Chapter 34: The Pre-Match Situation
After the warm-up match with the Philippine team, the Dragon Country team did not stay in Yangcheng for long, and the next morning, they took a charter flight to Malaysia.
This is the first time Shen Feng has enjoyed the treatment of a charter flight, and he is very excited, taking photos everywhere and uploading them to his personal scarf.
As the biggest contributor to the 11:1 massacre of the Philippine team by the Dragon Country team last night, Shen Feng ushered in another wave of scarf fans, which increased by tens of thousands overnight, and now the number of his scarf fans has exceeded the 100,000 mark.
As the youngest brother in the Dragon Country team, Shen Feng has won the love of all the big brothers with his self-discipline, hard work, and humble character.
No matter what your identity is in the club, no matter how you fight to the death on the field of Long Chao, in the national team, everyone is teammates and is working hard for a goal.
When Shen Feng was scurrying around and taking photos with others, Lippi, the head coach of the Dragon Country team, was still frowning.
Last night's game, the Dragons won a hearty victory, which boosted morale and boosted people's hearts, and everyone is still full of confidence in the rematch with Syria in a few days.
The forward, who had been criticised for a long period of goal drought, was reassured by the addition of several new players, who showed good form in last night's warm-up game, giving Lippi a little more options.
However, last night's game also exposed some problems for the Dragon Nation team, especially in the defensive line.
Before last night's warm-up game, the Dragon team lost several defenders one after another, the main defender Cai Huikang was absent from the training camp due to injury, and the main defender Zhang Linpeng was also injured, although he was selected for the training list, but did not play in last night's game.
In addition, midfielder Yin Hongbo, who occupies an important position in Lippi's Dragon Country team, and defender Mei Fang are suspended due to accumulated yellow cards and cannot play in the game in a few days.
Just when the Dragon Country team was about to go out, there was bad news, the captain of the Dragon Country team, the defensive core, the spiritual leader, the veteran Zheng Zhi, was injured in training, although the old captain showed a strong desire to fight, but after the communication and negotiation between the team doctor and the coaching staff, for the sake of his body, it was decided to let him stay in China to recuperate.
The opponent of the Dragon Country team a few days later, the Syrian team, although due to the turmoil in the country, the home stadium can only be arranged in the neutral third country Malaysia, but their strength should not be underestimated.
In the World Cup Qualifiers Asian Round of 12, in the previous rounds, the Syrian team drew 0:0 with South Korea, 0:0 with Iran, 1:0 against Uzbekistan, and defeated the Dragon team in the first leg of the first leg with the Dragon team.
At present, the Syrian team has a record of two wins, two draws and three losses in seven games, accumulating 8 points and temporarily ranking fourth in the group, while the Dragon team has only achieved one win, two draws and four losses in the first seven games, accumulating 5 points and ranking behind the Syrian team.
In this group, the current top of the group is the Iranian team, which has won five games and drawn two in the first seven games, and has not tasted defeat, with 17 points, which has basically guaranteed them to directly qualify for the finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The second-ranked South Korean team has four wins, one draw and two losses in the first seven games, accumulating 13 points; The third-ranked Uzbekistan team has four wins and three losses in the first seven games, accumulating 12 points.
If the Dragons want to qualify directly for the World Cup finals in Russia, they need to win all three of their last three games, and South Korea and Uzbekistan cannot win either, which is too difficult.
Now, after all, the real goal of the Dragons is to finish third in the group, play the third play-off with the other group, and then compete with the fourth place in the CONCACAF qualifiers for a ticket to the World Cup finals in Russia.
That's it, it also requires the Dragon Country team to win all the last three games, and at the same time hope that there will be a favorable situation for the Dragon Country team in other games.
All of this, the upcoming match against Syria, is the most important thing, it must be won, there must be no loss.
On June 13, 2017, at 21:45, the match between the Dragons and Syria kicked off at the Malacca City Stadium in Malaysia.
Before this game, the Dragon team received a good news, in the other game of the same group that started early, the Iranian team playing at home defeated the Uzbekistan team 2:0.
In the round of 12 of the Asian region of the World Cup qualifiers, the Iranian team remained unbeaten in the first eight rounds with six wins and two draws, accumulating 20 points, and directly qualified for the Russian World Cup finals two rounds in advance, becoming the first team in Asia to obtain a ticket to the Russian World Cup finals, and also the second team to qualify for the World Cup finals in Russia after Brazil in South America.
The good news for the Dragon Country Team has appeared, and now, only the Dragon Country Team is left to do their part.
An important reason why the match between the Dragons and the Syrian team is scheduled to start at nearly 10 o'clock in the evening is to avoid the high temperature in Malaysia.
It's summer in Malaysia, and the maximum temperature during the day is generally above 40 degrees Celsius, which can be as high as 45 degrees, which is not suitable for fierce competitive competitions in such a hot weather environment.
Fortunately, after nightfall, the temperature will drop a little as the sea breeze blows, but it will also stay above 30 degrees.
In addition to injuries, the hot weather in Malaysia is another trouble for the Dragon Country team in this game.
In order to adapt to the climatic conditions during the competition, the Dragon Country team chose the pre-game training location in Yangcheng, and then came to Malaysia several days in advance for adaptive training.
After these days of adjustment, the players of the Dragon Nation team have basically adapted to the sauna weather in Malaysia and will not affect the normal game.
Fortunately, on the afternoon of the day of the game, it rained in Malacca, Malaysia, although the rain was not very heavy and did not last long, but it had a direct impact on the cooling, and before the game started, the temperature in the stadium dropped to below 30 degrees, which was more suitable for the game.
This much-anticipated game has received strong support from the media of Longguo, not only the national TV sports channel of Longguo, which broadcasts it live, but also many online media such as LeTV Sports, Sina Sports, and Tencent Sports have also broadcast live videos.
The National Television Sports Channel not only paid attention to the game in the studio in Beijing, but also sent a full-time commentator to the game site in Malaysia to explain the game on the spot.