I changed football.

"Monaco defeated Nantes 3-2 away from home. In stoppage time, Li Yuan provided the assist, and Mbappe scored the winning goal. Once again, the two stars dominated the game!"

"Mbappe has scored 12 goals and provided 3 assists, while Li Yuan has 12 goals and 11 assists. Both of the twin stars have reached double figures in goals, but Li Yuan has gone even further, with both goals and assists in double figures."

"Although the season isn't over yet, we can confidently say that this year's Golden Boy award is very likely to be won by either Mbappe or Li Yuan!"

The camera flashed by on television, but the narrator's voice remained loud and clear.

This is Peter Hessler's voice.

Gao Hongbo turned off the television in the meeting room.

He looked at the coaching staff members sitting on either side of the table.

"Tell me your thoughts, what are they?"

Assistant coach Ansen began by saying, "In the last two matches, the initiative is no longer in our hands. We can only strive for one of the four best second-placed teams. At this point, goal difference is crucial. We need to be at the mercy of others' results while also having a higher goal difference ourselves. The higher our goal difference, the less we need to rely on others' results. Under these circumstances, I absolutely support calling up Li Yuan. His goal-scoring ability and his dribbling skills are undeniable. Some fans exaggerate the money-driven football in the Chinese Super League, but who among us doesn't know that even now, Li Yuan's raw talent is definitely top-tier in the national team? I'm speaking frankly, I absolutely support calling up Li Yuan."

Gao Hongbo then looked at the second assistant coach, Lin Yanshui: "You tell us what you have to say."

"Ansen and I share the same opinion. Li Yuan's fighting ability is absolutely strong, there's no need to say more. Over the years, only Yang Chen has scored a lot of goals in the top five leagues before him. Li Yuan has 12 goals and 11 assists, not to mention he even played in the Europa League knockout stage. Furthermore, Yang Chen is a center forward, which doesn't contribute as much to the team. Li Yuan is a winger, he can dribble, pass, and shoot. Most importantly, he can also operate in the center. This is exactly the kind of player we need. I think we should definitely call him up."

At this moment, Gao Hongbo looked at the team leader, Guo Qiao.

This location is actually quite special.

Most national teams have a team leader, and many national teams directly hire retired star players to serve as team leaders. For example, the Italian team, which failed to qualify for the World Cup three times, had Buffon as their team leader.

The team leader's responsibility is to connect the locker room and the coaching staff, which is why many national teams hire retired star players to do this job.

However, in the Chinese national team, the team leader has a much wider scope of authority.

He was basically responsible for logistical support, communication within the Football Association, and managing public opinion.

Guo Qiao is now considering the public opinion aspect: "To be honest, if we really fail to make it to the final round of 12, fans will certainly criticize us. But we've already failed to reach the final stage of the Asian World Cup qualifiers for three consecutive tournaments. If we don't make it this time, fans will at most criticize us. But now, China has finally produced such a star player, a top-tier player with such high talent, who is only 17 years old. He's still young and hasn't had much experience playing with the national team before. If we rashly call him up and he makes it to the final round of 12, then of course everyone will be happy. But what if he doesn't make it? Will the fans criticize him?"

Guo Qiao raised this question, and Ansen hesitated for a moment before replying, "Probably not, if we don't qualify—"

Lin Yanshui waved his hand: "There will probably be some fans who will criticize him, because if we call up Li Yuan for the two World Cup qualifying matches in March, he will definitely be the most watched player. If we fail to qualify, the first person to be criticized will definitely be Coach Gao, and the second person to be criticized will definitely be Li Yuan."

Upon hearing Lin Yanshui's words, Guo Qiao clapped his hands: "That's right, that's the issue. I can even imagine what some fans will say—'The top five leagues are useless! What's the point of sending players abroad if they can't help the national team?' My thinking is this: could we not call up Li Yuan for the matches in March? We'll see the results. If we make it to the final 12, we'll have six months left, including several friendly matches. Calling up Li Yuan will allow for sufficient integration. If we don't make it to the final 12, then there's nothing more to say."

After saying this, Guo Qiao looked at Gao Hongbo.

Gao Hongbo's thin face moved his lips slightly.

"Team Leader Guo, I'd like to ask, is this your own opinion, or Chairman Cai's opinion?"

"Well, in my opinion, Chairman Cai is still very supportive of this child."

"My thinking is that since we still have a sliver of hope of qualifying, we must ensure that we call up our strongest lineup. Li Yuan's return will definitely improve the national team, and I believe everyone here would agree on that. Now we need a better goal difference. We need to score more than 10 goals against the Maldives and more than 3 against Qatar, which would guarantee us a top-two finish among the four best second-placed teams. That way, we can advance without relying on other teams' results. If we don't have that much goal difference, then we'll need help from others. In short, let's do our best and leave the rest to fate!"

Gao Hongbo had already said all that, so no one else said anything more. Actually, the main person in question was Guo Qiao.

However, he didn't have anything else to say.

Gao Hongbo had already received strong support from the Football Association after taking over in a crisis following the national team's two draws against Hong Kong and Perrin's dismissal. Now he has the manpower, the money, and the power.

Essentially, everyone felt that advancing to the final 12 was already very difficult, which is why Gao Hongbo was given such great power.

Moreover, Gao Hongbo is actually still the acting head coach of the national team, not the official one.

This time, Gao Hongbo has decided to make a decision.

Although there are still about 20 days until the national team match days in March.

However, Gao Hongbo always felt that he should have contacted Li Yuan in advance.

"If it were me, I would let the two matches in September last year go, but I would definitely call up Li Yuan for the matches in October and November."

After saying this, Gao Hongbo adjourned the meeting.

After the meeting adjourned, Gao Hongbo checked the time; the meeting had gone a bit late.

But the timing in France was just right.

Gao Hongbo thought for a moment and then dialed Li Yuan's number.

The call went through on the first try, but the other end hung up.

Gao Hongbo knew that Li Yuan must have thought it was a harassing call.

So without hesitation, he sent a text message to the phone.

"I am Gao Hongbo, the acting head coach of the Chinese national team. I have something to discuss with you."

About a minute later, Gao Hongbo called again.

"Hello, I am Gao Hongbo."

"Are you really Coach Gao?"

"It's genuine, no doubt about it. Otherwise, we can have a video call."

A few minutes later, the two connected via video.

Only then did Li Yuan believe that such powerful AI face-swapping technology did not exist at that time.

"I'm contacting you mainly for one thing: I've decided to call you up for the Chinese national team for the two matches during the international break in March, and I'd like to ask for your opinion."

"Huh!? Oh! I have no objection, I'm willing to accept the conscription!"

"That's good, that's good! See you in Wuhan in a while."

"Okay, okay, see you in Wuhan!"