At a press conference ahead of the third game of the group stage, reporters asked Horton what he thought of Hao Haixi and Gao Feng.

Horton didn't shy away from the question.

He said: "I think Huang Jianxiang is a bit overdone, no one wants to lose the game, right? We have to win at the lowest cost, and after a big lead, there is really no need to continue to chase hard. ”

"When we go to the knockout rounds, we have to be careful."

"As for his attitude at home and abroad? I didn't see it, I don't know how he saw it. Every player wants to win and knows how to protect themselves and protect the win. ”

"I don't want to hurt the unity of the team because of some unrealistic statements. We're good now and the goal is to get to the final and win the title. ”

Horton had the team in mind as a unite. He was concerned that some of the remarks would affect the locker room.

Then the reporter asked Zheng Zhi again.

"Zheng Zhi, what do you think?"

Zheng Zhi has long been concerned about this, he said: "It's okay to accept criticism, if we don't perform well, there is no problem." But if someone doesn't work hard and doesn't perform well, please name ......"

"Anyway, I don't see anyone who doesn't work hard, the competitive atmosphere in the team is very strong now, and whoever doesn't perform well will lose the starting position, so everyone is playing with this energy, everyone is very united, contributing to the country, and the reason why he is playing more relaxed is because of the coach's tactical needs, he said that we should pay attention to protect ourselves. So it's not right to interpret us for no reason. ”

"Of course, I don't think Huang Jianxiang did it on purpose, he was also worried about us and was just anxious for us, the starting point is right, this is a misunderstanding."

Zheng Zhi and Huang Jianxiang have a relationship, and they are still very measured in their speech.

Then he talked about Gao Feng again.

"As for what Brother Feng said, there is no problem. He is a righteous person, a very good person, and has a very good relationship with many bigwigs in the team. Speaking straight, it naturally sounds a little uncomfortable. ”

"Actually, whether it's Huang Jianxiang or Gao Feng, they all want to be good for the national football team, and the starting point is right, right? Of course, we can't always be on the cusp, because because we play every day under the watchful eyes of the whole Chinese fans, so we as players really have to do our best. ”

……

……

In this third game, Zheng Zhi still failed to become a starter. After winning the first two games, the Chinese team has already won the first place in the group, even if they lose the last game, it is useless for the South Korean team to win two games in a row, because the record between the two sides is that the Chinese team won, so the Chinese team must be the first in the group.

Therefore, putting Zheng Zhi on the bench is a tyrannical thing, at least for Inter Milan. Inter Milan struggled to win at Verona at the weekend due to the lack of Zheng Zhi. The 2:1 result was quite dangerous, the media at the time thought that Zheng Zhi was not there, Pirlo's position was a failure, the team lacked enough creativity, and if it wasn't for the excellent performance of French goalkeeper Frei, Inter Milan might not have won this victory.

Now it just so happens that the match between China and Kuwait happened to be played at the same time as the Coppa Italia match between Cagliari and Inter Milan.

In the live broadcast room of Sky Sports Italia, guest Bergomi received the news that Zheng Zhi had become a substitute again, and he blew up on the spot.

"Bastard,"

"It's such a bastard, if the British don't want Zheng Zhi to start in the group stage, why are they in such a hurry to recall him to the national team? It is completely possible to recruit Zheng Zhi back after playing the group stage, but now it is good, Zheng Zhigan is sitting on the bench, but Inter Milan is painfully lacking the core. It's a stupid decision! ”

Because of the pain of playing Verona last week, in the second leg of this Italian Cup, even if it was Cagliari in the second division, Mourinho did not dare to be careless, and the lineup was still dominated by the main team, but the forward partners were replaced by Recoba and Vieri.

This is indeed diametrically opposed to the lineup of the Chinese team sent by Horton, the lineup of the Chinese team is weaker than the second round, the goalkeeper is still Jiang Jun, who performed well in the first two games, the four defenders from left to right are Wu Chengying, Zhang Enhua, Xu Yunlong, Chen Gang, the four midfielders from left to right are Shen Si, Ma Mingyu, Qi Hong, Zhao Junzhe, and Xie Hui and Qu Shengqing on the front line.

Except for Ma Mingyu and Qi Hong, who stayed in the dark, everyone else is a player who plays in China.

The Kuwait team's lineup is goalkeeper Majidi, the defender line Abdullah, Abdul Rahman, Shamali, Asser, the four players in the midfield are al-Mutairi, Harabiyeh, Azemi and Osman, and the forward line is still Al Howadi and Abdullaz.

In the face of the opponent's dense defense, the Chinese team did not have many ways to attack the position, and there was only one shot on goal in the entire first half, only to 40 minutes, the Chinese team Qu Shengqing started quickly after winning the ball in the penalty area, and the opposing defender made a push action, Qu Shengqing fell in the opponent's penalty area, but the referee from Malaysia signaled the game to continue. After that, neither side was able to create any more scoring chances, and the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, in order to increase the vitality on the field and further train the team, the Chinese team replaced the left forward Shen Si with Shao Jiayi and the right forward Zhao Junzhe with Li Xiaopeng. The situation was no different from the first half.

Attack constipation. There were few shots on goal.

In the end, the two sides played 0:0......

Although it was only a draw, the Chinese team won two of the three games and drew one, and advanced to the quarterfinals with the first place in the group. China's opponent in the quarterfinals will be the third highest player in Group A and Group C, and it is not surprising that China's next opponent will be from Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with two West Asian teams more likely.

The Chinese team's game has just ended, and Inter Milan's game has quickly come to the end, but Inter Milan and Cagliari played 1:2, the aggregate score of the two legs was 3:3, and the home and away goal difference was 1 goal, so they were going to enter the penalty shootout.

As a result, Inter Milan were tragic, in the penalty shoot-out, they were actually eliminated, Dalma and Di Biagio missed penalties in succession, and handed Cagliari the chance to advance to the second round.

1:2。

With a tragic scoreline, Inter Milan also ushered in their first defeat of the season.

This defeat is naturally what the Italian sports media are most happy to see, and everyone is looking forward to the failure of Inter Milan, and it has finally come.

La Repubblica commentator Mauro (who was teammates with Zico, Platini and Maradona) commented:

I think it's still very objective, the loss is not a tragedy, but it is really unexpected. They lost to Cagliari, a side in the second division. This shows that Inter Milan is actually too dependent on the Chinese. In the two games without him, Inter Milan seemed to be unable to play again, and Inter Milan met an inexplicable day. The Nerazzurri need a more established style of play: the 2-1 defeat to Cagliari was a painful lesson that needs to be reflected. Mourinho's idea was simple, that is, he wanted to use Pirlo to make up for Zheng Zhi's position after leaving, and let Dalma replace Pirlo's original position, but this proved to be a failure, and Pirlo did not take on such a heavy responsibility. Andrea Pirlo plays hard, but he doesn't have the ability of Zheng Zhi yet.

Corriere della Sera commentator Sconchetti also said:

After the lack of Zheng Zhi, Mourinho should choose to change the formation, should no longer stick to 4312, but should change the formation to 442, or 352, or 433, either to make the team more balanced in attack and defense, or to make the team more aggressive, now it is obvious that after the lack of Zheng Zhi, Inter Milan will not attack, the quality of the attack directly dropped by 3 times, and the defensive end has actually been affected to a certain extent, no one controls the ball in the backfield, which leads to the team's defensive system is a little messy. It's all like going back to last season, and Lippi's Inter Milan was like that.

Padovan, editor-in-chief of Torino Sport, said: In fact, when playing Verona away, Inter Milan was inadequate. The back-to-back away games have finally exposed all their problems. When the strikers were no longer magical and could not use their individual abilities to solve goals, the Inter car stopped. In a short period of time, I think they will be able to get out of the situation without Zheng Zhi. And the terrible thing is that Zheng Zhi has to stay in Lebanon for a long, long time, and in between, Inter Milan still has two league games and a Champions Cup......

At the post-match press conference, Mourinho's emotions became a little emotional under the constant questions from reporters.

"I know you want Inter to lose and today you got it."

"Losing is not a bad thing, only when we lose, can we see where our strength is, if we keep winning, it will make us drift."

'It's just that we lost games that we shouldn't have lost, and we said goodbye to the Coppa Italia.

The reporter asked: "Jose, do you miss Zheng Zhi?" ”

Mourinho shrugged his shoulders and then asked rhetorically, "Have you been out there for a few months and missed your wife?" ”

Reporter:...... But I thought in my heart, of course I don't want to be outside, I can eat it secretly!

Another reporter asked again: "He didn't play in the Chinese team tonight, and he didn't play for another minute, how do you feel?" ”

The muscles on Mourinho's face twitched and twitched, but he still had a sense of humor, "Very good, it means that Horton is helping Inter Milan maintain Zheng Zhi, Zheng Zhi does not play, it means that he will not be tired, he will not be injured, and then give us a healthy Zheng Zhi." ”

I can only think like this, can I still scold Horton like Bergomi?

He had long been ready to lose Zheng Zhi, but he didn't expect Pirlo to fail to play the role of Zheng Zhi, and now it is useless to miss Zheng Zhi, I just hope that Pirlo can fight as soon as possible.

……

……

The next day, the group stage of the 12th Asian Cup was all over, the quarterfinals were all produced, and the specific situation of the quarterfinals was: China VS Qatar.

Kuwait VS Iraq

South Korea vs Iran.

Japan VS Saudi Arabia

China is in the first half, compared to the second half, the opponent is much weaker, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia have all run to the second half. How lucky is that? After the four teams come out, they will at least lose a few layers of skin, and the Chinese team will take advantage of the fisherman.

is not enough for the Qatari team, but it makes Chinese fans gnash their teeth. As soon as the match came out, even the Chinese players were very excited, this is the former "enemy", and they must avenge the revenge of the year in the top 8.

In the current Chinese team, many old internationals participated in the two matches against Qatar in the 1997 round of ten. At that time, the Chinese team drew 1:1 away and lost 2:3 at home. Coincidentally, Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Haji, who led Qatar to achieve great results that year, returned to his position before the Asian Cup after leaving the Qatar team for a period of time and met the Chinese team again.

A lot of internationals talk about Qatar while they eat.

Zhang Enhua commented: "The strength of the Qatar team has dropped compared to the top 10 match, and we should be confident to beat it. ”

Fan Zhiyi said: "The Qatar team is used to playing 352, and we are playing 442. Therefore, the key point against the Qatar team is to pinch its two wings. In addition, the Qatari team is afraid of pressing and counterattacking quickly, so we have to play a little more resolutely in the game. ”

In recent years, the Chinese team has played against the Qatar team several times, but they lost to the top 10 matches. Qatar is not a strong team today, and should be the weakest team in the quarterfinals in comparison. In the three group games, they have drawn with Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Japan, giving people the feeling that the weaker team is not stronger, and the team that is stronger than it can use the opponent's psychology to adopt corresponding tactics and induce the opponent to make mistakes. However, the group stage is premised on not losing, and a draw with the opponent is not a bad policy, but after entering the knockout round, it is not, and if you can't win, you will lose.

After the Japanese team, Qatar's Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Haji said: "We are almost running out of bullets in the chamber, how can I play well in the future!" And what's worse is that our opponent is actually the Chinese team! "After three games, the Qatar team is facing a lot of injuries and stretched, with the goalkeeper and two main defenders, a striker all unable to play due to injury, and two players who can be substituted are also injured. This may be a smokescreen released by Haji, but leave it alone.

Looking at the characteristics and playing style of the Qatar team, the individual skills are good, the overall ability is not strong, and the conversion speed of attack and defense is not fast, especially there are not many ways to attack the opponent, so they mostly adopt defensive counterattack tactics, focusing on midfield interception and dense defense. In the face of such an opponent, if the Chinese team cannot play with the momentum it should have, lacks the confidence to dare to invest troops and dare to win, it is very likely to be worn down by the opponent and soaked in overtime or penalty kicks. At that time, it is unpredictable who will die of the deer.

But the Chinese players don't think so.

They just want to swipe their cards quickly and get revenge now......