Chapter 67: National Team Match Week
Fiorentina beat Roma 3-2 at home to win all five games in a row since the start of the new season, while winning nine games in Serie A are getting closer to Inter Milan's seventeenth consecutive win.
At the same time, in the standings, Fiorentina is also unbeatable, with five wins and fifteen points, ranking first, and in second place is Inter Milan with three wins and two draws in five games, eleven points, Roma ten points, Juventus ten points, as for AC Milan, one win, two draws and two losses, and has basically withdrawn from the championship competition.
After the fifth round of matches, Shijie football will enter a new national team break week, and the European Championship qualifiers will be cleared, and the next nearly a year will be used to warm up the teams that have qualified for the main tournament of the European Championship.
After communicating with Antienes, the name of Digan was not included in the squad of the new Belgian national team, because when he played against Portugal, he beat Pepe, and Digan was punished with a three-game ban, which was aimed at the European Cup, like the previous warm-up game, Dugan naturally did not need to participate, or leave the opportunity to those young people, so that they can familiarize themselves with the atmosphere of the national team.
Brussels, Belgium.
"Oh God! You shouldn't have really decided? François, the assistant coach of the Belgian national team, was in disbelief.
Antienes held his shoulders and said for a long time, "Yes! Old friend, I've decided! ”
François frowned slightly: "As a friend, I must remind you that you are simply risking your future, and what do you think will happen if this list is published?" ”
Of course, Antienes thought of it, but he still planned to do it, and Degan was right, if Belgian football wants to develop and do well in the European Championship, it must make a change, let the young people enter the national team, add fresh blood to the national team, instead of always using those veterans to play the world.
"Don't worry, I'm fully prepared, and I'm willing to take all the blame if this list doesn't satisfy some people."
Antienes seemed very stubborn, but in fact, he hesitated for a long time when deciding on the Zuihou list, after all, the players he excluded from the squad were all famous players of Belgian football, and they were meritorious players who made great contributions to Belgian football in the 2006 Shijie Cup.
Before Zuihou finalized the squad, Antienes also spoke with Degan on the phone, and it was Degan's words that helped him strengthen his confidence.
"If the goal of Belgian football in next year's European Championship is only to get a good result, relying on those players who have been there, as long as the group can appear, I can at least guarantee to reach the semi-finals, but the semi-finals are not our ultimate goal, we should take a long-term view, and we have not used young people, what about the 2010 Shijie Cup in South Africa? Instructor! I'm just one of the eleven on the pitch, I'm not omnipotent, I can't play the savior of the team every game, one day my magic will fade away, who will Belgian football rely on? Belgian football can't have just one Rodrigo. Izesen. Santos. Wright! There are a lot of Thomas who should be relied upon. Vermaelen! ”
"François! You don't have to persuade me anymore, that's my decision, it's not going to change, we have to plan for the future of Belgian football! Now to enable these young people, by the time of next year's European Championships, we will still have time, if we hesitate, once the time comes, Vincent . Something like Kompany, we will only be caught off guard, that is fatal! ”
François was silent, he knew that Antienes had a point, just like the previous life-and-death battle with Portugal, if it wasn't for Digan recommending Vermaelen at a critical moment, Belgium, which lacked Kompany in the backline, could defeat the mighty Portugal away and grab a promotion spot?
"Alright! You are right! But have you figured out how to explain it to the veterans? Maybe you'll be left with a bad reputation! ”
Not haode reputation?
It's nothing more than crossing the river and demolishing the bridge, unloading the mill and killing the donkey, flying all the birds, hiding the good bow, killing the cunning rabbit, and cooking the lackeys!
Of course, Antienes was not a lover of Chinese culture, and he couldn't think of these philosophical words, but he could still guess what kind of responsibility he would be held responsible for once the list was published.
"It doesn't matter, the facts will tell!"
François looked at Antienes' confident appearance and smiled: "You believe in Rodes like that!" ”
François knew that the youngsters on this list were all recommended by Degan, and no one in Belgian football circles would have such courage except Digan.
Antienes smiled and nodded: "Yes! François, I have a lot of confidence in Rode, he is not a simple person, we can't just treat him as a player, at least in terms of looking at the player's vision, we can't compare to him! ”
François was stunned, imagine carefully, it is really like Antienes said, since Digan came to the Belgian national team, the changes brought are really big, first of all, the contradiction between Flemish and Walloon is gone, when on the field, they can always be twisted into a rope and fight together, secondly, the players recommended by Digan have also proved their strength and brought fresh blood to Belgian football.
Soon, Antienes announced the members of the new Belgian national team at a press conference:
Goalkeepers: Proto (Anderlecht), Bailly (Genke), Mignolet (Dentret)
Left-backs: Lombart (Zenit St. Petersburg), Poconioli (AZ Alkmaar)
Right-backs: Van Bitten (Bayern Munich), Drew (Lokren)
Centre-backs: Vermaelen (Ajax), Vertonghen (Ajax), Hojkens (West Bromwich Albion), Van den Boray (Genoa)
Midfielders: Marouane Fellaini (Standard Liege), Naeng (Piacenza), Gul (Anderlecht)
Defenders: Dembele (AZ Alkmaar), De Fort (Standard Liege), Witsek (Standard Liege), Martens (AZ Alkmaar), Simons (PSV Eindhoven), Boufer (Rangers), Hubert (Genke)
Forwards: Mirallas (Lille), Bolaite (Lens), De Culler (Loquelen), De Reid (Hammer)
As soon as the list was announced, it caused an immediate uproar in Belgium, with only a few of the veterans who finished runners-up in the 2006 Shijie Cup in Germany, and the rest of the places were replaced by unfamiliar names, even for Belgian second-tier players.
Is Antienes crazy?
"Antienes seems to have been taken from Thomas. Vermaelen saw the benefits in him, and he was making a big joke about the future of Belgian football by using young players whose names people had never even heard of! ”
"I can't understand the selection criteria of Coach Antienes at all, most of the old players we are familiar with have been abandoned by him, which is unreasonable and unkind, after all, the tickets to the European Cup are spelled by those old players, and now those young people are going to pick peaches, I can only say that Antienes is too cruel to those veterans!"
Fans can't understand, those veteran players are the same, as the main central midfielder, the veteran Van der Haeg who participated in the German Shijie Cup said disappointedly: "I was ready to go to Brussels for the training camp, but Coach Antienes told me that he doesn't need me anymore, okay!" I accept Coach Antienes' choice, but I still want to ask why those little kids can take our place! ”
Also dissatisfied are the Mponsa brothers, who were the representatives of Belgian football before Digan, and who knew that they would be able to play in a European Championship before retiring, but now it has become uncertain.
One of the two brothers, Mponsa Jr., is currently playing for Manchester City in the Premier League, and at the age of 29, it can be said that he is in the age of playing, and this time he was actually abandoned, which made him very dissatisfied.
"For the last few years I have been the main striker of the Belgian national team, but this time I don't understand the weishenme, I have already booked a ticket back home, but now it looks like I am a joke, I don't know what Antienes is going to do, I just want to be fair!"
In the face of unanimous questioning, Antienes appeared very calm, and said in an interview with reporters: "I can understand the disappointment of those old players, and I can understand the fans' concern for the national team, but what I want to say is that Belgian football needs young people, and our goal is not only next year's European Cup, but also the 2010 Shijie Cup, 2012 European Cup, 2014 Shijie Cup, can those old players still hold on to that time?" ”
It's not unreasonable to hear Antienes say this, but it's just that it is still too cruel to discard those veteran players who have made outstanding contributions to Belgian football so easily.
As the most influential player in Belgian football at the moment, although Digan did not participate in this training camp, a Belgian domestic sports program still sent someone to Florence to do an exclusive interview with Digan, hoping to hear his views on this matter, but what is unexpected is that from the beginning of the interview, Digan broke a great news.