At the end of May, Qin Xiong took simple luggage and came to the Xianghe National Men's Football Training Base to report.

The rest of the national team's teammates have already assembled here, only Qin Xiong is the latest to arrive, like Sun Jihai, Liu Yi, Zhang Pengfei These foreign players, their season ended earlier than Qin Xiong, and there were no celebrations to be carried out, basically after playing all the games and reporting back to the national team, only Qin Xiong had more things to do in Europe.

Alihan was delighted to have Qin Xiong back, and his team-mates would ask him about his experience at Arsenal and what life was like for the rest of the squad when they spent time with him privately.

Like Qin Xiong, he can play in the same team with famous stars such as Henry, Vieira, and Campbell, and his teammates in the national team are naturally full of envy.

During the preparation for the Asian quarterfinals of the World Preliminaries, the team's training intensity was not great, but Qin Xiong still felt tired.

This feeling is that the difficult schedule of a season has just ended, and after the body and mind have relaxed, and then suddenly want to improve the form, the physical condition is obviously a little unable to keep up.

June 4th.

Qin Xiong led the Chinese team to face Saudi Arabia at home in Tianjin.

The stands of the entire Tianjin home stadium were rendered into a sea of red, and the portrait of Qin Xiong was passed by waves in the stands, and the momentum was magnificent.

However, the Chinese team did not play well in this game, and Qin Xiong was also difficult to do, he himself had to play in the national team, and his performance would be greatly reduced, and his physical condition was not ideal, so it was difficult for his teammates to play well in the same rhythm.

Saudi Arabia has 4 points in the first two rounds of matches with 1 win and 1 draw, and the third and fourth games are back-to-back with the Chinese team, although the Chinese team has 6 points in hand. But Saudi Arabia's purpose is clear. As long as you get one point away, you will be satisfied. Then wait until you get back to the home stadium and then clean up the Chinese team.

The Saudi team's counterattack was still very threatening, and the Chinese team looked chaotic on the field, and the offense could not open the situation, and finally the two teams shook hands and made peace.

At the end of the game, Qin Xiong's expression was a little lost.

He left the pitch with his head down, and if it was a game with a clear conscience, no matter what the result was, he would leave with his head held high.

But he knew that his performance was not good, and he did not bring positive help to the team. So he was in a very low mood.

In an interview after the game, Qin Xiong was asked if he was too tired, after all, he had just finished the multi-front battle in the Premier League, and he replied calmly: "There is a difference between the season schedule in Asia and Europe, the club schedule in Asia is now in the middle of the season, while the players who play in Europe have just finished a full season, I am not shirking responsibility, I admit that I did not play well, I just have to face it rationally, find the reason and then actively improve." We'll be on for the next game. ”

After the game, Alihan also excused the Chinese team, first saying that Saudi Arabia is very strong overall. Secondly, the Chinese team is still at the top of the standings, especially considering that Uzbekistan drew with South Korea in the other game, and now the Chinese team is still optimistic in the standings.

The Chinese team scored 7 points.

Saudi Arabia 5 points.

Uzbekistan 2 points.

South Korea 1 point

After the match at home in Tianjin, the Chinese team rested for two days before the whole team flew to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Qin Xiong knows where the reason for his poor performance is, but it is really difficult to improve, physical fitness, people who have practiced understand that the state after a period of continuous consumption and then relaxation is the helplessness of wanting to improve the state and return to the peak but have a weak heart.

And something else he didn't expect happened.

When the plane landed in Riyadh, Qin Xiong and his teammates walked out of the cabin door, and suddenly a terrifying heat wave swept over!

"Holy! It's hot! ”

"It's really hot dog!"

"Can you play football in this weather?"

Qin Xiong is also complaining! blurted out.

June in northern China really doesn't really feel the arrival of summer to the fullest.

But in the Gulf region, daytime temperatures in Saudi Arabia have soared to the mid-30s and close to 40 degrees.

The Chinese team is facing the difficulty of "not adapting to the soil and water".

If you don't spend the days leading up to the game in a cool, air-conditioned room, the Chinese team could be scorched in the scorching sun and stranded by the sun.

On the other hand, if you don't adapt to this kind of weather, won't it be more uncomfortable when you wait for the game?

The race in Riyadh was one hell of an ordeal.

Qin Xiong still didn't play as expected, and his teammates were even worse.

Alihan had hoped to come away and be content with a draw.

But the Saudi Arabian team is alive and well, they have lived in this environment all year round, they have long adapted to it, and with the advantage of the home field, their on-the-spot performance is not much better than the Chinese team.

It's like a race of predators!

The Chinese team lost by two goals in the 90-minute game!

Against Saudi Arabia it is a record of 1 draw and 1 loss.

The advantage established in the first two rounds of the group stage seems to have taken a turn for the worse after the middle two rounds.

After the game, Qin Xiong, who may only be consumed by 70% of the usual consumption, was drenched in sweat and drenched in sweat, facing reporters, he looked a little blank, probably this kind of whimsical loss, reminded him of the embarrassment of the first time he encountered a fierce rain battle in Ajax, but at least in the Ajax game, the team did not lose.

And now that he is the captain of the national team, he did not lead by example to help the team achieve good results, and he blamed himself and felt guilty in the face of the interview camera, bowed his head and said in a deep voice: "I'm sorry." Our watch has lived up to the expectations of the fans across the country, we have no excuses, we lost an important game, and at this moment, I can only apologize to the fans across the country on behalf of the team. ”

With that, he left.

He couldn't make any promises, something like "we'll definitely try to be better in the next game".

Soccer games aren't that simple, and they can't be passed with a few pretty words.

Returning to Asia to compete in the World Preliminary Tournament was a hundred times more difficult than he imagined.

In particular, Saudi Arabia's overall strength has indeed exceeded expectations.

In the encounter, he realized that he thought that the strongest team in the group was the South Korean team, but compared with Saudi Arabia, the South Korean team's on-the-spot performance was at least a grade lower than that of Saudi Arabia.

After the fourth game of the quarterfinals in Asia, the group standings changed, and the Chinese team went from a comfortable position to a dangerous one.

Saudi Arabia 8 points.

The Chinese team scored 7 points.

South Korea 4 points.

Uzbekistan 2 points.

When the Chinese team traveled directly from Riyadh to Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Chinese national youth team ushered in its first performance at the World Youth Championships in the Netherlands.

The Chinese national youth team got off to a surprising start, defeating the Turkish team 2:1! (To be continued......)