Chapter 222 China vs France, Cisse breaks his leg, Zidane misses a penalty
Koreans paid more attention to this game than expected. After the game, the news that the Chinese team tied the Swiss team 3:3 immediately appeared on the Korean Internet and newspapers.
Many Korean fans were immediately filled with contempt when they learned that the Swiss team couldn't even beat the Chinese team, which they all looked down upon.
"Is the Swiss team so weak? They can't even beat the Chinese team. How can they challenge the South Korean team, which is one of the top four teams in the World Cup?"
The fans of the great nation of the universe boast that they are one of the top four teams in the World Cup and do not take the Swiss team seriously at all. Some arrogant people even look down on the French team:
"The Swiss team is exaggerating, and the French team may also be strong on the outside but weak on the inside. In the last World Cup, the French team didn't even qualify from the group stage, creating the worst performance of the defending champion in the World Cup. Now four years have passed, and the French team's lineup is four years older. Its combat effectiveness will only decline more than before. It is impossible for them to become stronger. It's their bad luck to meet us!"
"I think the goal we set before was too conservative. Since the Swiss team is so weak, we shouldn't just think about qualifying from the group. We should set getting first place in the group as our goal!"
"Haha, we were in the semi-finals in the last World Cup, let's try to make it to the finals this time!"
The Koreans were full of confidence. It just so happened that the Chinese national team's next warm-up match opponent, France, was still in the same group as the Korean team, so this game once again received widespread attention from Koreans.
They also want to know if the French team is really that good.
……
The match against France is the last of the Chinese national football team's World Cup friendly matches, scheduled for June 6, the day before the start of the World Cup.
Since the Chinese national football team achieved a good record of one win, one draw and one loss in the first three games, it not only fully achieved the fans' bottom line goal of "score a goal, get a point", but even made some breakthroughs.
If this were a World Cup group stage, a record of one win and one draw would likely allow us to qualify.
Therefore, the record of the Chinese national football team is actually quite good. Because of this, more and more spectators are attracted to these games. The last game between the Chinese national football team and the French team was so crowded that the streets were empty.
Of course, this is also affected to some extent by the upcoming opening of the World Cup - the Chinese national football team's last game is just one day before the opening game of the World Cup.
For fans who are eagerly awaiting the World Cup, this is their appetizer.
The Chinese national football team attaches great importance to this game. After all, it is the last one and the opponent is extremely strong. Everyone hopes to end with a good result and does not want a tragedy in the last game.
Considering that the French team's offensive strength is much stronger than that of the Swiss team, the Chinese national team did not dare to continue with the 433 formation to fight against the opponent in this game.
The French team's midfield is too strong. If the Chinese national team plays too aggressively, they will easily be taught a lesson.
Because the Chinese national team unexpectedly tied with the Swiss team, the French team became somewhat unsure about the strength of the Chinese national team.
In this game, the French team did not hold back and sent out its full main lineup including Zidane, Henry, Trezeguet, Makelele, Vieira, Thuram, Barthes, Ribery and others.
The Chinese national football team was not far behind, with all the main players who were not injured taking the field.
But when it comes to the selection of midfielders, Zhu Guanghu hesitated for a long time and finally made a replacement.
Young players Zhao Xuri and Chen Tao started the game, replacing Zhao Junzhe and Shao Jiayi.
The starting position was taken away by two young players, which made veteran players such as Zhao Junzhe feel very uncomfortable.
It can only be said that a new emperor appoints new ministers. When Zhu Guanghu first took over the national football team, he boldly used new players, and relying on these new players, he achieved results far exceeding his predecessors.
This made him trust and reuse young players more and more. In his mind, former World Cup main players may not be as good as these young people.
In fact, Lao Zhu is still pretty good. After all, he is willing to play with these old players.
People like Gao Hongbo are only willing to select players whom he trusts, who are obedient and will not go against him, and mainly young players. No matter if others are old captains or team heroes, they will not work.
The coach dislikes using players who are unmanageable and like to challenge the coach's authority, the older the players are.
Because what he needs are players who can resolutely implement his tactical ideas and not go against his will. Obedience is the main thing, and ability is secondary.
Facts have proved that Gao Hongbo's performance as a leader is not bad. Although the results of the warm-up matches are better than those of the main matches, the Chinese national football team at this stage at least had some tactical ideas of its own and a clear style of play. Unlike the Camacho era later, you didn't know what he was going to play.
From this we can see that it is not the best to choose the strongest player for every position. Instead, choosing a group of players who are not the strongest but the most suitable can achieve good results.
Zhu Guanghu is not as radical as Gao Hongbo. After all, he is older and has more experience. When he meets old players, he can use his experience to overwhelm them, so he is not so afraid of old players.
But Zhu Guanghu also found that compared with old players, young players are more malleable and obviously more obedient.
So he actually prefers young players in his heart!
In this warm-up match, he brought more than half of the old players and a small number of young players, but next year's Asian Cup will probably be the other way around, and the young players under the age of 23 may be the ones to take the lead.
This actually had signs. Zhu Guanghu had prepared for this by establishing a second vice-captain in the national football team and specifically giving this position to Lin Feng in order to increase the young players' voice and status in the team.
……
The match against France was originally scheduled to be held in Germany, but due to the proximity of the World Cup, the scheduling of the stadium and security personnel became a problem.
So after discussion, the game was finally scheduled to be held in Saint-Etienne of the French team.
As a result, the Chinese national football team had to move to France to prepare for the game.
Fortunately, Germany and France are adjacent to each other, and these two countries are not particularly large countries. It does not take much time to move between the two places. It only affects the training of the national football team and the condition of the players.
……
As usual, CCTV chose to broadcast the game, and the ratings of this live broadcast were abnormally high, far exceeding the expectations of the station.
Before the game, fans could no longer hold back and began heated discussions online and offline.
"Brothers, what time does this game start?"
"It's a 20-80 match. The Chinese national team is in good form and their offensive capabilities have improved a lot. There may be a chance for an upset!"
"I think we should give it a 90-10 chance. After all, France is a former World Cup champion and much stronger than Switzerland. Plus, France has players like Zidane. The Chinese national team may not be able to withstand the challenge if they rely on their individual abilities!"
Logically, no one should be optimistic about the Chinese national team when facing a top team like France.
After all, the strength gap between the two teams is too big, and the Chinese national team has basically no chance of winning.
But the bad thing is that the Chinese national football team played too well in the previous game, especially the feat of not giving up in the face of adversity, catching up and finally equalizing, which made many people see the never-give-up spirit of the Chinese team.
Therefore, even when facing a world-class team like France, some people are still optimistic about the Chinese national team's victory.
Of course, the fans did not hype blindly. Everyone knows that the French team is very strong. Although they think the Chinese national team has a chance of an upset, no one dares to give it too high a chance of winning.
"The French team has a very solid lineup, especially the midfield, which is good at both offense and defense. The Chinese national team may not be able to take advantage in the midfield today, and it is likely that they will not be able to organize an offense like in the last game. It should be difficult for the Chinese national team to score in this game!"
"It doesn't matter if we lose to France. Our previous record is already very good. If this is the World Cup group stage, even if we can't get first place in the group, there is still a high probability that we will be second. In this case, if we replace South Korea in Group G, we may qualify!" "In fact, we are helping the Koreans to take risks. It's really a bargain for the Koreans!"
"Haha, Koreans, don't be too happy too soon. The Chinese national football team is no longer the same as before. If they think that if the Chinese national football team can do it, they can do it too, they may end up dying ugly!"
"You're right. I think it's hard to say who will win or lose when the Chinese national football team meets the South Korean team now!"
"Besides, friendly matches are not official matches after all. Even if it is the same opponent, the attitude towards friendly matches and World Cup official matches is definitely different. So even if the Chinese national team plays another game against these opponents, it may not necessarily do better!"
……
If this game had been played in Germany, the Chinese national team's tactics would have been relatively more unrestrained.
But after arriving at the French home ground and feeling the terrifying French home atmosphere, the Chinese national team had to play more conservatively.
Unlike the previous games, French fans were very supportive of their team.
The huge stadium was packed with French fans. Less than one-tenth of the Chinese fans managed to get tickets, and they were all squeezed into a corner with a bad location.
The momentum they created was basically no match for the home team's fans, who numbered ten times their own. The cheers from the away team's fans, which could be heard in the past, completely disappeared in this game.
With tens of thousands of fans cheering on at home, the French did not hold back and launched a fierce attack on the Chinese national team as soon as the game started, without even bothering to test the defense.
The French attack was very unrestrained and smooth.
Zidane, Henry and Trezeguet took turns to attack the Chinese national team's defense line again and again.
Vieira and Makelele, two top defensive midfielders, used their excellent defense and interception time and time again to stifle the Chinese national team's attack at the initial stage, as if they had erected a wall of sighs in front of the Chinese national team.
In the first ten minutes of the game, the Chinese national team didn't even have a single shot on goal.
This has never happened in the previous games!
The pressure displayed by the French is even more terrifying than that of the defending champion Brazil.
"As expected, the French team is the favorite to win the World Cup this year. They are really strong!"
"The Chinese national football team really suffered a loss in the midfield today. Makelele is already over 30 years old, how can he still run so fast?"
"This guy is also a big shot in the Blues. Without him, Mourinho wouldn't have won two championships so easily!"
"Don't underestimate Vieira. He is not only a solid defender, but also a good attacker. He organized several counterattacks for the French team!"
"Yes, although Zidane got more shots, Vieira also played an important role behind him. After all, the French team's midfield should be the most luxurious in this World Cup, right?"
"That should be the case. I can't think of any other lineup that can surpass the French team!"
"I'm not exaggerating about this lineup. It's unlikely that any team will be able to surpass it in the next 20 years!"
As a traditional strong team, the French team has a large fan base in the country.
Seeing that the French team completely suppressed the Chinese national team, a lot of France fans suddenly emerged.
Someone couldn't bear to watch it anymore, and said faintly:
"So... if the French team is so strong, how did they fail in the group stage as the defending champions four years ago?"
As the saying goes, don't slap someone in the face when you hit someone, don't expose someone's shortcomings when you scold someone.
As soon as these words were spoken, the fans of the French team fell silent.
Just when the French team's offensive was in full swing, an unbearable scene suddenly occurred on the court.
In the tenth minute, the Chinese team's full-back dribbled the ball and was intercepted by the French team. Then the French team's forward Cisse dribbled the ball and counterattacked.
China's national team midfielder Zheng Zhi immediately stuck close to him, and during the two people's fight and physical confrontation, Cisse suddenly fell to the ground in pain, holding his left leg.
Slow-motion replay showed that Zheng Zhi accidentally kicked Cisse's right calf during the fight.
The French team's team doctor immediately came forward to check, and the result shocked everyone present - Cisse's leg was broken!
Zheng Zhi was completely confused, he really didn't mean it and he never expected that the opponent would break his leg.
The French team was also confused. The World Cup kicks off tomorrow, but we lost a key player on the first day of the World Cup?
What’s the difference between this and the general’s flag being blown down by the strong wind before the army sets out?
A very bad omen!
There were sporadic boos from French fans at the scene, but many more people were holding their heads and covering their mouths in shock, unable to believe that this was real.
The Chinese national football team was also confused. In a friendly match, they broke the leg of the opponent's main striker. Wasn't this a bad pass?
Will other teams be afraid to arrange friendly matches with the Chinese national team in the future?
Cisse's injury stopped the game for several minutes, and the game was not resumed until the 13th minute.
Perhaps due to the impact of Cisse's broken leg, the Chinese national team was even worse after the game resumed.
The players seemed to have not recovered from the incident just now, and soon they fouled Zidane in the penalty area and gave the opponent a penalty kick.
The referee showed no mercy and decisively pointed to the penalty spot.
France captain Zidane did not hold back and took the penalty kick himself.
When they saw the referee awarded a penalty, the Chinese national football team fans were collectively frustrated.
"This game is really hard to describe in words!"
"Alas, a good game was ruined by a foul!"
"I don't have the heart to watch the game now. I just want to know how serious Cisse's injury is and whether he can recover before the World Cup?"
"What are you thinking about? Big brother, your leg is broken. As the saying goes, it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. Not to mention the strenuous exercise, it will definitely take at least half a year to heal!"
"The French are now in mourning, united against a common enemy, while the Chinese national team is playing with guilt. They were not as strong as them to begin with, and now they have tied their own hands and feet. This game feels too far away!"
"Indeed, once Zidane scored the penalty, the situation of the game would be completely different!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zidane slipped on the grass while taking a penalty kick and the ball went over the crossbar.
Zidane missed the penalty!
Ah this!
Now both Chinese and French fans are collectively confused!
It seems to me that Zidane has never missed a penalty in a major competition?
(End of this chapter)
