The night before the national team game, Qin Xiong called Sylvia outside the dormitory because the training and preparation were closed.
After the call, he found Zhang Pengfei and Liu Yi standing on the balcony chatting, so he went over to join them.
The three friends who worked hard in European football exchanged their experiences.
Zhang Pengfei was more relaxed at the end of the season. Marítimo was neither high nor low in the Portuguese Super League. He did not have to worry about keeping his position.
Liu Yi was in a similar situation to Qin Xiong, except that Qin Xiong was under great pressure to win the championship. He was helping Nürnberg to keep their position in the Bundesliga. It was very difficult. Whether they could keep their position or not depended on the success or failure of the key battles in the last two months.
They also talked about the prospects of the national team. The three could not help but sigh.
It had been less than a year since the end of the AFC Asian Cup. But in this span of less than a year, they had already felt that the three of them were stronger than their teammates. The gap had unknowingly widened.
They were still young, and even if their teammates were young, if their teammates could not keep up with them, the gap would grow bigger and bigger. At a certain stage, the gap would be obvious.
There was no other way. This was the current situation of the national team.
Liu Yi told Qin Xiong and Zhang Pengfei what he had seen and heard in Germany. Since 2000, a new round of youth training had begun in the German football world. A new revolution was brewing in the German football world, and the new atmosphere was enviable.
In Asia, the football development of South Korea and Japan had steadily improved. It was not difficult to understand that they had become the backbone of Asian football.
Qin Xiong just listened and did not express any opinions.
Because it was useless.
They were not decision-makers and could not change anything.
He could only do what was within his power.
In short, as the richest player in China's football world, Qin Xiong, who had become rich overnight by relying on the Chinese football market, had to shoulder some responsibilities and obligations.
The national team, if he could, he would.
Even if he could not, he had to!
What else could he do?
Earn the monetary benefits of the selfless contributions of the Chinese fans, but ignore their concerns and expectations and let them down?
Qin Xiong could not do it. He was not a selfless person, but he knew that his current wealth could not be separated from the support of the Chinese fans. This was not his contribution, but his reward.
.....
March 26th.
Beijing Workers' Stadium.
The entire stadium was packed. When Qin Xiong walked into the stadium, holding the ball boy's hand, the stadium erupted into deafening cheers.
In addition to the China team emblem, flags, and cheering slogans, most of the other things on the stands were portraits of Qin Xiong. The fans loved to cheer for Qin Xiong.
There was no doubt that more than 90% of the Chinese national team jerseys worn by China fans in the stands were the number 10 jersey worn by Qin Xiong.
Uzbekistan's overall strength was not stronger than China's, but it was a fact that they were stronger in terms of physical strength.
If they only looked at the clubs that their players played for, they would definitely think that China's opponent today was Russia!
Because more than 80% of Uzbekistan's players played for Russian football clubs.
They came from Dynamo Moscow, Dynamo Kyiv, Lokomotiv Moscow, CSKA Moscow, Genis, Kuybyshev, Rubin Kazan, and other Russian or Ukrainian teams.
China was at home, and the opponent's strength was on par with theirs. Naturally, they could not play defensive counterattack. At least that was what Arihan thought. They had to show the momentum of the AFC Asian Cup champion!
From the beginning of the game, Qin Xiong's position was relatively backward. Today, the China team played a 4-4-2 formation. Qin Xiong and Liu Yi combined attack and defense in the middle of the midfield. He constantly used his skillful ball control and accurate passing ability to create opportunities for his teammates.
Sun Xiang and Sun Jihai constantly shuttled up and down the sides.
Uzbekistan focused on containing Qin Xiong, but when Qin Xiong's position was pushed back, their marking in the backfield would have problems. Because they did not have enough strength, most of the players were concentrated in the middle of the midfield, for fear that Qin Xiong would go all the way and no one could stop him.
In the 31st minute of the game, Shao Jiayi passed from the side to assist Zhang Pengfei, who was behind, to break the goal with a push shot. China led 1: 0.
Before the end of the first half, Uzbekistan equalized the score with a corner kick. Zheng Zhi lost the fight for a header with the opponent's tall defender.
In the second half of the game, Qin Xiong began to break out. He constantly made the opponent commit fouls through personal breakthroughs, and repeatedly threatened the opponent's goal with his strong individual long-range shooting ability and set piece ability.
In the 67th minute of the game, Qin Xiong was once again put to the ground by the opponent's midfielder, Maminov. He immediately got up and quickly took a free kick. Before he straightened his back, the football had already been kicked out by him.
The penetrating pass made Uzbekistan's defensive line panic.
Shao Jiayi, who consciously cut into the penalty area, passed the ball horizontally in the penalty area, and Li Jinyu outflanked the middle and shot hard to break the goal!
China was in the lead again!
Ali Khan still had a way in training. He knew that the China team actually only relied on a few players to prop up the spine. It was very difficult to gain an overall advantage in the game. The game with the South Korean team was even more vivid. Even if the China team won in the away game, looking at the whole game, the China team did not have an overall advantage at all. Especially when the South Korean team woke up, the China team could only take a beating.
Therefore, Ali Khan mobilized all the strength in training. Set pieces, free kicks, simple combinations of the sides and the center, and so on. He focused on these. As long as there was an opportunity in the game, the China team would try it.
Uzbekistan forced a draw with Saudi Arabia in the first round. If they got one point from the China team in the second game, they could still accept it. After all, it was an away game.
But if they lost, then they naturally could not accept it, which meant that they were almost out!
After Uzbekistan pressed heavily, Qin Xiong led a counterattack. He dribbled the ball all the way from the right side of the backfield in the 82nd minute of the game. When he was surrounded by the opponent's midfield, he passed the ball to the striker, Zhang Pengfei. Zhang Pengfei was more slow in the penalty area. He was actually waiting. He attracted the opponent's defender to intercept, and then after Qin Xiong rushed up, he diagonally passed the ball back.
Qin Xiong took advantage of the situation and dribbled the ball forward, then changed direction and broke through in front of the defender. He rushed into the penalty area and formed a one-handed momentum.
In the face of the goalkeeper's attack, Qin Xiong chose to wait for the goalkeeper to get behind him, then suddenly accelerated and dribbled the ball past the goalkeeper. With a very small angle, he pushed the ball with his left foot and shot the ball into the goal.
"Our captain helped the team to secure the victory! 3:1！ China's team is in the second round of the Asian quarter-finals. If we win this game, we will be at the top of the group with six points! This will lay a very good foundation for us to advance to the 2006 World Cup! "
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