Coach, It's Time to Play

Two years ago, Chinese coach Chen Yue disappeared on the eve of a final. He told no one why - no explanation to the club, no response to the media, not a single word on social platforms. He accepted the sacking, suspension and two years of silence. He thought he would never return to the sidelines. Two years later, a phone call came into his kitchen from France. Marc Leroy, an old acquaintance with whom he had only worked together for two seasons, asked him in the office of the sporting director of French second division team Pau FC: "Are you still in this business?" He didn't answer. But he began to wait for a cat, flip through a dusty tactical book, and look up a standings that he had never searched for in two years. Then he put on the backpack that had been there for two years and went to a city he had never been to. This is not a story about victory. This is a story about "Am I still qualified to stand here?"