Golden Greenery

The once-in-a-century heavy snowfall at the end of last year finally melted away before March. All the remaining snow returned to the earth, and Zhongnan Mountain in the south of Xi'an was no longer mottled.

In the spring of March, everything revives, the snow melts and moistens the mountains and the earth, the creeks gurgling, and the winter wheat is full. Everyone says that this year will definitely be a bumper harvest.

The St. Zhuque Stadium, located between Zhuque Street and Chang'an Road in Xi'an, was full again tonight, with 65,000 people making the stadium ablaze.

However, the atmosphere in the home team's locker room was not warm, and even a little depressing. No one among the 22 players of the Chinese national football team talked to each other. They all lowered their heads and listened to the old coach Sforza's old talk and emphasized tactical points.

Today is the last round of the first group stage of the Asian region of the 2018 Russia World Cup qualifiers. The situation of the Chinese team is not optimistic.

The format of this year's qualifiers has changed a bit. It used to be the top 20 and the top ten. After the 2018 qualifiers, the 40 teams in Asia were divided into 8 groups to determine the final 12. Divide into two groups to determine the final 4.5 places to go to Russia.

Tonight is the last round of the Chinese team in the top 40, and their opponent is Qatar, which firmly ranks first in the group.

In fact, the top 40 grouping is very beneficial to the Chinese team, because it seems that the strengths and weaknesses are clearly defined. China, Qatar, China Fishing Port, Bhutan, and the Maldives. On paper, this group is actually a matter between the Chinese team and Qatar, and the other three teams can only focus on participation.

The Chinese team was in the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. At that time, its strength was already recognized by the football world as a second-rate European team. However, football is a highly transparent sport under the spotlight, so experts and senior media also saw it clearly.

Without Zhuo Yang, the Chinese team's upper limit of strength is only near-first-rate in Asia.

Australia's defeat in the 2015 Asian Cup completely confirmed the football world's inference that the Chinese team had lost its spirit and soul.

Then Rijkaard left, plunging the team into despair. New coach Sforza could only try his best to fight against the panic atmosphere.

After two warm-up matches, consecutive draws with the inexplicable Ballesta and Haiti, the Chinese team began the Asian top 40 match at a loss.

There is nothing to say about Bhutan and the Maldives. The Chinese team has won two consecutive games. But then the game ended in a 0:0 draw in Shenzhen and Yugang, which was outrageous.

What team is the fishing port? They are not even considered second-rate in Asia. The Chinese team is so decadent that the whole world is in an uproar, and the bumpkins from the fishing port are extremely excited.

In an important confrontation last October,

The Chinese team lost 0:1 in an away game in Doha to Qatar, which is no longer what it used to be. It fell directly behind its opponent by 4 points. Algerian naturalized player Bodiaf scored the winner.

Without Zhuoyang, the Chinese team's shortcomings are all-round. The most obvious one is the inability to attack. Except for being able to continue to abuse global football appetizers such as Bhutan and the Maldives, the rest are as long as the defense is solid or they are determined to stick to the iron barrel formation. Team, the Chinese team really doesn’t have much to do.

Then in November last year, the Chinese team once again drew 0:0 with Yugang in an away game. The forward's weakness was undoubtedly revealed, and the draw severely affected the team's already precarious psychological quality.

In fact, poor psychological quality has always been a chronic problem of the Chinese team. However, in those years, because of the plug-in backbone of Zhuo Yang, this shortcoming was hidden to the maximum extent.

Now that there is no Zhuoyang, and they are tied at home and away by the likes of Yugang, the Chinese team players are familiar with the confusion caused by a mixture of reservations, complaints, and fear of the wolf in front and the tiger in the back.

It was under this situation that the Chinese team ushered in today's last decisive battle with Qatar.

A decisive battle indeed.

Group C of the top 40 competition has clear strengths and weaknesses. Qatar has won the first place in the group early with 21 points and 7 wins from 7 games. Fishing Port has played 8 games and has 14 points from 4 games, 2 draws and 2 losses. The Chinese team has 4 wins and 2 losses from 7 games. Even with a draw and a loss, they still have 14 points, but because they can still beat the opponent, they have a few more goal differences, ranking second in the group.

And even if they lose to Qatar today, as long as they are not unbeatable, they will still be in second place.

However, 40 teams are divided into eight groups to determine the top 12, and only the eight group leaders and the four best second-placed teams can advance.

The Chinese team's current 14 points are behind the United Arab Emirates (16), Jordan (16), Syria (15), Iraq (17), and North Korea (16). These five groups are second and only ranked sixth.

Not to mention losing to Qatar, even if they draw, they will be eliminated. The top eight teams in the World Cup were actually reduced to the point where they were about to be eliminated in the preliminary round of the qualifiers.

The only good news for the Chinese team in more than a year is that fans and media across the country are more concerned about Zhuo Yang's safety and no longer care about the national team's results, otherwise they would have been criticized long ago.

Zhuoyang had woken up, but what he saw before his eyes was such a ruined scene that the national team didn't know how to face him.

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Since the 1970s, China has basically universalized compulsory education. Therefore, China is now one of the countries in the world that respects and believes in basic science the most. It is also one of the countries that has the most scientific knowledge and respects scientists the most.

Zhuo Yang's medical team includes senior nurses like Ye Zi and authoritative medical experts. They have absolute power over Zhuo Yang's physical recovery, and Zhuo Yang also trusts these scientists.

Chinese people who believe in science also believe in Zhuo Yang's medical team, because everyone is not illiterate, not anti-intellectual, and believes in science.

Therefore, the medical team said that Zhuo Yang was not suitable to go out, so he would not go out.

St. Zhuque has not hosted a national team game for a long time. Xi'an is Zhuo Yang's hometown. Today, the stadium stands are filled with Zhuo Yang's portraits and banners with blessings and thoughts.

Perhaps St. Suzaku fans don't care whether the national team can win today, because they have won too many games in the six years from 2008 to 2014. Chinese fans are actually very contented. The glory of those six years can make most people drink for the rest of their lives.

Zhuo Yang was able to escape from death and be reborn at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain. Their fine wine can continue to be drunk by his sons and grandsons, and they have nothing else to ask for.

Fans sang "Zhuo Yang's Song" over and over again in the stands, waving Zhuo Yang's flag, singing and dancing.

But the national team, from the coaching staff to the players, will be embarrassed to see Zhuoyang again if they fail to defeat Qatar today. The huge psychological pressure makes the atmosphere in the locker room very depressing.

The team's performance decline was expected by everyone, but the decline was so rapid, so complete, and so back to its original shape that the national players wanted to die.

We had agreed to go to Zhongnan Mountain as a group to visit the captain early tomorrow morning, but now most of the people were afraid of seeing him.

Many people are even afraid before fighting and have the mentality of timidity.

Suddenly, the door of St. Zhuque's home team locker room was pushed open, and the national team captain Zhuo Yang walked in with his head held high.