Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 400 Preparations before the match

The national football team ushered in 2019 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which also means that the first match of the Asian Cup is getting closer.On the penultimate day of 2018, Lippi gave the whole team a holiday to allow everyone to recover from their tense bodies and minds.

After New Year's Day passed, Zhang Mai joined the national team, and it was less than a week before the first match of the Asian Cup group stage.

The national football team arrived in the base camp of Abu Dhabi years ago and began to enter the sprint stage of the Asian Cup.

The base camp of the National Football Team for this Asian Cup is a four-star hotel, which is mixed with tourists.In order to allow the Asian Cup teams to have a better living environment, the hotel specially provides them with an independent dining restaurant.There will be other teams arriving in the coming days to stay at the hotel.

On January 1, the national football team set off from here to Al Ain to prepare for the first game against the Kyrgyzstan team, and will continue to return to Abu Dhabi after the game.

On December 12, the national football team held its first training session after arriving in the UAE at the Wahda Academy base.

The main content of this training session is recovery. The 7 players who played a long time in the previous warm-up match did not participate in the confrontation.

A total of 21 players came to the training field. Coach Lippi first talked about some training requirements in the center of the field, and then let the players separate.

Among them, the 7 players who played a long time with the Jordan team the day before jogged and stretched alone. They are: Wu Lei, Liu Yang, Zhang Linpeng, Jin Jingdao, Wu Xi, Hao Junmin, Yan Junling, and the remaining players Then conduct group confrontation training in the field.

The reason why Lippi does not allow these people to participate in the confrontation is because he hopes to adjust through training to avoid injuries.

After Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin reported to the national team, the pre-war tension in the team was greatly eased, and Lippi and the coaching staff also smiled, but the always low-key "two Zhangs" refused interviews from many Asian and domestic media. Lippi When attending the relevant press conference stipulated by the AFC, I also intentionally did not bring these two overseas generals.

The latest information came from the Huaguo team. Captain Zheng Zhi received a red card in the last match of the top 12 and will definitely miss the first match against Kyrgyzstan.

The Hua Guo team had several injuries during the training camp in Haikou and Doha, especially in the two warm-up matches in Doha, forward Wu Lei and central defender Shi Ke were injured respectively, and Shi Ke only played less than half of the game against Jordan The field was replaced.

During the training on New Year's Day, Shi Ke appeared on the sidelines of the training field. Although he was only jogging, it is reported that he is close to recovery. There should be no problem in the first match against Kyrgyzstan.

Wu Lei was injured during the warm-up with Iraq, and he recovered after treatment.Goalkeeper Zhang Lu has some injuries, and it is not impossible for him to play if needed.

The problem of Zheng Zhizhi's inability to play in the first match of the Asian Cup group has always troubled Lippi, because the Huaguo team is seriously short of midfielders.

On January 1, the official notice of the AFC has been issued. Due to the red card received in the last top 2 match, Zheng Zhi of the Chinese team will be automatically suspended in the first match of the Asian Cup.

In this regard, Lippi has already been mentally prepared. Whether in Haikou or Doha, the Chinese team does not have Zheng Zhi in the warm-up starting lineup. The intention is to let the players learn to play without Zheng Zhi.

But the final results were not ideal, and Lippi even considered letting Zhang Mai withdraw and play as a midfielder.

In the past few days, Lippi's main job was to adjust the state of the team and help the players reduce stress and build confidence.

In terms of skills and tactics, Lippi put his main energy on rehearsing tactical routines to break through dense defenses, including how to use set kicks to score.

With two group matches against Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines guaranteed, the Huaguo team will have the right to qualify for the group stage. In contrast, it is not very urgent what tactics to adopt in the third match against the South Korean team.

The national football team entering the sprint stage of the Asian Cup ushered in a good news, that is, Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin, who returned to the team around New Year's Day, are in good condition, which also greatly boosted the confidence of the Huaguo team.

The national football team started its first training session in Abu Dhabi on the 29th at the Wahda Academy base. Shi Ke, who was injured, did not participate.

In the game against Jordan, Shi Ke suffered a thigh strain after confronting the opponent's striker. In order to protect the player, Lippi immediately replaced Shi Ke.

In the past few days of training, Lippi has practiced the combination of two central defenders and three central defenders. No matter what kind of combination, Shi Ke has always been the main force. He has secured his position as the main force in the team preparing for the Asian Cup.

Liu Yiming's injury and leaving the team has already had a great impact on the national football team. If Shi Ke is injured again at this time, even if it is a strain, it will be a huge blow to the team's defense.

Judging from the current situation, Shi Ke's injury is not serious, so after a few days of recovery, he will continue to devote himself to confrontation training.

In the first game of the Asian Cup, Shi Ke must be the team's main central defender, and this will also be his first trip to the Asian Cup.

The national football team has a day off on New Year's Day, and the players also use this rare holiday to rest and wait for the return of the two generals who have studied abroad.

According to the plan, the team will start a warm-up match with the local powerhouse Al Wahda in Abu Dhabi on January 1 next year.

The team ranks fifth in the UAE Super League this season and has a certain strength.

This will also be the last warm-up match of the national football team before the Asian Cup.Therefore, the national football team will also use all the main players to participate in this campaign, looking for the feeling of the game.

This game was a training match, so it was not broadcast to the outside world. In the end, with the goals of Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng, Wei Shihao and Yu Dabao's brace, the Huaguo men's football team defeated Al Wahda 5-3. .

In the previous two warm-up matches, the national football team was unbeaten in two games and conceded 3 goals in a row. The problem of defense still exists. Therefore, Lippi's purpose in this campaign is more to run in the back line.

In the first half of the game, the national football team was scored by Wu Lei and captain Zhang Linpeng, and the Al Wahda team scored a goal. The national football team temporarily led the Al Wahda team 2-1.

In the second half of the game, the two sides staged a goal battle. Yu Dabao scored a goal, and then the national football team conceded two goals in a row and was equalized. Wei Shihao and Yu Dabao scored one after another to help the national football team regain the two-goal advantage. In the end, the Chinese men's football team defeated Albakh 5-3 up to the team.

The starting line-up for the national football team is: Yan Junling, Zhang Linpeng (C), Li Xuepeng, Liu Yang, Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Chengdong, Wu Xi, Hao Junmin, Wu Lei, Jin Jingdao, Yu Dabao.

The battle-tested Zhang Mai, Zhang Yulin and Zheng Zhi only played in the last few minutes of the game to warm up and failed to change the score on the field.

For Lippi and the Huaguo team, the Asian Cup is the highlight, and the teaching competition is nothing.

And before the "Silver Fox" took charge of Italy before the 2006 World Cup, the Azzurri were not favored, but they won the Hercules Cup in one fell swoop, which also gave the national football team more expectations for this Asian Cup.

Having said that, in the two teaching games of the national football team in Doha, Iraq can barely be regarded as the second-rate in Asia, and Jordan is absolutely the standard third-rate in Asia.

In such a state, without Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin, what would Lippi's disciples have to fight against the wolves of South Korea, Japan, Australia and Iraq?

National football defender Zhang Linpeng made bold remarks in an interview, saying that the goal of the Asian Cup is to win the championship, which is not far behind strong teams such as South Korea and Japan.

As soon as the voice fell, netizens teased, "How old are you, child?" It can be seen that the outside world has a serious lack of confidence in the absence of the "two Zhang" national team.

If there is no "two cards", the Hua Guo team may not have a big problem qualifying for the group, and it is a success to reach the quarterfinals. As for the semifinals or even winning the championship, it is tantamount to a feeling of fantasy.

Different from choosing hotels independently during the Doha training, the Crowne Plaza Hotel where the Hua Guo team is stationed in Abu Dhabi this time has an obvious "event organizing committee official" nature.

The service facilities here are not bad, and the Football Association also hired Chinese chefs for the team locally, but the hotel does not have many entertainment facilities for tourists, unlike the Torch Hotel in Doha where you can play billiards in the game room, pingpong.

In addition, this hotel is located on Yas Island, which is far from the urban area. It takes about 10 minutes to drive from the hotel to the nearest large shopping mall.

Therefore, a considerable number of players choose to stay in the hotel to rest after training. Of course, some players travel together in small groups, drink a cup of coffee or take a walk. After all, the local outdoor temperature of around 25 degrees Celsius recently makes people feel comfortable.

Although the hotel where the national football team stayed looks good from the outside, the internal environment is average, relatively old, and the room size is not large.

All the team members lived in a standard room before, but after putting their luggage in, there was basically no extra space.

After living in such an environment for two days, the Huazu team immediately made adjustments and replaced all standard rooms with single rooms.

The purpose of doing this is also to hope that the players can have a better rest. After all, this is the team's base camp hotel, and they will stay here for a long time. The team does not want to affect the players' preparation for the game because of the lack of logistics support.

Goalkeeper Zhang Lu, who has been recovering from injuries before, is getting better recently.

In the training session on the afternoon of January 1, Zhang Lu could even be on the court, occasionally trying to pass and shoot.

Zhang Lu's injury is getting better day by day, which also makes the 23rd man of the national football team still very suspenseful.

At present, apart from Yan Junling who can guarantee to enter the 23-man list, the other two goalkeepers Guo Quanbo and Zhang Lu seem to have their own worries.

The Asian Cup is the opening game of Huaguo football in 2019, so all parties attach great importance to this competition.

Du Zhaocai, executive committee member Zhang Jian, Lin Xiaohua and others will arrive in the UAE before the start of the Asian Cup and watch the first match of the national football team live.

It is understood that there will be three stadiums in Abu Dhabi for the Asian Cup. The national football matches against the Philippines and South Korea will also be held in Abu Dhabi. Therefore, the training location is chosen here to adapt to the local environment faster.

On January 1, the national football team will face Kyrgyzstan, the first opponent in the Asian Cup group stage in Al Ain.

……

Many Huaguo media have stopped here, but South Korea, which is in the same group as the Huaguo team, has caused a storm again. The Korean media clamored: "Huaguo men's football is the most threatening, look at the "two Zhang" Korean team can win the first place in the group .”

The Korean media believes that, except for the Hua Guo team, the opponents with the same score as the South Korean team in Group C of the Asian Cup are generally not strong, but there are not only unfamiliar teams in the group, but also teams shouting "Down with South Korea", so we must be extra careful.

According to Korean media analysis, South Korea is in a group with Huaguo, Kyrgyzstan, and the Philippines, and there is no strong Middle Eastern team among their opponents.

South Korea will compete with the Philippines in the first group match of Group C at 1:7 pm on January 10th. Objectively speaking, the gap in strength is obvious.

The Philippines, ranked 116th in the FIFA rankings, is participating in the Asian Cup for the first time. Although they are not strong, there are many players who have overseas experience.

The core player of the Philippines, Stefan Schrock, is from the German under-20 team. He has played for the Hoffenheim Club and the Frankfurt Club. Since 2011, he has joined the Philippine national team.

The Young Hazbender brothers were born in the UK. Philip Young Hazbender came from the Chelsea youth training. He has represented the Philippine national team since the age of 19 and has participated in 105 international games and scored 52 goals;
James Young Harzbender, who is a year older, came out of Wimbledon youth training, participated in 100 international games and scored 12 goals.

South Korea and the Philippines have fought seven times in history and won all of them.

Kyrgyzstan, which played the second group match with South Korea, is ranked 91st in FIFA and is an unfamiliar team that has no international record for a long time.

Last year, in the Asian Games, the South Korean team met with it. With Sun Xingmin's lore, they won 1:0. This is the only record of the two teams fighting.

The opponent Hua Guo in the third game of the group stage, ranked 26th in FIFA, is the biggest opponent of the South Korean team competing for the first place in the group.

The Hua Guo team reached the finals of the two Asian Cups in 1984 and 2004, and finally won the runner-up.

This time, the Hua Guo team led by the famous Italian coach Lippi chanted the slogan of "winning the championship".

Avant-garde Zhang Mai and forward Zhang Yulin, who represent Huaguo, are the first two targets of the South Korean team to be wary of. At the same time, they must also be wary of Yu Dabao, who is known as the "new force".

In 2017, Yu Dabao, who joined the team for the first time, scored a key goal in the 1st minute of the second half in the opening game against the South Korean team in a 2:31 deficit, taking away the victory that the South Korean team had almost obtained. It was a draw.

Although the South Korean team has achieved an overwhelming record of 16 wins, 13 draws and 4 losses against the Chinese team in historical battles, the South Korean team is still at a disadvantage in the last three games with 1 win and 2 losses.

As for Wu Lei, who is currently the most popular in China, the Korean media didn't mention it at all. Why?Don't the Korean media know that Wu Lei is about to land in La Liga and kill the Quartet?
The Huaguo media didn't understand, and they all exported dirty things to the Korean media, and actively encouraged Wu Qiuwang to kill the Korean team.

But Zhang Mai understands the psychology of the Korean media a little bit. Wu Lei's score is not 80 points, and he has no specialties in body and speed. Naturally, he is useless in the eyes of Koreans.

In terms of technical speed, South Korea has Sun Xingmin, who can rank among the top five wingers in the world; in terms of physical fitness, several major centers in South Korea are all rated above 80, and they all play in Europe.
As for Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin, the arrogant Koreans will not come to provoke them, lest their faces be inflamed when they get it!

(End of this chapter)