Chapter 104: The New Chinese Team Compared with the last time I went to the national team, there are big changes in the national team's lineup this time. In addition to veteran national team players such as Li Weifeng, Du Wei, and Zheng Zhi, a large number of young players traveling in Europe were also selected for the national team's roster. Except for a few teammates he met in the East Asian Cup last time, Lin Feng hasn't seen the rest of them for a long time. When they got together again, Lin Feng found that everyone had changed a lot. Cui Peng has become more talkative! Chen Tao exudes confidence and vigor. Zhou Haibin became stronger and darker than before. Zhao Xuri shaved his head into a shiny bald shape. He said that this made him look fierce and would make people subconsciously think that he was not someone who could be easily messed with. Hao Junmin was as shy and introverted as ever. He didn't talk much. When others talked, he would just listen quietly and hum from time to time. He was a typical aloof Hubei person. Gao Lin hasn't changed much. The only change is that he's become more boastful! "Tsk tsk, I'm not exaggerating, except for Brother Lin, everyone here is garbage!" Everyone rolled their eyes when they heard his words. Feng Xiaoting put his arm around Gao Lin's shoulders and said with a smile: "You are just a boaster. Everyone here is better than you, except you!"
Gao Lin shook off Feng Xiaoting's arm in disdain and said with disdain: "Don't be unconvinced, let me ask you who has scored more goals than me?" "Even if you all put together, you can't beat me. This is called strength!" "Do you understand the value of the Bundesliga starting lineup?" Gao Lin's flattery was met with boos from the crowd, and Cui Peng even gave him the middle finger: "What are you trying to do, you pig with a green onion stuck in your nose? You only started one game, while Brother Chen started six games. Brother Chen hasn't said anything yet, but you're already panting." Zhu Ting continued to make up for it: "This is what they call a full bottle doesn't swing, but a half-full bottle does!" Gao Lin's face was thicker than a city wall, and he didn't care about the ridicule from others: "I'm not bragging, but once I secure my place in the starting lineup, Klose, Makaay, Berbatov and the like will all have to step aside!" Chen Tao couldn't bear to listen any longer and asked, "Do you dare to say this to Smolarek from your team?" Smolarek is the top scorer of Dortmund and one of the few reliable shooters on the Hornets' front line. "Uh, this, this..." Gao Lin scratched his head in embarrassment. There's nothing wrong with bragging here, but if he really goes back to the club to challenge the team's top scorer, wouldn't that be asking for death? When everyone saw Gao Lin's expression, they all burst into laughter: "Haha, Gao Lin is scared!" "The boast of the King of Bragging has been blown out!" …… Just as everyone was teasing Gao Lin, Chen Tao came to Lin Feng, patted him on the shoulder, and asked with concern: "Are you OK?"
Lin Feng shook his head: "What can I do?" "It's OK, it's just a red card, there's no need to take it to heart. You'll know after playing more games that you can encounter all kinds of bad people on the field. There's no need to make yourself unhappy because of something that happened during the game." Lin Feng stared at Chen Tao in surprise. This guy was so thoughtful. No one else noticed that he was worried, but he did. "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with what I said?" Chen Tao noticed Lin Feng staring at him and asked. "No, I just think it's a pity that you're not a woman!" "Fuck you, you can't spit out ivory from a dog's mouth!" Chen Tao was furious and raised his leg to kick Lin Feng in the butt. But Lin Feng was prepared. He ran away after saying that. Chen Tao's kick missed and he almost fell down. …… Since they were only participating in two warm-up matches and their opponents were very strong, the national team players were not under much pressure. On the training ground, the national team players were laughing and chatting constantly. The veteran players of the national football team and these newcomers who are joining the national football team for the first time get along very well with each other. Of course, part of this is due to Lin Feng’s contribution. Because he is familiar with the veterans of the national team and has been teammates with the newcomers, he naturally acts as a link between the two and serves as a bridge. The Chinese national team’s first warm-up match opponent is Leverkusen, and the match will be held at Leverkusen’s home stadium. In order to prepare for this game, Zhu Guanghu specially arranged an intra-team training match to test the players' condition and determine tomorrow's starting lineup. "Pay attention to the range of your movements, they are your teammates, not your enemies!" The results of the team training matches were pretty good, or even too good. Especially when Zhu Guanghu said that the starting lineup would be determined through in-team training matches, these young players who had just joined the national team were like chicken blood, and they were extremely serious on the training ground, causing the old players to be in a mess. Seeing Cui Peng, a young man, tackled the national team's main midfielder Zheng Zhi, Zhu Guanghu quickly stopped the game. He called Cui Peng and Zhao Xuri over and gave them a severe scolding. Zhao Xuri is totally screwed. It was Cui Peng who committed the foul. What does it have to do with me, Zhao? Why should I be scolded along with this guy? After being scolded by Zhu Guanghu, both of them became much more obedient. But they seemed to be too honest, and they used eye defense several times when defending. This made Zhu Guanghu even more dissatisfied: "What's going on? Didn't you eat?" "Why walk around the court, run, run!" "Zhao Xuri, you stupid ass, why don't you shovel him?"
Zhao Xuri looked innocent and asked, "Didn't you say that we can't tackle our teammates?" I followed your instructions exactly, so how come it's my fault now? Zhu Guanghu was speechless. I told you not to hurt others with your tackle, not that I forbid you to tackle. Why are you so stubborn? Zhu Guanghu doesn't just scold people and do nothing. He often reminds the players on the field to pay attention to the timing and strategy of defense, and his main focus is defense. The Chinese national team's next two warm-up match opponents, Leverkusen and the German national team, are both stronger than the Chinese national team. Therefore, they will face great defensive pressure. If they cannot withstand the opponent's attack, the Chinese national football team will probably be defeated by the opponent. Lao Zhu was a professional player and had played as a left back, so he had some experience in defense. But to be honest, his strength is actually not as good as those players on the field. Even the youngest team members are much more talented than him. If there were no outstanding coaching talents in the country, he might not have been able to get the position of head coach of the national team. Nowadays, there are two positions where the Chinese national football team has the biggest gap with foreign countries: goalkeeper and coach. It’s not that the Football Association and clubs like foreign coaches, it’s just that the gap between local coaches and foreign coaches is too big. Judging from his age, Lin Feng is a definitely young player, but he was assigned to the main team by Zhu Guanghu. The youth team was already at a disadvantage in terms of strength, and now without Lin Feng, they were completely passive. They could only take the beatings without any ability to fight back. Before the first half was over, the home team was already leading by a large score of 3:0. Zhu Guanghu couldn't stand it anymore, so in the second half he transferred several defenders and midfielders from the main team to the youth team. He wanted to use the Chinese national football team's spear to test the Chinese national football team's shield to see whether the shield was stronger or the spear. The result proved that the Chinese team's back line could not stop the Chinese team's forward line. These old guys of the Chinese national football team were so overwhelmed by Lin Feng's attack. Before the second half was over, Lin Feng had already completed a hat trick. "Mad, crazy, totally crazy!" Zhu Guanghu and a group of assistant coaches were stunned by Lin Feng's personal performance. Why does this kid feel stronger than two and a half months ago? Zhu Guanghu began to doubt his life. He had seen people who made rapid progress, but he had never seen anyone as fast as Lin Feng. Is it true that the top league is such a good training ground? if it is like this…… His eyes swept over Chen Tao, Gao Lin and others. These people are also studying abroad in the top five leagues, if the top leagues really have such a good training effect. When these people grow up, the future of the national team will be bright! Thinking of this, Lao Zhu felt full of motivation. Not to mention him, even the previous national team coaches probably have never fought such a rich battle, right? There is no doubt that even if it is just to be able to lead these people in the future, he will work hard and strive to stay as the head coach of the national team for a few more years.
…… October 10th, Leverkusen’s home stadium, BayArena. The friendly match between the Chinese men's national team and Bundesliga powerhouse Leverkusen is underway. Although it was just a warm-up match, it attracted many fans to watch. Fans have long been curious: is the national team stronger, or is the club stronger? This question has never had an answer, but today it can finally be revealed. "Here we go, brothers, what do you think are the chances of the Chinese national football team winning?" "Thirty percent, right?" "I think there's a 40% chance of winning, and the extra 10% is for Lin Feng's sake!" “I think only 20%!” "Leverkusen is quite strong, especially their forward line. This season, their number of goals ranked fourth in the Bundesliga. The Chinese national team's defense may not be able to withstand it!" "In fact, the club's advantage lies in the fact that their players have trained together for a longer time and have a better understanding of each other. Also, don't forget, this game is at Leverkusen's home ground, and we are playing away, so we can only give 20%, no more!" "Hiss, if we only have a 20% chance of winning against Leverkusen, what are our chances of winning against the German national team?" "Why ask? It must be zero!" "That's right. Even if I were dreaming, I wouldn't dare to think that the Chinese national football team could beat the German team, which was the runner-up in the last World Cup!" "It seems that the German team also has a game today, and their opponent seems to be the Turkish team!" "The Turkish team seems to be ranked quite high in the world, this game will be interesting!" The Turkish team won the third place in the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and lost to the five-star Brazil team by one goal twice, showing its considerable strength. "Hahaha, the German team lost the ball!" "Damn, Sahin is awesome, Türkiye leads 2:0!" "Is the German team going to lose two games in a row?" It really came true. The German team eventually lost to Türkiye 1:2 and suffered two consecutive defeats in friendly matches. The German team lost to Slovakia 0:2 in a friendly match last month, and now they lost to Türkiye... It would be really funny if they lose to the Chinese team in the next friendly match! "Haha, seeing the state of the German team, I think our national football team's chance of winning is not zero!" "Be optimistic, I give the Chinese national football team a 10% chance of winning!" "What kind of team is Klinsmann leading? I think the German team will be finished sooner or later under his leadership." Not only Chinese fans are complaining about Klinsmann, but German fans are also condemning him. After losing to Türkiye, Klinsmann and the entire German team were under tremendous pressure. German football legends such as Beckenbauer and Hoeness even publicly attacked Klinsmann and demanded that he step down.
Beckenbauer even told the media directly that Klinsmann didn't understand defense at all. If he could understand the concept of defense, the German team would not have lost so badly. Others may not be qualified to criticize Klinsmann, but Beckenbauer is really qualified to do so! Who said the football emperor is a defender and Klinsmann is a forward! The forward knows nothing about defense! The Chinese fans were having a lot of fun watching the game, but after looking back at the score on their side, the smiles on their faces gradually disappeared. "What the hell is the Chinese national football team doing? It's only halftime and the score is already 0:2?" "What's the name of Leverkusen's striker? He's so fierce!" "Are you talking about Leverkusen's No. 9? His name is Berbatov, and his nickname is Brother Xiaosa!" "Damn, it turned out to be him, no wonder!" Brother Xiaosha’s nickname is more famous than his real name. As a rare striker in the football world who does not sweat during the game and whose hair is not messy, Brother Xiaosha can not only score goals, but also do it calmly and elegantly. Don't underestimate him just because of his nickname, he is a tough guy who has led his team to the Champions League final and scored 20 goals in the Bundesliga last season! Berbatov is in even better form this season, having scored six goals in the first eight Bundesliga rounds, just one goal less than Werder Bremen's top scorer Klose, ranking second on the scorer list. The Chinese national team's defense line really has no way to deal with this guy. This guy looks very lazy, but he has a strong ability to seize opportunities, has superb shooting skills, and is proficient in heading and kicking. When facing the pass from his teammates, Berbatov always finds ways to score the goal. Of course, the reason why the Chinese national team lost so many goals is also related to its tactics. Because the opponent is a club and not a national team, this game will not be counted as an international A-level competition and will not affect the points and ranking of the Chinese national team. In that case, winning or losing doesn't matter at all. Zhu Guanghu boldly tried to see the effect of attacking against Leverkusen. However, judging from the results of the first half, the test results were very unsatisfactory. The Chinese national team's attack posed no threat, but the opponent's attack was every bit as accurate. It’s not that the gap between the strength of the Chinese national football team and its opponents is really that big. It’s mainly because the cooperation between the players is far less tacit than that of the opponents. They make a lot of mistakes and it is easy for the opponents to seize the opportunity to counterattack. Bundesliga teams have strong speed and impact. Once there is an opportunity to counterattack, they can quickly advance the ball into the opponent's half or even the penalty area. Leverkusen is a leader in this regard. After stealing the ball, their attack is simple and efficient, and they can get the ball into the Chinese team's penalty area with just a few passes. At this time, the Chinese team's defensive players are often not in position yet. Faced with this fast-paced attack, the Chinese national football team seemed a little inexperienced and was beaten very badly. But this also allows them to accumulate experience, so that the next time they meet the German national team, they will not be unprepared against this style of play of German football.
(End of this chapter)