The strongest winger

Chapter 734 The Cheapskate and the Bus Driver
While mainstream European media was discussing the draw for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, Aiello had already boarded a flight to Shanghai. At the end of the month, the Chinese team will play Uzbekistan in the fourth round of the 1 South Africa World Cup Asian Top Ten Qualifiers at the Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium.

In the past three rounds of group matches, the Chinese team won all three games and accumulated nine points. They scored ten goals without conceding a goal, which means that they had a goal difference of 10. In the entire Group A, they not only led in points, but also far ahead of the other four teams in goal difference.

It is said that the original minimum ticket price of 50 yuan for this World Cup qualifier has risen to 2000 yuan a ticket, and as the game date gets closer, there is room for the ticket price to rise again.

In this World Cup qualifier, which is at the right time, place and people, the Chinese team, as the captain of the national team, made great contributions in the game, with one goal and one assist, helping the national team win Uzbekistan 3:1 at home, thus becoming the national team with the best score in the 2010 South Africa World Cup Asian Top Ten qualifiers - four consecutive victories.

At the same time, in another qualifier match, the Japanese team's away game against the North Korean team ended in a tie, which means that the Chinese team's four-match victory has led the second-ranked Japanese team by 2 points in four games, 1 wins, 1 draw and 5 loss, making the Chinese team a step closer to returning to the World Cup stage after eight years.

The next morning’s morning paper also specifically mentioned the results of the fourth round of the World Cup qualifiers: “Last night at eight o’clock in the Shanghai Hongkou Football Stadium in the fourth round of the 2010 South Africa World Cup Asian Top Ten Tournament A Group, the Chinese team relied on captain Ai Luo’s one shot and one pass to help the national team beat the opponent 3:1 at home, thus winning four consecutive group matches. In another group match held at the same time, the Japanese team tied the North Korean team 0:0 away, so the Chinese team’s point advantage reached 5 points..."

Evening news also gave 29 seconds to report. It has to be said that with the increase of positive energy in Chinese football, national TV stations are gradually paying attention to the performance of the national team in the World Cup qualifiers.

Under normal circumstances, only Ai Luo's team won the Champions League or he himself won the European Ballon d'Or and World Player of the Year personal honors, but it is different now. The country advocates paying attention to Chinese football, and the national TV station naturally needs to implement it in place as soon as possible.

Not surprisingly, the reports on China's domestic websites, TV stations, and newspapers all revolved around the Chinese team's World Cup qualifying trip.

Of course, at this time, it was also reported in advance that the Chinese team will go to West Asia in the fifth round of Group A of the World Cup Asian qualifiers in West Asia four days later, and challenge Bahrain away.

This game can be said to be very crucial for the Chinese team. Now the Chinese team has [-] points for four victories, Japan has seven points for four games, two wins, one draw and one loss, North Korea has five points for four games, one win, two draws and one loss.

That is to say, if the Chinese team wins Bahrain in this round, and North Korea, which is third in the group, fails to win Uzbekistan, then the Chinese team will become the first national team to advance to the World Cup qualifiers three rounds ahead of schedule.

It is worth mentioning that Milan Makala, the head coach of the Bahrain national team before the game, expressed the team's goals in a high-profile manner in Manama: "Although the Chinese team has the best Ai in the world, we will not be caught at home, because this game is more important to us. We only scored four points in the past four rounds of the group stage. Every remaining game is extremely important to us, and the next game is a game that we must win!"

Later, when talking about how to beat the Chinese team, Milan Makara said confidently: "This is West Asia. Compared with the weather in East Asia and Central Asia, we are hotter here. Most of our players play in West Asia and have fully adapted to the weather here. However, many of the main players of the Chinese team play in the European League. Continuous matches require a lot of physical fitness for them. Coupled with the hot weather, as long as we are patient enough, it is not impossible to beat the Chinese team!"

Sure enough, as the head coach of the Bahrain national team Milan Makala said, after the players of the Chinese team came out of Manama Airport, the capital of Bahrain, they felt a gust of hot wind, which made them very uncomfortable. Hao Junmin, Feng Xiaoting and Chen Tao even showed signs of dissatisfaction on the second day after checking into the hotel they were staying in.

On the second day, during the training to adapt to the field, the Chinese team suffered another injury. The main central defender Du Wei strained his calf muscle during warm-up, and he will definitely not be able to appear in the game two days later.

Gao Hongbo was full of confidence before departure, but after he arrived in Manama and suffered from acclimatization and injuries, he seemed preoccupied, and he also seemed anxious when interviewed by the media.

However, Ai Luo is very optimistic about the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. When interviewed by Asian media reporters, he was very kind: "Before I came to Bahrain, I had already made sufficient mental preparations, and I also thought that my teammates would be unaccustomed to the environment. Most of our players play in East Asia or Europe. It is difficult for us to adapt to the tropical desert climate. But I hope that the domestic fans don't have to worry too much. We will definitely win the game! Because... I am here!"

Since ancient times, a large area of ​​dissatisfaction and injuries in the away game of the team is very harmful to morale, but Ai Luo's remarks have pulled the Chinese team, whose morale has fallen to the bottom, back up again!
On the day of the game, in order to protect the health of the main players, Gao Hongbo did not send out Hao Junmin, Feng Xiaoting and Chen Tao who were not acclimatized, but boldly used new players.

Under the leadership of Ai Luo, the Chinese team, which faced the West Asian wolf Bahrain with a broken formation, played at its normal level.

In addition, the Chinese team with Aiello can almost limit the entire defense line of the Bahrain team in the frontcourt, thus allowing other teammates in the frontcourt to gain more space. Yu Hai, who came on as a substitute for Hao Junmin, can be said to be a great discovery for the Chinese team in this game. His breakthrough on the right even made the commentator Duan Xuan think that the player wearing the Chinese team jersey is Robben who plays for Real Madrid.

The Chinese team scored two goals in the whole game, but the absence of the main central defender Feng Xiaoting and Du Wei made the Bahrain team with strong impact ability seize the opportunity to score two goals.

In the end, the Chinese team drew with Bahrain 2:2 in the away game.

After the game, in the words of Duan Xuan: "The absence of the main central defender opened the door for the Chinese team. If Wang Xiaolei hadn't resolved many crises during the game, then the World Cup qualifiers in Manama would not have been as simple as a draw!"

Immediately, the results of the match at another venue came out. The North Korean team drew with Uzbekistan 1:1 at home, but because the Chinese team also drew with their opponents, they missed the opportunity to advance to the World Cup.

However, the domestic fans are still very optimistic. In the remaining three rounds, the Chinese team still has two home games. There is no problem in winning one of the opponents. Wouldn’t it be more wonderful to have the opportunity to directly qualify for the World Cup on the soil of our own country?

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The next day, the mainstream media in Asia focused on reports that the Chinese team failed to seize the opportunity to win the Bahrain team in an away game.

At this time, the Chinese players playing football in Europe have taken a flight with Aiello from Manama, the capital of Bahrain, to Dubai, and then transferred to take international flights to fly back to the cities of their respective clubs.

Aiello arrived in London at nine o'clock in the morning on the 2nd. Out of protection for Ailuo, Mourinho did not put him in the squad for the away game against Newcastle on the [-]th.

For Mourinho's arrangement, Aiello has no objection, because after four days Chelsea will challenge Liverpool at Anfield to start the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

Even if Chelsea have won all of the past seven games, Liverpool is a team with great resilience and should not be underestimated!
In addition, Liverpool has a long history and is England's best European team, which is enough to attract the attention of any team.

Chelsea, who challenged Newcastle at St. James' Park, lacked Aiello and had little to do against the defending home team. In the end, they tied Newcastle 0-0 in the away game, while Manchester United defeated Aston Villa 3-2 at home with Cristiano Ronaldo's lore, narrowing the points gap between them to 9 points.

It is worth mentioning that after Manchester United and Chelsea's points were reduced to nine points, no media believed that Manchester United had a chance to win the championship.

Of course, it's not because Manchester United has no chance to reverse and win the championship, but that the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals is about to begin. Chelsea and Manchester United have their own strong opponents.

Before the quarter-finals of the Champions League between Chelsea and Liverpool, there was no need for any media exaggeration. There would be some quarrels between the coaches of the two sides, and this time was no exception.

"Let us meet the team led by the cheapskate again? Huh? Chelsea has advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The report is over!" Mourinho, who was interviewed by reporters outside the Cobham training base, said humorously.

Information spreads very fast in the 21st century. In less than 10 minutes, the reporter on standby at the Melwood training base told Benitez what Mourinho said. The latter immediately bombarded Mourinho: "This is what the bus driver did? I have nothing to say to this kind of person who doesn't respect his opponents! Chelsea did win many victories in the past, but the past does not equal the future. The next Champions League quarter-final at Anfield will definitely let them know who is the winner here!" "

(End of this chapter)