Chapter 1 China's Training in South Africa

China's training in South Africa wasn't intensive, considering many players had expended too much energy in European leagues and now needed rest.

Essentially, they trained once a day. Although the time was reduced, the intensity remained unchanged. They also played two warm-up matches. Unlike some teams, Qiu Suhui didn't seek out teams that had also qualified for the World Cup finals. Instead, he chose two local professional teams of modest skill. Qiu Suhui wasn't trying to test the team with these matches. In the past two years, China had played many warm-up games in Europe and around the world, accumulating experience against European and South American teams. They didn't need to deliberately seek out teams to gain more experience. Qiu Suhui did this to maintain the team's continuity and avoid becoming rusty without playing. Furthermore, facing weaker opponents would boost the players' confidence. They also agreed with the opponents beforehand to avoid injuries to key players due to overly aggressive play.

France in 2002 was a cautionary tale. Playing a warm-up match against South Korea resulted in the South Koreans genuinely injuring their leader, Zinedine Zidane.

Qiu Suhui wouldn't make such a foolish mistake.

The South African World Cup would open on June 15th, lasting a month and ending on July 15th, with sixty-four matches to determine the world champion.

China was placed in Group G, coincidentally with Italy, the group's seeded team. The other two teams were Mexico from North and Central America, and Colombia from South America.

Due to the recent performance of Italy, Mexico, and China over the past four years, many considered it a "group of death." Officially, the "group of death" was Group C, where the old rivals Netherlands and Czech Republic reunited, along with Cameroon led by Eto'o and the strong South American team Paraguay.

Thus, this World Cup had two "groups of death," Group C and Group G. China was fortunate enough to be placed in one of them.

This grouping was announced last December in Florence. Zhang Jun joked with several Italian national team teammates, saying that he had always resented being eliminated by Italy in the last World Cup, and this time he would ensure Italy couldn't even advance from the group stage.

Although a joke, being in the same group as Italy was indeed a desired outcome for the Chinese team because these fearless guys were only thinking about revenge. What a joyful thing it would be to personally avenge their enemies!

Mexico was the first team to qualify from the North and Central American region, and their strength shouldn't be underestimated. In recent years, they had adhered to a technical style of play, earning much favor, and were adept at controlling matches through possession.

Although Colombia had only risen in the past two years, being able to directly eliminate Uruguay in the South American qualifiers was impressive. Moreover, the team had many talented players.

This group was not easy at all.

Qiu Suhui didn't consider Italy as the sole opponent because, according to the schedule, China would face Italy in the last round of the group stage.

At that point, either elimination would be a foregone conclusion, or it would be a life-or-death struggle, or the situation would be irreversible. Before seeking revenge, they couldn't allow themselves to reach an irreversible situation, right?

At 8:30 PM local time on June 17th, China would face Colombia from South America at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

As China's first match in this World Cup, it garnered significant attention from the Chinese people. Furthermore, due to Zhang Jun's comments at the airport, the Chinese team had become an object of attention from other countries' media, and their popularity soared.

Now, Qiu Suhui had to arrange fixed interview times daily, allowing the media to interview one or two Chinese team members and hold press conferences. All of this was to promote the image of the Chinese team internationally.

Later, he discovered that Zhang Jun was being requested for interviews the most. He had to revise his rules again, limiting each player to a maximum of three interviews, which gave Zhang Jun more time to rest.

The Chinese team didn't engage in closed-door training, which was something only those lacking confidence in their strength would do. Mainly, Qiu Suhui wanted to promote the Chinese team's reputation worldwide, and he couldn't refuse the legitimate interview and filming requests from so many foreign reporters.

Su Fei appeared daily at the Chinese team's training ground and hotel, using her camera to record the daily events of the Chinese team. This was then published as a picture and text column in the special edition of *Sports World. World Cup Daily Express*, published domestically the next day. Her title was: *Sports World* Special Column Reporter Su Fei. Everyone knew what this simple name represented, so *Sports World*, having secured Su Fei to write a column and provide photos, had won the first battle in the World Cup news war. Many people waited every day to buy the special edition, hoping to see Su Fei's writing and her photos.

These photos didn't necessarily have to be training photos; often, they were behind-the-scenes photos from the sidelines or the hotel, reflecting the ordinary lives of the players. But readers were interested in that. Game photos were tiresome after seeing too many, while this was like an after-dinner treat.

Su Fei had realized one of her small dreams: to view this male-dominated world through the eyes of a woman. Her articles didn't contain vast amounts of dry numbers, or seemingly professional formation analyses, opponent analyses, or situation analyses. Only the most emotional essays, like prose, made people feel relaxed and experience a different football world, a different World Cup.

From the articles, one could also see that she was good friends with the Chinese team players, easy to get along with, and could chat about anything. The players didn't avoid anything. Su Fei was also clever, knowing what could be written to entertain the masses and what absolutely couldn't be written. Unlike some experts, who immediately stood in a position higher than everyone else to lecture, showing off their erudition. Su Fei had followed Zhang Jun for so many years, and worked as a sports reporter, so she knew no less than those reporters, but she never flaunted her knowledge in her articles.

Li Yan jokingly said that Su Fei was truly versatile, able to draw, photograph, and now write excellent articles. She wouldn't have to worry about starving in the future.

The name of this column was chosen by Su Fei herself: *Su Fei's Football World*. Many players also liked to read Su Fei's articles, so they were very cooperative whenever she wanted to take photos or conduct interviews. Combined with having Zhang Jun's background, Su Fei was the most popular reporter in the national team.

This made some people jealous. Once, a fledgling young girl was very dissatisfied with how easily Su Fei could handle those seemingly unapproachable stars, thinking that it was because she was pretty and could bewitch them with a few words, a pure fox spirit.

Her colleagues heard this and curled their lips in disdain, saying to her, "If you had a star husband, you could be like that too. If you could draw, photograph, and had a silver tongue, with a beautiful appearance and an easygoing personality, you could be like that too. The problem is, you have nothing."

However, Su Fei also encountered some things that made her both laugh and cry. For example, she actually met her fans outside the Chinese team's training ground, not fans of the Chinese team. The person, who seemed to be a middle-aged man, insisted that Su Fei give him an autograph. At first, Su Fei thought he wanted her to get autographs from the Chinese team players for him, so she agreed. Unexpectedly, the man saw that Su Fei didn't make any further moves, so he reminded her that he wanted her autograph. At that time, the people around her, including Su Fei, were stunned.

It was Su Fei's first time giving an autograph, and she blushed and signed her name. The man wasn't finished and wanted to take a photo with Su Fei, which Su Fei also agreed to.

The reporters nearby went crazy with their flashbulbs, ignoring the players on the training ground. Thus, Su Fei herself became a subject in their reports. Of course, she also wrote about this in her column.

As the influence of Su Fei's column expanded, it gradually moved from print media to online media. She had a large group of loyal fans, including those who never watched football. Some were because the author, Su Fei, was a beautiful woman, and some were purely because Su Fei's small articles were excellent.

Perhaps Su Fei had initially agreed to write a column for Li Yan simply because she felt she owed Li-ge and *Sports World* a favor. She definitely didn't expect that the more she wrote, the smoother it would become, and it would become an independent column, attracting many non-football fans. Some readers even created a personal website for her, specifically updating her articles in the first instance, and some large portal websites were inviting her to set up a Blog and write for them.

Of course, these were all byproducts of the World Cup. The real protagonists were the players and coaches who were working hard for the World Cup.

***

As the World Cup approached, Qiu Suhui and Hu Li became increasingly busy. The team still trained once a day. During the time without training, the two of them usually separated to watch the training of other opponents in the group, as well as the training of potential opponents they might encounter after the group stage. Even the players had lost the excitement they had when they first arrived in South Africa, wanting to go out and shop. First, Qiu Suhui told them solemnly that the security in Johannesburg was very chaotic, and if they ran around, they might be kidnapped. Secondly, the gradually approaching atmosphere of the big battle made them lose the desire to play.

Even Yang Pan pulled Zhang Jun aside to watch videotapes borrowed from Qiu-zhi in his room whenever they had time – videotapes of Colombia's matches in the South American qualifiers.

For Zhang Jun, his memory of Colombia seemed to be stuck in the 1990s, with that crazy Colombia team with Valderrama, Higuita, Asprilla, and others.

So when he looked at the unfamiliar faces and names on the screen, he felt a little disoriented. Their goalkeeper was a young man named Briel Cassotti. The midfield core was just a twenty-two-year-old lad named Martin Abelani. The forward line was even younger. The team's top scorer in the qualifiers was a rising star only twenty years old, John Jones.

This Colombian team was basically built on the team that won the South American U17 Championship a few years ago. After a few years of silence, Colombian football hoped to rise again in the world through this youth championship. Reaching the World Cup with an almost all-youth team was also a remarkable achievement.

Before coming to South Africa, the Colombian coach – who was also the U17 coach two years ago, Evoly Montokaro – praised all the opponents in the group stage, saying that Italy was an undeniable world power and a strong contender for the World Cup title. He said that Mexico, as the champion of North and Central America and ranked among the top twenty teams in the world, was a force to be reckoned with. For their first opponent in the group stage, he was even more generous with his praise, saying that the Chinese team's own players thought they were remarkable: that they had players playing for the best clubs in Europe, that Zhang Jun was the best forward on the planet, that their overall strength was strong, and that he wouldn't be surprised if they qualified for the group stage… and so on.

Yang Pan wouldn't pay attention to the other coach's smokescreen. He specifically borrowed videotapes from Qiu Suhui, hoping to study his opponents carefully, learn more about them, and be better prepared when they played.

When the two of them had watched all the available videotapes, Yang Pan planned to ask Zhang Jun what he had seen.

Zhang Jun smacked his lips, "Although they have some talent, we can win."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because they are too young."

"Isn't it good to be young and energetic?"

"Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Think about when we first participated in the World Cup, we were all very young, right? So at that time, we could cause a lot of trouble for Brazil with our energy, but we couldn't win the final game. That's the difference. The current Colombia and us are like we were and Brazil at that time."

Yang Pan nodded. "I think the same as you, but there are too many unknowns in football matches. Abelani and Jones need to be watched. Abelani is the only player playing in the five major leagues, and many European teams want Jones. He is very fast…"

Zhang Jun smiled and interrupted him, "Fast? I think he definitely can't outrun Xiang Tao."

Yang Pan glared at him, annoyed. "He can't outrun you either, or me, but the Chinese team's defense isn't just Xiang Tao. The Colombian coach isn't a fool either, they will always be able to find our weaknesses."

"Simple, use offense to suppress them, so they don't have the time or energy to find our weaknesses," Zhang Jun waved his hand.

Yang Pan looked at Zhang Jun. "Sabato's influence is really great. I see even you have his flavor now."

Zhang Jun scratched his head embarrassedly. "Then what do you say we should do?"

Yang Pan pondered for a long time, then slowly said, "I don't know what Qiu-zhi is planning, but if I were the coach, I would have the players cut off the connection between Abelani and Jones. From these qualifying videotapes, their offense mainly relies on the cooperation of these two. As long as that connection is cut off, Colombia's threat will be reduced by half. South American teams are not good at defense, so after ending their offensive threat, our offense won't be much of a problem."

Zhang Jun thought about it, and it was indeed much better than his simple "offensive suppression." He smiled, "It seems you are fit to be a coach after you retire, Yang Pan."

Unexpectedly, Yang Pan shook his head. "Coach? I can only control and change a team, boring." Zhang Jun didn't know what Yang Pan was thinking. In his opinion, becoming a coach after retiring as a player was the ideal ending for many players, such as the current assistant coach of Fiorentina, Di Livio, although just an assistant, he would one day become a real coach. He didn't expect that Yang Pan was not interested in this profession at all.

Later, at the tactical meeting convened by Qiu Suhui, the offensive ideas he put forward were indeed the same as Yang Pan's, but he spoke in more detail on how to cut off the connection between Abelani and Jones.

***

Three days later, on June 15th, the 19th World Cup opened in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Soccer City Stadium, and the eyes of the world were focused on that small football field.

The opening ceremony was short but full of African flavor. The beautiful Miss South Africa appeared on the field holding signs with the names of the participating countries, followed by a flag bearer, but without any team. At this time, most of the teams were in other places, and they had match tasks the next day. It was impossible to come for an opening ceremony. Only a few teams in Johannesburg were on the scene, sitting in boxes watching the opening match that would start later.

The opening ceremony was not what the fans who stayed up all night watching TV wanted to see. The event organizers also knew this, so the opening ceremony lasted only fifteen minutes, a genuine backdrop compared to the Olympic Games' opening ceremony, which often lasted an afternoon and an evening.

When the defending champion Germany and Japan stood on the field, everyone straightened their backs. As long as the referee blew the whistle, the World Cup would truly begin.

"Beep!" When the sound rang, it was clear that the stands had been turned into a galaxy by the constantly flashing lights. The World Cup had opened!

As the Japanese team playing in their first opening match, they were nervous, while Germany was the opposite. This led to the final result: Germany won their first World Cup match with a narrow 1-0 victory over Japan, a good start.

When the match ended, fans and reporters were still gathered around the stadium, unwilling to leave so early, while the Chinese team members had returned to their hotel.

This match didn't bring them too many thoughts. The Chinese team, which had played in the opening match four years ago, could be considered a team that had seen big scenes. Germany's victory also had little to do with them.

Two days later, they would welcome their first match in another stadium in this city, and that would be the test. For this Chinese team, the big talk had already been spoken, and the outside world's appetite had been whetted.

It was time to see what they were really made of.