Chapter 1,108 The New Coach Takes Office

The day after Camacho and Gao Xiaodong met, the draw results for the Brazilian World Cup qualifiers were announced yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The top 20 Asian countries China, Jordan, Iraq and Singapore are in Group A, with the top two qualifying in each group. , the Chinese team has great hopes of qualifying because its competitors Jordan and Iraq are not strong.

Camacho flew to China after the top 20 draw results were announced, and signed a three-year coaching contract with the Chinese Football Association just one day later.

This is a contract with a total value of up to 12.9 million euros, and it is after tax. In other words, the Football Association will pay a total of 23 million euros. For Camacho, a coach who has not achieved any good results, this salary is super high. Worth it.

What makes Camacho even more happy is that his contract does not have performance pressure. The World Cup in Brazil is not a hard indicator for Camacho's retention. The task is only to vaguely improve the technical and tactical level and football philosophy of the national football team.

Although it is actually impossible for Camacho to stay if he fails to reach the World Cup in Brazil, such a contract relieves Camacho's pressure and responsibility.

Being able to sign such an unequal "treaty" was something Camacho had never thought of beforehand. He was very happy. Football Association Chairman Wei Ge presented Camacho with a national football jersey. Camacho took off his suit and put on the jersey on the spot. .

When making his declaration of taking office, Camacho even used an unfamiliar Chinese sentence of "Hello everyone" as his opening remarks, and also tried to say the names of "Wei Ge, Lin Jian" and others in Chinese.

"From the time we started negotiating until I came to China, my team and I insisted on working 24 hours a day to understand the situation in China further and earlier. I am very clear that my goal is to improve the level of Chinese football and strive to enter the World Cup in Brazil. .I am willing to accept this beautiful, beautiful challenge.”

"There will definitely be pressure coaching the Chinese national team, but pressure has always been there for me. When I started playing football at Real Madrid at the age of 17, I was 'married' to pressure."

"The national team is the team of the entire country and the people. I hope to get the support of the people and the country; I hope the team can fight for the people."

"The development of Chinese football needs to be popularized. I hope to see more children playing football on the streets. Only in this way can there be hope."

In his declaration of taking office, Camacho tried his best to get close to Chinese fans and the Football Association, and even used the socialist term "fighting for the people", but he did not mention Gao Xiaodong, who is the most concerned about by fans across the country.

Subsequently, Football Association Chairman Wei Ge also delivered a welcome speech. Wei Ge said that the rise of football in some countries in the world in recent years has been achieved through the introduction of high-level foreign teachers and the rapid updating of football concepts. All these have inspired the Football Association to hire foreign teachers as an inevitable choice.

Different from the past, this time the Football Association will take a long-term view and set two goals based on improvement and development: first, to quickly improve the competitive level of men's football, prepare for the World Cup in Brazil, and strive to qualify; second, to introduce advanced concepts of football power, Achieve long-term development. The criterion for whether to renew the contract after it expires is whether there are obvious changes in the Chinese team's technical and tactical style after two years. The requirements of the Football Association are: not only to take shape, but also to transition to maturity; athletes can show a stable mentality and technical and tactical style on the field, especially in major competitions.

Wei Ge summarized the advantages of Camacho and his team into six points. 1. Come from a world football powerhouse, have the same lineage as Spain, and are recommended by experts from the Spanish Football Association and FIFA; 2. Both players and coaches have experience in competitions; 3. Emphasis on strict management and discipline of the team; 4. Emphasis on Team building; 5. Pay attention to the construction of the youth training system; 6. Have a coaching team with long-term cooperation and common experience in competitions.

Finally, Wei Ge said, "The next step in the construction of China's youth training system is to involve Camacho, who is the chief architect. He will help design and create a technical and tactical style and talent training system that are in line with Chinese characteristics. In addition to the previously hired Dutch youth training experts, I hope they will play an active role in youth training and the echelon construction of the national team, and help us create a youth training development path that is in line with Chinese football characteristics."

Although Wei Ge was working in football for the first time and was an outsider leading an expert, this welcome speech was very expert. However, he also did not mention whether Gao Xiaodong would join the national team.

During subsequent interviews, reporters almost all mentioned the issue of whether Gao Xiaodong would make it into the national team. Now this issue is more important to Chinese fans than selecting a coach.

Camacho is a very smart and experienced coach. He immediately praised Gao Xiaodong and then told reporters that he had talked with Gao Xiaodong and Gao Xiaodong agreed to play in the top 20 qualifiers for the national team.

Camacho said: "It is a loss for the national team if a player like Gao Xiaodong does not join the national team. No country in the world will give up on a superstar like Gao Xiaodong. There must be a place for Gao Xiaodong in his national team. And it’s at the core.”

Wei Ge saw that Camacho had taken all the credit for inviting Gao Xiaodong back to him, and secretly scolded the Spaniard for being cunning. He was not a bastard who did good things without leaving his name. When the reporter asked about him, he hurriedly told the reporter Explanation: "Due to various reasons, Xiaodong has never been selected for the national team. This is a huge loss to the national team, Xiaodong and the fans. After the new leadership team of the Football Association takes office, I think this situation must not continue. Just do what Xiaodong does." After a lot of persuasion work, coupled with the crackdown on gangsters and gambling in football, our football world has taken on a new look. Xiaodong finally changed his mind and decided to return to the national team. I believe that everyone will be able to see Xiaodong’s performance the next time the national team trains. Figure."

"Everyone will be able to see Xiaodong when the national team trains next time." Wei Ge's words made the entire Chinese fans ecstatic.

Due to the bureaucracy of the Football Association and Gao Xiaodong's arrogant personality, Gao Xiaodong has never been selected for the national team after becoming famous. This has also made Chinese fans always grudge. They believe that if Gao Xiaodong would have been selected for the national team when he was playing in Porto team, then the Chinese team may reach the World Cup finals in South Africa.

Now, one month before the top 20 Asian qualifiers for the World Cup in Brazil, the Football Association and the new head coach finally publicly announced that Gao Xiaodong will be selected for the national team. This is definitely a miracle for the Chinese team, which is at an absolute trough. Big good news.

"Great! I've finally waited for this day!"

"A Chinese team without Gao Xiaodong is not a Chinese team!"

"Just changing a head coach is useless. It's not like we haven't hired foreign teachers. We still need players to play the game!"

"Thank God, Gao Xiaodong is finally here!"

"At least the top 20 will have no worries about qualifying!"

"Chinese football is about to take off!"

…

After Camacho's signing ceremony, the Chinese football world was in jubilation. Everyone believed that with the new chairman taking office, the new coach taking office, and the return of the superstars, Chinese football would finally bottom out.