i am a football star

Chapter 70 National Team Issues

The podium was almost set up, and the whole Bordeaux team had to go back to the locker room to put on clean jerseys to accept the award.

But changing the jersey is not so simple. The locker room has already prepared champagne to celebrate the championship. As soon as Liu Ting returned to the locker room, he picked up a bottle and sprayed wildly at the teammates who came in through the door.

Soon the locker room became a champagne fight, and Liu Ting became the most sprayed one. Who told him to be the first to spray it?

When Blanco and Gasset returned to the locker room, everyone was soaking wet. Liu Ting gave Diarra a wink and shouted: "Everyone go together!!!"

Blanco and Gasset were greeted by a champagne downpour and soon got drenched too.

When someone came in to inform everyone that the awards were about to start, everyone started looking for clean jerseys to put on. Blanco and Gasset also changed into clean suits. These were all prepared in advance.

Amid the cheers of the audience, the whole Bordeaux team stepped onto the prepared podium, surrounded by fireworks and a sea of ​​joy.

"Bordeaux! Champion! Champion! Bordeaux..."

The president of the French Football Association came up to present awards to everyone in person. Captain Duarra held up the big donut trophy.

Escale hugged Liu Ting when he presented the award to Liu Ting, and said softly, "Good job, kid!!"

Next was a bunch of Football Association officials hugging one by one, damn it!There is definitely a loophole in the Football Association's awards. It would be great if a group of beauties came to hug, and everyone would definitely hug for a while. Now the beauties are serving the dishes in the back, and some bad old men come up to hug.

The annoying Football Association officials finally left. Amidst the cheers of the audience, the whole Bordeaux team held up the trophy, and the photos recorded this classic moment.

The whole team stood together, accepted and continued to take pictures, Blanco was hugged in the middle, Liu Ting stood next to him, the pictures were almost finished, it was the reporter's interview, and everyone accepted the reporter's interview separately in twos and threes.

At this time, most players can get interviews from reporters, just how much.

Liu Ting and Blanco are naturally the most concerned by reporters. Blanco is a young coach and the coach of the new Ligue 20 champion; Liu Ting is a young player under [-] years old and a rising star who has attracted much attention.

Facing a group of Ligue [-] reporters, Chinese reporters, and even reporters from other European countries, Liu Ting spoke naturally.

"Winning this championship is the result of the hard work of our whole team, thanks to the coach and all the players..."

Liu Tingzheng was talking eloquently, and the reporters around suddenly exclaimed: "Wow!! Wow..."

Before Liu Ting knew what was going on, he felt that someone had put a "coat" on himself. Looking back, it turned out that it was the Chinese fan named Lin Yigang who put a Chinese flag on himself.

Players who won the major European leagues brought their national flags to interview to express their patriotism, but Liu Ting has a special status. He is of Chinese descent, not a real Chinese. Now he is covered with the Chinese flag, which caused the flashing lights to "Ka Ka Ka..." flashing non-stop.

Liu Ting did not refuse, and naturally carried the national flag to continue the interview.

"Here I also want to thank the fans who support me, whether in Europe or in Asia."

"Our goal this season is the double crown. We are confident that we will win the UEFA Cup in a week's time."

Immediately, a British reporter asked and answered: "Mr. Liu, this time the final venue is in England. Glasgow Rangers is a Scottish team. They have half the home court advantage. Aren't you worried?"

"You also said that they only have half of the home court, so the remaining half of the home court is ours, which is no worse than them."

British journalists have nothing to say in the face of such strong words.

The president of the French Football Association, Escale, who was talking to Bordeaux chairman Trio, saw the Chinese flag Liu Ting was wearing here, and asked Trio, "Liu hasn't joined any national team yet, right?"

"No, his nationality is Monaco, which doesn't have its own national team at all."

Escale pondered in a low voice: "Well... Maybe it can be included in the French national team."

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The fact that Bordeaux won the Ligue [-] championship one round ahead of schedule was naturally the front page headline of the French sports media the next day, and other European countries also had a certain amount of space to report on this matter.

Bordeaux did not celebrate. This is the result of discussions between Blanco and Chairman Trio. They believe that this year's Europa League championship is very likely to be won, and they will celebrate after the Europa League final is over.

The fact that Liu Ting was interviewed while wearing the Chinese national flag soon appeared in the newspapers. Although Liu Ting had explained at the time that this was just a wish of the Chinese fans, he still couldn't stop the reporters from guessing.

In France, various reports such as "Liu Ting is about to join the Chinese national team" and "Liu Ting shows favor to the Chinese Football Association" have been released, as if Liu Ting has already joined the Chinese national team.

In China, although there are photos of him wearing the national flag for interviews, and there are fans holding the national flag to support him, there is no report that he is going to join the Chinese national team.

The Football Association can control the newspapers, but not the Internet, where there is a lot of discussion about this matter for a while.

"Is Liu Ting showing his favor to the Football Association?"

"He's still too young. What he wants to show his affection to the Football Association is money. Wearing a national flag and the Football Association don't look down on you."

"Actually, the Football Association can recruit him into the Olympic team."

"Isn't the Olympic Games the national team?"

……

During this period of chaos caused by the Football Association, many people thought that the Chinese Olympic team represented China's top team. In fact, the Chinese Olympic team only participated in the Olympic Games, and the national team represented China in various competitions.

And far away in Europe, the French Football Association suddenly issued a statement: "We are considering introducing an outstanding young player like Liu Ting into the French national team. He is fully capable of joining the French national team."

Immediately, a reporter asked: "What about Liu's nationality? He only has Monaco nationality now. To join the French national team, he must have French nationality."

"Liu has been working in France for a year and can use French proficiently. He grew up in Monaco and has a good understanding of various French cultures and customs. We will report this to the French government and believe they will consider granting Liu a French nationality..."

※※※

At this time, Liu Ting was watching the speech of the French Football Association officials on TV at his home in Bordeaux, and his agent Wagner was sitting next to him.

Wagner asked: "After winning the championship in Bordeaux, the French Football Association came to contact me and hoped to invite you to join the French national team. At that time, I refused because you needed to prepare for the UEFA Cup final and should not be distracted. Now the French media are reporting that you want to join the Chinese national team. They made this statement again, in fact, to assure you that as long as you agree, they can help you solve the problem of French nationality immediately."

Wagner went on to say: "Europeans think that dual citizenship is applicable all over the world, and that you are born with Chinese nationality if you have a majority of Chinese blood. In fact, China does not support dual citizenship at all. You don't even meet the basic requirement of nationality to join the Chinese national team."

"Seriously, do you plan to join the French national team?"

Liu Ting thought for a while and said: "The French national team has developed after Platini. French football has never lacked stars. Every time they are considered to be very strong, but only Platini and Zidane have achieved good results. The French tradition is that there is a star who can convince the whole team to lead the team. Then they can be united and achieve good results. Otherwise, they will not be convinced and cause civil strife."

Liu Ting continued: "If I join the French team, my identity as a Chinese will not change. No matter how good I am, some people will not accept me. If I want to fight for the boss, it will cause civil strife in the French team and it will be impossible to get good results. If I don't fight, I can only help others. The results will be others'. If I don't get good results, I may have to take the blame."

Platini led the French team to the semi-finals of the World Cup in 82 and 86, and won the European Cup in 84. This is the first international championship of French football.

As soon as Platini retired, France couldn't even pass the World Cup qualifiers for two consecutive years. It wasn't that the French team suddenly became so weak, but that no one had the prestige of Platini to convince the crowd. The team continued to fight for the boss.

Later, the French team with Zidane as the core appeared. In order to establish Zidane as the core, the then national team coach Aimee Jacquet ignored the opposition of everyone and resolutely abandoned the most famous French star, Manchester United King Cantona who played for Manchester United. At that time, even the French president called Jacquet to ask Jacquet about not using Cantona.

This French national team with Zidane as the core has successively won the 98 World Cup, the 2000 European Cup, and the 01 and 03 Confederations Cup.

In stark contrast, in the 02 World Cup, the French team was eliminated at the bottom of the group stage. This conspicuous result was sandwiched between the French team's many champions.

(End of this chapter)