World Cup of Great Powers

Just like Zeng Zheng said.

In his hands, he holds the "power of life and death" of the national title.

As a player under him, he has a clear view of whether he trains hard and takes the game seriously.

If the earth is gone, everyone can turn around.

If these players are really good, he wouldn't mind promoting a new group of talents.

Especially the players on the team who are qualified to be selected for the National Olympics.

Most of them are Zeng Zheng's Jianlibao team, and they are usually confident.

But this time, Zeng Zheng didn't want to spoil them anymore.

"Don't think that because you are familiar with me, you feel you are privileged!"

Zeng Zheng glanced at the thorns in the locker room.

"There are 20-year-old players every year!"

"If we want to play in the Olympics, we won't be inferior to you guys!"

"Don't forget, there are a group of National Youth players waiting to take over behind you!"

"Don't these young people who play football come in one after another?"

"After I left, the team was led by Coach Gao."

"If anyone dares to explode while I'm away, you can figure it out when I come back!"

After saying a few harsh words, Zeng Zheng temporarily handed over the club's baton to Gao Hongbo.

Traveling day and night, I rushed to Nigeria with the National Youth Team.

Nigeria began applying to host the World Youth Championship in 1987. After unremitting efforts, it finally won the right to host the 1995 World Youth Championship.

But unfortunately, it was disqualified in 1995 due to unqualified sanitary conditions. It was not until this year that Nigeria won the right to host again.

This World Youth Championship has received widespread attention from the international community.

A total of 93 countries broadcast all games of this event, and more than 200 foreign reporters came to Nigeria to cover the entire game.

"Hello, audience friends, I am the host Qin Xue."

"Right now I am at the National Stadium in Lagos, Nigeria, and behind me is the opening ceremony of this World Youth Championship."

"Today, the weather in Lagos is very hot and the atmosphere in the stadium is even more lively."

"We can see from a distance that on that rostrum is the head of state of Nigeria, Abubakar."

"There are 40,000 fans and spectators here today, and everyone is beating drums to cheer for their favorite team."

"After the opening ceremony, the host Nigeria team will play the opening match of the World Youth Championship against the South American powerhouse Costa Rica."

"Oh, the Chinese team is entering!"

As Qin Xue whispered, the camera zoomed out, and the fans saw a patch of red from a distance.

"This World Youth Championship is a gathering of powerful teams and stars."

"The host Nigeria team and the African Youth Championship champion Ghana team naturally want to keep the Gold Cup in Africa, but Portugal from Europe and Brazil and Argentina from South America are certainly not willing to leave empty-handed."

"Six European teams including Portugal, Ireland, Germany, Croatia, England and Spain will compete in Nigeria this time. Almost every team has the possibility of winning the championship."

"According to local news surveys, fans are particularly optimistic about the Portuguese team."

"The team has won the World Youth Championship in 1989 and 1991. The youngest player in the team, 18-year-old Lille, has recently shown outstanding performance that has aroused the interest of many Italian clubs."

"Not only that, the value of Portugal's "free kick expert" Sabrosa has been raised to US$15 million by Spanish clubs."

"This is probably an important reason why fans and experts are optimistic about the Portuguese team."

"The Brazilian team, which has won the World Youth Championship three times, is also the biggest favorite to win this tournament."

"And Pekerman, who has led the Argentinians to win the World Youth Championship twice, comes to Africa this time and of course he wants to teach the Argentine boys to attack the Gold Cup again."

"The 19-year-old striker Garrardi in the Argentine team is very good. The Argentine team has participated in the South American qualifying competition of the World Youth Championship 9 times and qualified 8 times. Naturally, this time it is a big favorite to win the championship."

"In addition, the Chinese team is also one of the favorites to win this cup."

"The Chinese team won the Asian Youth Championship last year."

"In the last World Youth Championship, the Chinese team also achieved good results in the top eight of the World Youth Championship."

"In this World Youth Championship, many scouts and clubs from Europe are also paying attention to the Chinese team. They are sure that the Chinese team can achieve great results and reach a higher level."

"The most important thing is that the name of the amazing coach Zeng Zheng appears on the coaching staff of the Chinese team."

"This is one of the reasons why the outside world is more optimistic about the Chinese team."

...

Perhaps influenced by the World Cup in France, the World Youth Championship held in Nigeria this time also distributed its venues among eight stadiums in eight cities in Nigeria.

After participating in the opening ceremony, the Chinese team came to Enugu non-stop.

Enugu City, the capital of Enugu State, covers an area of ​​85 square kilometers and has a population of nearly 500,000. It is a relatively developed commercial, financial and industrial center.

Agriculture is the pillar industry here, but there are many modern companies such as steel, oil, and natural gas.

Most importantly, there is an airport here.

Every year in November, the Makeup Festival held in Enugu attracts a large number of tourists.

The stadium here, Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, is named after Nigeria’s first president, Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe.

The stadium is not big and can accommodate famous fans.

This is already the fourth largest stadium in Nigeria this time. The smallest Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium can only accommodate celebrity fans.

In the hotel room, Zhu Guanghu and Zeng Zheng discussed the tactical plan.

Zhu Guanghu is responsible for coordinating the overall situation, and Zeng Zheng is responsible for game arrangements.

In this regard, the two also have a perfect tacit understanding.

"Coach Zhu, are there any tasks planned this time?"

Zeng Zheng just asked casually, but Zhu Guanghu's expression became serious this time.

"Xiao Zeng, don't worry, this mission is quite heavy."

"It's quite heavy? What? Let us win the championship?"

"I didn't say that." Zhu Guanghu shook his head, "But he did say that we should play until the end as much as possible, and play as many games as we can. It is best to bring out the prestige of our Asian team!

"

"Asian team? What's going on?" Zeng Zheng immediately grasped the key.

"It's not the World Cup that's causing the fuss!" Zhu Guanghu said softly, "FIFA is so bullying, so they gave us two places in Asia."

[Recommended, the Huanyuan app is really useful for chasing books. Download it here. huanyuanapp. You can try it soon. 】

"Deputy Zhang is currently negotiating with FIFA in Zurich!"

"If our Asian team performs well in this World Youth Championship, we will have confidence in talking about it, right?"

"So not only us, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia are also working hard."

"At the very least, we have to qualify in the group stage, right?"

Zeng Zheng nodded after hearing this.

According to this, we really can’t be careless in this World Youth Championship.

There are 24 participating teams in this World Youth Championship, divided into 6 groups. The first place, second place and 4 best third place teams in each group can advance to the knockout rounds.

So the chances of qualifying as a group are quite high.

In this World Youth Championship, the Chinese team is divided into Group D with Portugal, Uruguay and Mali.

According to Zhu Guanghu's thinking, Portugal is the number one enemy in the group, and the strength of the last World Youth Championship champion Uruguay should not be underestimated.

If we can steal points from the little-known Mali team, it shouldn't be a problem to qualify third in the group.

...

Early the next morning, the National Youth Team members gathered on the playground.

"How was your rest last night?"

"Boss Zeng, it's okay."

"Me too."

"Sleep until dawn."

The team members were chattering, and Zeng Zheng nodded repeatedly.

The fans in Enugu are quite honest and do not have the habit of beating gongs and drums in the middle of the night. This allows the team members to at least not worry about being disturbed by external factors.

After briefly leading the team to warm up, Zeng Zheng suddenly became playful and asked, "Does anyone want to try this with me?"

Looking at the bench press dumbbell pointed by Zeng Zheng, Li Yi took the lead and asked, "Boss Zeng, what's the benefit of us winning?"

Zeng Zheng shrugged, "Whoever wins will have half the laps tomorrow. If you lose, just double the laps!"

Seeing the tendons on Zeng Zheng's arms, the boys from the National Youth League, who were between 19 and 20, looked at each other for a moment, and no one dared to stand up and challenge him immediately.

"Yun Fei, do you want to give it a try? You are a goalkeeper and you practice arm strength every day!" a team member whispered.

"Do you think I'm stupid? Can't you see it? Boss Zeng just wants those guys who are poor runners and have poor physical fitness to try it!"

"Ah? Is that so?" Li Yan touched the back of his head, "Is my physical strength considered good?"

Just as the two were whispering, a young general stood up.

"Boss Zeng, I'm coming!"

Amid the cheers of his teammates, this young man from Beijing with a short haircut raised the ball 10 times in a row, and then his movements began to deform.

When the 12th push was reached, both arms began to shake, and the barbell was visibly out of balance.

"Twelve times, is there anyone else? Come out and practice together!"

Zeng Zheng shouted several times, and Shen Han, Zhao Junzhe and others also appeared one by one with their sleeves rolled up.

But everyone was half-matched, and Chen Licheng, who pushed the most, barely managed 15.

When it was Zeng Zheng's turn, Zeng Zheng took off his vest and then pushed it 20 times in a row, winning applause from everyone present.

"I really didn't expect that, you guys have so little energy!"

After Zeng Zheng stood up, he scolded the National Youth players in front of him.

"What the hell, if the women's football team knew that you can push 50 kilograms twelve or three times, wouldn't they laugh at you to death?"

"Just twelve or three times!"

"If you tell me this, I will blush for you!"

After being scolded by Zeng Zheng, the national youth players present hung their heads in shame.

"Boss Zeng, I, I will practice hard."

The short-headed young man from Beijing who stood up first clenched his fists and expressed his determination in front of everyone.

There was no him in the Asian Youth Championship last year. This time he was selected for the National Youth Championship. In addition to being introduced by his teammates, it was also thanks to his good performance during this period.

Of course, it was his name that caught Zeng Zhengfa's eyes more.

"Shao Jiayi, right? Let's clear the circle first!" Zeng Zheng said casually.

"It's not too late to practice strength later."

"I stress again, in this World Youth Championship, you all have to run with your life for me, do you understand?"

...

On April 4th, Uncle Li put on his slippers and went downstairs to buy breakfast.

When I got home, I had a morning newspaper under my arm.

"Looking at the future pattern of the national football team from the accents of the national youth players"

"Why don't you hurry up and eat? Why are you always looking at that iron box? You'll be late for work later!" While reading the newspaper, Uncle Li scolded his son in front of the computer.

"Dad, you are allowed to read the newspaper? You are not allowed to let me know about some important national affairs?!"

Listening to his son speaking with a Beijing accent, Uncle Li curled his lips and looked at the newspaper again,

"Looking at the national football team based on their accent? What does this mean?"

...

"It is foreseeable that in the next few years, the post-80s generation of the National Youth League will become influential figures in Chinese football."

"From this perspective, the quantity and quality of young players in this age group will determine the domestic football status of each place in the next few years."

"There are 24 players on the roster for this year's World Youth Championship, and these 24 players come from 10 domestic clubs."

"Tianjin and Northeastern dialects are what reporters hear most in Nigeria these days. Almost all team members who are familiar with reporters are from Tianjin."

"Two of the goalkeepers, Liu Yunfei and Yang Jun, are both from Tianjin. Chen Licheng, Liu Chen, Wang Jianyu, Liu Chen and Wang Jianyu were also born in Tianjin."

"Captain Xu Yunlong speaks with a Beijing accent."

"We also have Wang Shuo on the team, and Shao Jiayi is also from Beijing Guoan."

"There are two players from Magic City. Li Yan and Shen Han are from Magic City Hangxing."

"But the Modu dialect is not dominant in the team, so as time goes by, their accents are gradually assimilated by their teammates in the north."

"Of course, there are also a lot of players from the Northeast."

"Players like Zheng Zhi, Zhao Junzhe, Wang Xiao, Liu Yujian, Yu Feng and other players are all from the Northeast region."

"So far, northern players have accounted for one-half of the team, and most of these players are the main players."

Seeing this, Uncle Li also shook his head and sighed, "Good guy, I didn't expect that we northerners account for such a large proportion! Moreover, there are tigers in Tianjin. The two goalkeepers are actually from Tianjin."

"It doesn't matter where you come from, what matters is that you can win!" Xiao Li interjected from the side.

"Win? Of course you can win! Can't you win even if coach Zeng leads the team?"

Uncle Li couldn't recognize all the names of these young players, but Zeng Zheng's name gave him full confidence!

...

The first game was about to begin, and Zeng Zheng also took the entire team to a public training session in front of the media at the right time.

It stands to reason that the national youth team should guard against opponents spying on military intelligence and conduct closed training.

But this time Zeng Zheng plans to take this opportunity to promote the team to the world and expand its influence.

In front of reporters, Zeng Zheng simply asked the team members to demonstrate a 20-meter and 30-meter return run.

The reporters who came to the scene were a little disappointed after not seeing the team members competing in groups.

The fertile soil in Europe and the United States has basically been exploited by scouts.

Many scouts have begun to set their sights on the unexplored golden region of Asia.

Among them, the Chinese team reached the top 16 of the World Cup and attracted countless media attention.

As the most fertile land in East Asia, these scouts naturally want to know in advance which players on the Chinese team are outstanding.

But the scouts were also disappointed when they saw that Zeng Zheng only asked his players to practice turning back and forth.

This is where Zeng Zheng is smart.

It’s okay to observe our training from a close distance, but don’t even think about it if you find out what’s true and false!

But the next day, the situation was somewhat beyond Zeng Zheng's expectation.

The opponent Mali in the National Youth Group suffered the biggest upset of this World Youth Championship.

The Mali team of Africa's new brigade has always been regarded as a "little team" before the game, but during the game, they showed no weakness when facing the last runner-up Uruguay.

In the 50th minute, Kamara scored the goal of the Ukrainian team.

Although the Uzbek team equalized the score 7 minutes later, they relaxed their vigilance just before the end and the goal was scored again by Mali's Disha.

As a result, the previous champion Uruguay was ranked at the bottom of the group after the first round, and the African powerhouse Mali ranked first with 3 points.

The sudden rise of Mali made Zeng Zheng frown.

This forces me to fight with Portugal in advance!

Next chapter

Bookmark