Chapter 150 Adjusting

After Zhou Yi was substituted, Dortmund clearly slowed down the pace. In the first half, they were pushed forward by Zhou Yi, never stopping, without any chance to catch their breath, and scored four goals like madmen.

After the second half, they were indeed entitled to relax.

Of course, they also had to be prepared to bear the consequences of relaxing.

Dortmund conceded a goal to Wolfsburg in the second half, but fortunately, Dortmund's strength was still very strong, so they managed to pull back after the goal.

In the end, the game ended with Dortmund defeating Wolfsburg 5-1 at home.

After the game, the media was concerned about why Zhou Yi was substituted so early. Logically speaking, even if they were leading by four goals in the first half, there was no need to substitute Zhou Yi during the halftime break, right? This approach seemed more like humiliating Wolfsburg, with Dortmund's unspoken message being, "Our core player only needs half a game to completely crush you!"

At the post-match press conference, Klopp answered everyone's doubts about this issue.

"We have discussed with the Chinese Football Association. Considering that the Chinese national team has a very crucial game coming up, they hoped that we could let Zhou Yi rest more. After consulting with the player himself, I substituted him at halftime," Klopp said.

So that's how it was.

The media reporters suddenly understood. For German reporters, they just got an answer, but for Chinese reporters, it was a bit touching—the Dortmund club even considered the interests of the Chinese national team.

Indeed, the upcoming national team game was very important for Chinese football.

If the Chinese team lost to Iraq away from home, the situation would become very difficult.

Since China entered the World Cup finals in 2002, they had been eliminated early in both the 2006 and 2010 editions. Not to mention the World Cup finals, they couldn't even participate in the final stage of the Asian qualifiers, the Top Ten Tournament.

If this time it was still the same, it would be a very heavy blow to Chinese football.

They certainly hoped that Zhou Yi could perform well in the national team game and help China defeat Iraq, at least not lose to Iraq away from home.

And Dortmund was willing to provide this convenience, which made them feel very happy. It signified a kind of respect.

Of course, everyone wasn't an idiot and knew how this respect came about. It certainly wasn't because of the Dortmund club's friendship with the Chinese people, nor was it because Dortmund valued the Chinese market—without Zhou Yi, the huge Chinese market wouldn't mean much to Dortmund. Only with Zhou Yi did everything have a basis for discussion.

To put it bluntly, the reason why they were willing to grant the Chinese Football Association this favor was simply because Zhou Yi was the core of the team, and they didn't want to offend this core player. After all, Zhou Yi was a Chinese player, so Klopp emphasized that they made this decision after consulting with the player himself. This showed how much they valued Zhou Yi. If they didn't value Zhou Yi, they wouldn't need to consult any opinions; the club would have directly rejected it.

Therefore, in this world, whether it's football or any other field, one's own strength is the key to earning respect. Some people think that by lowering their stance, deliberately pleasing the other party, and almost unconditionally meeting their demands, they can gain the other party's favor and earn respect. This is a very wrong idea.

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After the game, Zhou Yi didn't return to the training base like his other teammates and then go home. Instead, he was taken to the airport by his agent Schulze at the Westfalenstadion. He would go directly to Qatar to join the national team and prepare for the game against Iraq.

In order to get enough rest, Zhou Yi chose a first-class flight with a private bedroom, so he could get a good quality rest experience, just like in a hotel.

Of course, he paid for this himself. Everything was just to allow him to rest well and maintain a good state.

This shows how much Zhou Yi valued the World Cup qualifiers for the Chinese team.

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Due to the war in Iraq, their national team, whether training or playing games, was not held in their own country, but in Qatar, which is also a Middle Eastern country.

Zhou Yi was no stranger to Qatar, because the Asian Cup at the beginning of this year was held in Qatar, and the Chinese team won the runner-up here, which was already the best result in the history of the Chinese team in the Asian Cup.

So this place is actually considered a blessed place for the Chinese national team. Out of some understandable superstitious considerations, the Chinese national team originally wanted to stay in the same hotel in Qatar as they did when they participated in the Asian Cup, hoping that revisiting the old place could bring them good luck.

But the Qatari side regretfully told them that due to the hotel's temporary decision to renovate, they could not stay in this hotel and could only change to another one.

But was it really being renovated? I'm afraid everyone knew in their hearts.

When Zhou Yi arrived in Qatar, Cao Wei, the leader of the Chinese national team, came to pick him up in person. On the way from the airport to the hotel where the Chinese team was staying, they passed the hotel where they stayed during the Asian Cup.

"Huh?" Zhou Yi turned his head and looked at the hotel outside the car window, which was covered with scaffolding and had its doors closed. He was very surprised: "It's really being renovated?"

"How is that possible?" Cao Wei, sitting in the passenger seat, snorted. "It's just putting on a show. In order to prevent the media from finding loopholes, didn't you see that there isn't a single worker? But this hotel is indeed closed for business these days and doesn't receive any guests."

Zhou Yi heard this and continued to look at the hotel outside the car. He was very familiar with this hotel, because the Chinese team had stayed here throughout the Asian Cup. In the past, this hotel, which was quite famous in Doha, had a very high occupancy rate, but now it was closed and not a single person could be seen.

"Such a luxurious hotel, how much loss would it be for a day of not operating?" Zhou Yi said with emotion.

"Yeah, but it is said that the Qatari side seems to have reached an agreement with the hotel operator and will compensate the hotel... These are all things we found out after we came to Qatar. No media has reported on this matter, because there is a lack of evidence," Cao Wei said. "In order not to let us stay in this hotel, the Qatari side has really put in a lot of effort."

The Chinese team's opponent in this game was not Qatar, but because Iraq and Qatar were both Arab League countries, and their relationship had once been very good, Qatar naturally wanted to support Iraqi football. The Iraqi national team's victory in the 2007 Asian Cup was also considered a victory for Arab football.

This is also why the Iraqi national team chose Qatar as their home ground when they couldn't play in their own country.

It must be said that in terms of unity, West Asia is indeed stronger than East Asia. Middle Eastern countries often easily form alliances and cooperate. In East Asia, however, the four countries of China, Japan, South Korea, and North Korea are often mortal enemies... Of course, there are very complex historical and political relationships in this, and the relationship with football is not very big.

So although this was not Iraq's real home ground, the troubles that the Chinese team encountered in this place might be more than if they were really playing in Iraq...

"Do they think that not letting us stay in the hotel from the Asian Cup will make us lose to Iraq?" Zhou Yi asked.

"I think that's what they think..." Cao Wei didn't say some things. In fact, the Chinese Football Association also thought so. Otherwise, why would they have proposed to stay in the same hotel, which was not just because they were more familiar with it, that was just the superficial reason. They were also a bit superstitious, hoping that this hotel could bring good luck to the Chinese team.

As a result, their thoughts were seen through by the Qatari side... They fully demonstrated what is called "the home advantage of a nouveau riche," truly generous and magnanimous.

Hearing Cao Wei say this, Zhou Yi laughed: "Hey, I think they're overthinking it. The outcome of the game doesn't depend on which hotel we stay in."

As he spoke, the car drove past the road in front of the hotel, and Zhou Yi also withdrew his gaze.

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Zhou Yi's arrival in Qatar and joining the Chinese team was an important piece of news, not only attracting attention from the Chinese media, but also from the local Qatari media.

Zhou Yi was also no stranger to the Qatari media. At the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, Zhou Yi was selected as the best player of the Asian Cup. Except for the final, he started every game and performed very well. Moreover, at that time, China and Qatar were assigned to the same group, and China and Qatar had direct confrontations, in which Zhou Yi performed brilliantly and directly pushed the host to a dead end. How could the local Qatari media not have a deep impression of him?

However, it's hard to say whether their impression of him was good or bad. After all, if the Chinese team didn't have Zhou Yi, the Asian Cup host Qatar should have been able to qualify from the group, but because of Zhou Yi, Qatar, as the host, was eliminated in the group stage. This can be said to be a grudge for Qatar.

In the news about Zhou Yi's return to the team, the Qatari media's positioning of Zhou Yi was "the Chinese team's only European-level star." Although it was stating the facts, it was still a bit awkward to highlight it so distinctly—other than Zhou Yi, you Chinese team are all trash!

When Zhou Yi was interviewed by the local Qatari media, he talked about his impression of the country: "I like Qatar very much, I like the city of Doha. Because this is our blessed place." Zhou Yi smiled.

"Here, we finally won the runner-up of the Asian Cup when we were not favored by anyone. That Asian Cup was the first Asian Cup I participated in, and it left me with a beautiful impression. Secondly, I am also very grateful to the hotel that accepted us. This time I heard that they are renovating and could not stay in it, which is a pity. I hope we will have the opportunity to stay there during the Top Ten Tournament..."

Regarding Zhou Yi's answer, Sun Pan made a sharp comment in the group: "Damn, Zhou Yi is disgusting people again!"

There is still a chance to stay in the Top Ten Tournament? Doesn't that mean that China will be in the same group as Qatar in the Top Ten Tournament?

Combining Zhou Yi's previous talk about beautiful memories, one cannot help but think of the "beautiful memories" of Qatar being eliminated by China in the Asian Cup...