Godfather of national football

Chapter 22 War in Iraq
"I am very happy and surprised that you can accept my interview," Ibrahim said.

"What?"

Ibrahim thought to himself, "Don't you ask this knowingly? Our Qatar and Chinese teams are direct opponents in the top 20."

"Because we would be rivals,"

Li Guo laughed as soon as he heard it, "I have never regarded Qatar as an opponent,"

The smile on Ibrahim's face froze instantly. It was rumored that the new head coach of the Chinese national team was crazy.

"Sorry, I don't want to lie, I think the only group that can pose a threat to the Chinese team is Australia."

Originally, Ibrahim was planning to give courtesy first and then fight, but what Li Guo didn't expect was that Li Guo pushed the atmosphere to a point of tension from the very beginning.

Ibrahim came prepared, and he took out a piece of A4 paper, "But from the historical record, the Chinese team has no advantage in the match between the Chinese team and Qatar."

Li Guo smiled slightly and said, "In the 50s, Hungarian football was number one in Europe, but what happened later? Football is always developing. I think historical data is meaningless."

"So you've already thought about the top 10?" Ibrahim asked.

"Hehe, maybe it's not just the top 10 match,"

Originally, Ibrahim planned to do an interview for half an hour, but now he found that it was only 3 minutes, and Li Guo was too much for him. If this continues, Li Guo probably wants to talk about the imagination of Chinese football winning the championship in South Africa.

So Ibrahim can only avoid sensitive topics such as Chinese football and Qatari football, because it is presumably impossible for Li Guo to allow someone to blackmail Chinese football, and of course Ibrahim will not blackmail himself.

"Can you talk about your idol, Coach Li Guo," Ibrahim changed the subject.

"Of course, in terms of football coaches, my favorite is the Dutch coach Michels,"

As a football reporter, Ibrahim is obviously not unfamiliar with this name. He nodded repeatedly, "the pioneer of total football."

Ibrahim continued to ask: "Then can you tell me why you like Michels so much?"

"Because he brought football back to its roots,"

Ibrahim doesn't quite understand these words. It stands to reason that Michels has created an era, so how can it be called a return?
"Sorry, I don't quite understand,"

Li Guo said: "Football is the most complicated team sport on the planet. Before the Dutch pioneered Total Football, you will find a funny scene on the pitch. The defenders don't participate in the offense, and the attackers don't come back to defend."

Li Guo continued: "That doesn't look like a team sport. Can you imagine a volleyball game, where a group of people are blocking the net, and another group of people are sitting and resting?"

Ibrahim chuckled.

"So I say that the Dutch are bringing football back to its roots and really becoming a team sport, and football has become more beautiful since then."

After hearing these words, Ibrahim was completely silent, and a chilling feeling hit his heart. He knew that Chinese football was not good in the past because there was no suitable coach. The Chinese Football Association was always superstitious about foreign coaches.

Ibrahim looked at Li Guo, "Maybe Chinese football has found the right one. For a big country like China, as long as it finds the right one, it will be a terrible thing."

Before, the domestic media in Qatar generally believed that being in the same group with the Chinese team was a sign, but now it seems that it may not be so.

Ibrahim is also very humorous. He said: "Coach Li Guo, I thought before that we just need to fight off China, but now I think it may be more realistic for us to fight off Australia."

Li Guo was very cooperative and smiled, "Then I hope that China and Qatar will join hands to qualify."

*****
On the day of the competition, the weather in Doha was very good. It should be said that in Doha, it is difficult to have bad weather. Water is more expensive than oil in this country, and rain is a luxury here.

Before the game, Li Guo gave the four defenders a death order, not to assist!
Li Guo knows Iraqi football, as long as they score first, they will give full play to the spirit of Xiaoqiang, so avoiding conceding the ball first is Li Guo's first consideration.

For well-known reasons, most Iraqi players lack systematic training, so as long as they lose the ball, the formation is easy to mess up.

Before the start of the game, when the national anthem was played, Li Guo was very moved. This was the first time he felt a lot of pressure on his body after crossing. Before the match against the Philippines, because the opponent was too bad, Li Guo didn’t take it to heart at all. The top 20 match was different. In his previous life, Li Guo knew very well that the Chinese team did not advance to the final top 10 match.

After the national anthem was played, Li Guo rubbed his eyes. In his previous life, when Li Guo was watching the Olympic Games, every time the Chinese national anthem was played, Li Guo would be very moved.

After the game started, Iraq still gave full play to its Xiaoqiang spirit and launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team, but the current Chinese team is not what it used to be. The defense line composed of Mu Fei, Zhou Dun, Yin Di, and Geng Chong is basically motionless.

Iraq frequently made crosses, which looked fierce, but basically could not form an effective threat. Li Guo stood on the sidelines after the game started, and his nervousness made him unable to sit on the coaching bench with peace of mind.

As the champion of the Asian Cup, Iraq is still very capable, especially Younis. When competing with Yin Di for the top, Younis seemed very experienced in judging the landing point.

Looking at the solid defense of the Chinese team, Li Guo was very pleased. Thanks to his coaching assistance system, he was able to find such four outstanding players in the vast crowd.

Now for the Chinese team, the most important thing is a goal. The Chinese team is very lucky. Li Guo's expected goal did not make everyone wait too long. In the 30 minutes of the first half, Iraq's midfield breakthrough was interrupted.

Under Redondo's training, the Chinese team's midfielder handled the ball very concisely. Zheng Zhi barely raised his head.

As soon as the goal was scored, Li Guo was very excited and almost rushed into the field. With the strong defense of the Chinese team, as long as there is a goal in hand, the balance of the next game will fall to the Chinese team.

This is indeed the case. Anyone who has watched the 2007 Asian Cup should remember that Iraq was very lucky throughout the entire Asian Cup. It always scored first in key games, including the final against Saudi Arabia.

But this time the Iraqis were no longer so lucky. While conceding a goal, the Iraqis also seemed to lose their confidence. In front of the strong defense of the Chinese team, the Iraqis became more and more anxious. As a result, before the end of the first half, the Iraqi defense conceded another goal.

The Chinese team ended the first half with a 2-0 advantage.

(End of this chapter)