Hugo Martins explains the essentials to the young players. [Photo by Lian Zhen/Xinhua]

Martins manages to use his not-so-fluent Chinese with a tinge of the Ordos dialect to help guide these children on the pitch. He teaches them how to start dribbling the ball and demonstrates the proper moves. The children repeat it over and over again until Martins is satisfied.

He is an A-level coach at the Union of European Football Association. In Portugal, he is crowned "teenage training champion coach". During his 15-year coaching career in Portugal, six of his trainees were selected by the Portuguese national team and three by the European first-tier clubs. He led his team to have won the 2011 Atlanta Cup Azores and the 2011 "Ollhão Cup" (national) champion, the World Youth Championship in 2015 and many other honors.

Ingenuity and excellence-Martin's strict criteria for the taste of coffee-are just like his requirements for the children on the training ground, and there is no room for sloppiness.