Champion’s Heart

Zhou Yi didn't have the same problem as Schulze. He slept deeply and soundly.

He led the Chinese team to challenge Brazil over and over again in the virtual space to see how the Chinese team can compete with the Brazilian team with the current strength.

In repeated games over and over again, he found that as Lippi analyzed, this Brazilian team has many problems, but now qualifying first in the group has covered up these problems, and the Brazilian media and fans have tacitly avoided talking about them. , it seems that talking about it will disturb the morale of the military and allow the Chinese team to find a way to deal with the Brazilian team.

But they didn't expect that even if they didn't tell, Zhou Yi would know.

Scolari is a very stubborn head coach, and he has had very brilliant achievements in his coaching career. The pinnacle was leading the Brazilian team to win the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. The 3R+ dual-card tactic at that time was really awesome.

Coaches who have been successful in the past are more willing to believe in themselves, have very strong confidence in themselves, and are stubborn.

These problems have all appeared in Scolari.

His several coaching failures also have a lot to do with his character.

For example, when he coached Chelsea, he was fired after half a season.

After he returned to coach the Brazilian national team, his coaching in Palmeiras was very unsuccessful. He only coached Palmeiras for fifty-six days and brought this giant team into the abyss of relegation, and was thus dismissed. Palmeiras club president sacked.

At that time, Scolari was able to coach the Brazilian team again, which surprised the Brazilian media.

However, Brazil's final victory in the Confederations Cup concealed many problems and made everyone accept Scolari.

Judging from the first three games of the World Cup, Scolari's adjustment was insufficient, his thinking was rigid, and his blind confidence was serious.

In Zhou Yi's view, this team's ability to reach the knockout rounds can only be described as stumbling.

In the last group match, the Brazilian team defeated Cameroon 4:1, which seemed to restore the confidence of the Brazilian team players. They felt that they were invincible and that winning the Chinese team would be a piece of cake.

But from a strength perspective, this Brazilian team is not absolutely stronger than the Chinese team.

This was confirmed over and over again by Zhou Yi in virtual competitions.

Take a look at the Brazilian team’s roster.

Compared with the star-studded Brazilian team in the past, this team is full of civilian flavor.

Especially the striker. Brazilian football has always given people the impression of superior offensive power, and there is never a shortage of superstars on the offensive line. Because football in this country advocates offense. Children like to be forwards and score goals since they come into contact with football. Of course, it is easy to develop offensive geniuses. Since the Pele era, Pele, Garrincha, Rivelino, as well as White Pele Zico, Falcao, Socrates, and those who are closer to current fans include Romario and Bebeto , Rivaldo, Dejaminha, Jardel, Elber, Edmundo, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Robinho...

In the past, the Brazilian team only had to worry about having too many attacking players and not being able to arrange them. It never worried about not being able to find a suitable forward.

But now this problem actually exists for the Brazilian team. In fact, this trend has been going on since the World Cup in South Africa four years ago. At that time, Fabiano was wearing the Brazilian team's No. 9 jersey. At that time, he was known as the weakest No. 9 forward in the history of the Brazilian team.

But now it seems that it was too early to say anything at that time, because today’s Brazilian national team No. 9 is weaker than four years ago...

It is Fred who currently wears Brazil's number nine jersey.

If you don’t know much about Brazilian football, will you be confused when you hear this name at first – who is this person? Why wear the same number that Ronaldo once wore?

In fact, Fred is not a newcomer to the Brazilian national team. This is his second time participating in the World Cup. He made a total of thirty-two appearances for the Brazilian national team, scoring sixteen goals. In this Brazilian national team, he is the player with the most goals after Neymar.

But this does not mean that Fred has outstanding strength.

The last time he participated in the World Cup was the 2006 World Cup in Germany. As Ronaldo's substitute, he played very few times and did not leave much impression.

At that time, Fred was still playing in Ligue 1.

Now Fred is getting older and has returned to Brazil to play for Fluminense. He was selected for the Brazilian national team because he is currently the only available person in the center position of Brazilian football.

Diego Costa, who originally performed well at Atletico Madrid, is a Brazilian who is more suitable for this position, but he refused to play for the Brazilian national team and chose to play for the Spanish national team. This incident caused great dissatisfaction among the two football associations at the time.

There is also a theory that Scolari's stubbornness and arrogance are one of the main culprits when it comes to Diego Costa not playing for the Brazilian national team. For example, Zico holds this view and believes that Scolari did not want to recruit Diego Costa at all, but only because Diego Costa expressed his intention to fight for Spain that he was promoted before a friendly match. Recruited Diego Costa and then gave him twenty token minutes.

Because he played in a friendly match, Diego Costa could also join other national teams. In the end, Diego Costa officially announced his joining the Spanish national team before the World Cup. Looking at Diego Costa's outstanding form at Atletico Madrid, I wonder if Scolari regrets it...

Without Diego Costa, of course Scolari can only choose Fred as the center.

Fred is a big flaw in the current Brazilian national team, but apart from him, the Brazilian team is not very strong in other positions.

Hulk became famous very early, but he has always lacked experience in the mainstream European leagues. He can only play in the Russian league and the Japanese league, and he is far from reaching the height of people's expectations for him.

Ruo once moved to Manchester City for a transfer fee record of the Manchester City club, but his performance in Manchester City was mediocre. He played 42 times for Manchester City and only scored six goals. Now he has returned to Brazil and plays for Atletico Mineiro.

Bernard was young, only 21 years old. He participated in the World Cup for the first time and scored one goal in ten appearances for the national team. Currently playing for Shakhtar Donetsk, he has little reputation and is only a substitute in the Brazilian national team.

Among the forwards, there is only one world-class star with enough reputation, Neymar, but Neymar became famous very early and only went to Europe last year. He has not yet grown into what everyone hoped for in Barcelona, ​​and he is still Messi's younger brother. The core and superstar of the Brazilian national team cannot play alone in the club. This shows the strength of the Brazilian national team.

Let’s make a simple comparison with another Brazilian national team also coached by Luiz Scolari. Rivaldo in 3R is Barcelona’s core player and has long won the European Ballon d’Or and World Footballer of the Year. Not to mention Ronaldo, the alien is the absolute core player in Barcelona and Inter Milan, and he is a soft-hearted person who gets personal honors. The only one who is younger is Ronaldinho, but he also serves as the core of the French giants Paris Saint-Germain, and he also moved to Barcelona in the year of world tragedy to serve as the core of Barcelona.

So now people say that today's Brazilian team is far worse than before. Some people think that today's Neymar is just an ordinary player in the Brazilian team back then, and can only hide under the light of a group of superstars. The starlight could never be as bright as it is now. Most of his current reputation is due to the current shortage of talent in Brazilian football. Apart from him, there is no other talent that can be used.

This is not necessarily a deliberate attempt to smear Neymar. There is an example - Kaká, who later became the core player at AC Milan and helped AC Milan win the UEFA Champions League in 2007, won the World Footballer of the Year and the European Ballon d'Or. I'm afraid Neymar's talent is not even inferior to that of Brazil. In the Brazilian national team that won the World Cup at the time, he was just a marginal figure in the national team who could only play in garbage time to make his presence felt...

In the midfield, although there are many players who have worked hard in the European schedule and their names are not unfamiliar, none of them can truly be called a superstar. Many of them are participating in the World Cup for the first time, such as Fernandinho who plays for Manchester City, Paulinho who plays for Tottenham Hotspur, Willian and Oscar who play for Chelsea, and Wolfs who play for Wolfs. Gustavo of Fortuna, Hernanes who plays for Inter Milan...

The defense has always been the weakness of the Brazilian national team - but that was compared to the incredibly powerful offensive line at the time. The 2002 Brazilian national team also had superstar defenders such as Lucio, Cafu, Roberto Carlos and others.

But now the situation of the Brazilian national team is reversed. Compared with their weak forward line, the Brazilian team's back line is much more luxurious...with Marcelo, Alves, David Ruiz and The Brazilian defense of Thiago Silva and others can be called the most expensive Great Wall of Human Flesh in this World Cup.

You know, the three most valuable defenders in the world are all from Brazil.

Of course, worth cannot fully represent ability. This luxurious defense has conceded two goals in three games so far. It is not surprising that the two full-backs Marcelo and Alves have exposed their offensive strength and defensive weakness in the game.

In terms of goalkeepers, San Cesar who once helped Inter Milan win the Triple Crown is now old and has not even played football for a long time. Anyone who knows football knows how important sustained high-quality games are to a goalkeeper.

But such a goalkeeper is still the main goalkeeper of the Brazilian national team.

This shows the extent to which the lack of talent in Brazilian football has reached.

Cesar's performance in this World Cup is far from satisfactory, and public opinion has always put a lot of pressure on him.

With a fat body, slow reaction, and lack of competition to maintain his condition, he is like a bomb in the Brazilian defense, who knows when it will explode.

Such a not very strong team, coupled with a stubborn and arrogant head coach, this combination is really a perfect match.

In so many games simulated by Zhou Yi, the Chinese team was almost evenly matched with the Brazilian team - can you imagine this? In the past, when the Chinese team played against the Brazilian team, before the game even started, the Chinese team was automatically on the short side and felt that they would definitely lose. The suspense was only a question of whether they would lose more or less.

This was indeed the case in the 2002 World Cup group stage. In the first game, the Brazilian team relied on Ronaldo's genius strike and Rivaldo's cunning to narrowly defeat Turkey. At that time, the Brazilian team did not seem to have entered the rhythm of the World Cup.

As a result, they met the Chinese team in the second game. A hearty 4:0 victory not only allowed the Brazilian team to qualify for the group in advance, but also helped the Brazilian team find the rhythm of playing in the World Cup. From then on, they moved forward and finally won the World Cup. The Golden Cup of Hercules.

Zhou Yi watched the live broadcast of that game and was deeply impressed.

So comparing it with today's simulated games, he sighed: We have really become stronger, but Brazil is really not as good as before...

...