The reason why the national team chose to train in Kunming is that South Africa, the host country of the South African Confederations Cup, is also located at a high altitude, so it is also a preparation strategy for the national team to train in Kunming in advance and adapt to the high altitude.

After completing the final closed training camp in Kunming, the national team took a special plane to Johannesburg, the capital of South Africa, on the 11th, and the first game of the Chinese team, that is, the opening match of the Confederations Cup, was scheduled to be held at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg at 20 pm Beijing time on the 14th.

Alihan's training squad recruited 31 people, but in fact, only 23 were able to get tickets to South Africa, and eight players missed the trip to the Confederations Cup, basically all of them were young players who played in China.

When the Chinese team arrived at Johannesburg International Airport, in addition to the organizers of the Confederations Cup, the scene was also greeted by enthusiastic South African fans, as well as Chinese and ethnic Chinese working in South Africa.

Especially when they saw Yang Yang carrying a shoulder bag and smiling faces, the atmosphere at the scene was extremely warm.

There were more than 100 pick-up fans chanting his name, as well as media reporters from all over the world, all of whom were chasing Yang Yang and were full of expectations for the Confederations Cup for the world's first person in football.

After seeing the enthusiastic fans and media reporters at the scene, the international players of the national team once again deeply felt Yang Yang's influence in international football, and even South Africa had so many fans come to pick him up, which shows his popularity here.

It's a pity that after a long-distance flight, when he first arrived in South Africa, Yang Yang himself was in good spirits, but the other teammates were very tired, so Yang Yang couldn't stay at the scene longer, so he could only interact with the fans at the scene and leave in a hurry.

But Yang Yang's arrival has undoubtedly added a bit of color to the upcoming Confederations Cup.

However, don't look at the South African fans who are very fond of Yang Yang outside the stadium, but when they really get to the stadium, they will not be polite.

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On the evening of the 14th Beijing time, Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

Both sides played aggressively in the opener, with both teams keen to snatch their first group win from each other.

The game started at a fast pace, but both sides made more mistakes in passing and receiving.

The South African team obviously strengthened the defense of Yang Yang, and at the same time arranged for the high school guard Bute, who is 1.98 meters tall, to freeze Gao Lin, which made it difficult for the Chinese team to open up the situation.

And from the beginning of the game, the South African team used its excellent physical fitness and abundant physical fitness to launch a round of attacks on the Chinese team, led by midfielder Pienal, who plays for Everton, and put pressure on the Chinese team in turn.

However, while South Africa seem to be in the driver's seat, they struggle to create a threat.

The Chinese team has always struggled to find its rhythm after a bad start.

In the end, the first half was a 0-0 draw.

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After the rematch in the second half, the South African fans in the stands beat the African drum full of local characteristics and sang the national anthem to encourage the fans of their national team.

The fans in the stands behind the goal of the South African team are doing everything possible to interfere with the players on the field, especially Yang Yang, every time he gets the ball, the scene will remember the overwhelming boos.

The turf on the scene is also very bad, the potholes are uneven, Yang Yang tried to break through with the ball, but accidentally stepped on the pothole, not only did the breakthrough fail, but almost fell down, lost the ball, which suddenly made the South African fans in the stands very excited, crazy cheers, as if they want to see Yang Yang out of the embarrassment.

This made Yang Yang feel speechless and couldn't stop smiling bitterly.

After the start of the second half, South Africa began to press hard, but unfortunately, the Chinese team today discharged the midfield double back combination of Zhao Junzhe and Zheng Zhi, plus Feng Xiaoting and Li Weifeng sat in the central defender, with Sun Xiang and ** Peng playing two wings, but did not leave the slightest chance for the South African team.

The South African team still relies more on Pinal's organization and passing, and Yang Yang is also very familiar with this former teammate, and gave advice to Zheng Zhi and Zhao Junzhe before the game, so Pinal's performance today was not ideal.

Equally, Pienal must have given the South African defenders a lot of ideas.

One of South Africa's most threatening attacks of the game came in the 73rd minute of the second half, when Pienal's corner was headed over by Maccabi Haifa centre forward Vanteni from close range, but it went just wide.

Although this attack failed to succeed, it still made people break out in a cold sweat.

Subsequently, the Chinese team did not adopt conservative tactics, but decisively replaced Zhao Junzhe with Hao Junmin, strengthening the team's midfield creativity, and Zhou Haibin and Hao Junmin joined forces to create opportunities for the frontcourt.

On the one hand, after the South African team's physical consumption was too large, some of them could not support it, and their running and speed declined, while on the other hand, the sudden strength of the Chinese team forced the South African team to switch from offense to defense.

In the eighty-fourth minute, Hao Junmin and Zhou Haibin cooperated in the middle, and Zhou Haibin passed diagonally over the top to the right.

After Chen Tao inserted at high speed, he forced a one-on-one break through the South African left fullback on the right side of the penalty area, and crossed to the front point before going down to the baseline.

Gao Lin finally grabbed the first drop point, and from a position away from the goal, he flicked the ball with a header and pushed the ball to the back post.

Yang Yang quickly stepped in and headed the ball into the South African goal with a close-range header unguarded.

1 to 0!

When the referee's whistle blew for a valid goal, the entire Ellis Park stadium was in an uproar.

The South African fans at the scene were also stunned for a while, and then burst into warm applause.

The Chinese fans who came to the scene shouted Yang Yang's name loudly, and many people struggled to wave the five-star red flag.

The score remained until the end of the game.

The Chinese team finally defeated South Africa 1-0 with Yang Yang's goal in the 84th minute.

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After winning the first battle and returning to China, public opinion was naturally boiling again.

But three days later, when the Chinese team faced Spain, although the Chinese team adopted a three-back and strict defense strategy, only Yang Yang was left alone in the front court to counterattack, and the rest of the players retreated.

But even so, in the end, it was still unable to compete with the strong Spanish team.

In the 55th minute, Capdevilla's cross from the left was a leak in the Chinese team's defense, Villa ran out of space, and when no one was guarded, he nodded the ball in front of the small penalty area.

Yang Yang showed great tenacity throughout the game, almost assisted Chen Tao in the first half, and after Villa's goal in the second half, Yang Yang planned two counterattacks in a row, one of which directly hit a long shot from 30 meters away, which was saved by Casillas, hit the goal post, and missed a good chance to score.

Spain also played a wave of offensives continuously, but it still couldn't break through the Chinese team's goal again.

In the end, the Chinese team lost the second game of the Confederations Cup 0-1.

Yang Yang is also very familiar with the Spanish players, especially Xavi Alonso and Arbeloa, who were teammates during the Liverpool period, and he is still satisfied with the result.

Although it lost, Spain's strength was there, the Chinese team was able to concede only one goal, the whole game was able to keep the score, and more importantly, even in the final stage of the game, the Chinese team did not give up.

Overall, the team's performance was satisfactory.

The loss to Spain was also expected by the Chinese team, and the key was to play New Zealand in the last game.

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While the Chinese team won 1 and lost 1, South Africa defeated New Zealand 2-0, also with 1 win and 1 loss.

Spain wants to strive for the first place in the group, and the overall strength is far greater than South Africa, the third group stage should not be released, but it may not be a draw, so the Chinese team can only win the right to qualify by defeating New Zealand in the last game.

New Zealand lost 0-5 to Spain in the first game and 0-2 to South Africa in the second game, and have basically been eliminated from the competition.

The final battle was fought more for dignity.

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February 21, Ellis Park Field.

This time, the fans in the stands chose to support New Zealand.

The reason is simple, the two matches between China and New Zealand and Spain against South Africa are played at the same time, and if China loses to New Zealand, then South Africa will have a chance to qualify.

So, whenever New Zealand attacked, there were always thunderous cheers from the scene.

And New Zealand also showed a very high fighting spirit in this game, and even dominated the field in the first half an hour, suppressing the Chinese team.

But when the game reached the twenty-fifth minute, the Chinese team planned an attack, Yang Yang took the ball in the front, suddenly cut in from the left rib, shook off the defenders, formed a three-on-two situation in the middle, and assisted Gao Lin to score a goal.

The score also remained until the end of the first half.

The other game was a 0-0 draw, with South Africa also showing great tenacity.

But after the rematch in the second half, Spain soon got a penalty opportunity, and Villa personally hit it.

The news reached Ellis Park Stadium and immediately silenced the fans at the scene.

I don't know if it was influenced by the fans in the stands, but just a minute later, Yang Yang seized an opportunity to cut inside from the left side again, burst into the penalty area, and scored with a low shot to score another goal for the Chinese team.

By this moment, the game was basically won or lost.

Then Spain scored again in the 70th minute, while the Chinese team scored a direct free kick from Yang Yang in the 81st minute, which penetrated the New Zealand goal again.

In the end, the Chinese team defeated New Zealand 3-0 with Yang Yang's brace and Gao Lin's goal.

On the other side, South Africa lost 0-2 to Spain, and the Chinese team finally qualified from the group as the second in the group and reached the semifinals of the Confederations Cup.

This is also the first time that the Chinese team has participated in the Confederations Cup, and it has ushered in a historic breakthrough in the semi-finals!