Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 621 Could you bring in fewer?

After getting off the plane in Guangzhou, Shan Yongzhuo went straight to the national football team's training base.

Here, all the players on the final 23-man roster of the Chinese national football team gathered before flying together to Brazil, on the other side of the world.

The well-funded Chinese national football team has chosen the Itu Spa Resort in São Paulo state as its training camp.

Although it's just a small town, you can enjoy the comfort of hot springs here.

Moreover, with the World Cup approaching, this small town is also getting excited about the World Cup, which shows that this sport is more than just a sport.

The arrival of the national football team was nothing special, but the presence of Shan Yongzhuo completely set the small city ablaze. This small city of over 100,000 people gave the world's number one football star an extremely warm welcome, which even made Shan Yongzhuo feel a little overwhelmed.

During their week in Itu, the Chinese national football team focused on practicing defense and counter-attacks, primarily aiming to develop chemistry between defensive midfielder Yongzhuo and his teammates.

As for the effectiveness of the counterattack, that can only be left to Shan Yongzhuo's performance on the spot.

Despite the high optimism of domestic media and many fans regarding the future of the national football team, Gao Hongbo's players are still self-aware.

To achieve good results, defense is of paramount importance.

On June 14, after breakfast, the team traveled to Recife for their first match, which was to be played at the Pernambuco Stadium in Recife against Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast's rise was accompanied by the emergence of players like Drogba and the Toure brothers. This African team, which was virtually unknown before, gradually gained global recognition starting in 2006.

This World Cup marks Ivory Coast's third consecutive appearance in the World Cup finals.

In the 2006 World Cup, the African Elephants had bad luck. They were drawn into the group of death and lost 1-2 to the Netherlands and Argentina respectively. Although they defeated Serbia and Montenegro 3-2, they still failed to reach the round of 16.

In the 2010 South Africa World Cup, they were grouped with Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. Although they defeated North Korea 3-0, they drew 0-0 with Portugal and lost 1-3 to Brazil, which was not enough for them to advance to the round of 16.

In this World Cup, the African elephants have been placed in a relatively balanced group, giving them a great chance of advancing.

However, African elephants are not viewed favorably.

First, there's the aging of players like Drogba.

Drogba, Yaya Toure, Eboue and others are all getting on in years, and Kolo Toure has been in poor condition ever since his drug test results came back negative.

The current Ivory Coast team relies more on the performance of the new generation of Gervinho.

Although they performed strongly in the African qualifiers, that was because they did not encounter any major challenges.

It remains to be seen how they will perform in the World Cup finals, especially in their first match against the mysterious Chinese team with the world's number one star.

In the other match that started in this group, Colombia, widely regarded as the strongest team in the group, easily defeated Greece 3-0, taking the lead.

In this match between Ivory Coast and China, both sides will consider the other a must-win opponent, as only by defeating them can they increase their chances of advancing.

Upon arriving in Recife, the Chinese national football team quickly made its debut at the training ground.

The world's media's perception of this team is quite strange.

Undoubtedly, with Shan Yongzhuo on the roster, the Chinese national football team is currently invincible in Asia, but their overall lineup still leaves people speechless.

Most of the players play in the Chinese Super League.

The only players who have truly established themselves in Europe now are Shan Yongzhuo and Feng Xiaoting, and both of them are playing for Granada.

There was originally another player, Deng Zhuoxiang, but unfortunately, he gradually lost his place in the German second division and eventually returned to China. To make matters worse, he suffered a serious injury before the World Cup and missed the tournament.

It can be said that, apart from Shan Yongzhuo, even Feng Xiaoting, is virtually unknown on the world stage.

Soon, at the Pernambuco Stadium.

The newly built stadium, which was just handed over in 2013 and can accommodate more than 46000 fans, was already bustling with activity, even though it wasn't full.

The match didn't attract many Brazilian fans, but the atmosphere created by the fans of both teams was quite impressive.

Especially for the Chinese team, who were making their second appearance in the World Cup finals, the number of Chinese fans at the stadium completely overwhelmed the number of Ivorian fans.

The sound of the drums was deafening, like the war drums of an army going into battle.

Even more outrageous, someone played the suona, a death instrument, and the sound of the suona filled the entire stadium with an eerie atmosphere.

"Their world ranking is higher than ours, but that doesn't mean anything!"

"They're already on a downward spiral, while we're on a very clear upward trajectory!"

Gao Hongbo cheered on his players.

But clearly, this didn't work.

Apart from Shan Yongzhuo, everyone else seemed very nervous. Although they were all star players in China, they were still somewhat at a loss when facing such a major competition. Many of the younger players were even completely bewildered at the moment.

Many people are hesitant to play freely during pre-match warm-ups.

Shan Yongzhuo also saw an old acquaintance, Yaya Toure, who walked over and put his arm around Shan Yongzhuo's shoulder.

"Damn it, why did I have to run into you, you bastard!"

Yaya Touré was very resentful. Although he, Drogba, and other famous players knew how formidable Shan Yongzhuo was, the young players in the team had no idea.

Even before the match, Gervinho boasted that he would perform better than Shan Yongzhuo in this game.

The team's two center-backs, Suleiman and Zokora, are young and fearless, and Fang Yan even tries to mark Shan Yongzhuo closely.

Yaya Toure scoffed at this, and he and Drogba had already decided to lose before the battle even began.

There was nothing they could do; the pressure Shan Yongzhuo was putting on them was simply too much.

"Honestly, could you score fewer goals in the match and give us a smaller goal difference..."

"Let go, you bastard." Shan Yongzhuo impatiently stepped back from Yaya Toure. "I'm trying my best to force a draw, do you want me to score fewer goals?"

"Hehe, you're joking."

Yaya Toure clearly dismissed Shan Yongzhuo's statement.

Shan Yongzhuo was also quite helpless about this. It seems that this bastard has no idea about the strength of the Chinese team players. He regarded the national team as a similar opponent, and then, along with himself, he caused Yaya Toure and even Drogba to be afraid of the national team.

"I never thought the Chinese national football team could inspire such fear..."

(End of this chapter)