As early as when the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League schedule just came out, there were rumors that the Chinese Football Association believed that the Chinese team had a great probability of qualifying this time, and hoped that the two Chinese Super League teams in the civil war could "show mercy".

Some people are happy and some are worried, Feng Xiaoting's injury is unknown, the young central defender of the Longteng team, Li Ming, and the former Longteng central defender of Guangzhou Evergrande, Du Zhenyu, are very likely to usher in their first start of the national team.

Next, it depends on the state of the two of them in the pre-game training camp for the past few days.

Compared with the two AFC Champions League games that have just ended, even the quarterfinals are still far from the heat of the upcoming national team competition.

Not to mention, this is likely to be a key game for the Chinese national team to enter the World Cup again.

The Chinese team is in Group A, and the situation still has a certain amount of suspense.

The Iranian team, which is now ranked first in Group A, has 20 points to ensure that the team can directly qualify for the World Cup finals, because according to the rules of the World Football Federation, the top two teams in the top 12 groups in Asia can directly get tickets to the World Cup finals, while the South Korean team, which ranks third in Group A, has only 13 points, and with two rounds left in the game, the 7-point gap makes Iran's qualification a given fact.

On top of that, the form of the other team in Group A that qualifies directly and the team that can qualify for the play-offs is less clear.

It seems that the Chinese team, with 16 points, is now in second place, three more than South Korea, and has eight more goal difference than South Korea, but if South Korea wins the last two rounds, the optimistic and even carnival posture of the national media is likely to turn into another big crusade by the whole society.

Thankfully, fourth-ranked Uzbekistan now has only 9 points, 7 points less than the Chinese team, according to the rules of this World Cup, the third place in the two groups will play a two-legged home-and-away play-off, and then will compete with the fourth place in the Central and North American and Caribbean regions for another two-legged play-off to compete for a qualifying place, which also means that the Chinese team has guaranteed the qualification to play at least two play-offs.

In fact, as early as last year, when the top 12 matches were just launched, the initial goal of the Chinese Football Association was to count on the Chinese team to finish third in the group, and then use the strong home stadium to win the two rounds of qualification. Unexpectedly, when the top 12 reached the eighth round, the Chinese team actually beat the South Korean team to rank second in the group, which is a very promising ranking to qualify directly, which is far safer than betting on two play-offs.

After all, in the history of Asian football, the play-offs have always been a curse.

Including the Chinese team, the Asian region has participated in the World Cup play-off matches six times, except for the 1998 World Cup in France, Iran is really strong, defeating the not very strong opponent Australia, the other five play-off matches with other continents - including the 1982 World Cup qualifiers The Chinese team was hacked by Saudi Arabia, and the disbanded Chinese team hurriedly formed a team and lost 1:2 to New Zealand, all the games were eliminated by the opponent.

Even if the Chinese team really competes for the third place in the group, even if they can beat the Asian opponents in Group B, it is really not easy to squeeze out the opponents against the teams in the CONCACAF and the Caribbean.

At this time, the CONCACAF World Preliminary Championship has entered the second stage of the group stage, with six teams, ranked third, the fourth and fifth places are the United States, Panama and Honduras, and the three teams are most likely to finish fourth at the end of the group stage to compete with Asian teams for a World Cup spot.

The United States is now ranked 23rd in the FIFA national team rankings, Panama is 49th, and Honduras, the weakest team, is ranked 74th. China because of consecutive wins, now there has finally been a certain rise, from 72 at the beginning of the year to 66, but such a ranking does not guarantee that the Chinese team will definitely qualify, after all, the teams in Central and North America and the Caribbean in the FIFA game points coefficient, before it was higher than Asia, in recent years, Japan and South Korea have continued to break through to give Asia a certain status, both of the game points coefficient has reached 0.95.

Therefore, the safest way for the Chinese team now is to win the last two games with Uzbekistan and Qatar, especially the home game against Uzbekistan.

The match with Uzbekistan happened to be played in Jiangcheng, which was a very good news for the Chinese team composed of the Longteng team and the former Longteng team.

Jiangcheng has always been a place to talk about face, the Chinese national team has received extremely high treatment in other home stadiums in China before, Jiangcheng will not lag behind, not to mention that this is the hometown of the Longteng team, it is really not well arranged, so that the fans outside have any gossip, the entire Longteng team, the entire Jiangcheng face is about to be lost!

On August 25th, including the players of Shanghai SIPG and Guangzhou Evergrande, who played the AFC Champions League, also came to Jiangcheng, and the players of the Chinese team, who are very likely to qualify directly in this game, were treated at the airport to be picked up, which is a grand occasion that only those idols will have.

Some fans held small flags with national flags in their hands and kept waving to the players of the Chinese team, and some people held the corners of a pair of national flags to show the national flag to the players and the media.

The national football players who passed through the pick-up channel waved to the fans frequently, and it was not until they all got on the bus that they came to receive them that the fans were reluctant to leave.

The fans at the airport left, and the fans who were squatting in the hotel started the relay, and the fans who had been waiting in front of the hotel and in the lobby repeated the operation of the airport fans again, and then left in an orderly manner.

Along the way, the fans of Jiangcheng showed their enthusiasm and did not interfere too much with the actions of the players, and they were truly organized and disciplined.

In this national team training camp, in addition to a large number of former Longteng team players in the national football team, several other Jiangcheng players were also selected, such as the No. 1 goalkeeper Zengcheng, and the two outstanding technical players in the midfield, Zhang Xizhe and Hao Junmin, in fact, if it were not for Mei Fang's serious injury, he would also have had the opportunity to be selected for the 25-man squad this time.

The three wanderers who were far away were also chased by Jiangcheng fans, and it has to be said that Jiangcheng players were in the limelight in this national team.

The fans showed their enthusiasm, and the Jiangcheng officials were also waiting for it.

In addition to focusing on the pre-match training and competition arrangements for the national football team with the usual host venues, Jiangcheng has gone one step further, relying on a big backer like the Longteng team, a large number of high-tech auxiliary equipment has been contributed, including the approach ambulance during the game, various liquid nitrogen recovery cabins and so on.

In addition to ingredients and tastes, the city's Drug and Food Supervision Bureau also sent people to conduct food sampling inspections on the hotels where the team stayed to ensure that there were no mistakes.

On the day of the game, the organizing committee set up a number of buses and subway buses for fans to watch the game. Of course, there will also be some traffic restrictions in place near the competition venue, which is also a preparation for the smooth running of the game. It is understood that the organizing committee will provide special buses to transport players for training before the game. On the day of the game, there will be a special bus to clear the way for the team bus to ensure the smooth progress of the game.

At 5 p.m. on August 31, 2017, the bus of the national football team departed from the hotel.

In fact, according to normal circumstances, the team does not have to leave so early for the game at 8 o'clock in the evening. After all, playing at home, the team will naturally have more convenience in terms of food, clothing, housing and transportation, so that they don't have to be so impatient.

However, for the sake of good luck, this time the Chinese team chose to stay in the hotel, giving up the five-star hotel closest to the stadium Jiangcheng Sports Center, and staying in Hankou, about 20 kilometers away from the stadium.

The reason for making such a choice is related to the top 40 of the World Preliminary Championship in March last year, when the Chinese team chose the hotel where they stayed, and finally defeated the Maldives team 8:0, laying the foundation for advancing to the top 12 in the future.

Therefore, the Chinese team chose this hotel again, hoping to bring good luck.

Since it was a working day, in order to prevent traffic jams and ensure that the Chinese team arrived at the stadium on time, the team had to leave four hours earlier.

Mo Daojun walked early, and there were even more early pedestrians.

The Chinese team came out so early, and the fans came earlier than them, and the fans who came from all over the country apparently flocked to the stadium after having lunch.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, piles of fans gathered in the square outside the stadium, and if you look at it from the aerial footage, it looks like a herd of antelopes on the African savannah.

Next to these crowds are reporters with press cards around their necks, and they are like lions waiting for an opportunity next to a herd of antelopes, and after observing good prey, they suddenly plunge into the crowd from time to time to catch the target fans for interviews.

There are more self-media, they walk through the crowd, like salivating hyenas, they don't dare to grab prey with genuine reporters, they can only catch some corners of the people to make a fuss, of course, they dare to ask.

However, whether it is an official media reporter or a self-media reporter, from the reporter's interview with the fans, it is obvious that the confidence of the fans can be seen.

As a reporter of Jiangcheng Metropolis Daily in the Longteng team, Chen Lin can be regarded as a home game this time, and he caught the head group of fans - star fans at once.

"The Chinese team will definitely win, and 100% of them will be able to qualify directly after the game!", Chen Jiangfeng, who is famous for kissing with his girlfriend in the game and being captured by the broadcast camera, is now a "star" fan of the host Longteng team, who was interviewed by Chen Lin, looking forward to the results of the national team, his face was full of excitement, and the pimples on his face became bright, "The gap of eight goal difference, South Korea cannot catch up." ”

"Victory !!", there was an interview to watch, a large number of people gathered over, Chen Jiangfeng's answer was obviously in line with the fans' thoughts, everyone shouted their wishes, "Qualify!!

Chen Lin also turned to the camera at the right time: "Before the game, the fans were full of confidence in today's game. ”

On the other side of the square, the famous fan "Monkey Skin Ball", dressed as the Monkey King, is also being interviewed by a reporter from the football newspaper.

Old man Tan is 62 years old, and he followed the entire national team in the World Cup qualifiers. After expressing his firm belief that the Chinese team will be able to qualify today, a large group of fans gathered around the reporter began to shout, applaud and whistle desperately.

The interview was interrupted.

"If the Chinese team qualifys, how are you going to celebrate?", the reporter in charge of the interview today is also a veteran, the rhythm is very steady, and the noisy voices around her have decreased, she immediately asked questions and quickly took control of the scene.

"If you don't get drunk, you don't go home. ”

"Beer is drunk in the evening, and the shrimp are sizzled!"

Unlike other people's excitement, Old Man Tan said with a little nostalgia while looking forward to it: "Send congratulatory letters to Old Tang and Little Tan first, it is estimated that they will also read it in the house." Finally, I burned incense to Lao Zhong and told him that we were out again and could watch the World Cup again. ”

Mr. Tan is talking about Lao Tang here is a famous fan in Chongqing "Little Leather Ball", and Xiao Tan is another famous fan in Chongqing "Big Ball", both of them are either too old or physically responsible, not suitable for watching the game on the spot, and Lao Zhong is the "Big Leather Ball" of the deceased fan leader of the older generation in Chongqing.

The optimism of the fans comes from the excellent results of this World Cup qualifier after Lippi took over, and now all fans see Lippi as the savior of Chinese football.

Just after 6 o'clock in the afternoon, the national football bus arrived at the Jiangcheng Sports Center.

There have long been a large number of well-informed people, squatting at the bus stop, when the players of the national football team stepped out of the bus, the overwhelming flashing lights, the cheers of the fans, and the thumbs up all over the field became a greeting gift to greet them.

Every player, whether it is a main star player like Li Yun, Qin Minghao, Nie Jiang, or a player who only entered the squad and couldn't play, no one who greeted him favored one over the other.

No matter who gets out of the car, they will shout their names neatly and give them praise and cheers.

When Lippi got out of the car, he was greeted with the greatest cheers and applause, and his silver-haired wave to the crowd was a calm sense of scolding, which caused the media cameras to shoot wildly.

The players and members of the coaching staff who got off the bus one after another were also full of smiles and responded to the fans.

Overzealous fans let the team take a minute or two to get rid of.

After the team arrived in the locker room, a smiling Lippi began to arrange a pre-match warm-up with ease.

As an old Jianghu, he still attaches great importance to the warm-up before the game.

For example, the reflexes of the goalkeeper to make a low pounce, receive the ball high and get up twice before the game, the long passing and header practice of the defenders, some passing skills of the midfielders and their teammates who often cooperate on the field, and the regular passing, acceleration and shooting practices of the strikers, are all very visible to the state of the players.

The 20-minute tactical offensive and defensive drills of the main force and the substitute detachments are a regular means of sharpening their guns on the spot.

However, it will also give some hints of the manager's intentions, and this time it will be the same.