Chapter 21 Zhou Yi Returns

On the first day after the match between China and the Netherlands, the Chinese team began their training as usual, with the first fifteen minutes open to the media.

Chinese reporters and a number of Spanish journalists gathered outside the training ground, waiting to watch the start of the Chinese team's training.

As their next opponent, Spanish fans were naturally concerned about the Chinese team's situation, especially whether Zhou Yi would be able to recover.

For Spain, they had already been eliminated from the World Cup ahead of time. So now there was only one thing left: they absolutely could not leave the World Cup with three losses. They had to win a game. This was a battle for honor. As the reigning World Cup champion, they had to defend their dignity.

So they were also paying close attention to whether Zhou Yi could play. If Zhou Yi couldn't play, of course, so much the better.

When the Chinese team players, dressed in training gear, appeared on the training ground one after another, the reporters saw Zhou Yi among them.

In previous training sessions, Zhou Yi had been with the team during the warm-up phase, but after the warm-up, he would go off to the side to train on his own, with a dedicated coach to guide him.

Would it be the same today?

Soon, after Lippi and the coaching staff all arrived on the training ground, physical coach Li Tie and assistant coach Madaloni began to lead the Chinese team players in warming up.

The photojournalists began to take photos and videos of the Chinese team's warm-up training.

The written press gathered together to discuss whether Zhou Yi would be able to train with the team.

"... Actually, I think Zhou Yi still hasn't trained with the team yet. Even if he can train with the team today, so what? The time left for him and the Chinese team is too tight. If I remember correctly, our next game against Spain is on June 23rd. Today is the 19th, only four days. What can they do?"

After this reporter finished speaking, many people around him nodded silently.

They also felt that even if Zhou Yi could train with the team today, the time was too tight.

Could he be completely in sync with this team? People start training camps more than a month in advance, just to be able to mold the team into shape. Who starts training camp only four days before the game?

But there were also those who held different views: "No matter what, as long as Zhou Yi can play, it will be extraordinary. The most important impact of his playing will not be reflected in tactics, but in psychology. With him or without him, it's a completely different feeling for the other national team players."

This statement was also agreed upon by many reporters, who felt it made sense.

Zhou Yi was the tactical core of this team, as well as the spiritual leader, so if he could play, the encouragement to the other players would inevitably be different.

But regardless of which point of view, they all assumed that Zhou Yi's role in tactics would not be great.

After all, the objective law of time cannot be changed.

As they were talking, the warm-up on the field ended.

Then the players gathered again to listen to head coach Lippi's instructions.

The instructions didn't take long, and the formal training was next.

At this time, the fifteen-minute media open period had not yet ended, and there were still a few minutes left.

All the reporters outside the training ground turned their attention to Zhou Yi.

They wanted to see whether Zhou Yi would stay with the team, or leave the team as usual and train on the other half of the field.

The answer was revealed quickly.

Lippi directly pulled Zhou Yi to his side, and then announced to the whole team: "Today Zhou Yi will train with us. The medical team believes that he has reached the level where he can carry out confrontation training. Nevertheless, I hope everyone will be a little gentler when tackling Zhou Yi."

A burst of applause and cheers rang out from the Chinese team's players.

The reporters couldn't hear what Lippi was saying, but they could hear the applause and cheers.

Reporters who were slow to react were still asking: "What happened?"

But the smarter reporters had already guessed the answer: "Zhou Yi is going to train with the team!"

A burst of deliberately suppressed cheers also rang out from the Chinese reporters. Regardless of how much of a role Zhou Yi would play in the next game, everyone still hoped to see Zhou Yi recover.

The Spanish reporters immediately huddled together and whispered to each other.

Some reporters who couldn't wait had already taken out their mobile phones and started posting the news on their respective social media accounts.

"Breaking! Zhou Yi is training with the whole team! Expected to participate in the next World Cup group match against Spain!"

"Zhou Yi returns as a hero before the Chinese team's do-or-die battle! Applause and cheers rang out for him on the training ground!"

"At the most critical moment for the Chinese team, their core has returned!"

"Breaking news! Zhou Yi is training with the team! Our reporter will continue to send you the latest reports from the front!"

Now was the internet age, and the timeliness of traditional media in reporting breaking news could no longer keep up with the speed of the internet.

Soon, through the internet, fans far away in China knew what had happened on the training ground in Brazil.

"Zhou Yi is back!"

"Zhou Yi is training with the team! This is the first step in his successful return!"

"Great! Great! In the first two games, the Chinese team played so embarrassingly without Zhou Yi... Finally, we have waited for our core!"

"All the gods are back in their positions! The strongest form of the Chinese team is coming!"

"Spain, tremble! Our Zhou Yi is back!"

"So what if you're the World Cup champion? With Zhou Yi, we'll still take you down!"

...

Although the game was still several days away, Chinese fans seemed to feel that victory was already within their grasp. Excited, they began to look forward to the knockout stage of the competition.

And it wasn't just the Chinese team's fans who were optimistic about this. European and Macanese bookmakers also adjusted the odds for the match between the Chinese team and the Spanish team. Previously, the odds favored Spain to win against China. But now, after the adjustment, although Spain was still more favored, the odds for the Chinese team were not as unfavorable as before.

※※※

The reporters had already left the training ground, and the open period was long over.

But these reporters did not leave completely, but waited outside, waiting for the Chinese team to finish training. They couldn't wait to know how well Zhou Yi was training.

They couldn't see the training, they could only hear the faint sound of whistles and the sound of kicking the ball, as well as occasional laughter.

"There's laughter again... It seems that the Chinese team players are in a good mood..."

"That's right, laughter is right. It means that the Chinese team's training is going smoothly, otherwise, how could everyone still laugh?"

"That makes sense!"

"So, Zhou Yi's training must be going well?"

In order to find out the latest situation, a group of reporters transformed themselves into Sherlock Holmes, Detective Conan, and Kindaichi... not letting go of any clues, and deducing the truth from the meager clues.

They were really going all out for news reports.

※※※

In fact, Zhou Yi's training was indeed very good.

On the sidelines of the training ground, Lippi was communicating with his translator, Wen Shudang, about his views on the current training.

"Zhou Yi is truly a magical person, unbelievable..." Lippi said with emotion. "Can you imagine that he has been absent from normal training for almost a month before today's training session?"

Wen Shudang shook his head: "It's really incredible. His performance is like he's been training with the team every day, without any sense of unfamiliarity. Although there are many people in this national team that he has worked with before, things are different now, everyone's state is different, and even the head coach has changed."

He also teased Lippi.

"When Klopp called me, he said that Zhou Yi would give me surprises. At that time, I thought it was a tactical surprise, but now it seems that I still underestimated him..." Lippi murmured.

"Isn't that a good thing? Zhou Yi can seamlessly integrate into the team, so we can save a lot of worry."

"Of course, of course. We can save a lot of worry..." Lippi said with a smile.

What the two of them were talking about was what everyone had just seen.

Whether it was attacking and defending routine training or group confrontation training, Zhou Yi's integration with the team was very high. There was absolutely no discomfort at all. From the moment he stepped on the training ground, he integrated into the team. Just like Wen Shudang said, it was as if he was training with the team every day.

At first, the Chinese team players were startled. Later, they didn't care about being surprised and devoted themselves to the training wholeheartedly.

Since Zhou Yi didn't have any problems with adaptation, then they shouldn't waste time.

No one knew why Zhou Yi was so adapted to Lippi's training session. It should be known that after Lippi took charge of the Chinese team, this was the first time he had participated in the team's joint training. But why did he seem completely familiar with the training requirements of Lippi's coaching team?

In the end, everyone could only attribute the reason to Zhou Yi's amazing talent and his tactical understanding far surpassing ordinary people.

A genius, of course, cannot be measured by the standards of ordinary people...

No one knew that Zhou Yi had actually been training with the team all the time, but in a virtual space. If calculated according to the time there, he had been training with everyone for more than one hundred and seventy days!

How could there still be any maladjustment?