On the training ground of the Chinese team, Sun Pan and Zhou Yi fully demonstrated their friendship in front of the media.

Sun Pan, with his hands around Zhou Yi's neck, shouted, "Damn it! So you won, but you have to rub it in!"

Zhou Yi yelled, "I'm dying, I'm dying, I'm dying!"

But none of the surrounding teammates stepped forward to help. They all stood around, laughing and watching the show.

This scene was observed by the reporters, who knew they were all joking, whether it was the doggerel or the neck-choking. There was nothing to be surprised about.

Sun Pan's actions also showed that he was not angry at all about Zhou Yi's doggerel. If he was really angry, how could he do something that would give others a handle against him in public?

This was just their daily horseplay.

At the same time, this detail also showed that the atmosphere inside the national team was very relaxed now—the players could joke, they could fool around so relaxedly, there was no factional infighting, so the atmosphere was of course good.

This atmosphere made the Chinese media and fans very happy. Since Gao Hongbo took office, after cleaning up the old players in the team, he also cleaned up the original factions. And the most likely to form a faction among the newly joined players was of course the overseas Five Little Dragons.

The five of them did have a good relationship and liked to play together. There was no problem in saying they were a small group.

But this small group did not override the head coach, nor did they intend to control the locker room. They had fun playing together and didn't mind playing with others.

Therefore, this kind of small team could in no way be labeled as "soccer bullies."

Everyone now hoped that this harmonious and loving atmosphere could be maintained until the Brazil World Cup next year. This was the second time the Chinese men's national football team had participated in the World Cup. The first time was a shameful memory for many people, and many people gave up on Chinese football after that.

And this time, of course, everyone had reason and should place more hope on them.

They hoped that this national team could achieve some historic breakthroughs in Brazil. They didn't expect the team to win the World Cup, which was too arrogant and conceited. They felt that if the Chinese team could reach the knockout stage, it would be enough to make them happy for a whole year, and if they could go further in the knockout stage and reach the quarterfinals, it would simply be one of the fans' "best memories of their lives."

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The Chinese team's opponents in the two warm-up matches were both Southeast Asian teams. On September 6, they first played against Singapore in Tianjin, and on September 10, also in Tianjin, the opponent was changed to Malaysia.

Because the World Cup qualifiers around the world had not yet ended, it was uncertain which teams would be able to advance to the final round. The World Cup group draw was even more out of the question, so the Chinese team could not choose warm-up opponents based on the opponents they would encounter in the World Cup.

This national team training and warm-up was mainly to regroup the team after the World Cup qualifiers, to integrate the team, to let the team find their feeling, and to gradually enter the rhythm of preparing for the World Cup.

Therefore, although they were very ordinary two warm-up matches and the opponents were not strong, they still attracted the attention of the national media and fans.

Because it meant that the Chinese men's national football team had officially started its preparations for the 2014 Brazil World Cup.

This was a starting point, and how well the starting point was walked would determine the distance to the finish line.

The East Asian Cup, which just ended in July this year, with domestic players as the core, performed well. They won second place in the East Asian Cup, and like the Japanese team who won the championship, they remained undefeated in three games. They successively tied Japan and host South Korea, and finally defeated Australia.

This performance made the Chinese media and fans very gratified, because they all knew that they could not always rely on overseas players in the World Cup. Chinese domestic players should also be a strong supplement, and they should be able to step up at critical moments. The national team's performance in the East Asian Cup gave everyone this hope.

In previous years, the scene of the Chinese team was not like this at all.

If there was no World Cup qualifier to play, not only was the East Asian Cup a very important match, but the Asian Cup qualifier was also important, and its importance even exceeded the East Asian Cup by several orders of magnitude.

But this year, the Chinese team didn't even have an Asian Cup qualifier to play. Otherwise, in October and October this year, the Chinese team's last three games of the year would all be Asian Cup qualifiers.

So why was there no Asian Cup to play? Were they not qualified to participate in the Asian Cup?

Of course not.

This has to start with the Asian Cup's unique qualifying rules…

According to the rules of the 2015 Australia Asian Cup qualifiers set by the Asian Football Confederation.

The qualifiers consist of twenty teams divided into five groups. The top two in each group and the third-place team with the best record in all groups will qualify, and then they will join the host Australia, the top three in the previous Asian Cup, and the champions of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup North Korea and the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup (to be determined), to form the sixteen teams participating in the Asian Cup finals.

Some people will say, don't bully us for not being good at math... This is not sixteen teams no matter how you count it—eleven teams came out of the group stage, plus the host twelve teams, the top three in the previous Asian Cup, which is fifteen teams, plus the champions of the two AFC Challenge Cups, isn't that seventeen teams?

Actually, it's like this. Among the top three in the previous Asian Cup, the third place was the host of this Asian Cup, Australia, so they overlapped, so there were exactly sixteen teams.

And because the Chinese team was the runner-up in the previous Asian Cup, they didn't need to participate in the qualifiers and directly qualified for the Asian Cup finals.

So they can use the match days for participating in the Asian Cup qualifiers to arrange warm-up matches before the World Cup.

This time, they must learn from the experience and lessons of the messy warm-up arrangements before participating in the last World Cup.

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On the first day of the Chinese team's training camp, Gao Hongbo made a brief but solemn and serious speech to the players with the entire coaching staff.

"...I know that many people must have had a good summer in the past. Qualifying for the World Cup has made everyone a lot of money."

Some of the players lowered their heads and laughed.

After appearing in the World Cup, almost all the national team players, even the substitutes, received advertising sponsorship contracts, with more for the main players and less for the substitutes.

It was like "when a man gets to heaven, all his friends and relations get preferment."

"But has anyone of you seen my advertisement on TV?"

The players looked at each other. Thinking about it carefully, they really didn't see Coach Gao take any commercials or become the spokesperson for any products...

"It's not that I don't want to make money, I'm just clear about what is more important than this task. I became your head coach, and the goal I set at the beginning was to lead the Chinese team to participate in the World Cup. But it's not just as simple as qualifying for the World Cup. I hope that we can achieve a historic breakthrough in Chinese football in the World Cup. I know this is difficult, so I have to work harder and treat this matter more seriously. Please remember that our goal is not to get the right to participate in the World Cup, but to perform better in the World Cup. To this end, I hope that from now on, each of you will realize this. It doesn't matter if you can't realize it, if you don't have this determination, we still have half a year. It's normal for personnel to come and go and change in this process. No one can guarantee that if you perform well in the World Cup qualifiers, you will definitely be able to participate in the World Cup finals!"

Gao Hongbo said these words with a straight face, his expression was very serious, and his tone was also very heavy. Many people in the national team put away their joking hearts, and their faces also tightened.

Leading the Chinese team to win the runner-up in the Asian Cup and qualifying for the World Cup, Gao Hongbo has accumulated a lot of prestige in this team, and few people dare not listen to what he says.

And more importantly, such a head coach has the support of the core players of the national team.

Zhou Yi was definitely on Gao Hongbo's side.

"Let's just treat the previous time as a holiday for everyone. Some players were not recalled to the team for the East Asian Cup. I know you are very tired and busy. But from now on, each of you must enter the rhythm of preparing for the World Cup!"

After speaking, he waved his hand backwards, and assistant coach Fu Bo erected a countdown sign next to the training ground, which read: "There are 283 days until the opening of the 2014 Brazil World Cup!"

Zhou Yi, the only one in the field who had gone to high school, suddenly felt like the college entrance examination was approaching...

"There are still two hundred and eighty-three days! Those who can't keep up with the rhythm will be eliminated! You all know what kind of person I am. I don't talk about human relationships, and I don't care about anyone's face. And the leaders of the Football Association and the leaders of the General Administration have also given strong support. The affairs of our national team are very simple this time! It's just six words!"

Gao Hongbo held up six fingers: "The capable go up, the mediocre go down!"