Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

China's national football team secures a resounding victory against a strong West Asian opponent, regaining control of their qualification chances!

6-0! China demonstrates its Asian champion strength!

What's limiting this Chinese team isn't skill, but time!

Hat-trick + Team Victory: Lin Feng Delivers a Perfect Performance in His World Cup Qualifier Debut!

Zhu Guanghu: Our goal is to finish first in the group!

……

After the Chinese national football team defeated Qatar away from home, fans and media in China were very excited.

This victory came at the perfect time. After two winless rounds, some pessimistic fans had begun to worry about whether the national team could qualify.

But after watching the Chinese national football team's 6-0 thrashing of Qatar, most of the concerns disappeared.

At this point, the Chinese national football team not only returned to a safe position in the group rankings, but more importantly, the result of the match and the way the team won reassured the fans.

Given the current form of the Chinese national football team, their chances of advancing from the group stage are very high. The only question is whether they can catch up with Australia and take first place in the group before the end of the group stage.

The Chinese national football team is currently two points behind Australia, but the two sides still have one more chance to face each other directly. If the Chinese team can defeat their opponent, then the Chinese team will most likely come from behind and overtake Australia to take first place in Group A.

But before the two teams face off directly, the Chinese national team still has two matches to play against Qatar and Iraq.

The good news is that both matches are being played at the Chinese national team's home ground.

The bad news is that the Chinese national football team will be playing away against Australia in the final round.

As one of Asia's top teams, Australia's home ground is definitely not a good place to play.

If the Australian team is determined to only get one point, then the Chinese national team will probably have a hard time defeating them.

Therefore, the competition for first place in the group is slightly disadvantageous for the Chinese national football team.

Why think so much? Just take it one game at a time!

If the Chinese national team wins its next two matches against Qatar and Iraq, and Australia makes some mistakes, we might be in the lead before the final round!

[That's right. After the previous rounds of matches, everyone should have seen that there are no weak teams in Group A. Iraq and Qatar are both strong and fully capable of pulling off an upset against Australia, or even the Chinese national team. If we only focus on Australia, we might also suffer an upset against these two teams. Remember, pride comes before a fall!]

Therefore, our players must not be complacent. Don't underestimate Qatar just because we just beat them away from home. Our next home game is the most crucial. If we can win this game, we'll have 8 points and we'll basically be safe from danger. But if we don't win, the last two rounds will be much more unpredictable!

Given that the Chinese national football team often disappoints fans during World Cup qualifiers, causing some to develop PTSD, fans naturally harbor distrust towards the team.

Although the current situation looks good, this kind of situation has happened before in previous World Cup qualifiers. The Chinese national team often inexplicably lost the game when a draw would have been enough to qualify. So as long as the Chinese national team has not secured qualification, the fans' hearts will be hanging in suspense.

The Chinese national football team currently leads Qatar by 2 points and Iraq by 4 points.

If China can defeat Qatar in the next match, its points will reach 8, and it will also widen the gap with Qatar by 5 points and with Iraq by 7 points, basically putting it out of the running and securing its place in the league.

Of course, this is based on the premise that Iraq loses to Australia.

Of course, there's also the possibility that Iraq could pull off a surprise victory against Australia, who are currently leading the group, but that would make the qualification situation in Group A even more complicated.

……

After the match, the Chinese national football team did not stay in Qatar but took a chartered flight back to China overnight to prepare for the second leg of the match.

To the players' slight disappointment, Chairman Zhang Jilong did not visit them in the locker room to avoid suspicion.

Of course, everyone can understand this. After all, the Chinese national football team won by so much on the other side's home ground. If Zhang Jilong, the president of the Asian Football Confederation, were to appear in the Chinese national football team's locker room at this time, the West Asian media would definitely seize on this and criticize the Chinese national football team for winning the game because of the Asian Football Confederation's favoritism.

The West Asian faction within the AFC wields considerable power and is very united. Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to give them any ammunition to avoid causing trouble for Chairman Zhang's work.

……

Because of the approaching Olympics, the World Cup qualifiers have a very tight schedule.

The fourth round of group matches was only five days after the third round.

By the time the Chinese national football team's flight landed at Beijing Capital International Airport, it was already the morning of the 3rd.

A large number of fans came to the airport to welcome the players, but the players were not in good spirits because they had not rested well on the plane.

One by one, they got off the plane with dark circles under their eyes and constant yawning.

Even Lin Feng's spirits were not as good as before.

He forced himself to wave to the fans at the scene, then hurriedly left the airport with his teammates and boarded the team bus.

The bus swayed and rattled towards the team's booked hotel. The team was exhausted, and many players had fallen asleep on the bus before even arriving at the hotel.

Normally, it would be more reasonable to rest overnight in the local area after the competition, and then fly back to China the next morning after recovering some physical strength.

After all, they had just finished a high-intensity game and were now going to be on a plane for more than ten hours. Even if the players were made of iron, they couldn't take it.

But there was no other way; time was tight and the task was heavy. In order to prepare for the second leg of the match as soon as possible, the national football team had to return overnight.

Furthermore, there is a 5-hour time difference between BJ and Dubai, so returning earlier will allow the team to adjust to the time difference sooner, preventing the time difference from having a greater impact on the team's training and preparation.

On the 3rd, the Chinese national football team players spent almost the entire day resting.

It wasn't until the 4th that the national football team, having regained its physical fitness, began recovery training.

The Qataris arrived just one day later than the Chinese national football team; on the 4th, their plane also landed at the Capital International Airport.

However, they did not stay in Beijing, but went directly to Tianjin, the location of the competition.

The next match was scheduled for the Tianjin Water Drop Stadium, a large multi-purpose stadium built specifically for the Beijing Olympics, with a maximum capacity of 80,000 spectators.

In fact, the Chinese national football team wanted to play in the newly completed Bird's Nest stadium, since it is more famous and more attractive to the national team players than the Water Drop Stadium.

However, the Bird's Nest recently hosted a series of track and field events and is currently closed for maintenance, so it will not be hosting any competitions for the time being. Therefore, the wishes of the national football team have been dashed.

Despite his resounding victory over his opponent in the previous round, Zhu Guanghu did not become complacent.

The Chinese national football team's home record has been terrible in recent years. Sometimes, they might win a game away from home, but they just can't win it at home.

The reason for this is probably because the national football team's performance in the past few years was too poor, and they were criticized too harshly by fans and the media, which put a heavy psychological burden on the players.

The away game receives less attention, so the negative impact is not particularly serious.

However, when they return to their home stadium, under the spotlight of tens of thousands of spectators and hundreds of media reporters from across the country, the psychological burden on the national football team is amplified. They play without restraint on the field, wanting to win but also afraid of losing. As a result, their hesitant and timid approach often leads to the worst possible outcome that no one wants to see.

In the original timeline, the Chinese national football team only managed to get 1 point in their three home games and lost two of them in this World Cup qualifier, but remained undefeated in their three away games and even secured their only victory against Australia.

After consecutive home defeats to Qatar and Iraq, the Chinese national football team managed to beat Australia, the strongest team in their group, away from home. The strength of the Chinese national football team is like Schrödinger's cat; you simply can't tell whether they are strong or weak.

It can only be said that mentality has a huge impact on the Chinese national football team. Even with generation after generation of players, this old problem still can't be changed.

In light of this, Zhu Guanghu decided to play more cautiously. His priority was to avoid conceding a goal, and then capitalize on the opponent's mistakes to launch counter-attacks.

Another benefit of doing this is that it reduces the players' physical exertion.

With the Olympics about to begin, the first stage of the World Cup qualifiers will be completed this month.

In the next ten days or so, the Chinese national football team has three more matches to play, and they must prepare for the remaining matches in advance.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye, and the match day of the 7th arrived in the blink of an eye.

The huge Tianjin Water Drop Stadium was packed to capacity, with fans from all over the country flocking to the stadium and snapping up all 7 tickets released by the event organizers.

Since the Chinese national football team won the Asian Cup last year, the domestic football market has seen a strong recovery.

Not only are tickets for national team matches extremely difficult to obtain, but even the long-dormant Chinese Super League has seen significant improvement.

The sparsely populated stands and large empty seats that were common in the Chinese Super League a few years ago are no longer seen.

Attendance at the home stadiums of all clubs has increased significantly, and the home stadiums of established powerhouses like Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng are packed to capacity every time.

This season's Beijing-Shandong derby set a new record of 61200 people at the Workers' Stadium, the highest attendance in the Chinese Super League!
If even the Chinese Super League can achieve such a terrifying attendance, then the national football team, with its star-studded lineup and a host of players rarely seen in domestic leagues, is even more impressive.

Seventy thousand people is not the limit for Chinese football fans, but the limit for the Water Drop Stadium.

"Team China!"

"come on!"

"Team China!"

"come on!"

……

Even before the match started, the fans in the stands were already cheering for the Chinese national football team.

The vast majority of people in the stands, regardless of age or gender, were wearing the red jerseys of the Chinese national football team. Accompanied by the drumbeats, they shouted rhythmically, creating a fervent and even terrifying home atmosphere.

The scene of more than 70,000 people singing the national anthem together before the match was even more awe-inspiring, drawing the attention of even the Qatari players.

Wow, the home crowd's atmosphere is absolutely amazing!

[Hehe, if I were a Qatari player, my legs would probably go weak with fear!]

[It's a pity this isn't a professional football stadium; the stands are a bit far from the pitch. If this were a professional stadium, the sheer volume of noise would terrify them!]

I'm so envious of the fans who can go to the home stadium to watch the game! Too bad I couldn't get a ticket!

[Add one if you didn't get a ticket!]

Honestly, these tickets are incredibly hard to get! I couldn't even get tickets from scalpers!

The mere mention of scalpers was like igniting a powder keg, and the fans immediately erupted in anger.

[Damn scalpers! They're selling a ticket that originally cost 100 yuan for 2000 yuan! Anyone who buys it is an idiot!]

Did you end up buying it?

I'm an idiot!

【…】

Everyone was speechless. "You bought it and you're still shouting so loudly!"

Many fans lamented the difficulty in getting tickets for this match.
[Didn't the media say the national football team's performance was terrible and nobody watched the games? Then what are all these people competing with me for tickets? Are they ghosts?]

The Water Drop Stadium is already considered a super-large stadium in China. If even it cannot meet the viewing needs of the vast number of fans, then other venues are even less likely to be able to meet the needs.

The only hope is probably the Bird's Nest Stadium, which can hold 90,000 spectators!
……

After completing all the pre-match procedures, at 8:00 PM sharp, the fourth round of the World Cup qualifiers group stage match between China and Qatar officially kicked off with the referee's whistle.

At the start of the match, the Qatari team took the initiative to attack the Chinese national team.

This match is a do-or-die game for the Qatari team. If they lose to the Chinese national team, their chances of advancing from the group stage will be purely theoretical.

So whether it's to avenge their loss to the Chinese team or to fight for a final chance to qualify, it's all part of the plan.

The Qatari team must attack and try to win this game away from home.

In the first minute of the match, Qatar's attack reached the wing, but their attempt to cross was intercepted by China's left-back Sun Xiang.

The Chinese national team immediately launched a counter-attack. Huang Bowen made a long pass from the backfield into the opponent's penalty area. The Qatari defender headed the ball away but it didn't go far. Gao Lin rushed up and took a shot, but unfortunately the ball hit the opponent's goalkeeper and went out of bounds.

Just one minute into the game, the Chinese national football team almost took the lead.

Gao Lin was devastated by the missed opportunity, pounding his chest in frustration. He had handled the ball too hastily; if it hadn't hit the goalkeeper, it would have been a sure goal.

Pity!
His teammates didn't blame him; instead, they praised Huang Bowen for his excellent pass and Gao Lin for his beautiful shot.

Even Lin Feng was a little surprised that Gao Lin could perform such a difficult move. He had seen this move on a guy named Harland.

It's a pity Gao Lin didn't score; if he had, it would have been a very beautiful goal.

Compared to the Olympic team's severe shortage of players, the national football team has a much better pool of players.

To accommodate the veteran players, Zhu Guanghu made special adjustments to the team's starting lineup.

In goal, Song Zhenyu replaced Li Leilei.

In defense, Du Wei and Zhang Yaokun replaced Li Weifeng and Feng Xiaoting, while Sun Xiang continued to start, but Cao Yang replaced Sun Jihai at right-back.

There have also been significant changes in the midfield, with Zheng Zhi resting and Zhao Xuri being placed on the bench.

Young player Huang Bowen started the game, forming a double defensive midfield partnership with Cui Peng.

On the front line, Lin Feng continued to start, but his partners changed from Chen Tao to Hao Junmin and Zhou Haibin.

Han Peng, who scored the goal in the previous match, was substituted, while Gao Lin remained on the field as the lone striker.

The Chinese national football team has a very young lineup, with an average age of only 23, which is five years younger than the opposing Qatari team.

It's no wonder Zhu Guanghu chose to play a defensive counter-attacking style. The national team's lineup is too young; apart from Lin Feng, it's almost all second-team players.

Of course, we have to be cautious when bringing on this lineup for such a crucial match!
But Zhu Guanghu's willingness to field such an aggressive lineup in this competition demonstrates his boldness. (End of Chapter)