The Midfield Master

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After watching Everton's home game against Manchester United, Xia Ze and Zhang Wei left Liverpool the next day and took a plane to Australia.

The Chinese national team will start training in Australia to prepare for the Asian Cup on January 4. Before the start of the Asian Cup, they have nearly half a month to run in and adapt to the local weather.

Xia Ze and Zhang Wei got permission from the national team to fly directly from Europe to Australia to gather with the team.

Wu Lei who plays in the Bundesliga, Zhang Linpeng who plays in Serie A, Gao Bo who plays in La Liga and Wang Shangyuan who plays in Bruges, Belgium, like Xia Ze and the others, all went to Australia from Europe.

And Ai Huang plays for Manchester United, because there is no winter break in the Premier League, so he needs to be able to join the team after a week.

After more than 30 long-distance flights that disappeared, Xia Ze and Zhang Wei showed up at the airport in Melbourne, dragging their luggage. The location of the national team training is in Melbourne, and the two games in their group stage are also held in Melbourne.

According to the address given by the national team, the two of Xia Ze appeared at the entrance of a small and quiet hotel.

The two of them appeared at the door of this hotel, and found that there were not many guests. Occasionally, one or two people came out of the hotel. The national team chose this place because they liked the quietness here.

Entering the hotel lobby, the two saw Zhang Linpeng dragging his luggage, and an old foreigner with gray hair and glasses was talking to him.

The old man also happened to see Xia Ze and Zhang Wei coming in. After talking to Zhang Linpeng, he patted Zhang Linpeng on the shoulder and walked towards Xia Ze and the others with a gentle smile on his face.

"Welcome to the team!" The old man came over and extended his right hand to Xia Ze.

"Mr. Lippi, hello." Xia Ze shook hands with him politely, and found that although the old man was 66 years old, his handshake was still very strong.

He is the new coach of the Chinese men's football team-Marcello Lippi, the 2006 World Cup champion coach, and led Guangzhou Evergrande to the AFC Champions League in 2013.

After leading Guangzhou Evergrande to win the Chinese Super League Championship for the fourth time in a row in November this year, the contract with Evergrande expired and was hired by the Chinese Football Association as the head coach of the men's national team to lead the team to the 2015 Asian Cup.

"Have you had a good trip?" Lippi shook hands with Xia Ze and Zhang Wei,

asked with concern.

Although the three met for the first time, Lippi also observed the performance of the two through the video. The 23-man roster for the Asian Cup this time was selected by him, including 7 players who played in Europe. players, so he is no stranger to Xia Ze and Zhang Wei.

When Xia Ze and Zhang Wei were in Guangzhou, they had already watched Lippi coaching the Evergrande team. When Lippi led Italy to the World Cup in Germany, the two also saw the heroic appearance of the world famous coach through TV. , although both of them were only 11 years old at that time.

"It's okay, but the jet lag hasn't passed, I don't know if it's day or night." Xia Ze said half-jokingly.

"Then go to rest, training will start tomorrow." Lippi patted him on the shoulder and said friendly.

He is worthy of being a famous coach in the world, and his personality charm is really hard to say. His every move reveals his confidence and arrogance.

While walking, Xia Ze looked back at Lippi's back, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

The next day, Xia Ze and Zhang Wei got up early. Because of the jet lag, they didn't sleep much. They couldn't sleep in the second half of the night, so they got up at 6 o'clock in the morning and went to the hotel restaurant Eat breakfast.

Australia is in the southern hemisphere, and the end of December is the beginning of summer, so the two suddenly came to sunny Melbourne from the rainy, snowy and bitingly cold England.

Wearing a short sleeve in the morning, I walked down the stairs breezyly.

"Xia Ze, Zhang Wei, good morning." A voice came from behind.

The two turned their heads and found that it was Lippi, the head coach, and hurriedly greeted him. The three of them walked to the restaurant while talking, and had breakfast together.

While eating breakfast, Xia Ze looked at Lippi very strangely. He was obviously a 66-year-old man with silver hair and wrinkles all over his face, but after getting up so early, he was full of energy and did not feel tired at all. .

Unable to understand, Xia Ze thought, if he was 66 years old, he would definitely sleep until he woke up naturally.

During breakfast, Lippi asked the two about the situation of their respective clubs, and when he learned that Xia Ze had recovered from his injury and was in good condition, he couldn't help nodding with satisfaction. Zhang Wei's performance at Sporting Lisbon was also praised by Lippi.

When the three of them were halfway through breakfast, Fu Bo, Lippi's coaching team and captain Zheng Zhi also appeared in the restaurant.

After Lippi coached the national team, Fu Bo stayed in the team, as Lippi's deputy, assisting Lippi in the management and training of the team. He is also responsible for the communication between the Italian coaching team and the Chinese coaches.

Zheng Zhi is 34 years old this year, but he is still in good condition in Guangzhou Evergrande. The national team is still the team's main midfielder, so Lippi also brought him to Australia to participate in this Asian Cup.

However, Zheng Zhi has already said that he will quit the national team after this Asian Cup and concentrate on the club's competition.

When everyone was about to finish their breakfast, other members of the national team appeared in the restaurant one after another.

Lippi didn't say anything, because the players of the national team always appear in the restaurant according to the normal meal time. The Italian old man is just used to getting up earlier than the players.

After breakfast, Lippi and his coaching team went to prepare for the next training session. The staff of the national team also arranged the bus in an orderly manner. After the players had breakfast, they led them to the training ground for adaptation. training.

Xia Ze and other 6 overseas players have returned to the team yesterday. In addition to Ai Huang who is still in the UK, plus 16 domestic players, 22 players selected for the national team squad will conduct the first training session today.

The opponents of the Chinese team in the group stage are the strong West Asian team Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Uzbekistan. It can be said that they have fallen into a death group. The team is superior.

The 23-man roster of the Chinese team this time is:

Goalkeepers: Zeng Cheng, Wang Dalei, Yan Junling

Defenders: Zhang Chengdong, Zhang Linpeng, Zhang Wei, Ren Hang, Jiang Zhipeng, Mei Fang, Ji Xiang

Midfielders: Zheng Zhi, Wu Xi, Cai Huikang, Ai Huang, Xia Ze, Yu Hanchao, Hao Junmin, Sun Ke, Liao Lisheng

Forwards: Wu Lei, Wang Shangyuan, Gao Lin, Gao Boc