Chapter 248: Difficult Steps
The final score of this warm-up match with the North Korean team was 1:2, and Li Kai, who came on as a substitute in the second half, pulled a goal back for the Chinese team, but it could not hide the fact that the Chinese team lost. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info
What does it mean to lose to the DPRK? I am afraid that we have to start with the two teams: The members of the Chinese team, whether they are the National Olympic team or the national team, earn a lot of money a year, ranging from more than 100,000 to more than 1 million; but what about the members of the DPRK team? As early as the 1999 Four Nations Invitational Tournament, the DPRK team asked the hotel manager for some candy to satisfy their hunger because they could not get a free lunch. After the defeat against the Chinese team, the North Korean players drank half a bottle of mineral water discarded by the Chinese players and took pictures outside the stadium with old-fashioned cameras.
A year later, it was also the Four Nations Invitational Tournament, and North Korean players needed four or five people to be able to afford a coke. Yan Shiduo, then chairman of the Chinese Football Association, watched the training of the North Korean team and cried on the spot, which is said to be the first time Yan Shiduo cried for football.
In 2006, a Chinese sports company provided the North Korean team with a new jersey, which they wore three years later to international competitions, ironically thanks to the old jersey that made it to the World Cup in South Africa. The North Korean team members of this period were still not wealthy, they did not even have to drink beer, they did not have much income, and they could not afford to buy a mobile phone, let alone a private car.
The Chinese fans will remember the North Korean team the most in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup, when the North Korean team faced Brazil led by Kaka, and after 90 minutes of hard fighting, North Korea lost 1:2 to the Samba Army. At the end of the campaign, the world's major media admitted that the contempt for North Korean football was "superficial and ignorant".
However, when the media praised the North Korean team, there was a group of people who did not take it seriously, including Hao Haidong, a former Chinese national team player and known as Asia's No. 1 striker.
He said that the match between North Korea and Brazil did not mean anything, and although they scored a goal, they still lost. Chinese fans fought back: Why didn't you get into Brazil in 2002?
The above is the current situation of the North Korean national team, but if the national team is still like this, then the situation of the national Olympic team players will only be worse, their income may be less than a fraction of the Chinese players, but the spirit and state of the game shown on the field, the Chinese team is far inferior to North Korea. Some fans sighed: "Maybe only those returnees can save this Olympic team." β
But in any case, losing to North Korea, the Chinese Olympic team cannot be considered "there is no Zhang Shujie and others in the team", this is not an excuse, a loss is a loss.
As the head coach of the national Olympic team, An Rong apologized to the media as soon as possible: "The players did not play well, and there were problems with tactics, this is my responsibility, I underestimated the North Korean team too much." β
The apology was very positive, but the fans didn't accept it, they were shouting: "An Rong is out of class!
Some fans scolded: "Guo Fan's idiot called another idiot to coach the National Olympic team, and this idiot brought a group of little idiots to play a game, and as a result, this group of little idiots played a game that was more idiots than idiots!"
"Big stupid with little stupid, **** with pig dung! Stupid with **, idiot with stupid donkey!"
"AIDS is not scary, what is scary is watching this game!"
β¦β¦
Most of the fans scolded very harshly! Because football matches are usually more important than the result, and no matter how exciting the process is, it is useless to lose. The result is the key, and the Chinese team has a problem in the most critical link.
A small number of rational fans put forward their own opinions: "The second half of the National Olympic team still played very well, emphasizing ground coordination, but did not form a clear idea of offense, the ball looked a little chaotic in the front court, if there can be a stronger organizational midfielder than Wu Lei, the Chinese team should not lose." β
Some people also raised objections to such remarks: "The opponent is only the DPRK, so does it have to be that Zhang Shujie and Li Mu's gang all return to the team in order to defeat the DPRK team? If this is the case, what should we do when we encounter South Korea and Japan?"
In conclusion, various comments appeared on the network. Zhang Shujie and Li Mu remained silent and did not show up in front of the media, they called An Rong privately, and An Rong told them not to worry, he had his own ideas.
Guo Fan didn't ask An Rong anything this time, he already knew An Rong's thoughts. Before An Rong took the initiative to take responsibility through the media, it was just a trick, he was very dissatisfied with the competitive spirit of these players at present, but in front of the media he said very euphemistically that "the performance of the players is not good". Guo Fan could even guess that An Rong was about to change the team.
The home defeat to North Korea also made the Chinese team's match with the Saudi Arabian team on June 6 particularly important, and the Saudi team released words in advance, saying that it would send all the main players of the National Olympic team to challenge the Chinese team.
In the Chinese team, An Rong continued to use domestic players, and in the last game against North Korea, An Rong did not recruit returnee players, even if he played with Saudi Arabia, he did not recruit them. Fans and the media don't understand it, you must know that now that the major European leagues have ended, these foreign players have no games to play at present, and An Rong can recruit them into the team.
Of course, An Rong's thoughts fans and the media will not know, he still asked the domestic players to face the visiting Saudi Arabia, and the two sides finally shook hands 0:0. China had a good chance to score in the 76th minute, but Rao Hui's shot hit the crossbar.
Since then, since An Rong took office, counting the earliest game with the South Korean team, the Chinese Olympic team has one draw and two losses in three games, and only one goal. The problem facing the national Olympic team now is not only difficult to win, but also difficult to score.
An Rong rotated seven players in this game! The striker is Wang Gang, An Rong wants to use his speed to impact the opponent's defense, Wang Gang did cause some trouble to the Saudi Arabian backline, but the striker needs more than just "making trouble", he needs to score goals.
Wang Gang got a single knife shortly after the opening, but he didn't score. An Rong on the sidelines shook his head more than once, this is a single goal! At the moment when Wang Gang missed a single goal, An Rong thought of Zhang Shujie. is also a striker, why is the gap so big!
The inability of the National Olympic team has always been a problem, and the previous head coach has not solved it well, and now it is An Rong's turn to worry. In fact, there are still a lot of opportunities for the national Olympic team in this game, as long as they can catch half of them, they can score at least two goals, but in the end, they swallowed a duck egg.
The media also made an appeal: "Who can score for the Olympic team?"
The fan gave the answer: "Zhang Shujie." β
This answer is "hindsight", and it is true that in China, no one doubts Zhang Shujie's ability, after all, the foreign player who scored 17 league goals in Parma last season then moved to Juventus. But then again, Wang Gang is also half a foreign player, he was loaned to the Portuguese first-division team Covila by Shandong Luneng, but due to the eye-catching performance of Zhang Shujie, Li Mu and others in Europe, and Wang Gang is staying in Portugal on loan, so fans and the media ignore Wang Gang intentionally or unintentionally when talking about "foreign players".
Due to the absence of Zhang Shujie and Li Muyi in the team, the media also expressed hope for Wang Gang, a "quasi-foreign player", but the answer he handed in was not satisfactory. He's very active up front, but without scoring goals, it's a tough injury for the striker.
An Rong's final list has not yet been determined, but he said that there are already eighteen rudiments in his heart. He said: "There are less than two weeks left in the first leg against Oman and it will be very hard to prepare for the two weeks and if someone in the team can't hold on, they will definitely fall behind. I can't tell you exactly who will be in the final squad, let alone who will be the main player, it's all up to you. β
The members of the National Olympic team were in urgent intensive training, and those who should have been selected for the National Olympic team but did not enter the team were busy with other things under Feng Kai's arrangement.
On June 15, Zhang Shujie, Li Mu, Yan Tao, Ma Junqiang, Zhao Wenkang, and Xu Ziyi got together, and Feng Kai received a somewhat "strange" contract for them at the same time.
It turned out that this was not a commercial contract, but a public welfare contract, which was related to the China Youth Foundation and was not remunerated. It stands to reason that we are now at the most important point of the national Olympic team, and it is a bit inappropriate to sign a contract at this time. But these six people were not selected for the initial national Olympic team, so all their activities have nothing to do with the national Olympic team. Whether the National Olympic team recruits them into the team is An Rong's business, and it has nothing to do with Feng Kai, he is just an agent, what he wants to do is to add more value to these players. If these six people were on the training list of the National Olympic team, Feng Kai would never let them attend any event.
Before that, Feng Kai spent a few days signing a business contract for Ma Junqiang, Yan Tao and Zhao Wenkang. Compared with Zhang Shujie and Li Mu, their business contract is much smaller, but it is better than nothing, and the company behind the contract is also well-known in China, which is also very beneficial to the future business exploration of the three people.
This time, the six people also served as the spokespersons of the China Youth Foundation. The Foundation believes that the experience of the six people in Europe can serve as an example for young people, and the six people are also interested in such a public interest contract, even if they do not receive a penny, they are happy to accept it.
The signing of the contract can be described as an instant hit, and it went very smoothly. The attention of the media and fans was also temporarily attracted by the six people, and after seeing the teenagers who had different successes in Europe, everyone couldn't help but sigh: Why didn't An Rong recruit them into the team?
On 19 June, the Chinese team lost 0:1 at home to Oman, and in the first leg of the Olympic preliminary qualifying round, the Chinese team ushered in a black start. The defeat in this game also made it more and more difficult for the national Olympic team on the road to qualifying.
An Rong was also surprised, although the Chinese team lost to North Korea half a month ago, it also drew with all the main Saudi Arabia. He thought that there should be no problem against Oman, but he didn't expect that the Chinese team still lost.
The Chinese team made a serious mistake in the opening three minutes, first the tactical corner kick was broken, and then the Oman team passed diagonally to the left rib of the front field near the midline after the two-foot pass, Chen Fanyu's return speed was too slow, Omani player Al Sadd forced into the penalty area on the left side and crossed the middle, the two central defenders of the Chinese team collided together in a panic, Zheng Zhen cleared the ball and fell to the feet of Alfarah, he calmly hit the bottom left corner of the goal after he got the ball, Wang Xiaolei tried his best to save but could not do anything, so that the Oman team scored the only goal of the gameγ
This time, the fans didn't scold anymore, but they were just thinking about when Zhang Shujie and the others would be able to return to the team? Could it be that An Rong really wants to rely on this group of people to reach the top 12 of the qualifiers?
For the first time, An Rong felt a little nervous, which was completely unexpected. He was also a little angry, he criticized the performance of the National Olympic team, especially Zheng Zhen, it was his mistakes that caused China to concede the goal, and goalkeeper Wang Xiaolei did not escape An Rong's blame, although he did not have the main responsibility for conceding the goal, but his preparation was obviously not sufficient, and there was a lot of problems in his position.
Guo Fan called An Rong, and Guo Fan's tone on the phone was quite stable, but An Rong couldn't stabilize it. He told Guo Fan that he would replace a few people in the team when he challenged Oman away four days later! And this battle will also decide the life and death of the Chinese Olympic team!