Eye on Asia

If you haven't been hiding in a cave or just don't care you probably know who Jeremy Lin is. If you are on this site you probably do but if your a passerby let me give you the low down on Mr. Lin. He is an Asian American of Taiwanese ilk. He went to Harvard, made it to the NBA floated around the D-League for a little while before he got scooped up by the New York Knicks. Knicks had a few injuries here and there and Lin gets thrown into the deep end. Long story short after his baptism in the NBA the New York Knicks find that they have a real gem on their hands, some one with immense potential and a real world wide star appeal. So, what does this have to do about soccer? Jeremy Lin is a superstar not only in the United States but also in China and his native Taiwan. I dear anyone to name a Chinese soccer player of any pedigree. I would go as far as ask the average Chinaman on the street to name me any of their blossoming soccer players and I think they would be hard press to do so. We all remember Yao Ming the 7 ft Centre that dominated the paint for the Houston Rockets. He was idolized, iconize and all types of prestigious tags were donned on him. Simply because he was good. In contrast Yi Jianlian another Chinese export to basketball isn't a great player but is still loved in China. So all it really takes is for a Chinese star to make it to the biggest stage for the billions in China to fall in love.That is the problem with Chinese soccer there isn't anyone of real class and has that superstar appeal for the Chinese people to venerate. Japan and South Korea has held the FIFA World Cup in the past and for the most part their respective leagues have enough quality in them to give the world of soccer mainly western Europe some very tactful players. These two have superstars that their peoples can cling to. Park Ji Sung of Manchester United is pretty much a demigod in South Korea. Likewise Japan's Hidetoshi Nakata in his day. These superstars that found themselves to the highest level being Europe were able to take their experiences and nurture their national sides, the result being South Koreans and the Japanese enjoy their lofty FIFA rankings and the title of regional favorites. Even North Korea has been producing the odd player that makes it to Europe and are frequents at World Cups but where is China? Where are her players? The fact is they hardly have ever produced a type of player that is attractive enough to ply trade in the wildes of Europe. There was Manchester City's Sun Ji Hai and he did do well but since then China has rarely put out a household name. Sun was one to begin with in fact talent wise he was very average. Soccer heads find it hard to drum up one or two Chinese players and the for those who rarely bat an eye to the sport they would not even know what to say. It seems  like a lot of belly aching from my end but there has been some movement and the heads of the Chinese game are doing all their can to get their boys and girls out there. Case and  point Brazilian powerhouse Chorintians in an odd move signed Chinese midfield man Chen Zhizhao on a two year loan deal. Some say it's a PR stunt and I myself am a bit perplexed by it but good for the young man who will if he takes in the tactics and soccer know how from the Brazilians will no doubt serve China well. Long Tan is a promising young forward who is in the MLS. Now, if the league doesn't ferry him around like they like to do in American sports style trade offs and allow him to settle and give him some game time he has an outside chance of doing something for his country both sporting wise and maybe as a culture icon. To sum up China's fascination with stars I leave you with this story. Two days into Jeremy Lin's whirlwind NBA dream I asked one of my Chinese friends. Do you know who Jeremy Lin is? He said. "I don't know who he is. Who is he?" I said he is a Taiwanese American who is helping the New York Knicks win a few ball games. His reply was, in the best English he could muster. "I'm sorry I don't watch basketball." A few weeks passed and I saw him again and he tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and there he is a kid who just moved from China 2 years ago and he has on a Jeremy Lin Knicks jersey and he says to me. "I know who Jeremy Lin is now." Maybe China needs all her athletes to reach a cosmic level before her people could start caring and in that case it will take a while for soccer to have it's day in the sun over in the east.