Chapter 228 The Korean team’s dream is shattered! The Chinese national football team did not stay in Germany for too long. After all, the World Cup lasts for a month! They watched the games for about a week and then packed up and returned home. But not everyone went back. This summer, many young players chose to stay in Europe and look for some professional training bases that provide services for additional training. The experience of studying abroad in the past year has proved that the current strength of most of them is not enough to gain a foothold in the top five leagues. Although many of them will go to the second-tier leagues to seek opportunities this summer, even the second-tier leagues are at a higher level than the domestic top leagues. If they want to gain a foothold in such a league, they must constantly improve their own strength. Otherwise, if they can't even stay in the secondary league, their overseas study journey can be declared a failure in advance. Although they can still return to their home country to play football if they fail in studying abroad, for those who have already gone abroad, broadened their horizons and experienced high-level European leagues, they will not choose this retreat unless it is absolutely necessary. After all, they went abroad to study with the hopes of the whole village. They failed to make a name for themselves and returned in disgrace, which was somewhat embarrassing. Chen Tao was one of them. He even called Lin Feng and invited him to train together. "Haha, okay, when does it start and where do we train?"
Lin Feng is a self-disciplined person, so he naturally agreed to the invitation from his like-minded friends. "Well, I have to go back to China for something. I haven't been back for almost half a year. Let's start training after I come back. How about the time being in late June?" "No problem. I just want to rest for a while. I played too many games before and I'm a little tired. It's a good time to relax!" Lin Feng had originally planned to go on vacation to the Mediterranean, but it was delayed because of the Chinese national football team's warm-up match. Now that he has some free time, he has picked up the plan again. "Okay, then we'll meet in Germany. By the way, you've been in Germany for quite a while, do you know any places that can provide training grounds and professional equipment?" Lin Feng actually knew this: "Well, there are some suitable venues in Munich. The equipment is very complete and the rent is not very expensive. It is not far from where I live. I will take some time tomorrow to ask if there is any more reliable training base that I can introduce to you. But in addition to professional venues and equipment, a logistics support team must also be established.” The logistics support team that Lin Feng mentioned includes professional nutritionists, physicians with a license in kinesiology, and professional football coaches. The training volume for professional players is very large and involves certain risks. If they are not properly protected, they may get injured during training, which may affect their career. Furthermore, training is also a very scientific thing. It must be planned and guided by professionals to correct the players' wrong movements and kicking habits during training. Otherwise, if you rely solely on your own experience and work behind closed doors, it is easy to go astray, resulting in ineffective training or even the opposite effect. Fortunately, the sports industry in Europe is relatively developed, and as long as you have money, it is not difficult to recruit the corresponding talents. Chen Tao had not considered it so comprehensively at first. After hearing what Lin Feng said, he realized that he had been thinking too simply. He originally just wanted to find a place to train with his friends, but he didn't expect there were so many things to consider. "Haha, it's a good thing I discussed this with you in advance, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to consider it so thoroughly on our own!" "Once is unfamiliar, once is familiar. You will understand this kind of thing naturally after seeing it many times!" …… Early the next morning, Lin Feng drove to Munich in the south to look for a suitable venue and recruit talents. It is relatively easy to find venues. There are not many other things in Germany, but there are many football clubs.
So football training grounds like this can be found almost everywhere! I chose a training base with a better location, more complete equipment and a reasonable price. After some bargaining, I rented it for 5 euros for days. As for recruiting a logistics team, Lin Feng himself did not have the energy to deal with it. After all, it required a large number of interviews, which was a waste of time and energy. So he entrusted the matter to his eldest brother and asked him to help solve it. In terms of budget, in order to recruit better talents, you can hire people at a price that is 20% to 30% higher than the current market price. After resolving these issues, Lin Feng happily flew to Malta and began to enjoy his vacation! The climate in the Mediterranean is quite pleasant. It is so pleasant to enjoy delicious food and admire the beauties on the beach, bask in the sun and read newspapers reporting on the World Cup. While Lin Feng was on vacation, the competition in the World Cup became increasingly intense. In Group A, host Germany has been unstoppable since defeating Costa Rica 4:2 in the opening match. In the subsequent matches, they defeated Poland 1:0 and Ecuador 3:0, and advanced to the round of with three wins and first place in the group. Although Ecuador lost to the host country, it still won the second qualifying spot thanks to two victories over Poland and Costa Rica. As for Poland and Costa Rica, they were eliminated early when the competition reached the last round of the group stage. In fact, both Poland and Costa Rica are strong, especially Poland. From their match against Germany, we can see that they are very strong. But this is the World Cup, where life and death are decided in three games. No matter how strong a team is, if they are unlucky or do not perform well on the spot, they may be cruelly eliminated. Compared with Group A, the competition in Group B is even more intense. But the England and Sweden teams from Europe had the last laugh, as a tacit draw in the end allowed the two teams to advance together. The two teams from the Americas, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, were both eliminated. There is not much to say about Group C. The powerful Argentina and Netherlands teams gave the other two teams no chance at all. The two teams had the same points, but Argentina, with its stronger firepower, beat the Netherlands by 5 goals and advanced as the group leader. The uncrowned champion Netherlands had to settle for second place. In Group D, the Portugal team, where Lin Feng's club teammate Figo is located, just like the German team, won all three group stage games and advanced as the first. Figo continued to perform well in the group stage, creating two penalties in three games. As a big man of the team, and since it was a penalty he created, he could have taken it himself to increase his World Cup goal tally. But Figo did not do so, and gave it all to his teammates. The only goal scored by Ronaldo in this World Cup came from the penalty kick given up by Figo. The veteran knows that this is his last World Cup, so he is making way for young people in this way! All I can say is, great, no need to say more! The second in Group D is from Mexico in North America. Mexico is also a regular participant in the World Cup and has always been ranked in the top 20 in the FIFA rankings. Its strength should not be underestimated. It is worth mentioning that there is a team from Asia in Group D - Iran. However, Iran's performance in the World Cup was disastrous. Not only did it struggle to win a single game and ranked last in points, it also became the first Asian team to be eliminated. In Group E, the Italian team, which was affected by the Calciopoli scandal during the World Cup, did not let down in the tournament. They advanced to the round of 16 as the group leader with two wins and one draw.
The second place in Group E is Ghana from Africa, which is also the first team from Africa to advance to the round of 16 in this World Cup. It's really not easy to see a team from other continents when the round of 16 is basically monopolized by Europe and America! Interestingly, the United States team was also in this group. Apart from getting one point from Italy, the United States lost the other two games and was eliminated as the bottom of the group. In this era, it is really appropriate to describe the current situation of football as "a fly in the ointment". Relatively speaking, although the US team ranked last in the group, they still made it to the World Cup. Compared with them, the Chinese national team is still slightly inferior. Compared with the first five groups, Group F produced quite a few upsets. The Australian team from Oceania unexpectedly eliminated the European powerhouse Croatia and grabbed the right to qualify as the second in the group. As for the first place in the group, it is naturally the defending champion Brazil team. Like Group D, Group F also has a team from Asia - Japan. However, the Japanese team lost 1:3 to Australia in the first round and directly lost the chance to qualify. Although they unexpectedly tied with Croatia in the second round, it was of no avail because their opponent in the final round was Brazil! Facing the Brazilian team that had already qualified, the Japanese team fought hard and scored a goal, but was ultimately slaughtered by their opponents with a score of 4:1. In the end, the Japanese team was eliminated with a record of 1 draw and 2 losses, scoring 1 goal and conceding 7 goals, ranking last in the group. This is also the second Asian team to be eliminated. On June 6, with the end of the last match of Group H, Saudi Arabia drew 23 and lost 1, and was eliminated as the last in the group. The qualifying rights for Group H are monopolized by two European teams, Spain and Ukraine! As Iran, Japan and Saudi Arabia were eliminated one after another, the pressure instantly fell on the South Korean team. Compared with the first three, the South Korean team is in a much better situation. I don’t know if it was affected by the draw with the Chinese team in the warm-up match, but the French team’s performance in this World Cup was very poor. In the first two rounds of the group stage, they were tied by Switzerland and South Korea respectively, and only got 2 points after two rounds. It seems that they are going to repeat the mistake of the previous World Cup where they were eliminated in the group stage. Zidane, who performed poorly in the group stage, was suspended in the final round of the life-and-death match due to accumulated yellow cards, which led to him being criticized and even abused by many parties. The poor performance of the French team actually highlighted the outstanding performances of the South Korean and Swiss teams. In the first round of the group stage, the South Korean team defeated Togo 2:1 and won three valuable points. In the second round, we tied the powerful French team with a score of 1:1 and got another point, bringing the points to 4. The situation for qualifying is very good! 4 points are enough to qualify in Group D and Group F. But in the chaotic Group G, everything is uncertain. Before the last round, Switzerland was ranked first in Group G with 1 win and 1 draw, accumulating 4 points, and temporarily ranking first with a goal difference advantage over South Korea. It seems that South Korea and Switzerland are leading in points and seem to have a better advantage in qualifying? But that is not the case, because France's opponent in the final round is the weakest Togo. As long as they can beat Togo, they will get 5 points and the goal difference will be positive. If they can beat Togo by more than 2 goals, they will secure a qualifying spot.
So the French team still holds the initiative to qualify! The South Korean team and the Swiss team will have a direct dialogue in the last round. Unless the French team is unexpectedly tied or even loses to Togo, whoever loses will be eliminated. If the game ends in a draw, there will most likely be three 3-point games, and then the win-loss record and goal difference between the two teams will have to be compared. If this situation really happens, the records between the three teams are all tied, and Switzerland has one more goal difference than South Korea, while France's goal difference depends entirely on the score of their last game. Considering that the South Korean team has only one goal difference, and the French team can tie or even surpass South Korea in goal difference as long as they win, a draw is the most disadvantageous for the South Korean team. It is precisely because of this that in the last round, the South Korean team went all out and wanted to fight hard with the Swiss team. In their opinion, even the Chinese team could score three goals against the Swiss team, which shows that the Swiss team is just so-so and there is nothing to be afraid of. However, the result of the game was unexpected. The South Korean team's attack failed to break through the Swiss team's defense. Instead, the Swiss team took advantage of a foul by Park Ju-young and used a free kick to score the first goal. After the opponent scored a goal, the South Korean team was forced into a corner. They tried their best to attack in the second half, but the Swiss team seized the opportunity in the 76th minute and scored another goal through a counterattack. Although the linesman had raised his flag to signal offside, the referee still ruled that the goal was valid. This caused the Korean players to become extremely agitated and they rushed up to surround the referee, wanting an explanation. However, referee Elisson indicated that it was a South Korean player who touched the ball in advance, so it was not offside. Slow-motion replay confirmed that the "assistant" for Frey's goal was South Korean player Li Hao, and Elizondo's call was correct. The Koreans were completely speechless now, but the referee was not going to let them off. He took out the yellow card and warned Cui Chenzhe and Li Tianxiu, who had spoken the most violently just now. The South Korean team had already fallen to the edge of the cliff at this time. Fortunately, at the halftime break, the score on the French team was also 0:0. As long as Togo could tie with the French team, the South Korean team still had a chance to advance. But the bad news came soon. The French team scored a goal. Vieira received an assist from Ribery in the 55th minute and changed the score for the French team. After scoring the goal, the French team seemed to have their Ren and Du meridians opened up. Soon in the 61st minute, Vieira assisted Henry to score another goal. The French team, leading 2:0, has already secured a place in the group stage by virtue of their goal difference. Unless the South Korean team can score three goals in the last ten minutes, they will definitely be eliminated. But this miracle did not happen after all. The score remained at 2:0 until the end of the game, and the Koreans’ dream was finally shattered! At this point, all four Asian teams have been eliminated, and except for the South Korean team, the other three teams are struggling to win. The underwear of Asian football was completely stripped off after this World Cup. (End of this chapter)