Chapter 169 Crisis and National Team

When Zhang Jun began to prepare for Feng Qing's treatment, it was already January. Fiorentina, with three main players and a head coach absent, had fallen into a state of near collapse. They lost all five league games in a row. In the sixth round, they barely managed to stop the losing streak, but were held to a draw away from home by a team in the relegation zone.

Because of the terrible record, Fiorentina's ranking also plummeted from first to third. AC Milan and Inter Milan had the same points, with AC Milan temporarily ranking first due to goal difference, but this name was very unreliable, and Inter Milan could surpass them at any time.

After Sabato returned, the situation barely got under control, but some impacts had already occurred, and the resulting losses were irreparable. First of all, Zhang Jun's absence would psychologically cast a shadow over the players for a period of time; in addition, the opponents' psychology was also changing. In the past, when Zhang Jun was there, the opponents would panic before the game even started, but now that Zhang Jun was gone, the opponents naturally had less to worry about—Zhang Jun's role was not only reflected in the fact that he was the captain and could score goals, but also in his deterrent effect on the enemy. This sounded a bit like a nuclear weapon, that's right! Zhang Jun was Fiorentina's nuclear weapon.

So, Fiorentina's loss of Zhang Jun was not just as simple as losing one person.

Although Sabato stopped the losing streak, the team's performance was still not ideal. The arrogant unbeaten record of the past was no longer possible. Now Sabato was focusing all his energy on how to curb Fiorentina's decline.

Despite this, he was still very arrogant in front of the news media, not taking anyone seriously.

Many media ridiculed Sabato for being stubborn until the end, but only a few people knew that Sabato was doing this to stabilize the morale of the team. The captain's armband had been worn by goalkeeper Frey, the most senior player in the team now, but he was far from having Zhang Jun's influence.

By the end of January, Fiorentina's ranking had dropped to fourth, with Juventus successfully surpassing them. Many media outlets were not optimistic about Fiorentina winning the league title this season.

And in late January, the league took a two-round break to make time for FIFA to arrange national team A-level matches.

At that time, the Chinese team would face Hong Kong and Australia in Guangzhou on January 21st and January 24th, respectively.

※※※

Later, Yang Pan gave Zhang Jun another call before leaving, telling him to take good care of his injury and wait to see his heroic posture on TV.

Zhang Jun joked with Yang Pan and hung up the phone. Although he had already started rehabilitation, hearing the words "national team" and things related to the national team still made him feel annoyed.

He had once again become a spectator, and this time it was he himself who had decided. From now on, he could no longer play for the national team…

"Sophie, where shall we go to play those two days?"

"Huh? Aren't you watching the game?"

"I'm not watching, it has nothing to do with me anyway…"

"…"

※※※

When Yang Pan, Li Yongle, Xiang Tao, and Krou arrived at the national team's training base in Foshan, they all felt that the atmosphere of the national team was different from before. It was obvious that it was caused by Zhang Jun's announcement of his retirement from the national team.

Everyone seemed a little sad because they would never see the cheerful number 11 again.

At the same time, everyone would privately discuss the matter of the national team's new captain, and no one could think of who else would be the captain. Given the relationship between Yang Pan and Advocaat, the captain's armband would definitely not return to his arm. As for the others… the only one who could also be a captain in his club was Anke of Bayern Munich. Last season, he took over from the thirty-five-year-old Ballack and officially became the foreign captain of this Bundesliga powerhouse.

Thinking about it, maybe his chances were the greatest.

Anke didn't take this matter to heart at all. What he was most concerned about now was Zhang Jun's injury. Before the warm-up match was about to begin, the team seemed a little unstable.

On the second day of the team's gathering, Advocaat summoned all the players and announced the captain's armband's ownership.

"Anke, you come here." He waved his hand, and Anke walked forward in surprise.

"This is for you. You are now the captain of the Chinese team." Advocaat tied the captain's armband on Anke's arm.

Anke then reacted: "Coach, are you kidding me? How can I be the captain? Isn't Yang Pan more suitable than me?" His unbridled mouth made Advocaat frown.

Sure enough, the players on the opposite side were turning their heads to look at Yang Pan, but Yang Pan had an "it's none of my business" expression, standing there nonchalantly. Even when he occasionally met Advocaat's eyes, he seemed natural and generous.

Advocaat couldn't figure out what this person was thinking, so he didn't try to guess. He turned his gaze back to Anke, a smile on his face: "You don't need to decline. Everyone knows you're doing very well at Bayern Munich. I'm giving you the captain's armband because I believe in your ability. And this is also the meaning of Chairman Chen of the Football Association. We all believe that the Chinese team can go further under your leadership."

Anke hesitated for a moment, and then nodded in agreement.

As a result, after the meeting, he was about to take off the captain's armband and give it to Yang Pan.

"What are you doing?" Yang Pan put his hands in his pockets and didn't take it.

"I know what kind of person I am. Let me manage this group of people, I won't do it." Anke said, pursing his lips.

Yang Pan smiled: "This is the order from above, I can tell you, Anke. You have to do it now, whether you want to or not!"

"Forget it!" Anke imitated Uncle Benshan's accent, "What's the 'above'? Standing in front of me, I wouldn't even give them a glance. Here, I'm not suitable to be the captain of this team."

Yang Pan still didn't take it.

Anke became anxious and was about to stuff the armband into Yang Pan's pocket, but Yang Pan flung it open with a wave of his hand: "Stop it, Anke. Do you know what time it is now? We lost the Asian Cup, and Zhang Jun has retired from the national team. We need someone who can take responsibility. If you keep shirking like this, I'll be very disappointed in you."

"That sounds nice. Why don't I see you step up to take responsibility at this time? Have you forgotten what Zhang Jun said?!"

Yang Pan stared at Anke for a long time, until Anke felt a chill in his heart. "You think I don't want to take it? But do you think those who decide our fate will let me wear this thing?" He took the captain's armband from Anke's hand and gently flicked it. "If you give me the armband like this, what will the coach and the Football Association think? Kick you out of the national team, kick me out of the national team? The team is so chaotic right now, we can't cause trouble. Zhang Jun entrusted this team to us, is this how you're repaying Zhang Jun?"

"Kick me out of the national team?! Is it that easy? This is our national team, with countless fans supporting us…" Anke said with some disdain.

Yang Pan was even more disdainful: "Our national team? Don't be silly, it's never been our national team. At the critical moment, the fans can't do anything either. We are just tools of those in power…"

He reached out and put the golden captain's armband on Anke's left arm. "A great man does what he should do." He patted Anke on the shoulder, "It's rare that I agree with that old bastard on this one. You are very suitable to be the captain." After saying that, he turned and left.

"There's also 'does what he should not do'!" Anke roared at Yang Pan's back.

"That sentence is for me." Yang Pan waved his hand and walked away.

Watching Yang Pan gradually disappear from his sight, Anke looked down at the glaring captain's armband on his arm. He only felt awkward wearing something that countless people dreamed of. He suddenly punched the tree trunk next to him hard, and leaves fell one after another.

Zhang Jun! You bastard, you just left so easily, leaving us with a mess! You—are—so—heartless!

※※※

Yang Pan "bumped" into Krou on the way back to the dormitory. Why put quotation marks around the word "bumped"? Because Krou was obviously there waiting for Yang Pan on purpose.

Yang Pan and Krou weren't close. It was only when Zhang Jun was around that they would occasionally chat a few words. Yang Pan wasn't a person who liked to chat, and neither was Krou. So, when he realized that Krou was deliberately waiting for him, Yang Pan was a little surprised.

When Krou saw Yang Pan walking over, he adjusted his posture. He straightened his upper body and took the initiative to greet Yang Pan: "Yo."

"Hi." Yang Pan waved his hand.

Krou didn't like to be polite with people. This greeting was already giving Yang Pan a lot of face, and Yang Pan himself was very clear about this. He took the initiative to ask: "Is there something you want from me?"

"Why didn't you take the initiative to propose to be the captain?" Krou's expression didn't change, and neither did his tone. It was impossible to tell whether he was questioning or simply asking.

Yang Pan thought that Krou was a very interesting person. He had thought so from the beginning… Of course, Zhang Jun, who could make Krou often smile, was even more interesting and even more remarkable. In terms of scheming, Yang Pan was very confident, but he estimated that Krou might not be inferior to him. The only difference between the two was that Yang Pan liked to be proactive, while Krou enjoyed being passive.

"He once told you that he hoped you would take over from him as captain." Still without any change in expression or tone.

During the FIFA awards ceremony on December 21st last year, Zhang Jun, Yang Pan, Li Yongle, Krou, Xiang Tao, Anke, Kaka, and others gathered together at the banquet. Zhang Jun had very solemnly entrusted the national team to Yang Pan, hoping that he would put on the captain's armband again no matter what. Yang Pan smiled and agreed, and everyone present was a witness.

This was the last thing Zhang Jun could do for the national team. He hoped that the national team would be able to transition smoothly even without him. The World Cup qualifiers were about to begin, and the defending champion could not directly enter the finals. Zhang Jun didn't want the Chinese team to become the first defending champion in history to fail to enter the finals. That would be too embarrassing.

Yang Pan smiled and said: "I can understand his feelings, but you have also seen that whether I become the captain or not is not transferred by my will. I really want to do it, but unless someone can first help me persuade Advocaat and Chen Wei."

Krou stared at Yang Pan for a long time again, and Yang Pan also met the other party's gaze without backing down.

After a long time, Krou continued: "I like you less and less now."

Yang Pan shrugged his shoulders with a smile. On the one hand, he didn't know what to say. After all, the other party was Zhang Jun's friend, and he was also Zhang Jun's friend. He couldn't let Zhang Jun feel uncomfortable in the middle because of a trivial matter; on the other hand, he didn't need to say anything to Krou. He knew what he was doing in his heart. He didn't want everyone to understand, that would only break his plan.

"One last thing, we won't give up." After saying that, he turned and walked back to the dormitory building.

Yang Pan stood there and tilted his head to think for a while before he understood that Krou was talking about the club's game. Won't give up what? League title? It looks a bit difficult.

What Yang Pan didn't expect was that several months later, Fiorentina met AC Milan again in the Champions League quarter-finals. The two rounds of the game were quite tragic. Fiorentina, which was suppressed by AC Milan in the league, exploded with super fighting power in the Champions League. Everyone united and vented all the depression in the league, eliminating AC Milan, which was in the limelight in the league, with a total score of 4:3.

What Yang Pan didn't expect even more was that this game became the turning point of the season. AC Milan had been in poor condition ever since, and was successfully overtaken by Inter Milan in the league. In the end, Inter Milan won their club's fifteenth league title in history. And AC Milan, in a very good situation, was overtaken by Inter Milan and lost the league title after losing the Champions League.

Such results directly led to the resignation of Van Basten. After that, someone who no one expected became AC Milan's new head coach.

Of course, these are all later stories, so let's leave them aside for now.

※※※

Yang Pan had always felt that there were some problems with the national team's training. Advocaat cared a lot about physical training, which was not what made Yang Pan feel strange. After all, every coach had certain inclinations and personal styles. But Advocaat made all the main players practice defense, and said that he needed to focus on examining the team's defensive ability in these two warm-up matches.

Xiang Tao had just been released from his suspension in this game, and he also needed to prove his ability to Advocaat—the Dutch coach said that any player who had been brilliant was just brilliant in the past. He didn't look at how the players had performed in the past, he valued their current state. In other words, those players who used to occupy the main positions, if they still wanted to continue to occupy the main positions or stay in the national team, please show your best state.

In fact, there was nothing wrong with doing so, but the key point was that Advocaat said that we should pay attention to defense, but in training, he trained the team's offense as usual! This was obviously a hypocritical and inconsistent behavior. Could it be that Advocaat had senile dementia and was confused?

Dragging his dying body, he still had to come and contribute to Chinese football. What a great spirit of international humanitarianism! Yang Pan spat on the ground.

"Yang! Yang! Go back to defend! What are you doing standing there?!" Advocaat's voice rang out from the sidelines again. He was a little unhappy when he saw Yang Pan standing near the sidelines without moving.

Yang Pan glanced at the old man and then slowly ran back.

※※※

Time passed quickly, and the day after that was the match day. In the afternoon, Advocaat announced the tactical arrangements for the match. Yang Pan felt that this tactic was a bit awkward in the tactical lesson, and he was still thinking about this problem when he returned to the dormitory.

After one night, he figured it out.

After the small amount of training on the last day, Yang Pan called several people who usually had a good relationship with him to gather in his dormitory, including Krou. Although Anke was the captain, many people still had an inertia in their hearts and felt that Yang Pan was the real captain. His call was very successful, and everyone who was named came, including Krou.

"Hey, Yang Pan, you didn't call so many people here to gamble, did you?" Xiang Tao looked at the people in the room. He really didn't expect it. He, Krou, Anke, Li Yongle, Liu Peng, Li Suisheng, Zhao Pengyu… almost the entire starting lineup was here. "Or, are you planning a mutiny? You're unhappy that you can't be the captain, so you decided to stri…"

"I'll strike your head!" Yang Pan hit Xiang Tao's head with the cardboard in his hand.

Seeing that Xiang Tao was honest, Yang Pan said to everyone: "Do you think there's something wrong with the tactics arranged by the head coach?"

The time was different, but almost everyone nodded.

Yang Pan smiled: "That's good, I thought I was the only smart one. Advocaat told us in training that we should focus on defense, and he did arrange defensive tactics for this game, but in training, he let us practice offense. Now that the defensive tactics have come out, we haven't arranged even a minute of such training…"

As he said this, he put down the cardboard in his hand, which had the starting lineup of the Chinese team on it. "Everyone still remembers what he said in the tactical lesson yesterday, right?" Yang Pan pointed to Xiang Tao's name, "He told you not to easily assist, right?"

Xiang Tao hummed. "I feel very unhappy, but there's no way."

"He also said yesterday that passive defense is not defense, and active offense is also defense. So he let me, Zhao Pengyu, Krou, Li Jie, and Wu Shanshan participate actively in the attack, but he didn't tell us whether to actively retreat to defend." Yang Pan pointed to the names of the five people on the cardboard in turn. "Then he let Li Yongle participate more in defense and not easily insert and assist."

Li Yongle also nodded to indicate that Yang Pan's retelling was completely correct.

"Very good, then like this…" Yang Pan drew a straight line across the court above Li Yongle's name, and also drew such a straight line below his and Zhao Pengyu's names. "Everyone, look, what is it?"

The court was divided into three blocks by two black lines. The first block was the area where the defensive players were concentrated, called the "defensive third", and the third block was the area where the attacking players were concentrated, called the "attacking third". As for the middle block, it was completely blank, there was nothing there.

"The attack… and defense are disconnected." Li Yongle finally spoke.

"Hey, as expected of the team's brain." Yang Pan smiled and then said to everyone, "Yes, that's basically it."

"This… such an obvious mistake, how could Advocaat not see it?! How could he make such an idiotic tactical arrangement?" Anke shouted.

"How would I know?" Yang Pan shrugged his shoulders. "In fact, Advocaat did make such an idiotic tactical arrangement and asked us to resolutely implement it in the game."

"Is he senile? Damn it…" Xiang Tao cursed.

Yang Pan smiled, "I also hope so. Well, I called you here just to tell you about this situation. As for why the head coach is doing this, I don't know…"

"We will lose." Krou, who had been silent all along, also spoke. He interrupted Yang Pan's concluding remarks.

Everyone turned their attention to him.

"Hey, Krou, don't joke around. Although the head coach's tactical arrangement is really messed up, with our strength, we won't lose to a team like Hong Kong, right?" Someone said.

"No, we will lose." Krou repeated.

Yang Pan lowered his head and thought. After a while, he raised his head with a smile, obviously having figured it out. But he just smiled and said nothing.

Li Yongle pondered for a while and then said: "I only know that a player has suddenly emerged in Hong Kong recently. Unlike most of the short and thin Hong Kong players, he is tall and strong like a bull. As a striker, his impact in front of the goal is very strong, and he may not lose to Li Jie. Hong Kong's public opinion has already called him the key figure for Hong Kong's qualification in the Brazil World Cup qualifiers… I think his existence will indeed cause us a lot of trouble."

"Anything can happen on the football field." Yang Pan made a summary of today's discussion. "Let's see during the game tomorrow…"

We are just players, no matter how famous, how prestigious, how glamorous on the surface, or how high our salaries are, we are just players, we can't decide anything… Yang Pan muttered in his heart, looking at the backs of everyone leaving.

※※※

The friendly match between the Chinese team and the Hong Kong team was held at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou. Because this was the first match after Zhang Jun announced his retirement from the national team, it received a lot of attention. Many media outlets had already called the current national team the "Post-Zhang Jun Era", and this match was naturally the "beginning of the Post-Zhang Jun Era". The fans flocked to the stadium, hoping to see what the national team without Zhang Jun could do on the spot.

In fact, many people were still very confident. After all, Hong Kong was not strong, and they believed that even without Zhang Jun, it was normal for the Chinese team to win easily.

After all, without Zhang Jun, we still have world-class players such as Yang Pan, Li Yongle, Krou, and Anke.

But the first half of the game was beyond everyone's expectations: the Chinese team's performance had been unsatisfactory. It was obvious that the front and rear fields were seriously disconnected, so that the Chinese team's attack could only rely on long passes and big kicks to launch. The efficiency of such an attack was conceivable. On the other hand, the Hong Kong team's tactics were very clear. They used their delicate footwork and the tall striker to frequently launch crosses from the wing, threatening the Chinese team's goal.

Speaking of this Hong Kong striker, he was really alternative—he was one meter ninety-eight tall and weighed ninety-eight kilograms. He was like a mobile castle on the field. His physical strength and height gave him an advantage in the air. The Hong Kong team, which used to play on the ground, also played aerial balls because of him. However, the Chinese team had no way to deal with this style of play and could only rely on Anke's frequent attacks and compete with the opponent for aerial advantage.

Looking at that number 9 walking sideways in the Chinese team's penalty area, a reporter lamented: "Where did they find this monster? Is he a genetically modified person?!"

The Chinese team, which had once dominated the world, had never been so embarrassed today. The commentator was sighing: "Football is round…"

Then, the Chinese team's frontcourt attack was weak and the defense was chaotic. Finally, near the end of the first half, that number 9 seized the opportunity and scored a goal. The Hong Kong team took the lead away from home!

Hong Kong reporters and commentators were overjoyed, while the stands rang with ear-piercing boos. It was unknown whether the boos were for the poorly performing Chinese team or the Hong Kong team. The TV camera swept to Chen Wei. From the lens, it could be seen that his face was not very good-looking. He must be uncomfortable in his heart that his team was behind the Hong Kong team at home. However, because Hong Kong Football Association officials and some well-known figures from Hong Kong's political and business circles were sitting next to him, he couldn't get angry and could only keep a straight face and say nothing.

Looking at the Chinese team's coaching bench, Advocaat was yelling and shouting on the sidelines as if his mother had died. The night wind blew his messy hair, and he really had the momentum of "hair standing on end". It seemed that he was really very dissatisfied and angry with the team's performance.

When the Chinese team lost the ball, Anke, as usual, was scolding his teammates for not giving him enough support. He had to face the opponent one-on-one every time. How could he play this game?

Yang Pan looked at Li Yongle meaningfully. Unexpectedly, Li Yongle was also looking at him. The two knew each other well, but said nothing.

After that, Anke also looked at Yang Pan, as well as Liu Peng, Li Suisheng, and Xiang Tao, who had been scolded badly by him just now.

Yang Pan shrugged his shoulders and then waved his hand, signaling them to quickly kick the football over. He wanted the forwards to kick off.

Until the end of the first half, the Chinese team still had no way to take advantage of the Hong Kong team.

In this way, the Chinese team's players lowered their heads and left the field in the long-lost boos of the fans.

During the half-time break, Advocaat was naturally very angry and scolded the starting players. Because he had received Yang Pan's notice to everyone to "endure", no one stood up to refute, and even Xiang Tao and Anke seemed very well-behaved.

Advocaat was relatively satisfied with his control ability. These unruly players were slowly becoming well-behaved under his command. His team-building plan was unfolding little by little.

Despite being happy in his heart, he still had to pretend to be angry on the outside. Advocaat accompanied Chen Wei to continue acting out this scene to the end.

Of course, they were not the only two people starring in this scene…

※※※

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Before the kick-off, Yang Pan gathered the ten teammates on the field together and formed a circle, as if encouraging each other.

Yang Pan said to everyone: "Everyone has seen that we are now one goal behind. And if we continue to play like we did in the first half, we are doomed to lose. Everyone has seen the strength of the Hong Kong team, right? They are not what they used to be, and we can no longer underestimate them. But I personally don't want to lose this game. This is the first game after Zhang Jun left us. If we lose… everyone, how can we face him?"

Everyone was silent.

"Advocaat's tactics can't let us win. We will adapt the tactics ourselves and play the way we are familiar with in the past. No matter what the coach does below, we will play our own football! Now, for victory…"

Yang Pan stretched out his hand.

Li Yongle's hand followed and was put on top, followed by Xiang Tao, Anke, Liu Peng… everyone put their hands together.

"For victory!!"

"Although the score is behind, we see that the national team's players are still very morale-boosted. They encourage each other before the game. From their faces, we see the hope for the second half… We hope to see the national team we usually see." The commentator didn't know why, but what he said was almost the same.

The Hong Kong team must have been very happy during the half-time break, because they were all smiling when they came out. However, as soon as they stepped onto the field and saw the Chinese team's players, they were scared. Because it was obvious that the current Chinese team was different from fifteen minutes ago. They appeared on the field early, encouraged each other, and had already stood in their respective positions, quietly waiting for the Hong Kong team to arrive…

Chen Wei was a little strange. What did the Dutch Advocaat say to them during the half-time break? Why does it feel different? Damn it! There are guests next to me, and it's impossible for me to find Advocaat at this time… What tricks are you playing, Dutchman?

Soon Chen Wei saw the somewhat puzzled Dutchman on the big screen in the stadium. Judging from this expression, it was definitely not deliberately faked. So what was going on?

After the second half of the game began, Advocaat and Chen Wei's doubts were even greater, and finally turned into panic.

The Chinese team completely abandoned everything Advocaat had arranged before the game and changed to their own accustomed way of playing. This was completely beyond Advocaat's control.

Therefore, it seemed that there was more connection between the front and rear fields, the midfield played a greater role, and the overall attack was smoother. No matter how you looked at it, there were only good things and no bad things. So the fans and commentators once again gave their cheers and praise to the Chinese team in a one-sided manner.

This situation made Chen Wei and Advocaat very embarrassed. First of all, Chen Wei couldn't show a trace of anger, because it wouldn't make sense to be angry when the team had an advantage on the field. Advocaat couldn't run to the sidelines and yell and shout to express his dissatisfaction, for the same reason as Chen Wei. Secondly, this was obviously against the plan, but the two had no way to reverse the situation.

At this time, Chen Wei and Advocaat felt a sense of powerlessness—there were also things in this world that they couldn't do, or couldn't easily do.

Yang Pan was very happy now. He had seen through Advocaat's mind, but he didn't say it clearly. He used Zhang Jun as an excuse to let everyone do their best to win. This game would definitely not go as the Dutchman wished. Then, when the game was won, he would push all the credit for the success to the head coach… At that time, Advocaat's face must be very ugly, how ugly it would be.

Just seventeen minutes after the second half started, Yang Pan received Li Jie's header pass outside the penalty area and directly volleyed. The football whistled into the Hong Kong team's goal. The Chinese team tied the score!

Yang Pan, who scored the goal, did enough acting. He ran directly to Advocaat and then hugged the helpless Dutch old man. The impression given to the outside world was: Yang Pan and Advocaat had resolved their grievances. This change in the second half must be Advocaat's instruction. The Dutch coach was so great!

Chen Wei on the rostrum stood up and applauded the goal, but he didn't know how many times he had scolded Advocaat in his heart. He believed that his expression must be very interesting at this time.

Advocaat also had a very interesting expression. After the Chinese team scored, he had to make a ecstatic expression, hug Yang Pan and every player who ran over to celebrate. It was really difficult for this old man in his sixties.

"This is really too beautiful! Yang Pan's wonderful long shot, we haven't seen it for a while! The Hong Kong team's goalkeeper didn't react at all. Maybe he was scared silly! The Chinese team tied the score! They proved to us that the first half was just a small accident!" The commentator was still adding fuel to the fire for Chen Wei and Advocaat…

Xiang Tao laughed very indulgently. The reason why he laughed was that he had tied the score, but only a few people would find it strange—isn't it just tying the score? Was it worth being so happy to face Hong Kong? He was laughing so hard that he couldn't stand still…

Xiang Tao knew very well that he was mocking Advocaat, laughing at Yang Pan for being full of bad ideas.

The number 9 striker of the Hong Kong team, who performed well in the first half, was firmly clamped down by Liu Peng and Li Suisheng, making it impossible for him to get close to the goal… Not to mention getting close to the goal, it was even difficult to enter the penalty area. If a big guy like him couldn't enter the penalty area, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

The Chinese team showed their experienced side, and all of this had nothing to do with the Dutchman who was pretending to be happy off the field.

In the following time, the Chinese team completely suppressed the Hong Kong team and practiced offensive routines around the away team's half. This kind of practice quickly yielded results…

Wu Shanshan scored another goal with the help of Krou, and the Chinese team took the lead!

A huge cheer broke out at the Tianhe Stadium, and the smiles on Chen Wei and Advocaat's faces were even more awkward.

Then, before Advocaat could react, Yang Pan assisted Li Jie, who showed the Hong Kong people what an aerial bomber was… His powerful header in front of the goal changed the score to 3:1!

Only half of the second half had passed…

Advocaat couldn't sit still. He couldn't tolerate the game continuing to develop in this direction.

Soon, he replaced Yang Pan, who had performed well. Yang Pan shook hands with Li Yongle when he was about to leave the field, and then naturally ran off the field. Then, Krou, who had also performed well, was replaced. Unlike Yang Pan, Krou dragged his feet off the field, causing the Hong Kong fans to boo unfriendly.

All the substitution adjustments were indicating that Advocaat was very satisfied with the score of 3:1. He planned to defend until the end of the game… No matter how the media looked at it, it was really unfavorable to Advocaat.

Unexpectedly, after two substitutions were used, the Chinese team not only didn't follow Advocaat's latest instructions, but instead played better and better. Li Yongle, who was dedicated to making wedding clothes for others, soon scored a goal himself. His shot in front of the goal made the score 4:1, which was despairing for the Hong Kong team!

Subsequently, Advocaat replaced Li Yongle, who had just scored, with Wang Yu in a very uncreative way…

Even so, the game had long been out of his control. The anger they had suffered in the first half was destined to be taken back by this group of masters.

When there were three minutes left before the end of the game, Xiang Tao used his long shot to blow open the opponent's goal for the fifth time. This time, Advocaat had no more spots to replace Xiang Tao…

The score was finally fixed at 5:1. The Chinese team performed a wonderful second half for the national audience. The failure that Chen Wei and Advocaat had hoped for turned into a one-sided massacre. The poor Hong Kong team became the victims of the Chinese team's internal power struggle.

When accepting an interview with reporters after the game, Yang Pan praised head coach Advocaat in front of all the national fans, and said that the credit for the changes in the second half was all due to the Dutch coach's timely adjustments and effective substitutions, which allowed the Chinese team to regain its strength.

Advocaat must have hated him to death in his heart, because not only would he have to face the praise of the reporters later, but also Chen Wei's questioning. Now he was really in a state of ice and fire. Only he knew whether it was cool or stuffy. It was not enough to tell outsiders…

※※※

Three days later, the Chinese team defeated the visiting Australia 3:1 in the same stadium. Yang Pan was named the best player of the match. In an interview, he still praised his head coach, and said that the credit for these two victories was all due to the head coach's wise and powerful command, and he had nothing to be proud of…

Chen Wei's plan was ruined.

Although Advocaat explained to Chen Wei that he had done nothing, Chen Wei was still a little unhappy with the Dutchman. Unhappy as he was, he couldn't let this person go. Who had ever seen a team win consecutively, and when the whole country was cheering, the head coach was let go? This would anger the people, and he was well aware of the importance of public opinion.

Compared to Advocaat, he was even more unhappy with another person. He couldn't do anything about Advocaat at the moment, which didn't mean he couldn't do anything about that person. As long as the time was right… He had been plotted against by that person, and one day he would plot back.

※※※

Yang Pan said goodbye to his friends and family who came to see him off at the airport. He would fly back to Milan, Italy, to work hard for the league and the Champions League. With these beautiful memories in his possession, he smiled especially happily in the reporters' cameras.