After a month of training under the scorching summer sun, the 18th Asian Cup in South Korea kicked off.

Twenty-four qualifying teams gather in South Korea to determine the winner in eight stadiums in six cities across the country for nearly a month.

The Chinese team has undergone some changes after last year's World Cup qualifiers, and many veterans who have reached the age have retired, and some Mesozoic and young players have been added.

In this Asian Cup, the average age of the Chinese team is 27 years old, which is not the oldest or youngest among all the 24 participating teams.

Before the game, the head coach of the Chinese team, Marcel Wilson, said in an interview that the task of the Chinese team in this Asian Cup is to reach the quarterfinals - in the last Asian Cup, the Chinese team finally reached the semifinals, but many players of the Chinese team at that time are no longer in this national team, and the two teams have different staffing and different experience levels, so there is no way to simply compare.

The quarterfinals are a very pragmatic goal.

The Chinese team made it to the round of 16 and then met the hosts South Korea in the quarterfinals.

The match was scheduled at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

For a while, a rumor began to circulate on the online marketing account, saying that the Koreans did it on purpose, just to avenge the 0:3 loss to the Chinese team in the East Asian Cup at the beginning of the year.

Many Chinese fans followed suit and scolded South Korean sticks for being cautious.

But this time they really wronged the Koreans.

The schedule and venue of the competition have been determined for a long time, and it is not necessary to wait for the top 16 to be released before the temporary arrangement of the competition venue, so how to prepare?

South Korea are the hosts, and their home stadium must be the Seoul World Cup Stadium, which hosted the opening ceremony of the World Cup.

As a result, who told the Chinese team to only finish second in the group, so they could only go to the Seoul World Cup Stadium to face the South Korean team?

This is not a deliberate arrangement by the Koreans, but an arrangement of fate.

Three months ago, the South Korean Olympic team, which was known as the "South Korean national team", was defeated 0:3 by the Chinese Olympic team, which was the "Chinese national team".

Three months later, fate arranged for the real South Korean national team to take revenge on the real Chinese national team here.

Before the game, the Korean media shouted, "Let them see the real Korean national team!" ”

For this reason, the South Korean team also put out the strongest lineup and sent all the foreign players, including their number one star, the main striker Park Chun-tae. The goalscorer, who plays for Sevilla Navigators, a traditional powerhouse in La Liga, is currently one of the best stars in Asia.

At the Qatar World Cup that ended at the end of last year, he scored two goals for South Korea, and although he failed to help South Korea reach the knockout round, he was already the top scorer in the South Korean team.

Now 28 years old, he has participated in three World Cups, two of which have been a regular player, and scored a total of four goals in the World Cup, making him the second-most player in the history of South Korean football in the World Cup finals. Now the whole of South Korea has high hopes that he can lead the Korean team to repeat the glory of the 2002 World Cup in the World Cup.

But to be honest, after knowing that there is such a number one person, Hu Lai feels that unless the South Korean team hosts another World Cup, it is almost impossible for Park Chuntae to lead the South Korean team to repeat the World Cup semi-finals of the South Korean team...... After all, that achievement is not based on performance in the arena alone.

Of course, Park may not be able to lead South Korea to repeat the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, but they are still a first-class team in Asian football.

In the three games of the group stage, Park Juntae scored three goals and is currently temporarily leading the Asian Cup scorer list.

In this Asian Cup, which is held on home soil, the South Korean team has only one goal, which is to win the Asian Cup again in 12 years.

If they win the championship, then all players in the squad will be exempted from military service. Of course, Park Chuntae didn't need to, because he had already been exempted from military service by winning the Asian Games championship.

Compared with the star-studded South Korean team, the lineup of the Chinese team is much more cold. Not only did he not have a single foreign player, but after Qin Lin withdrew from the national team, he also lacked a big brother who could support the scene.

After the World Cup qualifiers were played and a group of veterans were retired, the current national team is dominated by young players of the Mesozoic generation, and there is no big man like Qin Lin who is convincing to everyone, which makes them look a little empty and not very confident when facing the South Korean team led by players like Park Chuntai.

After all, in the past, the South Korean team brought out Park Chuntae, and the Chinese team also had players like Qin Lin who won the Asian Footballer of the Year to come out to the line.

And now...... Even the Chinese football media are particularly ashamed, what is the angle of their reporting: "The 'Light of Asia' Park Chuntai is worth more than the combined value of all the players in the national football team"......

Before the game was played, there was no morale.

"Our media is also weird enough." Hu Lai, who saw the news, complained to Wang Guangwei. "How can anyone use this way to increase the prestige of others and destroy their own ambition before the game? It's just treason! ”

The two of them watched the game in the cafeteria at the training base.

In addition to them, there are also all the players of the youth team, Xia Xiaoyu is among them - this is a special request from the youth director Shi Jisheng, so that everyone can not leave the restaurant after eating in the evening, waiting to watch the live broadcast of the game.

With Hu Lai and Wang Guangwei as the core, everyone sat behind them and watched the Sino-Korean war through the projection in the restaurant.

"It's just a habit of complaining about the national football team, it may not be as ......serious as you say," Wang Guangwei shook his head.

"Gao Chen is on the bench......" When the TV broadcast swept over the Chinese team's bench, Xia Xiaoyu recognized one of them.

Hulai was stunned for a moment before remembering the story behind the name.

It was on this pitch that he was injured by the Koreans. After he was shoveled by Sun Haomin, domestic public opinion repeatedly mentioned this matter.

And what was the name of the person who injured Gao Chen in the first place...... Prostitution?

When Hu Lai was searching for the name in his mind, Wang Guangwei next to him said: "Park Sung-heung is the starter in this game......"

There was a commotion among the youth team players: "He still has a face to start!" ”

"Maybe the stick was intentional? Deliberately disgusting us, and at the same time affecting Gao Chen's state......"

"So Wilson didn't let Gao Chen start......"

"The starters didn't work. Gao Chen had already been tormented by that serious injury, and it was not as good as before. Alas, it was also a promising striker, and the result was ......"

Hearing everyone's indignant discussion, Wang Guangwei said to Hu Lai beside him: "Now it seems, Hu Lai, your kid was really lucky at the beginning. If Son Ho-min really tackles you, then all your performances after this season will be gone. ”

Hu Lai nodded: "Yes, I'm so lucky......"

He sincerely thanked the salted fish system once in his heart.

After using the [Broken Giant Bear Shin Guard], it also entered the official mall, and Hu Lai went in to see it later, and found that this shin guard required 30,000 points to buy it again. Compared with the [Lover's Red Rope], which only needs 10,000, 30,000 points is not cheap. But compared to his future career, 30,000 points is definitely not expensive.

Hulai even felt that as long as he had enough points, he should buy one and put it away, just prepared.

So after he received the East Asian Cup task reward, he found that the point system alone rewarded as much as 100,000, so he immediately used 30,000 points to buy a [Broken Giant Bear Shin Guard] and put it in the warehouse for backup at any time.

Then he went into the system space from time to time to take a look, and as long as he saw the shin guards with the giant bear pattern placed in the system space, he felt extremely safe as if he saw that his bank account balance was eight figures.

※※※

Back to the game itself, the strength of the Chinese team is behind the South Korean team in an all-round way, plus this is the home of the South Korean team, and it is normal for everyone to know how to operate.

Therefore, although the players of the Chinese team are very hard-working, this fighting spirit is still difficult to narrow the gap between them and South Korean football.

In the end, the Chinese team lost 0:2 to the opponent amid the deafening cheers and boos of the South Korean fans, and was eliminated from the first round of the knockout round, ending their journey in this Asian Cup.

After the game, the depressed Chinese players sat on the pitch and looked at the South Korean players cheering and celebrating, their eyes lost.

CCTV commentator He Feng is saying: "...... Chinese football has owed too much debt in the past, although we have begun to reform and catch up, but because the debt we owe in the early stage is too huge, the time to catch up in the past few years is not enough for us to catch up with opponents like Japan and South Korea...... But after the defeat, let's have a glimmer of hope for the future...... Think about how our Olympic boys beat South Korea at the East Asian Cup in March. Those young people...... They are the future of Chinese football, and their victory makes me believe that Chinese football should be on the right path this time......"

Listening to the voice of the commentator, the players of the Shining Star Youth Team in the restaurant turned their attention to Hu Lai and Wang Guangwei, of course, mainly to Hu Lai. Because the protagonist of the 3:0 victory is right in front of them!

When everyone was looking at Hu Lai, Xia Xiaoyu puffed up his chest and sat up straight, proud of Team Hu.

Shi Jisheng, the club's youth training director, stood up and slapped his face: "Okay, okay, if you lose, you lose, there's nothing to say...... What should I do if my skills are not as good as others? Practice! Now go back and rest, and train normally tomorrow morning! ”

Everyone left the cafeteria one after another, and as they walked towards the youth team dormitory, they couldn't help but talk.

“…… If Hulai had been here, maybe the outcome would have been different, right? ”

"Hey, the gap between our national team and the South Korean team can't be bridged by one Hulai? That's backward ...... in all directions."

Someone set their eyes on Xia Xiaoyu: "Xiaoyu, aren't you the most familiar with Hu Lai?" What do you think? ”

"Huh? I? I don......'t know," Xia Xiaoyu said, "and there is no point in discussing this topic, let's train hard, the national team is too far away." ”

"Xiaoyu is right, it's good that we can do our own thing."

"That's it, you're so anxious! Didn't the commentator say it all? We owe too much to pay back little by little, not so fast...... Isn't it, Xiaoyu? ”

"Hmm." Xia Xiaoyu nodded, just clenched his fists where others didn't see it.

Only one year...... Only one year away!

(End of chapter)