Chapter 114 A Bigger Legend

On November 25th, they defeated AC Milan 2:1 away. On November 28th, they defeated Sampdoria 2:0 away. On December 2nd, in the final round of the Champions League group stage, they defeated Moscow Central Army Sports Club 2:0 at home, successfully qualifying from the group—actually, they had already qualified two rounds in advance. Sabato sent out mostly substitutes for this game, and still easily defeated the Russian Premier League champions from last season at home.

On December 6th, they defeated Roma 3:2 at home. Before they set off for Tokyo, in seventeen league games, six Champions League games, two Super Cup games, and one Italian Cup game, Fiorentina maintained an undefeated record. And tracing back further, since losing to Lazio in the thirtieth round of the league on March 19, 2010, they had not tasted defeat in the league! Since losing 0:1 to Roma in the second leg of the Italian Cup final, they had not lost a single game in all the competitions they participated in.

Twenty-five league games undefeated! It seemed that Fiorentina and Zhang Jun were still creating an even greater legend.

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The FIFA Club World Cup is actually just a tool for FIFA to make money by any means possible. The Toyota Cup was doing well, but FIFA got jealous and insisted on taking this cash cow into their own hands. So, they replaced the Toyota Cup with the FIFA Club World Cup, and to appease the Japanese, they decided that the FIFA Club World Cup would be held in Tokyo, Japan, as compensation for the loss of the Toyota Cup.

Although the number of participating teams has expanded from two to four, the value of this event has greatly decreased. Many teams that have never been heard of can enter the Club World Cup and compete against European and American powerhouses, so there are often large-score humiliations.

However, this year's competition, for Fiorentina, the value is not low at all, or rather, it is for Zhang Jun.

Among the four participating teams, there are the European Champions League champion Fiorentina, the South American Copa Libertadores champion São Paulo, the North American representative Monterrey Star Team, and Dalian, the Asian Champions League champion from China.

The four teams are clearly divided into two tiers. European champion Fiorentina and South American champion São Paulo are considered seeded teams, while the other two teams are challengers. To avoid strong teams meeting in the semi-finals, the draw is also very particular. Fiorentina will face Monterrey Star Team in the semi-finals, while São Paulo will play against Dalian.

In the current Dalian team, there are many players that Zhang Jun is very familiar with. Their goalkeeper is Sima Hongxin, currently the best goalkeeper in China. Their midfielder has Lin Feng, the number one substitute for Kruel in the Chinese national team. The forward is Li Jie, a powerful center forward, and some of the most outstanding players in China. No wonder they were able to win the Asian Champions League title for the first time. And in this team, Sima Hongxin is regarded as the most powerful player. This taciturn goalkeeper is the team's most reassuring iron gate. In China, he even has a considerable number of fans, and some people have specially built a fan website for him. The domestic media even gave him a nickname: "Silent Goalkeeper," which, although straightforward, accurately points out Sima Hongxin's characteristics.

Originally, after Dalian won the Asian Champions League title, the Chinese media was looking forward to the "civil war" between Zhang Jun, Xiang Tao, Kruel, and other teammates from the national team at the Club World Cup. But unfortunately, Dalian's first-round opponent is the powerful São Paulo. Unless they defeat their opponent and Fiorentina doesn't have any accidents, the two teams may meet in the final.

But wanting to defeat the Brazilian powerhouse São Paulo, how easy is that?

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Hua Fang had told Ren Yu Di that Fiorentina was very popular in Japan, but Ren Yu Di didn't take it to heart at the time. He even thought that he had offended many Japanese people after he took office and drove away the sponsor Toyota. He didn't expect that from the moment Fiorentina's plane landed at Narita Airport in Tokyo, he and his team truly felt the fanaticism of the Japanese people.

The Japanese like to chase stars very much. Starting with Beckham, they always have a mentality of worship towards those who are strong. And Fiorentina, as the strongest club in the world now, should be welcomed by the Japanese. Looking at the fans and reporters crowded outside the airport, Zhang Jun felt as if it was Real Madrid's Asian tour back then.

"We shouldn't have been to Japan before, right? Why do they act like they've known us for a long time?" Pazzini was also surprised. Poor guy, is this his first time in Asia?

"Don't worry about so much! It's better to be welcomed than to be ignored." Xiang Tao shrugged. He wasn't unfamiliar with this situation; at least he had seen it a lot on TV.

When the team came out of the airport passage, the fans waiting outside the airport boiled over. They shouted Japanese that no one could understand, of course, mixed with not-so-fluent Chinese, English, and Italian... There were even a few beautiful Japanese female students holding up large portraits, and Zhang Jun was on them. And when the players walked through the passage cleared by security, the fans on the side frantically stretched out their hands, wanting to get close to their idols. This scared a lot of Fiorentina players who had never seen the world.

If it weren't for the police and security guards desperately maintaining order on the scene and this narrow passage, it is estimated that they would have been submerged in the ocean of crazy fans.

Some young players were already showing slight embarrassment, but Zhang Jun faced this kind of scene with ease. He still smiled at the fans, even though he was probably the most harassed player. At the same time, the cold-blooded Kruel was also very popular, but unlike Zhang Jun's smile, he showed no expression in the face of the fans who were frantically shouting his name. He wore sunglasses and passed through the crowd very coolly. And his fans were still looking at his back and admiring his coolness, their eyes full of red hearts.

This naturally made Xiang Tao very resentful, but he couldn't blame his teammates, so he had to curse in his heart, "Damn, the Japanese are so cheap! The more you ignore them, the more they get excited!"

When the players were trapped in the crazy fans and almost couldn't get out, their boss, Ren Yu Di, was sitting in a special car and saw everything.

"Well, not bad, not bad. The Japanese reaction is better than I expected. It seems that we can consider opening a specialty store in Japan." Ren Yu Di said to a beauty next to him.

"I have another suggestion." The beauty next to him spoke, and it was none other than Hua Fang, the agent of Zhang Jun and others. Now she also has another identity as Ren Yu Di's senior business development consultant—of course, no one else knows about this except for a few of them.

"Tell me."

"Adjust the plan for the Chinese tour next summer slightly and add a stop—Tokyo, Japan. Call it the Asian Tour. I estimate that we can earn 12 million euros just from the Japan stop. The appearance fee is the big head, as well as various commercial activities and new sponsorship contracts, endorsement contracts, player image usage fees... and so on. Moreover, it will help to further enhance the team's reputation in the world."

Ren Yu Di closed his eyes and thought for a while, then he turned his gaze to the crazy Japanese fans outside the car window: "Not bad, this suggestion is very good. Look at the people outside, they seem to be waving banknotes and shouting to us: 'Come on! We'll give you money!' It's too wasteful not to use such good resources."

"I suddenly thought of a pretty old joke." Hua Fang said.

"What?"

"Rich, stupid, come quickly."

The two laughed at the same time.

Interest is really a magical thing. It can turn brothers against each other, and it can also bring two former enemies together to tell jokes.

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If the four teams must be ranked, then Fiorentina's first-round opponent, Monterrey Star Team, is obviously the weakest. After Sabato studied the opponent's four game videos, he came to the conclusion that even if all the substitutes were used, Fiorentina could easily defeat the opponent, so there was no need to worry about this game before the game. Their goal is the championship, and the real game is the final, and the opponent is likely to be the South American powerhouse São Paulo.

Before leaving Italy, Sabato was collecting São Paulo's game videos and player and coach information everywhere, and did a lot of research. He had the confidence that even if he met São Paulo, he could still win!

The pre-match acclimatization training was almost like a press conference. Hundreds of enthusiastic reporters came, of course, most of them were Japanese reporters, the second most were Chinese reporters, after all, this Club World Cup had Chinese teams and many Chinese players, and the third most were Italian reporters. After the Toyota Cup was changed to the Club World Cup, its appeal to them has greatly decreased.

The reporters paid close attention to every move of the Fiorentina players. Of course, there were also about three hundred Japanese fans who bought tickets to enter the venue to watch the training.

Sabato did not arrange any tactical drills, but just let the players jog on the field, and then played a twenty-minute seven-on-seven scrimmage.

During this period, every touch of the ball by a Fiorentina player would cause screams from the fans in the stands. They had never enjoyed this kind of treatment before. Even when they went to the Netherlands to participate in the Ajax Invitational Tournament, they were not so popular. It seems that Japanese fans are really fanatical, and this is really a paradise for star idols...

Of course, it is also a paradise for making money.

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December 10th was the first round of the Club World Cup. Considering the factors of television broadcasting, the two games were not held at the same time. Fiorentina was the first game. Sabato did not send out all the main players for this game. He had to save his energy for the final and let the main players rest. In order to participate in this Club World Cup, they had been fighting on two fronts in the league and the Champions League before, and they even had two games a week, which was exhausting.

Since the opponent in the first game was so weak, it was better to let the main players rest. So, despite the Japanese fans' frantic opposition, Sabato still put the two most popular players on the bench.

This game was indeed too easy for Fiorentina. Even if they played with all substitutes, they could probably win easily, not to mention half of the main players and half of the substitutes.

Zhang Jun and Kruel only warmed up together when there were only five minutes left in the game. At that time, the score was already 4:0, and Fiorentina was far ahead.

Despite being dissatisfied with Sabato's behavior of hiding the main players, the fans immediately cheered for the wise coach when they saw Zhang Jun and Kruel on the field. Although the time was not long, it was better than nothing for these thirsty fans to enjoy themselves first. What's more, Fiorentina had already reached the final, so they didn't have to worry about not seeing Zhang Jun and Kruel then. These Japanese fans and media firmly believed that no matter how crazy Sabato was, he would not dare not send Zhang Jun and Kruel to start in such a final, otherwise why would he bring them to Tokyo?

The first semi-final was without suspense, and Fiorentina finally defeated Monterrey Star Team 4:0, taking the lead in reaching the final.

But the next semi-final surprised many people.

Zhang Jun was not familiar with Dalian's coach, Luo Shengmao. He looked very young. He should be a newcomer who emerged from the local area after Qiu Suhui took charge of the national team, but he was still very capable of leading Dalian to the height of the Asian champion. Before the game, everyone was not optimistic about Dalian, and even the Chinese media themselves said that it would be a victory to lose less in this game. The most important thing was to play the style of Chinese football well, and they should put more energy into the third and fourth place final with Monterrey Star Team.

Because the two games were held in the same stadium, for the purpose of inspecting the opponent, the entire Fiorentina team changed their clothes and sat in the stands area specially prepared for them to watch the game.

São Paulo showed an offensive momentum as soon as they came up in the game, determined to swallow Dalian in one bite. Unexpectedly, Luo Shengmao, who had been promoting offensive football in the domestic and Asian arenas, suddenly changed his face and arranged a 541 defensive formation, and played a defensive counterattack with São Paulo. Zhang Jun was sitting next to Sabato, and he heard Sabato exclaim, "Fucking cunning!"

Why do you say Luo Shengmao is cunning? It must be because no one expected his sudden change of face.

São Paulo obviously did not consider this situation either. They did not have more ways to deal with Dalian's iron bucket formation. They still wanted to attack the middle forcefully, but they could not get in at all. As for the wing attack, the ball would definitely be cleared out when it was passed inside. Even if there were any fish that slipped through the net, they would all be taken down by the "Silent Goalkeeper" Sima Hongxin, and there was no threat to the goal.

Zhang Jun understood that Luo Shengmao was relying on Sima Hongxin's super goal-line defense ability, actively shrinking the defense line, forcing São Paulo to play a positional battle, so that Sima Hongxin's weakness of being not good at attacking was covered up, and he could also ensure that the goal would not be lost, and then rely on counterattacks to steal attacks, or simply drag it to a penalty shootout.

And in this kind of game, as long as São Paulo cannot knock on Dalian's goal, then as time goes by, the situation will become more and more favorable for Dalian.

Sure enough, the score was 0:0 at the end of the first half.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the score was still 0:0. The Japanese fans in the stands were unhappy and made piercing boos. After all, the Japanese and Brazilian football have always had a good relationship, so there would not be many people watching the game here who support Dalian. Now they saw that the Dalian team was actually playing shameless conservative football and passively playing the game, which naturally made them very dissatisfied. They expressed their dissatisfaction with boos.

This game was far from exciting. Even many Fiorentina players in the stands were yawning, but Sabato and Zhang Jun watched with relish.

Sabato was interested in that coach, while Zhang Jun was looking forward to Sima Hongxin's performance and hoped to see his penalty kick save performance.

Although Kaka came out of São Paulo, Zhang Jun and this São Paulo team have no relatives or reasons, so naturally there is no reason to support the team from Brazil.

And he himself is Chinese, and there are many teammates from the national team in the Dalian team, so he definitely hopes that the Dalian team will defeat São Paulo.

As the game time passed, São Paulo became increasingly impatient after a long attack. Their tackling actions on the field gradually increased, and Luo Shengmao, the coach of the Dalian team, showed his cunning and sophisticated side at this time. At his request, the players of the Dalian team would fall almost as soon as they were touched, and they would also delay the game time, adding fuel to the fire of São Paulo's already impetuous emotions.

Of course, fairly speaking, although the Chinese team retreated almost across the board, São Paulo was not without opportunities. Once they seized the opportunity to intercept the ball after the Chinese team took a corner kick and launched a quick counterattack, forming a one-on-one situation with Sima Hongxin in the penalty area. Sima Hongxin, who almost never attacked, broke the routine and quickly attacked, stifling São Paulo's attack. The commentator of CCTV5 kept shouting: "Is this Sima Hongxin? Is this really the Sima Hongxin who never leaves the small penalty area? But I still have to say, well done! People who don't easily leave the small penalty area, once they leave, they will save the team! Amazing! Silent Goalkeeper!"

At that time, even Zhang Jun jumped up from his seat and cheered for Sima Hongxin, causing the people next to him to keep looking at him.

When he sat down again, Sabato asked him: "Do you prefer us to play against Dalian?"

"Yeah. But not in terms of the difficulty of winning the championship, I just think it will be very interesting to play against people I am familiar with, and against a team from my motherland." Zhang Jun nodded.

Sabato looked at the field, "Your wish, you can see if it can be realized in another thirty minutes." The referee had already blown the whistle for the end of the ninety-minute game. This semi-final, as Luo Shengmao had hoped, was dragged into extra time, and it was also very likely to be dragged into a penalty shootout.

The São Paulo players from Brazil were very depressed. They clearly had outstanding skills, but they had no way to deal with the Dalian team, which was shrinking into a tortoise shell. If the game cannot be ended within these thirty minutes, then when it comes to the penalty shootout, fate will not be in their hands. Everyone can see that the Dalian team is relying on that tall goalkeeper, and the goalkeeper's state has come out in this game. Penalty? It is most likely a stage carefully prepared for him by the Dalian team, and everyone else is just a supporting role...

Seeing that it was getting late, and the ninety-minute game had been watched, Sabato sent the players back to the hotel first, and he and Di Livio stayed to continue observing the two teams. Zhang Jun applied to stay, and Sabato looked at him and nodded in agreement. All three of them knew that the first ninety minutes were garbage time. If the game was dragged into a penalty shootout, that would be the essence of this game.

If Fiorentina really meets Dalian, then Sabato has to guard against the opponent's penalty shootout tactics.

In the thirty-minute extra time, although there were some dangerous situations, neither side was able to break through the opponent's goal. During the extra time, Luo Shengmao played all the remaining two cards in his hand. According to the introduction of the TV commentator, the two players who were replaced were very good at shooting penalty kicks. Sure enough, it was a penalty shootout.

Those neutral fans who were still yawning just now were all excited at this time. No matter who they support, this penalty shootout is the most able to mobilize people's emotions, after all, it is cruel enough and unpredictable.

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The large screen erected in the stadium is giving close-ups of each player's face. São Paulo is the first to kick. Zhang Jun glanced at the expression of the opponent's penalty taker on the big screen, and then said to the two coaches: "São Paulo is hopeless."

After dragging for one hundred and twenty minutes, he finally dragged it to the penalty shootout according to the coach's request. This was originally a victory. The Dalian team's morale must be unprecedentedly high, and they also have a "Silent Goalkeeper". He is the kind of person who can calm down at the most critical moment. With Sima Hongxin standing in front of the goal, his height of two meters and three meters, and his arms outstretched, is enough to give the opponent a strong psychological deterrent.

And for the proud São Paulo players, who would have thought before the game that the game could be played to this point? They certainly did not prepare for a penalty shootout. From the pre-match preparation, they had already lost a trick first.

Zhang Jun just saw the first São Paulo player to take a penalty kick. His eyes were erratic, and he didn't know what he was thinking. This expression more or less reflects his mood at this time. To kick a penalty in this mood? Even if the opposite is an empty goal, he may be able to kick it away.

As Zhang Jun expected, the first São Paulo player directly kicked the penalty kick into Sima Hongxin's arms. The angle and speed were even more comfortable than passing the ball back to the goalkeeper.

There were sighs from many Japanese fans in the stands. They still have a lot of affection for the team that has produced a handsome guy like Kaka. From another point of view, even from the perspective of the final's appreciation, they also hope that the Brazilian team, which emphasizes offense, and Fiorentina, which advocates offensive football, will meet in the final.

And the players of the Dalian team have obviously made full preparations for the penalty kicks. The first one to play is Li Jie, a striker that Zhang Jun is familiar with. The person took a powerful shot, and the São Paulo goalkeeper completely misjudged the direction. The football went into the goal, 1:0!

The subsequent penalty shootout did not make people feel that fate is impermanent, but it made many people feel that fate is so cruel - the most popular São Paulo can only play in the third and fourth place final. And the Dalian team successfully advanced to the final with Sima Hongxin's big hands. In the penalty shootout, he saved two of the five penalty kicks and scared away one. And the Dalian team only missed one penalty kick.

The real protagonists of this game were not the twenty-two players on the field, but the coaches of both sides, fighting wits and courage.

In the post-match press conference, facing many Japanese reporters who asked whether the Chinese team was playing too conservatively and too passively, Luo Shengmao calmly replied: "I don't think this is a passive game, and it's not conservative. We just chose the right tactics for different opponents at the right time. I am the coach, and my job is to lead the team to win, not to satisfy the fans' viewing needs."

Someone asked if he would be so conservative in the final, Luo Shengmao mysteriously said: "You will know then."

Seeing that if it continues to develop like this, it is estimated that the press conference will become a criticism meeting for Luo Shengmao, the Chinese reporters came out to relieve him. They turned the topic to Zhang Jun, Kruel, Xiang Tao, and the Chinese team playing against each other. They asked the most successful coach in China what he thought of the three Chinese players who played for Fiorentina, and also asked his opinion on his opponent, Sabato.

Luo Shengmao naturally praised the strength of the three Chinese players, after all, they are the three main players of the Chinese champion team, who would dare to say a word against them? And he also believes that Sabato is a very high-level coach, saying that he is honored to be able to play against such a coach, such players, and such a team, and it is a great opportunity for himself and the team to learn.

It seems that he put himself in a very low position.

Sabato was watching the live broadcast of the press conference on the way back, and he said to Zhang Jun in the back row at the time: "Zhang, it is true that you Chinese are cunning in my opinion. This Luo is very powerful, we cannot underestimate him. None of those words he said just now can be taken seriously, they are all lies."

Zhang Jun smiled, that's right, when the Chinese ancestors concocted Sun Tzu's Art of War, your Westerners may still be chasing wild boars in the primeval forest. The art of war is deception. This sentence is equally applicable on the football field. After watching a Dalian game, he completely understood why this person could lead the Dalian team to win the AFC Champions League title, and he really has the strength.

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On the other side, Luo Shengmao, who had just finished the press conference, sighed softly at the entrance of the locker room. This game was more difficult than he imagined, and it took all his strength to get the ticket to the final. On the other hand, looking at Fiorentina, half of the main lineup easily defeated Monterrey Star Team 4:0. The strength gap between the two sides in the final is too big, even bigger than this game. What can he come up with then?

He is sure that the coach of Fiorentina must have watched this game in the stands, and he also knows something about his ideas and the strength of the team. He has almost no secrets in front of him.

Before coming to Tokyo, the club's board of directors did not have high requirements for him. It would be a successful completion of the task if he could get the third place. As for reaching the final, he didn't even think about it. In the eyes of many Chinese people, the two teams that will reach the final must be Fiorentina and São Paulo. At that time, the draw results had not been announced yet. He was thinking that if he played against Fiorentina in the first game, it would be the best result. He could have a fierce game with Fiorentina, and then safely play the third and fourth place final. He didn't expect to play against São Paulo in the first game, and he suddenly became unwilling to give up like this. So there was the scene of temporarily changing the tactics before the game, playing passively, and being conservative for one hundred and twenty minutes, defeating the opponent through penalty kicks.

He knew that his actions would definitely make many people dissatisfied, and even in China, there would definitely be people scolding him for insulting the style of the world champion... Ridiculous! The Chinese national team won the championship, which does not mean that every team in China has the strength of the world champion.

In order to fulfill the wish of playing against Fiorentina, even if he was scolded by thousands of people as a coward, conservative, passive, and shameless... he resisted it. But when he won, he suddenly realized - how is he going to play this final against Fiorentina?

Shaking his head, he pushed open the door of the locker room. As soon as he entered the door, he was poured a bottle of water on his head. Li Jie shouted: "Come on, coach, don't always have a straight face, celebrate with us!" As soon as he finished speaking, he was plotted by others and poured from head to toe, looking extremely embarrassed.

The players are still celebrating for reaching the final. In their opinion, maybe even if they don't get the final championship, it is worth celebrating so much, because they have reached the final, defeated the seeded team São Paulo, and more importantly - they can play against the most powerful club team in football today, Fiorentina!

Luo Shengmao looked at this group of players cheering ecstatically, and he suddenly felt how ashamed he was outside the door just now. It was not shameful to play the game passively and conservatively, but because he found that he had not seen as far as the players. Our goal should not be just a meaningless Club World Cup champion, the important thing is what we can learn from this final in the future, and how much valuable experience we can gain from playing against the best team in the world!

The Chinese league is much better than before, but it is not enough. Dalian is not responsible for bringing back a championship trophy for the domestic league, but for bringing back something different for the domestic league, using the strongest team in the Chinese league to measure the gap between us and the top level in the world.

Even if we lose, we must know where we lost!

He threw off the wet suit, then grabbed the water bottle next to him and splashed it on the players, and everyone made a riot.

"Ole! Fiorentina, here we come! Ole! Zhang Jun, Kruel, Xiang Tao, here we come! Ole! Ole! Ole! Here we come, here we come!"

Let's see how strong you are, and let you see how strong we are!

Come on!