Qian Chenghai listened to Gan Guoyang's words and repeatedly praised him, saying, "That's right, we need to dampen their enthusiasm a bit, to fire them up! The Olympic experience was a painful one. Everyone's used to reigning supreme in Asia. But once on a larger international stage, that's when our shortcomings were exposed."
At that time, China's sports environment was fairly closed off. Although there were friendly matches with many strong teams from Eastern European countries, socialist countries often prioritized friendship first and competition second during those times.
The powerful teams from the Eastern European countries would show some face and not play to the death, giving each other some leeway. In Asia, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia all fell short of the Chinese team, which led some domestic players to feel superior to some, yet not quite up to par with others.
