Chinese champion

Chapter 252 The Road to Glory
After winning the Milan Derby with a thrill at the last moment, Inter Milan made persistent efforts and won the remaining two games before the winter break. They swept Reggina 4-0 at home and beat EN Milan 4-1 at home. Polly, Pei Wei continued his excellent performance in the Milan Derby, with one goal and three assists in two games. He used his outstanding performance to dump two competitors, Veron and Pizarro, to the bench.

The team with the best performance in December is undoubtedly Inter Milan. Not only did they win all the games and firmly occupy the No.12 position, but they also took advantage of the opportunity of Juventus being tied by Lazio to narrow the gap in points It's eight points.

In the 38 rounds of the league, Inter Milan has [-] wins, [-] draws and [-] losses with [-] points, which is already a pretty good number. Unfortunately, Juventus' record is even more astonishing. Five wins and only two points dropped in losses to AC Milan and Lazio, something that hasn't been seen in Serie A for almost a decade.

This year's winter break is not a day of rest for the national football team of various countries. As the World Cup is approaching, the national teams of various countries have also begun intensive preparations and training, and the winter break is of course no exception.

In the past half season, overseas Chinese players have ushered in a peak period. Zhong Yan and Yao Le have gained a firm foothold in Florence. Hu Yong has become the only pillar of the fallen Udinese. Villa unexpectedly ranked No.3 in La Liga, and Zhang Qi's Monaco is the only team in Ligue [-] that can compete with Lyon. As for Pei Wei, he has now become a "phenomenon" for Inter Milan. Inter Milan's six-game winning streak is inseparable from his great contribution. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the addition of Pei Wei has made Inter Milan's midfield truly show a world-class style.

"This year's World Cup, I think the Chinese team can bring a little surprise to the world." Looking at the players sweating profusely in training, Menotti said to Maradona beside him with deep emotion.

"Maybe." The ball king moved his obese body: "Judging from the quality of their main players, if I play PS, I am sure that I can win the world championship on the highest difficulty. Unfortunately, the World Cup It's not PS, and football games are not determined by simple statistics."

"You mean to say..." Menotti mused.

The ball king scratched his scalp without style, and then used his nails to remove the dirt from the crevices of other nails bit by bit: "They are inexperienced, sir." The ball king's cynical eyes turned A little pain: "Just like me in [-]..."

Menotti remained silent. The [-] World Cup was not only a stain in Maradona's World Cup career, but also the biggest failure in Menotti's coaching career. It was after the end of the World Cup that year that he was forced to give way to Bilardo made the big nose that he hated the most suddenly equal to him in his resume.

"If you don't have enough experience, you can increase it." Menotti said decisively: "There are three days until the Lunar New Year Cup in Hong Kong. I have agreed to participate in this event, just to see what kind of height we can reach."

"The opponent in the first game is the Togo team, right? We don't know anything about their situation." He Jin said on the sidelines that there are four teams participating in this Lunar New Year Cup, except for the Chinese Hong Kong team that hosts the cup. Apart from the Chinese national team, the other two teams are Togo from Africa and the South American powerhouse Argentina. Of course, this time the Argentine team can send all the main players to participate in this competition. The face of Menotti and Maradona accounted for a large part of the reason.

"Except for the Ghana team that we are a little familiar with, we have never heard of Togo, Angola, Côte d'Ivoire and Tunisia! The teams that qualified for the last World Cup all failed in the qualifiers this time." It's incredible!" Feng Yu sighed.

"African teams are like this. They can beat anyone if they play well, and dare to lose if they play poorly. Their discipline is very poor, so although they have talented players, they are always unable to achieve the results they deserve. But we The warm-up with Togo is also mainly to get used to African football, after all, we are in the same group as Tunisia, an African team." Menotti said, "As for the tactics used in the match against Togo, we will talk about it when we arrive in Hong Kong tomorrow. .”

He Jin and Feng Yu nodded. On the sidelines of the training field, the members of the coaching staff have already decided the direction of the team for the next few days. This is also a new move for this national team. As a world-class coach and a romantic Argentine People, Menotti is not willing to sit in the conference room to discuss certain topics, and Maradona is a guy who has never been restless. As for He Jin and Feng Yu, they themselves prefer this According to the way of discussion, the leader of the Chinese national team is only responsible for arranging daily affairs, and he has no right to intervene in the team.

This just reflects Fang Yatao's style of work. Specific people are responsible for specific things. The coach needs to be responsible for selecting players, training and directing the game. power struggles.

There are nearly [-] members of the Chinese team going to Hong Kong this time. In addition to [-] overseas players, the other players are composed of former Olympic team players, members of the Chinese youth team who performed well last summer, and some players who performed outstandingly in the domestic league. Every player was selected by Menotti from the games he watched, and no player was recommended by the Football Association.

When the Chinese team players arrived in Hong Kong, they were warmly welcomed by the local fans. This also made the players who participated in the group stage of the World Cup qualifier against the Hong Kong team sigh. You must know that only two years ago, the Chinese team came to Hong Kong. I have never received such a welcome in Hong Kong!
When the Chinese team players showed their superb level in Europe, they also attracted countless popularity for the Chinese national team. The number of fans and reporters who came to the airport to welcome the Argentine team was almost equal to the number of people who greeted the Argentine team. Although Hong Kong is also a part of China The reason, but being able to receive the same welcome as the world champion Argentina, the development of the Chinese team can be seen from this.

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"Who has heard of any famous players in Togo?" Pei Wei asked such a question during the training interval.

"Probably the most famous is their striker Adebayor. I used to be teammates with me for two years. He moved to Arsenal last year. This guy is 1.9 meters tall, but his skills are very good. It's very similar to the former Nigerian star Kanu, Xiao Lizi, if you stare at him, be careful." Zhang Qi said.

"Tch." Li Min said dismissively, "So what if you play at Arsenal, he's not always a substitute. He also played in the game we played against Arsenal, so it's because I stared at him so badly, look. Let's go, tomorrow's game, I will definitely be able to stare at him!"

"They seem to have many players who play in Ligue [-], so you must be familiar with them?" Hu Yong asked, Zhang Qi smiled: "Know a few, generally speaking, there are not many opportunities to play against each other. , there are many African players in Ligue [-]."

"Oh, why are you still discussing this? Togo's level is just like that. I think we can win tomorrow no matter what. Let's wait for the final day against Argentina!" Zhu Jun said nonchalantly, and by the way turned to the fans outside the stadium They smiled, causing a burst of screams from the female fans.

"Don't underestimate the African teams. Although the top five teams this time are not well-known, even Cameroon with Eto'o and Nigeria with Martins are under their pressure. The strength is definitely not good. How bad is it, and that Adebayor scored [-] goals in the African qualifiers, he is the top scorer in the entire Africa in the qualifiers, and his strength is definitely not bad."

"What's the use of worrying now? Don't you know when you arrive at the game tomorrow?" Du Wei said with a smile: "We have to believe in our own strength. Our goal is a world-class team. What about dropping the chain?"

A few guys who were full of confidence were hit hard before the start of the second day's game. Menotti didn't send all the main lineup at all. Pei Wei and Zhang Qizhujun all sat on the bench to replace them. It was Chen Bo, Lu Yinzhe, and Shaoyi, two teenagers from the China Youth Team, and the striker was a combination of Zhan Feng and Zhong Yan.

Li Min, who boasted that he would stare at Adebayor to death, was also a substitute, and Yao Le replaced him. Obviously, Menotti wanted to find some strong substitutes for the World Cup in half a year.

The fans in Hong Kong were very disappointed, because the few people they wanted to see the most were sitting on the bench and talking and laughing. On the contrary, the Togo team was full of elites. Absolute main players such as Adebayor and Mamam all went into battle .

The lineup of the Chinese team has actually become a double midfielder and double front midfielder configuration in the midfield. Shaoyi and Chen Bo, one on the left and one on the right, take turns organizing the attack, while Hu Yong is in charge of blocking and organizing the midfield. Lu Yinzhe was basically an engineer who specialized in dirty work.

Since this midfield combination was used for the first time in the game, Togo took advantage of the midfield at the beginning of the game and continued to launch waves of attacks
Yao Le seemed to have a hard time marking Adebayor. Although his marking skills had made great progress after being honed in Italy, due to his height disadvantage (only 1.7 meters [-], he was ten feet shorter than the opponent) five centimeters), and is often robbed by the opponent for high-altitude balls.

In the 201st minute of the first half, Togo scored first. Salifer broke through Shaoyi's defense and lobbed the ball into the penalty area before Wang Xiaomin came up. Although Yao Le accurately blocked the position , but Adebayor relied on his height advantage to grab this point. With a powerful header, Wu Qi hit the ball, but another Togo forward, Kader, succeeded in making up the shot immediately.

Menotti didn't show too much concern about the conceded goal. Instead, he sat quietly on the coach's bench and watched. He believed in the abilities of these players. Although the four main players did not play, they were still strong. There is no other way, and when it comes to the two 10-minute offense, the Chinese team still has a slight advantage, and there is no reason why they can't score.

Sure enough, the Chinese team tied the score after 8 minutes. The young player Lu Yinzhe cut off the opponent's ball beautifully in the midfield. The rolled ball was caught by Hu Yong. After observing the situation on the field, he sent a Remembering the precise long pass, Wang Xiaomin who inserted the assist received the ball, and then accurately sent the ball to the head of his club teammate Zhan Feng. Naturally, Zhan Feng would not miss such a good scoring opportunity. A powerful lion shakes his head behind the opponent's defender, and the ball goes straight into the dead corner.

"Not bad!" Menotti stood up from the coach's bench and applauded in satisfaction. The young player Lu Yinzhe's performance just now was too good. It was his timely interception that created an opportunity for Hu Yong's long pass, and the Mallorca duo Wang Xiaomin's cross and Zhanfeng's header have become a very important offensive method for Mallorca this season, and this combination is still applicable after coming to the national team.

After equalizing the score, the Chinese team found confidence. Amidst the cheers of [-] fans at the scene, they gradually controlled the situation on the field and launched several threatening attacks in a row. A bit out of touch, so he didn't score a goal, especially the young player Chen Bo, the player who scored the most goals in the World Youth Championship for the China Youth Team, seemed a little independent, often losing opportunities due to too many dribbles.

No. 307 minutes, the Togo team launched an attack, and the wide player made another cross to find Adebayor. Weak and powerless, Wu Qi easily caught the ball, and then counterattacked with a long pass with big feet, and Zhanfeng headed the ball across. Unfortunately, Zhong Yan's shot was a little bit wide.

In the first half, the two sides fought to a tie. After the second half started, Menotti waved his hand, and the Chinese team replaced six players in one breath. Forward, after "Demon Sword" Hao Dong left the national team because of his age, Li Jinyu became the best striker in the domestic league, and the former main striker of the Qianglibao youth team is also a rare aura among domestic strikers Although he has gradually lost the aura cultivated in Brazil in the domestic league, his keen sense of smell in front of the goal is still a leader among domestic forwards.

The four forwards in the national team now have their own advantages, but also have their own shortcomings. Zhanfeng has an excellent header and first-class physical fitness, but his footwork is not very good. Zhong Yan's technique and speed are excellent. But the scoring ability is a little bit worse. Dong Yuzhuo is capable, but he is still young and lacks experience in the game. Li Jinyu's own strength is still far behind that of European-level strikers. The three lines of the Chinese team worry Menotti the most. It's the forward line.

But there is no way around this. There are only a few capable strikers now, so we can only choose from among them.

The appearance of Pei Wei and others immediately brought changes to the Chinese team. Pei Wei, Zhang Qi, Zhu Jun, and Hu Yong, these four people can almost be said to be the best midfield combination of the Chinese team, whether it is attacking or defending them They are all the best, and what is even more commendable is that the tacit understanding between the four of them has never disappeared, and they have reached the point where they can know what the other is thinking with just one look.

Only 5 minutes into the second half, Pei Wei and Zhang Qizhujun easily tore apart Togo's defense with a series of dazzling short passes in the midfield. Pei Wei first made a fake shot after breaking into the penalty area, and then Knocking the ball to the other side concealedly, Li Jinyu keenly appeared at the point where the ball landed, and easily pushed and scored.

The Togo team launched a counterattack from leading to falling behind, but their top scorer Adebayor found that he was replaced by a tall and strong guy to stare at him.

"Li! It's you!" Adebayor said in surprise, and the past of the league game last year flashed through his mind.

"That's right, it's me. You seemed to perform pretty well in the first half, but... I'm coming up, do you think you have any chance to perform?" Li Min said in English with her lips touched.

"Huh!" Adebayor snorted, but did not refute. In the London derby held at White Hart Lane, the proud Adebayor experienced a nightmare-like 45 minutes. He was stared at by an opponent's defender at a loss. At the beginning of the second half, Wenger, who couldn't bear it, replaced him with Van Persie, and suffered the worst blow in his career.

And this Chinese defender named "Li" has left an irreparable shortcoming in his heart.

"No, I want to beat him..." Adebayor thought in his heart. At this time, the cross from his teammates had already flown over. Adebayor moved quickly, and immediately jumped high after moving to the ball landing point. .

Suddenly there was a strong force around him, and Adebayor's body was pushed away, and it was Li Min who pushed him away. Of course, the ball was pushed out easily by Li Min, who was still in the air.

Adebayor beat the lawn hard, and this guy still used this trick to deal with himself. Although he was two centimeters shorter than himself, his body was surprisingly strong, completely surpassing him in strength, and his turning movement It's still very fast, and you can't bully him with speed at all.

When Adebayor was still considering what method to use to deal with Li Min, the Chinese team scored again!
Hu Yong made a long pass to the left, Zhu Jun pretended to cross the ball after receiving the ball, but gave the ball to Wang Xiaomin who came up to assist. Pei Wei, who had caught the defense of the opponent's midfielder, volleyed and made another victory.

(End of this chapter)