Fame with a ball

The match between Brazil VS China received a lot of attention before it started, and it attracted more media than the games between Argentina and Uzbekistan, Uruguay and Japan, and Spain and Honduras, because the host Brazil undoubtedly It is the team with the highest noise for winning the World Cup. The Brazilian players' every move is watched by reporters and will appear on the headlines of the next day's newspaper at any time.

Under such circumstances, 90.00% of the people feel that - against Brazil, the favorite team to win the championship, the Chinese team will undoubtedly become cannon fodder among cannon fodder.

Even when Camacho was interviewed by a CCTV reporter, when the reporter asked him "Do you have confidence in Brazil's game?", his answer seemed to be particularly evasive: "Brazil is undoubtedly one of the strongest national teams now. Yes, but the strength of the Chinese team has also improved a lot this year. When we fight against the Brazilian team, we will strive to play at a level and with style, so that the world can see that the Chinese team has become a team. A world-class team."

Not only Camacho, many players of the national team often choose to praise the Brazilian team first when they are interviewed by reporters, and list two or three of them as their professional idols, as if to let the fans know about Samba. After how powerful and difficult the legion is, even if they lose, the fans can easily forgive them...

Coincidentally, the Chinese team from the head coach down to the players kept belittling themselves, while their opponent Brazil said, "It is reasonable for the Chinese to think so."

Brazil coach Menezes: "I have been studying the information of the Spanish team recently. As the defending champion of the last World Cup, I think they still have a very strong combat effectiveness...China team? Yes, I know that after a few days We're going to play, but, uh, I don't think they're going to be much of a threat to Brazil right now."

Brazil striker Hulk: "I don't know much about Chinese football. The coach didn't show us a lot of information about the Chinese team." The implication is that the head coach of the Brazilian team doesn't take the Chinese team seriously at all. Son.

The attitudes of other Brazilian players are roughly the same. They either say that they have no chance for Chinese football, or they just mention perfunctorily, "Ah, yes, I know their striker Lin is very capable, but the victory belongs to Brazil!"

However, in this almost "unanimous" tone, there are still some different voices.

Sun Dawei flew to Brazil to do the World Cup feature for "Sports Weekly". Now he is almost stuck behind Lin Zhigao's buttocks every day, just to catch all kinds of news and get rid of him. Lin Zhigao promised that the other party would accept his 15-minute interview every day , Let him go back and have news to write.

Today, Lin Zhigao told the truth to Sun Dawei: "I think the current atmosphere in China is too strange. A while ago, they clamored for victory and victory, but now they can see the remarks of 'the Chinese team must lose' wherever they go. , Is the Brazilian team so invincible? In terms of purely competitive level, the World Cup is really not as good as the Champions League."

"But." Sun Dawei said cautiously: "Although the Brazilian team is not Barcelona or Real Madrid, the teammates around you are not from Juventus either."

"I know." Lin Zhigao nodded and said, "I just think that singing dirges everywhere is not good for our competition. Zhao Peng and Zeng Cheng also browse domestic news on the Internet every day. If all they see is that we win Can they still have fighting spirit without the opponent's remarks? I am afraid that when they see the Brazilian team during the game, they will shout in their hearts, "I don't know if we will die violently or tragically today". The guns are still aimed at the Chinese national team."

"Then what are your thoughts?"

Lin Zhigao shrugged and said, "We may not lose."

Lin Zhigao hoped that Sun Dawei could write a report to improve the current domestic atmosphere, and he also said that it doesn't matter if his own remarks are published.Sun Dawei agreed with Lin Zhigao with a wry smile, but he still decided to "beautify" Lin Zhigao's words when writing the manuscript. The provincial report was published, and the group of domestic "elite public intellectuals" thought Lin Zhigao was too arrogant.

There are also some completely rational and objective remarks in Brazil.

One month before the World Cup, Kaka was finally recalled to the national team by Menezes and qualified for the World Cup. At this time, he also accepted an interview with a Brazilian reporter. When talking about the upcoming match with the Chinese team, "No, I don't think we can easily beat the Chinese team," he said.

The Brazilian reporter was somewhat dissatisfied: "Brazil's ranking in FIFA is 4th, while the Chinese team is only 37th, and they even ranked outside the 08th in 80. Could such a team also pose a threat to Brazil?"

"The game has not started yet, no one will know the result, and if we can be more cautious, it will not be wrong." Kaka said gently: "The Chinese team was not a strong football team in the past, I know that. But they have Lin. Lin is a player I know very well. Juventus eliminated Real Madrid from the Champions League last season. A player who can be the core of a giant team like Juventus is bound to be able to lead Give Chinese football some changes."

The Brazilian reporter was somewhat dissatisfied with Kaka's elbow turning outward.

In the next day's newspaper, although the reporter truthfully published the interview with Kaka, it did not cause much shock in Brazil. On the contrary, many fans thought it was a sign of "weakness and lack of self-confidence" and said Kaka "Sure enough, after sitting on the bench for Real Madrid for a long time, even the world's top 9 teams like the Chinese team are starting to be afraid."

For such a domestic reaction, Kaka, who is dedicated to working for the national team, can only smile helplessly.

Before and after the World Cup in South Africa, Ronaldo and Ronaldo retired one after another, and there was a vacancy in the leadership position of the Brazilian national team. At that time, Kaka had just transferred to Real Madrid for less than a season, and his momentum was strong. He was the best candidate to take the leadership position.It's a pity that he was injured before he moved to Real Madrid, and his performance in the World Cup in South Africa was not outstanding. He even completely detonated his old injuries after the World Cup. After the injury, his state plummeted, let alone the leader of the national team. Even the core position of the club is not stable.

When Kaka healed his old injury and returned to the club, the national team has already been occupied by a bunch of newcomers, especially in the locker room of the Brazilian national team, Neymar, Lucas Jr. and others have lifted up one after another. Neymar is now in Brazil. The popularity not only surpasses Kaka, but also is not easy to get along with...

Knowing that his influence is gradually weakening, Kaka could not continue talking, because not long after his interview was published, Neymar couldn't help but jumped out and made a big noise: "Lin Zhigao can't represent the entire Chinese team. ! They will never beat Brazil!"

In the eyes of Brazilian players, the Chinese team is a chicken waiting to be slaughtered. They can eat whatever they want.

……

Camacho never thought that his team could beat Brazil, so when he was preparing in the locker room, he repeatedly told the players that there were only these two sentences: "Don't be impulsive, and you must defend the half-court. ...Don't rush forward, when Neymar breaks through, focus on him..."

Someone asked him loudly: "Boss, what is our goal in this game?"

Camacho hesitated for a moment and said, "No ball lost." In fact, because Camacho uttered these three words hesitantly, this sentence didn't sound like a declarative sentence, but a question sentence.

"Boss." Lin Zhigao raised his hand and pointed to the tactical board, and asked, "Why is my position so far back?"

"I need you to contain the opponent near the midfield." Camacho said: "With you, you should be able to attract half of the firepower in Brazil's defense."

"What about the attack?"

"Uh..." Camacho coughed and said, "Our goal in this game is to draw with the Brazilian team. As long as we do this, we will be most likely to qualify for the group stage."

The players of the Chinese team looked at each other, some were relieved, while others showed disapproval.

"Even if we all retreat to defend, the Brazilian team can't be merciful." Lin Zhigao frowned, and said: "The Brazilian team has always had sufficient firepower. If their offense has not been rewarded, and we If they are always unable to shrink back, if they put aside all their scruples and press up to attack wildly, can we hold the goal firmly for 90 minutes?"

After not hearing Camacho's answer for a while, Lin Zhigao looked up strangely, but suddenly found that the other party's expression was extremely displeased, so he immediately swallowed what he hadn't finished speaking.

There was a strange atmosphere in the locker room, condensed and deadlocked.

The head coach and the core of the team fell into silence. Captain Zheng Zhi turned his head and whispered to Sun Xiang, pretending not to see this scene. Department of a long time.

The Chinese know better than anyone else the principle of protecting one's life wisely.

Lin Zhigao felt extremely uncomfortable in the situation of not being up or down—if Camacho could listen to him and adjust his tactics according to the actual situation, Lin Zhigao would think that he was a man who learned from the public and absorbed opinions from all sides to make progress. good coach.If Camacho was stricter, just reprimanded Lin Zhigao, and then told others, "This game will be played like this!" Then his iron-fisted military strategy can at least capture the hearts of the players and make people feel better. Dare not disobey him.

Camacho is like this, he wants to obtain greater benefits, but does not want to take higher risks for this benefit.In order to keep his golden job, he doesn't want to offend anyone in the locker room, but such a move is undoubtedly more difficult to please.A team led by such a head coach will not easily break out major conflicts, but when conflicts do form, it will be difficult to resolve, and the hearts of the players are not united...

In short, he is the new "fixer" in football.

Lin Zhigao misses Capello's way of running the army a little bit now, but he also knows that the Chinese Football Association will never hire a personality like the iron-blooded coach.

……

Half an hour before the start of the game, Lin Zhigao warmed up on the court.

"Hey, Lin."

Kaka, wearing a yellow jersey and blue shorts, suddenly walked towards him, stood beside Lin Zhigao, and said, "I think I should say sorry to you."

林志高知道卡卡为了什么道歉，前阵子他的一次采访引发了巴西媒体对中国足球的攻击狂潮——巴西记者翻出了中国足球的各种黑历史，用来证明中国足球的确不如巴西足球。他们翻出了中国队的各种输球纪录，包括上世纪的1∶7惨败给克拉维夫队、1∶5惨败于卡托维茨队、2∶6不敌华沙队、0∶4输给芬兰队，以及本世纪的0:6完败于巴萨，0:8输给巴西……还有对中国足球体制的抨击，足协多么黑暗、管理足球联赛的方法多么病态、中超联赛又有多少黑哨假球等等……

In the past few days, various media in Brazil seemed to have collectively held a contest to criticize Chinese football. In the end, Brazil’s largest sports newspaper still mocked on the front page news: “Such a team has encountered countless times in the past few decades. Waterloo, the national team that has been cast aside by countless fans in China, is still considered to be a threat to the Brazilian team's qualifying situation? It's ridiculous!"

Kaka felt that if he hadn't talked too much, the Brazilian media would not criticize the Chinese team in this way, so his smile was very apologetic, and there was even a trace of imperceptible melancholy in it.

Lin Zhigao stopped bouncing, he stood up and looked at Kaka, and sighed: "Dude, I want to say it's not your fault, so don't show me that bitter melon face."

Kaka smiled: "Well, you and your teammates... try not to take those reports to heart."

"War of words, I understand that it will be staged several times before every major game." Lin Zhigao joked to himself: "Don't worry, the number and degree of the Chinese team being scolded by domestic fans is amazing! Your Brazilian media doesn't even get enough firepower to watch it."

"In fact, they have a good impression of you." Kaka said: "Many journalists in Brazil like you very much, but the current time...is too special. After the group stage is over, the media's evaluation of you will become objective and fair."

Lin Zhigao curled his lips: "I would rather not have that kind of praise."

Brazilian newspapers are usually published in Portuguese, and Spanish and Portuguese can communicate with each other, so Lin Zhigao can almost understand the newspapers on the market. Recently, the Brazilian media often satirizes Chinese football, but when it comes to Lin Zhigao, their words are true. For example, the sports section of the "São Paulo State Newspaper" said: "It is said that Lin is a player who emerges once in a century in China. If this is true, then Chinese football is really sad. But according to We have seen on weekdays that none of the other players in the Chinese national team can match him. Lin’s competitive level should be added to the Brazilian national team to make the best use of it. It’s a pity that if he could immigrate to Brazil in the first place, he can’t do it now. I can look forward to the Hercules Cup..."

That's how Brazilian journalists praised Lin Zhigao, stepped on Chinese football, and praised Lin Zhigao again.

Lin Zhigao would rather not have such differential treatment.This has something in common with regional discrimination: people from A place comment on the other’s hometown in front of people from B place, "Your hometown is poor and broken, and there are always liars, thieves and murderers. The so-called poor mountains and rivers are full of troublesome people." Then A looked at B again, and said with an incredulous expression, "You don't look like a person from B at all, look at how loyal and kind you are!"

This is a typical slap to veto your origin, and then give a sweet date. If a person is bought by sweet date so easily, then this dignity is too cheap.

Music suddenly sounded in the stadium, which was the tune of the Brazilian national anthem "Listen, Voice of Ipiranga". Brazil is the home team of this game, so their national anthem will be played before the Chinese national anthem.

Lin Zhigao and Kaka looked at each other and said together, "Let's talk later!" Then Qi Qi ran back to the midfield.

The game is about to start.