Champion’s Heart

As for Gao Hongbo not choosing to let four returned players, including Zhou Yi, return to China to participate in the game, the domestic media in China gave support and recognition. Everyone believed that there was really no need to recall them to play such a game in such a tight time. This is not a crucial game.

Considering the time difference and the waste of physical energy from long-distance flights, even if they are called back, they may not be able to perform at a high level.

Moreover, in the past, the Chinese team always let players who played overseas fly long distances to come back to play a friendly match, which has been criticized by the media and fans for a long time.

How can such mistakes be continued again and again and become the tradition of Chinese football?

More importantly, in everyone's opinion, the Chinese team is currently in a good situation in the top ten competition, and there is almost no suspense about qualifying. This time it’s a home game against Qatar, which is ranked second from the bottom. Is it possible that they can’t win?

Even Gao Hongbo has this idea. He believes that when he is first in the group, it is not necessary for all the returned players to come back to participate in a game. If they have this time, they might as well train and learn to rest at their club.

Domestic players alone may not be able to defeat Qatar, which is in poor form, at home. Besides, it's not like he hasn't called back any returning players. Didn't he also call back He Ying?

Based on He Ying's state in the last national team game, it is worth looking forward to this time.

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In this way, the Chinese national team, which is almost an all-China class, welcomed Qatar, the second-to-last player in the group, at home.

Before the game, both the media and fans were very optimistic about winning this game. Some media and fans said that they should not always attribute the victory to the returned players. Our local players are also very good. China The higher the domestic professional league, the better. The level of local players training with high-level foreign players has also made great progress. This game is an excellent opportunity to show their style to the world.

For the national team as a whole, winning is never the work of one or a few people. While praising Zhou Yi and others, don't ignore the local teammates around them. Maybe they are not as able to enjoy everyone's cheers and attention in the European arena as the returned players, but they are still indispensable.

No media has compared the returning players of the national team to the eye-catching parts of a beautiful house, and compared the domestic league players to the cornerstones of the house. They are buried deep underground and unknown, but they are important to them. Very important to this house. We call on everyone to give confidence and support to the players in these domestic leagues.

These principles are quite correct.

The words were also beautifully said and aroused strong resonance.

Everyone expressed their expectation that the all-Chinese class would put on a wonderful performance on the stage of the top ten competition.

But just twenty minutes into the game, the Chinese team conceded a goal first...

They were used by Qatar to score a goal on a counterattack!

At their home court, in front of tens of thousands of Chinese fans who were full of confidence and expectations for them, the Chinese team lost the ball and fell behind!

The atmosphere suddenly became a little different from before.

The entire stadium was filled with relaxation and expectation. While cheering for the national team, every fan was looking forward to scoring a goal.

The result is better now...

The goal they were looking forward to appeared, but the goal scorer was their enemy Qatar!

...The Chinese team made mistakes in defense, and the cooperation between the defender and the goalkeeper was not tacit enough... Commentator Liu Hong was helpless.

After losing the ball, the players of the Chinese team launched a fierce attack on Qatar's goal. Qatar, which was already leading by one goal, was content and quickly recovered its defense and retreated in front of its own goal, intending to score this goal. The lead remained until the end of the game.

Until the end of the first half, the Chinese team still failed to equalize the score.

After the start of the second half, Gao Hongbo's adjustments during the halftime break had no effect.

At the very least, everyone sees that the Chinese team's offense is quite chaotic. There is no system or structure at all. They just hit wherever they want, without purpose or direction.

He Ying was alone at the front, running in vain again and again, but no one could deliver the football.

At this time, the commentator Liu Hong said: ...I think everyone must miss Zhou Yi very much at this moment, right? When Zhou Yi is on the court, our offense is not like this...

He expressed the sentiments of many fans. On the Internet, some impatient fans have already criticized the performance of the national team: The performance of the national team was so great before the game, but the result was excellent. Without the returnees, it would be so miserable. hit!

I don't understand, why not recruit Zhou Yi and the others?

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Later, seeing that he couldn't get the ball in front and had no chance, He Ying began to retreat and changed from a scorer to a person who takes the ball and organizes attacks. After all, in this national team, his technical level and ability are the highest.

After he retreated to the midfield, he really helped the Chinese team stabilize the midfield and created some opportunities. But it is a pity that other forwards who have now switched to the national team cannot seize the opportunity. Neither Gao Lin nor Wu Lei can convert the pass given to them by He Ying into a goal.

Of course, their performance was also criticized by fans online.

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In the end, the Chinese team, with a disorganized midfield and weak forwards, actually lost the game despite being highly optimistic before the game. They lost to Qatar 0:1 at home, which was an upset.

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, the players of the Chinese team were dejected, not expecting that they would lose the game at home.

When the game just started, they came with the determination to win. After losing the ball, they still wanted to come back and win. When the game ended with fifteen minutes left, their goal had become as long as they can equalize the score. But after the game, even this goal was not achieved...

This is indeed too tragic.

The Chinese team's international players had bewildered expressions on their faces, wondering why they lost to Qatar at home.

They are first in the group, and Qatar is second to last in the group. How big is the difference in strength?

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After the game, a panting He Ying accepted an interview with reporters.

He was more tired in this game than in the previous games because he did the work of several people by himself. On the front line, he was responsible for scoring. After retreating to the midfield, he became the organizer of the offense. Zhou Yi, and when Qatar fought the Chinese team's counterattack, he, with his excellent physical fitness and speed, had to play the role of Yang Muge, responsible for blocking Qatar's counterattack.

Can you not be tired after playing like this?

I'm disappointed that I didn't win the game... he said, shaking his head.

The reporter asked: You were favored before the game, but ended up losing the game. What do you think is the reason for this?

He Ying took a few breaths and said: The reason is very complicated and can't be explained in a few words. But for me personally, I feel that my performance is not good enough. This is the reason for losing.

As a player, He Ying took the initiative to take responsibility, even though he didn't need to do so, he did it anyway. This is not a show, but he has high demands on himself. He really believes that as the only returning player to come back to participate in the game, the Chinese team failed to win the game, and that is his responsibility.

Gao Hongbo took all the responsibility for the loss on himself at the post-match press conference: The failure to win was a matter of tactics and personnel arrangements. As the head coach, I bear full responsibility.

A reporter asked: Does the problem with personnel arrangements mean that not all returning players have been recruited?

Gao Hongbo shook his head and denied: It has nothing to do with this.

So if we recall the returning players for this game, will we be able to ensure victory? the reporter asked.

Gao Hongbo continued to shake his head: We can't make such a guarantee. Football matches are not that simple. It's either this way or that way.

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After the game, Gao Hongbo's on-the-spot command and starting lineup arrangement were criticized by the media. Some media questioned why Gao Hongbo only called back one He Ying, but none of the other returning players. Some media questioned his substitution adjustments in the game, and some simply questioned whether Gao Hongbo's use of the all-Chinese class in this game was a chance for some people to stuff money into the national team. After all, the national team has excellent results now, and the national team It has also changed from a sour bun that no one wanted in the past to a delicious one, and a national football quota suddenly became valuable.

This defeat was too sudden for the Chinese team, and it was also too sudden for the Chinese media and fans. Against the background of not falling behind against Japan and easily winning Australia, this defeat came too unexpectedly. It makes no sense.

Some people think that this failure was because Gao Hongbo did not choose to recruit all overseas players, completely forgetting that public opinion before the game was overwhelmingly in favor of not recruiting overseas players, and that he should give trust and respect to all Chinese players. Now, all the responsibility for losing the game is placed on the all-China players who can't hold up the wall.

Some people believe that the failure was not due to the failure to recruit overseas players. The strength of the all-China players was definitely not as inadequate as shown in this game. The main problem was that the head coach Gao Hongbo did not use good ingredients and cook well. Therefore, it reflects the low level of the head coach.

Some people think further and think that since the level of domestic head coaches is limited, should the Chinese team be replaced by a high-level, internationally renowned head coach to lead the team when it reaches the finals of the World Cup in Brazil? Only in this way can we achieve a historic breakthrough for Chinese football in the World Cup?

A failure seemed to destroy all the warmth and tacit understanding established before.

Of course, there are reasons for Gao Hongbo's limited level as a head coach, but in fact, I'm afraid there are deeper reasons.

That is, when everyone's appetite has been whetted by previous victories, how do they face this huge psychological gap?

The Chinese team, or Chinese football, now has a new problem, and that is a kind of blind optimism and self-confidence. If Chinese football was blindly inferior in the past, now it has gone from one extreme to the other.

The historic gold medal won in the Olympic Games seems to have made the majority of Chinese fans and media believe that the golden age of Chinese football has arrived. In the first four games of the top ten competition, China won three games and drew one, ranking first in the group, which made many media and fans cheer. , and also made people in the football industry very optimistic about the future of the Chinese team, confirming their previous judgments, and feeling that Chinese football will stand up from now on.

What's there to worry about playing a home game against Qatar, which is ranked second from last?

But in fact, I don’t know how many people can clearly realize that the current results of the Chinese team do not truly reflect the level of Chinese football. It can only be said that Chinese football, including Gao Hongbo himself, was lucky to meet the golden generation who fell from the sky at this time. It is those young players who have changed the performance of the Chinese team.

But they can only improve the competitive performance of the national team, but they cannot change the entire face of Chinese football.

What would Chinese football be like without this golden generation?

It's still the same, nothing will change.

These people can only win glory for China on the football field, but they cannot change Chinese football from the aspects of system, culture, and economy. These basic things remain unchanged. Even if a group of golden generations are lucky enough to be born by chance, how can it be sustainable? What about the production of outstanding young players?

Therefore, whether it is the Olympic gold medal or the first place in the group in the top ten, it is not a victory for Chinese football, but a victory for the golden generation of players. However, they were trained by European football, and their success is actually not that big compared to Chinese football. The relationship does not prove that Chinese football will leave with its chest held high and its head raised from now on.

In fact, Chinese football is still the rat that everyone shouts to beat. This can be seen from this home defeat against Qatar...

Whether it is extreme low self-esteem or extreme self-confidence, in the final analysis, it is because there is no real self-confidence. This is the impact of the poor and weak image of Chinese football over the past few decades.

If Chinese football does not undergo some fundamental changes, if it wants to achieve any results in the future, it can still only rely on God's favor and the emergence of a group of talented players. But God will not always favor China. Brazil’s football foundation is so good, and talented players are emerging one after another, but there are not many people who can truly be called the “golden generation.” Look at what Brazil has done since winning the World Cup in 2002. The changes in football in the past ten years are really sad. Even a football kingdom like Brazil will be in turmoil. What qualifications does Chinese football have to sit back and relax? (To be continued.)