July 1, the capital.

Horton himself sat in the parade's first convertible, with the scarf he wore around his arm, and the Chinese fans screamed and waved in greeting as Horton waved the Chinese flag to the welcoming crowd.

All the Chinese players, including the new captain Zheng Zhi and the old captain Zheng Zhi, also appeared in the cars that followed, and the fans kept chanting Horton and each player's name.

After the Chinese team eliminated Turkey, Costa Rica, Japan, Senegal and other teams became the first Asian team to reach the top four of the World Cup, the players of the Chinese team became national heroes, and Houghton is undoubtedly the most popular foreigner in Chinese history.

The president of the Football Association put a wreath on Horton. Subsequently, during the procession to the General Assembly Hall, people scattered colorful confetti from various high-rise buildings on the street from time to time, and after arriving at the Great Hall, the bigwig conferred the title of Honorary Citizen of China on Houghton.

The Chinese soldiers were also commended one by one. In the field of football, football has never been received and recognized with such grandeur.

Even Zheng Zhi was very excited, he really didn't expect that one day he would stand in the Great Hall to accept the award and shake hands with the bigwigs, and the notorious Chinese football will also turn over one day......

After the commendation meeting, it was a celebration banquet.

Everything is filled with endless joy.

However, after attending the celebration banquet, Horton then held a press conference at the hotel where he was staying, announcing his resignation as head coach of the Chinese national team.

This is undoubtedly a terrifying depth charge.

"I would like to thank the Chinese Football Association for giving me the opportunity to coach in China, and thank everyone who has always been there for me to support me, whether I win or lose. I would like to thank the Chinese players who have fought for this national team from the beginning to the end and have achieved unparalleled results. ”

"I would also like to say thank you to all the Chinese fans who have always supported me and believed in me and the team. Without their support, it would be impossible for the Chinese team to achieve past results, win the Asian Games, the Olympic Games, the Asian Cup, participate in the World Cup, and achieve the third place. I really enjoyed working in China, so the moment of parting is always sad. I hope to be a gentleman, a man born for football, and an image who always does his best for the team, and remain in the hearts of the fans and the team. ”

"I hope everyone understands my decision because I have to return to Europe for family reasons. Of course, I am always ready to come back and help China in any way if needed in the future. At the same time, I will always be a fan of the Chinese team and always support this great team. ”

'I haven't decided which team I'm going to coach yet, and several teams have asked me about my intentions before the World Cup, so it's mainly in talks with those clubs right now. There are a couple of other clubs interested in me and I'll be back in England next week. ”

"My next challenge is to coach a European team, and I want to be able to spend every day on the pitch, but I am also willing to continue to keep in touch with China and contribute to the development of Chinese football."

The Chinese national team will be reorganized for the 2004 Olympics and the 2006 World Cup, and Horton said he would like to become a technical advisor to the Chinese national team or youth team. "I am discussing with the Chinese Football Association how to continue our relationship, and my experience of coaching the Chinese team has been very valuable to me," he said. I don't want to be in the office, I want to spend every day in the stadium and that's why I chose a European club team as my next target. ”

The Chinese Football Association now has to face the reality that it will lose Horton.

During his four years in charge of the Chinese team, Houghton led the Chinese team to the Asian Games, Olympic titles, Asian Cup titles, Confederations Cup titles and World Cup third places, and is arguably one of the most successful head coaches in the world.

You must know that the Chinese team he coached had never won any championship or played the World Cup before this, but after he coached, the Chinese team changed from the original first-class team in Asia to a world-class team.

As the "Sports Weekly" commented on the front page headline - in the late 90s, early 20th century, the best Chinese team met the best Holden and got the best results. Horton and the Chinese team are the best marriage.

"Football News" said - undoubtedly, Horton is the godfather of Chinese football, and he has brought the Chinese team to unprecedented heights, which will put unimaginable pressure on those who come after him. When Horton left, he left as the coach of the third place in the World Cup, which means that the goal of the next coach is at least the third place?

New Wolf Sports called and interviewed the players of the Chinese national team one by one at the first time.

The injured Fan Zhiyi gave Horton the highest rating, with the Liverpool centre-back saying: "He's one of the best managers I've ever had, and like Houllier, they're the best in the field. It's an honor to play for him for four years. I wish him even greater success in the future, and we will never forget him! Goodbye, Bobby! ”

Arsenal right-back Sun Jihai also sent his blessings: "Thank you coach, thank you for your trust, I hope you are all well in the future!" ”

Arsenal's main goalkeeper Occhulian said: "This is just the beginning for you because you have proven yourself and your future will be better! In the UK, I will visit him often, and this is indeed not the end, our journey has only just begun. ”

The young Qu Peng said: "I thought he would continue to coach, playing under him, I feel that I have improved a lot, thank you for taking me to the World Cup, I will be grateful to Dade for the rest of my life!" ”

Sun Xiang seemed to have cried on the other end of the phone: "The moment I heard the news, I felt empty in my heart, like losing a beloved relative." I don't know how to describe the feeling, but he helped me like my father. ”

Almost every Chinese player sent their blessings to Horton.

Of course, Zheng Zhi will not be missing.

Zheng Zhi, the young captain of the Chinese national team, actually has the deepest feelings:

"When football closed its doors to me, he was the only one who gave me the opportunity to enjoy this beautiful sport again. I will be forever grateful to him! ”

"Of course, not only I have to thank him, but Chinese football has to thank him, and the fans have to thank him! He has brought supreme glory to Chinese football. ”

"No amount of words can express my admiration and gratitude to him, I wish Bobby can achieve better results in the future, and Chinese football will continue to uphold his spirit and continue to achieve excellent results in world football!"

……

Horton just left quietly, without saying goodbye to the player in person.

After all

Parting is always sad, as simple as it can be......

And Houghton has not only been successful in China, but also won the UEFA European Coach of the Year poll to top the list.

The 55-year-old received 1,529 of the 4,000 required votes in UEFA's official website vote, 11 ahead of the Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who led South Korea. However, the German coach Worrall, who led the German team to a runner-up finish in the World Cup, received only 310 votes in the selection.

Spain coach Camacho came in fourth place with 229 votes. Senegal's head coach France's Mezou and England's Swedish head coach Christian Eriksen finished fifth and sixth with 179 and 156 votes respectively.

In addition, Frenchman Troussier, who led Japan to the last 16 at the World Cup, received 16 votes, while Ireland coach McCarthy did not receive a single vote.

And the Chinese Football Association has to start choosing a new manager, but want to find a matching head coach? It's not that easy, it may take months to decide, right?

※※※※

On the 2nd, Zheng Zhi returned to his home in Shenyang to start a vacation. There is not much time for vacation, that is, ten or so days, away from football, just want to quietly enjoy the rest of the time.

And international football is starting to rise again. Inter Milan's Ronaldo has become the biggest prey of La Liga giants Real Madrid.

The previous rumors were definitely not groundless, Real Madrid had been fond of Ronaldo for a long time, but the World Cup had been going on at the time of the news report.

Previously, according to the Italian "Milan Sports Newspaper", Ronaldo's teammate in the Brazilian national team, Robert Carlos, who plays for Real Madrid, had asked Real Madrid club president Florentino to sign Ronaldo. Carlos told Sport: "Real Madrid have always liked to buy the best players in the world and Ronaldo is one of them. ”

Meanwhile, Ronaldo's newspaper was quoted by Spain's newspaper AS as saying: "Robert Carlos always likes to talk a lot about how Real Madrid is. But for me, I belong to Inter Milan and if Real Madrid really want me, then they can get in touch with the club and the two sides can negotiate. ”

During the World Cup, Real Madrid has been keeping an eye on Ronaldo, Real Madrid's commercial department predicts that the image rights of aliens will rise, and the technical department has carefully studied Ronaldo's nine goals and concluded that Ronaldo is too important for Real Madrid and his skills should belong to this club.

Coincidentally, Ronaldo said in front of everyone at the celebration banquet on his last day in Tokyo: "If Real Madrid likes me, call me, I believe that I will get more honours there, just like Carlos." ”

Ronaldo was genuine when he said this, and it looked like he was quite eager to join Real Madrid.

For now, the person who can buy Ronaldo must need a sky-high price, so the only team that can participate in the purchase of Ronaldo is a giant like Real Madrid, although Real Madrid president Florentino did not speak on the yacht in Mallorca, Spain, but perhaps the chairman is thinking about a specific purchase plan in his mind.

However, Ronaldo's agent Martins said in an interview with Italy's Ansa news agency: "This news is fake, Ronaldo will soon return to Milan and work hard for Inter Milan to continue to win titles next season." ”

It looks like the news has also dashed the rumours that Ronaldo could move to Real Madrid.

National Milan president Moratti also said in an interview with Milan Sport: "Ronaldo will not go, the probability that he will stay is not 100%, but 101%. Sell him? No way! Unless I lose my mind, I'm not going to do anything stupid. I don't think I need any reason to explain this, it couldn't be clearer. He will continue to shine in Italy next season. ”

In fact, Inter Milan has prepared a new contract of 11 million euros, and plans to renew it until 2007.

Ronaldo, who is on vacation in Brazil, also came out to refute the rumors, and he semi-jokingly said in an interview with Brazil's "Globo Sports": "I really yearn for the cool and pleasant Bomio (located in the north of Milan, a small town in the foothills of the Alps, where Inter Milan FC has started preparations for next season). I'm going to take a leave of absence, but I'll be very happy to be back in China and defend the Nerazzurri next season with my team-mates. ”

Shenyang, 12 midnight capital time.

Zheng Zhi's Nokia phone at the bedside rang suddenly.

Calls at this point are rare, and they are nothing more than international calls.

Zheng Zhi answered the phone in a daze, and a mouthful of Portuguese quickly got into his ears.

Ronaldo probably didn't know that China and Brazil had a time difference, so he didn't notice the time of the call.

"Man,"

"I might have to say goodbye to you."

As soon as Ronaldo opened his mouth, he made sure he was calling.

"Huh? Say goodbye? Zheng Zhi rubbed his eyes, not very happy, just followed the question and asked.

"If nothing else, I might be going to Real Madrid. I want to get back to La Liga! ”

"Oh,"

"Is that all?" Hearing this, Zheng Zhi came to his senses, and he was not as excited as Ronaldo imagined, which made Ronaldo feel very weird.

"Hey, man, you're not reacting right, shouldn't you be scolding or something? Ah, I'm going to Real Madrid. Ronaldo really suspected that it was not Zheng Zhi who answered the phone on the other side of his phone, but someone else, and he thought about it for a long time before deciding to dial the phone.

"Then should I scold you? Football is just a profession, since you chose to go to Real Madrid, it means that you have thought clearly, does it matter what I say? It doesn't matter at all, so all I have to do is congratulate you and wish you a great career at Real Madrid! ”

"Thank you, buddy."

On the other end of the phone, Ronaldo breathed a sigh of relief.

And Zheng Zhi's thoughts at this time?

Is Ronaldo's move to Real Madrid after the World Cup news for him? Since Ronaldo is unwilling to stay and continue to fight for the honor of three consecutive championships, it can't keep him, everyone has their own choice......