Breaking into the finals and making history! Honestly, we have to praise this foreign coach of the Chinese national football team!

After the excitement settled, let me calmly share a few thoughts.

For the U23 team to reach this stage, Antonio—no, “Saint Antonio”—deserves a lot of credit.

Have you guys ever considered this:

If we had lost to Vietnam last night, would Antonio, who changed six starters, have been cyberbullied?

In today’s media environment, would he dare to bench the star player Wang Yudong? Would he risk making wide-ranging lineup changes?

If things went wrong, he’d be trending online in no time.

That kind of courage alone is worthy of respect.

But what is even more crucial?

Antonio truly understands Chinese football as a foreign coach, and he has a clear awareness of these players’ abilities and characteristics.

Whether it’s feigning weakness or playing the underdog, at least he knows exactly where we stand.

This is probably because he has been in China for many years, right?

In the past, we hired many foreign coaches, whether for men’s basketball or football, and they often had a major flaw: a condescending “charity mindset.”

“I’m here to teach you how to play!”

But back then, Milu didn’t act that way, and neither does Antonio.

So, the result...

Often, this matters far more than so-called skills, tactics, or fundamentals.