There is a dream called football

Chapter 294 Germany World Cup Group Draw

首都时间2005年12月10日3点30分，德国世界杯小组赛抽签仪式将在德国莱比锡会展中心1号厅举行。

The reason why it is held in Leipzig is because it is the only former East German city among the host cities, and the German organizers have also given full consideration.

This time representing Asia are Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and China.

It is rare for Asia to have 5 teams participating in the World Cup. At this time, Australia has not yet joined the AFC, so they emerged from Oceania, so they and Asian teams do not need to avoid the same group.

The Chinese delegation came to Leipzig on December 12. As one of the most important contributors to China's entry into the World Cup, Li Qiao was invited to join the Chinese delegation, along with Li Weifeng and Zheng Zhi.

When he came to Leipzig, the Chinese delegation stayed in the hotel arranged by the government. Li Qiao remembered that the German World Cup in his previous life was a very well-known World Cup, in which the rigor and carefulness of the Germans was very important.

This country is indeed very suitable for hosting competitions, but the difference is that this time the Chinese team is also here.

In the hotel, Li Qiao naturally became the focus of attention of reporters from all over the world.

Many reporters gathered around.

"As the fourth-tier team, the Chinese team, do you think they will enter the death group?"

Li Qiao smiled.

"Theoretically, for a team in pot four, getting into any group could be a group of death."

"Ha ha."

Everyone is happy too.

In fact, this is indeed the case. The World Cup brings together the 32 best teams in the world, and then divides them into tiers according to their strength. Therefore, since you are in the fourth tier, you will definitely not be able to escape. This is similar to the UEFA Champions League draw.

"But no matter what group we are assigned to, I can be sure that we are not traveling to Germany and we will work hard to get out of the group."

"So do you have an ideal opponent?"

Li Qiao smiled.

"Actually, I would rather touch Brazil."

"Haha, the defending champion."

"When we played Brazil in the last World Cup, I hadn't started my career yet, so I really want to make amends this time."

"Is there any opponent you don't want to meet?"

"Of course it's the German team."

In a game like the World Cup, no one wants to encounter a wolf-like host. Think about Saudi Arabia in the World Cup in Russia.

Domestic reporters are more concerned about whether there is any conspiracy in the World Cup draw. Li Qiao remembers that in his previous life, during the live broadcast of the draw, Bai Yansong said that someone wanted to blackmail Argentina. As a result, Argentina was really drawn into the death group. Many people also joked that the World Cup draw was actually arranged.

Faced with such questions from the domestic media, Li Qiao laughed.

In fact, it stands to reason that the drawing of lots cannot be completely random, and many situations need to be avoided.

For example, in the Champions League, Russia does not draw with Ukrainian clubs to avoid unnecessary conflicts.

There are also strong dialogues, some highlights are talked about by fans and the media, which means box office, such as the knockout match between Barcelona and Chelsea in the Champions League for several consecutive seasons, is it random?

However, Li Qiao fully understands this. Modern football is already very commercialized. If you don't consider the box office, it would be childish.

"This is how I see it. In fact, the result is known by the permutation and combination of high school, but no matter what kind of result, there are always people who are satisfied and some people are not satisfied, so I think it doesn't matter."

"Conspiracy theorists are just a little bit more to talk about. I don't think there is a conspiracy in the lottery."

There is another issue that is also very controversial, that is, the controversy between local coaches and foreign coaches. China has worshiped foreign coaches since the professional reform in 1994. Milu led the team to play in the last World Cup.

But this time, domestic coach Zhu Guanghu led the team to play in the World Cup. Many people are skeptical.

Li Qiao felt that this question was even more ridiculous.

"Chinese football was weak before, so it is right for us to learn from others, but with the progress of Chinese football, I think we must go our own way in the end. No country develops completely by foreign coaches. You can look at South Korea and Japan. This time, Koreans also use local coaches. I think South Korea is ahead of us in this regard."

"Our domestic media only see the great achievements of foreign coaches, but what we don't see is that our Chinese coaches are also working very hard to develop their own football. For example, Director Zhu, his private work is something that many of us have not seen."

Regarding this point, Zhu Guanghu himself is very humble. He said that whether it is a foreign coach or a local coach, the most important thing is to look at the results. For example, Milu was successful, and Kraushen was also successful, but the foreign coaches we hired in the 90s were not very successful.

"My contract will end after the World Cup. Whether the Football Association can renew my contract will mainly test my coaching ability, and it has nothing to do with which country I am from."

In the hotel, many football bigwigs gathered, including an old Chinese friend, Milutinovic.

Chinese fans have deep feelings for Milu. Later, many people hoped that Milu would return to China to coach, but the smart Milu did not come back because he knew that there was no one in the Chinese team at that time.

When Li Qiao saw Milu, he felt like he hated seeing each other so late, and the two simply hugged each other.

"It's a pity, why didn't you be born four years earlier. In that case, I think we can score at least one goal in 2002."

"Hehe, you are too polite."

Milu's memory of the 2002 World Cup is still fresh. The Chinese team actually played well, but their finishing ability was mediocre. To put it bluntly, there was no first-class forward. For example, in the game against Costa Rica, there were many opportunities, but they couldn't make it.

"No, I'm not being polite. If it was for you, I might not resign. After all, the salary in China is not bad."

"Haha."

This time Milu was also invited to participate in the World Cup draw, because he is the amazing coach of the World Cup. As long as he leads the team, all the teams will enter the World Cup, and he also led Costa Rica to participate in the World Cup for the first time.

Milu also had dinner with the Chinese delegation. Everyone was very happy and predicted the result of the lottery tomorrow.

Li Qiao said: "Brazil, Belgium, China, Togo."

"Croatia, Paraguay, Ghana, China," Milu said.

Zhu Guanghu thought for a while, "Poland, Ecuador, the United States, China."

"Haha, you're picking weak teams."

"Hehe, of course, you guys don't hurt your back when you stand up and talk. I'm the head coach. It's about whether I can renew my contract."

(End of this chapter)