Chapter 152 A Max-Level Blast at the Start, Messi Begs Me to Join Argentina

The Chinese team placed both warm-up matches in Xi'an.

The opponent for the first warm-up was Venezuela, and the second was Slovenia.

For the first match, Gao Hongbo fielded the strongest lineup he could.

Zhou Yi, Sun Pan, He Ying, Yang Muge, and Guo Nu all started.

In addition, Yan Min also got a starting spot.

China, playing with its strongest lineup, was very proactive against Venezuela.

Under Zhou Yi's organization and orchestration, the Chinese team constantly executed brilliant plays that made the fans cheer, even if these plays didn't result in goals. The fans appreciated it.

Of course, if the team always looked good but never scored, such impressive plays would be meaningless.

The two sides stalemated in the first half, but in the second half, as the Chinese team further intensified their efforts, they finally broke the deadlock.

In the fifty-fourth minute, Zhou Yi assisted He Ying, whose low shot broke the Venezuelan goal, giving China the lead.

In the sixty-ninth minute, He Ying went to the wing to cross, and Yang Muge, suddenly inserted into the box from the defensive midfielder position, jumped up and headed the ball into the goal with almost no marking!

A huge cheer erupted from the entire Xi'an Zhuque Stadium.

The cheers were not only because the Chinese team was leading by two goals, but also because the team had already held a long-term advantage on the field before the two-goal lead. The current two-goal lead was a natural conversion of the advantage in the overall situation.

Such a match, in both result and process, made Chinese fans feel encouraged—if the Chinese team could maintain this state to participate in the World Cup finals, then a historic entry into the World Cup knockout stage would certainly not be a dream!

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After taking a two-goal lead, Gao Hongbo began making substitutions.

Because it was a friendly, there was no fixed limit of three substitutions.

He first replaced Zhou Yi, He Ying, and Yang Muge in one go, and then replaced Guo Nu, allowing more domestic players to appear on the field.

After Zhou Yi and Yang Muge came off, the Chinese team's control in midfield decreased slightly. At this time, Gao Hongbo also adjusted his tactics, letting the team switch to counterattacking.

Yan Min, who remained on the field, was entrusted with an important task.

He did not let down the coach's trust and performed very actively.

In the counterattacks, as long as he had the ball at his feet, he would not hesitate to charge at Venezuela's defense.

Although he did not score by the end of the game, he at least prevented Venezuela from threatening the goal guarded by Sun Pan.

In the end, the two sides ended the warm-up match with a score of 2:0.

The Chinese team defeated Venezuela, the sixth-ranked team in South America, at home.

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Four days later, still in Xi'an.

The Chinese team welcomed their second warm-up opponent, Slovenia.

At the same time, this match was also the last match of the Chinese national team in 2013, the closing battle.

For this game, Gao Hongbo did not use his full strength.

Unlike the previous game, he completely shuffled the lineup.

The performance of China's strongest lineup had already been seen in the previous game. Now it was time to give other players more opportunities to play.

Because the lineup had been changed, the Chinese team did not have as much of an advantage on the field as in the previous game, but the national players performed well.

Although they did not defeat their opponents, they did not lose the game either.

In the end, the Chinese team drew 0:0 with Slovenia in Xi'an.

They ended their 2013 matches with a draw.

After the game, the Chinese media made a "year-end summary" of the Chinese team's matches in 2013.

Among them, the most noteworthy achievement was of course the second time in history that they qualified for the World Cup finals. Moreover, this time it was more difficult than the last time, because the last World Cup finals were held in Japan and South Korea, and China directly had two fewer strong enemies in the qualifying stage. As a result, there was always a saying that the most important contributor to China's first entry into the World Cup finals was not the coach, Milutinovic, but Zhang Jilong, who drew a good draw for China in the lottery.

This time, Japan and South Korea participated in the World Cup qualifiers, and China was even drawn into the same group as Japan. The group also included Australia, an opponent that China had always feared.

Under such circumstances, the Chinese team was still able to qualify for the World Cup finals two rounds in advance, which was enough to show the strength of the current national team—some media had already called this national team the strongest Chinese team in history.

In addition to the World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese team also participated in the East Asian Cup this year. However, the national team that participated in the East Asian Cup did not call up a single overseas player, which was equivalent to a second-tier team. Even so, the Chinese team won the second place in the East Asian Cup, which was a commendable result.

In the past year, both the overseas players and the domestic players of the Chinese team have shown good competitive form. This made Chinese fans very happy.

Now everyone hopes that the Chinese team can maintain this good competitive state until next year's World Cup.

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After the two warm-up matches in China, the overseas national players left the national team as soon as possible and returned to their respective clubs.

For Borussia Dortmund, there was bad news—they had been infected with the terrifying FIFA virus!

In the friendly match on the nineteenth, the German team played against the English team. Although Germany eventually won 1:0 against England, Hummels and Schmelzer were injured in the match.

After the game, after examination, Schmelzer would be out of action for three weeks due to injury. And Hummels would be sidelined for even longer!

This was a bolt from the blue for Borussia Dortmund—with Subotic already out for the season, two more key players were injured in Borussia Dortmund's main defense line, plus Piszczek, who had been on the injury list all the time, Borussia Dortmund's main defense line suffered a "catastrophic disaster"...

So when Zhou Yi got off the plane and heard his agent Schulze mention this, he opened his mouth wide and didn't close it for a long time—he really couldn't believe that such a bloody thing would happen to him.

All four main players in a defensive line were injured!

After a long while, after recovering, he smacked his lips and said, "If you ask me, Klopp should go buy the European lottery, he's definitely going to win the jackpot!"

Schulze smiled bitterly: "You're still in the mood to joke, think about how you're going to face Bayern Munich at home next..."

Zhou Yi spread his hands: "Isn't that something Klopp should be thinking about?"

Schulze thought about it, and it was true, he couldn't refute it, so he had to concentrate on driving.

Zhou Yi lowered his head and took out his phone, starting to browse the news to see what the internet and the media were saying about it.

He found that in the online community where Borussia Dortmund fans gathered, many people were cursing the German national team's coach Löw, believing that Löw was deliberately going against Borussia Dortmund, and some conspiracy theorists believed that Löw was secretly helping Bayern Munich.

Zhou Yi could understand the Dortmund fans' dissatisfaction with the national team.

At the beginning of this season, Gündoğan suffered a minor waist injury in the league, which was not a big problem and only required rest. As a result, the German national team insisted on recruiting Gündoğan into the team and even arranged for him to start. In stark contrast was the treatment of Bayern Munich players. Götze and Schweinsteiger had clearly recovered from their injuries, but the national team, out of precaution, did not call them up for national team matches, and Toni Kroos was also given leave by the national team because he became a father.

In the end, Gündoğan only played for twenty-seven minutes in the national team match before his waist injury relapsed and he was substituted off, and he never came back on. He has been resting since August, and the news some time ago was that Gündoğan was confirmed to miss the entire season.

The season had just begun, and Borussia Dortmund had already lost a key player in midfield. And who caused this?

Many Borussia Dortmund fans pointed the finger at the national team.

Thinking carefully, it seemed that Borussia Dortmund and Löw's national team were incompatible.

Back then, Marc Wagner was playing well in Borussia Dortmund, and a rising star was rising. As a result, also in a national team match, he suffered a serious injury like a torn cruciate ligament in his knee. After the serious injury, although Marc had some outstanding performances, his upward momentum had been completely interrupted, and now he gives people the feeling that he is still a bit short of people's expectations of him...

Now it was a national team match again, and two Borussia Dortmund players were lost in one go. Borussia Dortmund fans could not hide the anger in their hearts and fiercely attacked Löw and the national team online.

Of course, not everyone believed that the national team should be held responsible for this. The Borussia Dortmund fans cursed the national team, and naturally there were other fans who supported the national team and spoke for Löw.

They believed that why didn't other clubs have as many injuries in national team matches as Borussia Dortmund? The problem was probably not with the national team, but with Borussia Dortmund.

They criticized Klopp's "mad dog" tactical style as the culprit for Borussia Dortmund's current frequent injuries.

Speaking of Klopp's "mad dog" tactical style, it is actually a kind of joking summary of Borussia Dortmund's "running flow" that they have been adhering to over the years. Klopp attaches great importance to the running ability of players. In the pre-season physical training every year, running is a very important training content. The training intensity is so great that many players who have just joined Borussia Dortmund doubt their lives and feel worse than death.

But it is precisely by using such high-intensity training to lay a solid foundation for the team's physical fitness that Borussia Dortmund has been able to dominate German football in recent years and even win the Champions League. Their players are always running non-stop in the game, using running to compress the opponent's space, while creating more opportunities for their own attack.

This tactic is indeed very successful.

But everything has two sides, good and bad.

Klopp's football style that emphasizes running has indeed brought many honors to the team, but it has also made the players feel tired and increased the occurrence of injuries. Borussia Dortmund suffered an unprecedented wave of injuries this season, which was considered by many experts to be inseparable from Klopp's football style.

Moreover, once the players of Borussia Dortmund are injured, they are all relatively serious injuries, which are not easy to recover in a short period of time. This is also considered to be caused by Klopp's high-intensity training.

Zhou Yi himself is considered a "beneficiary" of Klopp's football style. Under Klopp, he was trained from a physically weak player into a player who could run non-stop across the field. But he also knew that these criticisms were reasonable.

After historically winning the league three consecutive times, plus the Champions League title, the current Borussia Dortmund is actually facing a huge crisis...