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Chapter 546 The World Cup Is Here

The European season of the 2013-2014 season has come to an end. With Newcastle's three-to-two victory over Arsenal, also from the Premier League, in the Champions League final, the dust has settled in this season's competition in the European continent. Next, the eyes of the world will be focused on the World Cup held in early June.

It’s just that at the awarding ceremony of the Champions Cup, sharp-eyed people could see that the UEFA president Michel Platini, who was presenting the awards on the spot, looked not very good, and Pei Wei, who was the last to go up to receive the medal, was all smiles. He didn’t know what he was talking to Platini, but the smile on Platini’s face became more forced after he finished speaking.

For Chinese fans, few like Platini, mainly because he has offended too many giants by vigorously supporting small teams and disadvantaged leagues after he took office, and the teams that Chinese fans like are basically those giants. Think about it, too. There will be no Chinese fans who like the Cyprus league champion.

However, this scene is just an episode. Platini’s reason for attracting small and medium-sized teams and weaker leagues is to gain more support. He does not want the Premier League to continue to be strong because of the greater appeal of the Champions League. There is no personal grievance between him and Pei Wei, and this scene passed with a smile.

He lowered his head and asked Platini to hang the gold medal around his neck. Long Bisheng grinned from ear to ear. Platini was also very interested in the double top scorer of the Premier League and the Champions League who had become famous this season. After chatting with him for a few words, Long Bisheng didn't know how to answer.

Newcastle held a carnival in Marseille that day. Pei Wei, who has always been hospitable, would naturally not be too stingy. In addition to letting the players' families celebrate together, he also brought in a group of old Chinese national team players such as Nie Fei. However, Sun Chenghai still declined Pei Wei's invitation. After all, as a former Arsenal player, it was not appropriate to appear in this banquet.

But Nie Fei did not have this concern. Now many Newcastle players have fought side by side with him. Now he can be regarded as one of Newcastle's famous generals, so when Pei Wei took him to the hotel where the party was held, many players who played for Newcastle with him came up to say hello to him. The kind Nie Fei got along well with everyone.

Nie Fei took the initiative to find Long Bisheng. Looking at this idol player in his youth, Long Bisheng was also extremely excited. Although he and Nie Fei stood face to face, he definitely looked down on Nie Fei, but he knew that no matter how much he had achieved, he might not be able to catch up with Nie Fei's status in the hearts of Chinese fans.

Played in the professional league, became a Chinese national footballer at the age of 20, scored goals in the World Cup at the age of 21, the first Chinese player worth more than 1000 million euros, the first Chinese player to play the main force in Serie A, the first Chinese player to win the European Champions Cup...Nie Fei has too much light on him.

Although Long Bisheng is now the hottest striker in Europe, he has just won the two highly valuable individual honors of Premier League top scorer and Champions Cup top scorer, but he cannot compare with Nie Fei in terms of personal honor and team honor. You must know that in addition to the above titles, Nie Fei still has the collective honor of two Champions League champions, two Premier League champions and a Serie A champion. In terms of the national team, he has won the third place in the World Cup once and the quarterfinals of the World Cup twice. This kind of achievement is not among Chinese players. Anyone can get it.

Nie Fei didn't talk to Long Bisheng first, but turned to Ning Xi who was beside Long Bisheng and smiled: "You are Ning Xi, right? Jian Ying asked me to say hello to you for her... Is it hard being a manager?"

Ning Xi smiled embarrassedly. She is naturally Jian Ying's disciple. If it wasn't for Jian Ying's proposal, she might not be able to become a manager now: "It's okay, because I only need to pay attention to one person..."

Nie Fei laughed. Now in Chinese football, the agent Ning Xi and the player Long Bisheng are quite a special combination. Many newspapers are fond of talking about this pair of agent and player lovers. Nie Fei has also heard of it.

"Aaron, your form is very good this season." Nie Fei said to Long Bisheng.

"Hehe, it's alright. Naturally, you have to work harder when you come to Newcastle, otherwise it will be difficult to gain a foothold." Long Bisheng replied very honestly.

Nie Fei fainted for a moment. Long Bisheng's answer was really honest, without any exaggeration, but Nie Fei agreed with this point. Living in the capital is not easy, and the pressure in a wealthy team is much greater than that in a small team. He couldn't relax at all when he was in Newcastle, otherwise, even if the chairman Pei Wei regarded him as a godson, he would be in the stands if he was not in good condition.

"If you are in good shape, keep it up. Don't relax. There's still the World Cup... In this World Cup, you and Messi are expected to play the leading roles. Our old guys have retired, and the national team will rely on you rookies."

"It's not just us, Brother Li Fangang and Brother Chu Ran are the pillars of this national team." Long Bisheng patted his head in embarrassment: "There are also Dai Guangming and the others. They are all players who are performing very well in Europe now."

Nie Fei smiled and did not answer. Although Li Fang and Chu Ran have performed very well this season due to the stimulation of the World Cup, they are both veterans over [-] years old. Nie Fei knows Ding Yu. This national team can be said to be brand new.

"The World Cup is less than a month away. Take a good rest these few days. Fans across the country are still waiting for you to show your face and win glory in the World Cup." Finally, Nie Fei said to Long Bisheng.

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After the Champions League final, the footsteps of the World Cup are approaching, and the eyes of fans all over the world have shifted from Europe to Brazil. The stars of Newcastle and Arsenal are probably the last batch of players to arrive in South America. The national teams have already concentrated, and most of them have arrived in Brazil in advance to adapt to the local climate.

After three days of rest, Long Bisheng and Messi flew directly from Europe to Brazil to join the national team. Fans all over the country have placed high hopes on this national team, which is composed of players who won the 08 Olympic Games and the 09 World Youth Championship.

Chinese fans have reason to have such confidence. Compared with the extremely difficult schedule of the last World Cup, the Chinese national team has been assigned to a pretty good group this time. Perhaps the World Cup Organizing Committee has given the hosts of the next World Cup a face-the Chinese team, which is placed in the second tier, is in a group with Italy, Uruguay and Tunisia. As for Tunisia, they have participated in the World Cup a lot, but it seems that they have not entered the top [-] once.

Compared with Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Cameroon in the last World Cup, this group is like heaven. If the knockout stage is not like the previous World Cup, where they met England in the last [-] and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, Chinese fans still believe that the Chinese national team can break through to the quarterfinals that they have not been able to break through in two consecutive World Cups.

It is precisely because of this enthusiasm that even though the Chinese national team only came to play domestic players when the Chinese national team was concentrated, Ding Yu gave them a one-week holiday to return to Brazil because the players who played in Europe considered that the league had just ended. Even so, there are still countless fans waiting by the hotel where the Chinese team stays and the training ground every day, just to get an autograph or even just to see these stars with their own eyes.

And when the Chinese team concentrated in Brazil, the Chinese working and studying in South America began to concentrate in Sao Paulo, where the Chinese team was located, and the arrival of Long Bisheng and Messi who finally joined the team brought the enthusiasm of these fans to its peak...

"My God, where are there so many Chinese on the streets of Brazil?"

Sitting in a coffee shop next to the hotel where he stayed, Long Bisheng stared dumbfounded at the Chinese tourists and Chinese fans with painted faces everywhere on the street. He suddenly felt that he had not come to this football kingdom known for samba and carnival, but returned to China, on the streets of a strange Chinese city...

Messi seems to be in a good mood after returning to South America. Although he is already half Chinese, he was born and raised in Argentina after all. The climate in Brazil is similar to that in Argentina, and he feels a rare relaxation here.

Hearing Long Bisheng's exclamation, Messi laughed: "There are a lot of Chinese in South America now... In fact, there are a lot of Chinese everywhere, but there used to be more in Europe and the United States, but now they are more and more concentrated in South America and Africa, because there is very little discrimination against Chinese people here. At the same time, compared with the locals, the Chinese are much more hardworking."

Long Bisheng looked at Messi and felt that he was an idiot, and his understanding of the situation in China was not as good as that of an Argentine...

"Okay, let's go back to the hotel, it's almost time." Messi looked at his watch, then stood up: "The World Cup is only half a month away. You have to adjust your body during this time, otherwise you can't perform well in the World Cup, what a shame."

Although he is only two years older than Long Bisheng, Messi is a veteran international footballer. Long Bisheng, who represents the national team in the highest level competition, the Asian Cup, is naturally submissive in front of him.

The two walked out of the coffee shop and were immediately surrounded by several enthusiastic Chinese fans. The fans naturally liked this striker pair who had performed the best in Europe this season. Messi himself is the king of popularity in the national team. Long Bisheng, who has won the World Youth Championship and the Asian Cup champion, and the top scorer in the Premier League and Champions Cup this season, is not much worse than Messi in the hearts of fans.

After signing N names, the seasoned Messi explained to the fans the fact that he would return to the team immediately, and the two escaped from the group of enthusiastic fans.

"This is the World Cup..." Long Bisheng couldn't help but feel emotional. When playing in the World Youth Championship and Asian Cup, the fans were not so enthusiastic...

Having said that, there are quite a few Chinese fans who have a "World Cup plot". Otherwise, it would not have been so worrying when China had never made it out of Asia.

Of course, the growth of the Chinese team's own strength is also the main factor. No matter how enthusiastic the fans are, they can't replace the players in the game.

Fortunately, the current Chinese team does not lack outstanding players.

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It was late at night, but Ding Yu, the head coach of the Chinese team, hadn't fallen asleep yet. He was still thinking about the main lineup and tactics for the World Cup.

Ding Yu has a good hand. The average age of this national team is about 27 years old. It is an age group where the body, experience and ability are at the peak. There are not only experienced veterans like Chu Ran, Li Fang, Adriano, and Sun Bing, but also Mesozoic stars like Messi and Gao Junmin. These players almost grew up together, participated in the World Youth Championship and the Asian Cup together, and usually have a lot of training time. In Ding Yu's view, in addition to the lack of experience in the World Cup, the overall strength of this national team even surpasses the old national team that has repeatedly achieved good results in the World Cup!

Of course, these strengths are all on paper. How to make these players fully display their abilities on the court or even perform supernormally depends on the ability of the head coach.

Ding Yu has rich experience in this regard. Although he has only led the Chinese national team for a few years and has also failed at Yunjia Tianyu Club, in fact, he is a head coach suitable for the national team rather than a club. The fact that he trained it all by himself also gave him a deeper understanding of the players' abilities and characteristics.

In addition to those veterans, he has great prestige in the hearts of the national team members, which is also very important.

If a coach has no prestige among the players, then the team will not be able to exert their full capabilities, on the contrary, they will lose too much fighting power in internal friction.

But this will not be a problem for Ding Yu. Chinese players themselves always have a special sense of national honor when they represent the national team. What's more, most of the national team players are grown up by Ding Yu.

In Ding Yu’s mind, Long Bisheng and Messi are the two most important chess pieces. This pair of stars who are in good condition and play for the same club is definitely one of the most effective weapons for the Chinese team to score goals. However, another veteran forward Adriano is also in good condition. After returning to play in the Chinese Super League, he won the top scorer in the first half of the season and scored goals in almost every game. It seems a pity that such a striker is wasted on the bench.

It’s just that during this period of training, Adriano, who has been away from European football for a long time, seems to be unable to keep up with the rhythm of Long Bisheng and Messi. At the same time, his joining will definitely put Messi in the midfield.

Football games are not mathematical arithmetic, two plus one may not equal three, maybe only equal to [-] or even [-]!

It's just that if Adriano is put on the bench, it's okay to say that his grades are good. If there is any mistake, then he will be the one who will be criticized.

Under such circumstances, Ding Yu thought about it for a long time. He had to think about his own future, but he valued the team's results more.

The main frame of the central and backcourt has been basically formed. What he is now troubled with is whether to send out the trident of Long Bisheng, Adriano and Messi, or to put Adriano on the bench and keep the maximum integrity of the striker combination of Long Bisheng and Messi.

This choice is difficult. Adriano has been the number one striker of the Chinese national team for the past ten years. Although he is 32 years old and has returned to China for retirement, his ability still exists.

After weighing left and right for a long time, Ding Yu finally made up his mind when Dongfang turned pale.

Pushing open the window, Ding Yu stretched his waist against the morning light, and let out a long breath.

The World Cup is finally here!In this football kingdom, what is waiting for the Chinese national team?Another glory, or a... sad trip?
(End of this chapter)