic games,” said Shanghai Shenhua’s youth team manager after they won over the American team.
Young footballers have their discovery as well, “My opponent moved so fast,” said Liu Enhong, a defender of ChenXinAn FC. They got a 1-1 draw with Fayouhui football team on the second match day.
“I must be quicker in the future,“ added him.
It is really glad to see them can be developed from playing football. Mrs. Bastidas said her sons has been improved a lot since they started playing football.
Mrs. Bastidas said: “One of my boys is captain. He talks to other players and knows them. He’s a good leader.”
“I’m willing to see if they can become professional soccer players, they can represent USA to play in World Cup stage,” she added.
By Miranda Cui
