Chapter 1 The Opening Ceremony of the World Cup

08 The first wave of big giveaways, the sixth volume is all lifted, so that everyone can enjoy HIGH at one time!

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"The Chinese team is quite strong in midfield now, and we are very surprised to find that the performance of several overseas youngsters can be so good!" At the Golden State Stadium, Liu Jianhong's voice was transmitted to fans all over China through radio waves: "Being able to have an excellent performance in the European Champions Cup and at the same time be able to integrate into the new national team so quickly, Maradona's coaching ability is obvious to all!" ”

At this time, Lao Ma replaced the young player Yue Lingxiang and replaced it with another young player Liu Dong, and after the two high-fived and encouraged on the sidelines, the former was gently patted on the shoulder by Maradona, who had a satisfied smile on his face, to show his appreciation.

It was now fifteen minutes of the second half, and the match was China against the Czech Republic, and the score was 2:2.

Ling Feng, who wore the No. 10 jersey, continued to stay on the field to command, and the current warm-up game was not a bottom-up game for the players, but a drill and run-in for the entire Chinese national team lineup.

After Ling Feng arrived at the training base in Dalian Jinzhou for the last time, a total of 22 members of the new Chinese national team arrived, because before Ling Feng came back, Maradona had already determined the remaining 21 people - Ling Feng naturally has to be given preferential treatment, and no one in the national team can exclude him!

In the first World Cup in which the Chinese team participated, the 22-member squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Ou Chuliang, Jiang Jin, Fu Bin.

Defenders: Sun Jihai, Fan Zhiyi, Zhang Enhua, Wu Chengying, Xu Yunlong, Zhu Yin.

Midfielders: Ling Feng, Zhao Junzhe, Li Tie, Yue Lingxiang, Liu Dong, Zhang Xiaorui, Sui Dongliang, Li Ming.

Forwards: Hao Haidong, Yang Chen, Li Jinyu, Su Maozhen, Qu Shengqing.

Among them, defender Zhu Yin, midfielder Yue Lingxiang, and Liu Dong have never participated in the national team competition.

But in the following warm-up game, the performance of several people made everyone who had an opinion shut up.

In the two warm-up matches that have been played, the Chinese team defeated Canada 3:0 and Slovenia 2:1, and now it is the last game, facing the strongest opponent in the warm-up match - the Czech Republic.

The score didn't have much significance for such a warm-up game, because this was the run-in training of the whole team, and there was no limit to the number of substitutions, so in the first two games, except for Ling Feng, who had insisted on playing the whole game, all the other players took turns to play.

Ling Feng was left on the field because Ling Feng was the absolute core, no matter which lineup it was, Ling Feng would always stay on the field and be responsible for the overall scheduling.

In such a game, there will be no anger, and the two sides will play more like an exhibition game.

The Czech Republic was the runner-up in the Euro 96 Championship - unfortunately it was changed by the old ice, only reached the semi-finals, and was eliminated by France - the Czech team is 27th in the latest FIFA rankings, mainly due to the abnormal performance in the World Cup qualifiers that led to a decline in the rankings, otherwise, with the current Czech team with Nedved and Poposky, it is at least the top 20 teams in the world.

Since the Czech style is very similar to that of Germany, the Chinese team chose him as an imaginary opponent, mainly to familiarize the other players with the strong body and terrifying impact of the Europeans.

Winning Germany and competing for the top spot in the group is the goal of the Chinese team, because if they are the first in the group, then they can go further, and if they are second in the group, they will encounter strong opponents one after another.

It's really not easy to invite the Czech gang, one by one they were going to go on vacation, but the Chinese Football Association threw a lot of money here, and Ling Feng called Nedved again in the hope that they could stay and play this game, so they barely managed to get together the main lineup of the Czech Republic.

However, for the Chinese team, especially for many players who did not have the opportunity to play against European teams, the significance of this game is quite significant, and Maradona has seen many weaknesses of the Chinese team.

In the end, the two teams shook hands at 3:3, and Ling Feng's 30-minute long-range shot and Poposky's last-minute free kick made the two teams give a satisfactory answer to the fans.

Especially the performance of several newcomers, Yue Lingxiang and Liu Dong aside, the two of them played more than one Champions Cup game on behalf of Fiorentina, so fans are familiar with both of them, and there are not too many doubts - after all, even giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona have thrown olive branches to hope to introduce players, and the strength will definitely not be bad.

But the young player Zhu Yin, who was not even very familiar with Ling Feng, gave the fans too much joy during the game.

The Chinese team has not had a strong left-back, and Sun Jihai on the right has become an unshakable main force on the right after continuous major training, but on the left side, it is difficult for the Chinese team to find a player who is both offensive and defensive.

The 17-year-old Zhu Yin stood out and made the fans shine.

Zhu Yin is a Sichuan player, and one of the first batch of overseas students unearthed in the U15 league, he is not fast, but he has a strong sense of defense, can judge the opponent's feet in time, and is also quite strong physically, and more importantly, he has outstanding vision - in the first game with Canada, it was Zhu Yin's long pass with a big foot that broke the ball on the left side, which was directly given to Hao Haidong in front, making the latter score the second goal.

There are already people shouting that China has also produced a Fachetti, Tabrini, and Maldini......

Although the age of 17 is a little younger, it is expected that his performance should be a highlight of the Chinese team in the World Cup - besides, he is not the only one who is young, Ling Feng has not yet turned 18 years old!

However, a few families are worried, the squad of 22 people is limited after all, and some players who have performed well on the field, such as Zhang Yuning, Yu Genwei, Ma Mingyu, etc., have not entered the national team, which has to make fans sigh greatly, and also caused some media to question.

Therefore, the three games of the warm-up match seem to have unimportant results, but they have become the moment of old Ma Liwei.

With two wins and one draw, even if it is put into the World Cup, it will also be the first in the group.

At this time, let's turn our attention to foreign countries, before the start of the World Cup, there must be a turmoil.

First of all, Uncle Bailey's old crow was very unkind to stand up and point out again, this time he was optimistic about Italy, England and China......

Ling Feng trembled with anger, he knew that he would directly suffocate this black crow in that box when he was filming a movie!

Leaving aside the reactions of the Italian and England fans, both teams have had considerable problems with the arrangement of their line-ups.

Piero was injured, Baggio wore the No. 10 shirt again, Vieri and Inzaghi also entered the old Maldini squad as they wished, and most of the Italian players were selected, and there was no controversy, it depends on how the old Maldini is arranged in the lineup.

But what happened in England was not ordinary.

England manager Childe Hoddle announced a 22-man squad, and there was no Gaskein's name!

The controversial star finally failed to play in his last World Cup.

In the Italian summer of 90, Gasquein's tears touched all the fans too much, but eight years later, the former golden boy state has declined sharply, and a series of scandals of drug abuse and homosexuality surround him.

There is widespread skepticism in the media about England's midfield today, as Paul Scholes is nowhere near as good as Gaskein at his peak, while McManaman and David Beckham, who are now in the limelight, have been put on the bench by the conservative Hoddle for most of the qualifying round.

Neither Southgate nor David•Barty have received too high praise in the media comments, and with Uncle Pele's prediction, it is really not an optimistic situation for England to go in this year's World Cup.

After making a phone call to comfort Gaskein, who was crying over there, Ling Feng sighed, he also knew that a few words of comfort really didn't help, but what could he do?!

Argentina's lineup has also surfaced, and unsurprisingly, Caniggia, the son of the wind, and Prince Redondo have been selected from Passarella's squad, although there is still controversy among reporters, but since the World Cup qualifiers, the relationship between several people and Passarella has been very stiff, and now it is expected.

The most surprising thing is Romario!

A generation of superstars missed the World Cup, Zagallo said that Romario's injury made him unable to participate in the World Cup, but Ling Feng knew that it was Romario's personality that prevented him from participating in the World Cup - he was a player that Zagallo could not control.

Four years ago, Brazil would not have been able to qualify for the World Cup without Romario, but the addition of the lone wolf allowed Brazil to lift the Gold Cup for the fourth time, but four years later, Brazil did not need him.

Otherwise, in the Copa America in 97, people have seen Ronaldo and Romario, the most terrifying pair of strikers in the world today - even Fiorentina's Baggio and Batty's "double Ba combination" is much inferior to the "Rollo combination" - the aliens are now in full swing, plus the strength of the Brazilian team on the side and another terrifying Romario, no one wants to compete with them for the championship.

Looking at Germany, due to Effenberg's stubbornness, Vogts had no way to recruit him to the national team - in fact, Vogts did not like the German tiger in his heart - the 22-year-old Ballack was selected for the German squad, while Deisler, who was the same age as Ling Feng, was unable to fly to France.

As for the French mainland, Jacques's 22-man squad was released, and as expected, Anelka, Henry, and Trezeguet, who performed well in the league, were all selected - Anelka got the No. 9 jersey, and he replaced Givásh, who played for Auxerre, - this is also the effect of Ling Feng's butterfly influence, and France's generation of geeks finally realized their dream of the World Cup.

Neither the Netherlands nor Spain have changed much, the superstars have basically made it to the national team, and now everyone is waiting for that moment, June 10, 1998, the quadrennial World Cup finally kicked off!

The night before, Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras, the three tenors sang under the Eiffel Tower to give a premonition of the ingenuity of the French, and the next day, the opening ceremony of the World Cup made people shine!

The romantic Frenchman designed the opening ceremony, in which a clown hoisting in the air led five huge soccer balls into the air, and after the balls exploded, balloons flew all over the sky.

Hundreds of models walked into the arena under the music of Shu San, surrounded by more than one actor in clown costumes in front of them, showing the uninhibited and romantic nature of the French.

The atmosphere of the opening ceremony reached a climax with "Do You Care When I Play Football" by two singers - both singers are famous French singers, but their names are forgotten.

After the opening ceremony, the match between the defending champions Brazil and Scotland officially kicked off the 16th World Cup.

Since their game was still a few days away, Ling Feng and others were fortunate to sit in the stands of the Stade de France and watch the first game of this year's World Cup live.

In the opening five minutes, the veteran Bebeto's corner kick was slammed into the goal by the shoulder of the No. 5 midfielder Sampaio, and the Brazilian team took the lead from the start.

Brazil also had the lead on the field, but the Scots also played quite tenaciously, and in the 38th minute of the first half, the hard-working Scots finally got a penalty opportunity to equalize the score.

"It seems that the Brazilian team is not as strong as the legend says!" Several Chinese youngsters muttered at this time, and now it seems that the aggressiveness shown by the Brazilian team may not be as strong as Barcelona's attack in the Champions Cup?

It's true that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers...... Ling Feng and Lao Ma slapped themselves on the head, now is the group stage, the Brazilian team is not strong in the group, who is idle and has nothing to do in the first game, go all out!

In the second half, the Brazilian team finally forced the opposing defender to block the ball into their own door with their hands with a shot from right-back Cafu in front of the goal, and relied on the own goal sent by the opponent to get off to a good start.

In the next few days, Italy surprised fans with a 2-2 draw with Chile in the group stage, France and Denmark both won smoothly against their respective opponents, Nigeria beat Spain 3-2 to become the focus of the game, and then the Netherlands were held to a 0-0 draw by Belgium to finally reach Group F.

On June 13, Germany won 2-0 against the United States to take the initiative in the group.

At 2 a.m. Beijing time on June 14, France's Goffrey•Stade Gishar – the stadium where the Anglo-Argentine battle of the century would later be played – ushered in the first World Cup match in the history of the Chinese team.

China VS Yugoslavia!