A majestic victory temporarily made the fans forget all the previous unhappiness.
At the press conference after the game, Gao Hongbo's face almost cramped with laughter.
The last time the national football team won an international competition so arrogantly was when they defeated the Maldives 10-1 in the 2001 World Cup qualifying match.
Although the victory was a big one, there was a lot of scolding after the game, and the head coach Milu almost shut himself up after being scolded.
And the reason is that "1" is the fault.
In the eyes of fans, if the opponent can still score a goal against a "village" team, that is entirely the responsibility of the players and coaches themselves.
Times have changed, and seven years have passed in the blink of an eye.
When the Chinese team once again defeated its opponent in the World Cup preliminaries 7-1 at home, all the fans who watched the live broadcast of the game burst into tears.
At this moment, no one mentions the so-called "1" without knowledge.
In the eyes of fans, the shining number "7" has more charm.
"...Thank you to the fans for their full support of the Chinese team. We will definitely seize the opportunity, stand on the last duty and advance to the top ten!"
Gao Hongbo's speech sounded a bit Versailles.
In fact, after the Chinese team defeated Iraq, Australia was not idle over there, beating Qatar 3-0.
In other words, the two qualifying teams in a group have been decided. The difference is who is first in the group, Australia or China.
...
On June 22, at 16:00 sharp in the afternoon, the Chinese team ushered in the final group match of the 2010 South Africa World Cup Asian Cup qualifiers in Sydney, Australia.
The two teams qualified early, and this game became a training ground for the World Cup preliminaries.
Australia played heavily on the bench in this game. Schwarzer, Cahill, Neal, Bresciano, Emerton and others all ceased due to various reasons. The only big name was Kewell from Liverpool.
The Chinese team also "retaliated", and Wang Xiaodong did not appear on the court at all.
In other words, Wang Xiaodong never came to Sydney at all.
It doesn't matter if I lose or win the last game, so what am I going to do?
After 90 minutes, with Sun Xiang's powerful shot, the Chinese team defeated its opponent 1-0 in the away game.
In the end, the Chinese team advanced to the top ten with 3 wins, 3 draws and 12 points, competing with nine other teams for 4.5 spots in the World Cup qualifying.
...
On June 27, the AFC held a draw ceremony for the fourth stage of the World Cup qualifying matches in Singapore.
According to the FIFA 2006 World Cup rankings, the five seeded teams in the fourth knockout round are Australia, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the island nation.
At present, all five teams have entered the top ten in the fourth round, and South Korea and Australia were finally selected as the seed teams.
According to the AFC Competition Committee proposal passed by the AFC Executive Committee on March 25, 2008, Saudi Arabia and the island nation, which are tied for fourth place, will draw lots to determine who will stay in the second tier of the draw. In addition, A team that is unlucky will be in third gear.
The final result of the draw was depressing. This time there was no luck like in 2002.
Although it avoided island countries and Australia, the Chinese team was placed in Group B with South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The most troublesome thing for fans is that the last team in Group B is not easy to play. It is South Korea's neighbor North Korea.
The top ten games that were originally highly anticipated have once again become a veritable group of death.
After the news spread back to China, there was a lot of negative news.
In recent years, arguments that fear South Korea have emerged one after another.
In the third East Asian Championship that ended at the beginning of the year, the Chinese team lost to South Korea 2-3.
This was the most recent match between the two teams, and they suffered another narrow defeat.
Some media and fans are clichés, but more emerging fans don't think so.
These young people have become fans for a relatively short period of time, and they even started watching football only two years after Wang Xiaodong debuted.
But this does not affect their understanding of the national team's performance in continental competitions in the past two years. Winning the last Asian Cup is their best foothold.
"Afraid of Korea? You're kidding! It doesn't exist!"
"Have you forgotten the Asian Cup two years ago?"
"How did Wang Xiaodong humiliate South Korea in the finals?"
"The man who can stop the ball on the goal line instead of shooting, but instead rushes out assists, do you think he will be afraid of such a grouping?"
"What death group? It's a joke!"
"I'll leave this special name to you to call it by your feet!"
"With Wang Xiaodong, the Chinese team is no longer what it used to be!"
"It's like the dragons take the lead and the east wind brings the core!"
While the old fans were holding the latest issue of "Sports Weekly" and pointing at the other players in the same group with the thoughts of the older generation, the emerging fans were already making a fuss on the website.
On Jiulang's Weibo, a blogger named "Beiguo Fanfan" published a Weibo post titled "A Different Chinese Team".
It is clearly mentioned that the Chinese team with Wang Xiaodong and the Chinese team without Wang Xiaodong are two completely different teams with different styles and spirits.
Wang Xiaodong alone gave the entire team a new look and made earth-shaking changes.
In an era when the 2002 national football team is gradually withdrawing from the stage of history, Wang Xiaodong, as a younger generation of national football players, is gradually becoming the spiritual benchmark for the national team.
Having Wang Xiaodong means having unlimited possibilities!
As soon as this Weibo post was posted, it was immediately reposted by Zhang Liangying herself.
Later, well-known domestic football critics such as Peng Jiuyang, He Wei, Ji Yuyang, Lao Rong, etc. also liked and shared one by one, and expressed their agreement.
The top 20 games barely passed, but we need to see clearly the essence behind it.
Wang Xiaodong only played less than two games on behalf of the Chinese team and established a victory in qualifying.
The team role and spiritual role he plays on the court cannot be ignored.
At the same time, these football critics also teamed up with some media fans to urge the Chinese team to seize this opportunity and make good use of the period before the start of the top ten games.
There are still more than two months between the end of the AFC draw and the first Big Ten game. These two months are enough for the coaching staff to formulate a complete qualifying plan.
The most important thing is to consider the schedule of Wang Xiaodong, who is a "nuclear weapon".
The top ten games are from September 6, 2008 to June 17, 2009. During this period, Wang Xiaodong may not be included in an important league game, so Gao Hongbo's team must also make a decision without Wang Xiaodong in the team. plan for the situation.
In short, everything should be aimed at going to South Africa and making up for the regrets left by the last World Cup.
.....
On the afternoon of July 4th, Beijing time, after the Asian Cup qualifying group draw, the AFC announced the group schedule today.
The Chinese team’s opponents are Syria, Vietnam, and Lebanon.
According to the qualifying rules, the top 2 in each group will qualify.
After the Asian Cup grouping, Gao Hongbo immediately stood up and said that Wang Xiaodong would not be sent back to China to compete during the Asian Cup qualifiers.
This arrangement has also been supported by most fans.
It's okay to come back from the world preliminaries to help out, but don't bother with that in the Asian preliminaries.
If Wang Xiaodong can't play in the Asian preliminaries without Wang Xiaodong, then the rest of them can just find a piece of tofu and kill them, instead of embarrassing themselves in the Asian Cup.
...
On July 9, Wang Xiaodong, who returned to the National Olympic team, once again appeared in front of the fans at the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center. Facing the visiting Vietnamese National Olympic team, he finally defeated his opponent 5-1.
Wang Xiaodong only played less than 60 minutes in the entire game, but contributed 2 passes and 1 shot.
From the national football team to the Olympic Games, being able to integrate into the team so quickly reassures those worried fans.
In the subsequent three warm-up games, the National Olympics defeated the Malaysian Olympics, the Australian National Olympics and the Serbian National Olympics 8-0, 3-2 and 3-1 respectively.
Especially the 3-2 victory over Australia gave the entire team members confidence.
In Yin Tiesheng's words: "We even won against Australia, so what reason do we have to be afraid of New Zealand?"
New Zealand is the first team to compete in the Olympic group stage.
...
On July 31, the FIFA website officially announced the complete list of the top 16 participating in the Beijing Olympic Games, which means that each team participating in the men's football competition of the Beijing Olympic Games has officially determined the participating players.
The official website of FIFA also provides a detailed introduction to each National Olympic team. In addition to bitter memories, there is almost nothing left in the China Olympics column.
Except for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the National Olympics did not leave a mark on other Olympic Games.
Although it is not outstanding in world football, it has not weakened the enthusiasm of this Olympic team in the Beijing Olympics.
On the contrary, these young players hope to create history, and as the host, the fans will spare no effort to give the team their maximum support.
In the selection of three over-age players, Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng and Sun Jihai were finally selected.
After everything was ready to go, teams from other countries also came to the Shenyang Division one after another.
By August 2, a total of 8 men's and women's football teams will be stationed here at the same time.
Zhan Jun, who got out of the taxi, looked at the magnificent ceiling of the Olympic Sports Center with emotion on his face.
"The Northeast has developed like this!"
"The contract expires this year, so I'd better return to China for development."
After speaking, Zhan Jun took out his mobile phone and made a call to inform his friend that he had arrived at his destination.
After making the call and looking at Peng Jiuyang's nude photos on the phone screen, Zhan Jun's determination to return to China for further development became firm again.
