green knight

6Chapter 16: The Green Knight (The Finale)

It is one thing for everyone not to be Li Zihan. After all, it is not easy to reach this stage in the World Cup, although many players in the Chinese team have potential.So everyone guesses that the Chinese team is likely to break out of the group stage in the next World Cup, provided that they do not encounter the group of death.Now the Chinese team is the second-tier team in FIFA's points and brackets. As for continuing to enter the semi-finals of the semi-finals, everyone is "haha".

This year's World Cup champion eventually went to the European Red Devils who insisted on youth training, the Belgian golden generation of Lukaku, Hazard and others, and finally achieved the greatest achievement in the national team's career perfectly in their careers.

But no one expected that the Chinese team really made a comeback four years later. After qualifying from the group stage, they defeated Colombia all the way, defending champion Belgium entered the semi-finals again, and finally encountered the Dutch team in the semi-finals. In the overtime final, the Chinese team led by Li Zihan successfully entered the final, and they will meet the French team in the final.

This World Cup is known as the contest between Pogba, the world's number one midfielder, and Li Zihan, the world's number one striker.This is 32. Li Zihan is 33 years old this year, and Pogba is 36 years old. This is also known as the last World Cup for this pair of world No. 37 talents.Because they will be [-] and [-] years old respectively in the next four years. As a striker and an all-round midfielder, it is impossible for them to meet this kind of competition at this age. A substitute position.Although Li Zihan is now known as the "ball bully", after all, time is not forgiving.

Before the game, the Central Sports Channel also made a special feature on Li Zihan and Pogba, a half-hour short film.The short film focuses on the meeting of these two talents at Juventus in 19, when Li Zihan just turned [-] and Pogba just came out of Manchester United at the age of [-].

In the end, Li Zihan moved to Arsenal and completely became famous.A year later, Pogba followed in the footsteps of his best friend and came to Arsenal. That season they successfully defended the FA Cup and the Champions League, becoming the first team to defend the Champions League after the restructuring. Since then, they have added glory.

The cooperation between the two is also known as the most aura and pleasing cooperation, and they are also best friends in private.In [-], Vidal, a friend of the two who did not win the Champions League in Juventus, planned to leave. The two persuaded him to join Arsenal. In the end, Vidal successfully joined, and Arsenal's lineup was improved to a higher level.In [-] and [-], Arsenal won all the championships that all clubs can win, but Ozil has moved to Bayern Munich.

The [-] World Cup ended. Pogba, who had a dazzling performance in this World Cup, was called by Real Madrid. In the end, the French midfielder could not resist the temptation of Real Madrid and left Arsenal. This pair of frightening The Arsenal combination has also parted ways at this point.Of course, they are still very good friends outside the stadium, but every year Real Madrid led by Pogba and Arsenal led by Li Zihan become topics that everyone talks about in the Champions League.

Originally, Real Madrid wanted to pack Li Zihan and Pogba, but Arsenal, who were not short of money, directly rejected the acquisition of Li Zihan, and Pogba himself wanted to join Real Madrid, so Arsenal accepted Real Madrid's 2000 million pounds sky-high transfer fees.Yes, at this time, Arsenal, which copied the myth of the Barcelona dynasty, is not short of money
At the end, the frame of the short film is fixed on a picture.This picture is actually two pictures spliced ​​into one.The picture on the left shows a childish Li Zihan with an equally childish Pogba on his shoulders. They were wearing Juventus jerseys in [-].In the photo on the right, Pogba and Li Zihan, wearing Arsenal jerseys, met closely. It was the summer of [-], at the awards ceremony for Arsenal’s record-breaking four consecutive Champions League titles. At that time, Arsenal was called For "Crazy Nana".

There is a sentence under the two photos: I met the best you at the most beautiful age!
This is a story of friendship between the world's number one midfielder and the world's number one striker.

Before the game, the final was advertised very warmly by the media, but when the game started, the two sides started a fight!

In the end, the French team was even better, with Pogba plugging in a long shot in 1 minutes to directly seal the victory.

After the game, Li Zihan stared blankly at the trophy that he had never touched before, and finally couldn't help but shed tears.

Pogba came up and hugged Li Zihan, and both of them cried.

This scene was photographed by reporters and became the most tender moment in the World Cup.

Although they failed in the final, Li Zihan and his teammates who returned to China were treated like heroes.

Everyone thought that Li Zihan's dynasty was over, because the Arsenal led by Li Zihan was already in decline, and at the age of 32, he was about to start to decline.

In the past two years from Li Zihan's 30 years old to the current 32 years old, as a frequent visitor to the top four of the Champions League, Arsenal, which is even soft on winning the Champions League, actually narrowly lost in the first round of the knockout round for two consecutive seasons.And in the league, they have been suppressed by rivals Chelsea and Manchester City for a long time. Not to mention not being able to win the championship for two consecutive years, they also managed to get fourth in the league every year. It seems that Arsenal has returned to the period before Li Zihan joined. years.

The only consolation is that Arsenal are not in vain. They won the FA Cup last season and the League Cup this season.
But everything seems to indicate that the dynasty of Arsenal and Li Zihan is collapsing.

But Li Zihan and Arsenal's subsequent performance gave those doubters a big mouth. Li Zihan, who was frustrated in the World Cup, broke out completely in the club. He led the team to win the league championship and the Asian Cup championship again.

Finally, in the second year, they regained the Champions League championship that they had not touched for five years.

At this time, the club finally came out of the shadow of Wenger's retirement.

So far, Arsenal has been a strong contender for the league title and Champions League title every season. The only change is that Li Zihan's playing time has increased year by year.

His current contract is also signed with the club once a year. The club once persuaded him to retire from the national team, but Li Zihan refused. This also triggered heated discussions that Li Zihan was about to leave Arsenal. In the end, the club respected Li Zihan decision.

[-], Wembley Stadium.

Li Zihan stared blankly at the Hercules Cup that had been taken by the staff to engrave. He knelt on the ground weakly, his eyes were full of tears, and his expression was full of despair!
"The game is over!! Although I don't want to announce it, the final winner is the Argentine team! The Chinese team led by Li finally made it to the finals under unfavorable circumstances. This is the second consecutive year they have reached the finals, but In the end, they still failed to make it to the end, and the Argentines who completed the reconstruction had the last laugh!"

"Li is 36 years old this year, and this is his last World Cup. He has won the World Cup best player and top scorer many times, but he has never won the Hercules Cup! His total World Cup goals are as high as 27! !! Far beyond Ronaldo, Klose, C Ronaldo and Messi and other superstars, from 2018, 2022, 2026 to now 2030, his least number of goals in a World Cup is six, which is his first He participated in the World Cup once and since then he has scored more than six goals in each World Cup. Since then, the Chinese team has not qualified for the group to the semi-finals to the two finals. They have improved every year. It used to be that the Chinese team had to rely on Li Zi Han, the overall strength of the Chinese team has far surpassed the 36-year-old Li Zihan. When Li Zihan first joined the Chinese team, the national team ranked 98th in FIFA, but now the Chinese team has never Fall out of the top ten of the FIFA rankings!"

"Looking at the changes that Li Zihan has brought to China, not only he led the team to kill the Quartet on the field, but also his contribution to Chinese football - the youth training talent training plan! Now the 23-man roster of the Chinese team Among them, 18 people are from the youth training program advocated by Li Zihan, maybe not all of these 18 are graduates of Li Zihan football school, but all of them are from the Chinese football youth program proposed by Li Zihan!"

"Asian Cup, Chinese Footballer of the Year, Asian Footballer of the Year, Ballon d'Or, Premier League Champion, League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, Serie A Champion, World Cup Best Player, World Cup Top Scorer." There are as many honors as there are stars in the sky, and the only honor he has not won is the Hercules Cup.Maybe heroes from ancient times are so sad, such as Roberto Baggio, one of Li Zihan’s mentors in the national team, and Li Zihan’s friend, the Italian goalkeeper Buffon who has never won the Champions League. Now, there is one more player who has never won the Champions League. Li Zihan, the World Cup champion, even though he has led the team to the finals twice! "

Although the Chinese team has never won a World Cup championship, they are a force that cannot be ignored on this stage. They can break into the top eight or even the top four in every World Cup!Everyone used to be afraid of Li Zihan of the Chinese team, but now they are afraid of the Chinese team as a whole!

After the World Cup, although Li Zihan did not announce his retirement, his condition has deteriorated year after year.Li Zihan finally played for Arsenal for two years and was still unwilling to retire. He chose to return to China to play. He returned to his hometown and his own team Sichuan Quanxing!

The current Quanxing team is already a contender for the league championship, and even one of the favorites for the championship on the stage of the AFC Champions League. Since they entered the AFC Champions League in the first year, they have never missed the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League. Another Chinese team that has never missed the quarter-finals is Guangzhou Evergrande.

There is no one dominant player in the current Chinese Super League. Guangzhou Evergrande, Sichuan Quanxing, Shanghai SIPG, Shenhua, Beijing Guoan and other teams are competing for glory. Of course, this is certainly related to Li Zihan’s support for these clubs. Li Zihan Of course, knowing how boring and depraved a league without competitiveness is, the most convincing ones are La Liga, Ligue [-], Bundesliga and Serie A in those years.
Many fans did not understand Li Zihan's return to play in China, and even many Arsenal fans scolded him.Because the fans and the club wanted Li Zihan to retire after the 36-year-old World Cup, but Li Zihan had a conflict with the head coach and insisted not to retire.Li Zihan, who has played for Arsenal for more than ten years, has a great influence, just like Totti in Rome before. In the eyes of outsiders, Arsenal is even Li Zihan's team, and even the club's top management is not convenient to intervene.

In the end, the head coach resigned, and Li Zihan in those two years did not lead Arsenal to continue to compete for the league title and the Champions League title, and eventually became a four-maniac
After returning to Sichuan Quanxing, Li Zihan won the league and AFC championships for two consecutive years, and was finally selected for the national team again with his steady state.

Of course, there is a saying in the outside world that Li Zihan's influence in China has surpassed that of the Football Association, and he can make the chairman and head coach of the Football Association quit get out of class with a single word.
So it is not easy for him to continue playing in the national team?
Many people even have the slogan "The last ball bully of the Chinese team!"

But Li Zihan is still Li Zihan, otherwise it would not be possible in Beijing’s National Stadium, in Chengdu’s Yellow Storm Stadium (the home of Quanxing Team, the original Chengdu Stadium), in the Premier League’s Emirates Stadium, and outside the home court of La Liga powerhouse Elva Club. There is already a statue of Li Zihan.

In the end, Li Zihan, who could only play three 10 minutes per game, led the Chinese team to enter the final again. With Li Zihan's brace after coming off the bench in the last 25 minutes, the Chinese team defeated Brazil and won the World Cup for the first time. !

When Li Zihan, the captain of the Chinese team, lifted the Hercules Cup high, many Chinese fans, Arsenal fans and Li Zihan's fans burst into tears and burst into tears!
The on-site commentator wanted to use gorgeous words and language to describe Li Zihan, but in the end he found that he could not speak, only his choked voice in the microphone.

Li Zihan, who won the Hercules Cup as the main force at the age of 40, set many records, just like the many records he broke in the club.

In the face of everyone's doubts and even abuse, Li Zihan did not defend himself, he used this champion to explain everything.

And Li Zihan also drew a perfect end to his career. On the second day, when everyone was still immersed in the celebration of the Chinese team winning the championship, Li Zihan suddenly announced his retirement.
At this time, everyone remembered that Li Zihan was already 40 years old.

CCTV Sports made a special topic on Li Zihan's retirement, from when he stepped into the Apennine Peninsula to when he retired at the age of 40, it has been 22 years!

"After Maradona, Pele and Fontaine have long been history unknown to the new generation of football boys, Li Zihan appeared. His achievements and contributions undoubtedly surpassed the three predecessors!"

"Lee's career is a legend, and he himself is a legend. He is a great player. He has made a lot of contributions to international football. He is like a knight. A knight in the sky!" The then international chairman summed up Li Zihan's career in this way!
End of the book