In 2004, the Asian Cup came to China for the first time. Beijing, Jinan, Chengdu and Chongqing www.biquge.info became the four lucky bidding cities. It was the first time that the Asian Cup was expanded from 12 teams to 16 teams, and as the host and one of the top four Asian teams in the 2002 World Cup, especially with the two big players in the new Champions League champion Blackburn Rovers - Li Tie and Sun Jihai, the Chinese team has only one goal: the championship.

This Chinese team is regarded as a strengthened version of the 2002 World Cup, with veterans such as Hao Haidong and Li Xiaopeng, who have participated in the World Cup, as well as Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, Li Jinyu, who have played well in the league, Shao Jiayi, who can play the main force in the Bundesliga, and Sun Jihai and Li Tie, who can serve as the main rotation players in the Champions League and Premier League champion team Blackburn, and the squad composition is extremely mature.

The coach of this Chinese men's football team is Dutchman Ali Han, the defensive titan of the Dutch national team in the Cruyff era who had a mediocre coaching resume, but after the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, he became the coach of the national football team.

In the first warm-up match of his coaching of the national football team, he drew 0:0 at home against the World Cup champion Brazil, which was the main team and "did not play hard". However, in the subsequent East Asian semi-finals and World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese men's football team led by Ali Han performed very well, and the Dutch urgently needed the Asian Cup championship to consolidate their position.

According to the grouping, the host Chinese men's football team was placed in Group A, alongside old rivals Qatar, rising Bahrain and Indonesia. All three matches in the group were played at the Beijing Workers Stadium. If the Chinese men's football team can qualify first in the group, all the matches in the knockout round will also be played in Gongti, and the Chinese men's football team will save the trouble caused by long-distance flights.

In the opening match on July 17, 2004, the Chinese men's football team was unfavorable. Facing the newly rising West Asian upstart Bahrain, the Chinese men's football team played quite hard. In the 41st minute, the Chinese men's football team conceded the first goal; In the 58th minute, Zheng Zhi equalized with a penalty kick and scored the first goal of the Chinese men's football team in the Asian Cup; In the 66th minute, Li Jinyu scored a goal to overtake; However, the Bahrain team staged an equalizer before the end, which made the Chinese men's football team's hope of getting off to a good start in front of the home fans.

The defeat in the first game made the second game of the Chinese men's football team even more inmissible, facing Indonesia, the weakest team in the group, the Chinese men's football team not only had to win, but also to win, and the Chinese men's football team finally achieved this.

Shao Jia, the new core of the Chinese men's football team, made a big show in a game, scored two yuan, and the veteran Hao Haidong also scored a goal, and the veteran Li Ming, who had unfortunately lost the South Korea-Japan World Cup list, staged a corner kick and scored directly, and the substitute "Emperor" Li Yi was the icing on the cake, and the Chinese men's football team won this key victory 5:0.

In the final game of the group against the old enemy Qatar, the Chinese men's football team only needs 1 point to qualify from the group, but if it wants to ensure the first place in the group, the Chinese men's football team must take all three points.

In the end, Sun Jihai and Xu Yunlong's goals in the 64th and 77th minutes helped the Chinese men's football team defeat the opponent 2:0, not only advancing with the first place in the group, but also firmly nailing the old enemy Qatar to the bottom of the group.

After entering the top 8, the opponent of the Chinese men's football team is Iraq. The newly vetted team is in the early stages of their recovery, and they performed well in the group stage, beating Saudi Arabia, who were then the giants of Asia.

In the face of such a hard-working and inexperienced young opponent, the Chinese men's football team seized the opportunity, Hao Haidong took the lead in the opening 8 minutes, and in the second half, the Chinese men's football team took advantage of the opponent's defense to perform twice uncalmly to win penalties, Zheng Zhi hit two penalties, the score was finally fixed at 3:0, and the Chinese men's football team easily advanced to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, the Chinese men's football team faced the "bitter master" Iran, and the process of the game also proved that the Chinese men's football team almost tried its best to barely bite this opponent. In the 19th minute, Shao Jiayi scored the first goal for the Chinese men's football team. But 10 minutes later, Hao Haidong was injured in a collision with the opposing goalkeeper, his head was bleeding, and he was forced to go off the field. In the 39th minute, Madavecchia assisted his teammates to equalize.

In the second half of the game, the game was full of gunpowder, in the 49th minute, Iranian player Zareh clashed with Shao Jiayi, Shao Jiayi fell to the ground with a slightly exaggerated fall to the ground and let the opponent eat a red card and go straight down, the Chinese men's football team occupied a numerical advantage, and finally in the 83rd minute on the ground, Sun Jihai assisted Li Tie, who also played in the Blackburn team, and scored a killer goal, and the Chinese men's football team advanced to the final with a score of 2:1!

The biggest difference from the previous life is that although Arthur advanced to the final in his previous life, some problems with Ali Han's on-the-spot command were still questioned by the outside world, the most obvious is that Sun Jihai, who can play the main team in the Premier League, was put on the bench, but he was replaced on the field and let him play as a striker.

In addition to Sun Jihai's glory of winning the Champions League and the Premier League, his friendship and tacit understanding with Li Tie and Li Weifeng also made Ali Han have some scruples, and finally the three Chinese players who are playing or have been in Blackburn have all played the games of the Chinese team in this Asian Cup.

On August 7, 2004, the Chinese national team stood on the stage of the Asian Cup final for the second time in history. 20 years ago, the Chinese men's football team reached the final, but ultimately lost to Saudi Arabia; 20 years later, can the new generation of Chinese men's football team realize this dream of their predecessors?

At that time, the Japanese team was led by Shunsuke Nakamura, who also played in Blackburn, and Noho Kawaguchi, Takayuki Suzuki, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Mitsutoshi, Yuji Nakazawa and others were also meritorious players who made a historic round of 16 in the South Korea and Japan World Cup, and it was not easy for the Chinese men's football team to beat this opponent.

However, because of the rise of Blackburn in this life, or the emergence of Arthur, although Shunsuke Nakamura, who was popular in the previous life, won the Champions League championship that he had never touched in his previous life, Shunsuke Nakamura, who played as a substitute for Duff and Lampard in Blackburn this season, has been accustomed to the supporting role of supporting the core of the team for a season, and after returning to the national team, he is a little unfamiliar with being the core of the team, and the effect is not as good as in the previous life.

Compared with Shunsuke Nakamura, whose competitive level has declined, Li Weifeng, who has been coached by Mourinho, and Sun Jihai and Li Tie, who have gradually gained a firm position in Blackburn, are much stronger than the previous life.

In this competition, Li Weifeng, who was injured and absent in the previous life, made himself more cunning in the Premier League for a year, and was not injured, making up for the shortcomings of his previous life, and the veteran Hao Haidong who was bloodstained in the semi-finals also made a comeback.

The final kicked off amid the incessant shouts of Chinese fans, and Arthur also "returned" to China for the first time in the Asian Cup final featuring three Blackburn Rovers players and a former Blackburn Rovers player.

In the 21st minute, Shunsuke Nakamura used his iconic free kick to cause chaos in front of the Chinese men's football team, and Takashi Fukusai scored with a header from his teammates, and the Chinese men's football team fell behind by one goal.

However, now this Chinese men's football team is not the team that is still in the ridicule of the team, only 10 minutes later, the Chinese men's football team equalized, Sun Jihai broke through on the right side and crossed low, Li Tie met the ball with a low shot with his left foot, 1:1!

Arthur also stood up and applauded when he saw the goal scored by the two Blackburn Rovers players after linking!

In the ensuing game, the two sides reached a stalemate.

The balance was shattered by a controversial scene in the 66th minute. It was Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick that created a killing opportunity, Koji Nakata played a "hand of God" in front of the goal to score the ball, but the referee ruled that the goal was valid, and the Chinese men's team fell behind again in such a wronged way.

In the 78th minute, the Chinese men's football team got a great opportunity to equalize again, and Li Yi, who came on as a substitute for Hao Haidong, got a single knife, but he did not choose to shoot directly, but chose to try to dribble past the opponent's goalkeeper Kawaguchi Noho, and was finally destroyed by the latter.

The Chinese men's football team lost a great opportunity to equalize, and Li Yi also became a finger after losing this single knife.

At the last moment of the game, the Chinese men's football team poured out of the nest and tried to equalize, but the emptiness of the defense almost made them pay the price, but after Li Tie's Great Wall of Steel and Sun Jihai's physical strength and ran 40 meters in front of the goal to save the danger, the Chinese team still tried to protect the goal.

In stoppage time, the Chinese team got a corner kick opportunity, Sun Jihai sent an assist again, and Li Weifeng beat Kawaguchi to score a stunner alive to equalize!

At this moment, Arthur could feel the entire stadium shake as the fans cheered.

Chinese football has always been a first-class fan in later generations, a second-rate club, a ninth-rate national team, and not a fan association official.

In extra time, both sides were on the defensive, neither could score again, and the score remained 2:2 until the end of extra time, and the two sides went to a penalty shootout.

Penalty shootouts are always occasions for heroes, and the person who became the hero of the Chinese men's football team this time is called Liu Yunfei.

In the first 4 rounds, Zhao Junzhe of the Chinese men's football team and Koji Nakata of the opposing team both hit the post with penalty kicks.

In the last round, Li Tie took the lead in scoring the ball, and Liu Yunfei bravely saved Yuji Nakazawa's penalty, and the Chinese men's football team won the Asian Cup for the first time at home with a score of 6:5!

"Let's hope the future will be different!" Arthur looked at the members of the Chinese team and the Chinese fans who were celebrating wildly, and prayed sincerely.

In the previous life, the runner-up in the 2004 Asian Cup was the beginning of the rapid decline of the Chinese men's football team, which was originally a first-class team in Asia, and later even entered the top 12 of the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.

In this life, because of the emergence of Arthur, the Chinese men's football team miraculously won the Asian Cup, and may rise rapidly like South Korea won the World Cup semifinals, and may follow the old path of the previous life.

Arthur, however, hopes to be like the former.

Before the start of the Asian Cup, this year's European Championship has already come to an end.

In the run-up to Euro 2004, when there was talk about who would be the winner of the Euro 2004 finals, the most underwatched group of players broke out another big upset in the history of the tournament.

Greece were considered underdogs when they reached the finals, but few noticed their huge improvement in the preliminaries. In the preliminary round, they lost their first two games, but won the next six games without conceding a goal. During the month-long flamboyant football festival in Portugal, the Greek team, which focused on the whole and played consistently, played its own strength, overcoming obstacles one after another, and finally won the championship as well deserved as the previous one.

And because of the rise of Arthur and Blackburn, this European Championship is very different from the previous one.

Because Arthur poached Deco, the core of the midfield who played for Porto this season, and coach Mourinho to Blackburn in advance, so although Porto is still strong in the Portuguese Super League this season, it cannot be compared with the previous life to win the Champions League, and because Deco, as the core of the national team's midfield, is not as familiar with his teammates as he was in the previous life, resulting in the Portuguese national team built by Scolari's main players in Porto The combat effectiveness of the Portuguese national team is far less than that of the previous life.

In the group stage, the hosts led by world champion coach Scolari are in Group A with Greece, Spain and Russia. In the opening game, Portugal lost 1:2 to Greece, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a face-saving goal in the 93rd minute. In the second match of the group stage, Portugal beat Russia 2-0 thanks to goals from Maniche and Rui Costa. In the final match of the group stage, Portugal beat Spain 1:0 thanks to a goal from Nuno Gomez. In the end, Portugal won 2 wins and 1 loss and ranked first in the group with 6 points, and advanced to the top 8.

In the quarter-finals, Portugal did not beat England on penalties as they did in the previous game, although the two teams were still tied 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Owen and Postiga scoring respectively. However, in the final minute of extra-time, David Beckham whipped in a corner from the right and Lampard was dragged by team-mate Deco behind him to get a header from a tight angle

England finally advanced to the semi-finals with the first "silver ball" in the history of the European Championship, and Portugal, as the host, was eliminated.

In the semi-finals, the Three Lions beat Sweden 2-1, with Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole scoring a goal each, and Ibrahimovic's 72-minute goal gave Sweden hope of qualifying, but it fell short in the final minute as England reached the final of the European Championship for the first time in their history.

In the end, against the star-studded Three Lions, Greece, a team without big stars, conquered Europe. The success of the Greeks has set an example for all teams in Europe: anything can happen with hard work, self-confidence, with the necessary bit of good luck and a never-yielding spirit.

In this European Cup, in addition to England's "accident" to advance to the final, Arthur's biggest surprise was the Swedish team, which also had two Blackburn Rovers players. (To be continued.) )