Chapter 180 What I Ask of You...

When Dortmund arrived at the airport in Morocco, there were already a large number of reporters waiting there, most of them from China. The person they most want to interview is not Dortmund's head coach Klopp, but Zhou Yi. They want to hear Zhou Yi's views on this Club World Cup semi-final.

"I'm very happy that Guangzhou Hengyuan can reach the semi-finals. They have created the history of Chinese football." Zhou Yi congratulated Guangzhou Hengyuan.

Then he said: "Dortmund will go all out to prepare for this game. We have played against them before this summer, but I believe Hengyuan has changed a lot from the last time we met."

What he said was somewhat similar to Zheng Zhi.

"We will not underestimate the enemy, nor can we underestimate the enemy."

Zhou Yi's answer was very formulaic, and there was nothing wrong with it, but it also made reporters feel boring. This is of course Zhou Yi's usual style when facing reporters, but the reporters just want to dig out something deeper.

So a reporter asked Zhou Yi directly: "What do you think about Zheng Zhi joining the national team?"

Zhou Yi spread his hand and kicked the ball to Gao Hongbo: "You asked the wrong person about this. I can't decide who can enter the national team and who cannot. You ask Director Gao instead."

Zhou Yi's answer did not surprise the reporters. It was a textbook change of topic...

Some reporters were unwilling to give in and simply dropped a "bomb": "There are rumors about your relationship with Zheng Zhi..."

Zhou Yi laughed out loud when he heard this: "So you think I have become the ball tyrant of the national team?"

Zhou Yi asked such a straightforward question, but the other party didn't know how to answer it - they couldn't say "Yes, that's what we thought", right?

Seeing that the other party was stunned, Zhou Yi said: "Okay, let me take this opportunity to clarify - there is no conflict or personal grudge between me and Zheng Zhi. It is not up to me to decide whether he can join the national team." Yes, so I am determined not to take the blame. Of course I hope that the best players can enter the national team, and I also hope that this will allow us to perform better in next year's World Cup. But I am just a player, not a coach. How is the coach's job? As a player, you can't make any comments or speculations. Thank you."

After speaking, he asked the reporters: "Do you have any more questions?"

A group of reporters looked at each other, and the atmosphere suddenly felt awkward. Some of them thought that when faced with this thorny problem, Zhou Yi might adopt his usual "kicking the ball" approach, which was to use ambiguous words to explain away the problem.

Not answering directly.

Unexpectedly, this time Zhou Yi suddenly became strong-willed and denounced this statement, which made the reporters feel ashamed.

But with Zhou Yi's current popularity and status, no matter what he says, those who oppose him will be at a disadvantage, not to mention that Zhou Yi is already reasonable in this matter. If reporters continue to entangle with him on this issue, it is their fault. .

So the reporters shook their heads, indicating that there was no problem.

Zhou Yi then smiled and nodded at them, and then walked away.

After Zhou Yi left, a reporter suddenly patted his forehead: "Hi!"

He managed to attract the attention of others.

"Why did I forget?" The reporter looked annoyed. "Zhou Yi is the one who rushes to scold reporters online!"

"Damn, hindsight!"

"Why can't you remember it earlier?!"

※※※

Zhou Yi got on the bus and went to the hotel with the team. He has been in Dortmund for a long time, and the Chinese reporters he has contacted are all those who are resident in Dortmund. They mainly cover club events and do not talk much about domestic football. This time for the Club World Cup, many reporters from China came, and they naturally brought the latest situation in domestic football.

He really didn't expect that with the World Cup approaching, the popularity in the country would be so high.

This is obviously the Club World Cup, but the questions asked by Chinese reporters make people think it is the World Cup.

Although the Champions League is the tournament with the highest gold content and the highest technical and tactical level in today's football, the World Cup is still the most influential competition...

As for whether Zheng Zhi can be selected for the national team, Zhou Yi really can't care about it, and he doesn't want to care about it.

Whether Zheng Zhi can be selected or not, it has nothing to do with him, and it will not have any impact on him.

If Director Gao wants to select Zheng Zhi, Zhou Yi will not object. If Director Gao didn't choose Zheng Zhi to join the team, it would be impossible for Zhou Yi himself to become a lobbyist.

As for those rumors, Zhou Yi decided to ignore them. If you are upright, you are not afraid of slanting shadows. No matter what they say, they will not hurt you at all.

※※※

The league match between Dortmund and Hoffenheim ended on the afternoon of the 14th. They arrived in Morocco on the 16th and then prepared for the semi-finals with Guangzhou Hengyuan. The semi-finals were on the evening of the 17th, Beijing time on the 18th It's half past three in the morning.

The time in between can be said to be very tight.

Unlike Guangzhou Hengyuan, Bayern Munich will face a game just after arriving in Morocco.

Hengyuan has been here for almost a week and played a game to adapt to the venue conditions - the venue for the semi-finals is the same as the venue for their previous quarter-finals, both in Agadi Er Stadium.

If there is any advantage to the Guangzhou team, this is probably it.

Judging from the strength gap between the two teams alone, Guangzhou Hengyuan has almost no chance of winning.

But that's not a reason for them to give up early.

At the pre-match press conference, Lippi, the head coach of the Guangzhou team, showed his courage: "Dortmund is the European champion, but we are the Asian champion. I don't think the Asian champion is necessarily inferior to the European champion."

And Klopp naturally did not dare to look down on Guangzhou Hengyuan: "We have played against each other in China before, and they left a very deep impression on us. We will go all out for this game."

But no one knows whether the two of them are telling the truth.

Is Lippi bluffing? Is Klopp talking about the situation?

Because objectively speaking, Hengyuan's strength is not as good as Dortmund.

If both sides go all out, Hengyuan will not be able to defeat Dortmund.

Unless Dortmund underestimates the enemy.

Will Dortmund underestimate the enemy?

It's hard to say, maybe it will happen, maybe it won't.

If Dortmund underestimates the enemy, coupled with the physical and psychological fatigue caused by intensive matches and long expeditions, Hengyuan will not have no chance at all if it uses its tactics properly.

On Chinese social networks, there are a lot of speculations and discussions about this game, and they are obviously divided into two groups - one group believes that Hengyuan is participating in the Club World Cup for the first time, focusing on learning, and can compete with Dortmund in official games. It's amazing. This is an opportunity for them to learn from European cash football experience. The result of the game is not important. What is important is to gain valuable experience in the game and help the team grow.

The other group believes that since they have encountered this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, why not make winning the goal? Dortmund is not an invincible Cosmos team, and Hengyuan is not as weak as some people think. Those who think Hengyuan will definitely lose are weaklings who have been kneeling for a long time and cannot stand up. They have no confidence in their own country's team...

The two factions quarreled online. No one could convince the other, and both views seemed reasonable.

The "study school" believes that those who think Hengyuan can win have put too much pressure on Hengyuan. The "frontal attack group" believes that the "study group" is a capitulationist without self-confidence.

It is also because everyone attaches too much importance to this game that this kind of controversy arises.

The argument gradually died down before the game started, because everyone no longer had the energy to argue online, but had to wait in front of the TV to watch the live game.

Real die-hard fans will not let go of the warm-up of both teams before the game, the reporting by reporters in the front, and the commentary in the studio behind.

It can be seen from the starting lineups of both sides announced before the game that both sides have sent their main lineups for this game.

This starting list alone seems to confirm what the two teams said before the game - they both went all out.

※※※

In the locker room, the players were quietly waiting for the game to start. It was very close to their appearance, and now only the coach's final instructions remained.

Lippi paced back and forth in the locker room, and the eyes of Hengyuan players followed him back and forth.

But Lippi just paced back and forth and did not speak. None of the players made a sound, and the locker room fell into silence.

After this silence lasted for a while, Lippi himself broke it.

"Does anyone think this is the next step we can take in this Club World Cup?"

Someone said: "No!"

If the head coach wants to promote, he should suppress first, so of course the players must cooperate - in this case, the head coach asks such words, of course to boost morale, the head coach will definitely say: "Of course not!"

Therefore, as a player, if you want to be a qualified supporter and understand what you are doing, wouldn't it be better to say this in advance? It can also show that players have fighting spirit.

But this time the situation was different. Lippi shrugged: "Yes. Our best result in the Club World Cup may be the semi-finals."

Eh?

At this moment, almost everyone in the locker room was stunned - what's going on?

Is it different from the set script?

"Honestly, no matter how hard you talk, you can't make up the gap between us and Dortmund. I believe no one will be dissatisfied when I say this, right?" Lippi spread his hands and continued. "We are indeed weaker than Dortmund in terms of strength. This is not called surrender, this is called recognizing yourself. But recognizing the gap between yourself and your opponents does not mean that you are willing to fail. Just treat this game as the Club World Cup final. , bring out all your strengths in the game and don’t think too much about other things. This is the only thing I ask of you.”

At the same time, in the Dortmund dressing room, Klopp was also telling his players: "Don't think that the Guangzhou team is easy to deal with, otherwise you will be the one who makes a fool of yourself in front of the whole world! I am right You have only one requirement, and that is to go all out, show your best condition, and defeat them in the shortest time!"