Chapter 276: AFC changes its policy every day, and the Chinese team is targeted After defeating Spartak Moscow away and qualifying for the group stage in advance, Inter Milan's pressure in the Champions League was suddenly reduced a lot. Mancini began to focus on the league, trying to widen the gap with pursuers such as Roma. In the tenth round of the league, Inter Milan faced the challenge of Ascoli, the second-to-last team, at home. Ascoli is relatively weak and is one of only two teams in Serie A that have not won a game so far. Facing such a weak team, and still fighting on their own. Mancini made major adjustments to Inter Milan's starting lineup. Many of the main players who had just participated in the Champions League were shelved by him, and instead used a large number of rotation and substitute players. But even so, thanks to goals from Recoba and Cruz, Inter Milan still easily defeated their opponents 2:0 and won three consecutive victories. Unfortunately, in another match held later, Roma also defeated Fiorentina 3:1 at home, preventing Inter Milan from further widening the gap. Compared to Inter Milan and Roma who successfully made it to the Champions League, AC Milan, which also just finished participating in the Champions League, was not so lucky.
In this round of the league, AC Milan, playing away from home, was in a sluggish state and was completely defeated 0:2 by the newly promoted Atalanta. Although AC Milan has been relatively indifferent to the league this season, it is still unacceptable that they were defeated so easily by a newly promoted team. What makes Milan fans even more worried is that since the third round of the league, AC Milan has only won one game in the last seven rounds of the league, losing three and drawing three of the remaining six games. All in all, they only got 6 points in seven league rounds! With this kind of scoring efficiency, they may have to say goodbye to the Champions League spot next season! As the head coach of AC Milan, Ancelotti would like to take care of the league while pursuing the Champions League. But with Milan’s current lineup, it really can’t be done! Milan's squad is already older, with many old players, and their recovery is slower. If they are asked to play at a high intensity in both the league and the Champions League at the same time, they will probably be exhausted or even suffer serious injuries. If we want to take into account both the league and the Champions League at the same time, we must continue to strengthen the team's lineup during the winter break. There are still nearly two months left until the winter break. During this period, Milan can only grit their teeth and win as many games as they should! But Ancelotti feels little confident about direct confrontation with strong teams like Inter Milan and Roma. In the 11th round of Serie A, AC Milan, playing at home, faced the challenge of Roma, which ranked third in the league. Compared with the previous loss to Atalanta, the overall condition of Milan players in this game has improved a lot. But in the end they still lost 1:2 to Roma and suffered the bitter fruit of three consecutive defeats. In fact, AC Milan did have chances in this game. They scored the first goal in the first half and also created many opportunities. But Roma's desire to win and fighting spirit were clearly superior, and even when they were behind in the score, they persevered in launching round after round of attacks. Finally, in the 73rd minute of the second half, Ade scored a goal to equalize the score. When the game was nearing the end, Totti took advantage of a free kick opportunity to score directly and help the team complete the lore. After the game, the outside world criticized Ancelotti's tactical arrangements in this game. Many people felt that Ancelotti’s tactics in the second half were too conservative and he failed to continue the excellent attack in the first half. If AC Milan had seized the opportunity to score the second goal, the outcome of the game might have been completely different.
Ancelotti did not respond to external criticism. In fact, he feels that the outside criticism is correct. If they had really done what they said, AC Milan might have won. But he felt that this was not cost-effective! Unlike Inter Milan and Roma, both of them are aiming to win the championship, so they are determined to win every league game. AC Milan's goal in the league this season is not to win the championship, but to get into the top four and get a spot in the Champions League. With Juventus relegated, the battle for the top four in Serie A is not actually fierce. So even if AC Milan loses all four games against Inter Milan and Roma, it can easily make up for it against other weaker teams. Playing against Inter Milan and Roma will give you three points, and playing against the last-placed Ascoli will also give you three points, so why not choose an easier and less costly opponent to get points? Now, if Milan only encounters an ordinary team, even if they don’t use the full main lineup, they can still cope with it by sending some main players and substitutes. But if AC Milan wants to get points from Inter Milan, they must try their best. Even if they try their best, they may not get any points, and they may even pay the price of injuries to key players. Fighting on two fronts, AC Milan cannot afford the cost of players getting injured! So it’s clear at a glance how to make the choice! In fact, judging from Ancelotti's decision, AC Milan really regards the Champions League as the most important or even the only goal this season. You know, for a top club like AC Milan, every game lost in the league will attract criticism from the outside world, and losing in a strong dialogue will be regarded by the outside world as a symbol of losing dominance. This will have a certain negative impact on AC Milan's overall image and the football market, but Ancelotti still insisted on doing so. This only shows that he has made a great determination to eliminate all distractions just to play well in the Champions League! Compared to AC Milan's dedication, Inter Milan and Roma do not have such courage. After defeating AC Milan in Rome, Inter Milan, playing away, also defeated Parma 2:1 despite having one player sent off. Inter Milan did not win this game easily, it could even be said to be very thrilling. Although Torres helped Inter Milan score the first goal in the 11th minute of the first half. But within just one minute between the 15th and 16th minutes, Crespo was sent off by the referee after receiving two yellow cards for a tackle and a dive in the penalty area. For the remaining nearly eighty minutes, Inter Milan could only fight with 10 men. After Inter Milan had one player sent off, the opponent fought back tenaciously in the second half to equalize the score. This goal pushed Inter Milan to the edge of the cliff, and Inter Milan, unwilling to accept a draw, launched a vigorous attack. However, the home team's defense was very tenacious, and Inter Milan's many attempts to attack were unsuccessful. In the second minute of injury time, as the game was about to end, Parma fans had already started singing, seemingly celebrating their draw with the powerful Inter Milan at home. For an ordinary team like Parma that has no ability to win the league championship, being able to tie with the leader and directly influence the league's championship trend is a great honor! But Inter Milan did not give up the game. Relying on his personal strength, Lin Feng forced a breakthrough in the frontcourt, caused the opponent to foul, and won a free kick in the frontcourt for Inter Milan. Considering that Lin Feng had scored many free kicks in past games, when people saw Lin Feng taking the free kick himself, many people thought that he would shoot directly.
However, what they didn't expect was that Lin Feng did not choose to shoot, but chose to make a tactical cooperation. After Lin Feng took a long run-up, he did not shoot the ball hard, but gently passed the ball to Figo on the side. Figo drew his bow and everyone thought he was going to shoot. Parma players rushed frantically out of the penalty area, trying to block his shooting angle. However, Figo only feinted and did not choose to shoot. Instead, when the opponent's player rushed out, he suddenly kicked the ball and lofted the ball in front of the goal. Cruz, who was lying in ambush on the left side of the penalty area, rushed over unstoppably, jumped high, and slammed the ball into the goal. The score instantly became 2:1! Inter Milan's super substitute scored the winning goal in the last minute of injury time! In this game, Inter Milan's two forwards received very different evaluations after the game. Crespo, who received a red card, was criticized harshly. If Inter Milan was forced to draw in this game, he would be the biggest sinner of the team. Cruz, who scored the winning goal, has now been canonized by Inter Milan fans. Many people affectionately call him - Santa Cruz! Fans have never seen such an exaggerated substitute. Every time he is replaced, he can always give you surprises! It's a shame to have such a good player stay on the bench. It would be better to let him start! Therefore, after the game, the question of Inter Milan's forward selection attracted a heated discussion among a large group of fans. …… As for the question of who will start between Cruz and Crespo, Lin Feng actually doesn’t care. To be honest, both of them are very strong, and either one can take the position. But what puzzles Lin Feng is that Crespo is a top superstar who has been famous for a long time, but now he has fallen to the point where he has to compete with a substitute for the starting position. It is really a bit hard to understand. At Chelsea, he couldn't compete with Drogba, and now at Inter Milan he is almost unable to compete with Kroos. Don't let him be defeated by Cruz and squeezed to the bench to look at the water dispenser, that would be interesting. Lin Feng has a good relationship with Cruz. The gardener has a good personality and very good interpersonal relationships within the team. Many players like him very much. Crespo is an outsider after all. He joined Inter Milan as a loan player. Although he had played for Inter Milan before, Lin Feng had not joined Inter Milan at that time, so the relationship between the two can only be said to be average. If Lin Feng had to consider it from a personal perspective, he would most likely choose Cruise. After all, Cruz will still be his teammate next year, but Crespo may not be. …… After this round of the league is over, FIFA's match day is here again. Lin Feng once again boarded the flight back home. This time, the Chinese team will play at home against the last opponent in the group stage - the Iraqi team! In fact, Lin Feng didn't need to come back for this game, because after defeating Palestine in the last game, the Chinese national football team had already qualified for the group stage. But Zhu Guanghu wants to try out some new tactics and allow the team's lineup to get better acquainted before the start of the Asian Cup. According to sources, the AFC may divide the teams into different groups based on their Asian Cup points. In that case, the Chinese national football team will be classified into the first tier and can avoid many strong opponents. But according to the latest inside information, the AFC, which changes its mind frequently, held another meeting and overturned its previous decision. It seems that it intends to divide the teams into different groups according to FIFA's points in next year's Asian Cup. Although the Chinese national football team had a good record last year and its ranking has risen a lot, there are only four teams in the first tier. The Chinese national football team is currently only ranked around fifth or sixth in Asia, which is very embarrassing.
If the teams are really divided into different tiers according to this, before next year's grouping, if the Chinese team fails to raise its FIFA points to the top four in Asia, it will most likely be placed in the second tier. This makes it very easy to be assigned to the death group! The top teams in Asia are generally very strong. It will be difficult for the Chinese national team to play against any of the four teams: Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia. Apart from the BIG4, other teams like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Uzbekistan are also difficult to play against. Although their strength is not that strong, they have strong backgrounds. West Asian teams are often taken care of by the referees, and all kinds of outrageous whistles will make you question your life. So, after this news was disclosed, the Chinese national football team suddenly felt pressured! "If it really gets to the World Cup, maybe there won't be so many twists and turns, and it might even be easier!" Zhu Guanghu had no choice. The AFC was really a small temple with many evil spirits and a shallow pond with many turtles. At the beginning of the month, they said that the teams would be divided into groups according to the points of the Asian Cup. Now they have changed their mind and said that they would be divided into groups according to the FIFA rankings. It would not be surprising if they said next month that they would divide the teams into groups according to the points of the World Cup! The situation in East Asia is actually not that bad, but the situation in West Asia is really outrageous! It would be fine if they just formulated the competition system to favor West Asian teams, but they also played dirty tricks on the field. Once they really can’t beat you, they will immediately change the rules. In view of the notorious black history in West Asia, many fans even think that Asia should be divided into two, with East Asians playing together with Southeast Asians. Since West Asians like to use tricks so much, just let them play by themselves and avoid harming others. This is of course just talk. If we really do this, the Chinese team might be the first to jump out and oppose it. The reason is very simple. Among the top four teams in Asia, Japan and South Korea are in East Asia! If Asia is really divided into two, with East Asia and West Asia each getting two World Cup places, then it would be even more difficult for the Chinese team to enter the World Cup. Lin Feng is not as pessimistic as Zhu Guanghu and many of his teammates. Whether it is the second tier or the first tier, there is actually not much difference for the Chinese team. Since the goal of the Chinese national football team is to win the championship and take revenge, they will sooner or later face various powerful teams on the road to the finals. Expecting to win the championship by luck is simply a daydream. Since we will encounter it sooner or later, what difference does it make whether we fight it early or late? Lin Feng even felt that it was a good thing for the Chinese national football team to encounter a strong opponent in the group stage in advance and encounter some setbacks. Only in this way can the players recognize their own strength, get rid of all kinds of impetuous and underestimating emotions, take every game seriously, so that they can go further! (End of this chapter)