Chapter 3 Everyone Has Their Own Little 99

Because they had their own game ahead, the Chinese team did not watch the game. After the first half, they also left the conference room and prepared to take a bus to the competition venue.

The hotel entrance was crowded with reporters and fans. When the Chinese team players came out, the fans waved national flags and scarves to cheer them on.

Although Zhou Yi could not play, everyone supported the national team as a whole, not a specific player.

Even if there is no Zhou Yi, which lowers the chance of victory, everyone still hopes to win in the Chinese team.

After all, Chile may be the weakest in this group...

Everyone hopes that the Chinese team can defeat Chile and make a good start for the second World Cup in history.

This is somewhat similar to the situation when the Chinese team participated in the World Cup last time.

At that time, the Chinese team's first match was against Costa Rica, which was the weakest team except the Chinese team in the group stage. Before the game, many Chinese fans and media were looking forward to the Chinese team defeating Costa Rica and scoring the first point, the first goal, and the first victory in the history of the World Cup for Chinese football.

Zhou Yi waved to everyone before getting in the car.

Although he will not be able to play in the game, he will still go with the team and sit on the bench to show that he is always with the team.

In the starting list just announced by the Chinese team, Zhou Yi is not among them. Everyone knows that Zhou Yi cannot win this game...

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When the Chinese team set off for the stadium, the second half of the game between the Netherlands and Spain also began.

The process and score of the first half made everyone think that this was a close match, but in the second half, the situation suddenly changed.

In the 53rd minute, after Robben received Blind's pass, he dunked Pique, and then shot with his left foot before Casillas blocked it. The football passed through Casillas's fingers and ran in. Hit the goal, 2:1!

In the 65th minute, the Dutch team dropped a free kick from the left into the penalty area. Van Persie's header collided with Casillas, allowing Dutch player De Vrij, who was ambushing the far post, to seize the opportunity. He hit the ball at the back post. Pushed the football into the goal. He even hit the goalpost for this goal. The Dutch team also leads Spain 3:1.

In the 73rd minute, the Dutch team scored again. This time it was Casillas' own mistake.

When he stopped the ball, he accidentally stopped the football too big. Van Persie rushed up to steal the ball and then hit the empty goal with a single shot. The Dutch team 4:1!

In the 80th minute, the Dutch team launched a classic counterattack. After receiving the pass from the backcourt, Robben sprinted 60 meters at full speed and broke into the right side of the penalty area. He first used a turn to knock Casillas's center of gravity lightly, and then He used several pauses to get rid of Casillas's stubborn blockage and volleyed with his left foot near the penalty spot. The football flew into the goal and the Netherlands led Spain 5:1.

At this point the game is over.

The news soon spread to the Chinese team. By this time, everyone had arrived at the stadium and was resting in the locker room.

There was silence in the locker room after hearing the news.

This is their opponent in the same group. They thought Spain was the most difficult to deal with before, but now it seems that the Netherlands is the big BOSS.

It is indeed a group of death. Even Spain, the champion of the last World Cup, was beaten so embarrassingly...

In the silence, it was Zhou Yi's voice that broke the dead silence first: "Okay, a piece of bad news, a piece of good news."

Everyone looked up at him in confusion, not understanding why he said that.

Zhou Yi raised a finger: "Bad news, the Netherlands is powerful beyond imagination." Then he raised another finger. "The good news is that the defending champion is a paper tiger. In our last game against Spain, we have a great chance of winning."

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Zhou Yi has already thought about the last game, but the rest of the national team can't think of going that far now. The game against Chile is what they value most.

They are coming up to this World Cup game, the first World Cup game for all of them.

Zheng Zhi, the oldest member of the team, is also participating in the World Cup for the first time. This is a very young, inexperienced team.

This grouping situation, coupled with Zhou Yi's absence, really makes many Chinese fans look forward to and worried.

The expectation is because in addition to Zhou Yi, there are five players who performed well during their stay in Europe. Whether they can make up for the impact of Zhou Yi's absence on the national team is something everyone is curious about.

When the national team players went out to warm up, Zhou Yi also went out, but he did not go on the field to play, but watched from the sidelines.

Next to him stood coach Lippi.

Lippi, like him, was closely watching the Chinese team players warming up on the field.

Then suddenly, without even looking away, he asked: "How do you think we can qualify from this group?"

"Of course I won the first two group matches." Zhou Yi said, looking at the court intently. "Just kidding, everyone would love to win. But looking at it calmly and rationally, it will be difficult for us to beat the Dutch team. Our only advantage is probably that we hope that the Dutch team will look down on us and underestimate us."

Zhou Yi covered his mouth and told Lippi his thoughts.

"So the first game against Chile is very important. We must win so that our chances of qualifying will be higher. But Chile must also think so..." Zhou Yi continued. "Both of our teams want to qualify, so they must win the first game. Whoever loses will have a hard time playing the next game..."

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Players from both sides were warming up on the court. Chilean head coach Sampaoli was also standing on the sidelines, but he did not pay much attention to his players, but kept focusing on the Chinese team.

He saw Zhou Yi standing on the sidelines and watching.

Before the game, all the news was that Zhou Yi would definitely miss the first two games of the group stage. Now it seems that this is not a smoke bomb by the Chinese, but a fact.

He was fortunate that when the match was arranged, Chile met the Chinese team in the first group match instead of the last one. Sampaoli is not sure his team can beat China if Zhou Yi is healthy.

But without Zhou Yi, the Chinese team is simply in disarray.

Sampaoli is certain of this. In his opinion, Zhou Yi's injury and absence did not have the biggest impact on the Chinese team's tactics, but the biggest one was psychological. He studied the Chinese team carefully and knew that Zhou Yi played a pivotal role in the Chinese team, not only on the court, but also in the locker room.

His presence is the anchor of the Chinese team, and he can make other Chinese players perform better on the court.

In turn, when he is away, many Chinese players may lose confidence and their performance will not be as good as before.

Especially when they encounter difficulties in the game, this team is bound to collapse quickly. And if Zhou Yi is here, he should be able to stabilize the situation.

Therefore, Zhou Yi's absence may have a greater impact on the Chinese team than they themselves thought...

There are still different opinions about Zhou Yi's injury in the Champions League final. Some people blame Carvajal, but others criticize Zhou Yi for being too sticky to the ball at the last moment. If he kicked the football out in time, nothing would happen.

Sampaoli did not want to get involved in this controversy. He just wanted to thank God for injuring his opponent's most important player before the World Cup.

Chile was not the dominant team in this group.

But now his mind was alive.

In another match of this group that just ended, the defending champion unexpectedly lost to the Dutch team with a score of 1:5, which also exposed the weak physique of the defending champion behind the seemingly strong appearance.

Coupled with the injury absence of Zhou Yi, this gave Chile a chance. First of all, Chile must defeat the Chinese team in the first group match, and then defeat the superficial Spanish team in the second game. Then the final game with the Netherlands will be insignificant, and they will get the right to qualify from the group.

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"...I don't know if Chile will despise us, but they definitely want to defeat us. They may attack more actively during the game, hoping to score goals as soon as possible. After all, if they deal with us slowly, it will actually be against us. Our advantage - haven't there been many media reports that we should strive for a draw in the match between China and Chile? So Chile will take the initiative to attack, and then we can fight their counterattack. We are capable of counterattack... That's what I thought."

After listening to Zhou Yi's story quietly without interrupting him, Lippi nodded and said to Zhou Yi: "You know, Zhou Yi. After the news that I took over coaching the Chinese team was revealed, I received a call from Klopp The call came in.”

Zhou Yi turned to look at Lippi in surprise: "Jurgen Klopp?"

"Who else but him? Dortmund's head coach." Lippi smiled. "He gave me a piece of advice. He said that if I want to coach the Chinese team and get twice the result with half the effort, I'd better talk to you more and ask for your opinions and views. He also said that this is the reason why he was able to coach Dortmund and get twice the result with half the effort. The secret of so many champions. Now it seems that it is indeed his secret..."

Zhou Yi scratched his head. He did often communicate with Klopp about his views on the game. There was no need for him to be modest in this regard.

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After the warm-up, both teams returned to their respective locker rooms.

Faced with the Chinese team players wearing white jerseys, Lippi showed a serious expression: "This is our first World Cup group match, put aside those messy 'meanings'. This game is very simple, our goal There is only one thing - victory. Defensive counterattack is our magic weapon to win. We must be patient when defending, don't panic, and defenders must be more decisive in handling the ball..."

Sampaoli stood in the middle of the locker room, turned his body to look around his players, and waved his fist: "Their core is not on the court. As long as we can cause them trouble, they will lose their calm and collapse. So from the beginning of the game we Keep putting pressure on their goal! Remember! Pressure starts from the first second of the game!”

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