Fox in the Penalty Area

Zhou Zijing's goal completely destroyed Mexico's will to resist.

After all, this is an international football invitational tournament, not the World Cup.

Compared with the World Cup, there is still a difference in the level of players' investment.

So it can be said that Zhou Zijing killed the suspense of the game.

After the restart, although there were still a few minutes left, Mexico's performance was completely different from the previous one after conceding a goal.

They don't have any deep hatred with the Chinese team, and there is no need to fight the Chinese team when they are two goals behind.

So amidst the singing and cheers of the Chinese fans, the Mexican players also gradually slowed down, not as hard as before...

Dillon also took the opportunity to make substitution adjustments.

Replace Hu Lai with Gao Chen.

Give Hu Lai a chance to enjoy the applause and cheers of the fans alone here.

After all, this is the Anton Provincial Sports Center, the home stadium of Anton Shining Star.

Hu Lai played here for two and a half seasons and helped Anton Shining win the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup.

His status in the eyes of Flash Star fans is different.

Almost all the fans here can be said to be fans of Hu Lai.

Giving him such a chance can also be said to be a kind of "goodwill" move by Dillon to Hu Lai.

Who dares to say "the generals are at odds"?

When Hu Lai was replaced, all the Chinese fans in the stands of the Provincial Sports Center stood up from their seats and applauded Hu Lai.

For a while, applause roared.

During the applause, He Feng said: "Hu Lai was replaced in the 88th minute of the game. His 'China Cup' ends here. In this 'China Cup', he scored a total of three goals. An important contributor to winning the game... And here, the Anton Provincial Sports Center, is his "hometown". He used his best performance to repay the fans who supported him and loved him... Maybe there will be no more Hu Lai in the future When he returned to Anton Shining Star, he could still return to this stadium to play as a player of the Chinese team...and every time he came back, he was going home...Welcome home, Hu Lai!"

Amidst the applause, Hu Lai walked to the sidelines and finished the handover with Gao Chen. Instead of leaving in a hurry, he turned to the four directions one by one and waved to the fans in the stands around him.

The applause grew louder.

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It is marked by the replacement of Hu Lai, which means that the competition for the championship in this game has completely ended.

After all, keeping Hu Lai on the field means that the Chinese team still wants to score goals, or they are still wary of Mexico. If Mexico scores a goal, then Hu Lai is on the field, and the Chinese team still has the possibility of scoring.

Once Hu Lai is replaced, it means that Dillon also feels that there is no suspense in this game, and the Chinese team will win-only in this case, Hu Lai will be replaced in advance.

The fourth official holds up the sign for three minutes of stoppage time.

A well-regulated stoppage time did not leave Mexico with any chance of a comeback.

These three minutes of stoppage time were basically spent amidst the singing and cheers of the Chinese fans.

The substitute players of the Chinese team also stood on the sidelines, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle for the end of the game, so that they could rush into the stadium and celebrate with their teammates.

This is a friendly match, but it has become different because of the "China Cup".

The Chinese team is about to win a rare international championship in the history of their team. Before that, except for the East Asian Cup, after the founding of New China, the Chinese team had never won a championship in an adult-level official competition.

Of course, there are unofficial Chinese teams in various international invitational tournaments, but those invitational tournaments are not considered official competitions because the opponents have different standards. In an invitational tournament, in addition to the national team, there are also club teams, national youth teams, Selection team etc. Even if such an event wins the championship, the gold content is not enough.

Not to mention that even this kind of game with insufficient gold content was a long, long time ago-the last time the Chinese team won the championship in an informal invitational tournament dates back to 1997.

In addition, the Chinese team did not even win an official competition.

After entering the 21st century, the Chinese team has only won the championship twice in official competitions, that is, the East Asian Cup in 2005 and the East Asian Cup in 2023.

These two championships are the only two championships for the Chinese team after entering the new century.

Moreover, the East Asian Cup still uses the Olympic team to participate. Although it is a national team competition in name, it is actually at the Olympic level.

If it is really very strict to pick the words, the Chinese team actually does not have a formal championship at the adult level.

Today's "China Cup" turned out to be their first official competition champion!

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the cheers of the Provincial Sports Center reached the climax of the game.

He Feng, who was explaining the game on the spot, had to shout at the top of his voice: "The game is over! The game is over! Congratulations to the Chinese team! They defeated the powerful Mexico 3:1 in the final and won the first "China Cup" championship!!"

"The important thing is not this championship, but what we have shown in this China Cup! Let us see hope! The road to the 2030 World Cup...starts now!"

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Amidst the loud cheers, the substitute players of the Chinese team on the sidelines rushed into the field and hugged and celebrated with their teammates on the field.

Head coach Jorge Dillon walked towards the coaching bench of the Mexican team. They were still a few meters apart when he reached out and shook hands with Alfonso Ledes.

Although he lost the game, Ryders still kept a polite smile on his face. He held Dillon's hand and said to him: "When I heard that you left Europe to coach a club in China, I thought You are ready to retire, Jorge..."

Dillon said with a smile: "In fact, I am really planning to retire, Alfonso. After coaching the Chinese team..."

Ryders was a little surprised, but then suddenly realized: "It's appropriate to make this team your last team to coach."

Dillon once coached in La Liga's overlord King Madrid, and Leders also coached in La Liga, leading another team, the Serbian Navigators.

The two have played against each other many times in the league. The Serbian Navigator of Leders has often caused trouble for the King of Madrid of Dillon, and the King of Madrid has also beaten the Navigator.

These two were rivals before, and they are still rivals now.

But time has passed, and now they are no longer on the center stage of world football, and the smell of gunpowder between them has naturally disappeared with time.

Dillon laughed when he heard Ryders say this: "How is it? Is my team okay? You played against the Chinese team last year."

The Mexican national team played against the Chinese team in the warm-up match in September last year, but at that time the head coach of the Chinese team was Dong Jianhai, not Dillon.

The result of that game at that time was that Mexico defeated the Chinese team 2:1, and Dong Jianhai's adjustments to the national team's change of team had no effect. It was also that game that made Dong Jianhai stop making changes, and continued the tactics and staffing left by Shi Wuyin until the quarter-finals of the 2027 Asian Cup against Japan...

At that time, the Chinese team lost to Mexico, but now the Chinese team defeated Mexico 3:1.

In just seven months, the Chinese team has undergone earth-shaking changes.

Ryders shrugged: "Sorry, Jorge. I wasn't the head coach of Mexico at the time. So I can't answer your question..."

But that's an excuse, he just didn't want to give Dillon a chance to be proud.

After finishing speaking, he planned to wave away: "Goodbye, Jorge. Hope we can see you again in the next World Cup."

"Ah, then you can be careful, don't capsize in the CONCACAF qualifiers." Dillon joked.

"You should worry about the Asian qualifiers!"

The two bid farewell to each other, and then walked towards their respective teams.

Dillon, who won, went to celebrate with the players, while Rydes, who lost the championship, went to comfort his players.

In every football game, there are winners and losers. Sometimes, the final result is not the most important thing.

Mexico lost the game and a title. But to them, it was nothing more than a commercial competition champion who spent money to invite them to come, and it had no gold content. Losing, although it makes them sad, but it will not remain in their memory for too long. Maybe tomorrow this failure will not disappear from their lives.

But for the Chinese team, they won more than just a championship.

The "China Cup", an emerging competition, may be nothing more than a lucrative commercial competition for other participating teams. It's just that it has the name "XX Cup", which looks different from ordinary commercial competitions. But in essence, it is still a commercial competition, which is completely different from the real Asian Cup, European Cup, and World Cup.

The Chinese team also knows this. To put it bluntly, the Chinese Football Association and Chinese companies pay their own money to find high-level warm-up opponents for the Chinese team. In order to attract these teams to come, it is natural to pay more money. Are those opponents here to compete for this championship? It's more for the appearance fee...

But the Chinese team is still excited after winning the championship.

Not only them, Chinese fans are also very excited.

Is it because they don't know what level the "China Cup" is?

Do not.

They know.

But they are still so happy because they see something positive in this victory, this championship.

For Chinese football, the championship of a high-level warm-up match is actually not important-many people have not realized at this moment that this is a rare official championship for the Chinese team...

What matters is what they did to win this championship, what they showed.

This is the real reason for the joy of Chinese fans.

This championship is insignificant, so what?

There is no way to reach a thousand miles without taking a few steps.

A thousand miles begins with a single step.

The current insignificant and low-value commercial championship is the "step" for the Chinese team to hit the 2030 World Cup.

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The award ceremony is relatively simple. After all, it is only a "cup" in which four teams participate and only two games are played.

Simply set up the podium, and the players from both sides will come to the stage to receive the award in turn.

Mexico went up first, and each of them won a silver medal and a panda doll.

The Mexican players have recovered from the pain of losing the game. When they came to the stage to accept the award, they all had smiles on their faces, especially after seeing the panda dolls, they even raised the dolls in their hands to the camera, showing with...

From the point of view of this group of Mexican players, they spent a very wonderful vacation in Jincheng City, Anton Province, China.

The champion is gone...

Even Nuno Alvarez was relieved now, and did not hold on to the grievances between himself and Hu Lai.

When it was the turn of the Chinese team players to come to the stage to receive the award, an excited voice came from the live broadcast:

"Let's welcome...the champion of the first China Cup...the Chinese National Men's Football Team!!"

There were thunderous cheers at the scene.

Amidst the cheers, the players of the Chinese team stepped up to the podium one by one and happily received the medals. Finally, captain Hao De won the first "China Cup" trophy on behalf of the whole team.

The music sounded, and the ribbons fell from the sky.

After the award ceremony, the players of the Chinese team came to the sidelines, holding the trophy and interacting with the fans in the stands, thanking the fans for their support.

The fans in the stands gave them a thumbs up and shouted: "The Chinese team is awesome!"

"Come on Chinese team!!"

The reporters surrounded the players of the Chinese team and recorded the scene with their cameras and video cameras.

At this moment, a familiar melody sounded on the live radio.

The Chinese fans cheered loudly.

Then...they sang collectively along with the melody:

"The five-star red flag is fluttering in the wind—!!"

"What a loud victory song!!!"

Hearing the singing, Dillon happily said to Jin Tao: "Listen, Yu! The singing of victory is playing again!"

Yu Jintao nodded with a smile: "Yes... I hope we can hear more often in the future..."

"I will, Yu. I will." Dillon murmured, looking at those people in the distance.

The singing wafted over the Provincial Sports Center and echoed in everyone's heart.

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PS, I'm very sorry, from today to the 5th, it will be a single update, please allow me to save up the manuscript...

m(_._)m