Chapter 1
Although Lippi told everyone to burn their boats and have a good fight with Dortmund, it didn't mean he had lost his mind in terms of tactical arrangements, and all that was left in his head was passion.

The tactic he designed for Hengyuan was a defensive counterattack.

In this match, Guangzhou Hengyuan, which was clearly at a disadvantage in terms of strength, chose a reasonable tactic, which was defensive counterattack.

Doing so might disappoint those fans who hoped that Hengyuan would not be cowed and would confront Dortmund head-on.

But it was a wise choice.

Especially after seeing the offensive displayed by Dortmund after the start of the match, the commentators felt that Lippi was indeed a famous coach, shrewd and well-prepared. If he really went head-to-head with Dortmund, Hengyuan would probably not last even half an hour.

As soon as the game started, Dortmund's offensive, like a storm, attacked Hengyuan's half.

In the first five minutes, Dortmund had three shots, two of which were on target, forcing goalkeeper Zeng Cheng to make two saves.

"Zeng Cheng! Makes another wonderful save! This is only five minutes into the game! Dortmund's offensive is too fierce!" The commentator He Ping of China Television exclaimed repeatedly.

He usually also commentates on Dortmund's Champions League matches. If such a scene were to occur in a Champions League match, He Ping would definitely cheer for Dortmund's performance. But now, he couldn't.

Although Dortmund has two Chinese players, it is not a Chinese team after all. When a Chinese team is Dortmund's opponent, as a Chinese commentator, he will of course unreservedly stand on the side of the Chinese team. After all, Dortmund's jersey does not have the Chinese flag on it, but Guangzhou Hengyuan's jersey does.

Of course, the national flag on Hengyuan's jersey also caused a controversy after the Club World Cup began. Mainly, some people on the Internet who may not usually watch football at all, and who need to ride the hot spots to criticize China, set their sights on the national flag design on Hengyuan's Club World Cup jersey. They criticized that football in other countries is just football, it doesn't involve politics, and no one would print the national flag on a club jersey to show off.

As a result, such idiotic remarks were of course brutally sprayed by the vast number of Chinese fans. Hengyuan had just won the AFC Champions League not long ago, and also represented the Chinese team in the Club World Cup for the first time in history, so its position in the hearts of fans was quite high.

Immediately, many people on the Internet found pictures of club jerseys with national flags from various countries to slap the other party in the face.

They beat the other party so hard that even their own mother couldn't recognize them.

When a Chinese club team goes abroad to participate in a competition, how can it not represent China? How can it not print the national flag on its jersey? Does fighting for the country have to be concealed?

He Ping obviously also thought so, so after the game started, his whole heart leaned towards Guangzhou Hengyuan. Even if Dortmund had two Chinese players, Zhou Yi and Yan Min, it wouldn't change his support.

Watching Dortmund's fierce offensive, he was really worried that Hengyuan would be defeated in a very short period of time.

The Chinese team finally had a chance to compete fairly with the European champions in an international competition. He didn't want it to end in a complete defeat.

Guangzhou Hengyuan is shouldering the expectations of all Chinese fans and football players. They can lose this game, but they cannot surrender.

What He Ping wanted to see was a team representing the highest level of Chinese football, in terms of technical and tactical ability, mental quality, and playing style.

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The players of Guangzhou Hengyuan were struggling on the field, while at the same time admiring their coach Lippi to death - the old man really guessed everything!

Dortmund simply didn't intend to play slowly with them, but wanted to kill them as soon as they came up!

But if you think about it carefully, it's actually normal to do so. When two teams have just met, they try each other out because the two teams are close in strength and don't know each other very well.

Dortmund may not know enough about Hengyuan, but the strength of the two teams will definitely not be close. Dortmund has an overwhelming advantage in strength, so they naturally don't need to test and entangle with Hengyuan.

Before the game, Lippi showed a positive and enterprising attitude, wanting to advance to the final. But in fact, the lineup he sent out was contrary to his intentions - in this game, Hengyuan deployed a lineup of three defensive midfielders in the midfield.

This shows that Guangzhou Hengyuan simply wants to consolidate its defense.

In the game, the entire defense was handed over to Chinese local players, while in attack, Lippi handed it over to the foreign aid South American trident. The attacking line composed of three South American players, Muriqui, Elkesson, and Conca, was the main offensive force for Hengyuan to win the AFC Champions League.

And if Hengyuan wants to break through Dortmund's goal in this game, it also needs to rely on the tacit cooperation and personal ability of these three players.

But now that Dortmund is pressing Guangzhou Hengyuan, Guangzhou team has no chance to attack at all, and the three South American foreign players naturally have no chance to perform.

During this period of time, the defensive lineup composed of Chinese players is competing with Dortmund. There is only one non-Chinese player in this lineup - Korean foreign aid, center back Kim Young-Gwon.

The performance of the Chinese players is also the focus of everyone's attention. How long can they withstand Dortmund's storm-like offensive?

Before, when Hengyuan won honors, there was always a voice that ridiculed that Hengyuan's achievements had nothing to do with Chinese football, because the ones who scored goals and were in the limelight were the South American trident, and the Chinese players were completely extras and just making up the numbers.

People who think this way obviously don't understand how important defense is in football.

They believe that football is purely about attack and goals to determine the outcome.

Now, Chinese players are in the limelight. The Hengyuan players that appear most often in the TV broadcast are the Chinese players, because they are resisting Dortmund's attack.

Among them, the captain Zheng Zhi is almost everywhere, appearing in every place where he is needed.

When he was young, he played as a defender, so he has good defensive ability.

He also performed very actively in this game.

The commentator He Ping also mentioned his performance in defense many times: "Zheng Zhi has been defending back to the corner flag area..."

"Zheng Zhi chased back and destroyed Dortmund's attack! It's really amazing!"

"Zheng Zhi is really fighting hard today. That tackle just now was very dangerous..."

Of course, what everyone cares about most is his direct dialogue with Zhou Yi in the game.

Because in this game, Zhou Yi and Zheng Zhi are both midfielders, and their positions are exactly opposite each other, so there will naturally be a competition between the two players in the game.

And it can be clearly seen that as long as Zhou Yi gets the ball, Zheng Zhi will definitely stick to him and conduct a close defense of Zhou Yi, and his movements are not small when defending.

This scene, when seen by many supporters of Zhou Yi, will naturally scold Zheng Zhi for taking this opportunity to take revenge.

But Zhou Yi didn't think so. He only saw a Zheng Zhi who was defending seriously.

However, although Zheng Zhi performed very hard and defended very well, the actual effect was not very good. Otherwise, Dortmund would not have completely suppressed Guangzhou Hengyuan in the attack. Soon after the start, Dortmund's defense line pressed past midfield...

Zheng Zhi's defense was very hard, but it didn't hinder Zhou Yi much.

Once, despite being unable to turn around due to Zheng Zhi's close marking, Zhou Yi still used a surprising backheel pass to send the ball to Mark Wagner's feet, allowing Mark to complete a shot and threaten Guangzhou Hengyuan's goal.

Compared with Zheng Zhi's hard work, Zhou Yi seemed much more relaxed, and he could pass the ball to where it should go as if he was taking a leisurely stroll.

This made He Ping, who was commentating on the game, sigh: "Zheng Zhi is already the best midfielder in China today, but compared with Zhou Yi, we still have to admit that there is a huge gap between the two. Whether it is the way of playing or the way of thinking, Zhou Yi is completely at the European level... Even if Zheng Zhi enters the national team, it is impossible to threaten Zhou Yi's position, but it is a beneficial supplement to the national team..."

He still supports letting Zheng Zhi enter the national team. The atmosphere of the current national team is completely different. There is no need to worry about Zheng Zhi forming cliques after entering the national team.

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Although Zheng Zhi worked hard, and although Hengyuan's Chinese players worked hard to defend, their tenacious resistance did not last even thirty minutes.

In the twenty-eighth minute, Zhou Yi sent a precise through ball, passing the ball to the ribs of Hengyuan's defense line. After Royce received the ball, he quickly passed it across the middle. Mark Wagner leaked the ball in front, and Aubameyang, who had inserted himself at the back, swept the ball into the goal.

Although Zeng Cheng made a save, and touched the ball, he was not able to change the trajectory of the ball...

"Ah..." After seeing the ball fly into the goal, He Ping sighed for a long time, feeling sorry for Hengyuan. Although he knew that Hengyuan would lose the ball, he was still frustrated that he lost the ball in less than half an hour.

The same was true for the Chinese fans in front of the TV. Before they lost the ball, many people still hoped that Hengyuan and Dortmund would play a defensive counterattack, and then take advantage of the opportunity that even Dortmund's defense line had crossed the center line to counterattack and steal a goal...

Now that Hengyuan is behind, it will not be easy to launch a counterattack...

At the moment when the ball flew into the goal, the confidence that supported the Chinese fans collapsed in an instant, and everyone's heart slid to the bottom of the abyss.

It's over.

Such an idea popped up in the minds of many people.