long live football

Goodbye, Beijing.Hello, Shanghai.

After the match against Beijing Guoan, 1860 Munich stayed in the hotel for another night. After the physical training the next morning, they went directly to the airport to take a special plane to Shanghai.

After more than two years of investigation, Aston Martin decided to enter the Chinese market for the first time since its establishment 94 years ago. A world-class sports car brand said it would enter a country’s luxury car market. A series of warm-ups and promotions have reached the point where the Aston Martin brand is well known to Chinese car lovers before the official sales start.

The most common means of publicity for auto brands is to hold auto shows, which can not only attract the rich and car enthusiasts, but also attract the media, earning both popularity and word-of-mouth.

Aston Martin chose Shanghai Xintiandi as its first showroom in China. Along with five new sports cars, all members of the Munich 1860 club were present at the auto show.

Aston Martin is not the biggest sponsor of 1860 Munich, and the lions were not included in their initial publicity plan.But just as the century-old British luxury car company was gradually entering the Chinese market, the Munich 1860 China Tour was launched.

Just like Beckham can no longer be called a pure football star, the sensation caused by 1860 Munich in China did not only happen among the fans, but also attracted wide attention in the whole society. Aston Martin, they urgently contacted Auer, the chairman of the club as far away as Munich, and proposed that Munich 1860 postpone the plan to return to China and offer a one-day stand for the Aston Martin Motor Show. In return, Aston Martin will start from This season began to increase their sponsorship of the Lions.

Orr would certainly not refuse this kind of good thing that came to his door.

For the team, returning to China one day earlier or later has little impact on training, so this unplanned platform cheering event took place.

……

With the arrival of Munich 1860, most of China's sports media and a considerable number of entertainment media also came.

In addition to reporters, there are also many fans, fans, car fans, and onlookers watching the excitement.

The Xintiandi Convention and Exhibition Hall was almost overwhelmed by enthusiastic crowds.

The organizer of the auto show was grinning at the beginning, and then wanted to cry: The exhibition hall is already so full, why are people still entering the entrance?There is almost no room in the hall!With so many people crowded around each other, can they only see the top of each other, can they still see the car?And there are so many people here... It seems that there is a rhythm of trouble!

Ask again: there are still many people stuck in the elevator, stairs, lobby on the first floor and the road!

The organizer didn't dare to delay any longer, and immediately contacted the police for support.

The nearby police force arrived within 10 minutes. With the help of the police to maintain order, the crowded crowd was finally not so large, and the noise was much quieter.

At the opening ceremony of the Aston Martin showroom held later, Huang Jianxiang, a famous football commentator who came to play a guest host, held a microphone and joked: "Today is obviously an auto show, but I think many people are not here to see cars. of."

The crowd laughed in unison.

After the ribbon-cutting, there was a media interview session. Although today's theme is the auto show, most of the sports media came to the scene, so many of the questions asked by the reporters were related to football.

Among the two issues that attracted the most attention, one came from "Sports Weekly" and the other from CCTV.

"Sports Weekly" reporter Sun Dawei asked Beckham with great anticipation: "The Chinese Super League is in a booming period of development, and it is very necessary for big-name players to join in to improve the image of the league, just like what the American Major League is doing now. Do you think it is possible for a star like you to join the Chinese Super League?"

Beckham would like to answer "no", because he has already agreed with his wife that if he wants to retire in a lower league in the future, he will go to the American Major League.But the look of expectation in the Chinese reporter's eyes was so obvious that Beckham couldn't bear to say no, so he smiled and said: "Everything is possible in the future. I like China very much and I also like to cooperate with Chinese people." , but where I will play football in the future is not something that I can decide alone, I also need to refer to the opinions of my family.”

With "Sports Weekly" as the beginning, the CCTV reporter's question was more direct and sharp: "Mr. Alston, is it possible for you to come to China to work in the future?"

When this question came out, everyone was taken aback.

Karl did not expect that he would be asked this question by the Chinese media, but other people in the field immediately thought of other places: CCTV reporters asked European coaches if they would like to work in China. Could it be that the higher authorities want to reuse foreign coaches again?For what, next year's Olympics? 10 years of the World Cup?

Although Chinese football is getting worse and worse, fans still hope that the national team can kill all sides in the competition.

Especially next year's Beijing Olympics, which is a grand event that more than one billion Chinese people have been looking forward to for several years-we can't play against those football powerhouses in the World Cup, but the Olympic football match held at our doorstep will always be competitive, right?

In particular, the Olympic team (the team participating in the Olympic Games) has a special rule: in principle, the age of players must not exceed 23 years old. During the Olympic Games, each team can send up to 3 overage players.Therefore, although many countries have many famous stars, they cannot appear in the Olympic Games because of their age. This gives weak football countries a good opportunity to compete for honor.

The Chinese Olympic team has attracted much attention since its establishment. Fans have high hopes for them, and hope that the Olympic team can win the country's first Olympic football medal.

However, since the beginning of the year, the Olympic team has been exposed to many scandals. First, some people were arrested for prostitution, and then some players claimed to have taken drugs, as well as gambling, fighting, and even gossip. With huge bribes, the selection of the Olympic team players is not based on strength at all, but on the comparison of relationships and red envelopes.

In such a gloomy atmosphere, people can't help but start to think about changes—Chinese football has a tradition of blaming the coach for poor team performance—then the Olympic team has such a bad atmosphere and such poor results, is it enough to change a good coach? ?

So people think of foreign coaches and the beautiful past brought to them by foreign coaches.

For example, Milu, who brought the Chinese team to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea in 02.

Although the two hosts are the biggest contributors to the Japanese and Korean World Cup Chinese team reaching the finals, Milu's achievements cannot be obliterated.

A Milu who is not well-known in Europe can bring the Chinese team to the World Cup, so what if another famous European coach comes?Isn't the performance of the Chinese team better?

That's why the CCTV reporter asked this question.

"I like China, but I really have no plan to work in China in recent years." Carl's answer was not as gentle as Beckham's. As for the coaches, I think changing the coach will improve the performance of the team, but in fact, changing the coach is only a way to treat the symptoms, not the root cause, and maybe even the symptoms cannot be cured.”

This is so straightforward that almost a Chinese can recognize which team the "many teams" refers to.

Chinese fans have more or less said similar things on the Internet, but this is the first time such remarks have been uttered by a foreign coach.

Is it because Karl Alston knows Chinese football too well, or is it that the reputation of Chinese football is so bad that it has spread to Europe?

Thinking of the fight between the Chinese Olympic team and the British Championship team Queens Park Rangers in the UK at the beginning of this year, many people's faces inevitably became heavy.

Face has always been the most important thing for Chinese people.

The CCTV reporter who asked the question also had an embarrassing expression, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

"Although I don't have the idea of ​​working in China for the time being, I really want to buy real estate in China. There are so many scenic spots and delicious food here. It's good to live here for a few months every year as a vacation." Carl seemed to have no idea Seeing the other party's embarrassed expression, he continued the conversation on his own.

As a result, the reporters from the food country quickly started a heated question on the topic of food, and then the topic was cleverly guided back to today's auto show.

The person in charge of Aston Martin Asia looked at everything in front of him with satisfaction, and the interpreter repeated the host's words in his ear, and identified the signs of the various media present for him: All sports media worthy of the name would send someone Here, there are well-known comprehensive media and online media, and some microphones even have the logos of several large TV stations printed on them.

It is conceivable that tomorrow, not only the automotive media will report on this auto show, but also the sports news, entertainment news, and even the evening news of local TV stations, the names of Aston Martin and Munich 1860 may appear.

Aston Martin tested the water for the first time in the mainland and has already left a deep impression on the Chinese market.

……

Munich 1860’s trip to China lasted six days in total. One day was the game against Beijing Guoan, one day was for the Aston Martin Auto Show, and the remaining four days, the team was surrounded by various commercial activities. .

The high popularity has made many stars in the team favored by manufacturers. Collective contracts and individual contracts have come one after another. After the players return to Munich, they can calm down and settle their accounts. However, many commercial endorsements signed by the club later accounted for the bulk of the income.

High activity brings high exposure. Now, as long as you open the sports section of a news website, in addition to the transfer news on the homepage, there will be drafts of the Munich 1860 stars attending the event.

Where there are people, there is a comparison, not to mention that 1860 Munich is a team of 40 coaches and players. The popular stars and low-popular stars in the team are clearly divided.

Some fans jokingly called the seven most popular among them: three superstars and four niches, seven gourd babies together.

The three superstars refer to Carl, Beckham, and Irving, and the four juniors refer to Koch, Portillo, Ozil, and Shao Jiayi.

Of course, if fans from other countries are asked to rank, the positions will definitely be different. The "seven gourd babies" specifically refer to the most popular people of 1860 Munich in the hearts of Chinese fans.

China's Internet has developed rapidly in recent years, and Internet masters have emerged one after another. As soon as the titles of the seven gourd babies were released, someone immediately moved Karl's and their faces to the gourd babies using PS technology.

Among the seven, Ozil is the most suitable for the "cucurbit suit". His big eyes are born for two-dimensional characters.

As for Karl and Beckham, the picture after PS is a hilarious weapon, no matter who sees it, it will make their stomach hurt from laughing.

And in a domestic forum with a strange aura, a new topic was born: "I don't know if the gourd babies will turn into mutual baby when they stay in the hotel?" "...

"Behind you are two journalists in sunglasses staring at us."

"There's a guy behind you in a baseball cap with a DV on his chest, and I bet that DV is on."

When Ronaldo heard this, he chewed a few mouthfuls and swallowed the pan-fried buns, then reached out and took the handkerchief from Carl's chest, wiped his mouth full of oil, and turned back to the reporter... and smiled at the camera on his chest.

"..." Seeing that the other party handed back the oil-soaked handkerchief, Karl broke out in cleanliness and waved his hand: "I'll see you off."

Ronaldo wiped his mouth a few more times, stood up, and kicked the handkerchief into his trouser pocket: "Let's go."

"I am full?"

"No." Ronaldo: "Where are dumplings with soup? I want to eat that."

"...that's wonton stew."

Ronaldo selectively ignored Carl's words and continued to express his emotion: "Isn't it just dumplings, there are steamed, boiled, fried, with soup, without soup, sweet and salty, neither sweet nor salty, meat stuffed dumplings What's on the inside and what's on the outside...it's so complicated."

"Dozens of snacks in China have been brought by you with a word of dumplings."

"Aren't they dumplings?"

"Of course not all dumplings." Carl said to him as he walked: "In Chinese snacks, rice noodles and fillings can be combined to make hundreds of combinations. How many have you eaten so far? Even wonton stew and dumplings For those who don’t know the difference, when you see the glutinous rice balls, don’t you want to shout out, ‘This dumpling is actually round!’?”

"Hmm." After a few seconds, Ronaldo couldn't help asking: "Are there really round dumplings? Round ones?"

Karl didn't speak, he just led the way.

The reporters who followed followed the two of them.

Probably because of the weekend, there were a lot of people shopping. If it wasn't for the fact that Ronaldo's beautiful Tiaoshun was so easy to find, maybe Carl could have lost him by walking a few steps slowly.

Ronaldo suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Carl looked around, only to find a stall selling fried stinky tofu.

His complexion immediately became weird: "The last time I saw you selling stinky tofu, you didn't taste it, and you said that you felt uncomfortable when you smelled it. I ate a bunch of tofu and you didn't talk to me face to face all afternoon. Why do you change now?" Got an idea?"

Ronaldo looked to the side, and smelled the smell of windward smell, and immediately jumped a few meters away.

Carl followed: "If you don't want to eat, what do you stop and do?"

"Lost."

Carl visually checked the distance between the two, and it was less than three meters away: "I didn't lose track."

"I'm not talking about us, it's the reporter who got lost."

Carl turned around and searched in the crowd, but he did not see the figures in sunglasses and baseball caps.

"Throw it away." Carl laughed at him: "At least you don't have to worry about being taken ugly photos when you eat a mouthful of oil."

Ronaldo was sick.

"what happened?"

"I also thought that if they could follow us to the entrance of the hotel, I would give each of them an autographed photo."

"If you really want to give it away." Carl raised his chin around: "There are many people who want it."

Ronaldo looked around and was taken aback.

The young people passing by, regardless of gender, raised their mobile phones intentionally or unintentionally, and pointed the camera at them.

There are also a few female students who are staring at Ronaldo like a wolf and a tiger.

Ronaldo shuddered involuntarily, turned to look for Karl, but found that the other party had walked ten meters away, so he quickly chased after him.

It wasn't until he stood next to Carl and saw the other party's calm expression that he felt relieved: Even if there are fans rushing over regardless, with Carl around, I will not be the only one who suffers.

……

Every summer, European football will stage the annual drama: player transfers.

As the winner of the "Little Triple Crown" last season, many players of 1860 Munich have been coveted and paid attention to by other teams.

As early as June, Karl figured out which players needed to renew their contracts and which players' contracts needed further modification, and then wrote a report and submitted it to the board of directors.

But the board of directors did not give an approval until July. Instead, after the transfer window opened, they asked him several times whether a certain player's position in the team was important and whether he would be reused next season.

For Carl, this was a red flag, so he went straight to the club chairman.

Orr said: "The board of directors values ​​your ability to train new players, so they want to sell a few players that the team doesn't need next season, and then promote some fresh blood from the youth team."

Carl laughed angrily: "Do they know that the team's goal next season is the Champions League?" I really thought he was a god, who could train several young players under the age of 20 into stars while allowing the team to adapt to the new lineup , while killing gods and Buddhas in the Champions League?

"I know, I know. But it's not that you are not allowed to buy people. If you buy and sell, you can transfer." Orr is also very embarrassed: "They want to sell Ozil and Dzeko. Real Madrid and Manchester City have already made offers. , I disagree, but as the chairman, sometimes I have to consider the club's profit, and I cannot always oppose the proposals of the directors."

The club's profits have gradually increased in the past few years, and last season's profits were able to pay off one-third of the loan at the Allianz Stadium in one go. These people are crazy just wanting to get rich overnight.Although he was sarcasm in his heart, Carl said lightly on his face: "Then, I will resubmit a plan for next season to the board of directors."

Three days later, he really submitted a plan to the board of directors. The plan only involved player transfers. Karl put all the important players of the first team in the plan, and pointed out: If the player is sold Players need to be supplemented by buying someone from a certain team.

He opened his mouth like a lion, and the players he planned to buy were all expensive transfer fees, and the players themselves had high requirements for annual salary.

The board of directors has done the math. They can certainly sell a few players in the team, but if they quote for new aid according to Carl's request, they will spend more money than they earn back. This, this is not Do you want to lose?

The directors protested strongly to the chairman.

Orr said helplessly: "You said that you want to sell people, and then asked me to do the work of Auston. I have already done the work, and he also agreed to sell people. But the team has to add new players after selling people. That's right? Auston wants to buy more expensive players, which is also his right as the head coach. You can choose to agree or disagree with his plan, and it is useless to protest with me."

So Munich 1860 finally decided to reluctantly reject the offers from Real Madrid and Manchester City.

Many people hated Karl because of this, but the team couldn't do without Karl, so these people could only secretly hurt themselves.

The attitude of the club's top management towards him has become much weirder than before. Karl is not unaware of this, but he doesn't care at all.

As long as Orr still sits as the chairman of the club for a day, he doesn't have to worry about someone playing tricks behind his back.

The hidden dangers of the team were eliminated, and Carl began to devote himself to the inspection of new aid and the construction of the team for the new season.

Flipping through the information constantly fed back by the club's scouts from all over the world, Karl has not yet made a move in the transfer market, but someone has already approached him and sold himself to him.