The major European leagues came to an end in early May, and then the Champions League final ended with Manchester United winning the cup for the third time in history, and soon into June, the smoke of the league has not completely dissipated, and the major sports news media are scrambling to collect all kinds of transfer rumors, and the major giants in European football have made great moves to compete fiercely for human resources outside the field.

From June 14th to July 15th, the 2018 World Cup will kick off in Russia, and the eyes of fans around the world will turn to the national teams of the participating countries!

Wonderful leagues, Champions League, and high-level World Cup competitions are coming one after another, intertwined with each other in the summer of 2018, which made the world blood boil.

It's really like you singing and I appearing on the stage, making the fans cheer.

On November 9 last year, FIFA and Adidas jointly released the official match ball "Telstar_18" for this tournament.

The match ball maintains the traditional football look, the ball is in classic black and white, the dark trapezoidal decoration is composed of mosaic patterns, and the text is used in gold, similar in appearance to the official match ball of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico - "Telstar", while the match ball adopts modern technology and technology, including the implantation of NFC chips, which is the first time that NFC chips have been implanted in World Cup balls, with the aim of allowing fans to connect to the match ball through their smartphones.

At that time, Dai Zhiwei also attended the launch ceremony as a representative with current players or football celebrities such as Messi, Zidane, Kaka, and Piero.

On May 28, when Dai Zhiwei was still celebrating with his teammates to win the triple crown, the Chinese men's national football team had already met at the Capital International Airport and started their second World Cup journey in history ahead of schedule.

For this Chinese team, there are not too many requirements in China, that is, the style and level of the game.

But Dai Zhiwei heard from Zheng Zhi about the verbal request of the leaders of the Football Association - to score at least one goal and strive to get a point.

This requirement is not high, but it is not low, because in this World Cup in Russia, the grouping of the Chinese team is not too ideal.

To be honest, this time the luck of the Chinese team was indeed a little worse, the draw first drew a group of death, and Germany, Sweden, Mexico in a group, every opponent is not a good stubble, and it is not a new thing to lose all three games.

But the head coach of the Chinese team, Lippi, still shouted: "Our goal is to enter the round of 16 of the World Cup!" ”

The goal is good, but whether it can be achieved depends on whether the Chinese team can play its own or even exceed its own level.

Analyze the opponents of the Chinese team in the same group.

Mexico.

Finishing first in the group of the World Preliminary Tournament two rounds ahead of schedule gave Mexico a little respite. Their head coach, Osorio, has to be said to be a "football madman" and his tactics are very "rebellious". Obsessed with wide tactics, he even recruited seven wingers in his squad at one point. And he also has very strict requirements for defenders, without 1.8 meters can not be selected. The crazy tactics gave them a little bit of sweetness, and the early qualification is the best explanation.

Mexico has also suffered a lot in international competitions, losing 0:7 to Chile in the Copa America, 1:4 by Germany in the Confederations Cup, losing to Jamaica 1:0 in the semifinals of the US Cup, and losing to Denmark in the warm-up matches......

Although there are many outstanding players in the team, such as Hernandez, who has already played in Manchester United and Real Madrid, and Ochoa, the six-fingered goalkeeper who drew 0:0 with Brazil in the 14 World Cup, or Lozano, a rising star of the post-95 generation who scored 4 goals in 9 games in the world preliminaries, and so on. But it is undeniable that most of these players have dimmed their light.

Everything is unknown, and perhaps only in the race will we know how far this Mexico can go.

Sweden.

With Johansson's goal in the first leg, Sweden had a thrilling victory over Italy with a score of 1-0 over two legs to enter the knockout round.

In addition to Buffon's tears after the game, everyone should remember the iron-blooded defender of the Swedish team - Glenqvist. At the end of November 2017, he finally broke the monopoly of "God" Zlatanib and won the Swedish Footballer of the Year. Glenqvist took over the captaincy after Ibrahimovic officially announced his retirement from the national team, and as the captain and the core of the defence, he worked hard in the team, leading the team to all 12 games in the World Preliminary Tournament and scoring three goals, it can be said that he deserved to be awarded the Swedish Footballer of the Year!

All of Sweden's 23-man squad play in overseas leagues, without exception. On the whole, the prospects of the Swedish team to qualify are relatively optimistic. In the first game, the Chinese team set a correct mentality and did a good job of scoring all 3 points. Against Mexico, pay attention to the opponent's wide break and strengthen the defense. Against Germany, you have to think about how to counterattack in defense. After all, every opponent has a lot of experience in the World Cup, and you can't take it lightly.

Germany.

If happiness has troubles, it must be the German team. The luxurious midfield line-up of the German team also made it more difficult for coach Loew to choose. Reuss, who is in good shape but prone to injury, Wagner, who has a strong ability to grab points, teenager Selke, winger Leroy Sane, Liverpool's Emre Can, etc.

In the end, Loew chose Werner, Reuss and Rudy. This news came as a shock to many. Leroy Sane has been playing very well for Manchester City this season, and he has a strong ability to break through the wings to help Manchester City win the Premier League this season. And Gotze's super substitute role is needless to say.

As the defending champions, the Germans' outstanding record in the World Preliminary Tournament also expressed their determination to defend their title. With 10 wins, they have scored 42 goals and conceded just four. However, Germany's captain goalkeeper Manuel Neuer suffered a fracture at the end of 17 years, but fortunately, the stable performance of "Little Lion" Ter Stegen withstood the test and made him a goalkeeper on a par with Neuer.

The Germans, who advocate positional warfare and all-out attacking tactics, will take every game seriously in this World Cup with the determination to defend their title. Currently ranked No. 1 in the FIFA world rankings, there is no pressure on them to face the other three opponents in the group stage.

As for the weakest Chinese team in this group, apart from Dai Zhiwei and Lippi, there are no news highlights worth reporting in the eyes of foreign football media.

This time, the Chinese team has 30 players in Russia, and Lippi is still unsure of the final 23-man squad.

In the 30-man squad, Lippi once coached Evergrande has 8 people, which is the most selected among the Chinese Super League teams, but Lippi doesn't care, and he doesn't shy away from relatives, he thinks it's reasonable.

Although Lippi said that everyone had an equal chance and that no one had been booked a ticket to Austria and Switzerland, it was clear that some of the new players were under more pressure.

Except for Dai Zhiwei and several other main players of the iron fight, other players will face more direct competition.

The momentum of the competition has already been generated, and Zhang Xizhe said on his arrival in Russia: "I will do my best to prove myself, and I want to make the coach feel that it is very difficult to remove me from the list. ”

It is worth mentioning that the Chinese team is the earliest team to prepare for the top 32 of the World Cup, as early as a month ago, the 50 first international players recruited by Lippi began a week-long military training.

After military training, Lippi first reduced the 50-man squad to 40 men, and then after half a month of closed training, the roster was reduced to 30 people.

On June 2, as the last reported international player of the Chinese team, Dai Zhiwei finally arrived in Nizhny Novgorod to join the team.

Nizhny Novgorod, a city along the Volga River with a population of more than 1.2 million, is the fifth-largest city in Russia and is even more famous by its other name for Chinese. Before October 22, 1992, Nizhny Novgorod was known as the city of Gorky.

The Haiyan is almost unknown in Chinese middle school textbooks, and the fast train from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod is also named "Haiyan". "Childhood", "In the World", and "My University", these trilogies of Gorky are must-read literary works for Chinese students. In honor of the writer who was born here, on October 7, 1932, Nizhny Novgorod was renamed the city of Gorky.

In fact, in addition to the name "Gorky", there is another name that is also familiar to Chinese, that is, "Gaz car", also in 1932, when the largest automobile manufacturer in the Soviet Union, "Gorky Automobile Plant", was put into production.

The Chinese team also hopes that they can break through in the death group like a petrel in a storm!

On June 7, the Chinese team will play a friendly match against the Italian team after Dai Zhiwei's return, when Lippi will announce the final 23-man squad. Lippi said: "Whoever the last three are, it's not because they don't have the quality to be in the national team, it's just a decision at the moment. ”

In the following warm-up matches before the World Cup, the Chinese team's results were very average, with a 0:0 draw with the Swiss team, a 1:1 draw with the intellectual team, and a 0:1 defeat to the Italian team.

However, it is clear that Lippi has a player set-up at the experimental site, and the formation is also repeated between 4-3-3, 4-4-2 and 4-5-1.

After Dai Zhiwei missed the first warm-up game, the next two warm-up games only combined for 87 minutes, but he scored one goal, and it is clear that he has maintained his form well after the Champions League final.

He can also clearly feel the attitude of his teammates in the national team, whether in the warm-up game or in training, in order to be able to be among the 23-man squad for the World Cup and appear in the World Cup, every player is working hard!

This kind of attitude, Dai Zhiwei really rarely feels in the national team, and he can also see the appeal of the World Cup to Chinese players, and the desire of Chinese team players for the World Cup.

Of course, maybe it has something to do with the boasted week-long military training - who knows?

Before FIFA stipulated that each national team submit the final list, Lippi finally announced the 23-member squad of the Chinese team that will participate in this World Cup-

Goalkeepers: Zeng Cheng, Yan Junling, Wang Dalei

Defenders: Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng, Shi Ke, Gao Zhunyi, Liu Yang, Liu Yiming, Zhang Chengdong, Li Xuepeng

Midfielders: Yu Hanchao, Zheng Zhi, Hao Junmin, Chi Zhongguo, He Chao, Wu Xi, Jin Jindao

Forwards: Dai Zhiwei, Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning, Gao Lin, Yu Dabao

The national team is rated at 27.97 years old, ranking 17th among the 32 teams in the competition, but it is only less than 7 months younger than the "oldest" Argentina, which is considered an age structure with more experience and physical fitness. The oldest in the team is undoubtedly the old captain Zheng Zhi, and the youngest is Zhang Yuning, who is likely to not be able to play for a minute.

Veteran coach Lippi explained the fresh 23-man squad: "I want to make it clear that some of the players who were not selected for this list are still in my plans. We will continue to monitor your form closely so that we can play at full strength in the Asian Cup in January next year. ”

Lippi deliberately reassured several undrafted players: "The loss of Zhao Xuyang is a big loss for us, I have coached him before, I have watched him play this season, he is a very good midfielder, I am very impressed, I just asked the team doctor last Friday about his condition after recovering from injury, but unfortunately he is not qualified to play for China in the World Cup." ”

"And Zhang Xizhe's defeat is also regrettable, but we will have to focus our recent efforts on the 23 people who have been selected for this list."

As for the much-talked-about captaincy issue, Lippi did not choose to postpone it again, and at the press conference, Lippi officially announced that Dai Zhiwei would be the captain of the national team.

Silver Fox said at a press conference, "Dai has a strong personality, which is why I chose him. But Zheng is also very important to the team, and I chose him as vice-captain. ”

Dai Zhiwei's election is somewhat unexpected, but as the business card of current Chinese football, he is more able to communicate with the referees on the field and better perform the duties of the captain.

Dai Zhiwei was also a little surprised by Lippi's appointment as the captain of the national team, but he also gladly accepted it, although he was young in this Chinese team, his qualifications were absolutely enough, and whether it was from the prestige of the team, personal honors, or even foreign language communication skills, there was no one else except him.

Although this is his first time participating in the World Cup, he has already participated in the finals of the Champions League, Europa League and FA Cup, when the world's top clubs have played against each other, and the other people who have crushed the Chinese team in the tournament experience can be regarded as people who have seen the world.

Although Zheng Zhi is good in Asia, Lippi is worried that he will not be able to do it in the World Cup, so he will promote Dai Zhiwei as the captain.

Before determining the captain's choice, Lippi also made a special call to ask Mourinho's advice, and Mourinho did not hold back, bluntly saying that if Dai Zhiwei had come to Manchester United two years earlier, he would be the second captain of the team after Valencia next season, and he had all the qualities to become a great captain.

And Mourinho's answer also reassured Lippi's final decision.

The Chinese team, which participated in the World Cup for the second time, under the leadership of the silver fox Lippi and the new captain Dai Zhiwei, what will happen is unpredictable and exciting!

(End of chapter)