Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 407 Preparations for South Korea Surprise
China defeated the Philippines 4-0 and entered the top 2 with a complete victory in 16 games.

Wu Lei may take a break in the China-Korea battle, and Lippi will naturally choose his group ranking in the final round considering his knockout opponents.

The national football team qualified ahead of time, which also put Lippi in a good mood, showing his long-lost smile, and he shook hands with all the team members one by one.

At the press conference, when the press officer asked Lippi to comment on the game, he also agreed to the request.

In the past, Lippi often did not conduct this link, but directly asked reporters to ask questions.

Lippi immediately said that he was very satisfied with the results, tactical execution and the performance of the players on the field.

Wu Lei may take a break at the end of the group stage against South Korea. This year's Huachao Golden Boot and Huaguo Footballer's confidence is already very strong.

Wu Lei also said in an interview before that he hopes to take on important tasks in the Asian Cup, and he is ready.

Both the national football team and the South Korean team have won 2 games and won the right to qualify. The national football team only needs to draw in the final round to lock in the top spot of the group.

At the press conference, Lippi said that the goal of the national football team in the third game is to strive for victory, but the team will not send players with injuries and yellow cards to the game, because he believes that the South Korean team will also choose this way.

In the case of qualifying for the group stage, the usual style of play at the end of the group stage will be to work harder to protect the players.

After qualifying for the national football team ahead of schedule, the most important thing is to strive for a good ranking for the knockout round.

However, the battle between China and South Korea was rated as one of the top 10 classic matchups in the group stage by the AFC, and since Lippi took office, the national football team has not yet lost against the South Korean team.

12强赛以3-0战胜韩国，东亚杯以2-2战平韩国，里皮也希望接下来的第3场小组赛，国足能够延续不败。

After we finish the game, we need to look at the ranking of Group A and our opponents. Choosing an opponent does not mean that the game is not active, but choosing an opponent is very important for a team that wants to go further.

Therefore, how to choose an opponent will test the wisdom of the national football coach Lippi and the entire coaching staff.

"In this Asian Cup, I asked the players first to qualify for the group stage, which has now been completed. In addition, what I value is the individual performance of the players. As long as they play with confidence and play overall football, they are in Asia. We can compete with any opponent. Take it down."

After the victory over the Philippines, coach Lippi showed a rare smile on his face.

……

During the second day's training, the entire national football team seemed very relaxed, and there were endless laughter and laughter on the training ground.

Facing South Korea in the last round, Lippi made it clear that he would make some adjustments to the lineup:
"We have players who are injured, and some players have yellow cards. We can't take risks. At the same time, I will not rotate all the players. I will give some players who have not played the game some opportunities."

It should be noted that Sun Xingmin, the top star of the South Korean team, has not yet arrived in the UAE to join the team. Whether Sun Xingmin will participate in the match against the Chinese team has not yet been determined.

In an interview with a reporter from the official AFC media, South Korean team coach Paul Bento said frankly:

"Sun Xingmin will arrive in the UAE on the 14th to join the team. After he returns to the team, we will carefully consider whether to let him play against the Chinese team. The coaching staff will discuss the decision that is most beneficial to the team. We will pay attention to him The next Premier League game against Manchester United, then we will check his fitness, after all he may be tired, he has played too many games in the past month."

In addition, the Korean team's midfielder Ji Chengyong has a slight strain on his right leg and may miss the match against the national football team. The starting full-back Li Rong is also unable to play in the next game due to the accumulation of two yellow cards.

Without these few players, the strength of the South Korean team will be somewhat reduced, and it is impossible to perform beyond the strength of Asian teams.

Looking back at the qualifying situation of the Hua Guo team, if they qualify as the top of Group C, the national football team will face the third place in the A/B/F group in the top 16.

The current situation in Group A is relatively chaotic. The United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand and even Bahrain are all likely to advance, and Thailand is slightly more likely to be third in the group.

In Group B, it may be the Syrian team that can occupy the third place in the group. Of course, encountering the Australian team is not ruled out.

In Group F, Oman is most likely to fall in third place.

If the Hua Guo team advances as the second in Group C, then the opponent in the first round of knockout rounds will be the second in Group A. It may be the Indian team that has played against the national football team in the warm-up match before. Of course, the national football team is not afraid of this opponent.

One piece of good news is that the final round of Group A will be held before Group C, which means that before the Sino-Korean war, the situation of Group A is completely clear, and the national football team can choose opponents based on the situation of this group.

Objectively speaking, neither the Chinese nor Korean teams want to meet the host UAE prematurely. If the UAE wins the top spot in Group A, then it is good for the national football team to qualify in C2, so as to avoid encountering the third pick in other groups. potential enemy.

In the last Asian Cup, the national football team coached by Perrin qualified from the group with 3 consecutive victories in the group stage. In the Asian Games last year, the U23 national football team also won 3 consecutive victories in the group, but they encountered the Australian team and the Saudi Arabian team in the knockout round. Full opponent knocked out.

There are such examples first, and it is very necessary how to choose an opponent when the national football team is the top of the group in a tie in this tournament.

With the passage of time, judging from the situation on the front line in the past two days, Wu Lei's injury showed signs of aggravation.

Lippi finally confirmed that due to the early qualifying of the national team, Wu Lei will take turns in the China-Korea battle.

Edu, the team leader of SIPG's medical team, rushed to Abu Dhabi immediately after learning of Wu Lei's injury, and consulted with Italian Castellazi, the team leader of the national team's medical team.

After watching the X-rays, Edu gave the opinion that Wu Lei needs to undergo surgery immediately.

Castellazi believes that Wu Lei can temporarily accept conservative treatment and undergo surgery after the Asian Cup.

In short, surgery is a must, the only difference is only a matter of time.

Lippi also listened to the reports of two "famous doctors". Silver Fox handed over the decision-making power to Wu Lei, asking him to decide whether to stay in the team to play in the Asian Cup - or to undergo surgery immediately and withdraw from the Asian Cup;
Once Wu Lei insists on continuing to play in the Asian Cup and his injured part is hit again, the injury is likely to worsen.

Wu Lei, who insisted on participating in the training of the national football team for the past two days, felt that the pain in his injured part was getting stronger. Therefore, Lippi and the coaching staff decided that Wu Lei will be arranged to take a rotation during the China-Korea battle on the 16th.

If the national football team qualify second, the next game will be the quarter-finals in Al Ain on the 20th;

If the group is first, the quarter-finals will be played in Dubai on the 22nd.

In this way, Wu Lei has at least 9 to 11 days to recover from the injury, but it is impossible to cure it.

"Power Bank" Edu can use various methods to shorten the recovery time of players' muscle strains. This is his unique skill, but for the rupture of the acromioclavicular ligament, there is no way except surgery, so now we can only hope that the medical team can Minimize pain in the injured area.

Wu Lei is on a truce due to injury, and the rest of the Huaguo team's list for the Huahan war has not yet been determined, and other key players in the team have come forward to express their determination.

Zhang Linfan, who is known as "China's No. [-] full-back", said that he is not afraid of Sun Xingmin, football is played as a whole, not by one person!
As the backbone of the national football defense line, Zhang Linfan's performance in this Asian Cup has been unanimously affirmed.

Zhang Linfan, dubbed "Zhang Mosi" by fans, is slowly regaining his former sharpness on his third trip to the Asian Cup.

When talking about the last round against the South Korean team and South Korean star Sun Xingmin, Zhang Linfan said bluntly:

"I think the game will still start from an overall point of view. You must know that football is not an individual sport. I don't think you need to think too much about it, just strive to win."

"The coach thinks more about how to play. As a team, we still have to implement the coach's tactical arrangements. If the coach arranges for me to play, I will definitely do my best."

"We are just preparing normally. In the past two days, we will mainly resume training, and then there will be some skills and tactics with the ball. It is impossible for us to make too much preparation for a player. Football is a whole, not played by one person. of."

This Asian Cup is Feng Xiaoting's first trip to the Asian Cup. Talking about the differences between the Asian Cup and other competitions, Feng Xiaoting said:

"Almost, the Asian Cup may be different from the group round-robin system. We don't dare to take risks, and we still focus on stability. In yesterday's game, the Philippines counterattacked very sharply. Before the game, the head coach also asked us to stabilize our defense first. On top of that, we will strengthen the cooperation between the midfield and the frontcourt."

In the final round of the group stage, the national football team will face the strongest opponent in the group, the South Korean team. When talking about whether the coach will adjust the lineup, Feng Xiaoting said bluntly:

"There will be adjustments. In fact, the lineups for the second and first games have been adjusted. The head coach still adjusts the lineups according to the opponent's lineup and player status."

Huaguo CCTV's "News Network" column also paid attention to the national football team again on the evening of the 12th.

This is the second time "News Network" has reported on the national football team in this Asian Cup, and the program spent nearly 1 minute reporting on the national football team.

While reporting on the national football team, the program even paid attention to the South Korean team:

"South Korea beat Kyrgyzstan 1-0, and the Huaguo team qualified ahead of schedule. On the 16th, the national football team will face South Korea and compete for the top spot in the group."

Previously, in the "News Network" program, it took 22 seconds to broadcast the news that the Asian Cup national football team reversed Kyrgyzstan.

The Organizing Committee of the AFC Asian Cup confirmed on January 1 local time that the 14-year-old Abdulrahman Jassim, a Qatari who had been invited to enforce the Chinese Super League, will serve as the referee to enforce the Asian Cup team. In the final round of the game, the Chinese team and the South Korean team competed for the top spot.

It is reported that Jassim was also invited to enforce two Huachao games in 2013. Therefore, for "acquaintances" to enforce the law, the international players of the Huaguo team have already stated that they will do their best to "respect the penalty".

……

When the time came to January 1, the South Korean team arrived at the New York University Stadium in Abu Dhabi for training as scheduled.

Unlike the whole training session that was open to the media a day ago, team press officer Kim Min-soo "invited" all the Chinese and Korean media reporters out of the training ground less than 15 minutes after the training started.

It is not difficult to judge from the South Korean team's "guarding against" the media. In their view, the last round of the match with the Hua Guo team was by no means an "innocuous" encounter.

With the situation of the knockout match full of variables, the pressure on the South Korean team, which is recognized as the favorite to win the championship, is no less than that of the Huaguo team.

The training session of the South Korean team was only open for less than 15 minutes. Kim Min-soo politely asked the reporters to leave the field. He even followed the reporters all the way to the exit of the stadium:
"Today we only have this training, the reason is the head coach knows best. Son Xingmin will not come to training today. He just participated in a Premier League game and is very tired."

Both the Korean media colleagues and Kim Min-soo seemed to be "tight water".Kim Min Soo said:
"I don't know if Sun Xingmin will play in the Huaguo team. This is also a coach's problem. I only know that he is really tired now and needs to face jet lag."

The absence of South Korea's main players from training also caused on-site media reporters to speculate on the South Korean team's formation in the final round of the group stage. Its "main rest" statement is doubtful.

After the two rounds of the group stage, the Huaguo team temporarily led the South Korean team and ranked first in Group C by virtue of the advantage of goal difference, which means that the Chinese team only needs a draw to ensure the top spot in the group.

Prior to this, both the coach Lippi of the Chinese team and the coach Bento of the South Korean team have publicly stated that they will arrange some substitutes to come on stage in the Chinese and Korean games, and at the same time let the main players and injured players get a rest.

But in football competitions, various technical and tactical arrangements are false and real.Until the last moment, I'm afraid no one will reveal their true face.

Will the South Korean team fight hard against the Chinese team or go through the motions?Looking at Bento's cautious attitude in leading the training, the answer may be self-evident.

And when Sun Xingmin arrived at the Korean team's residence at the Ronata Hotel in Abu Dhabi at around 14 noon on the 12th, the AFC posted a newsletter about Sun Xingmin on the headline of its official website, saying that with the arrival of Sun Xingmin in Abu Dhabi, The South Korean team got the main driving force to compete for this Asian Cup:

"Son Xingmin is the biggest support for the South Korean team to win the Asian Cup again after winning the championship for the first time in 1960."

Some Korean media colleagues also frankly stated that the head coach Bento is indeed in a dilemma on whether to arrange for Sun Xingmin to play.

In order to win the championship, the South Korean team has recruited famous players including Sun Xingmin and Ki Sung-yong. If the team has a result that is not conducive to the team's competition due to "strategic mistakes" in the group stage, it will inevitably be criticized by all walks of life in the country.

Kim Min-soo revealed that the coaching staff collectively watched the Premier League live broadcast between Tottenham and Manchester United. Sun Xingmin did not score a goal, but he still tried his best. Therefore, Bento may not rashly use the "No. 7" player.

The only thing that is certain is that the Hua Guo team's lineup and formation design will not only revolve around "marking Sun Xingmin".

If the UAE team finally wins the group title, the Chinese team will not encounter the host team regardless of their record with the South Korean team.

Therefore, for now, the team should not be entangled in the complicated knockout matchup situation, but should be down-to-earth and step-by-step.

At this moment, the Huaguo team is "sitting on the sidelines" in the group competition, and only needs to throw the "burden" to the South Korean team, and at the same time keep an eye on whether there will be "abnormal results" in the relevant group matches, such as last year's Asian Games group match Some teams "deliberately lost" happened in the final round.

The Huaguo team is no longer the big team in the past, so the Korean media is also not confident about the upcoming group match against the Huaguo team, so they have to remind Sun Xingmin to be careful of the "Shaolin football" of the Huaguo team.

Korean media said that if Sun Xingmin played in the group match against the Chinese team, it would be equivalent to two high-intensity matches within 70 hours.

"Although coach Paulo Bento has his own considerations for the team to win the championship, I personally think that it is better not to arrange for Sun Xingmin to play in this group match. Although Sun Xingmin is in good condition, it is very easy to get injured when he is fatigued."

As a supporting argument, Korean media specifically pointed out that Huaguo football is "Shaolin football", and tackles can be said to threaten the lives of players, so they are notorious.

Therefore, the Korean media suggested that Sun Xingmin should be placed on the bench in this game and used with caution.

As long as Sun Xingmin moves his body a little on the bench, the Huaguo team will be nervous, and the minds of the head coach Lippi and the Huaguo players will be very complicated.

Regardless of whether Sun Xingmin played or not, teammates said: "Son Xingmin is back, the opponent will be afraid", "Son Xingmin has given the team strength" and so on.

Korean media also stated that although the Korean team's pre-match training is not open to the public, China's CCTV has used advanced cameras to shoot and report the training video, and has already launched an intelligence war.

It has to be said that the imagination of the Koreans is extraordinary, but the starting list announced by the Chinese team at the pre-match press conference on January 1 slapped the Korean media hard.

Hua Guo captain Zheng Zhi and head coach Lippi attended together, which also means that he will continue to start tomorrow. The national football captain first expressed his position on behalf of the team:
"Tomorrow's game will start from the first minute. We will go all out to fight and control the rhythm of the game in our own hands."

After that, Lippi announced the 11-man starting list of the Hua Guo team for the game. Zhang Mai and Zhang Yulin were not among them, and they didn't even make the bench.

(End of this chapter)