Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 344 The best team
The Huaguo team regrettably lost to Belgium in the penalty shootout. Fans across the country and even Zhang Mai's Huaguo teammates felt it was a pity.

Seeing that they are about to board the highest stage of the World Cup in Russia, they can also draw with Belgium in 120 minutes, which is really only a little bit short!
But Zhang Mai doesn't think so. The forgetful fans have forgotten how the Huaguo team was struggling in the top [-] at the beginning of last year. What a scene it will be.

With one or two superstars and a group of third-rate players with 70 points in the world, can they beat the world's third-ranked players who are all first-rate stars?
Dream it!The reason why they can beat Argentina is because Argentina itself has a problem. Messi is old and the reserve force is weak, so Zhang Mai and others can take advantage of it.

As for Belgium, a country with a population of only 1100 million, it ranks third in the world football rankings and is currently the highest-ranked team among the top four.

They have a "golden generation" that is difficult to match in the world. The best players gather in this era. This is the happiness of Belgian football, not just the luck of Belgian football.

Hazard and De Bruyne are the representatives of the "golden generation", but behind them is the unimaginable thickness of the Belgian player reserve. The Belgian national team under the age of 21 qualified first in the European Youth Championship qualifiers. The under-17 national team won consecutive victories in the U17 European Championships and lost to Italy in the semi-finals.

Belgium not only has a golden generation, this country is steadily and continuously exporting football talents.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the complete change of Belgian football's youth training system in 2000:
Belgium and the Netherlands co-hosted the European Cup that year, but the performance of the European Red Devils was disappointing. The lack of talent is the most important reason for the decline of Belgian football.

The Belgian Football Association chose to reform, and as a youth training coach and manager, Bob Brovis played an important role that cannot be ignored.

"Obviously geniuses like Hazard and De Bruyne cannot be produced through a certain system."

Bob knows this well. Hazard and De Bruyne are like the Belgian tennis twins Clijsters and Henin back then. Look at the Belgian players in the top league and you know that football in this country is about more than just the 23 players who came to Russia.

Martinez's selection process was very difficult, because he had to face the exclusion of some good players from the squad.

Looking at the strong performance of the Belgian U21, U17, and U16 national teams in Europe, you will know that this is not just a coincidence.

"We have a complete system and look to the future, so it's not just the golden generation." Bob is full of confidence in the future.

In 2008, still under the initiative of Bob, the Belgian Football Association established a future plan to organize children who have not had opportunities at all ages to focus on training.

Bob said: "I think it's a good program. We give the same attention and opportunities to children who are growing up quickly in the later stage. They deserve to be treated like this."

The 24-year-old Belgian international Carrasco, who plays for Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League, is a successful product of the Belgian football future plan.

Every football talent in this country is being carefully cared for. Bob believes that if we give up attention to these children who develop slowly in the early stage and grow rapidly in the later stage, Belgium will lose at least a quarter of its football talents.

Carrasco is one of the children in the future plan in 2008. Courtois, the main goalkeeper of Chelsea and the Belgian national team, is two years older than Carrasco, so he has no future plans when he is of the right age. But the same train of thought runs through it all.

The 31-year-old Belgian international Dries Mertens is a representative of late bloomers. He once played in the third tier league. To be able to reach today's heights, in addition to his own talent and hard work, he also needs the coach's careful attention to late-stage players. Training, if the team and the coach hold the idea that "they have not played at this age and can only be mixed in the third tier league, such players must not have developed", and they will not score the first goal for Belgium in this World Cup. Ball's for Mertens again.

Zhang Mai is convinced of losing to such Belgium at the national team level, because in his previous life, he knew the inherent shortcomings of Chinese football.

Over the past 20 years, Belgian football has gone from decline to prosperity, and a large number of outstanding players have emerged. The most important point is the careful cultivation of each player, and the respect and cherishment of each talent.

This is far from enough for Chinese football.

We always ridicule that China's 14 billion population cannot pick out 11 people who can play football. The lack of football population is the most important reason.

It has the largest population in the world, but the number of registered youth training players in Huaguo ranks below the top [-] in the world, not even as good as Vietnam, its neighbor to the southwest.

Another fatal factor is that in China, for players and clubs, football is just a business. Even if it is the so-called peaceful war, all Chinese people only care about the mess after the gunfire. Metal cannon shells, because it can be exchanged for money.

But for children who have already chosen to play football, we ask ourselves whether we have given them enough room for development?

In youth competitions, it is common to lie about the age and "beat the young with the big". It is almost a consensus that relying on physical advantages can win the game. Do the coaches of the team put the training of children in the most important position?

For each child, do the coaches have a complete plan to improve their individual level?

In the usual training and competition, have you given each child enough patience and given everyone enough opportunities to show and improve themselves?

In the early days of Belgium's youth training reform, no one would have thought that Belgium would one day become the third-ranked super team in the world. If you work hard every day along this road, there will definitely be changes.

The result is that in less than 20 years, Belgian football has really come to a day when it breaks out of its cocoon and becomes a butterfly.

May I ask?Such a Belgium, what qualifications does the current Chinese football have to win others!
Treat every child playing football equally, their future is not judged by the coach!
Perhaps no matter how hard Chinese football works, they will not be able to produce talented players like Hazard and De Bruyne, but if they miss out on talents like Hazard, De Bruyne, and Lukaku, it will be a tragedy for Chinese football.

7月12日2时，世界杯半决赛第2场在莫斯科卢日尼基球场展开较量，法国加时2比1逆转英格兰打进世界杯决赛，将与比利时争夺冠军。

In the opening 284 seconds, Trippier scored the national team's first goal.In the second half, Mbappe equalized and hit the post.In overtime, Mbappe assisted Griezmann to stage a lore.

英格兰最近3场大赛半决赛均被淘汰（1996年欧洲杯对德国；1990年世界杯对西德；1968年欧洲杯对南斯拉夫）。上轮英格兰2比0淘汰瑞典，而自1982年击败捷克斯洛伐克和法国以来，英格兰还从未单届世界杯击败2支欧洲球队。索斯盖特连续3场淘汰赛使用同一首发。

France shrinks back and wobbles the bus = cowardly?Steady one P!This is the champion phase, and rational football has once again defeated happy football.

After all, they still lost. England was only one step away from the final, but in the end it became the background board for France to celebrate wildly. Rashford, Lingard, Ali and others collapsed on the field for a long time and refused to get up. They knew this Perhaps it was the closest time in their career to the World Cup final, but unfortunately, they failed to continue to perform the magical script.

Objectively speaking, France is indeed the better team in terms of the content of the 120 minutes on the field.

But it is indeed a pity that England have come so close to the final.

It is already a remarkable achievement for the Three Lions to break into the semi-finals of this cup. Almost God also helped the England team in the dark, but in the semi-finals, England's dream was shattered.

Before the World Cup, including the British media did not have any hope for this England.

The most starless England in history, with a core lineup dominated by young people, plus a coach who was ridiculed by the media as a "puppet" of the English Football Association, can they win the World Cup with Beckham, Lampard, and Gera? Haven't big-name players such as Germany and Terry achieved achievements?
The answer was unexpected, they made it all the way to the semi-finals.

Facing France in the semi-finals, England made another fantastic start. They scored a wonderful free kick from Trippier in less than 5 minutes, and the team's road to the final was bright.

But in the second half, France Rumeng Fangxing launched a fierce counterattack. Under the impact of the Gallic Rooster, the young England's defense appeared flawed.

There is still hope for England until extra time, and even if it is dragged into the penalty shootout, the performance of the Three Lions this time may also be expected to be more.

But in extra time, the experience of the French players played a big role. Griezmann, who had been limping since the second half, made a sudden effort. He took advantage of England's loophole and scored the lore goal.

There are a group of young people who are not very talented but are willing to give their all, there is a lower half where the situation cannot be better, the best public opinion environment in the past 20 years, and the blessing of the goddess of luck... so much advantage, this should have been England's best chance to create a miracle.

But things backfired, and England eventually missed the World Cup final.

Although England's core lineup is very young today, the hard power of the players is not outstanding compared to other powerful players.

Perhaps in the next few competitions, it will be difficult for England to get such an excellent opportunity to win the championship like this year's World Cup.

Their achievements are worthy of recognition, but failure to go further may become a lifetime regret for many players.

Facing England, the French team relied on goals from Mbappe and Griezmann to defeat their opponents and advance to the final.

In this game, the England team was undoubtedly the team that played more proactively, but the French team that had the last laugh was indeed a slightly ugly team.

After the French team equalized the score, they all retreated to defend and gave up possession to the England team, while they fought back with peace of mind.

For many neutral fans who like to pursue openness, closeness and excitement, the French team chose this utilitarian style of play, which seems a bit too conservative.

The French team's "ugly" performance did not seem to be over. At the end of the game, the French team began to use various opportunities to delay time. Mbappe even received a yellow card for delaying time.But their delaying tactics were effective, and the French team finally maintained their 1-goal advantage until the end.

The Spanish team, the champion of the 2010 World Cup, will slow down the pace once they take the lead, and consume their opponents with delicate passing and control.

This French team may not be able to achieve the perfect pass and control like Spain, but they have reached the final step by step by relying on the defense of all members and the "ugly football" that is looked down upon by people.

"The league relies on offense, and the cup depends on defense."

This is the "truth" talked about by many fans, and the French team is also practicing this sentence with practical actions.

The French team, with a total worth of 10.8 billion euros, can lower its airs and start from defense. This is exactly what a championship team should look like.

(End of this chapter)