Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 324 Chinese National Football Team: I play against Bayern?
Although Inter Milan won the Milan derby, Roma also defeated Udinese 3-1 at home.

The gap between the two teams has not been further widened, so theoretically, Roma still has hopes of winning the championship.

It’s just that as time goes by, the room left for them to catch up is getting smaller and smaller, and the probability of winning the championship is getting lower and lower!
On March 3, after a week's rest, Inter Milan traveled to face Ascoli, who was ranked last in the league.

Ascoli was promoted from Serie B to Serie A in the 04-05 season. That season, Genoa was deprived of its promotion spot due to a match-fixing incident and was ordered to be relegated to Serie C.

Torino of Serie A was unable to register due to financial problems, allowing three Serie B teams, including Ascoli and Treviso, to advance to the top league.

But Ascoli is clearly not ready for the top league, and after struggling to avoid relegation last season, they were quickly beaten back to square one this season.

Up to the 29th round of the league, they had only won three games, scored 22 goals, conceded 44 goals, and had a goal difference of minus 22 goals!
Among these three data, two are the last in Serie A, which shows the value of their last-place ranking in Serie A.

Facing such an opponent, Mancini boldly rotated the team's lineup and arranged a large number of substitute players to play.

In the end, thanks to goals from Recoba and Cruz, Inter Milan defeated the second-to-last team 2:1 away from home, making Ascoli's already poor life even worse.

Because the opponent was too weak, no one in Inter Milan had any interest in winning the game.

There is really nothing to brag about after defeating such an opponent.

However, to their surprise, Roma was tied by Fiorentina, who was one man down, away from home.

As a result, the gap between Inter Milan and Roma has been further widened to 15 points, and Inter Milan's defense of the Serie A title has entered the countdown ahead of schedule.

There are 10 rounds left in the league, and with a 15-point difference, Roma's chance of a comeback is really only theoretical!
In fact, it is not big news that Roma was tied by Fiorentina. Although Fiorentina is not a wealthy club, it was once one of the seven sisters of Serie A and they have never been a weak team.

In terms of foundation, Fiorentina's foundation is even deeper than that of Roma.

The reason why this game attracted great attention and controversy in Italy was mainly because of the penalty kick that Totti missed in the second half.

Given the situation at the time, if the Wolf King had not missed the penalty, Roma would have most likely secured the three points.

Unfortunately, at the critical moment, Totti failed to withstand the pressure and missed the three points with an unreliable penalty kick.

At this time, there were already voices criticizing Totti from the outside world.

Many people feel that Totti seems to be a little weak in mental attributes. When the team is in adversity and needs him to stand up, not only does he fail to stand up, but he also wastes the precious opportunities created by his teammates.

Totti's performance in this game can only be described as mediocre, nothing too impressive.

On the other hand, Adriano, who has just joined the team for less than a season, really burned himself out in this game and was injured before leaving the field. People can't help but wonder, who is the captain of Roma?

But Totti did not escape from the criticism from the outside world and fans.

After the game, he came alone to the stands where Roma's diehard fans gathered, and despite the saliva and anger of Roma fans, he thanked the fans who came to support the team.

This made the Roma fans very helpless. After calming down, they had to admit that they were too harsh on the team and the players.

Given the current points situation in Serie A, what difference would it make even if Roma won this game?
Is there a big difference between being 13 points behind and 15 points behind?

There is actually not much difference!
The opponent is too strong and too stable. Inter Milan has not lost a single game so far this season.

If the opponent does not make any mistakes, let alone more than ten points, even five or six points would be enough to make people despair.

In this case, there is no point in continuing to blame the players.

Instead of pinning our hopes on an impossible miracle, we should focus on preparing for next season.

Roma's current main lineup is actually not bad, but it lacks some depth on the bench.

If Roma can make additional investments during the summer transfer window and bring in some talented players to enrich the team's lineup depth, there will still be great potential for Roma next season!

But it’s hard to say. After all, Juventus will be back next season, and the Serie A situation may be different by then.

After all, Roma's foundation and financial resources are far behind those of giants like Inter Milan and Juventus.

Football itself is a money-burning sport. When they are less financially and less influential than their opponents, it is difficult for them to outperform their opponents.

……

Lin Feng didn't pay much attention to what was happening in Serie A.

After the match with Ascoli, he took a plane, left Italy and returned to his country to participate in the national team training.

At this time, the 2008 Beijing Olympics was getting closer and closer. In order to celebrate the 2008-day countdown to the 500 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese national football team contacted Uzbekistan and prepared to play a friendly match in Macau.

Of course, in addition to this reason, inviting Uzbekistan to play the game also has the intention of finding out the other party's background.

In the Asian Cup group draw at the end of last year, the Chinese national football team was placed in the same group as Iran, Malaysia and Uzbekistan.

There is not much to say about the Malaysian team. They have always played the role of a point-giving boy for the Chinese national team.

Although the Chinese national football team had suffered a defeat against the Malaysian team before, it was an accident after all and does not happen often.

Compared with twenty years later, Southeast Asian teams of this era, such as Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, did not have much ability to fight back against the Chinese national team, and were basically beaten up when they met the Chinese national team.

The Chinese national football team is not worried about losing to the Malaysian team, but is somewhat unsure about the strength of Uzbekistan, a Central Asian team.

Although the main opponent of the Chinese national football team in Group C is the favorite to win the championship, Iran.

However, since the past record of confrontations is unfavorable to the Chinese national team, the Football Association’s positioning for the Chinese national team is to maintain second place and strive for first place.

Therefore, in fact, it is the Uzbekistan team that is competing with the Chinese national team for the right to qualify.

……

Perhaps because the Chinese national football team has had good results over the past year or so, there are now many teams that want to play friendly matches with the national football team.

The day after Lin Feng returned to China, he heard a piece of news that shocked him and his teammates:
"What, we're going to play Bayern?"

"Is it true? How could Bayern agree to play with us? If they want to arrange a friendly match, they should look for other clubs?" "I don't know. It is said that Bayern took the initiative to propose it. It seems that they are also preparing for an Asian training camp. It just so happens that the Chinese national football team is going to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return, so they took the initiative to propose it and hope to compete with the Chinese national football team. By the way, the Bayern executives also promised that they will never let us win and will send all the main players to participate in the game!"

After hearing this, everyone looked a little strange.

Who among those present here doesn’t know the great name of Bayern?

To be honest, they still feel a bit pressured when playing against such top giants.

After all, the recent defeat of the National Olympic Team to Chelsea in an away game is still fresh in our memory. The defeat of the National Olympic Team can be attributed to reasons such as age and the fact that the National Olympic Team cannot represent the true level of Chinese football.

But if they also lose miserably to Bayern, how can they shirk responsibility?

"Hey, why think so much? Isn't this just a friendly match? And it's a friendly match with performance. Winning or losing is not important. The most important thing is to make the audience happy!"

According to the original plan, the Chinese national football team was going to go to Hong Kong on July 7 to participate in the "Return Cup" competition. The original opponent was a world star team composed of many superstars.

Although there are many invited stars, this team with so many stars really has little fighting power.

Because they are really here to perform, not to play. Some players don't play in positions they are good at on the field, and they are not familiar with their teammates at all, let alone tacit cooperation.

However, due to the chaotic summer plans of various clubs, it was impossible to gather so many stars at the same time in terms of time, so this plan was abandoned.

After hearing the news, Bayern took the initiative to step forward, hoping to replace the world star team and act as the opponent of the Chinese national team.

For Bayern, playing a friendly match with a local Hong Kong team will have too little impact and will not attract many fans to support them, which will reduce their commercial income.

Moreover, since these teams are too weak, it would be a complete bullying for Bayern and it would not have the effect of training the team.

But the match with the Chinese team is completely different. This is a team that has unexpectedly defeated the German team and tied with the French team.

Even if they are not as strong as Bayern, they will not collapse at the first touch like the local teams in Hong Kong.

As for the box office appeal, the words "Chinese national team" alone are enough to detonate the football market.

Not to mention the China team VS Bayern, which is like Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong. The tickets will definitely be sold out and Bayern will also make a lot of money from it.

So it is reasonable for Bayern to make such a decision.

Now it depends on whether the Football Association will accept the challenge!
For the sake of "face" and gaining international points, the Chinese national football team would definitely prefer to play against other national teams.

There are no extra points for winning against Bayern, and it is embarrassing if you lose. Even the money you earn has to be shared with the opponent in half.

But the King of the South has already taken the initiative to extend an olive branch. If the Football Association does not accept it, it may be regarded by the outside world as being afraid of the other party.

This is harmful to the reputation, and Bayern's playing style is similar to that of Iran, the Chinese national team's top rival in the Asian Cup group stage.

Both teams play a style that values ​​strength and speed, but Bayern is just a fully enhanced version of Iran.

Before the Asian Cup, we played a game with Bayern in advance, which can provide some help for the Chinese national team's preparations.

So, in the end, the Football Association accepted Bayern's invitation and agreed to play a friendly match with them.

After this news was released, it unsurprisingly sparked heated discussions among fans across the country.

For many Bundesliga fans, especially Bayern fans, this is a double blessing.

"Oh my god, China VS Bayern Munich? I have to watch this game!"

"The national team has really made progress now. They can even play a warm-up match with a team of Bayern's level!"

"Hey, it wasn't the national team that took the initiative to invite us. It was Bayern that came to us. I heard that Melbourne Victory in the Australian Super League also tried to invite the Chinese team to warm up with them after inquiring, but the national football team didn't agree!"

"Tsk, who the hell is Melbourne Victory? Warming up with them will only lower your level. It's not worth the exercise at all!"

Melbourne Victory is really not a bad team. It is currently the leader of the A-League and the best team in the Australian league. If we compare it to the domestic team, its status is probably equivalent to that of Shandong Luneng, right?

"Brothers, what do you think of this game? Can the Chinese national football team win?"

"30-70 or 20-80? I think it's hard to win. After all, even the German national team is no match for Bayern, let alone us!"

"I don't agree with what you said. Is the German national team very strong? Didn't they also get defeated by us 3:1? They also defeated the German team, so why is it that Bayern has an - advantage against us?"

If it were in the past, when fans heard that the Chinese national team was going to play against Bayern, they probably wouldn’t think that the team had a chance of winning.

But now, although there are still not many people who are optimistic about the Chinese national football team winning, at least there are some!

"I think it's still a little different. The German team that the Chinese national football team met before was obviously in a state of tactical confusion, unclear core of the team, and the players' performance was also up and down. Since Klinsmann was dismissed and replaced by Loew, we can clearly feel the improvement of this German team.

Compared to the German team two years ago, the current German team is much stronger. If the Chinese national football team really meets the German team, it will be very difficult to win again.”

In the eyes of many fans, the victory of the Chinese national team was an upset, which does not mean that the Chinese national team really had the strength to defeat the German team. Moreover, from today's perspective, the Chinese national team was suspected of taking advantage of the opponent's misfortune at that time.

The Chinese national team cannot beat the German team, and the German team cannot beat Bayern, so the Chinese national team naturally has little chance of winning against Bayern.

Giving a winning rate of 82 is actually considered optimistic.

To be objective, the probability of the Chinese national team winning this game is probably less than 20%.

"I heard that Bayern has a lot of German internationals. Do you think they will treat the Chinese team and this game with a vengeful mentality?"

After hearing this, everyone became even less optimistic about the Chinese national football team.

The news of the match with Bayern did have a certain impact on the players of the Chinese national team.

But this game is still more than three months away. Compared to what will happen three months later, everyone is more concerned about what is happening right now.

There are only three days left before the warm-up match between the Chinese national team and the Uzbekistan team.

(End of this chapter)