Eye on Asia

New segment!, really excited I finally had my dream come through. Finally a player out of China that is worth mention. Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce you to Long Tan of Liaoning province. This maybe the shortest post I ever made but I couldn't keep my excitement contained. I am one of those people who often poke fun at China for not yielding at least one decent footballer. Out of their billion they couldn't field 11 men of any great worth, skill or who could even kick the ball straight. It is too soon for me to detract these comments but Long Tan is a start for me and maybe I will jump on the Chinese bandwagon in a little while but for now I'm not ready to. I won't sit here and act like I am a premier on Chinese soccer, I fair somewhat better when it comes to the Korean and Japanese games but in Long Tan I see something very promising and I'm sure China has very useful players and maybe they are better than Long. As for right now in my mind I think Long Tan is the most hopeful candidate that the state has to offer. With all my verve for the guy I have to keep it in perspective. At the moment he is playing in Major League Soccer. For now he isn't a starter and also he hasn't to date have a Chinese cap to his name and to make matters worse their is a fellow called Gao Lin who is the premier frontman for "The Great Wall," as they are so affectionately known. There is another youngster named Zhang Chengdong who plies his trade in Portugal at the moment for Beira-Mar so he obviously has some talents that brought him to Europe. The good thing about Long Tan is that he is in North America, it isn't the most lucrative market when you compare it to South America and Europe but it does get the odd glance from the guys in Europe, ask Clint Demspsey and Sacha Kjlestan what those looks from the Old World did for them and they will tell you. Long story short no pun intended. I like Long Tan. Good dribbling skills and has some aerial ability about him and who knows he could be a North American superstar and may one day feature for China.