Chapter 13 Becoming the Tactical Core of the Team "Just a moment!" After hearing the reporter's question, Lin Feng didn't say anything and went straight back to his room. After searching for a while, he found the ID card he had just applied for last year in his wallet. He went back to China to apply for this ID card after he turned 16 last year, at the reminder of his mother. When the reporters saw Lin Feng produced the decisive evidence, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Several reporters took a photo of Lin Feng's ID card and returned it to him politely. During this process, Lin Feng could clearly feel that the reporters' attitude towards him had changed. Before seeing the ID card, they were simply polite to Lin Feng. But after seeing his ID card and confirming his identity, the reporters became more enthusiastic.
"Your question is actually quite strange. I remember that our country does not recognize dual citizenship. If I am not Chinese, how can I play for the national youth team?" The reporters smiled and nodded when they heard this. Of course they understood this principle. But the fans or some conspiracy theorists just don’t believe it! Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, there is no need to continue to worry about this issue. The reporters began to ask some questions that had been discussed in advance, mainly asking Lin Feng to introduce himself and his family. Talk about your feelings about playing for the national team, evaluate your own performance, and look forward to the upcoming games. The Football Association had already informed the reporters in advance of the questions they would ask, and Lin Feng had also prepared a draft in his mind early on, so the interview went very smoothly. Lin Feng's humorous answers, occasionally revealing some embarrassing things between himself and his teammates, made the reporters laugh. With Lin Feng's introduction, the images of Chen Tao's responsibility and leadership qualities, Hao Junmin's simplicity and thriftiness, Feng Xiaoting's perseverance, Gao Lin's loyalty and so on came to life on paper and gradually took shape in people's minds. Each of these young people is flesh and blood and has his or her own distinct personality. The interview went very pleasantly and Lin Feng was very good at handling things. Not only is she very sweet-talking, but she also calls men "brother" and women "sister". After the interview, he carefully presented the reporters with small gifts that he had prepared in advance, which surprised everyone. This kid is easy to get along with. He needs to move around more in the future. For journalists who make a living in the sports circle, building good relationships with players is an important part of their job. Especially when this national youth team has achieved unprecedented success in the World Youth Championship, it is even more important to build good relations with them. If nothing unexpected happens, most members of this national youth team will most likely join the national team in the future. By building good relations now, they can get more exclusive reports from each other in the future because of the good relationship between the two parties. So, after interviewing Lin Feng, they also interviewed other players in the National Youth Team. Compared to the socially-savvy Lin Feng, the other players seemed somewhat restrained in front of so many reporters.
This made the reporters even more emotional. How come the youngest player is the most mature, while these players who are older than Lin Feng perform far worse than him? Sure enough, the gap between people is sometimes even greater than the gap between people and dogs. "One last question. Your next opponent has been confirmed, it is Argentina. Do you have the confidence to beat Argentina, which has Messi?" The microphone was handed to the national youth team captain Feng Xiaoting. He stammered and was unable to speak, fearing that he would accidentally say something wrong and be criticized by the fans. Chen Tao, who was standing by, saw the captain's embarrassment and was about to take the microphone to answer the question for him. But he didn't expect that someone was faster than him. "Of course we are confident. Our goal in this World Youth Championship is to win the championship. Whether Argentina has Messi or Messi, it can't stop us from moving forward!" The reporters were stunned by this domineering answer, and it took them a while to react. "well said!" "Ambitious!" "Come on, I'm optimistic about you!" Journalist is just their profession, and fans are their true colors. Hearing Lin Feng's encouraging answer, the reporters present cheered for him. Chen Tao, who was standing by, was stunned and couldn't help but put his hand on his forehead. You kid, you are so bold! If you lose this, I wonder how you will step down! Forget it, I'll sacrifice my life for you! Who told him to call me 'Brother Chen'? …… As expected, after the reporter's interview with the National Youth Team was published, it immediately caused an uproar in the country. "Heizi speak!" "Where are those people who spread rumors that my brother Lin is a fake foreigner? Stand up and take a step forward?" "Haha, those guys are all cowards. How dare they show their heads at this time?" Faced with the ironclad evidence, no one doubted Lin Feng's nationality anymore, and the previous rumors were self-defeating. However, fans were somewhat divided in their opinions regarding Lin Feng's championship announcement: "This Argentine team is too strong. Even a strong team like the Spanish youth team was almost beaten by them. It will be too difficult for the Chinese national youth team to win!" "You're right. Argentina is now the favorite to win the World Youth Championship. They have a lot of talented players, including the unstoppable Messi. I think the championship is basically in their pocket!" Many fans stayed up late to watch the highlight match between Argentina and Spain. After watching the game, many people were disappointed. They felt that this Argentine team was almost invincible. Compared with them, the gap of the National Youth Team is very obvious, and this is not a gap that can be made up by one or two star players. Moreover, the Chinese national youth team made it to the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship, which was a historic achievement and exceeded the goals set by the fans. Although the national youth team lost to such a strong opponent, the fans will not blame the players. As long as the loss is not too ugly, they can accept it.
This view is absolutely mainstream among fans, but there is still a small number of players who firmly believe that the National Youth Team can win. "Argentina is very strong, but are the previous German and Brazilian teams not strong? Before the two games, who thought the Chinese national youth team could win, but what was the result?" "In the end, it was the National Youth Team that had the last laugh, so I believe that this time the National Youth Team will definitely win!" In all previous major competitions, the media’s predictions have been unreliable. There are so many cases where the favorites to win the championship unexpectedly fail. Before the Chinese national youth team participated in this World Youth Championship, it was listed as the weakest team by many European media. However, the "weakest" national youth team made it to the semi-finals, while those favored teams were eliminated one after another, including the favorites to win the championship, Brazil, Germany, Spain and the host Netherlands. So just listen to the media's predictions. If you take them seriously, you will lose. …… No matter what the outside world argues, the national youth team's preparations are still in order. As the competition approached, the usually strict old man K rarely reduced the team's training volume. Although he had never shared his experiences with Milu, during his time as coach of the national youth team, Krauchen gradually realized that too much pressure should not be put on Chinese players. Too much pressure will cause them to perform poorly, and if they face an opponent who is stronger than themselves, they are basically doomed to fail. In order to boost the players' confidence, he took all the players of the national youth team to watch the Argentina team's game videos and analyzed the technical characteristics of the opposing players one by one. Krauchen has profound skills and a very sharp vision. After his analysis, the Argentine players' underwear was completely exposed. The players of the National Youth Team were unsure at first, but as Krauchen explained, they got to know their opponents better and better, and their confidence gradually built up. At least now, they know how to deal with their opponents on the court. "Argentina is good at strangling the opponent in the midfield. Chen Tao, I'm afraid your next game will be very difficult. I need you to move back a little and take on the organizational work in a relatively safer place." Front midfielder? Lin Feng raised his eyebrows. Isn’t this AC Milan’s tactic? Thinking of this, he suddenly realized that he might become the tactical core of the team in the next game. As expected, after explaining Chen Tao's mission, Klauchen looked at Lin Feng and his expression became serious: "Lin, in the next game, I will formulate tactics with you as the core and bring your speed advantage into play. What you have to do is to keep attacking the opponent's defense, just like Kaka!" (End of this chapter)