Part 5 Chapter 5 Club World Cup Final, come on!

A 2-1 away win over AC Milan on 25 November, a 2-0 away win over Sampdoria on 28 November, and a 2-0 home win over CSKA Moscow in the final round of the Champions League group stage on 2 December – in fact, they had already qualified two rounds early, with Sabato sending substitutes and easily winning last season's Russian Premier League title at home.

On 6 December, they won 3-2 at home to Roma, and before they left for Tokyo, Fiorentina were unbeaten in 17 league games, six Champions League matches, two Super Cups, and one Coppa Italia. And going back even further, since March 19, 2010, when they lost to Lazio in the thirtieth round of the league, they have not tasted defeat in the league again! Since losing 1-0 to Roma in the second leg of the Coppa Italia final, they have not lost again in all the competitions they have played.

Unbeaten in 25 league games! It seems that Florence and Zhang Jun are still creating an even bigger legend.

※※※

The Club World Cup is really just a tool for FIFA to try to make money. Originally, the Toyota Cup was done well, and FIFA was so angry that it had to catch this cash cow in its own hands. So the Toyota Cup was replaced with the World Club Cup, and in order to appease the Japanese, they decided that the World Club Cup would be held in Tokyo, Japan, which could be regarded as compensation for the loss of the Toyota Cup.

Although the number of participating teams has expanded from two to four, the value of the tournament has been greatly reduced. Many teams that have never heard of before can enter the Club World Cup to play against European and American powers, so there are often situations where the opponent is humiliated by large scores.

But this year's tournament, for Fiorentina. The gold content is not low at all, to be exact, for Zhang Jun.

Among the four participating teams are Fiorentina the European Champions Cup, São Paulo the Copa Libertadores, Montero Stars from North America, and Dalian from China.

The four teams are clearly divided into two brackets, with European champions Fiorentina and South American champions São Paulo seeded and the other two challengers. In order to avoid strong teams meeting in the semi-finals. The grouping was also very specific, with Fiorentina facing Montero Stars in the semi-finals, while Sao Paulo played against Dalian.

In today's Dalian team, there are many players that Zhang Jun is very familiar with. Their goalkeeper is Sima Hongxin, who is now the best goalkeeper in China, and their midfield has Lin Feng, the number one substitute for the Chinese national team Krudi. The striker is a strong center like Li Jie. There are some of the best players in the country, so it's no wonder they won the Asian Champions Cup for the first time. And in this team. Sima Hongxin is regarded as the most powerful player, and this taciturn goalkeeper is the most reassuring iron gate for the team. In China, he even has a large number of fans, someone specially built a fan website for him, and the domestic media even gave him a nickname: "Silent Door God", although straightforward, but very aptly pointed out the characteristics of Sima Hongxindi.

It was supposed to be after winning the Asian Champions Cup in Dalian. The Chinese media is looking forward to the "civil war" between Zhang Jun, Xiang Tao, Crewe and other teammates of the national team at the Club World Cup. Unfortunately, Dalian will face a strong Sao Paulo in the first round, and unless they win the game and Fiorentina have no surprises, the two teams will meet in the final.

But to win against Brazilian giants Sao Paulo. How easy is it to say?

※※※

Hua Fang once told Ren Yudi that Florence was very popular in Japan, and Ren Yudi didn't pay attention to it at that time. He even thought that he had driven away the sponsor Toyota when he came to power, and he should have offended many Japanese people. Unexpectedly, the moment the plane from Florence landed at Tokyo's Narita Airport, he and his team really felt the Japanese fever.

The Japanese are very fond of chasing stars, and since Beckham, they have always had a mentality of worshipping those who are strong. Fiorentina, as the strongest club in the world right now, is rightfully welcomed by the Japanese. Looking at the crowd of fans and reporters outside the airport, Zhang Jun seemed to feel that this was when Real Madrid was on the Asian Tour.

"We shouldn't have been to Japan before, right? Why do you look at their performance as if you've known us for a long time? "Pacini was also surprised, poor man, first time in Asia, right?

"So much! It's better to be welcomed than to be ignored. Xiang Tao shrugged, he was no stranger to this situation, at least he had seen it on TV.

When the team walked out of the airport passageway, the fans waiting outside the airport were boiling. They shouted that no one understood Japanese, and of course there were Chinese, English, and Italian, which were not proficient in the middle...... There were even a few beautiful Japanese schoolgirls holding up large portraits of Zhang Jun. And when the players walked through the passage opened by the security guards, the fans next to them frantically stretched out their hands, wanting to get close to their idols, which frightened many Fiorentina players who had never seen the world.

If it weren't for the police and security guards desperately maintaining order and this narrow passage, it is estimated that they would have been drowned in a sea of fanatical fans.

Some of the younger players have already been slightly embarrassed, but Zhang Jun has been at ease in the face of this formation, still smiling at the fans, even though he is probably the most harassed player. At the same time, the cold Kru is also very popular, but it is different from Zhang Jun's smile. He didn't show any expression in front of the fans who were frantically shouting his name, and he walked very cool through the crowd wearing sunglasses. And his fans are still looking at his back and admiring his coolness, with red hearts in his eyes.

This naturally made Xiang Tao very angry, but he couldn't blame his teammates, so he had to curse in his heart: "Damn, the Japanese are so cheap!" The more you ignore it, the more energetic it gets! ”

When the players were caught in the frenzy of fans and almost couldn't get out, their boss Ren Yudi sat in a special car and watched it all.

"Hmm. Not bad. The response from the Japanese people was beyond my expectations, and it seems that we can consider opening a specialty store in Japan. Ren Yu said to a beautiful woman next to him.

"I have one more suggestion." The beautiful woman beside him was talking to none other than Hua Fang, the agent of Zhang Jun and others. Now she also has an identity as Ren Yudi's senior staff member in commercial development - of course, no one else knows about this except for a few of them.

"You say."

"We have slightly adjusted our plans for next summer's China Tour and added a stop – Tokyo, Japan. It's going to be an Asian tour, so I estimate we'll be able to earn 12 million euros just in Japan. Appearance fees are the bulk of the bill, as well as various commercial activities and new sponsorship contracts, endorsement contracts, and player portrait usage fees...... Wait a minute. Moreover, it will help the team to further increase its prestige around the world. ”

Ren Yu closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Then he turned his gaze to the crazy Japanese fans outside the car window: "Yes, this is a good suggestion. Look at the people outside, they seem to be waving money and shouting at us: 'Come on! We've got you covered! It's a waste not to use such a good resource. ”

"I suddenly thought of a pretty old joke." Hua Fang said.

"What?"

"Lots of money. People are stupid, come quickly. ”

Both of them burst out laughing at the same time.

Profit is really an amazing thing, it can make brothers turn against each other, and it can also make two original sworn enemies get together and tell jokes.

※※※

If the four teams have to be ranked in the second place, then Fiorentina's first-round opponents, Montero Stars, are clearly the weakest. After studying the footage of the opponent's four-set match, Sabato came to the conclusion that Fiorentina could easily win against their opponents even if they were all substitutes. So there's no need to worry about this game before the game. They are aiming for the title, and the real match is the final, which is likely to be against South American powerhouse São Paulo.

Before the trip to Italy, the Sabato boss had done a lot of research by collecting video footage of the game and information about the players and coaches of São Paulo. He had this confidence: even if he ran into São Paulo, he could still take it!

The pre-match acclimatisation training was almost like a press conference. Hula came hundreds of enthusiastic reporters, of course, most of them are Japanese reporters, the second most are Chinese reporters, after all, there are many Chinese players in the Chinese team in this Club World Cup, and the third place is Italian reporters, and the attraction to them after the Toyota Cup was revised into the Club World Cup has greatly decreased.

Journalists were very attentive to the Fiorentina players' every move, and of course there were about 300 Japanese fans who had bought tickets to attend the training.

Sabato didn't arrange any tactical drills, just had the players jog on the pitch and then played a 20-minute seven-on-seven match.

During this period, every touch of the ball by the Fiorentina players caused the fans in the stands to scream. This kind of treatment has never been enjoyed before, even if they go to the Netherlands to participate in the Ajax Invitational, it is not so popular. It seems that Japanese fans are really fanatical, and this is really a paradise for celebrity idols...... [. Cn]

Of course, it is also a paradise for making money.

※※※

December 10 was the first round of the Club World Cup, and the two matches were not played at the same time, taking into account the televised situation. Fiorentina's first game, this game Sabato did not send all the main players, he still has to save for the final, and at the same time let the main players rest, in order to participate in this Club World Cup, they have played on two fronts in the league and the Champions Cup, and they have two matches a week, and they are half exhausted.

Since the opponent was so weak in the first game, then simply let the main players rest. So despite the frantic opposition of Japanese fans, Sabato still put the two players with the most luck on the bench.

This game is indeed too easy for Fiorentina, even if they play with all the substitutes, I am afraid they can easily win, let alone half of the main force and half of the substitutes.

Zhang Jun and Crewe only went up to warm up at the same time with five minutes left in the game, and the score was already 4:0, and Fiorentina was far ahead.

Despite their dissatisfaction with Sabato's behavior of hiding the main team, the fans immediately cheered for the wise manager after seeing Zhang Jun and Crewe on the field. Although it didn't take long, it was good enough to get these fans to enjoy it first. What's more, Fiorentina has already reached the final, so they don't have to worry about not being able to see Zhang Jun and Crewe at that time. These Japanese fans and media are convinced that no matter how crazy Sabato is, they don't dare not send Zhang Jun and Kru to start in this kind of final, otherwise why would he bring them to Tokyo?

There was no suspense in the first semi-final, and Fiorentina finally beat the Montero Stars 4-0 to advance to the final first.

But the next semi-finals made many people fall through their glasses.

Dalian's head coach Luo Shengmao and Zhang Jun are not familiar with it, he looks very young, and he should be the last newcomer from Qiu Suhui to take charge of the national team, but he can bring Dalian to the height of the Asian championship. It can be seen that it is still very level. Before the game, everyone was not optimistic about Dalian, and even China's own media said that this game should be won with less losses, and the most important thing is to play the style of Chinese football, and should put more energy into the third or fourth finals with the Montero Stars.

Because both matches are played on the same stadium, for the purpose of scouting the opponent's field. The Fiorentina squad changed their clothes and took their seats in the grandstand area dedicated to them. Watch the game.

As soon as Sao Paulo came up, he showed the momentum of attacking the game, and he was bound to eat Dalian in one bite. Unexpectedly, Luo Shengmao, who was happy to attack football in the Asian arena in China, suddenly changed his face. Lined up in a 541i formation and played a defensive counterattack with São Paulo. Zhang Jun was sitting next to Sabato, and he heard Sabato's exclamation: "What a cunning!" ”

Why is Luo Shengmao cunning? It must be because no one expected his sudden change of face.

São Paulo obviously did not take this situation into account, they had no more ways to face the iron bucket position in Dalian, and they still wanted to blindly attack the middle, but they couldn't get into it at all, and attacked from the side. The ball will definitely be cleared when it is passed inside, and even if there can be fish that slip through the net, they will all be taken by Sima Hongxin, the "silent door god", and there is no threat to the goal.

Zhang Jun can see that this Luo Shengmao is relying on Sima Hongxin's super goal-line defensive ability. Take the initiative to shrink the defense line and force Sao Paulo to play a positional battle, so that Sima Hongxin's weakness of not being good at attacking is also covered, and it can also ensure that the goal is not lost, and then rely on counterattacks to sneak attack, or simply drag it directly to the penalty shootout.

And as long as Sao Paulo can't knock on Dalian's goal in this kind of game, then over time, the situation will become more favorable for Dalian.

Sure enough, at the end of the first half, it was 0:0 with both hands.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the two sides were still 0-0. The Japanese fans in the stands stopped and let out a shrill boo. After all, the relationship between the Japanese and Brazilian football has always been very good, so there will not be many people watching the game here who support Dalian. Now they see that Dalian has played shameless conservative football and played negatively, which naturally makes them very dissatisfied. expressed his dissatisfaction with boos.

This game is far from exciting, that is, many Fiorentina players in the stands yawned, but Sabato and Zhang Jun watched it with relish.

Sabato was interested in the manager, while Zhang Jun was looking forward to seeing Sima Hongxin's performance and wanted to see him save the penalty.

Although Kaka came out of Sao Paulo, Zhang Jun and the Sao Paulo team are not related, so naturally there is no reason to support the team from Brazil.

And he himself is Chinese, and there are many teammates of the national team in the Dalian team, and he must hope that the Dalian team will defeat Sao Paulo.

As the game went on, Sao Paulo couldn't attack for a long time and gradually became impatient. Their scrambling on the field gradually increased, and the head coach of the Dalian team, Luo Shengmao, showed his cunning and sophisticated side at this time, at his request, the players of the Dalian team almost fell down at the first touch, and poured the game time to delay the game, pouring another spoonful of hot oil on São Paulo's already impatient mood.

Of course, in all fairness, although the Chinese team almost retreated on the whole line, Sao Paulo was not without opportunities, once they seized the opportunity of the Chinese team to send a corner kick and played a quick counterattack after breaking the ball, and formed a one-on-one situation with Sima Hongxin in the penalty area. Sima Hongxin, who had almost never attacked, attacked quickly and unprecedentedly, snuffing out São Paulo's attack. The shocked CCTV commentator said vigorously: "Is this Sima Hongxin?" Is this really the Sima Hongxin who never goes out of the small forbidden area? But I still have to say, well done! It's easy to get out of the small penalty area, and once you get out, you save the team! Terrific! Silent Door God! ”

And at that time, even Zhang Jun jumped up from his seat. raised his arms high to cheer for Sima Hongxin, causing the people next to him to look at him vigorously.

When he sat down again, Sabato asked him, "Do you prefer us to play against Dalian?" ”

"Hmm. But not in terms of how easy it is to win the championship, I just think it will be interesting to play against people I know and teams from my home country. Zhang Jun nodded.

Sabato looked at the field, "Your wish, in another thirty minutes will see if it can be granted." The referee had already blew the whistle for the end of the 90-minute game, and the semi-final was dragged into extra-time as Luo Shengmao had hoped, and could well have been dragged into a penalty shoot-out.

The Sao Paulo players from Brazil were not depressed. He obviously has outstanding skills, but he has no way to face the Dalian team that has retracted into the turtle shell. If the game doesn't end within those 30 minutes, then when it comes to the penalty shootout, their fate is out of their hands. Everyone can see that the Dalian team relies on the tall goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper's state in this game is all out. Penalty kick? Ten has ** is the stage carefully prepared for him by the Dalian team, and the others are just supporting roles......

Let's see if it's too early. After 90 minutes of play, Sabato sent the players back to the hotel first, while he and Di Livio stayed to continue to observe the two teams. Zhang Jun asked to stay, and Sabato looked at him and nodded in agreement. All three of them knew that the first 90 minutes were garbage time if the game was dragged to a penalty shootout. That's the essence of this game.

If Fiorentina do meet Dalian, then Sabato will have to defend against the opposition's penalty tactics.

In the 30 minutes of extra time, although there were some dangers, neither side could break through the opponent's goal. In overtime, Luo Shengmao played the remaining two cards in his hand. According to the TV commentator, the two players who came on were very good at shooting penalties. Sure enough, it was a penalty shootout.

The neutral fans who were still yawning before were in their spirits at this time, and no matter who they were rooting for, this penalty shootout was still the most emotional, after all, it was cruel enough and unpredictable.

※※※

The stadium stands on a large screen that gives a close-up of each player's face. The first to play was Sao Paulo, Zhang Jun glanced at the expressions of the opponent's penalty players on the big screen, and then said to the two coaches: "Sao Paulo is out of play." ”

dragged on for one hundred and twenty minutes, and finally dragged it to the penalty shootout according to the coach's requirements, which was originally a victory, Dalian's morale must be unprecedentedly high, plus they also have a "silent door god", he is the kind of person who can calm down at the most critical moment. Sima Hongxin stood at the door, just two meters and three meters tall, and then opening his arms was enough to give the opposing player a strong psychological deterrent.

And for the arrogant São Paulo, who would have thought before the game that the game could be played to this point? They certainly weren't prepared for a penalty shoot-out, and in terms of pre-match preparation, they had already lost one move first.

When Zhang Juncai saw the first Sao Paulo player to take a penalty, his eyes wandered and he didn't know what he was thinking. How much does this expression reflect his mood at this time, this mood goes out to play a penalty? Even if there is an empty door on the opposite side, he may be able to kick it off.

As Zhang Jun expected, the first Sao Paulo player kicked the penalty directly into Sima Hongxin's arms, and the angle and speed were more comfortable than the goalkeeper of the return pass.

There were many sighs from Japanese fans in the stands, and they still had a lot of feelings for a team with such a handsome guy as Kaka. On the other hand, even in terms of the appreciation of the final, they would like to see the attacking Brazil team and the attacking football champion Fiorentina meet in the final.

The players of the Dalian team have obviously made full preparations for the penalty kick, and the first one they came out was the striker Li Jie that Zhang Jun was familiar with, who volleyed vigorously, and the Sao Paulo goalkeeper completely misjudged the direction, and the football went in, 1:0!

The next penalty shootout did not make people feel such a sense of impermanence as fate, but made many people feel that fate was so cruel - the most popular São Paulo could only play in the third or fourth final. And Dalian successfully advanced to the finals with Sima Hongxin's big hands. In the penalty shoot-out, they saved two out of five penalties and scared off one. Dalian only missed one penalty.

The actual protagonist of this game is not the twenty-two players on the field. It's the head coaches of both sides, fighting wits and courage.

At the press conference after the game, in the face of many Japanese reporters asking whether the Chinese team was too conservative and too negative, Luo Shengmao replied calmly: "I don't think this is a negative game, and it can't be talked about conservative." We just chose the right tactics at the right time against different opponents. I'm the head coach and my job is to lead the team to victory, not to meet the needs of the fans. ”

When someone asked him if he would be so conservative in the final, Luo Shengmao said deceptively: "You will know when the time comes." ”

Seeing that if this development continues, it is estimated that the press conference will become Luo Shengmao's criticism meeting. Chinese reporters came out to relieve him. They brought the conversation to Zhang Jun, Crewe, Xiang Tao and the Chinese team. He asked the most successful manager in China what he thought of the three Fiorentina players, and what he thought of his opponents.

Luo Shengmao naturally praised the strength of the three Chinese players, after all, these are the three main forces of the Chinese championship team, who dares to say that they don't say a word? And he also thinks that Sabato is a very high-level manager. Claim yourself to be able to talk to such a coach. It's an honour for him to play against such a player, such a team. It's also a great opportunity for myself and my team to learn.

It seems that he put himself in a very low position.

Sabato saw the live press conference on the way back to the ground, and he said to Zhang Jun, who was sitting in the back row: "Zhang, you China are cunning, and it seems to me that you are right." This Luo is very powerful, we should not underestimate it. None of the words he just said could be taken seriously, they were all lies. ”

Zhang Jun smiled. At that time, when the Chinese ancestors drummed up Sun Tzu's Art of War, you Westerners may still be chasing wild boars in the primeval forest. Soldiers, treacherous ways. The same applies to the football field. After watching a Dalian game, he completely understood why this person could lead Dalian to win the AFC Champions League. There is indeed strength.

※※※

On the other side, Luo Shengmao, who had just finished the press conference, sighed softly at the door of the locker room. This match was even more difficult than he imagined, and he had already tried his best to get a ticket to the final. On the other hand, Fiorentina Nali, half of the main lineup easily defeated the Montero Stars 4:0, and the difference in strength between the two sides in the final was too big, even bigger than this game. What will he be able to come up with then?

He is sure that the head coach of Fiorentina must have watched this game from the stands, and he has some understanding of his own thinking and the strength of the team, and he has almost no secrets in front of him.

Before coming to Tokyo, the club's board of directors didn't have high expectations of themselves, and finishing third was considered a successful task. As for reaching the finals, I didn't even think about it. In the eyes of many Chinese people, the two teams that enter the final must be Fiorentina and Sao Paulo. At the time, the draw had not yet been announced, and he was thinking that if he played Fiorentina in the first game, it would be the best result. He could have a big game against Fiorentina and then go to the third or fourth final. Unexpectedly, in the first game and São Paulo, he was suddenly unwilling to give up like this. As a result, there was a temporary change of tactics before the game, a negative game, a conservative 120 minutes, and a penalty kick to defeat the opponent.

He knows that his move will definitely make many people dissatisfied, even in China, there will definitely be people who scold him for insulting the demeanor of the world champion...... Amusing! The Chinese national team won the championship, which does not mean that every team in China has the strength to be a world champion.

In order to fulfill his wish to fight with Florence, even if he was scolded by thousands of people as a coward, conservative, negative, and shameless...... He also took it down. But when he triumphed, he suddenly realized - how was he going to play this final against Fiorentina?

Shaking his head, he pushed open the door to the locker room. As soon as he entered the door, he was poured a bottle of water on his head, and Li Jie shouted loudly: "Come on, coach, don't be the boss, celebrate with us!" As soon as he finished speaking, he was secretly drenched from head to toe by others, looking extremely embarrassed.

The players are still reveling to reach the final, and in their opinion, maybe even if they don't win the final title, it will be worth it, because they have reached the final, won against the seeded São Paulo, and more importantly - they can play Fiorentina, the strongest club team in football today!

Luo Shengmao looked at this group of players who were cheering unhappily, and he suddenly felt how shameful he was outside the door just now. Not because it's shameful to play the game passively and conservatively, but because he finds himself not as far away as the players. Our goal should not just be to win the Club World Cup, but what we will learn from this final in the future and how much valuable experience we can gain from playing against the best teams in the world.

The Chinese league is a lot better than it used to be, but it's not enough. Dalian's responsibility is not to bring home a championship trophy for the domestic league, but to bring back something different for the domestic league, using the strongest team in the Chinese league to measure the gap between us and the world's top level.

Even if we lose, we need to know where we are losing!

He shook off his water-soaked suit, then grabbed the water bottle next to him and threw it at the players, and everyone made a fuss.

“Ole！ Florence, here we come! Ole！ Zhang Jun, Crewe, Xiang Tao, here we are! Ole! Ole! We're coming, we're coming! ”

Let's see how strong you really are, and let's see how strong we really are!

Come on!