Chapter 3 After the Third Round

After the third round of the Premier League, it was time for the national team matches. During this period, there were no Premier League games, which was why Chen Hero was so leisurely, running to Monte Carlo to slap Platini. He wasn't part of the national team games anyway.

At the end of July, the Chinese national team, which had been slaughtered by Chen Hero and Liverpool, welcomed Laos at home. Perhaps the shadow of conceding six goals to Liverpool had not completely faded, and they had a terrible start. They didn't turn things around until the second half. Although the Chinese team eventually won that game 7-2, it still didn't satisfy the Chinese people. Especially since they allowed a weak team like Laos to score two goals in the first half, almost losing...

Many people said that if Chen Hero was there, he would have solved the problem long ago. The Chinese team created many opportunities in the first half, but Yang Xu failed to seize any of them. He was tall at 1.9 meters, but he didn't know how to use his height. Look at Chen Hero, who is also a big guy, how does he score goals?

Speaking of this, the Football Association was once again scolded miserably by the Chinese media and fans. Because if they hadn't proposed such idiotic conditions, Chen Hero might have joined the national team this time, right?

If the national team had Chen Hero, would they be helpless against a mere Laos? Just cross from the wing and head the ball in the middle, and that would be enough to defeat Laos.

Fortunately, the Chinese team finally defeated the Laos team by a large margin. At least there was no suspense in entering the top 20. If they had only won narrowly in their home game, the pressure on the Chinese Football Association would have been even greater.

In the end, the Chinese team smoothly eliminated Laos in two rounds and entered the top 20, and were placed in a group with Jordan, Iraq, and Singapore. Except for Singapore, Jordan and Iraq believed that they had drawn a good group. In their eyes, the Chinese team, like Singapore, was just a minnow they could use to score points.

But ironically, the Chinese team also thought they had drawn a good group...

And so, the new coach Camacho led the Chinese team without Chen Hero and began their journey in the top 20.

Their first game was at home against Singapore, and they only managed a narrow 2-1 victory, and were even trailing 0-1 in the first half!

When the team couldn't break the deadlock for a long time, the fans at the scene shouted Chen Hero's name. They had used this trick before when the Chinese team played against Laos—when Laos was leading China 2-0 in the first half, the sky above the stadium was filled with shouts of "Hero! Hero! We want Hero!" which made the leaders of the Football Association who were supervising the battle on the spot very embarrassed.

Now they were repeating the same trick, naturally using this opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with the Football Association.

Having to win narrowly against a team like Singapore at home, the decline of Chinese football was indeed quite obvious. Even if the previous Chinese team wasn't the strongest in Asia, it was still no problem to bully Southeast Asian teams. When did it start that the Chinese team was so embarrassed when facing teams like Laos, Thailand, and Singapore?

Camacho's first game in charge of the Chinese team ended in victory, but the controversy never disappeared. The Chinese team is not a top-ranked team in FIFA, but coaching such a weak team, he already felt enormous pressure.

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Although Chen Hero wasn't in the national team, he still cared about his country's team. So although he didn't watch the live broadcast of the Chinese team's game against Singapore, he watched the news afterward.

He didn't have much to say about the Chinese team's narrow victory over Singapore. Chinese football is in such a state now that it no longer has the right to demand good-looking games. As long as they can win and get three points, that's good enough. Everything else is completely step-by-step. Who knows how far they can go? Just because they entered the top ten doesn't mean they can go to Brazil in the end.

Although some Chinese fans are full of expectations for the "world-famous coach" Camacho, and put up banners like "Camacho, take us to Brazil" in the game, that doesn't necessarily mean they will get the result they want.

After the game, a Chinese reporter ran to interview Chen Hero, asking him what he thought of the game and what he thought of the shouts from the fans at the scene.

Chen Hero said that it was good to win, as for the fans' shouts, he didn't think it was useful.

"If Chinese football could get better just by fans shouting, that would be awesome. It's a pity that the Chinese Football Association is not composed of fans..." He didn't forget to poke at the Football Association.

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Chen Hero's UEFA Golden Globe Award did not bring good luck to Liverpool.

After the national team match day, the Premier League restarted.

Liverpool, led by Dalglish, suffered two consecutive defeats.

They lost 0-1 to Stoke City away and were惨敗惨敗0-4 by Tottenham Hotspur away.

Chen Hero didn't score in either of these two games, and the whole of Liverpool didn't score.

Losing five goals and not scoring one was really too embarrassing.

Dalglish was also under enormous pressure.

The media was full of criticism of his conservative tactics and his failure to allow Adam Johnson to play.

Naturally, there were also many rumors about his unstable position.

And Adam Johnson, after sitting on the bench for five games, finally understood that he had absolutely no status in the eyes of the coach of this team! Dalglish didn't like him and didn't want to give him a chance to play.

He began to regret his decision to transfer to Liverpool.

Naturally, he had to complain, but his complaints were炒作炒作by the media and became solid evidence of disunity within Liverpool's locker room...

This gave Dalglish an even bigger headache.

Adam Johnson, who was used as a tool by the media, naturally had even less chance of getting a chance to play. Dalglish openly admitted that he didn't like Adam Johnson. Because this transfer deal was not led by him, he never wanted Johnson to join the team.

But the fact is that he had previously admitted to the media that he was interested in Adam Johnson, and that if Downing couldn't transfer, he would consider Adam Johnson.

Now Downing did not transfer successfully, but he broke his promise. The poor Adam Johnson thus became a victim of the struggle between the two giants of the club's senior management.

Liverpool suffered two consecutive defeats, and in the midst of a crisis, Chen Hero stood up.

Gerrard was still recovering from his injury, and Chen Hero, as the team's biggest star, with a sky-high transfer fee of 70 million pounds, naturally had to say something. Otherwise, the media would not let him off the hook.

"So what if we lost two games in a row?" Chen Hero said when facing reporters, "What's the big deal? I thought the world was coming to an end when I saw you all shouting and yelling. Didn't score in two consecutive games? Maybe I'll score in the next game?"

The team's vice-captain, now the captain, Carragher, also came out to appease the military, saying that there was no problem at all within the Red Army, and that the media's claim that there was a conflict in the Red Army's locker room was completely谣言谣言.

What he said was also true. Even if there were conflicts in the Red Army's locker room, they were not deep, far from as deep as the internal conflicts of teams like Inter Milan.

Adam Johnson complained about Dalglish, which was a conflict between the player and the coach. Other players would not alienate him because he had a conflict with Dalglish. They would still get along as usual.

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Although the two giants came out to speak, appeasing everyone's morale and giving fans confidence, the pressure was still great.

Especially after losing 0:4 to Tottenham Hotspur away. Such a large defeat was really too demoralizing.

The players still hoped to use victory to reduce the pressure and wash away the shame.

On September 21st, Liverpool challenged Brighton away. This was not a Premier League game, but an English League Cup game.

Chen Hero, who had not scored in the previous two rounds, finally broke out, scoring twice in the game, helping the team to win 2:1 and successfully advance to the next round of the League Cup.

Although it was just the League Cup, not the league, the victory still relieved some of the pressure on everyone's heads.

Back in the league, Liverpool beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2:1 at home, with Suárez and Chen Hero each scoring a goal.

Winning two consecutive games also greatly relieved the pressure on Dalglish's head.

The media's criticism was much less, and they focused their attention on praising Chen Hero.

Scoring in two consecutive games, scoring three goals in two games, such a performance finally allowed people to vaguely see the omnipotent Chen Hero of last season.

Dalglish was also very happy about Chen Hero's continuous goals. He praised Chen Hero as a "phenomenal" player at the post-match press conference, calling him a valuable asset to the Red Army Liverpool—Dalglish's love for Chen Hero was evident.

Those who knew the inside story of the Liverpool senior management's struggle felt both helpless and amused when they saw this scene.

Dalglish and Neong are mortal enemies, and Neong and Chen Hero are friends, but Dalglish values Chen Hero very much. It's really让人觉得很错综复杂.

Perhaps it was because Dalglish knew that if he wanted to keep his position at Liverpool, he had to reuse Chen Hero. Because Chen Hero can continue to score goals, and continuous scoring can bring continuous victories...

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"Although he hasn't played many games, Chen Hero has already conquered the Kop stand!"

"Three goals in two games, Hero has once again proved that he is worth the money!"

"In the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Hero's goal completely destroyed the opponent!"

……

Suárez felt unhappy when he saw these media reports.

He also scored in the game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and he scored the goal that opened the scoring for the team! It was because he broke the deadlock that the game became easier to play.

But the media hardly mentioned him, and even when they did mention him, he was just a foil for Chen Hero.

In fact, this situation has not been a matter of a day or two. Since Chen Hero joined the team, this person's name has become the most frequently used keyword by Liverpool media.

His worth, his goals, his appearance, his Chinese identity, his clothing... even his going to nightclubs can make the front page of the newspaper...

I have never enjoyed such treatment!

Suárez thought sourly in his heart.

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ps, the bonus chapter for fifty monthly tickets is here, everyone is very supportive, thank you!

Zuo Xiao Ling