Chapter 21 The Effect Is Good

After the day's training, the media blocked every Chinese team player at the entrance of the training ground. They wanted to find out through all means the results of Zhou Yi's training with the team. Was it good or bad?

Although they could speculate based on the laughter coming from the training ground, this was always their speculation and lacked solid evidence.

They want to know the right answer from the player or coach.

"Zhou Yi? Practice together? Of course, he has practiced together with us... Feeling? It feels good. I can't tell that this is his first time practicing together..."

"We were all stunned. Zhou Yi's adaptability is really amazing..."

"Today's training was very successful..."

…

The answers given by every person interviewed made Chinese reporters ecstatic.

They previously had no hope for the effect of Zhou Yi's return to the team for training. They felt that the symbolic significance of Zhou Yi's training with the team was greater than the practical significance.

But now I heard what the players who had participated in the training said, and I was surprised and happy at the same time - Zhou Yi's return turned out to be more than just symbolic...

Later, when Lippi was interviewed, this was confirmed by him as the head coach.

"...As we all know today, Zhou Yi participated in the team's training and practiced with us. Happily, the training effect was good. All of us are very happy to see that after being absent for nearly a month, Zhou Yi and Qiu Yi The team’s first joint training has achieved good results..."

Lippi's words confirmed the previous statements of the players and completely confirmed the news that Zhou Yi's first practice after returning from injury was good.

Although Lippi could also lie and claim that the effect was not good to release smoke bombs for Spain, he did not do so.

On the one hand, it is such a high-profile issue that it is difficult to fake. It is impossible for him to control everyone's mouth. On the other hand, and the main reason, Lippi felt there was no need to play this clever trick. Even if he lets the Spaniards know this, he is still confident in leading the Chinese team to defeat Spain.

Perhaps he has experienced defending champion Italy's humiliating group exit four years ago, so he can now guess Spain's thoughts to some extent, and knows that Spain is just a "paper tiger" that looks very bluffing, and seems to be the defending champion of the World Cup. , but in fact this team is completely different from the world champion team four years ago.

After two consecutive losses in the group stage, there were many articles analyzing this team in the media.

One point of view is right - there is no invincible tactic, it is just a group of suitable players who encounter the right tactic at the best age.

In Lippi's view, neither Barcelona nor the Spanish national team's Tiki-taka can be considered the greatest tactic in the world, and Tiki-taka is far from being the most popular tactic in world football. It cannot bring about fashion trends.

It's very simple. This tactic has high requirements on players. Not all teams can be like Barcelona in the 2008-2009 season or Spain in the 2010 World Cup. There is a group of people in their prime who are just right for this tactic. player of.

Gao Hongbo originally wanted to implement Tiki-taka in the Chinese team and imitate Barcelona, ​​but the effect was not particularly good. Why?

Although the Chinese team has a midfield core like Zhou Yi that is comparable to Xavi, the Chinese team still lacks many suitable players in other positions.

Now Spain is in decline and Spain was at its peak. The reason is actually the same - time.

From 2008 to 2012, the Spanish national team won two European Cups and one World Cup because these players were all in their prime. And now?

The main center forward Villa is already 32 years old, Torres is 30 years old, Iniesta is 30 years old, Xavi is 34 years old, Xavi Alonso is 32 years old, and Casillas is 33 years old. age.

Among them, Xavi's aging has the greatest impact on the team.

Coupled with the fact that they have won all the championships in the past three major competitions, this team's desire to win is no longer what it used to be.

They can no longer run all over the court and cover the entire court like they did before.

No one can beat time. The Invincible Fleet was sometimes defeated by British pirate ships. The collapse of the Spanish dynasty was also very consistent with objective laws.

Spain is already declining. On the other hand, Lippi's Chinese team is different from Spain's core players, who are mostly aging. The core players of this Chinese team are only around 22 or 23 years old, which is when they are full of youthful vigor.

It is said that newborn calves are not afraid of tigers.

If Spain is a tiger, it is an old tiger.

The Chinese team is a newborn calf and is not afraid of anyone.

※※※

Zhou Yi practiced with the team on the first day, and news of outstanding results soon appeared in major media and the Internet.

The Chinese fans cheered and were encouraged.

Although we are just training together now, which is a little late, the training results are good, which is still very happy.

The Spanish media are also paying attention to Zhou Yi's situation.

This news is of course bad news for them.

But there is a section of the Spanish media that is always good at finding the bright spots in bad news.

For example, some media claimed that it is hard to say whether Zhouyi's joint training has outstanding effects. Because no one saw it, they all heard it from the Chinese team players and coaches. They could have lied in order to create a tense atmosphere for Spain's preparations. I advise the Spanish national team not to be too nervous. If they focus all their attention on Zhou Yi, if Zhou Yi doesn't play by then, wouldn't Spain's efforts be in vain? And it also disrupted the Spanish team's own preparation rhythm.

The Spanish media also took the opportunity to criticize China, saying that China has a tradition of manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods. They are good at manufacturing fake goods, and many famous European brands have suffered from it. In order to cover up their fraud, the Chinese also invented a slightly nicer word called "shanzhai". In addition, at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, there was a scene where a little girl sang, which was later proven to be lip-syncing. The Spanish media used this incident to explain to everyone that the Chinese dared to fake the opening ceremony of such an important Olympic Games, so what does it mean to lie collectively during the World Cup group stage?

Of course, this Spanish media may have forgotten that ZARA, the famous Spanish ready-to-wear manufacturer, makes money by copying the clothing styles of other well-known brands... They lose a lot of money in lawsuits every year, and of course they make money by plagiarism. More money is a good deal for them. However, in China, such a brand can appear openly and prominently in major high-end shopping malls. I have to say that foreign monks can recite sutras and plagiarize them to make them more fresh and refined...

※※※

The next day, Zhou Yi practiced with the team for the second time, and the effect was still significant.

On the third day, the last day of training before the game, Lippi mainly conducted set-piece training.

In critical life-and-death battles, set kicks have always been an important means of scoring goals.

During a break in training, Zhou Yi was chatting with his teammates. He suddenly had a whim and wanted to design a few more set-piece tactics for the team.

Zhou Yi's proposal received enthusiastic response from everyone.

Then everyone gets together to use their brains, work together, and give full play to their imagination.

I actually asked them to design a few sets.

Then everyone went to the training ground and began to practice several sets of set-piece tactics that they had designed.

No one on the coaching staff stopped them, but looked on.

"It's great..." Lippi's assistant coach Madaloni murmured.

"The feeling is different after Zhou Yi returns to the team." National team scout Pezzotti also nodded.

"He has a natural leadership temperament. He can make people listen to him without using a loud voice or exaggerated body movements." Gaudino, the team's physical coach, also commented.

Lippi did not participate in the discussion, but listened quietly from the side, always keeping a smile on his face.

He believes from the bottom of his heart that the Chinese team can definitely complete a historic breakthrough in his hands, qualify from the group, and may even go further...

※※※

After the last day of training, Zhou Yi was blocked by reporters on the sidelines of the training ground. They wanted to hear Zhou Yi's views and prospects for tomorrow's game.

Of course, what they are most concerned about is whether Zhou Yi will definitely be able to play in tomorrow's game.

Faced with this question, Zhou Yi did not give a definite answer: "I don't know. I train hard and do everything I can. As for whether I can play, that is a question that the head coach considers. If he lets me play, I will Play well. If I'm not allowed to play, it must be because of his consideration. I don't have any opinion on that."

What Zhou Yi said was watertight, but it was not what reporters wanted to hear.

So reporters asked him what he thought about Spain becoming the first team to be eliminated from this World Cup.

"It's surprising. Before the World Cup started, no one could have imagined that something like this would happen. But this is football. On the field, anything can happen. The defending champion may also be eliminated in the group, nothing is impossible."

"So it's possible for the Chinese team to beat Spain?" a Chinese reporter asked.

Zhou Yi smiled and said nothing, but everyone understood what he meant.

"But Spain is fighting for honor, and teams fighting for honor are difficult to deal with..." said a Spanish reporter.

Zhou Yi smiled and said: "And we are fighting for survival."

...