Chapter 178 I’m Not a Trouble Maker

Zhou Yi's goal gave Dortmund a 3:2 lead over Hoffenheim in the away game. Although Dortmund only led by one goal, it seemed like the last straw that broke Hoffenheim's head. Xiao? said

In the next game, Hoffenheim tried to counterattack, but was always pushed back by Dortmund's counterattack. Their previous momentum of scoring two goals at home and taking a two-goal lead was gone.

Until the end of the game, Hoffenheim failed to overcome this goal gap.

In the end, Dortmund defeated Hoffenheim 3:2 away from home.

This result naturally made the Dortmund media very happy. They clung to the three points and maintained the trend of catching up with Bayern Munich by four points. Dortmund can finally participate in the Club World Cup with peace of mind.

But in Germany as a whole, except for Dortmund's own media, other media are probably not so optimistic about Dortmund.

After the game, many media believed that although they defeated Hoffenheim, they could not let Dortmund breathe a sigh of relief. If Dortmund does not face up to the problem, they may be in big trouble next.

"...Although they defeated Hoffenheim, it exposed a big problem for Dortmund - how could Dortmund have had such a difficult time facing a team like Hoffenheim? But now they win Hoffenheim still has such a difficult time. Seeing their players hugging and celebrating excitedly after Zhou Yi scored, I don’t think there is anything to be happy about. Dortmund should reflect on why they played Hoffenheim Um, can they all fight like this?"

"The decline in Dortmund's strength this season is very obvious. To be honest, after watching Dortmund's games in the past half of the season, I think it is not easy for Dortmund to rank third. To be realistic, Dortmund's goal this season Just get a place in the Champions League for next season, and don’t count on the league championship..."

In response to this situation, some media also interviewed Dortmund players and wanted to hear what they thought of the current public opinion.

Grosskreutz naturally scolded the media, thinking they wanted to make big news.

But most players were not interviewed, refusing to answer the question on the grounds that "we have to focus on the next game now."

However, Zhou Yi responded in a tricky way: "I think the media disrespects Hoffenheim by saying this. I'm not provoking trouble. I don't know what others think. Anyway, if I am a Hoffenheim player , when I hear the media say this, I will get very angry - what do you mean by 'beating Hoffenheim and you can beat like this'? Is Hoffenheim weak? The league has played sixteen rounds. If I remember correctly, Hoffenheim is ranked 11th, ranked in the middle of the pack. We play a team like this away from home.

It's normal no matter how we play... Yes, it's normal even if we lose the game. If Hoffenheim beats us, it means they performed well. We beat them because we performed well, not because we should definitely win against Hoffenheim. Anyway, I think the media saying this is really an insult to Hoffenheim..."

After saying that, Zhou Yi shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and shook his head.

After Zhou Yi's remarks were reported by the media, they indeed caused a convenient reaction from Hoffenheim. Hoffenheim's head coach talked about this matter at a regular press conference in midweek. He said to Zhou Yi Supported: "Zhou Yi is a great player. Not only does he perform well on the court, but I think his words and deeds off the court are also great. Of course you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Some reporters in the audience laughed out loud.

"Against Dortmund, there were times when Hoffenheim performed well, so we took a two-goal lead. But there were also times when Hoffenheim performed poorly, and Dortmund performed better, so they beat us in the end. No one wants to lose, but sometimes the results are beyond your control. I don’t think Hoffenheim is a team that anyone can beat. If anyone thinks so, they are welcome to give it a try.”

This was not said very politely. Zhou Yi's words were like a fuse, igniting Hoffenheim's anger. But it cannot be said that Zhou Yi is sowing discord, because what the media said was not friendly enough to Hoffenheim.

These media may just want to use the match between Dortmund and Hoffenheim to criticize Dortmund. After dominating the Bundesliga for three consecutive seasons, many people are tired of Dortmund and are always happy to hear negative news about Dortmund. See what happens.

But when they attacked Dortmund together, they didn't care about Hoffenheim's mood at all. Of course, deep down in their hearts, they don't value this team, so this situation occurs.

This gave Zhou Yi an opportunity to take advantage of.

In the final analysis, it was their heartfelt disdain and contempt for Hoffenheim that caused this situation.

Not only is Hoffenheim's head coach Gisdol dissatisfied, Hoffenheim fans are also very dissatisfied with this kind of contempt by the media.

Today is the age of the Internet and the age of social media. Everyone can express their opinions and voices on social media without worrying that no one will hear what they say.

A large number of Hoffenheim fans have left comments and criticisms on the official accounts of media outlets that use Hoffenheim to criticize Dortmund. Although these enthusiastic Hoffenheim fans are not large in number, they are very fighting. And the fewer people there are, the more they can be regarded as a vulnerable group, and the more they dare not have their voices ignored. So those media had to respond to the protests of Hoffenheim fans.

"...We definitely have no intention of discriminating against Hoffenheim..."

"We apologize to Hoffenheim fans for the inappropriate choice of words in the article. Although we would like to say otherwise, we are still sorry that it caused misunderstanding..."

At this time, they don't care about badmouthing Dortmund...

And what about Dortmund?

Naturally, they didn't care about entangled with the media. After they finished the game with Hoffenheim and returned to Dortmund, they rushed to Morocco without stopping to prepare for the semi-finals of the Club World Cup.

Zhou Yi thus provoked a war between the German media and Hoffenheim fans, and then fled far away, hiding behind his name...

The German media was overwhelmed by Zhou Yi, while the Chinese media did not care about what happened in Germany. At most, they reported this matter as an "interesting story" back home, but they would not expand on this topic. Repeatedly hype.

They have more important things, which is the Club World Cup.

This year's Club World Cup is a very special one for Chinese football, Chinese fans and Chinese media reporting on Chinese football.

Because this is the first time in history that a Chinese team has participated in the Club World Cup.

In the era of the Toyota Cup, the predecessor of the Club World Cup, the competition rules stipulated that the participating parties could only be European champions and South American champions. Although the venue was in Asia, it had nothing to do with Asian teams.

Later, FIFA briefly held the Club World Cup and changed it to champion teams from each continent. But this has nothing to do with the Chinese team.

Later, FIFA's Club World Cup completely replaced the Toyota Cup, and the competition system was fixed. The winners of the Champions League from all continents can participate in the Club World Cup that year. But the Chinese team still has no chance to compete because the Chinese club teams are too weak.

In the short history of the AFC Champions League, the Chinese team has never won the championship. How can it be qualified to represent the Asian club team in the Club World Cup?

Before this year, the best results achieved by Chinese club teams in the AFC Champions League were the semi-finals, achieved by Dalian Shide in 2003 and Shenzhen Jianlibao in 2005.

Both teams met teams from West Asia in the semi-finals. Dalian Shide lost to Al Ain 6:7 and missed the final. At that time, there were only a few participating teams, and if you beat the group stage, you could directly enter the semi-finals.

In 2005, Shenzhen Jianlibao also reached the semi-finals. They passed one more knockout stage than Dalian Shide, but they lost to Al Ain 0:6 in the semi-finals. The Chinese team once again missed the finals.

After that, the performance of the Chinese team in this competition was lackluster.

The best result is just the top eight of Shanghai Shenhua and Shandong Luneng.

Because of the weak performance of Chinese teams in this event, the AFC Champions League has little sense of existence in the minds of Chinese fans. Everyone is familiar with the knowledge of the Champions League, but when it comes to the AFC Champions League, not many people know about it.

Until the emergence of Guangzhou Hengyuan. The Guangzhou team, which participated in the AFC Champions League as the champions of the Chinese Super League in 2012, is participating in the AFC Champions League for the first time. Two years ago, they were still in the Chinese League One. The result is that this team reached the quarterfinals for the first time in the AFC Champions League.

This year, 2013, we won the first prize in one fell swoop. In the home and away round-based competition in the final, they defeated the South Korean team Seoul and won the AFC Champions League, making history - this was also the first championship won by a Chinese club team in the AFC Champions League.

Guangzhou Hengyuan, who won the championship, naturally also qualified to participate in the Club World Cup at the end of the year. In the draw ceremony, if they can get through the first knockout round of the Club World Cup, they will meet the European champions in the semi-finals. , and the European champion is Dortmund.

This is not the first confrontation between Dortmund and Guangzhou Hengyuan. The last confrontation between the two sides was actually very close. Just this summer, the first stop of Dortmund's China tour was Guangzhou, and the first warm-up match opponent was Guangzhou Hengyuan.

But that game was a commercial game after all, especially since the Dortmund players hardly tried their best on the court, and their attitude towards the game was also different from the official game.

It's different now. Through its own efforts, Guangzhou Hengyuan finally got an opportunity to formally challenge Dortmund. And this time, I believe Dortmund's mentality will be different from that of the business competition.

Of course, the premise of all this is that Guangzhou Hengyuan must first pass the first round of the knockout round.

Their opponent is Al Ahly, the African Champions League winner from Egypt.