Xinhua News Agency, Canberra, October 13th News Analysis: Can bolter become a professional player?
Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xu
Bolt in the cross-border trial training of Australian super Central Coast Mariners, through two goals in a pre-season warm-up match and the overall performance in the attack, added confidence in his transformation from a sprinter to a professional player, and the club did not rule out the possibility of a professional contract for Jamaica’s “flying man” considering his progress and potential commercial value.
Objectively speaking, the 12th warm-up match opponent MacArthur Southwest United is not in the first-level Australian Super League, and its strength is not as good as that of the Central Coast Sailor team. Therefore, judging from the performance of this game, it is not yet completely proved that “lightning” can stand in Australia.
However, the 32-year-old Bolt’s progress from track and field to football field is still very obvious. This is the first time he has started in the warm-up match on behalf of the team. In the 75 minutes of appearance, his physical fitness of the striker was significantly improved, and from the perspective of cooperation with his teammates and integration into the whole team’s attack, Bolt can be called a rapid progress.
Shortly after the opening, he quickly moved forward after the ball was broken in the front court. The starting speed showed the characteristic of “flying man”. Unfortunately, after a few steps, he was cut off in front of the forbidden zone. Later, he grabbed more points in the middle road of the forbidden zone, showing a strong desire to score goals. However, he missed header points at a time, failed to touch the ball at a time, and once header points were high.
Despite repeated setbacks, this is known as “the fastest runner in the world”, which still shows the moment most like a football player: in the 56th minute, he took over pop and tip of his teammates, successfully protected the ball, and then broke into the forbidden zone. The left foot power shot broke the door. The whole action was done in one go, showing the effect of the club’s special training for him recently. However, the second goal was not of reference value because it was the “empty door gift” caused by the opponent’s major mistakes.
For the performance of these 75 minutes, the Australian Football Association and the Australian Super League all said that Bolt’s overall performance should make the club fully consider his value. Because the Olympic champion, who announced his farewell to track and field last year, started the trial training in the Australian super team in August this year. It was not easy to make such progress in less than two months, and it was considered as “old age” in football.
In addition, due to the low competitiveness of the Australian Super League and the small team of the coastal Mariners, Sean milkamp, the CEO of the club, said earlier, they need the “Bolt effect” to help the team expand its influence and increase the attendance rate, and are expected to benefit from the market development that attracts sponsors.
Moreover, Bolt’s desire for professional players is also increasing with the progress. He said after the 12th game: “I just want to be a professional player, which is why I came here to try and try my best. They (coaching team) have seen what I can do, and they will analyze, ‘is he good enough to join the team? Then they will tell me the result.” It can be seen from this that Bolt is very confident and determined to obtain a professional contract.
However, the only disadvantage is time. The Australian Super League of the new season will be unveiled on October 19. In a week of full-scale calculation, the club may also inspect Bolt in training, and there are still some variables. However, judging from Bolt’s determination and progress, his dream of pursuing professional players will not stop regardless of its success or failure.