Ultimate Demon Sword

Chapter 251 The old enemy
Since creating a miracle in the top [-] and returning to the World Cup, the national football team, which was popular in the past, has once again become everyone's sweet pastry.Many cities rushed to host the second China Cup this year.Not only the blessed places of the national team such as Xi'an and Changsha, but even BJ Shanghai Guangzhou, who has never been interested in the national team, joined the competition.In the end, it will be held in Nanning, Guangxi, just like the first one last year.

As the match day approached, the competition venue Nanning Olympic Sports Center and the Marriott Hotel where the national team stayed were filled with a strong competition atmosphere.

Even in a city where the national team does not frequent, the current popularity of the national team can be felt.The national team took over the two floors of the hotel, and many local fans found out where the national team was staying. They opened a room downstairs for the national team and stood guard at the entrance of the restaurant every morning—it was convenient to ask for autographs.

Of course, such infatuated fans will definitely be rewarded, not only getting the signed jerseys of returned players such as Wen Zhihao and Liang Xin that he most wanted.Under Wen Zhihao's proposal, this young fan in his early twenties also got a football signed by all the members of the national team.

What touched Wen Zhihao even more was that after the fan took over the football, he said: "I can brag about this for the rest of my life!"

The satisfied smile on his face proved that he was speaking the truth, but because of this, Wen Zhihao was even more uneasy.

When he was a child, he often heard that his father hated the national team.When I first came into contact with football, any news about the national team was accompanied by scolding from everyone.For example, "Even Thailand can lose 1:5, and then they should lose to Myanmar and Vietnam", etc. Wen Zhihao didn't understand at that time.Anyway, it is your own national team, must it be so harsh?Why is this so?
Now that he was in it, he realized that it was really just that he didn't do well enough, and the fans really didn't have high expectations.

This scene is just a small microcosm. In order to maintain the positive image of the national team in the hearts of the fans, the World Cup in a few months cannot end as tragically as it did in 2002.

And now every point of preparation, every game, must let everyone feel that the national team is improving and changing all the time.

……

In the second China Cup, the other three teams that came to China to compete with the Chinese team made temporary changes.

The original three opponents were originally the two European teams Wales, the Czech Republic, and the South American powerhouse Uruguay.But as the Chinese team's grouping in the World Cup came out.The Chinese Football Association made an urgent decision to reshuffle the already finalized participating teams according to the different styles of the three opponents in the group stage.

After some twists and turns, the three teams finally determined to participate in this China Cup are Japan, Denmark and France.

The three teams simulated the three opponents of the Chinese team in Group F of the World Cup.

Mexico, a strong team in North America, has a short stature and a technical style of play, with excellent personal ability and team control. Among Asian teams, Japan has a similar style.In fact, there is a more ideal team in Europe, Spain, but the Matador Legion is unwilling to travel thousands of miles to China during the short international match day.The Chinese Football Association can only take the next best thing and invite its Asian neighbors.The latest FIFA ranking of the Japanese team is 57th. For the benefit of the national team, the founding purpose of the China Cup "inviting the top [-] teams in the world to participate" was also made an exception by the Football Association.

As for Denmark, it is an imaginary enemy set up to deal with Viking Sweden.

The third opponent is the French team. In terms of overall strength, the national team basically has no chance of winning.The biggest purpose is to let the team adapt to the continuous bombing in high confrontation situations in advance.Facing Germany in the group stage, this should be an inevitable scene.

After changing the opponent, the quality of the China Cup is significantly higher. The three opponents are all top 32 in the World Cup in Russia.It is rare for the Football Association's temporary initiative to not be sprayed as "tossing around", but instead received a lot of likes.

"There is really hope for Chinese football. The performance of the national team has improved. Even the Football Association has started to stop shouting slogans and do practical things!"

"I just became a father yesterday. I hope the Football Association can do more practical things like this. If the environment is better in two years, I will also consider sending my son to play football."

……

According to the schedule re-determined by the organizing committee, the first opponent of the Chinese team will be the Japanese team.

Although Japan is not the strongest among these three opponents.But the appeal and attention of the fans is unprecedentedly hot.After all, this is a Sino-Japanese confrontation.The grievances between the two sides are not limited to football.

But judging from the historical confrontation on the football field alone, China and Japan are also old enemies.

It is very difficult for the current national team to win against Japan, but in the childhood of fans born in the [-]s, the national team also had a glorious era when they could rub Japan on the turf at will.

Before the 90s, the only Chinese team that could be called an opponent in Asia was Saudi Arabia in West Asia. At that time, it was easy and enjoyable to win against Japan. In 1988, the Olympic team led by Gao Fengwen was able to enter the Seoul Olympics for the first time. The final game was a 2-0 victory over Japan in Tokyo away.

It was that game that gradually woke up the Japanese football world.Being defeated by China at home made the Japanese football world lose face.Began to seek professional reforms and a way out for Japanese football.

Also in that year, Kawabuchi Saburo, known as the godfather of Japanese football, became the chairman of the Japanese Football Association. From the early 90s, the reform of Japanese football began to accelerate.

In 1991, the "Centennial Plan" to revitalize Japanese football was introduced.Until now, the development path of Japanese football has been steadily moving forward step by step along this path.

Two years later, Saburo Kawabuchi set about establishing Japan's own domestic league.The initial approach is similar to the current Chinese Super League, attracting big-name players to increase the attention of the league.Brazilian superstars Zico and Romario went to Japan to pan for gold.

But the Japanese did more than us. The most important point is that they did not just pursue momentary eyeballs and applause, but began to establish their own youth training system, learning the most advanced samba style of international football at that time.

In contrast, although we have been shouting the slogan "Football starts with babies" for almost 30 years, in the 90s, we gradually began to take detours.Especially after the professionalization of football, the youth training system based on professional teams collapsed, and the training of reserve talents has been in a state of unfinished state.Started lagging behind Japan on a fundamental basis.

The gap in youth training gradually widened, and the direct result was that starting from the 90s, the confrontation at the national team level, and the relationship between the victory and defeat of the old enemies of China and Japan began to be completely reversed.

Now, the national team has been invincible against Japan for 20 years.The last time they won was in 1998.

The 30-year-old Korean-phobia was finally cured, and the 20-year-old Japanese-phobia also needs an opportunity to break through.

If it was in the past, relying on these international players who played in the Super League to defeat Japan, everyone basically had no hope.In the East Asian Cup at the end of last year, the most recent match between the two sides was also the second team lineup, and the Chinese team lost 1:2.

But this time with two overseas returnees, as well as Liu Ruofan, who is just as talented as a newborn calf, everyone began to have some expectations. The national team may have a chance this time...

(End of this chapter)