World Cup of Great Powers

Zeng Zheng was deeply moved by Ladd's narration.

Although it has not changed Chinese football, it has not brought any results to Chinese football.

But aren’t his efforts for Chinese football worth mentioning? Isn’t the temperament and spirit he showed worth remembering?

Ladd said to Zeng Zheng: "Football is just my means of livelihood; philosophy is my interest."

He also told Zeng Zheng a story.

At a grand celebration in ancient Greece, Aristotle was invited to attend as the most distinguished guest.

The people were brightly dressed, and after the parades, games, and drinking, they gathered around him and asked eagerly what he thought of it.

Aristotle replied slowly: "There are so many complicated and colorful things in the world - this is what I don't want to see."

Speaking of this, Ladd continued: "But if I happen to participate in the running competition of this celebration, I must insist on running to the finish line, because this is my responsibility."

In fact, it was not his wish to serve as the head coach of the Chinese team again.

Because he missed the best opportunity to cooperate with the national team, and he only received the transfer order when he was already fully focused on cultivating young talents.

This is unfair and inappropriate for Ladd.

But when the task of bamboo shoes arrived, he still resolutely chose to take office.

As a southerner who has been immersed in Chinese culture for many years, he also knows very well that his position as head coach is just an "agent".

Once Bamboo Shoes finds an outstanding head coach candidate, he will be replaced immediately as before.

Therefore, he has been prepared since he took office and once again became a "consultant" before the competition.

But this does not affect his hope that this team will be good and strong.

After spending a few days with Ladd in Maojiawan, Zeng Zheng became more and more admired for this southern old man.

He is humble, elegant and never fights with others.

This is completely opposite to Zeng Zheng, who has a bad temper on the court.

A head coach without power is like a substitute teacher - although he usually wins the respect of the students, when something happens, no one is willing to listen to him.

Now is the time when "something goes wrong".

Although Kirin Beer Cup is fighting on other people's territory.

But the fans and leaders absolutely cannot accept that the "Millennium Dragons" team, to which the whole country has devoted their efforts, is so vulnerable.

After understanding Ladd's character, Zeng Zheng also realized.

Now is not the time to be angry at all.

If we don't give some people a blow in the head as soon as possible, I'm afraid it will be too late.

"Mr. Ladd, what is the national team's schedule like in the past month?"

Ladd thought for a while, then clapped his fingers and said: "Comrade Li Xiaoguang said that our national team should play as many games as possible this year."

"After the Kirin Beer Cup, there will be a friendly match against Yugoslavia at the end of February."

"In early March, the Chinese team was invited to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup."

Glancing at Zeng Zheng, Ladd continued, "There will be two friendly matches after returning from the Gold Cup. One is the hk team, and the other is the Olympic team you lead."

Zeng Zheng nodded after hearing this.

Although Xu Fang proposed a friendly match between the National Football Team and the National Olympic Games.

But looking at the national team's schedule, it's obvious that they have guessed Zeng Zheng's intentions and plan to screen, prepare, and temper before playing this game.

But Zeng Zheng was not worried.

Zeng Zheng also watched the Kirin Beer Cup game.

If the original team is given another chance to play, even if they can't win the game, the other team won't be able to win.

To put it bluntly, Ladd actually does not have much power in the national team.

...

Although the outside world did not know about Ladd's trip to Maojiawan, "good news" came one after another.

Zhang Xiaorui, Li Tie, Li Jinyu and Sun Jihai were called back to the team one after another for unknown reasons.

This greatly encouraged the fans.

But in fact, these four people were a little dumbfounded after returning to China.

I originally thought they were the "four overseas students" participating in the National Olympic training camp, but I found out that they were actually the training base of the national football team.

After learning the whole story, Zhang Xiaorui almost gave up and returned to Portugal.

Fortunately, Zeng Zheng called the four of them one by one, and they were able to calm down and train with the team.

After all, for the National Olympic team members, they are the "preparatory group" of the national football team, and it is reasonable to be called upon at any time.

On February 28, the national football team went to Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, to play a friendly match with the Yugoslav national team at the Partizan Stadium.

The only goal of the game was scored by Mijatovic with a header from Mihajlovic's free kick in just 7 minutes.

After the goal was scored, due to concerns about the counterattack speed of the national football team, the Yugoslav team recovered quickly and did not give the national football team a good chance to score.

Throughout the first half, except for Zhang Xiaorui's long shot from 30 meters away that threatened the opponent's goal, there were no other exciting shots.

On the contrary, Yugoslavia frequently launched long passes from the backcourt to hit the two defenders of the national football team, posing a great threat and making it difficult for the national football team to defend themselves.

In the second half, the Yugoslavia team replaced all players except No. 6 Grozdic and No. 9 Milosevic. The national football team also replaced most of the main players and included four returning members of the National Olympic team.

The South team's formation obviously presses forward, but because the substitute players are worse than the main players, the ability of the midfield and backfield to deliver the ball is not as good as in the first half, so the pressure on the national football goal is not greater than in the first half.

It is precisely because of the forward pressure of their formation that they give the national football team's forwards an opportunity.

In the 72nd minute of the second half, Li Jinyu used a sneak attack to win a one-on-one goal, but in the end he failed to grasp it.

In this friendly match, the national team lost 0-1.

At the post-match press conference, Ladd was very happy to be able to lead the team back to his homeland to compete with the Yugoslav national team after so many years. He was also satisfied with the performance of his players and believed that the team was constantly improving.

After watching this game, Zeng Zheng immediately wrote a pertinent evaluation on the forum.

"...Compared with the previous China-Japan match, the performance of the national team, which included several young Olympic players, was obviously much better."

"Specifically, the shadows between the players were much better than the last game."

"In the Sino-Japanese match, our passes were either wide-open shots without bounds, or continuous ultra-short passes within two or three meters. This shows that the connection distance between players is not well controlled."

"In this game, we can see that the national football team can at least stand up in the midfield, and often pass a few good shots to force the opponent to adjust their defense. Of course, this is related to the fact that the Yugoslav team is not aggressive in the midfield, but the players

The improvement in response awareness is also obvious.”

"Secondly, in terms of various statistics, there is not much difference between us and the Yugoslavia team."

"Both sides took 6 shots and corner kicks. In terms of the number of times we scored the opponent's 30-meter area, we were still higher than our opponents. This is because our players did a good job in interception in the midfield."

"But the problem is that although they are not inferior to Yugoslavia in shooting and corner kicks, they do not have as many threatening attacks as their opponents. This fully reflects the gap in the personal abilities of the two teams."

"Facing high-level opponents, we fully exposed our weakness of playing the ball too slowly."

"Many times it is not that there are no opportunities, but when we are adjusting with the ball and looking up, the opportunities are gone."

"So we often see the national football team steal the ball in the midfield and then immediately pass the ball away."

"The opponent's 30-meter area is where we concede the most goals."

"This fully exposes that our players are still not up to par in terms of their ability to launch the final pass, or in other words, the cooperation is not so smooth and we can't find the backbone."

"In addition, it is worth mentioning that when our midfielder pressed forward, in order to keep the overall formation compact, the back line also pressed into the center circle."

"However, since the two central defenders, General Fan and Li Ming, are both good at frontal defense, they are relatively unable to judge the opponent's passing route and side protection in advance, so they are easily beaten behind by the opponent."

"This is also the reason why we had more dangers in the backcourt in this game."

"In this regard, this requires the goalkeeper to expand the scope of his activities and take on the responsibility of sweeper at certain times. But judging from the live game, Jiang Jin is obviously not suitable for this role."

"Of course, the team's overall ability cannot be improved in a short period of time. We should give Ladd time to change the team. At the same time, we should also see that our overall performance in this game is good."

"It should be said that Coach Ladd's answer is quite satisfactory."

As soon as Zeng Zheng posted his post, thousands of replies immediately followed.

"Coach Zeng, don't just watch all the time, do something!"

"Coach Zeng, how can you be a good man if you always talk? When you find a problem, you start to help correct it!"

"Coach Zeng, my heart aches after reading your post. We know the problem but no one takes action to correct it. You can't always watch from behind!"

"Coach Zeng, when will you become the head coach of the national team???"

...

While the fans were anxiously waiting for a response, Zeng Zheng had successfully been "promoted" to the role of national team consultant through this post, and boarded a flight to the United States along with Ladd and the national players.

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is an international football championship held every two years by the CONCACAF Football Confederation.

The predecessor of the Gold Cup is the Central American and Caribbean Championship, which was held as early as 1941. At that time, only Central American and Caribbean island countries participated.

From 1963 to 1989, the event was renamed the CONCACAF Championship, and the participating countries expanded to North America.

In 1991, the tournament was renamed the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and qualifiers were added.

At the same time, in order to improve the quality of the competition, the Gold Cup has also begun to invite countries from other continents to participate.

This time, the Chinese team that shined in the World Cup has become the star team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and the entire America is paying attention.

This is one of the reasons why Zhu Xie would rather use "coaxing" methods to call four overseas players to return to the team.

Football is of course the number one sport in any country in the world, but only in the paradise of sports, it is a neglected sport.

Because of the success of last year's Women's World Cup, the competition organizing committee is fully expecting to set a new record for the competition this time around.

Since the Gold Cup was renamed in 1991, it has been held in the United States for five consecutive years.

Arriving in Los Angeles again, Zeng Zheng was filled with emotions.

I came with the national team twice, both times as a "consultant".

It seems that I really have no destiny to be a head coach!

This time when he came to the United States, Zeng Zheng specially brought Chen Tao with him.

Just like when he dug out Liu Yunfei from the Tianjin team.

Zeng Zheng, who was deeply influenced by the story between the Brazilian team and Ronaldo in 1994, would rather spend his own money and bring young players he is optimistic about in some competitions to increase their knowledge of competitions.

This year's CONCACAF Gold Cup has expanded to 12 teams, and two South American teams and one East Asian team have been invited to participate. The pre-match gimmicks are naturally quite sufficient.

This Gold Cup was originally scheduled to be randomly drawn into groups, but due to commercial interests, the North and South China Football Confederation later changed its mind.

The final grouping result was that the Chinese team was placed in a group with Canada and Costa Rica.

"Boss Zeng, why do we come to participate in the Central and North American competition?" Zeng Zheng's assistant Han Tao asked.

"It's simple, because the East Asian teams are too weak."

Zeng Zheng explained, "From a geographical point of view, there is not much difference in the time it takes for us to compete in West Asia and to compete in the Americas."

"And the conditions in West Asia are not good, and the level of the teams is also uneven. Coupled with various factors such as war, culture, food, etc., instead of playing some games with them, it is better to play with more unique American teams.

Discuss."

"And Xiaotao, do you know?"

"Our neighbors have spent money to buy out South American Football Confederation since they were young. They can already play in the America's Cup as an Asian team."

"At this point, I am very satisfied that Bamboo Shoes can win a spot in the CONCACAF Gold Cup."

This is the fact.

The North and South China Football Federation originally planned to invite South Korea.

But last year, Zhang Jilong and the AFC had too much trouble with FIFA and snatched 0.5 of the participating places for Asia from South America.

After showing such a strong influence, the North and South China Football Federation immediately selected the Chinese team as a special guest.

For the Chinese team, which is determined to compete in the 2002 World Cup, this is also a rare training trip.

On March 5, the Chinese team, which was invited to participate in the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time, got off to a bad start and was tied 0-0 by Canada, the weakest opponent in the group, in Los Angeles.

As soon as the game started, the Chinese team launched a short pass and fast break amidst the sound of gongs and drums from the fans in attendance.

Forwards Qu Shengqing, Zhang Xiaorui and midfielder Shen Si took turns bombing the Canadian goal.

However, due to the extremely brave performance of the Canadian goalkeeper who plays for West Ham United in the Premier League, he saved the ball one after another.

Although the Chinese team had the advantage throughout the game, they were unable to score, and in the end they could only draw 0-0 with Canada.

After the game, a reporter approached Zeng Zheng for an interview, but Zeng Zheng remained silent.

What else can be said?

With Zhang Xiaorui as the forward, and there is also a player on the team who was born in 1983, is less than 17 years old, and has only played 1 minute in the league as a substitute, what can Zeng Zheng say?

This time when he came to the United States with the team, Zeng Zheng focused most of his energy on training those players who had studied abroad.

As for his suggestions about the national team, he said everything he needed to say.

Whether the other party adopts it or not is their business.

Because Canada and Costa Rica drew 2-2 before.

Therefore, after the Chinese team draws with Canada, the next game can only ensure the qualifying of the group by defeating the Colombian team or tying with more than three goals.

Before the match with the Ge team, Jin Zhiyang and Chi Shangbin approached Zeng Zheng and asked him what he thought of the Ge team.

After watching the game between Canada and Costa Rica, Zeng Zheng leaned on the sofa and said boredly: "Except for some players, the overall speed of the team lags behind, and the individual skills are not obvious."

"As long as we fight normally, there will be no problem in winning against our opponent!"

The two teaching assistants looked at each other and could naturally tell that there was something in Zeng Zheng's words.

After leaving Zeng Zheng's room, Jin Zhiyang and Chi Shangbin complained.

"Oh, it's all my fault that Zhang Xiaorui played so well in the Portuguese Super League. If he doesn't score so many goals, can the higher-ups allow him to play as a forward?"

"Who says it's not the case! It's 2000, and there are still people who think that if you score a lot of goals, you should play as a forward..."

On March 8, in the last group match of the Tong Ge team, the Chinese team "showed its strength".

Including General Fan, all five overseas players played the positions they are good at.

Not only that, the other six positions are also filled with experienced veteran national players.

All the players who were selected for the first time this year were put on the bench.

At the beginning, the national football players seemed a little too nervous and made frequent mistakes in the midfield and backcourt.

But after 5 minutes, the team gradually entered the state, and Zhang Xiaorui completed the first shot.

Since then, the advantages of the national football team members in midfield control, interception and organization have gradually emerged.

In competitions with equal opportunities, the ball is often won by the national football team, and the opponent can only rely on fouls to stop the national football team's attack.

In the 35th minute, Sun Jihai took a corner kick and his team headed the ball out of the penalty area. Li Tie from outside the penalty area met the ball and shot.

The kick was so powerful that it hit the opponent's defender on the back and changed direction. The ball flew into the net from the other side of the goalkeeper.

After "unexpectedly" taking the lead, the national players became more and more courageous as they fought.

Two minutes later, right back Sun Jihai used his speed to grab the ball that was not passed properly by his teammate during the competition with the opponent's defender, and passed it back to Li Jinyu in the penalty area near the baseline.

The latter caught the ball and dunked lightly, avoiding the opponent's tackle and then calmly pushed the ball, and the ball hit the net again.

After that, the national football team played more relaxedly.

In the 61st minute, the national football team seized an opportunity that was not a chance. In the right corner of the opponent's penalty area, Sun Jihai used his physical advantage to squeeze between two defenders and passed the ball across the ball when he had lost the ball.

To the vicinity of the penalty spot.

Su Maozhen was flanked by two defenders and took a shot. The ball went under his arm and into the goal again.

Before the end, the team finally got a chance.

No. 8 took a powerful long-range shot 30 meters away from the goal, and the ball bounced into the net.

In the end, the national football team won 3-1 and successfully advanced to the quarterfinals.

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