Chapter 625
Promotion to National Football Team Captain: China's Next Goal
"The Bird's Nest is unusually lively today!"
Gao Lin put his elbow on Lin Feng's shoulder, looked at the packed Bird's Nest stadium, and sighed.
"It would be so cool to do a hat trick in such a high-profile setting!"
After Gao Lin finished speaking, he nudged Lin Feng with his elbow, blinking his eyes like an underground worker exchanging secret signals.
Lin Feng couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard what the other person said.
She's ugly, but she's got such high aspirations!
Do you think hat tricks are your everyday cabbages?
"Australia's defenders are strong and physically robust, but they lack strong physical strength. It's not easy to break through their defense. Instead of fantasizing about scoring a hat-trick, you should think more about how to deal with their defenders!"
Gao Lin's height and weight are not much different from Dong Fangzhuo's, but King Dong's physical strength is much stronger than Gao Lin's.
This is based on the fact that Dong Fangzhuo has played far fewer games in the top league than Gao Lin!
In fact, Gao Lin is not incapable of physical confrontation, but he is rather cunning and doesn't like to stay in the penalty area and engage in hand-to-hand combat with opposing defenders. He prefers to move out of the penalty area, actively look for gaps in the opponent's defense, and then use his excellent awareness and footwork to cooperate with his teammates to deliver the fatal blow.
Compared to Dong Fangzhuo, Gao Lin has far more assists in both the league and the national team, which reflects Gao Lin's personal style.
Fixing him in the center position would actually limit his abilities.
Lin Feng still hopes he can improve his physical strength. After all, no matter how good his footwork is, he can't perform well without a strong body. This is especially evident in the top five leagues and the Champions League.
Lin Feng has never played in a World Cup, but he had heard from his teammates who had participated in the World Cup that the intensity of the competition in the World Cup was on par with the knockout stage of the Champions League.
Lin Feng can adapt to this intensity, but most of the players in the national football team probably cannot.
Therefore, Lin Feng was very worried that the Chinese team would suffer a great loss or even defeat in their first group stage match of the World Cup, which would be a major blow to the team's chances of advancing.
"Alright, I'll do some extra strength training later, and also talk to the defenders at the club more!"
Seeing that Lin Feng was speaking very seriously, Gao Lin also put away his playful attitude and became serious as well.
He could tell the difference between good and bad. Lin Feng's suggestion was genuinely for his own good, so he naturally had to take it seriously.
"It's good that you know what's going on. We're all around the same age, and only a few of us have made it this generation. We're probably stuck together for life, so I really hope everyone can get stronger so we can go further in the national team!"
Making it into the World Cup is just the first step in a long journey, and it's far too early to celebrate.
Their generation's mission is to lead Chinese football further; scoring a goal, getting a point, or winning a game are just initial goals.
The next goal is to lead the national football team to a stable World Cup qualification, successfully advance from the group stage, and reach the knockout stage.
As for leading the national football team into the quarterfinals, or even the semifinals, such a task is extremely difficult. It requires not only strong personal ability but also a bit of luck.
If they are unlucky and encounter a favorite to win the championship or a long-established powerhouse, even the current national team will probably find it difficult to make a major breakthrough.
After all, in their careers, they only managed to qualify for the World Cup two or three times, so luck played a huge part.
However, as Chinese football continues to develop and produces a large number of outstanding young talents, with a sufficiently large and excellent talent base, it is by no means a pipe dream to continuously advance into the knockout stage, or even reach the quarterfinals and semifinals.
……
Playing at home is completely different from playing away!
The Chinese national football team had just come out to warm up when the fans at the stadium gave them a very enthusiastic response.
Lin Feng had only practiced a few shots, yet he drew gasps from the fans. Female fans near the stands even shouted his name and screamed at the top of their lungs, turning the stadium into a fan meeting.
To be honest, with Lin Feng's looks, he has quite a few female fans.
Even some TV variety shows are envious of his huge female fan base and want to invite him to be a guest on their shows.
Naturally, Lin Feng rejected him.
Right now, he is focusing all his energy on football, and he is very careful about accepting advertising endorsements.
Lin Feng had witnessed the backlash Liu Xiang suffered from shooting commercials and appearing on variety shows back then, and naturally he wouldn't repeat the same mistake.
After the warm-up, the Chinese national football team returned to the locker room.
In the final World Cup qualifier, the atmosphere in the Chinese national team's locker room was unusually relaxed. Having already qualified, the players were able to shed all their psychological burdens, completely lacking the tragic feeling that had accompanied the Chinese national team at the end of many previous World Cup qualifiers.
Despite facing a strong opponent, the Chinese national football team remained calm and composed.
They've won so many times over the years that they've developed a strong sense of self-confidence.
Within Asia, there are almost no teams that can make them nervous anymore, because these teams are all their defeated opponents.
"Just play well in the last match, show what we're supposed to do, and try to give our World Cup qualifiers a perfect ending!"
Faced with a competition where there was no pressure to achieve results, Lao Zhu treated it entirely as a friendly match.
So there was absolutely no intention to give a long speech in the locker room or do any pre-match mobilization; there was no need for that.
He simply left a sentence, handing over the time and space to the players, while he and the coaching staff went to the field first.
That's it?
Everyone looked at each other, all straining to hear the coach's instructions, but he just said one sentence and ran off.
Hearing the loud roar coming from the locker room next door, everyone felt a little uncomfortable.
"Team Leader Lin, why don't you say a few words to everyone?"
After the Olympics last year, Lin Feng was promoted to vice captain of the national football team.
After the last match against Japan, Li Weifeng, the captain of the Chinese national football team, approached Zhu Guanghu and voluntarily resigned from his position as captain. He also hinted to Zhu that he might retire from the national team after participating in this World Cup.
He's no longer young; he'll be 32 next year.
At his age, he definitely won't make it to the next World Cup.
Therefore, in preparation for the next Asian Cup or the next World Cup, it is necessary to make room for these veterans and give way to younger players.
Their continued presence in their positions will only hinder the team's generational transition and is detrimental to the long-term development of the national football team.
As a Chinese player, participating in two World Cups during his career is already a great achievement.
None of the old guys before him had ever achieved this.
So even if he were to step down, Li Weifeng would be content. Moreover, he felt completely at ease handing the captain's armband to Lin Feng, a more capable and responsible young man.
Zhu Guanghu expressed great regret over Li Weifeng's abrupt retirement.
Li Weifeng's ability is undeniable; looking across Asia, he belongs to one of the top-tier defenders.
Although he has a bad temper and often acts irrationally on the field, sometimes the Chinese team really lacks a bit of aggression and dominance, and having this 'bad guy' on the field is just right.
Unfortunately, time waits for no one, and as Li Weifeng himself said, he certainly won't make it into the next major tournament cycle for the national team.
Therefore, keeping him on the team will not help the team much, but will instead squeeze out the space for young players.
Therefore, after some consideration, Zhu Guanghu agreed to Li Weifeng's request and promised not to call him up for the World Cup in South Africa.
Under China's traditional moral values and the current public opinion environment, players cannot arbitrarily declare their withdrawal from the national team. This is an irresponsible and irresponsible act that will definitely be criticized!
Therefore, if you want to withdraw from the national team, you can't do it openly; you need to do it secretly, by making arrangements with the Football Association and the national team's head coach to prevent them from calling you up.
Li Weifeng's voluntary withdrawal allowed Lin Feng, the deputy captain, to be promoted to full captain ahead of schedule.
In fact, veteran players like Zheng Zhi were also qualified to compete for the captaincy, but they didn't have that idea. Instead, they all believed that Lin Feng was the perfect candidate for captain of the national team.
Lin Feng couldn't go against everyone's unanimous opinion, so he had no choice but to accept it.
Hearing the commotion from the crowd, Lin Feng cleared his throat and said:
"Well then, I'll just say a few words!"
Everyone pricked up their ears, eager to hear the insights of the new captain of the national football team.
"In large-scale operations, military discipline must be strict... Well, what I mean is that we are a team, and we must pay attention to team discipline and be of one mind from top to bottom."
We must participate in the attack together, and we must retreat together in defense. We cannot think that it is not our responsibility and therefore stand aside.
Total football is the future trend of football; forwards not defending and defenders not attacking will become history.
Not to mention defenders, even goalkeepers need to have the ability to pass the ball and a large range of movement, otherwise it will be difficult to meet the new tactical requirements.
Lin Feng specifically mentioned this point not because the Australian team had the ability to force the Chinese team to defend as a whole.
But they will definitely encounter such strong teams in the future. If they cultivate this awareness and become familiar with this tactical approach earlier, they will be more adaptable when they go to the international arena and will not experience culture shock or be unable to keep up with the version.
"When defending, the forwards should take the lead. After losing the ball, they must immediately try to win it back. Even if they can't win it back, they should still disrupt the opponent's passing and give their teammates time to get into position to defend."
As Lin Feng spoke, his eyes glanced at Gao Lin intentionally or unintentionally.
Gao Lin immediately stood up straight, looking like he was saying, "Don't worry, Captain, I promise I won't let you down."
……
The change of captain for the Chinese national football team is still attracting a lot of attention.
During the entrance ceremony, some sharp-eyed fans noticed that Lin Feng was wearing the captain's armband, which immediately sparked a heated discussion:
"Huh? Why is the captain's armband on Lin Feng? Isn't Li Weifeng on the field?"
"Really? What's going on? Is there a mistake?"
"Could it be that Lin Feng, the vice-captain, has been promoted to full captain?"
"But Li Weifeng hasn't retired from the national team, has he?"
Everyone was baffled and could only put the question aside for the time being and focus on watching the game.
Although it was his first time wearing the national team captain's armband, Lin Feng wasn't entirely without experience in being a captain.
Last year, when he was in the national Olympic team, he was the team captain, so Lin Feng seemed quite adept at fulfilling his captaincy responsibilities.
Perhaps there is a probationary period in football, because Lin Feng, as the captain of the national team for the first time, guessed the coin correctly during the coin toss game.
Lin Feng naturally chose to keep possession of the ball. The Chinese team's tactic in this game was to attack aggressively and gain possession of the ball from the start, which would help the Chinese team firmly control the rhythm of the game.
At 19:45, the match between China and Australia officially began with the referee's whistle.
After the match began, the Chinese team did not engage in any probing but instead launched a fierce attack directly into the opponent's territory.
When the fans who came to the scene saw how strong the national football team's momentum was right from the start, they also started to create momentum.
One die-hard fan even went shirtless, took off his shirt, and waved his drumsticks, banging on a large drum repeatedly.
The rapid drumbeats, resembling the rhythm of war drums, combined with the shouts and cheers from the fans, brought the atmosphere to a climax.
It was as if a flame was ignited in the hearts of the national football team members, making them feel excited and their attacks became even more fierce.
Just three minutes into the game, the Chinese national team had already taken three shots, with Lin Feng's long-range shot narrowly missing a goal.
The match had barely begun when Australia's goal was already teetering on the brink of collapse.
Australia's head coach, Verbeek, had just sat down on the bench when he saw this scene and immediately became restless.
He stood up, went to the sidelines, and stared at his own half of the field with a furrowed brow.
Is the Chinese team on steroids?
They attacked so fiercely right from the start, even pushing their defensive line past the halfway line, and even the goalkeeper left the penalty area and moved to the midfield area.
Aren't they afraid of a counterattack from the Australian team?
It wasn't just the Australian team's coach who thought this way; many fans couldn't help but worry for the Chinese national team after seeing this scene.
Perhaps we should calm down a bit and drop our defense a little further back. This style of play is too aggressive; it's making me nervous!
Seeing the goalkeeper's positioning, I'm afraid the opponent will unleash a long-range lob shot!
[That's true. If the opponent really did score with that kind of kick, the goalkeeper wouldn't even have time to get back!]
[Relax, relax, what's there to be afraid of? The national football team dares to use such tactics because they must have considered all possible scenarios. If there were really a high risk, Coach Zhu wouldn't have used such tactics!]
[Yes, you only saw the Chinese national team's very aggressive attack and their high defensive line, but have you seen Australia's counter-attacks?]
This reminded everyone that since the start of the match, the Chinese national team had already managed several shots on goal, while the Australian team had barely even managed to dribble the ball past midfield, let alone shoot. (End of Chapter)