Chapter 484: Group Draw
Longguo can obtain the right to host the 2030 World Cup, and Shangdu can obtain the right to host the World Cup, which is directly related to Shen Feng.
Shen Feng, as the first person in Dragon Country football and a world-renowned superstar, has a lot of influence in the football circle.
After Shen Feng left, although the Jianye team has withdrawn from the championship ranks of the Dragon Super League, but because of its insistence on taking the path of youth training, it has always been the youngest and most dynamic team in the Dragon Super League.
The "Triple Crown" of the Dragon Super League, FA Cup, and AFC Champions League that Shen Feng once helped Jianye Team win is still the only "Triple Crown" in Dragon Country Football and even in the entire Asian football so far.
During Shen Feng's tenure in the Jianye team, he also established enough incense with Shangdu and Shangdu fans, and when competing for the right to host the World Cup, of course, he had to speak for Shangcheng.
In order to host the 2030 World Cup, the Shangdu Municipal Government and Jianye Group decided to build a modern large-scale professional football stadium on the outskirts of Shangdu, which has a design capacity of 80,000 people.
With the strong rise of Longguo football and the continuous development of the football industry, the desire of Longguo fans to watch the game is becoming stronger and stronger, and the 30,000 spectator seats in the Nautical Stadium, the home of the Jianye team, have long been unable to meet the needs of fans.
Taking advantage of the opportunity for Longguo to win the right to host the World Cup, the Jianye team, together with the Shangdu Municipal Government, under the guidance of the Longguo Football Association, built a new football stadium, which is also a good thing in one fell swoop.
In order to welcome the arrival of the 2022 World Cup, the Dragon Super League has also made certain adjustments to the schedule of this season, which was originally scheduled to end in early November, and was advanced to early October; The FA Cup final, which was supposed to be played in mid-to-late November, has also been brought forward to October.
The schedule of the AFC Champions League has also been adjusted accordingly.
The purpose, of course, is to allow the international players of the national team to get more time to rest, adjust and prepare.
The World Cup was moved to November, which is half a good and half good for the Dragon team.
The advantage is that when the World Cup opens, the Dragon Super League has ended, and the schedule of the World Cup will not affect the league schedule; The disadvantage is that the players who have just finished a full season are physically and mentally exhausted when the World Cup starts, and they don't know if their form can be guaranteed.
The Dragon Football Association compressed and advanced the schedule of the Dragon Super League, in order to leave more time for the players of the national team to recuperate, hoping that they can devote themselves to the World Cup with a more energetic and full mental state.
Before the official opening of the World Cup, what Dragon Country fans are most concerned about is, of course, the group draw of the Dragon Country team.
The draw for the Qatar 2022 World Cup took place in mid-2022 in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where the World Cup will be held.
The Dragons have performed well in this World Cup cycle, and the FIFA ranking has risen year after year, and now it has stabilized in the top 25, once among the top 20.
Before the World Cup group draw ceremony, the Dragon team was ranked 21st in FIFA, ranking first among Asian teams, as many as 20 places ahead of the second-place Iranian team.
The reason why the ranking is so high is that the winning record with a series of strong teams such as Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and England is the most important reason.
The Dragons are no longer a team to be slaughtered.
In the World Cup group draw ceremony, the Dragons were placed in Pot 3 and eventually placed in Group D with Germany in Pot 1, Chile in Pot 2, and Algeria in Pot 4.
The result of such a group draw is not good or too bad for the Dragon Country team.
Of the four teams in the same group, Germany is undoubtedly the strongest team, Chile, the winner of two consecutive Copa America titles in 2015 and 2016, and Algeria from Africa is the weakest.
The current Dragon Country team, compared with the German team, has a relatively obvious gap in strength, and the probability of defeating the German team in the group stage is not large.
Although, in the last World Cup in Russia, the German team was the defending champion, but in the group stage, it was eliminated, not only losing 0:1 to Mexico, but also 0:2 to South Korea.
However, before the small probability event, there was a lesson from the past, this World Cup, the German team will be much more cautious, and will not take it lightly in the face of the Dragon Country team, which is obviously inferior to itself, and even the Algerian team.
The rigorous and tenacious tactical style of the German team is the type that the current Dragon Nation team is most reluctant to encounter.
Most of the strong teams that the Dragon Team has defeated in recent years are Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the only South American team with such a casual and unrestrained tactical style is the England team.
One of the reasons why England lost to the Dragons in the final of the Confederations Cup was the English-style arrogance they were accustomed to in their bones.
Although before the game, the England team had carefully studied the tactics of the Dragon Country Team and made full preparations for the game, but deep down, they still did not take the Dragon Country Team in their eyes and subconsciously despised the Dragon Country Team.
This will not happen to the German team, which has already been eliminated from the group stage of the World Cup.
Therefore, the situation of the Dragon Team and the German team in this World Cup group stage will be unimaginably difficult.
The Dragons want to continue the glory of the last World Cup to advance to the round of 16, and in the group stage of this World Cup, they should pay special attention to the two games against Chile and Algeria.
The victory of this game is the cornerstone of the Dragon team's promotion to the round of 16, if this game cannot be won, the Dragon team will qualify for the group, it will be reduced to empty talk.
Then, the result of the match against the Chilean team, which is of similar strength, will decide the fate of the Dragon Nation team.
In 2015 and 2016, the Chilean team did achieve brilliant results in team history, and Sanchez and Vidal in the team at that time were also top players with a global reputation.
However, after the group of players got older and withdrew from the Chilean team, the Chilean team did not make up for the young players who were strong enough in time, and the overall strength of the team declined slightly compared to the heyday of previous years.
In the latest FIFA rankings before the group draw ceremony, Chile is in 17th place, not far from the Dragons.