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Chapter 87 Sharpening Stone

Compared with last year, in this year's invitational tournament, Yunjiatianyu's 89-year-old echelon is obviously less lucky. The opponents in the three groups are from Shandong, Sichuan and Shenyang. The teams in these three places are all veteran teams in A-A. Shandong has become one of Yunjiatianyu's strongest opponents in the league in the past few years.
In fact, in last year's competition, Shandong entered the top four, while Sichuan and Shenyang were the top eight and sixteen respectively!
Although this grouping is not as scary as last year's U-17 echelon of Yunjia, Shanghai, Shandong and Dalian, it is not that bad. Therefore, before the start of the competition, all the media that reported on this competition agreed that although Yunjiatianyu's strength is not impossible to qualify, the process of qualifying must be very difficult!If one is not careful, it is very possible to capsize in the gutter!
But the process of the game surprised everyone.

From the first game, Yunjiatianyu's 89-year-old echelon has shown excellent form. It has been thriving all the way and defeated the three opponents in the group. 89-[-], [-]-[-], [-]-[-], Yunjiatianyu's [-]-year-old echelon completed the group stage with a wave of undisputed three-game winning streak!

After a year of dormancy, the 89-year-old echelon, which had the worst score among Yunjiatianyu's five echelons last year, finally showed their ferocious fangs!

"This team doesn't look like a group of 13-year-olds... It's rare to see a youth team that has both individual performances and teamwork! This team gives me the feeling of a Viper, calm, sharp, and lethal in one blow, but the Viper is cold, but they are so passionate. If they can maintain this state, then I think it will be difficult for any team to stop them in this game... The only question is, is their state coming out a little too early?"

This is an article written by a well-known sports reporter after watching all three group matches of Yunjiatianyu's 89-year-old team.

The newspaper that published this article was circulated by Long Bisheng and the others. Although no one of them was mentioned in this article, even as a whole, they were very excited to be mentioned in the print media for the first time.

However, the reporter's wording caused strong dissatisfaction among the surroundings - it is the greatest crime in the world to describe our lively, lovely, vigorous and cute little Zhengtai with poisonous snakes.

As soon as these words were said, everyone around them vomited immediately. After vomiting, the super cute little Zhengtai was beaten violently, and was severely warned not to use such disgusting adjectives to describe other people, otherwise he would be beaten once every time.

"This reporter's level is very high. Our team behaves like a poisonous snake on the court—I like this adjective." In the coach's room, Ding Yu read the same newspaper and laughed.

"The players have shown a very high level in these games, but Coach Ding, is it really okay to try our best in the group stage like this?" Coach Zhao also had a newspaper in his hand: "This reporter is right. If there is a mistake in the knockout stage, no matter how good the group stage is, it will be useless."

"It's okay, Lao Zhao." Ding Yu smiled and shook his head: "The players have been holding back for a year, and their state will not disappear soon, and this kind of game doesn't have to be so utilitarian. It is serious to let them play well. Besides, the whole team is no longer comparable to last year in terms of tacit understanding and desire for victory. No matter which team it is, I have the confidence to beat them!"

"I have a question. During the game, you always take a notebook to write down. What are you writing down?" Coach Zhao changed the subject.

"Do you want to read it? Take it and read it." Ding Yu picked up his notebook from the table and threw it to Coach Zhao.

"Shenyang No. [-], Wang Shuai, right back, relatively fast, full of stamina, poor technique, dare to fight on the court. Shandong No. [-], Gao Zhifa, right midfielder, good defense, maybe can play right back, excellent long pass, aggressive defensive action. Shandong No. [-], Sun Qing, position as midfielder, rough technique, excellent physical fitness, large running range, excellent stealing ability, Shi Shun, Sichuan No. [-], goalkeeper, reaction seems average, relatively stable, excellent goal line skills..."

All the names recorded in the notebook are individual names. Coach Zhao raised his head in surprise after reading only four names: "You just memorized this in the game?"

"That's right." Ding Yu nodded: "They are all players who performed well on the court. I found out their names later."

"Why do you remember this?" Coach Zhao asked with some doubts: "At this age, those who can come to BJ games and perform well as the main force are at least the key training targets of each club. We can't dig them out. Even if we can, it will hurt the harmony between the clubs!"

"I didn't think about poaching them." Ding Yu laughed: "I just want to have a certain understanding of outstanding players in this age group in advance... Just like last year, the young players in Tianjin and Meixian are very good. Maybe they will be in my plan in the future."

Seeing Lao Zhao's puzzled face, Ding Yu smiled even more happily: "I'm very ambitious... 89 years old, what does this number represent? Haha, I can be considered a self-serving person."

After saying this, Ding Yu's expression changed: "Okay, now let's discuss the tactics for the quarter-finals the day after tomorrow. Our opponents are not bad. If we can't pass their level, it will be a big blow to the players' self-confidence..."

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Yunjiatianyu's opponent is No.3 in another team, the 89-year-old echelon of Wuhan Ejinlong Football School.

Among the domestic clubs, the relationship between Wuhan and Yunjia is almost the best. Although Yunjia has been on a smooth journey since its establishment and has now become one of the strongest clubs in the league, Wuhan has been ups and downs between A-A and A-B. The best result was No.6 last year, and the only championship trophy was only the FA Cup last year. However, the difference in strength does not hinder the good relationship between the two clubs.

The relationship between the two clubs can be traced back to the second year after the start of the professional league. At that time, Yunjiatianyu rushed to the first B just one year after its establishment. Due to the good personal relationship between the two bosses, the two clubs began to cooperate. 2's Wuhan upgrade was successful.

After entering A-A, the good relationship between the two clubs not only did not break down, but became even tighter. Yunjiatianyu, who has huge financial support, immediately sold his top scorer Yi Xiaofeng and defensive core Feng Gang to Wuhan Yazhi. Unfortunately, Wuhan Yazhi was relegated, but if it weren't for the outstanding performance of these two players, Wuhan Yazhi would not be able to support the final round.

It is precisely because of this good relationship that in the following seasons, the personnel exchanges between the two clubs were extremely frequent. This kind of personnel exchange is not only the exchange of first-team players, but also the exchange of young players at all levels and the exchange of young coaches.

Even the 89-year-old echelon where Long Bisheng is located has a lot of connection with Wuhan—Dai Guangming, Zhou Zhou and Wu Bufan were recruited by Yunjiatianyu from Wuhan Ejinlong Football School, and the coach of the Wuhan 89-year-old echelon was dispatched by Yunjiatianyu.

Perhaps in the eyes of others, this game should be easy, because with the good relationship between the two clubs, and everyone can see that Yunjia Tianyu's 89-year-old echelon team is here for the championship, otherwise they wouldn't play so hard in the three group matches. It's okay for Wuhan Ejinlong Football School to let it go properly-after all, there is no pressure on performance in such a game.

But Ding Yu knew that the opponent would never release water. First, although the opponent’s coach was sent by Yunjiatianyu, it was precisely because of this that he wanted to prove his ability in such a game. It doesn't show mountains or dew, but it is an absolute strength group.

So this game is definitely not easy to play, but Ding Yu has no fear at all. What he wants is to talk to a strong opponent. Only in front of a strong opponent can he force out the potential of these talented young people under him.

In Ding Yu's view, these national opponents are not only Yunjiatianyu's opponents, but also the sharpening stone of this team.

Only a good whetstone can sharpen a knife.

(End of this chapter)