Chapter 217: Second Match, China VS Brazil
"Coach Zhu, how do you evaluate this victory?"
"Ecuador is a participating team in this World Cup. Does winning this game mean that the Chinese national football team has the ability to enter the World Cup?"
"Many fans are praising your performance since you took over the national football team. Many fans even think that if the national team had chosen you as the head coach earlier, perhaps the Chinese team would not have missed this World Cup. What do you think about this?"
"The next opponent of the Chinese national football team is Brazil. Are you confident about the next game?"
At the post-match press conference, Zhu Guanghu was almost overwhelmed by a large number of reporters' questions.
The reporters' questions were varied, but most of them were related to the World Cup.
There are only about ten days left before the World Cup kicks off. At this juncture, the victory of the Chinese national football team has further stimulated the fans.
Chinese fans were already very sorry that the national football team could not participate in this World Cup. Now that they saw the national football team defeat a strong team like Ecuador, which is a World Cup finals team, their regret was even stronger.
Without Ecuador as a reference, fans of the Chinese national football team still don’t know how far the Chinese team is from the World Cup.
But after using this game as a reference, they realized that the strength of the Chinese national football team has actually reached the qualifying level for participating in the World Cup.
But unfortunately, the World Cup qualifiers have long passed. Even if the Chinese national football team is strong enough now, there is no way to turn back time and go back to play in the World Cup qualifiers.
"Oh, it's a bit maddening to think that we have to wait another four years!"
"Who says it's not true? The better the Chinese national football team performs in the warm-up matches, the more curious I am about how far they can go in the World Cup. If they can participate in the World Cup, perhaps we can achieve our first World Cup breakthrough!"
"It's all because of these guys' poor performance. If they had scored a few more goals against Hong Kong, there wouldn't be so many problems!"
When talking about the Chinese national football team's World Cup qualifiers, fans get furious.
Obviously, there are no particularly strong opponents in the group, but the Chinese national football team always habitually fails to perform well, gradually forcing itself into a desperate situation, and then sitting and waiting to die.
When they pushed themselves to death and had no hope of making the World Cup, the Chinese national football team rebounded and performed better and better.
The fans are so pissed off. If your performance in the World Cup qualifiers had been half as good as it is now, the Chinese team would not have become spectators at the World Cup in Germany.
"We can only wait. We can't ask FIFA to give the Chinese national team a backdoor. This is unrealistic!"
"It's so frustrating waiting. We don't know whether the Chinese national football team will become stronger or weaker in four years. If it becomes weaker again and we can't make it to the World Cup, won't we be at a loss again?"
Ultimately, the Chinese national football team is not strong enough and its performance is not stable enough, which makes the majority of fans feel insecure.
If the Chinese national football team could qualify for the World Cup continuously and stably like Japan and South Korea, fans would not have to be so worried.
"They should have become stronger. Lin Feng, Chen Tao, Gao Lin, Feng Xiaoting and the others, in four years, most of them will be over 23 years old, and their overall strength will definitely be stronger!"
"But by 2010, all the veterans from 02 will have retired, including Sun Jihai, Xie Hui, Zhao Junzhe, Li Weifeng and others. It's hard to say whether the team has become stronger or weaker."
Although the Chinese national football team that participated in the 02 World Cup did not achieve any results in the World Cup, the strength of this generation of players was still recognized by the majority of fans.
As the last rays of the Workers' Stadium generation, these veteran players were carefully selected from among the vast sports teams.
The 85 golden generation represented by Lin Feng and others mostly came from various youth training institutions and was no longer a pure sports school model.
It is still difficult to tell which of the two models is better.
Although there are talented players like Lin Feng and Chen Tao in the 85 golden generation, the number of players and the selection range of this group are actually narrower.
Moreover, affected by the collapse of youth training, the source of players for subsequent generations will be even smaller, which means that the Chinese national football team may face the dilemma of having no one available in the future.
Although the higher-ups have noticed this and started to deal with issues related to youth training, the impact of the 93 Hongshankou Conference has already spread.
Therefore, in the next few years, the Chinese national football team may no longer be getting stronger than the previous generation, but rather getting worse than the previous generation.
Before the youth training is rectified, the 85 generation represented by Lin Feng and others will be the peak of the Chinese national football team in the next decade or so.
If the old players retire and their generation is unable to carry the responsibility, then the Chinese national football team won't have to think about the World Cup for a long time in the future. After all, if they can't even get in with the golden generation of 85, what's the point of expecting those rotten fish and shrimp that come after them?
"Why worry so much? When the Olympics start in two years, we will know whether the young players can take on the responsibility!"
If the 2010 World Cup was the ultimate test for the Chinese national football team, then the 2008 Beijing Olympics was the final examination for young players like Lin Feng.
In the absence of the participation of veteran players, whether they can rely on their own strength to achieve good results in the Olympics held in their home country will directly determine whether they can take on the responsibility of the national team after the departure of the veteran players.
But for them now, it's too early.
……
After defeating Ecuador, the Chinese national football team was given two days of rest.
The next match is scheduled for May 5th, against Brazil.
Although the opponents in the next round are very strong, the mentality of the Chinese national football team is very relaxed.
For most players, there is no pressure when playing against a strong team like Brazil.
After all, there is a huge gap in strength between the two sides, and it goes without saying that they will definitely lose.
Since they can't win, there is nothing to worry about. The fans won't blame them if they lose anyway.
The fans can't expect them to create a miracle and defeat the Brazilian team, right?
If the Chinese national football team had this strength, they would have participated in the World Cup long ago. Why are they still playing warm-up matches here?
However, not everyone is free from pressure. Zhao Junzhe, who hit the Brazilian team's post in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea four years ago, has been secretly practicing shooting these days.
If he has another chance to score in the next game, he will never let the opportunity slip away.
Except for Zhao Junzhe, the focus of training for other members of the national football team during this period has been on defense.
Although we don’t really care about winning or losing the game, we still have to do basic defensive work.
Otherwise, it would be hard to explain if we were humiliated by the Brazilian team with a big score.
Before the game, many fans felt that the Chinese national team would definitely lose, but not by too much.
Considering that the score of the last match between the two sides was 0:4, this time it will be considered a success as long as the loss can be within 0:3.
"Can the Chinese national team's defense stop Brazil's attack? Brazil's front-line attacking lineup looks a bit scary!"
In this World Cup, Brazil's forward line is still the 3R combination, Ronaldinho and Ronaldinho are still in the lineup, Rivaldo has been replaced by Robinho, and Lin Feng's teammate Adriano has also been selected for the Brazilian team's roster.
In addition to these top strikers, behind them, Kaka, who is 24 years old and in his prime, is also a terrifying presence. It can even be said that in this lineup of the Brazilian team, Kaka is more threatening than Ronaldo.
"What are you thinking? They are definitely unstoppable. Let alone the Chinese national football team, even if it's the favorites to win the World Cup, how many of them dare to pat their chests and guarantee that they can definitely stop the Brazilian team's attack?"
"The Brazilian team is too strong. If we lose this game, I promise not to curse the Chinese national team!"
……
"Lin, are you here to participate in the World Cup as well?"
Before the game, when the players of the two teams were in the player tunnel, Lin Feng saw Adriano, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
Although Ade's relationship with the club was very strained, his attitude towards Lin Feng was still very friendly and he always regarded him as his best friend.
"I also want to participate in the World Cup, but we didn't make it past the World Cup qualifiers. This time I'm here to be your sparring partner and warm you up!!"
"I see. Don't worry, I will carry your faith with me as we move forward!"
Ade said confidently. Not only him, but other players in the Brazilian team had the same expression on their faces, all filled with confidence and composure.
As the defending champions, they have a proud heritage, which is the source of their confidence.
When Lin Feng was with Ade for a long time, Kaka looked at him intentionally or unintentionally.
After noticing Kaka's gaze, Lin Feng turned his head to look at him. Kaka met his gaze with a fighting spirit in his eyes.
Lin Feng was speechless. This guy's desire to win was really strong!
It’s just a double defeat against AC Milan, is there any need to hold such a grudge?
However, he did not accept Kaka's invitation to play in the national team.
After all, the teammates on both sides are not at the same level at all. If you accept this kind of invitation, wouldn't you be asking for trouble?
Since the Brazilian team took the initiative to invite the team to this match, Pereira did not hide too many main players when arranging the lineup.
Except for a small number of main players who were not arranged to start for various reasons, all other players appeared on the field, and the Brazilian team adopted the posture of a lion fighting a rabbit.
With the referee's whistle, the game officially started.
The Brazilian team did not bother to test the strength of the Chinese national team and launched a fierce attack right after the opening.
In the 2nd minute, Brazil attacked on the right side. Ronaldinho broke free and made a wonderful pass. Ade broke into the penalty area and shot a powerful shot, causing the goalkeeper to lose the ball. Fortunately, the Chinese national team defender was focused and cleared the ball out of the baseline in time.
The Brazilian team took a corner kick, but the first point was blocked by Li Weifeng.
But the ball still fell into the feet of the Brazilian players. After Carlos got the ball on the left, he had no time to adjust and shot directly with his right foot, but unfortunately the ball went over the crossbar.
The kick was somewhat random. In fact, it would have been better if he had adjusted it or passed it again, because Ronaldo's space in the middle of the penalty area was empty.
Although the Brazilian team's attack was very threatening, the Chinese national team did not retreat into defense.
Once they have the opportunity, they will try to launch a counterattack.
In the 9th minute, Lin Feng and Zheng Zhi, who had retreated to defend, cooperated and successfully stole the ball from Roberto's feet.
After stealing the ball, Lin Feng quickly transferred the ball to the right wing, and the Chinese national team launched a quick attack from the wing.
Seeing the Chinese national team attack boldly, the fans who came to the scene to cheer for the national team immediately began to cheer and build momentum for the national team's attack.
Although the fans also felt that the Chinese national team was bound to lose, they would be satisfied with the game if they could score a goal against the Brazilian team in the attack.
But how easy is it for the Brazilian team to score?
The Chinese national team's counterattack reached the front court, but was intercepted by the opponent before it could even shoot.
After completing the counter-attack, the Brazilian team also launched a quick counterattack, quickly going down the wing from which the Chinese national team had just launched the attack.
Ronaldinho drove straight into the left and no one could stop him.
The Chinese national team players did not dare to get too close for fear of being overtaken, but if they did not get too close, they would not be able to completely restrict Ronaldinho's performance.
Just as he was hesitating, Ronaldinho passed the ball.
Adriano cleverly kicked the ball back with his heel, a yellow figure rushed out, and with a bang, the football flew towards the goal.
Li Leilei jumped high but did not touch the ball, and Kaka's shot was slightly higher than the crossbar.
The Brazilian team's offensive coordination was very good this time. It was not only full of imagination, but also had great tacit understanding between the players.
Although no goals were scored, the effect was achieved. The Chinese national team's defense seemed to be at a loss when facing the Brazilian team's attack.
"This ball is very dangerous. Kaka's shot didn't have the right angle. If the angle was a little lower, the Chinese national team's goal would have been breached!"
"Today, it seems that Pereira did not put his hopes on Ronaldo and Adriano in the penalty area. Instead, he gave the offensive responsibility to Ronaldinho and Kaka, especially Kaka. His shots from behind are very threatening. The Chinese national team must be vigilant and cannot ignore his threat anymore!"
Although Zhu Guanghu did not hear the commentator's words, he did not relax his defense against Kaka from the beginning.
But sometimes you know what he is going to do, but you can't defend against it.
The Brazilian team's frontcourt players are too strong. The Chinese national team has to try their best to limit them when defending, and they may not be able to do so. In this case, they really have no energy to care about Kaka.
After all, the Brazilian team has too many attacking points. The weaker team needs to use the advantage of numbers to defend, but the opponent has more points to attack, so there is really nothing they can do in this situation.
But fortunately, the Chinese national football team had good luck, at least they didn’t lose the ball!
In the 15th minute, Brazil's attack came back again.
This time it was the bicycle prince Robinho who used continuous bicycle kicks to get past the defender, and then made a cross over Adriano's head.
Although Ade's header was punched out by the Chinese national team's goalkeeper, after the ball landed outside the penalty area, Carlos met the ball with a powerful long shot from 35 meters away.
As expected of a guy who often kicks powerful shots, this ball was hit with great power and the angle was not off.
Fortunately, the Chinese national team goalkeeper Li Leilei reacted very quickly and made a second save, tipping the ball over the crossbar with one hand.
Carlos' shot was beautiful and Li Leilei's save was equally brilliant.
(End of this chapter)
