Chapter 618
: Returning to the National Team, a Key Match in the World Cup Qualifiers: China vs. Japa
A week has passed since the Champions League final ended.
After the Champions League final, Lin Feng did not return to Spain with the team. Instead, he flew directly from Italy back to China to prepare for the national team's last two World Cup qualifying matches.
Just as Lin Feng led his team to another Champions League title, Messi also led Barcelona to win the La Liga and Copa del Rey titles this season.
For Barcelona, winning both the league and cup titles after 11 years is not entirely without reward.
However, they missed out on the most important Champions League trophy and failed to achieve the treble, which was a great disappointment for everyone at Barcelona.
During this winter break, Barcelona will continue to strengthen its existing squad in order to go even further next season, completely overcome Real Madrid, and realize their dream of winning the Champions League.
However, Real Madrid will obviously not sit idly by. Next year, Real Madrid's current squad will undergo a major overhaul, and members of the Dutch contingent such as Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Sneijder, and Van der Vaart have been confirmed to be released.
Players like Cannavaro in defense will also leave the team; at least ten players will leave Real Madrid this summer.
The void left by their departure will inevitably be filled by Real Madrid looking for better players from the market at high prices.
Therefore, even a month before the transfer window opened, there was already much discussion about the signings of Barcelona and Real Madrid during the summer transfer window.
None of this has anything to do with Lin Feng, although every summer, countless teams send faxes to Real Madrid to make offers for him.
However, Lin Feng has no intention of leaving the team for the time being, and Real Madrid would absolutely not be willing to let him go.
In this situation, making an offer for him would be a waste of time; teams that genuinely need a transfer are unlikely to put all their eggs in one basket.
Of course, there are also some hotheads who are willing to wait.
For example, Manchester City, the new Premier League powerhouse backed by Middle Eastern consortiums, has submitted four offers to Real Madrid in the past two years.
We receive offers from them almost every summer and winter transfer window, and the prices get higher each time.
It is said that Manchester City's offer for Lin Feng reached 1.8 million euros during last winter break.
This offer is staggering. If Lin Feng's team were not the super club Real Madrid, but an ordinary team or a typical powerhouse, they would probably find it hard to resist such an exorbitant offer.
Even some of Real Madrid's top board members were unsettled after seeing the offer.
Real Madrid spent 100 million euros to buy Lin Feng, and now the price has risen to 180 million euros.
If Real Madrid chooses to sell Lin Feng now, they can not only recoup their initial investment but also earn an additional 80 million.
Recovering a huge sum of 1.8 billion euros at once is enough to strengthen the entire Real Madrid team.
Fortunately, Real Madrid president Calderón remained calm, knowing that Lin Feng's value could not be measured by these numbers.
In just two years since joining the team, Lin Feng has led them to two Champions League titles, not only helping Real Madrid achieve their goal of ten Champions League titles ahead of schedule, but also helping them become the first team to successfully defend their title after the Champions League was restructured.
This is only the achievement in terms of honors.
Commercially, Lin Feng's joining Real Madrid greatly enhanced the club's commercial value and brand influence.
With his strong personal abilities and handsome appearance, Lin Feng alone achieved the effect that only a group of top superstars in the first generation of the Galactic Battleship could achieve.
Over the past two seasons, Real Madrid's fan base has grown dramatically worldwide, especially in Asia.
Lin Feng's arrival brought Real Madrid a large number of sponsors from Asia and helped them attract countless Asian fans.
Thanks to an increase in sponsors and a surge in jersey sales, Real Madrid's total revenue has increased by more than 30% in the past two seasons compared to the first Galácticos era, and the upward trend in revenue has not stopped and continues to grow.
Players who can not only enhance the team's fighting power and lead it to various honors, but also greatly increase the team's commercial value and help it make money, are simply the dream players of all top clubs.
Inter Milan didn't do the math properly and impulsively sold Lin Feng. They only realized their mistake when commercial sponsorships and merchandise sales plummeted.
If Real Madrid were to do something so foolish and reckless one day, other top clubs would be laughing all the way to the bank.
……
On June 6, the entire Chinese national football team traveled by plane from Shanghai to Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
Two days later, the Chinese team will face the Japanese team in a major China-Japan match here.
For the Chinese team, this was just an ordinary match, but for the Japanese team, it was a life-or-death battle that would determine their fate.
If the Japanese team fails to defeat the Chinese team at home, they will miss out on direct qualification and will have to compete with the third-placed team from Group B for the remaining 0.5 qualification spots.
Given the importance of this match for the Japanese team, the Japanese side attached great importance to it, starting to call up players early for preparation, and also focusing on studying the tactical characteristics of the Chinese team, trying to find the weaknesses of the Chinese team so that they could win the match unexpectedly.
The reaction to the match was unprecedentedly enthusiastic. Not only did people in the football world cheer for the Japanese national team, but celebrities from the entertainment, idol, and even political circles also began to call on their fans and the entire nation to go to the stadium to cheer for the Japanese team.
For the Japanese national team, this is not only a life-or-death battle that will determine their fate, but also a battle to defend their title as the Asian champion.
Despite Japan's repeated defeats against China in recent years, this does not apply if we exclude less important competitions such as the East Asian Four Nations Tournament and the East Asian Games.
Japan has only lost to China twice in major international tournaments: once in the Asian Cup final and the other in last year's World Cup qualifiers.
From the Japanese perspective, it's too arbitrary to conclude that they've fallen behind China and lost the title of Asia's number one team after only two losses, given how many times they've beaten the Chinese team before.
If they can defeat the Chinese team even once, it will be enough to prove that their previous defeats were just due to their carelessness and underestimation of the opponent. The Japanese team's true strength is still stronger than that of the Chinese team.
However, the Japanese seem to selectively avoid mentioning the exaggerated scores of these two matches.
In the Asian Cup final two years ago, the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team 5-0, and in last year's World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese team further improved that score to a terrifying 7-0!
Teams that lose by one or two goals can probably be considered to be in the same league, with similar strength.
But losing by five or even seven goals is definitely not the same level; the two teams are now at least one level apart.
But the Japanese are very good at deceiving themselves, finding all sorts of reasons or excuses, even simply ignoring these two matches—a kind of "if I don't remember it happening, then it didn't happen" mentality. But it didn't matter; no matter how impressive the Japanese high command reports were, they couldn't withstand the atomic bombs actually falling on their own soil.
This time, the Japanese beat them to a pulp on their own turf and kicked them out of the World Cup. They can't possibly continue to pretend nothing happened, can they?
……
Since the opponent is Japan, the Chinese national football team's coaching staff did not need to do any pre-match motivation.
The players seemed to have been given an anti-Japanese buff, and they were all incredibly motivated, eager to teach the Japanese team a lesson!
"Although the Japanese team hasn't beaten us in recent years, they still shouldn't be underestimated. They remain one of the top teams in Asia."
Seeing the team's high morale, Zhu Guanghu, who had originally intended to boost their spirits, ended up reminding them not to underestimate their opponents.
"Coach, don't worry, we will never underestimate them. On the contrary, we will give it our all and hold nothing back!"
"Yes, aren't the Japanese delusional about reclaiming their title as Asia's number one? Well, let's give them that chance and see if they're up to it!"
"Brothers, take it easy. Let's just score seventeen or eighteen goals, that's fine. After all, this is their home ground, we have to give them some face!"
"Tsk tsk, listen to this, is that even human language? Scoring seventeen or eighteen goals, why don't you just fly to the moon?"
"You guys are getting cocky! Stop bragging and let's win the game first!"
"Let's not beat around the bush, I, Gao Lin, want to score a hat trick in tomorrow's game, so you guys better pass me the ball!"
Seeing the chaotic training ground, Zhu Guanghu felt a headache coming on.
He recalled that when he first took over the national football team, the atmosphere within the team was not like this.
At that time, the Chinese national football team had just been ambushed by Japan in the Asian Cup final and then failed in the World Cup qualifiers. A sense of dejection permeated the entire team.
The atmosphere in the team was never as relaxed and lively as it is now. He still vividly remembers the oppressive and suffocating atmosphere in the locker room.
In just a few short years, the atmosphere in the Chinese national football team's locker room has completely changed!
The fundamental reason for this change is the rapid rise of a group of young players, including Lin Feng.
Their growth has driven the revival of Chinese football!
In 2005, the national youth team, composed of this group of young players, unexpectedly defeated a number of world-class teams at the World Youth Championship, winning China's first world-class championship and sounding the clarion call for the revival of Chinese football.
In the following years, the Chinese team, with their additions, won almost one championship trophy per year in international competitions.
First, they won the East Asian Four Nations Tournament, then the East Asian Games, and a year later they won the Asian Games. In 2007, they avenged their old rival Japan in the Asian Cup and won China's first Asian Cup title!
The accumulated honors and victories have instilled confidence that has completely transformed the spirit of this Chinese team.
Gone is the despondency and depression of yesteryear; in its place is a vibrant scene of life and everything flourishing.
This national football team boasts formidable strength on paper, ample personnel reserves, a reasonable age structure, and rich experience in major competitions, making it the undisputed Asian champion!
The confidence built up by their past victories fostered an arrogant and domineering attitude in them.
The Japanese team is unlucky to be facing them!
……
June 8, 6 p.m., Tokyo National Stadium.
The huge stadium, which can accommodate 70,000 people, was already packed to capacity.
No fewer than 100,000 Japanese fans gathered inside and outside the stadium, carrying a large number of flags and wearing white bowls with the Japanese flag and the words "Victory is certain" on their foreheads, doing their best to create a terrifying atmosphere for their home team in an attempt to intimidate their opponents.
However, the Chinese team members were not intimidated. Instead, the ugly Japanese flag ignited their anger and fueled their fighting spirit.
"Damn, these guys are so noisy. Let's score a lot of goals later and calm them down!"
"Heh, are you planning to turn this place into a library?"
"The Tokyo Library? That's a good idea!"
The players chatted and laughed as they finished warming up and left the field, returning to the locker room.
With only fifteen minutes left before the start of the match, the coach has time to make final tactical adjustments and give a speech to boost the team's morale.
But today's Chinese team doesn't seem to need these things; they didn't adjust their tactics specifically because their opponent was Japan.
Instead, they insisted on taking the lead and continuing to use the tactics they were familiar with.
The Japanese team is quite strong, and with the Chinese national team having already basically secured one qualifying spot, they are using them as a training ground.
Although the Chinese national team seems to be invincible in Asia, its strength still lags behind the top teams in the world.
If they are unlucky and are placed in a group of death, the Chinese national football team will probably have to put in a lot more effort to qualify.
The national team already has limited time to train and compete together. If we don't take advantage of the opportunity to train during real matches, are we going to wait until the World Cup starts and train in the group stage?
Old Zhu isn't that arrogant.
Of course, another reason why Coach Zhu did not adjust the tactics is that the national team's tactics were originally designed and operated around Lin Feng.
Lin Feng himself is very strong, and his basketball IQ is also ridiculously high.
If the existing tactics are no longer applicable in the game, Lin Feng can take the initiative to adjust his tactics and playing style. With Lin Feng's basketball IQ and understanding of his own strength, he will definitely be able to find a better way.
After all, no one knows him better than himself, and no one knows better how he should act to unleash his full potential!
If Lao Zhu restricts the framework too much, he will actually limit Lin Feng's performance.
Old Zhu is very self-aware. During his playing days, he barely made it to the national youth team, while Lin Feng, at his age, had already become one of the world's top stars.
Therefore, he completely trusted Lin Feng's personal judgment! (End of Chapter)