Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 385

After the 12th round of the Premier League, European football has entered a two-week national team match day.

Players from various clubs come from all over the world, African players return to Africa to play, and European international players return to their national teams to participate in the Europa League.

Zhang Mai will not be idle for the past two weeks, because Lippi's Hua Guo team will come to the UK for two weeks to train in preparation for the Asian Cup in January next year.

Lippi also has no choice. The two generals in the team are playing in Europe. Besides, Hua Guo has no opponents in Asia at present, and it is difficult to find a warm-up target who is evenly matched.

The Huaguo team reached the semi-finals in the World Cup in Russia. The joyful shoes and the fans all over the country think that Huaguo football has stood up since then!

Everyone's requirements for this Asian Cup are very strange, either the championship, or it doesn't matter, because we are already a world powerhouse!
But Lao Lippi knew in his heart that without Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin, the Hua Guo team would be second-rate in Asia at most, and they would also deliver food when they went to the Asian Cup.

When Yinhu discussed the Asian Cup with Zhang Mai earlier, Zhang Mai insisted on participating in this Asian Cup and shouted out the championship slogan.

Lippi was naturally happy to see the results, and turned to Zhang Yulin of the Bundesliga, hey, Yumian Xiaolang also did not hesitate to win glory for the country.

So all the members of the Huaguo team, who were not short of money, came to Europe to train, starting from Arsenal's training base and luxury hotels in London.

Zhang Mai is bound to win the Asian Cup because the system released temporary tasks at the beginning of the season, and the rewards are more touching:

Name: Zhang Mai

Nationality: Han
Sex: Male
Date of birth: April 1998, 12

Body attribute 1 (static):

Height: 188cm
Weight: 84kg
Body fat ratio: 7%

Dominant foot: balance between left and right feet

Body attribute 2 (dynamic): 96
Among them: Speed ​​96, Stamina 96, Bounce 96, Balance 96
Technical attributes: 96
其中：个人技术96、进攻96、防守96、战术96、创造力96
Spiritual attributes: 96
Among them: focus 96, calm 96, strong 96, self-confidence 96
Exclusive skills: Pendulum Extraordinary (Proficiency: 91∕100) Full Moon Scimitar (Proficiency: 92∕100)

King of Grabbing Points (Proficiency: 97∕100) God of Fallen Leaves (Proficiency: 93∕100)

Air Bomber (Proficiency: 95∕100) Midfield Master (Proficiency: 100∕100)

Upside Down Gold Hook (Proficiency: 100∕100)

Own skills: Marseille maneuvers (proficiency: 100∕100) fried meatballs (proficiency: 100∕100)

Advanced - Absolute Sense of the Ball (Proficiency: 7100∕10000) Advanced - Psychedelic Rhythm (Proficiency: 6900∕10000)

Advanced-God Vision (Proficiency: 7000∕10000)

生活技能：钢琴大师（熟练度：29∕100）格斗大师（熟练度：65∕100）歌唱家（熟练度：45∕100）

Exclusive special effects: shooting boots (special effects, increase 100% shooting accuracy, limited to 3 uses)
Protective suit (including virtual sneakers, uniforms, socks and a complete set of protective gear, to avoid various injuries on the field, limited to 5 games)
Eyes to know people (check other people's attribute values, limited to 11 uses)
Teaser halo (can arouse unreasonable anger of opposing players and increase their chances of making mistakes, can only be used on a single player each time, limited to 12 times)
Referee preference (can affect the judgment of the referee on the field, causing it to favor the team where the host is located within the position allowed by the rules, limited to 2 uses)
Genius Points: 176
Overall Rating: 96
Ability evaluation: Has become a superstar in world football. Only Messi and Ronaldo belong to this level. However, to continue to advance to the top level with more than 98 points, you must win the World Cup.

Daily tasks:

1. Continuously winning in the Premier League, 5 points for winning games, no draws and losses, 2 points per goal for goals, 1 point for assists per time.

2. Continually winning in the European competition, the reward for winning is 50 points, no draw or loss, 20 points per goal for a goal, and 10 points per assist.

Season tasks:

1. If you successfully win the league championship, you will be rewarded with 500 points;
2. 500 points will be rewarded for the defending league Golden Boot and assist champion;
3. Successfully entering the top 16 of the UEFA Champions League, rewards 300 points; entering the top 8 of the UEFA Champions League, rewarding 500 points; entering the top 4 of the UEFA Champions League, rewarding 800 points; entering the final of the UEFA Champions League, rewarding 1500 points, winning the Champions League, rewarding 3000 points. (Note: This reward cannot be accumulated)

4. Get the Champions League Golden Boot, reward 1000 points.

Temporary task: Help your national team win the championship in the Asian Cup, reward 5000 points, no rewards for other rankings.

……

Through continuous training and competitions, Zhang Mai's proficiency in various advanced attributes has steadily increased, and he is already the leader of the two Merlots.

Zhang Mai also invested all the 3000 genius points of the Golden Globe Award at the beginning of the season on the improvement of mental attributes, and finally made his overall score reach 96.

The reward for winning the Asian Cup exceeds that of the Champions League, and is 10 times the reward for the Premier League champion. How do idiots know which one to choose?
The road to becoming the champion is very difficult, but you have to work hard step by step, not to mention that this is a patriotic system!

The 2019 UAE Asian Cup is the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup.

比赛于2019年1月5日至2月1日在阿联酋境内4座城市中的8座球场内举行。

A total of 24 teams participated in the competition. According to the classification rules, the 24 participating teams were divided into four groups. The host UAE team was directly selected as the first seed team and entered Group A. The remaining 23 teams will be divided into four groups. Divide into 6 groups.

As early as May 5 this year, the UAE Asian Cup group draw ceremony was completed in Dubai, UAE.

The Hua Guo team is the latest ranked 18th team in the world, and is listed as the second seed team after the host United Arab Emirates.

The grouping format of the 6 groups is:
Group A: United Arab Emirates, Thailand, India, Bahrain;
Group B: Australia, Syria, Palestine, Jordan;
Group C: China, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Philippines;

Group D: Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, Yemen;
Group E: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, North Korea;
Group F: Japan, Uzbekistan, Oman, Turkmenistan;

In the group stage, 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The top two and four No.3 teams with the best scores in each group advance to the quarter-finals.

When the South Korean team was first classified as a team in the second tier, the whole people were outraged. Later, after they were divided into Group C with the Hua Guo team, they all turned into high spirits.

Why?Being in the same group as Huaguo in the group stage means that they will not meet Huaguo again before the finals. Reaching the finals has become the goal of the Korean team this year.

The Middle Eastern powerhouses and Australia in other groups also vowed to annihilate the Chinese team in the knockout round and keep the Asian Cup in the Western Pacific.

Japan in Group F has already changed its view of this year's Hua Guo team. It considers itself the second strongest team in Asia after the Hua Guo team, and is determined to keep the Asian Cup in East Asia.

With the rise of the Hua Guo team in the world football, the long-forgotten Asian football dispute has resumed disputes, and the AFC has started two battles.

There will be 36 group matches in this year's Asian Cup. Whether it is in terms of structural changes or technical and tactical aspects, it will definitely show some characteristics and development trends unique to Asian football, but the East-West Asia dispute is still dominant.

23 years ago, in 1996, when the Asian Cup was held for the first time in the United Arab Emirates, the top three from China, Japan, and South Korea from East Asia all won the right to qualify in the group stage, but all three teams without exception were in the quarter-finals China was defeated by the West Asian team, making it the first time in the history of the Asian Cup that no team from East Asia entered the semi-finals.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the Asian Cup champions have been won by East Asian teams in the last few sessions, and the Iraqi team broke the monopoly of East Asian teams on the championship in 2007.

Moreover, in the last two competitions, namely the 2011 Qatar Asian Cup and the 2015 Australian Asian Cup, the West Asian teams did not even have a chance to enter the championship and runner-up finals.

It is precisely because East Asian teams occupy the leading position in the entire Asian football like the AFC Champions League. Therefore, in the Asian Cup held in the UAE this time, the West Asian teams, especially the Arab teams, have always dreamed of returning to 1996. This is the so-called "revisiting old dreams".

What is beneficial to the West Asian teams or the Arab teams is that with the expansion of this Asian Cup, among the top 24 participating in this Asian Cup, the West Asian region is the West Asian Football League composed of 12 Arab countries. Except for the Kuwait team who was suspended by FIFA due to the Football Association and was not eligible to participate in the Asian Cup qualifiers, the other 11 Arab teams all qualified for the final stage.

This is the largest number of Arab teams or West Asian teams participating in the final stage of the competition.

If the three teams of Uzbekistan, Iran and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia are added, a total of 14 teams from the Greater West Asia region have entered the knockout round, significantly surpassing the 6 teams from the Greater East Asia region.

Of course, for the Greater West Asia region, the only regret may be that the Indian team failed to qualify for the group.

Once this is the case, the five regions under the AFC will realize a "family portrait", and all teams will enter the knockout round.

The internal strengths and weaknesses of the "Greater East Asia" are actually quite obvious. The gap between the first-tier teams and the second-tier teams is not small, and the number of second-tier teams is small compared with the entire "Great West Asia" teams. In the confrontation, it is impossible to occupy an overwhelming advantage.

However, due to the draw of lots for the entire group stage, there are not many opportunities for East Asian and West Asian teams to meet. After entering the knockout round, "East Asian confrontation" may become a core theme throughout the knockout rounds.

...

In any football competition, the most eye-catching players are probably the stars.

However, frankly speaking, looking at the 24 teams participating in this Asian Cup, it is still an indisputable fact that Asian football "lacks stars".

This may well explain the reasons and reality why the overall level of Asian football still lags behind the development of world football.

Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin of the Hua Guo team and Sun Xingmin of the South Korean team are undoubtedly the biggest stars of this Asian Cup. All three of them are above the world's first-class, but unfortunately the number is too small.

As for the earth-flavored superstar kings of the "Megatron Bay" of the West Asian team, they are like chickens and dogs in front of these three!
All three are playing in the five major European leagues, and they are still the pillars of their respective clubs. The ability and level they have shown makes people have to admit: this is the star that Asian football needs now.

Only by being able to change the situation and trends on the field by himself can he become the most popular star in this Asian Cup and conquer almost all Asian fans.

This is the role and power of stars. Unfortunately, in this Asian Cup, there is almost no fourth player who can show such a high level and super ability.

Although young shooters like Mohamed Ali of the Iraqi team and Moise of the Qatar team have initially shown the potential to become Asian stars in the future, they are still a long way from being a star after all.

Players like Muhammad Ali, Moise, etc. may be said to be Asian stars, but after all, the gap between Asian football and world football is still obvious, so Asian football needs more players like Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin Only with stars like Sun Xingmin can the entire Asian football be raised to a higher level.

In contrast, although the Japanese team has recruited many players who have played in Europe this time, none of them can change the situation on the field alone like the three big stars.

More importantly, those players who go to Europe to play can still only play the role of "green leaves", but the Japanese team needs a "safflower" in order to further improve on the basis of the top 16 of the World Cup in Russia.

As for West Asia, it is difficult for Iranian players like Azmoun to have the opportunity to enter the leagues of mainstream European countries due to reasons in the international community, and it is also difficult to gain real recognition.

In Asia, many players in the Iranian team can indeed be called Asian stars.In contrast, the Arab teams have fewer stars.

Of course, Omar of the United Arab Emirates missed the current Asian Cup due to injury and surgery, which has a great impact on the entire UAE team. In addition, the striker and former Asian footballer Khalil was also injured, which made the last best player The shooter Mabuhot also lost his support and support on the court, and it was difficult to attack the city like last time.And this in turn further illustrates the importance of stars.

...

Guardiola's football theory has a far-reaching and significant impact on the entire world football, especially his ball possession theory and control of the ball.

However, judging from the Russia World Cup in the summer and the subsequent new season in Europe, it seems that such a theory is difficult to work, and efficiency has become a powerful weapon to restrain and control the ball.

What will happen during the current Asian Cup, which has a lower level of football skills and tactics? The battle of "ball possession" and "efficiency" is worth waiting to see.

The characteristics of Asian football are "West Asia pays attention to ball control" and "East Asia pays attention to speed and body". Only Japan and Iran are two rebellious cubs.

Will the participating teams adopt more intensive regional defensive strategies and tactics, and rely more on counterattacks; or will they follow the example of South America's delicacy and Guardiola's pass control?

This is also a question worth looking forward to.

In any case, improving efficiency is the way for every team to win, but I don't know how well the teams in Asia are doing.

Another thing worth noting is probably the "home field" issue.

Over the years, there is a general consensus from all walks of life that the home team has many advantages, and the previous Asian Cups have also proved this point.

Especially the West Asian teams, because of their cultural and national characteristics, they spare no effort and are full of tricks when they play home court advantage.

Especially after entering the knockout rounds, because one game determines the outcome, the home court advantage and the referee's mentality may directly determine the result of the game.

So, will this Asian Cup held in West Asia be staged again?What will happen to the AFC's ability to control the field.

(End of this chapter)