Godfather of national football

Chapter 137 The New Zealand Tournament ([-])

Since Australia went to the AFC, New Zealand has dominated Oceania, so the draw by Tahiti in the last round caused a national uproar in New Zealand, but soon the New Zealand media found excuses, such as Tahiti's poor stadium conditions, such as Tahiti players playing too dirty.

Of course, the New Zealanders believe that defeating Tahiti at home, or even defeating their opponents by a large score, is a certainty.

In addition, European bookmakers also offered odds for this game. The odds for Tahiti to advance are 1 to 20, while the odds for New Zealand to advance are 1 to 1.5.

It was in this overwhelming atmosphere that the Tahitians came to New Zealand, and as soon as they arrived in Auckland, the media's attention was drawn to the Tahiti canoe fleet.

"Did you really come here by canoe?"

"Are there any dangers on the way? Typhoons? Sharks? Or unsolved mysteries like the Bermuda Triangle?"

The captain of the canoe team answered the local media's questions one by one. Meanwhile, the Tahiti national team players were left alone. No one cared about them. They just came to finish the game and send New Zealand to advance.

*****
At the press conference before the game, the head coach of New Zealand said that it would be difficult for Oceania teams to qualify for the World Cup, but maybe this time is a good opportunity. After all, Oceania was drawn to play against Asian teams in the play-offs.

Throughout the press conference, the New Zealand coach had already bypassed Tahiti and was imagining the play-offs after that.

When it came time to ask questions, a reporter asked: "Will New Zealand consider joining the AFC like Australia did?"

"Not necessarily, it's really hard to say, Asian football is also progressing very fast, China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Australia, New Zealand, it is difficult to win a spot."

"But in Oceania, it's hard for New Zealand to move up the FIFA rankings," he said.

"But we get a play-off spot every time,"

The reporters at the scene laughed. This is the only advantage of staying in Oceania. Besides, if the World Cup expands in the future, Oceania will probably have a place for direct promotion. This is also the biggest motivation for New Zealand to stay in Oceania.

"That means New Zealand is waiting for the World Cup to expand?"

The head coach smiled knowingly, "That's Blatter's business, it has nothing to do with me."

After the relaxed time in New Zealand, it was the turn of the head coach of Tahiti to ask questions. A reporter asked: "If you could name a reason why Tahiti can perform miracles, what would you choose?"

"United, my team is united."

"The Tahitian players played dirty in the last game. Do you still use the same tactics this time?"

"Sorry, maybe our understanding of football is different, but in my philosophy, tackling is a technique of football, why is tackling dirty?"

The atmosphere of the press conference was a bit tense until the last question blew up the press conference. A reporter from New Zealand asked: "According to reliable sources, the head coach of the Chinese team, Li Guo, is helping the Tahiti national team."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was quite surprised, because the last time Li Guo appeared in the sight of the international media was in Kuala Lumpur when he denounced the AFC. After that, Li Guo disappeared. The official statement of the Football Association is that he went abroad for inspection. How could he appear in Tahiti and help the Tahiti national team?

"Li Guo is our distinguished guest. To be precise, he is a tourist and has nothing to do with the Tahiti national team."

Just listen to the swishing sound below, that is the sound of typing on the keyboard or handwriting records, this is big news.

This is tantamount to acquiescing that Li Guo is helping the Tahiti national team. Otherwise, why would the head coach of the Tahiti national team know a tourist?
"Is it illegal for Tahiti to do so?" the New Zealand reporter asked.

"Hehe, then you can go and complain, Oceania Football Federation, FIFA, International Court of Arbitration for Sport, whatever you want."

The press conference broke up unhappy. No one would have thought that after a press conference, the protagonist would become Li Guo.

*****
On the day of the game, the weather in Auckland was very good. Before the game, the staff of New Zealand cut the lawn very short, and never allowed any accidents to happen during the game.

I remember that in the 2008 European Cup qualifiers, when England played against Croatia, the England goalkeeper made a mistake in receiving a pass and the ball rolled directly into the goal.

This game, the stadium, and the weather are no longer on Tahiti's side. Perhaps as their coach said, Tahiti's only advantage is unity.

*****
The starting lineup given by Tahiti before the game was 451, but the actual position in the game looked more like 550.

The lone striker, Chen Xiu, did not pass the halftime, but cruised in his own half, because once the halftime passed, Chen Xiu was offside, which shows how heavily New Zealand's formation is under pressure.

After the opening game, New Zealand made a small test. First, their high center forward rushed a few times. Tahiti's defense line with a height of about 1 meters was under great pressure. Almost every long pass into Tahiti's penalty area threatened to score.

In the stands, Li Guo was watching the game anxiously, with Ji Ke beside him. The North Harbor Stadium is different from Tahiti’s home stadium. Here you can watch the game from a high position, and Li Guo can clearly see the situation of the game.

Seeing Tahiti's passivity at the beginning, Li Guo immediately told Tahiti's head coach through the headset, "Boss, I can see clearly here that the New Zealand midfielder passes the ball too easily. We must let the midfielders move forward and give their passers a little interference."

"Li Guo, but such a player consumes a lot of physical energy, which is a problem."

"Don't worry about it, just listen to me."

"it is good,"

Eta Eta gestured and asked the Tahitian players to step up. After Li Guo's special training, the Tahitian players no longer fought alone to grab the ball, but went out in groups.

The ball-scrambling team composed of two or three people put great pressure on the opponent. The New Zealand players were also afraid of losing the ball, because their defense line was too high. Once they were counterattacked, the opponent’s Chen Xiu was also a threat. The fake Messi from Tahiti last time caused us to receive a red card.

"Boss, it's not enough. When others are robbing, Chen Xiu must cross the center line."

"Crossing the center line? Doing nothing?"

"That's right, just do nothing and run empty."

(End of this chapter)