Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"Captain is mighty and domineering!"

"You, Captain, should be the one to say this. The rest of us would sound unsure of ourselves. Only you have the authority to say such things!"

Lin Feng's declaration just now greatly boosted the team's morale and fighting spirit.

Having already made it to the finals, who wouldn't be thinking about winning the championship?
Even if they are not favored, they will never give up so easily.

If the Argentinians want to win this championship, they'd better be prepared to go through a lot!

The team quickly entered the locker room, put on their gear, and then skipped and hopped out of the locker room to enter the Bird's Nest stadium to begin their pre-match warm-up.

Because the schedule at the Bird's Nest is very tight, the men's football final was scheduled for noon to allow time for subsequent matches.

Late August in Beijing is the hottest time of the year, with the highest temperature exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. Competing under such scorching sun and sweltering heat is a huge test of the athletes' physical strength and willpower.

Just as enthusiastic as the sweltering heat were the 70,000 to 80,000 fans who came to the scene.

They had already entered the stadium long before the match even started.

Many people had prepared support items in advance. When they saw the young players of the national Olympic team come out to warm up, these fans immediately waved banners and signs with various slogans to cheer for the Chinese team and began to make a splash.

Unfortunately, security measures at the event were very strict, and large musical instruments such as large drums were not allowed to be brought into the venue.

Without the support of the big drum, the performance felt like something was missing.

A significant number of Argentine fans also came to the Bird's Nest to watch the game. As one of the most passionate football nations, many Argentinians would rather go without food or drink and save money for months to come to Beijing to watch the final and witness Argentina's Olympic victory once again.

This is just the Olympics. I wonder how crazy these Argentinians will get when the World Cup starts!
Just as the Chinese Olympic team was warming up at the Bird's Nest, the Argentine team also arrived at the scene.

The two teams tacitly occupied their respective halves of the field, warming up without interfering with each other.

Argentina's lineup is truly enviable!

Yes, the Pampas Eagles have produced a large number of talented players across all three lines in recent years. The depth of Argentine football is truly formidable!

Watching the Argentine lineup warming up on the field, many Chinese fans couldn't help but drool with envy.

Looking at the lineup of young players alone, Argentina's squad is among the best, even among the major traditional football powerhouses.

It's likely that no one but the Spanish team can rival them.

These players are still young, but as they grow and mature, they will undoubtedly become the backbone of the Argentine national team.

Considering their age, they can play for the Argentine national team for at least another ten years.

In other words, Argentina is a strong favorite to win the World Cup in the next three tournaments!
If Chinese football had so many outstanding young players, combined with existing players like Lin Feng, they would have a chance to compete for the World Cup title, let alone qualify for it.

Unfortunately, China is not Argentina and doesn't have as many outstanding football talents.

Hopefully, the football craze of recent years will lead to a surge in talent for Chinese football in the future!

Fans can only pin their hopes on the distant future.

Fortunately, after several years of improvement, the atmosphere of football in China is rapidly improving, unlike before when people felt hopeless.

The enthusiasm for football among the public had already surged after the Chinese team won the Asian Cup. Now, with the Olympic team reaching the Olympic finals, the number of children choosing to play football in the future will surely increase exponentially.

Perhaps one day in the future, Chinese football will also produce its own Messi, Aguero, Di Maria, and other young talents.

Lin Feng didn't look at the Argentinians, but some members of the Argentinian team were discussing him.

"Captain, you need to be careful in this match. Your opponent is very likely to be Lin!"

Mascherano spoke earnestly to his captain, Riquelme.

But Riquelme seemed somewhat nonchalant, not taking Mascherano's words to heart.

In this Olympics, he not only wore the number 10 jersey, but was also the captain of the Argentine team. In the past five games, Riquelme has delivered almost perfect performances.

Although he had faced Lin Feng in La Liga, he admitted that Lin Feng was indeed a tough opponent when he was with Real Madrid.

But this is not a league match, it's a competition between national teams.

His teammates on the national team were no less skilled than those on the club team, but Lin Feng's teammates were far from being on par with Real Madrid.

Given this shift in power dynamics, Riquelme did not believe that Lin Feng posed any threat to him.

Football is a team sport. It's not impossible for one person to win a game, but it requires the player to have extremely strong individual combat ability, just like Maradona back in the day!

Does Lin Feng have that kind of ability?

Riquelme was very skeptical!
Seeing that Riquelme didn't seem to care much, Little Ma wanted to persuade him again.

But Riquelme was already getting impatient, and Lin Feng's other teammate, Gago, quickly stepped in to smooth things over and stopped Mascherano:
"Don't you know the captain's personality? To put it nicely, he has his own personality; to put it bluntly, he's unruly. The more you emphasize how powerful he is, the more likely you are to provoke the captain's rebellious nature, and he'll insist on going against you!"

"What can we do then? We both play for Real Madrid. Others may not know how good Lin is, but surely we do?"

Mascherano is getting a little anxious. Before joining Real Madrid, Lin Feng had played as a defensive midfielder, and the Chinese team had also used this tactic in the knockout stage. All of this proves that Lin Feng has the ability to be a top-level defensive midfielder.

Although Riquelme possesses exceptional and comprehensive footwork skills, it's hard to say what the outcome would be if Lin Feng were to entangle him.

"Since we can't persuade the captain, we can only help him more on the field and prevent him from falling into the opponent's trap."

……

Although the two teams did not exchange any words throughout the entire event, on one particular issue, the players from both teams surprisingly shared the same stance:
"Is this a vegetable garden? Why is it full of potholes? The quality of this lawn is even worse than the pitches we played on before!"

Di Maria nearly tripped over an inconspicuous dirt pit on the field, stumbled, and immediately started cursing.

"The quality of this venue is really poor, about the same as the level of Chinese football!"

Riquelme made a sweeping generalization, which made the other players on the team burst into laughter.

Messi didn't participate in such a low-level joke; instead, a question arose in his mind:
Is Chinese football really that bad?

He subconsciously looked up at number eight across from him. Since his debut, he had always been completely suppressed by this guy.

The World Youth Championship, the Golden Boy award, league titles, the Champions League, the Ballon d'Or, the La Liga Golden Boot, the UEFA Best Player in Europe award… a whole host of honors that should have belonged to him were all snatched away by this guy. Can a country with a low level of football produce such a genius?
Messi clearly didn't believe it. In his view, the reason for the poor quality of the Bird's Nest's turf was simple: it had hosted too many matches in the past, and the turf had not received proper maintenance and upkeep, which led to its poor quality.

Using this as evidence to conclude that Chinese football is not good is absurd, even to him.

While the Argentine players were cursing and swearing at the vegetable patch at the Bird's Nest stadium, the Chinese players on the other half of the field were beaming with joy.

"This is a good thing. The opponent will definitely focus on ground attacks in this match. The poor field conditions will limit them more, which will benefit our defense!"

Given the vast disparity in strength between the two sides, the Chinese team will certainly not take the initiative to attack in this match, but will instead focus on defense.

Once the Argentinians figure out the Chinese team's tactics, they will inevitably launch a massive attack on the Chinese goal.

The Chinese team faced immense defensive pressure in this match, and would be eager to weaken the opponent's attack by taking advantage of the court conditions.

Of course, poor turf quality will also affect the Chinese team's counter-attack efficiency, but given that the number of attacks is foreseeably less than that of the opponent, the field conditions will have a much smaller impact on the Olympic team.

After finishing their pre-match warm-ups, players from both teams left the field and returned to the locker room for their final preparations before going on stage.

The Chinese team's locker room was so quiet that the noise from the fans in the stands could be clearly heard inside.

Klaus Toppmöller didn't continue to instruct the players on tactics and discipline; he had already said those things countless times before, and those who were supposed to listen had already listened, while those who weren't going to listen wouldn't listen no matter how many times he said them.

He simply watched quietly as the players organized their gear, and only when they were almost finished did he clap his hands to draw their attention.

"The leaders of the Football Association just came in and told me something."

Klaus Toppmöller's opening remarks were completely different from what everyone had expected, immediately piquing everyone's curiosity.

Everyone is eager to know what the leaders of the Football Association actually said.

"They told me that a total of 85,000 Chinese fans came to the stadium for the game, and in addition, there were no fewer than 100,000 fans who couldn't get tickets gathered outside the Bird's Nest."

These two numbers were so shocking that everyone present was stunned when they heard them.

No wonder there was such a huge commotion outside; there were 80,000 to 90,000 people at the scene!
"I'm telling you this not to put pressure on you or make you sign any pledges, but to let you know that you are not fighting alone. You have teammates, and behind you are millions of fans supporting you."

After saying that, he personally opened the locker room door and stood at the doorway, addressing the players:

"Did you hear their calls?"

"They are looking forward to the grand appearance of heroes, and you are the heroes in their hearts!"

"Go, fight, and enjoy this stage that belongs only to you!"

"Go and ignite your passion and sweat, don't leave any regrets, cherish this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

The German old man's words ignited everyone's passion, and they were all as if they had been injected with adrenaline, their morale and fighting spirit soaring.

Let alone the Argentinian team, even if it were the King of Heaven himself, we'd still pull his teeth out today!
As the team captain, Lin Feng was the first to leave the locker room and go to the players' tunnel outside.

Coincidentally, the Argentinians next door also opened their locker room at that moment.

Although both sides had acquaintances, neither side intended to greet the other.

Lin Feng ignored his club teammates Higuain, Mascherano, and Gago, while Messi ignored his Barcelona teammate Feng Xiaoting.

Both sides turned their attention to the pitch, where the suspense of who would win the championship would be revealed in ninety minutes.

Time flew by in the silence between the two sides. On the field, the organizing committee was carrying out a series of procedures before the start of the competition.

In addition to attracting more than 90,000 spectators to the game, the match also drew a host of high-ranking officials, including the president of the International Olympic Committee.

For the International Olympic Committee, this may just be an ordinary Olympic final.

But for Chinese fans, this was an unprecedented event.

Therefore, in addition to government officials, many sports stars and media reporters were also present at the event.

Athletes from many sports, including men's basketball team's Yao Ming and his teammates, track and field team's Liu Xiang and his teammates, women's volleyball team, women's football team, diving team, gymnastics team, and swimming team, came to the scene to cheer for the national Olympic team.

As for the reporters from various media outlets, there were too many to count. The total number of Chinese and foreign reporters present at the event exceeded 2000.

This number is five times that of the Champions League final, more than the number of journalists present at the recently concluded European Championship final, and is almost on par with the World Cup final.

The large number of reporters present to cover the event demonstrates the immense attention this match has garnered both domestically and internationally.

At 11:50 a.m. on August 23, the referee checked the time again and then led the players onto the field.

"I'm coming!"

"Lin Feng and the others are here!"

When the fans at the scene saw the referee team and players finally emerge from the player tunnel, they erupted in enthusiastic cheers and applause.

Although the match was scheduled for noon, many fans who arrived early had already been waiting in the stands for several hours.

"Go China!"

The fans waved their cheering sticks and national flags frantically, shouting at the top of their lungs.

A terrifying roar swept in from outside the stadium. The players were hit by this terrifying roar as soon as they left the player tunnel, and they were all greatly shocked.

"Haha, the atmosphere created by the fans at the stadium is truly amazing!"

"Yeah, the noise is already this loud before the competition even starts. Once the competition begins, the sound waves will probably blow the roof off the Bird's Nest!"

This time, CCTV did not choose to broadcast from the rear, but instead set up a studio at the Bird's Nest to broadcast live.

Despite the soundproofing measures, the commentators still felt the enormous sound waves from the venue.

Even those sitting in the soundproof booths were awestruck, let alone the ordinary fans in the stands.

This made them exclaim that it was truly worthy of being the Olympic finals; they had never seen such a spectacular scene in their lives!
But the excitement didn't end there. During the national anthem, nearly 100,000 people sang along, and fans outside the stadium joined in after hearing the commotion.

The scene of hundreds of thousands of people, both inside and outside the city, singing the national anthem in unison became a classic memory of this Olympic Games. (End of Chapter)