The match between the Chinese team and Germany was originally not suspenseful, but it attracted the attention of the whole Asia because of the objective situation. However, the media focus on different angles. For example, the Japanese media, their focus is on whether Wen Zhihao can continue to perform against the sky when he faces Neuer, Hummels and other stars again after the Champions League final.

Iran, Australia, including South Korean media, and more Asian media are ill-intentioned, waiting to see the jokes of the Chinese team. On the website of NAVAR, a well-known sports portal in South Korea, many South Korean fans left messages saying that they would "sit back and wait for the Chinese team to lose miserably" and "China will lose at least three goals".

In the past, the level of the Chinese team was low, and Chinese fans could only swallow their anger at the ridicule of Koreans, but now everyone is confident and disdainful of such remarks.

The madness of the weak is powerless. Especially on this day, Koreans who eat kimchi for three meals a day and have sour water in their mouths, Chinese fans are accustomed to their unique sour grape mentality. It's just that now that everyone has a different vision, naturally you can't be too careful, and if you are serious, you will lose.

……

After the first two high-intensity confrontations, some players had some problems with their physical condition. The more serious one is Zheng Zhi. The 38-year-old veteran spared no effort in two group games, and played the whole game in the last game, without a minute of rest, and the muscles in the back of his thigh showed signs of straining due to excessive fatigue. In addition, the state of individual players in training is not very dedicated, not that everyone has a problem with their attitude, but really has more than enough energy, although the group stage is a five-day match, but except for the time to travel between the three cities, the recovery time is not particularly sufficient. At this critical juncture, the concentrated outbreak of physical problems is more serious.

The current situation of the team is a difficult choice even for an experienced coach like Lippi. Rotating the lineup is almost inevitable, otherwise with the current state of the players, even if they enter the knockout round, whether they face any team in Group E, it may be a fiasco.

In fact, in the 23-member squad of the Chinese team for the World Cup this time, there are still many players who have not played for a minute, such as goalkeeper Yan Junling, Wang Shenchao, Shi Ke, Fu Huan, the three major defenders of Shanghai SIPG on the back line, and Liu Ruofan and Zhang Xizhe in the midfield. Especially like Guoan midfielder Zhang Xizhe, who used to be one of the important puzzles of the national team's midfield, but now he has gradually lost Lippi's trust and has been reduced to the role of playing soy sauce, and he is eager to prove his ability on such a stage.

But for Lippi, the large-scale reshuffle of the cards, this determination is not so easy to make, this is no longer a matter of risk, the slightest carelessness is a fancy death.

Before the match against the German team, the Chinese team's training intensity was only one practice a day, and half of the time was used for recovery training, but the busiest in the two days was the national team's team doctor team and physical trainer Gaudino. The challenge of maximizing the protection of the players and getting everyone in the best shape to meet the requirements of playing is enormous.

Of course, this situation is tightly sealed from the outside world, and the reporters do not see any clues from the fifteen-minute opening time every day, because during this time, the recovery training of the national team is almost the same.

And when it came to the day of the game, when the two sides announced their starting lineups, Lippi's starting lineup was enough to surprise all the Chinese media, and at the same time make the foreign media feel unfamiliar.

Lippi made three changes to the Chinese starting line-up, with the Chinese team forming a 5-3-2.

Zeng Cheng was automatically suspended because of the red card in the last game, and Lippi chose the starting goalkeeper in this game...... It is Yan Junling, the post-90s goalkeeper who has not played before!

Not only that, but the most surprising arrangement is in the midfield, one of the starting strikers of the Chinese team is Liu Ruofan! Liu Ruofan, who was originally thought to be just coming to the world to feel the atmosphere, actually had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the Chinese team's counterattack and attack in this game!

As for why not let the national team be the fastest and can single-handedly challenge Wen Zhihao, who is the entire defense of Bayern, the reason is very simple, compared to his speed, his brain role in launching a counterattack in the midfield of the Chinese team is the most indispensable, and Lippi will of course choose to combine Wen Zhihao's characteristics with the needs of the team and maximize it.

In addition, Shanghai SIPG's young defender Wang Shenchao also got the start, and the big game is imminent, but Lippi unexpectedly sent three young people who have never appeared in the World Cup, and even have better than no experience in representing the national team before!

The Chinese reporter was suddenly a little puzzled, Lippi's arrangement is completely unreasonable, the Chinese team is not 100% sure of qualifying, this arrangement is very much like a strategic abandonment, training young people!

But what if Sweden, which is already out of the game, sends Mexico a favor? Isn't the Chinese team dumb and eating Coptis chinensis, and they want to die unjustly?

……

Rewind the clock to yesterday.

While the players were resting, in the hotel room, Madaloni stood opposite Lippi, looking nervous.

Lippi sat at the table, a cigar in his hand, taking the occasional puff, his silver hair moving in the wind from time to time. The cigar burns out, and the Lippi is extinguished. "It's a risk worth taking, it's not a matter of tactics and technicality, if we want to do a miracle, we have to rely on the overall fighting spirit," he said to Maddaloni. The players who haven't played yet, they are the most motivated and the most eager to show themselves, and we should give them a chance. ”

Maddaloni nodded: "Well, since you have decided, I support you." We've created enough accidents anyway, and another one isn't too much. ”

On the other hand, the German team seems to be confident in this game, and the German coach Loew announced the starting line-up a day earlier, seemingly not worried about the Chinese team at all to cause them any problems.

This is a kind of self-confidence in strength, and the only thing Loew emphasized for the midfielders and defenders is Wen Zhihao: "Needless to say, some of you have lost to him, and now the opportunity for revenge has come, he is the only threat to the Chinese team, as for the others, there is nothing to worry about." I think you should know how to do it. ”

Neuer and Hummels showed fighting intent in their eyes, but at the same time they were a little dignified, with their strength, only very few opponents could make them show such expressions, Wen Zhihao was one of them.

……

There was something special about this game before the game. It has the attention of the top confrontation, but it does not have the fierce collision and war of words that the focus battle should have, and it does not affect the attention that this game has set off in China.

Almost all the media regard this game as one of the most important games in the history of Chinese football, no matter in terms of the nature of the game or the level of the opponent, this game is a historic matchup that can be compared with the Chinese team against the "3R" Brazil in 02.

Two World Cup trips, two championship-level teams, for the national team, it is difficult to say whether it is lucky or unlucky.