Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

In a crucial match of the final round of World Cup qualifiers, Japan suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of China!

"China's victory has instilled a fear of China in the Japanese team!"

Gao Lin and Lin Feng both score hat-tricks, leading the Chinese national football team to a 7-0 victory over Japan!

The Chinese team achieved the biggest scoreline in the history of matches between China and Japan, and also broke Japan's record for the biggest defeat in team history!

FIFA releases latest rankings, China breaks into the top 20 for the first time, setting a new record for the team!

This crazy match had a huge impact afterward.

The World Cup qualifiers, especially the final round, already garnered significant attention in China, with tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of fans watching each match live.

而这场对阵日本队的比赛更是吸引了超过三亿观众，央视体育频道的收视率一度高达23.4%，比去年的亚洲杯决赛还高了足足2个点，比2004年的亚洲杯决赛和2002年的世界杯小组赛高了5个点和9个点！

It's no exaggeration to say that the streets were packed with people!
With such a dramatic score and so many fans, this match became a phenomenon in China.

People everywhere were talking about the game, and those who hadn't watched it couldn't even join in the conversation.

Chinese people love to follow trends. Once something becomes a trend, it will attract more people who were not originally interested in it to participate.

It's like every four years a large number of 'fans' emerge who only watch the World Cup. They don't usually pay attention to football, don't watch the league, and don't play football, but suddenly become active during the World Cup.

Not only are my WeChat Moments filled with World Cup content, but my conversations with people in the office, school, and other places are also all about the World Cup.

Were they really there to watch the game?

Of course not, it's just to follow the trend so that I won't be left out of the conversation when socializing.

But that doesn’t mean this is meaningless. Although 90% of these people may just be there for the fun of it, if it can attract a group of people to truly fall in love with football, or change their stereotypes about football, especially Chinese football, then it would be a great achievement.

Actually, three years ago at the East Asian Games, the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team 7-0, but the East Asian Games are not as prestigious as the East Asian Cup, so the Japanese team at that time was not very strong, and few fans mentioned this result.

But this time it was in the World Cup qualifiers, and in the final round of ten matches where World Cup tickets were directly decided, both teams were giving it their all without holding back.

To win such an important match by a large margin is of the highest quality!

After defeating Japan, the Chinese team has won 3 and drawn 1 of the first 4 rounds, ranking first in Group A with 10 points, and their chances of advancing are very good.

On the other hand, after losing this crucial six-point match, Japan's chances of advancing have become precarious.

If they fail to defeat Australia at home in the next round, Japan's points will fall far behind those of China and Australia.

At that point, the fate of the Japanese team will no longer be in their own hands, but will depend on the results of others.

It is worth mentioning that after a 7-0 victory over Japan at home, the Chinese national football team's world ranking rose to 19th, an improvement of 3 places compared to last month.

China is currently the highest-ranked team in Asia. After losing to China, Japan's ranking dropped two places from last month to 35th, but it is still the second-highest-ranked team in Asia.

After Australia drew with China at home, they moved up one place to 39th, ranking third in Asia.

The top 50 also include Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose rankings are very close, at 46th and 48th respectively.

As for the South Korean team, due to their recent poor performance, their ranking has fallen out of the top 50 and they are currently ranked sixth in Asia.

The rankings released by FIFA have greatly excited fans.

The highest ranking in the history of the Chinese national football team was 37th in the world in 1998. That year, the Chinese team was indeed strong and well-equipped, and its overall strength was even stronger than the national team that made it to the World Cup in 2002.

Unfortunately, the Chinese national football team squandered a good opportunity in 98. The home defeat to Iran and the shock loss to Qatar were too fatal for the team. If they had won just one of those two matches, they would have secured a place in the next round!
The current national football team has a greater advantage, a stronger lineup, and even the head coach is the strongest domestic coach in Chinese history. Such a lineup makes people feel particularly reassured.

This is completely different from the national football team of that year!

……

While Lin Feng led the Chinese national football team to a crushing victory over Japan in the World Cup qualifiers, Real Madrid, without Lin Feng, suffered a humiliating defeat away from home.

On November 16, Real Madrid suffered a shocking 0-1 defeat to Valladolid away from home!

In previous encounters between the two teams, Real Madrid had not lost to their opponents for 15 years, and had never lost an away game.

However, after this match, all records became history.

Raul misses a one-on-one chance, Ramos receives a red card for a malicious foul, and Van der Vaart attempts to steal a goal with a handball in the penalty area…

Real Madrid delivered so many memorable moments in this match, providing plenty of entertainment for the general public.

Undoubtedly, the loss has put the entire Real Madrid team, especially head coach Mourinho, under intense scrutiny.

This time, no matter how much Mourinho emphasized the achievements he made leading the team last season, no one bought it.

Fans are quite realistic. Last season's results are last season's business. Fans might tolerate you for a day or two because you led the team well last season, but they can't keep indulging you like that forever.

Real Madrid's performance this season, both in the league and in the Champions League, is far inferior to that of last year.

They are already far behind their rivals Barcelona in the league and have no hope of defending their title. They were also defeated twice by Juventus in the Champions League group stage, and they are very likely to be drawn against other top teams in the knockout stage.

If a team achieves such results, let alone Mourinho, even if it were Vicente del Bosque, a former Real Madrid player, he would still be criticized!

Real Madrid fans felt even more resentful when their team lost while Barcelona continued their winning streak.

Real Madrid spent so much money to hire Mourinho at a high salary, but his team's performance was not as good as that newcomer next door.

Mourinho's annual salary is close to 1000 million euros, making him the world's most expensive manager, while Guardiola's annual salary is only 250 million euros.

The difference between the two is four times, but Guardiola's team has achieved a 15-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, including an impressive 11-game winning streak in the league.

This result is even more explosive than when Mourinho first came to Real Madrid last year.

If given a choice, Real Madrid fans would really like to get rid of Mourinho and replace him with Guardiola.

Unfortunately, a change is impossible. Guardiola, a Barcelona legend, harbors no affection for Real Madrid, only hostility. The possibility of him coaching Real Madrid is virtually zero; Real Madrid fans can only dream about it!

……

"Lin, the club has decided to promote you to vice-captain. After Raul retires, you will wear the captain's armband and lead Real Madrid in battle!"

As soon as Lin Feng returned, the club's management spoke with him and announced their decision to appoint him as the team's vice captain.

Lin Feng was taken aback by this. He hadn't been with Real Madrid for long and had little experience, so he had no interest in the captaincy.

Moreover, with many veterans in the team, the team would not choose him. Even if Raul leaves or retires, the first choice for captain will be members of the Spanish contingent such as Casillas, not an outsider like him.

Therefore, in his view, Real Madrid's decision was somewhat unusual.

As the saying goes, something unusual must be going on, and the other party must have some ulterior motive.

As expected, after announcing the decision, the other party continued:

"As you know, the team's performance has been somewhat poor recently, and the roster is not quite complete. Therefore, the club hopes that you can take on more responsibility and consider the club's interests more carefully between the national team and the club."

From the club's perspective, they don't really like players sacrificing the club's interests for the national team's matches.

After all, it's the team that pays the players' salaries, provides team doctors and professional physiotherapists, and dedicates itself to training the players; it's not the national team.

Real Madrid's management originally tried to persuade Lin Feng to give up national team matches and focus on club competitions.

However, they are hesitant to say such things directly because it is not a reasonable request.

Players who are not so well-known and have a relatively weak status might have the courage to make such a request.

However, for a superstar like Lin Feng, who values ​​national team honor highly, they fear that making such a request might anger the player and have the opposite effect.

That's why Real Madrid first offered a carrot (a promise from the vice-captain and future captain) before making demands.

"I appreciate the club's kindness, but I have no ambition for the positions of vice-captain and captain. As for the balance between the national team and the club, I will try my best, but this stage of national team matches is crucial for our country's football. Before the national team is guaranteed to qualify, I'm afraid I can't manage both at the same time."

Lin Feng's response was to politely decline the other party's offer, thus avoiding having to make concessions to their demands.

Lin Feng was very unhappy with Real Madrid's excessive demands.

He wasn't the only national team player in Real Madrid's squad. If they made the same request to others, Lin Feng would naturally have nothing to say, and would even praise Real Madrid for their courage.

But Real Madrid obviously wouldn't dare to do that. To make such a request would be tantamount to shutting out all the outstanding players who value national team honor.

Of course, Lin Feng's attitude wasn't that tough. The reason Real Madrid was dissatisfied was mainly because the World Cup qualifier schedule in Asia was not synchronized with that in Europe.

This FIFA international break runs from November 8th to November 15th, lasting one week. During this period, European teams will only play one match.

However, since each group in the Asian qualifying round of 11 consists of 5 teams, the Chinese national team was assigned two matches in this round, and the national team's match day was extended to November 20th.

This meant that while Lin Feng was still playing for the national team, the La Liga season had already started.

Mourinho's main excuse for the loss was the absence of key player Lin Feng. He believed that if Lin Feng had been on the field, Real Madrid would never have lost to Valladolid.

Although Mourinho was telling the truth, his attempt to shift the blame to Lin Feng angered Lin Feng.

Even without him, Real Madrid's squad value is three times that of their opponents. To lose to an opponent with such a strong hand is simply unacceptable, and the head coach is largely to blame.

Calderon didn't want to strain his relationship with Lin Feng, because he had already keenly sensed Lin Feng's dissatisfaction.

They were worried that if they continued to argue, they might offend Lin Feng.

The other party has not yet agreed to sign the contract renewal agreement. If they offend Lin Feng at this time and make him think about leaving, Real Madrid may lose the core of the team for the next ten years!
However, he had a new idea in mind regarding Mourinho's previous suggestion to strengthen the midfield, especially the position of Lin Feng's substitute.

Perhaps Mourinho is right!
……

On November 23, the 12th round of La Liga kicked off.

Real Madrid will host Recreativo Huelva at home. Huelva's current performance is very poor. They have only won one game in the first 11 rounds and have only 7 points, ranking second to last. They are recognized as the weakest team in La Liga this season.

However, Real Madrid had a hard-fought victory against such a mediocre, even weak, opponent.

Real Madrid, playing at home, secured a narrow 1-0 victory thanks to Lin Feng's long-range shot in the second half.

Despite winning the game, the fans were still very dissatisfied.

In this match, the entire Real Madrid team, including Lin Feng, was in poor form.

Fans can understand that Lin Feng is not in good form, after all, he just returned from the national team, only rested for one day before playing and even scored a goal.

With a performance like this, the fans have nothing to complain about.

But Real Madrid fans weren't so kind to the rest of the team.

[In my opinion, a major overhaul should have been done after winning the title last season. These veterans have lost their hunger for domestic glory; they're just going through the motions on the field, not putting in any real effort, and yet their salaries are significantly higher than the younger players. Fire them, free up salary space, and bring in a batch of excellent young players. Real Madrid's strength will definitely reach a new level!]

Although a number of players were gradually cleared out in the past few years, such as the first generation of the Galacticos, most of them are no longer with the team.

However, Real Madrid still has many veterans in the squad, such as Van Nistelrooy, Raul, and Cannavaro, all of whom are over thirty and whose form is declining.

The problem with these veterans is that they are getting more and more injured, their performance is getting worse and worse, but their salaries are very high, making them extremely poor value for money. So it's no wonder that fans are dissatisfied with them.

Not only should the players be replaced, but the coach should also be replaced. I finally understand. Mourinho only knows the same three tricks over and over again: counter-attacking, parking the bus and forming a defensive wall. He can still put up a fight against strong teams.

He's helpless against weak teams that don't attack proactively but instead park the bus themselves. In recent rounds, all the points we've dropped have been against weak teams. Look how consistent Barcelona's league performance is!

Whenever such discussions arise, Mourinho is always inevitably dragged out and criticized.

Perhaps from the very first day he joined Real Madrid, the Real Madrid fans never truly liked him. (End of Chapter)