Chapter 340: The Battle of the Golden Boy

The Chinese team defeated Lebanon 1-0 at the home stadium of Shahelong Sports Center, and scored a staggering eleven points in six games. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Although the group points lead is only one point, even one point is crucial under the rules of the top two in the group to qualify directly!

However, at this time, "Sports Weekly" talked about the three games of the Chinese team.

The first was a 2-2 draw with South Korea at the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center last year, the second was a 2-1 away defeat to Australia, and the third was a World Cup qualifier that had just ended at the Helong Sports Center.

In three games, Tang Zheng expressed his dissatisfaction with head coach Camacho in two ways.

At the regular press conference after the game, Lebanon head coach Rust Emil expressed regret over the loss, and the Chinese team's retreat at half-time gave him hope of an equaliser.

But Tang Zheng's performance was too good to turn the tide.

Not to mention the goal-breaking goal, the defensive end has appeared in key defensive positions on several occasions.

The Chinese reporters who came to the visitors' regular post-match press conference were very excited, and Rust Emele's direct praise of Tang Zheng was tantamount to staining their faces.

Rust Emele was not wrong or exaggerated, and the media and fans looked back at the group stage of the six World Cup Asian round 10 matches in which the Chinese team participated, and they found that all seven goals scored by the Chinese team came from Tang Zheng.

Players such as Gao Lin, Yang Xu, and Yu Chao, who performed well in the warm-up game, were eye-catching, but once it came to the critical World Cup qualifiers, only big players like Tang Zheng repeatedly stepped forward.

Many Chinese and foreign media said that if the Chinese team had not had Tang Zhengcun, they would have been out of the game in advance.

Why?

The numbers speak for themselves.

When it was the home team's turn to participate in the regular post-match press conference, there were also some clues, and it was not the best Tang Zheng of the game who attended with head coach Camacho, but the captain Zheng Zhi.

In addition, head coach Camacho also deliberately avoided the media talking about Tang Zheng.

Linked to Tang Zheng's "possibility of scoring more goals" in an interview with domestic media in the mixed area after the game, almost all domestic media reports on the second day revolved around the 'qualification crisis of the Chinese team'.

It is true that the Chinese team is currently ranked first in the group, but the internal crisis is enough to affect the final qualification situation of the Chinese team.

Returning to Dortmund to prepare for the first leg of the league and the Champions League quarterfinals, Tang Zheng's answers to interviews with domestic media have always been ambiguous, which always makes people feel imaginative.

In the next round, the Chinese team has a bye, and once Australia and South Korea both win, the Chinese team is likely to fall from the first place in the group to the third place in the group.

The Chinese fans who thought of it were all depressed, so the media and fans slowly split into two groups as time went on.

Some people think that Camacho's tactics are indeed too conservative and not suitable for the current Chinese team, and another part thinks that Tang Zheng's temper has also returned as he becomes more and more famous.

Xu Wei, a reporter from "Sports Weekly" who has a good private relationship with Tang Zheng, asked Tang Zheng if there was something going on with head coach Camacho.

In this regard, Tang Zheng just gave a meaningful smile.

In fact, there is no such thing as Tang Zheng, and there are many domestic media who have a lot of complaints about head coach Camacho's tactical play.

If it weren't for Tang Zheng's full form and scoring all the goals in the official matches of the national team, where would the Chinese team still be ranked first in the group?

If you don't come to the bottom, you can count it as a glorious ancestor.

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The Chinese domestic media have analyzed whether there is a contradiction between Tang Zheng and the national team coach Camacho, and Tang Zheng's attention has long been diverted to the first leg of the upcoming Bundesliga and Champions League quarter-finals.

After all, the Chinese team had a bye in the next round of the group stage, and the remaining two games were very humane and arranged to be played after the end of the Europa League.

In fact, the contradiction between Tang Zheng and Camacho is not big, but there are some differences on the rationality of the tactical arrangement, Tang Zheng believes that many times the game should be bold, such as the home game against South Korea, which obviously had a chance to win, but Camacho's strengthened defensive tactics backfired, causing the team to concede the goal in the end.

The same was true for the World Cup qualifier at home to Lebanon, who could have scored more goals to seal the win, but Camacho simply gave up on attacking and opted to strengthen the defence.

Thankfully, the game wasn't drawn in the end, otherwise there was a good chance that something would have happened.

Getting back to the point, after Tang Zheng returned to Dortmund, his focus automatically tilted towards the Bundesliga and the Champions League quarterfinals.

Borussia Dortmund suffered three injuries during the international break, with Kuba, Subotic and Sven Bender all suffering injuries of varying severity for their respective national teams in World Cup qualifying.

The fortunate thing in the misfortune is that the injuries are not serious, they are ordinary muscle injuries, and only need a simple rest.

At the Stobelari training centre, the entire team in Dortmund conducts recovery training.

As the reigning champions of the Bundesliga, they have contributed a significant number of internationals, with the exception of goalkeeper Weidenfeller who did not feature in the regular starting line-up, and players in other positions all played in World Cup qualifiers.

In the second half of the league, it is no longer a question of testing the ability of the players, but the physical recovery of the players.

Fitness is the foundation of the game of football, and without fitness, even a player with the strength of the ball will not help the team win the game.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Premier League, where the big teams are often crushed by mid-table teams during the international break.

Why?

Isn't it physical fitness?

The Premier League is the fastest paced league in the world, and with the long journey of the international break, you can imagine what the big teams have been through.

Over the weekend, Dortmund travelled to Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, to challenge Stuttgart.

In this game, the Chinese media and Japanese media paid special attention.

Tang Zheng is the absolute core of Borussia Dortmund, while Stuttgart has a Japanese international, Shinji Okazaki.

Since joining Stuttgart in early 2011, Shinji Okazaki has gradually gained stable opportunities to play in Stuttgart, and due to various reasons in the past, Tang Zheng and Shinji Okazaki have never been able to compete together.

This time, both of them confirmed their starts, and as representative players of Asian football, they naturally attracted the attention of the media of the two countries.

Even many Asian media outlets have paid attention to this and reported on it.

Of course, Tang Zheng's performance has always been stable and has been favored by many media.

Among these Asian media, there are also many Japanese media who are optimistic about Tang Zheng.

Before the international break, Dortmund has won ten consecutive victories, and Tang Zheng has contributed very well in these ten games, with four goals and seven assists.

Shinji Okazaki, as a striker, has contributed just two goals and one assist in the last ten games.

Compared with Tang Zheng, there are too many differences, and it is no wonder that some Japanese media are more optimistic about Tang Zheng's performance.

The process and result of the game also verified Tang Zheng's overall strength, leaving Shinji Okazaki for a full nine streets.

In the game, Shinji Okazaki was obviously influenced by public opinion, and he deliberately tried to find Tang Zheng after taking the ball.

Facing Tang Zheng, who is in full condition, the result can be imagined.

Dortmund's goal came from Shinji Okazaki's unsuccessful breakthrough, Tang Zheng broke the ball and directly made a long pass to attack the left side, Grosskreutz inserted it at high speed, and then transferred it widely, Lewandowski feinted at the front point, and Reuss scored at the far end.

The on-site director also deliberately gave Shinji Okazaki and Tang Zheng a close-up.

The two Asian players, which is stronger and which is weak, are clear at a glance.

In the second half, Tang Zheng also scored his trademark long-range shot to help Dortmund lead Stuttgart 2-0 away.

Had it not been for centre-back Santana's stoppage-time point, Dortmund would have been able to walk away with a resounding win at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

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Borussia Dortmund beat Stuttgart 2-1 away to move to the top of the league table with a game in hand.

However, Dortmund, as in the past, did not sit at the top of the table for long.

Four hours later, Bayern Munich was once again on top.

It is worth mentioning that Bayern and Hamburg at the Allianz Arena played a super high score.

9:2

The home team is in the front, the away team is in the back.

Veteran Pizarro scored a quadruple, Robben scored twice, and Shaqiri, Schweinsteiger and Ribery scored a goal each.

Showing such form at the end of the league has somewhat worried the North Rhine-Westphalia media.

If Bayern Munich's form continues until the end of the season, and Borussia Dortmund are unable to beat Bayern Munich in the second leg of the 2012-2013 German national derby, then Borussia Munich will likely miss out on a third consecutive league title by two points.

Bayern Munich beat Hamburg 9-2 at home, setting the record for the most goals scored in a competitive match since the beginning of the new century, while also equalling the Bundesliga's record for goal difference in the new century with a goal difference of seven.

The previous record was also set by Bayern Munich, who beat Freiburg 7-0 at home last season.

Peruvian veteran Pizarro, who played a big four, set a new record for his own goal statistics with four goals in a single game, and also ranked 10th on the Bundesliga's all-time scorer list.

In fact, at this time, it is not Dortmund that is most worried about Bayern, but Juventus, the opponent who is about to usher in the Champions League quarterfinals in midweek.

Not one of them.

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Bayern Munich's return to the top of the league table did not surprise the entire Dortmund team.

Not to mention that Bayern has been very strong this season, just sitting at the Allianz Arena has an advantage, plus Hamburg's performance this season is not satisfactory, but it is surprising to play a big score.

At this time, the South Korean media felt particularly depressed, Son Heung-min as a starter in Hamburg, maybe the goal conceded had nothing to do with him, but the lack of scoring skills was directly related to him.

A striker's responsibility is to score goals, and a striker who doesn't score often suffers from endless abuse.

In particular, Hamburg lost a 2:9 to Bayern, which will make the local media in Hamburg quite complained.

Tang Zheng only paid a little attention to the disparity in the scoreline, and did not pay too much attention to the public opinion doubts that Sun Xingmin suffered, and all his attention now is on the first leg of the 2012-2013 Champions League quarter-finals at the Rose Garden Stadium in the middle of next week.

Last season, the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals missed the key game against Barcelona at home due to the suspension of accumulated yellow cards, and Tang Zheng learned enough lessons this season, and he only got a yellow card in the past eight games of the Champions League.

Of course, this has something to do with the position he is playing now.

The midfield position is basically rotated between Pirlo, Sven Bender, Gundogan and Kyle, and Tang Zheng is more often played as a central midfielder or a forward midfielder.

The eight teams that qualified for this season's Champions League are preparing for the Champions League, and the focus of the mainstream media in Europe has shifted to the upcoming knockout stages of the Champions League.

German and Chinese media helped Dortmund analyse their opponent Málaga, who are in the Champions League for the first time in their history this season, and Dortmund, who have reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the second consecutive season, have a big advantage.

Málaga's historic run into the quarter-finals of the Champions League is directly related to the heart of their midfield, Isco.

The 2012 European Golden Boy Award winner performed eye-catchingly, so many European media said that the battle between the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League is a battle between golden boys.

In 2011, Gotze won the European Golden Boy Award, and Tang Zheng also won the European Golden Boy Award in 2009, which is equivalent to saying that Dortmund has two golden boys.

The arithmetic of 1+1 is hardly calculated by anyone, so the German and Chinese media are not worried about Dortmund's path to qualification.

Moreover, Tang Zheng has been in hot form recently, and he may not be able to shine in the Champions League again, just like the first leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals this season.

Some media talked about Dortmund's performance in the first leg of the Champions League 1/8 finals this season, and it is easy to think of Tang Zheng, who played ill, scoring twice.

Could it be that a healthy Tang Zheng is not as good as Tang Zheng with a high fever?

Faced with the poisonous milk of the media, Tang Zheng chose to turn a deaf ear.

As an experienced footballer, you should not listen to the off-field before the game, otherwise it is likely to affect the next big game.

Borussia Dortmund's first leg of the 2012-2013 Champions League quarter-finals at the Rose Garden was played on Wednesday local time in Europe, with the squad flying to Malaga at noon on Tuesday and acclimatising in the afternoon.

Tang Zheng circled the Rose Garden in place and shook his head.

The stadium is small, with a capacity of only 30,000 fans, which is smaller than many Bundesliga stadiums.

But in many cases, small stadiums have the advantage of small stadiums, and it is with this stadium that Malaga has historically qualified for the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.

At the end of the hour-long acclimatization, Tang Zheng accompanied head coach Jurgen Klopp to the stadium's press conference hall to be interviewed by regular media reporters before the game.

At 8:45 p.m. that night, the first leg of the two Champions League quarter-finals started as scheduled.

Paris Saint-Germain hosts Barcelona and Bayern Munich hosts Juventus.

After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Paris Saint-Germain drew 2-2 at home to Barcelona, while Bayern Munich beat Juventus 2-0 at the Allianz Arena.

Tang Zheng watched Bayern Munich's home game against Juventus on live TV, and he was worried about the future of the national derby......