Chapter 911 Where the dream begins
Hu Lixin saw his wife dressed neatly, sitting on the shoe-changing bench at the entrance, playing with her mobile phone with her head down, and felt strange: "Why did you pack it up so early today?"
My wife's workplace usually starts work at nine o'clock in the morning, so she doesn't leave so early.
"You still have to be active occasionally. You can't just click into the office every time." Xie Lan explained while looking down at his phone. "You don't know, every time I get stuck and click in, Sister Wang's eyes will roll to the sky..."
"Then why don't you leave quickly? Why are you still here playing with your mobile phone?"
Hu Lixin went to a primary school to be a football coach. There was no special situation. He didn't have to go to school in the morning and would go in the afternoon, so he didn't have to rush to work.
Just then Xie Lan heard the sound of the door opening next door. She quickly made a "shh" gesture to her husband, then stood up and opened the peephole to look out.
I saw father and daughter Li Ziqiang and Li Qingqing appearing in the stairwell.
So she quickly opened the door and walked out.
Hu Lixin understood why his wife was not in a hurry to leave just now, and he laughed.
Li Qingqing had just pressed the down button of the elevator when he saw Hu Lai's mother pushing the door open and coming out.
She smiled and said hello: "Good morning, aunt."
"Oh, good morning Qingqing, and good morning Lao Li." Xie Lan smiled as soon as he saw Li Qingqing, and felt that his mood had improved for the day.
"Thank you, sister." Li Ziqiang returned the greeting.
"Auntie, are you going to work?" Li Qingqing asked.
"Yeah, work. What about you, going shopping?"
"No, we are at work too." Li Qingqing said with a smile.
"Work too? Qingqing, what class do you work in?"
"I went to Dongchuan Middle School to train with my father's football team to stay in shape." Li Qingqing explained.
"Oh——"
Just as he was talking, the elevator came and the three of them walked in together.
Xie Lan asked again: "Qingqing, how long will you stay at home when you come back this time?"
"Our team will start reporting on July 1st. If nothing unexpected happens, I will stay at home until the end of June."
Xie Lan clapped his hands: "That's just right! Then let's watch the World Cup together and cheer for the Chinese team!"
"Okay!" Li Qingqing agreed simply, and Li Ziqiang had no objection.
Seeing this, Xie Lan said happily: "Watching football requires a lot of people to make it lively, ha!"
Then he felt a little sad: "Sigh... I don't know what kind of performance our Chinese team can perform in the World Cup this time. I feel that everyone is very enthusiastic now, but I am afraid that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment..."
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Li Qingqing comforted her: "I think it's not too bad, right? Hu Lai is here!"
Xie Lan liked hearing this, and she quickly cheered up: "That's right, my son is here..."
The elevator dinged as it arrived at the underground parking lot on the first floor. Xie Lan went out first and waved to Li Qingqing in the elevator: "Come and play at home when you have time. You can come if Hu Lai isn't here..."
"Okay, Auntie, I'll definitely come when you have time."
Li Qingqing agreed before the elevator door closed.
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Two days ago, Hu Lai was picked up from home by a special car from the Football Association and went to the Jincheng Football Association training base in Pujin, south of Jincheng, to join his national team teammates and start training for the World Cup.
This is a highly anticipated training camp.
Li Qingqing had seen the scene of Hu Lai arriving at the training base countless times on TV news at various times and on the Internet.
You must know that this scene is just him sitting in a car entering the training base. At most, he opened the car window and waved to the cameras of fans and reporters outside.
This shows that Chinese fans now... no, not just the fans, but the entire Chinese society has placed high hopes on this group of people.
Outside Jincheng Pujin's training base, a large number of fans gather every day, and many people who are not even fans also go to join in the fun. As for the self-media internet celebrities holding their mobile phones to broadcast live at the door... there are more, even though they can't take any pictures - the Chinese team implements a closed management, and the players will not go out if there is no game. of.
But even so, it can't stop everyone's enthusiasm for coming here as a "pilgrimage" - many people really just come here to take a photo or a short video of the signboard of Jincheng Football Association Pujin Training Base.
There are also people on the Internet who have specially created a guide for taking photos and recording videos.
Some people call this the "Chinese Football Holy Land Tour."
Yes, the Jincheng Football Association training base in Pujin County has become the "holy place" of Chinese football. Because this is where the Chinese team dream begins.
As for why the national team chose Jincheng as the last training venue before the World Cup, although the official has never acknowledged it, there is an explanation that everyone believes in circulating on the Internet:
Everything starts from the 2024 AFC Champions League group stage, when Anton Shining Star defeated South Korea’s Seoul LG in Jincheng...
On their way to Jinsheng for an away game, Seoul LG encountered extreme weather inexplicably, and the plane was forced to divert to a heavy mountain, causing the players to have an extra bumpy journey. After finally checking into the hotel in Jincheng, there was another small earthquake, which scared the Seoul LG players so much that they rushed down from the building without even wearing clothes.
After such a series of struggles, Seoul LG was completely out of shape in the game and was easily defeated by Shining Star, which was not dominant in strength.
Since then, rumors have begun to circulate that the Korean football team and Jincheng are not compatible. If the Chinese team wants to defeat the Korean team, there is no place more suitable for home than Andong Jincheng. Because this is the best place for Chinese football to resist Korea!
This argument reached a climax when the Chinese Football Association finally decided that Jincheng would host the top 12 match between the Chinese team and the South Korean team at home.
Although the Football Association has not officially acknowledged this statement, every Chinese fan thinks so!
Sure enough, before the top 12 match, there was another accident in which Park Soon-tae, the main core player of the Korean team, was sent directly to the hospital from the plane. The Chinese team finally defeated the Korean team at home with no retreat.
The victory against the South Korean team was a crucial game for the Chinese team in the process of qualifying for the World Cup.
It is precisely because the Chinese team defeated the most powerful enemy, the South Korean team, and gained precious three points here, and also gained strong confidence, that the Chinese team can go all the way and reach the World Cup finals.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with saying that this is the holy land and blessed land of Chinese football, and the place where China’s football World Cup journey begins.
On the one hand, holding a training camp in this place has commemorative significance. On the other hand, there must be some superstitious considerations. It is believed that Jincheng is a place that can bring good luck to the Chinese team. Training here may bring good luck. Can he achieve good results in his first World Cup trip?
There are quite a few people who have this idea, so much so that it spreads around, and in the end some people come just for the purpose of getting some good luck...
Chinese football, which used to be like a rat on the street, has become so infamous that it almost disgraces the title of "the world's number one sport".
Now, in the eyes of many people, it has become a symbol that can bring them good luck.
I have to say that this phenomenon baffles many old Chinese football fans.
After all, in the eyes of many people in the past, all the dark sides of this country combined may not be as sinful as Chinese football...
No matter how stupid things and people are on the Internet, they can gain recognition and fans. Only in Chinese football, everyone's position is surprisingly unanimous - just scold and that's it.
This situation no longer exists, but it has made old fans who have witnessed the darkest years of Chinese football a little uncomfortable.
Seeing that the online public opinion was overwhelmingly praising Chinese football, they felt uneasy inside, fearing that this attention would increase everyone's expectations and demands, as if the Chinese team had failed if they did not qualify for the World Cup group stage this time... …
Amid this excitement, the Chinese team ushered in their first warm-up match in Jincheng. The warm-up opponent is the Nigeria national team.
Nigeria will meet Japan in the World Cup group stage, so they come to play a warm-up match with the Chinese team.
Although the Chinese team also has an opponent from an African team in the group stage, Algeria is obviously not on the same path as Nigeria. Algeria is located in Africa, but it prefers the European style of play.
The purpose of this warm-up match opponent is just to let the Chinese team feel the feeling of playing against the world's top teams, not to simulate their opponents.
The Chinese team hired the National Olympic team to simulate opponents. While the Chinese team was training in Jincheng, the National Olympic team was also training in Shanhai. The purpose of their training is not to prepare for any important competition, but to simply study and simulate the Chinese team's opponent Algeria in the group stage.
As the only opponent of the Chinese team in this group that can have some influence in terms of strength, Algeria is the top priority of the Chinese team's research.
If we can defeat Algeria in the first group match, it will be a good start - of course, it is not easy to defeat this team, and you need some good luck while going all out.
But after all, it is the only opponent that the Chinese team can fight hard and maybe they can still compete with it.
In the warm-up match between Jincheng and Nigeria, the Chinese team finally lost 1:3. It is no surprise that Hu Lai scored the only goal for the Chinese team.
Although the Chinese Olympic team once drew with the Nigerian Olympic team 2:2 in the Olympics, it was a competition at the Olympic team level after all, which was completely different from the national team.
There are also several players in this Nigerian national team who were on the Olympic team, but most of their performances are completely different from those in the Olympics that year.
In front of this traditional African strong team with excellent physical fitness and exquisite skills, the Chinese team did not get any advantage either physically or technically.
In the end, losing 1:3 was actually not bad. At least Hu Lai scored a face-saving goal, which prevented the Chinese team from being shaved off.
After the game against Nigeria, the Olympic team flew from Shanhai to Jincheng. I played two teaching games with the national team behind closed doors at the Pujin training base.
The results of these two games are not important. After all, the point is not to see how many goals the national team wins in the end. It is about letting the national team understand how Algeria plays football during this match, especially what it is like when fighting on the court.
Of course, it’s impossible for the Olympic team to imitate very closely, but it’s better than not imitating at all.
In fact, asking the Olympic team to imitate China's opponents in the World Cup was also Shi Wuyin's suggestion. In the past, when the Chinese team played in events like the Asian Cup, the Olympic team was not used to do such things as sparring. The Olympic team and the national team are relatively independent, and the national team cannot command the Olympic team.
Now for the Chinese team's first trip to the World Cup, the Olympic team comes as a sparring partner. No one thinks this is inappropriate, and no one thinks it is incredible.
Everything becomes a matter of course, after all, this is the first World Cup in the history of Chinese men's football team!
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PS, the European Cup has started, but I have been silent. It was really because I was busy typing words and had no time to pay attention to him. In addition, I am getting older and my health is not that good. I cannot stay up late. Most of the European Cup games are played in the latter half of the night. I cannot stay up late to watch every game like the World Cup that year.
So I don’t plan to watch many games.
Since you don't watch it, you are naturally embarrassed to predict the score.
However, I am still interested in the match between Croatia and England tonight, because the time is right, 9 o'clock in the evening, and I still plan to watch it.
Personally, I am more optimistic about England. After all, Croatia, the current World Cup runner-up, is too old... Modric is the core of this team and a player I like very much, but we still have to follow objective laws.
I think England should beat Croatia by one goal. If they are lucky, they can win by two goals. (End of chapter)