Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Chapter 436 Lin Feng wins Asian Footballer of the Year award, the next goal for Chinese football!
At the end of October, Spanish media commented on Mourinho's performance in his two months as manager of Real Madrid.

Although the late arrival of Real Madrid delayed pre-match training.

However, since Mourinho took over the Galácticos, Real Madrid's performance on the field has lived up to the expectations placed upon him.

In the first ten rounds of the league, Real Madrid achieved a record of 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

Aside from the shock defeat to Espanyol and the careless draw against Valladolid away from home.

Real Madrid's performance in other matches can only be described as overwhelming.

Real Madrid's attacking firepower has improved significantly this season. Last season, Real Madrid only scored 18 goals in the first ten rounds, ranking only fourth in La Liga. They were not only behind their old rivals Barcelona, ​​but even Zaragoza scored 3 more goals than them!
In the first ten rounds of this season, Real Madrid scored a total of 29 goals, a surge of more than 60% compared to the same period last season.

In the La Liga goal-scoring rankings, Real Madrid holds a commanding lead at the top, a full nine goals ahead of second-placed Barcelona.

Real Madrid's powerful attacking force is unmatched not only in La Liga, but also in the entire top five European leagues.

Apart from Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, whose goal tally is close to theirs, the top teams in other leagues are at least five goals behind Real Madrid.

本赛季皇马打出了多场比分极其夸张的大胜，像联赛第一轮5:1血洗马竞，第二轮5:0屠杀比利亚雷亚尔，第10轮5:1巴伦西亚都是皇马尽情释放了自己强大的进攻火力之后的杰作。

These matches have been a great experience for Real Madrid fans, leading to a significant increase in Mourinho's popularity.

The doubts and criticisms he had previously faced have gradually dissipated as Real Madrid has firmly secured its position at the top of the league table and continues to achieve victories on the field.

However, while praising Mourinho, some of the outside world also subtly mentioned some of Real Madrid's shortcomings this season.

Due to the lack of a key defensive midfielder, Real Madrid's defensive statistics this season are not good. They have conceded more goals in the first ten rounds of the league than last year, which is inconsistent with Mourinho's reputation as a defensive mastermind.

Moreover, due to the limitations imposed by Mourinho's playing style, Real Madrid often finds it very easy to play against top-ranked teams in the league.

Teams like Atletico Madrid, Valencia, and Villarreal, all top-ranked teams in their respective leagues and some even regular Champions League participants, were completely outmatched by Real Madrid.

However, Real Madrid struggles against teams ranked lower in the league, rarely achieving big wins and even finding it difficult to score.

The main reason is that strong teams dare to challenge Real Madrid and dare to attack.

Once they attack, Real Madrid can seize the gaps exposed by the opponent and launch a deadly counterattack, making scoring as easy as eating and drinking.

But when those weaker teams faced Real Madrid, they all played a defensive game, camping out in their own half and refusing to attack.

This rendered Real Madrid's counter-attacking tactics ineffective, forcing them to rely on positional attacks to breach the opponent's defense. Furthermore, the excessive number of players committed to the attack left their own backline vulnerable, giving the opponent opportunities to counter-attack.

This is the case for more than half of Real Madrid's goals conceded this season.

This should have been a wake-up call for Real Madrid. After all, strong teams in La Liga are a minority, while weak and ordinary teams are the majority.

Once they discover that this tactic works against Real Madrid, other teams will rush to learn it, and Real Madrid will be in a dangerous situation.

Moreover, there is another serious problem: Real Madrid is too reliant on Lin Feng.

To date, Lin Feng has scored 14 goals and provided 9 assists in La Liga.

How terrifying is this data?
Nearly 80% of Real Madrid's 29 goals were related to Lin Feng!

His contribution to the team even surpassed that of Messi at his peak in the 11-12 and 12-13 seasons for Barcelona.

Of course, as the number of games increases, Lin Feng's average stats may decline due to rotation, injuries, and suspensions, and he may not be able to maintain such a high level of contribution indefinitely.

But at least at this point, Lin Feng's incredible performance has already attracted the attention of the entire football world.

Many people were amazed by Lin Feng's phenomenal performance, exclaiming that he was an invincible god descended from heaven.

However, many people also have certain concerns:
Lin Feng is so important to Real Madrid. Without Lin Feng, would Real Madrid still be able to play football?
It's not just the media and fans who are worried; even Real Madrid's management has to consider this issue.

Calderon was so eager to renew Lin Feng's contract because he saw Lin Feng's incredible performance and was afraid of losing him, so he wanted to keep him firmly on Real Madrid's roster.

Unfortunately, Lin Feng wasn't very interested in renewing his contract.

Mendes mentioned it briefly, but seeing the other party's cold attitude, he wisely refrained from saying anything more.

"By the way, the AFC has already contacted me. We're just waiting for you to be available so you can go and collect the award!"

Mendes was referring to the Asian Footballer of the Year award, which was already a foregone conclusion before the start of the Asian Cup, with many predicting that Lin Feng would win the honor.

However, there were some dissenting voices at the time. Opponents argued that Lin Feng played in a league outside of Asia and that he had not achieved any significant honors in Asian continental competitions.

Awarding him the Asian Footballer of the Year award solely based on his performance in European leagues is unfair to other players in Asian leagues who have contributed to Asian football.

This argument is actually untenable, because there have been precedents of Asian players winning the Asian Footballer of the Year award while playing for European teams and performing well.

Why does it become a double standard when it comes to Lin Feng?

It's nothing more than those few countries secretly causing trouble!

But all the dissenting voices disappeared without a trace after Lin Feng led the Chinese team to victory in the Asian Cup.

Therefore, the Asian Footballer of the Year award is something that Lin Feng can easily obtain.

Compared to these individual honors, which are not very prestigious and have little influence, Lin Feng is more concerned about the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards, which will be presented next month.

Both awards originally belonged to Kaka in 2007.

But after Lin Feng led Inter Milan to defeat Kaká's AC Milan and take the top spot in Europe, these honors should rightfully belong to Lin Feng.

However, everything is still subject to change until the final list of winners is announced.

The reason Lin Feng has been acting so wildly lately is actually to garner votes for himself.

The Golden Globe Awards selection process is nearing its end. At this point, boosting your stats can help impress the judges and get them to vote for you.

Before Lin Feng, no Asian player had ever won both the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year awards, not even making it into the top three for the Ballon d'Or. Last year, Lin Feng's achievement of reaching the top three based solely on his club's performance, without even participating in the World Cup, was already historic.

If he can lift the Ballon d'Or trophy this year, he will be able to write his own legend!

Lin Feng isn't particularly obsessed with the Ballon d'Or, but it would be fantastic if he could lift the trophy before Messi and Ronaldo!

I feel a little bad for Kaka, since this might have been his closest chance to win the Ballon d'Or.

……

On November 2nd, Lin Feng asked the team for a day off, planning to go to the AFC to receive an award.

Although the Asian Footballer of the Year award isn't particularly prestigious, it's incredibly impolite to just leave it there unclaimed.

Moreover, the later the game goes, the more intensive the team's schedule becomes. In addition to the club's three-front campaign, there are also the national team's World Cup qualifiers to play, making it even harder for Lin Feng to find time to play.

Real Madrid manager Jorge Valdano readily approved Lin Feng's leave request, and even generously extended the leave to three days to avoid Lin Feng's rushed trip and excessive physical exertion.

As long as Lin Feng can make it back in time for next week's Champions League match, that's fine. As for the La Liga match this weekend, with Real Madrid's strength, even if Lin Feng is absent, they should be able to secure a comfortable victory, right?
Mourinho didn't really want to let Lin Feng go, but since Valdano had already approved the other party's fake status, he naturally couldn't jump out and play the villain at this time.

However, he was very unhappy that Valdano had approved the players' leave requests without his consent.

La Liga is quite different from the Premier League; here, the coach is just a coach, not a football manager.

Therefore, Mourinho's power at Real Madrid was even less than it was at Chelsea.

But Mourinho was clearly not satisfied with this. He had been striving for more power, ideally to become Real Madrid's Football Manager.

This way, you can modify the team at will without being influenced by others.

However, this will inevitably cause conflict with Real Madrid's current club management, such as Valdano.

Therefore, Mourinho disliked the other party from the very beginning.

……

"Welcome, welcome! We've been waiting for you for a long time!"

When Lin Feng arrived at the AFC headquarters, he was warmly welcomed by the AFC leadership.

Then-Asian Football Confederation President Zhang Jilong personally came out to greet him, and the scene was filled with hundreds of media reporters who set up their cameras and microphones and kept taking pictures of him.

This display of power and prestige left Lin Feng feeling somewhat flattered. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he was the leader and the other party was a player who had come to receive an award!
He expected to be welcomed, but wasn't this welcome a bit too much?

"Hey, you are the hope of Asian football, a legend who has created Asian football history. It is only right that we give you the highest honors!"

After learning of Lin Feng's concerns, Chairman Zhang Jilong said with a smile.

If anyone else had said this, Lin Feng would have assumed they were just being polite on the surface, but who knows what they were really thinking about him inside!
But since these words came from Chairman Zhang Jilong, Lin Feng was more willing to believe them.

It wasn't just because the other person was his compatriot, but also because he saw the sincerity on the other person's face.

It has to be said that since Zhang Jilong took office as the president of the Asian Football Confederation, the Chinese national football team has improved.

Not only did they face less targeting in matches, but their luck even improved. After winning the Asian Cup this year, the Chinese national football team went on to win the East Asian Cup.

Moreover, this time, the Chinese national football team, like Japan and South Korea, sent a purely second-tier lineup.

Even so, the Chinese national football team still relied on the outstanding performance of these young players to defeat South Korea and North Korea, winning the East Asian Cup this year with two wins and one draw, surpassing Japan.

While this is more related to the growth of the 85-88 generation of young players, many fans who believe in metaphysics attribute this achievement to Long Ge.

Without Brother Long's support, how could the national football team enjoy such fair and just treatment?
Besides thanking Zhang Jilong, fans are even more grateful to Lin Feng.

If he hadn't started this wave of players going abroad, so many players wouldn't have gone overseas to make money.

Without the vacancies created by these players leaving, this group of young players could not have developed so quickly.

In addition, Lin Feng's leadership in helping the national football team overcome its fear of South Korea and Japan two years ago was also crucial.

Without the mental block, the young players participating in this year's East Asian Cup were able to perform to their full potential.

On the contrary, the Japanese and South Korean teams, especially the South Korean team, have lost to the Chinese team quite a lot in recent years, and the losses have been quite severe, which has led them to suffer from China phobia.

Although the South Koreans verbally boasted that they would defeat the Chinese team and avenge their previous defeat.

However, because they took winning and losing too seriously, their players played with restraint and couldn't play freely on the field. As a result, they were unable to unleash their full potential, and the young players from the national team's second team seized the opportunity and scored 3-0!

Well, not only has South Koreans' fear of China not been cured, but it has worsened, and it has even begun to spread to the younger generation of South Korean players.

This result was actually somewhat unexpected for Lin Feng. He was already surprised that the East Asian Cup was not postponed but held as scheduled. What surprised him even more was that the national team played so well thanks to these young players.

Apart from faltering in the match against Japan, where they failed to hold onto a commanding 2-0 lead and conceded two goals, the young players on the Chinese national team performed admirably in the other two matches.

In particular, the attacking trio of Wang Yongpo and Huang Bowen in midfield and Yu Dabao in attack made the two North Korean brothers cry for their parents.

The Chinese national football team scored 6 goals in the two matches, 5 of which were scored by these three players.

Lin Feng is very pleased with the current development momentum of Chinese football.

After two years of unremitting efforts, he finally reversed the trend of the national football team sliding into an abyss of no return and began to develop in a positive direction.

If we stay on the right track, it will continue to generate positive incentives, leading to a virtuous cycle of development, and the future of Chinese football will become increasingly easier.

However, to completely reverse the negative impression of the Chinese national football team in society, one Asian Cup or a few East Asian Cups are far from enough; they need to achieve even better and more outstanding results.

For example, a major breakthrough like winning an Olympic gold medal or reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup!
(End of this chapter)