World Cup of Great Powers

How to stop the Chinese team?

This topic is no longer a problem for the opponents in the World Preliminary Group Stage.

Because no team can stop it!

From Xi'an to Guangzhou, from Guangzhou to Singapore, and then from Singapore to the Maldives.

This away game requires two transfers.

Along the way, bamboo shoes from various places had already arranged the itinerary for Zeng Jiajun.

After arriving in Guangzhou, leaders such as Guangzhou Bamboo Shoes Xie Zhiguang and Yang Xu led a group of people to take charge of the transfer of a large amount of luggage for the national team.

Zeng Jiajun only needs to sit quietly in the VIP room to rest and wait for others to arrange everything.

Because the national team temporarily added one person, the original 757 planes reserved for the national team were already full.

For this reason, Singapore Airlines specifically changed its 757 aircraft to 777.

During the process of changing planes, Jin Zhiyang sprinted out as soon as he got off the plane.

Zeng Zheng asked curiously: "Coach Jin didn't go to the toilet on the plane?"

Chi Shangbin shook his head: "No, Lao Jin is anxious to see his granddaughter!"

You will find out if you inquire carefully.

Jin Zhiyang's daughter, who lives in Singapore, gave birth to a baby girl a month ago. Jin Zhiyang has not yet seen her granddaughter.

Knowing that her father was coming to Singapore for a layover this time, Jin Zhiyang's daughter took advantage of this opportunity to bring her one-month-old daughter over and let her grandfather meet her granddaughter.

Seeing Jin Zhiyang walking in the middle of the crowd on two legs, Zeng Zheng also said with emotion:

"I remember that Coach Jin had to take off his waist, right? It was really difficult for Coach Jin to see his granddaughter."

In order to wait for the national team to change planes, this 777 flight was delayed half an hour than planned.

It is not difficult to see that Zeng Jiajun’s reputation has reached an international level.

"Hurry up, hurry up!"

"Be neat!"

"Everyone is waiting for us to get on the plane!"

Under Ma Keke's urging, the team members filled the airplane suitcases with their large and small bags.

"Sir, your luggage is too big. I suggest you check one piece in."

Xie Hui, who was carrying two boxes, was in a dilemma.

I looked around and handed the smaller box to the stewardess, but kept the big and heavy one.

"Is there a shooting treasure inside?" General Fan asked curiously.

"clothing!"

"It's a suit, right?"

Xie Hui smiled awkwardly.

It seems that Lao Fan guessed correctly.

"Lao Xie, this guy pays special attention to his image when he goes outside..."

General Fan showed off to the others with a stern look on his face.

Not long after takeoff, Li Weifeng pressed the call bell.

"Sir, what do you need?"

The stewardess came over and asked with a smile.

"Can you bring me a blanket?"

"OK."

Ma Ke could also come over at this moment.

"what's the situation?"

"Director Ma, Heizi's temperature has risen again."

When he was in Xi'an, Zhang Xiaorui's body temperature was 38.2.

Now he was on the plane to the Maldives, and his body temperature rose again.

After measuring my body temperature, it was already 39 degrees.

Two team doctors, Yin Yuhua and Yan Cheng, quickly went to the bathroom and gave Zhang Xiaorui an injection of antipyretic medicine.

Zeng Zheng didn't care much about this.

"It may have been caused by the rain in Xi'an, and the weather was cold during the competition, so it only happened in the past few days."

Zhang Xiaorui has already taken his own special medicine.

It's almost as good as getting off the plane and taking a nap.

It doesn't matter whether you recover well after the fever subsides or not.

Everyone knows that this trip to the Maldives is purely for tourism.

Zhang Xiaorui insisted on going to the Maldives with the team even though he was ill, just because he wanted to brush up on a few more statistics.

But now it seems that whether Zeng Zhengrang lets him play is a matter of two opinions.

Because the outcome of the first game was too disparate, except for Zhang Xiaorui and Xie Hui, all the other overseas players were driven back to the league by Zeng Zheng.

During this trip to the Maldives, several domestic international players were overwhelmed.

Who is willing to miss such a good public-funded travel opportunity?

A few hours later, through the plane window, everyone finally saw the lights below.

Everyone's mood also improved.

Maldives TV station sent a camera and of course a text reporter, but they were only reporters from a newspaper.

Along the way, there were many Singaporeans who didn’t know what was going on.

Most of the team members understand English and can communicate with the people around them.

This makes several players who don't understand English envious.

We all made up our minds to practice English well when we return to China this time.

After learning that this was a football team and not a table tennis team, the Maldivian fans at the scene happily raised a finger.

"We even scored a goal against the Chinese team!"

The team members smiled after hearing this.

Who would have thought that this goal has become a show-off for the fans of the Colts.

There is only one receptionist sent by the Maldives, and his task is very heavy.

Not only was he responsible for receiving Zeng Jiajun, he was also responsible for receiving the accompanying reporters, which moved the entourage very much.

As a result, these reporters were stopped when they boarded the ship.

"Isn't there still room on the ship?"

A reporter shouted loudly.

"Sorry, friends from the press, please take the next boat!" A bamboo-shoe official blocked the boarding gate.

Such a scene made the Malaysian reception staff at a loss.

He looked at the empty seats on the boat and complained in English: "Aren't you from the same country? Why don't you let them on the boat?"

The English-speaking reporters at the scene certainly knew what the bamboo-shoe officials were thinking.

But they couldn't explain it clearly.

I had no choice but to curse loudly: "Fake Squid!"

Vent your unhappiness.

"What's going on? Why haven't you sailed yet?"

Ma Ke came out and asked.

"Leader Ma, right away, right away."

Seeing Ma Ke, the official immediately changed his face.

Zeng Zheng also followed Ma Ke.

After a brief glance, everything became clear.

"Director Zhao, right?"

"Anyway, there are still so many empty seats on the ship, so let's let these journalist friends come on board."

"We all came by plane. You see, there is only one receptionist on the Malaysian side. It's not like asking him to run back and forth, right?"

When Director Zhao saw Zeng Zheng speaking, he quickly glanced at Ma Kesi who was standing aside.

It’s not that he has to speak in an official tone in front of reporters and others.

But in every major competition, there are "traitors" within the Chinese team.

Things that our own officials didn't even know were exposed to their opponents by these reporters.

So this time Zhu Xie also issued a death order.

This world preliminaries must prevent such things from happening again.

The reason why Director Zhao did this was in response to the call from above.

"Since Coach Zeng has spoken, let the reporters come up!"

"Look at the weather, it's going to rain soon."

"We can't let our compatriots get wet, right?"

Although Ma Ke's words removed him from the job, he also took away the responsibility.

Only with Leader Ma's approval, Director Zhao was willing to let go.

But the reporters under the boat could see it clearly.

As soon as they got on the boat, everyone surrendered to Zeng Zheng.

"Thank you very much, Coach Zeng!"

"Ha, our coach Zeng is still happy!"

"If it weren't for Coach Zeng, we would probably have been caught in the rain this time!"

"Coach Zeng, let's kick him 30 goals this time. What do you think?"

Zeng Zheng waved his hand and laughed:

"Let's not be presumptuous when we come to other people's territory. Enter 30 more? You really dare to think!"

"Coach Zeng, how many do you want to score?" the reporter asked loudly.

"If you ask me, just enter half of it."

half?

Half is also 15!

The reporters who reacted laughed loudly when they heard this.

After taking their seats, the reporters gathered together and chatted.

"Coach Zeng is Coach Zeng, much more generous than those coaches in the past!"

"Then what are you talking about! Which coach can lead the team to score 33 goals in a game? Schlappner has never scored so many goals in a year!"

"If you ask me, Coach Zeng is the boldest person in the art world. Even if we have the strength, we are not afraid of you snitching!"

These reporters are also well aware of the worries about bamboo shoe officials.

But they all knew it tacitly.

Because no one can tell whether it will be him who sells information one day.

This thing is a matter of interests.

They are not national team coaches, so they don’t know which news is important and which is not.

As long as you think the other party's price is right, you might just change hands and sell it.

However, after Zeng Zheng took office, they restrained themselves a lot.

First, Zeng Zheng did not hide much of the information at all, but revealed it directly in press conferences or interviews.

Second, if Zeng Zheng wanted to conceal some information, he would not even tell his colleagues, so no one could find out.

As for personnel arrangements and formation issues, no team in Asia has asked about this matter.

If you can't kick it, you can't kick it.

Those who are of comparable strength have already thought through all the games and personnel arrangements since Zeng Zheng led the team.

Unless Zeng Zheng arranges a formation that has never been used before, no matter which formation or lineup, the opponent has already prepared countermeasures.

This is the "treatment" of the strong.

All opponents will put you under a microscope.

It takes about 10 minutes by boat from the island where the Maldives Airport is located to Male Island, the capital of the Maldives.

Although it is evening, clear lights are reflected everywhere on the sea water of the Maldives.

The sky was very low, and a few clouds formed the background of the sky.

Occasionally, a few bolts of lightning shot out of the clouds, illuminating the entire sky.

"It's going to rain, and it looks like it's going to be a heavy rain," the Maldives receptionist said, "It hasn't rained here for a long time."

"We are in trouble!" Chi Shangbin muttered.

Heavy rain in Xi'an and heavy rain in Guangzhou.

When we arrived in the Maldives, which had little rain, we also encountered heavy rain.

...

There are only four hotels on Male Island. The national team booked 17 rooms in the best four-star hotel on the island and 5 rooms in the hotel next door.

The Zeng family troops stayed in the hotel, and the reporters stayed next door.

It is said to be a four-star hotel, but in fact the quality is similar to that of a domestic hostel.

That night, it rained heavily.

The temperature in the room was high, the humidity was high, and it was very stuffy.

There are no toiletries or slippers here, and two people living together share a freshly heated water heater.

It's also very uncomfortable to sleep in. It's called "Simmons", but it's very small. Tall people like Fu Bin and Xiao Wang Tao can't straighten their legs while sleeping.

Most importantly, there are mosquitoes everywhere.

Fortunately, thanks to Zeng Zheng’s reminder, everyone brought mosquito nets with them, thus avoiding the “persecution” of mosquitoes.

Before going to bed, Li Weifeng was also responsible for distributing bottles of unlabeled ointment to each team member.

"Butou, what is this for?"

Gao Feng, who was recalled to the team again after four years, had served under Zeng Zheng for the shortest time. He unscrewed the ointment bottle and sniffed under his nose, smelling a fresh fragrance.

"It's used to relieve itching." Li Weifeng replied.

"Anti-itching? I thought it was anti-mosquito!"

Li Weifeng spread his hands.

"I can't help it. This is what our boss used for us in Brazil."

Early the next morning, Zeng Zheng woke up.

He used the toothbrush he brought and leaned against the window to wash himself. He happened to see the reporters next door wearing big pants and brushing their teeth with a basin.

"Hey, how was your rest last night?"

"Hey, forget it, this is not a place where people live!" a reporter said.

The reporters' room is smaller than that of the national team, probably not even 10 square meters.

The sultry weather has made the house as stuffy as a steamer. Guangzhou reporters who are accustomed to the sultry weather in Guangzhou have not been able to withstand the humidity and heat here.

Especially after bringing in large and small packages, there is no place for anyone to stay.

Standing outside the room and looking inside, the whole place was filled with gloom.

After taking a bite of the dry food they brought with them in the morning, the team members lined up to ask Zeng Zheng to borrow a phone to report that they were safe.

Internet access and phone calls are a luxury here.

4 dollars a minute, every dollar counts.

I want to buy a phone card to call home to report that I am safe, but I can only talk for 3 minutes for 200 Maldivian currency.

However, drinking water here is quite cheap. Mineral water is about RMB 1, so it is easy to drink enough.

Male Island is the only place in the Maldives with motor vehicles, but driving a car on the small Male Island is indeed a waste of time.

There are also rentals here, for $1, you can go wherever you want.

Bicycles and motorcycles can be seen everywhere on the island.

However, after observation, no "motorcycle" has been found.

Except for Zhang Xiaorui, who was resting in the hotel, everyone else came to the training ground arranged by Bamboo Shoes in the Maldives to participate in training at 5 pm the next day after arriving in Male.

Since the roads on Male Island are relatively narrow, there are no large vehicles such as buses on the island.

The Zeng family soldiers rushed to the training ground in eight vans.

The mighty motorcade attracted many local people on the island to watch.

Prior to this, the Maldives national team had never played in any international competition domestically.

Therefore, the Chinese team’s trip to Male is the highest-level national team the Maldivians have ever seen.

Before the team members arrived at the training ground, they were surrounded by Maldivian fans inside and outside the training ground.

The door to the training ground is open and Maldivian fans can come and go as they please.

Since there are only a few seats in the training ground, after three rows of fans were seated neatly, other fans gathered behind the railings outside the training ground to watch.

These Maldivians were very polite and said nothing after sitting down. They sat there silently watching the Zeng family's army training.

Except for the controlled applause when the players entered the field, when Zeng Zheng arrived, and when wonderful shots appeared on the training ground, there was no sound from the Maldivians at all.

Faced with the support of the locals, Zeng Zheng specially arranged a round of long-range shots from outside the penalty area at the end of the training.

They say they are practicing long-range shots, but they are actually asking players with good footwork such as Xu Liang, Sun Xiang, Shen Si and others to show off their footwork.

Whenever they see a player playing a wonderful world game, local fans can't help but applaud in celebration.

"It would be great if our players could shoot shots like this on the field!"

After the training, a local fan praised in an interview, "That way we can score the goal of any Asian team!"

...

Although they lost a record-breaking score in the first game against the Chinese team, this was the Maldives' best result against a top Asian team in an international competition.

Just because they scored a goal for the Chinese team!

Coupled with the fact that the Maldives defeated the Cambodian team 6-0 in the first game, the Maldivian media, which rarely had the opportunity to cover football, finally found an opportunity to feel proud.

Facing the home game against the Chinese team in the World Cup preliminaries, the Maldivian media paid great attention to this game.

When looking forward to this game, the local daily newspaper "Male Daily" with the largest circulation even predicted that the Maldives could score two goals against the Chinese team at home and lose only single digits.

"Male Daily" stated that the Maldives national team is recognized as the strongest national team in history, and the victory over the Cambodian team is the most glorious victory in the country's history. It turns out that the taste of a weak team is so wonderful.

What makes the Maldives even more excited is that they were able to score the Chinese team's goal in Xi'an, and Naseem, the hero of the goal, became the hero of the Maldives.

In an interview with Maldives National Television, Naseem recalled the goal and said: "I didn't think about anything at the time. All I could think about was scoring a goal as much as possible."

"I kept running forward, and for some reason the ball flew from the air to my feet."

"After I got the ball, I broke into the penalty area, and the opponent's goalkeeper had already attacked."

"I kicked the ball out and shot directly, and the ball went in."

"I can't believe it, I scored the Chinese team's goal!"

Nasim also said, "After breaking into the Chinese team's gate, my confidence is stronger."

"Now that I'm back at home, I hope to score another goal at home and give it to the fans."

In the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup, although the Maldives lost to Iran by a large margin in the away game, they only lost 0-3 at home.

the reason is simple.

But Iran is located in a desert area and has hot and dry weather, while the Maldives is located in the center of the Indian Ocean and has extremely high humidity.

The Iranian players seemed very uncomfortable when playing in the Maldives.

This is also valid for Chinese players.

Humid air, maybe heavy rain...

Playing a football match under these conditions consumes more energy than usual.

This is also the reason why the Maldivian media threatened to score two goals for the Chinese team!

After two days of adapting, on April 28, at 16:00 local time, the Chinese team challenged the Maldives away from home at Male Stadium.

Since most of the overseas players were driven back to the club by Zeng Zheng to compete, Zhang Xiaorui had another high fever.

Therefore, the only overseas foreign player playing in this game is Xie Hui.

The goalkeeper was replaced by Fu Bin from Ou Chuliang.

Many fans were not surprised after seeing this rotation spot.

Ou Chuliang scored in the first round.

No matter what, Fu Bin must also get one!

The defenders are Wu Chengying, Li Weifeng, Shu Chang and Xu Yunlong.

The midfielders are Zhao Junzhe, Li Xiaopeng, Shen Si and Qi Hong.

The forwards are Xie Hui and Yu Genwei.

Fans have the following points to watch in this clash with the Maldives.

1: Will the team members adapt to the local weather after traveling a long distance?

Two: Will the team score an even-digit score or more like in the last game?

Three: Will the Cavaliers score two goals against the Chinese team and create history again, as the media has promoted?

For this game, the home stadium tickets, which can accommodate 12,000 fans, were sold out two days ago.

On the coconut trees outside the stadium, there were many fans holding binoculars to watch from a distance.

Before the game, head coach Jankel said that he would never concede more than 10 goals in this game back at home.

He even predicted the outcome of this game: 2 to 5!

That is, scoring two goals against the Chinese team and then losing to the Chinese team by a single-digit score.

Zeng Zheng didn't say anything about this.

He still said the same thing.

"It is disrespectful to the opponent to discuss how many goals they should give before the game."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "I don't say such exaggerated words at home."

"Now that we're on the road, we won't even be able to answer such stupid questions."

After hearing Zeng Zheng's answer, the reporters nodded repeatedly.

He took out a small notebook and wrote on it: Even if it's an away game, Coach Zeng will go on a killing spree!

In the third minute of the game, the fans' first fears disappeared.

Yu Genwei received a long pass from Zhao Junzhe and then passed down the bottom line. Xie Hui in front of the goal followed up with a header, opening the scoring for the Chinese team.

Even though the Maldives had as many as seven players participating in the defense in the penalty area, Yankel also temporarily recruited a tall center back who is 1.82 meters tall to join the team.

However, many defensive players are crowded with each other, resulting in unclear goals and responsibilities.

Yu Genwei's cross and Xie Hui's movement were very purposeful, and it was natural to score.

In the 54th minute of the second half, the fans' second worry was answered.

A free kick from the left 26 meters away from the goal.

Xu Liang kicked the ball directly over the wall after running up.

After the ball circled half in the air, it flew back to the goal frame again.

The goalkeeper of the Cavaliers failed to make a save and the ball went into the blind corner of the goal.

At this time, the score on the court was already 10 to 0.

Although the scoring efficiency is not as good as at home in Xi'an, it has already reached double digits.

Taking into account the temperature conditions in Male Island, the fans' hearts that had been hanging around after this score finally returned to their stomachs.

Next game.

The team members who had no "mission" began to show off their individual skills.

Therefore, the horse team gradually began to attack the Chinese team's penalty area.

In the 68th minute, taking advantage of a passing error by Shen Si, the Cavaliers launched a quick counterattack.

If Umar hadn't headed the inevitable header in the small penalty area, the Chinese team might have scored again.

Seeing the ball grazing the crossbar and flying out of the baseline, the Colts fans at the scene couldn't help but sigh.

The camera now also turned to the Chinese coaching bench.

Looking at Zeng Zheng on the screen wearing sunglasses, holding a coconut in his hand, wearing flowery pants and beach slippers.

People who didn’t know better thought he was on vacation!

"Coach Zeng's image...isn't it a bit too that?"

"What's that? It's over 30 degrees, why don't you let him wear a suit and tie?"

In the 84th minute of the game, the home team, which had been obsessed with it, finally scored.

At that time, Li Weifeng passed a back pass to Fu Bin. As a result, the ball was passed too wide and went directly out of the baseline, giving the opponent a corner kick.

After the corner kick was taken, the prodigal son Gao Feng, who came on as a substitute in the second half, pulled down the opponent's central defender Fasil in the penalty area and was sentenced to death by the referee.

Facing a penalty kick, Fu Bin misjudged the direction and was hit by his opponent.

The score at this time was already 13 to 1.

The horse team once again broke through the opponent's door.

After the opponent scored, many players looked to the sidelines.

Seeing Zeng Zheng drinking coconut water, he shook his head gently, and in the next moment, he completely controlled the ball at his feet.

In the end, the score of 13-1 was maintained until the end.

Xie Hui, who scored a hat trick, was chased by three Colts players to exchange jerseys.

At the post-match press conference, both sides were very happy.

Victor, director of the Technical Department of Maldives Bamboo Shoes, said excitedly: "We scored goals in both home and away games against the Chinese team. This is the greatest victory for Maldivian football!"

After speaking, he stepped forward and hugged the reporter from China in front of everyone.

The Chinese reporters at the scene were also amazed when they saw this situation.

Seeing how happy the other party was, I thought I was the loser.

As a result, some reporters who were confused asked in front of Zeng Zheng:

"Coach Zeng, the national team allowed the Maldives to score another goal. What do you think about this matter?"

The reporter's tone and manner of asking questions caused colleagues around him to frown.

Everyone can tell that this is not a joke, but more like an accountability.

Faced with the reporter's rude remarks, Zeng Zheng lowered his head and revealed his eyes from above his sunglasses.

He seemed to want to see clearly who asked such an imbecile question on such a happy occasion.

After being stared at by Zeng Zheng for five or six seconds, the reporter gritted his teeth and asked again unwillingly.

Seeing how dishonest this colleague was, the surrounding reporters stepped aside one after another.

Some people even whispered in private: "No wonder Bamboo Shoes didn't let us get on the boat that day. Sure enough, there were bad people among our colleagues!"

"Oh, Coach Zeng's good intentions are in vain."

"It's so fucking embarrassing. Which newspaper company does B belong to? I will never have anything to do with them next time."

At this time, Zeng Zheng on the stage cleared his throat, and then said lightly:

"My opinion is that the Maldives are a team with great potential and are improving every day."

"In order to study why this team has improved so quickly, I decided to stay in the Maldives for one more day."

"I won't go back to Kunming with you!"

Looking at Zeng Zheng's beach shorts and sandals under the speaking table on the screen, the fans couldn't help but express contempt.

You made this calculation, I heard it even in Kunming!