"DONG, I wish you a safe journey!"
Before the airport security check, Wang Xiaodong was still a little moved.
Unexpectedly, even that guy Ibrahimovic went to a nightclub to have sex, but this guy Balotelli would personally take him to the airport.
It has to be said that all mammals have feelings.
"Go back, Mario, thank you for the hard work along the way!"
After Wang Xiaodong finished speaking, he threw the car keys in his hand to Balotelli.
After the Italian guy took it, he left the terminal without looking back.
Looking at Balotelli's decisive departure, Wang Xiaodong suddenly had an ominous premonition.
...
I flew back to Beijing on September 6, and then headed to Shenyang non-stop.
The next day, the Chinese team will face the first opponent in the top ten of the World Preliminaries - North Korea at the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center.
As the place where the World Cup qualified for the dragon, Wulihe Stadium has been exploding for many years.
But the newly built Olympic Sports Center on this land still carries the fans' desire to qualify.
Before the game, Bamboo Shoes held a small meeting to seriously reflect on the experience of not qualifying for the last World Cup and take precautions to prevent the recurrence of "failure to understand the rules and lead to elimination".
Although this year's World Preliminaries also "collided" with the Olympic Games, the wonderful performance of Wang Xiaodong and the National Olympic Games allowed fans around the world to see the toughness of the Chinese team.
So this time Zhu Xie’s instructions to the high-level instructors were also very simple: only victory is allowed, no failure is allowed!
The hidden meaning behind this is: Even if you lose, you must lose decisively and not be as unjust as the place that was eliminated in the last World Cup.
Since the death of Vice Chairman Xu of Bamboo Shoes in 1996, Bamboo Shoes' status in the AFC has been getting lower and lower over the years, and now many West Asian countries have begun to join forces to suppress Chinese football.
If the top doesn’t have a say, it has to rely on the people below to work harder.
Fortunately, this Olympics has shown a good performance, and even a world-class team like Argentina can overturn it head-on.
Therefore, the national team is very confident from top to bottom about this time's impact on the World Cup.
Especially after the Olympic Games, FIFA re-announced the ranking of the Chinese team based on the results of various countries.
The latest ranking of the Chinese team is 22nd in the world and first in Asia. This result is 15 places higher than the 37th place during the Horton period in 1998.
Although the Chinese team has not performed well in international competitions in the past two years, the Asian Cup in 2007 and the Olympic Games in 2008 directly laid the foundation.
What is a friendly match?
What is warm-up training?
We didn't even try our best!
What?
What is full strength, you ask?
Have you seen the top scorer in the Premier League and Champions League?
That is our main force!
...
On the morning of September 7, Wang Xiaodong woke up from his sleep.
Due to his special status as a "returnee from overseas," no one came to wake him up.
In fact, Wang Xiaodong will not be the starter in today's game. Director Gao and his coaching team have already made corresponding countermeasures in the absence of Wang Xiaodong based on the overall strength of the opponent.
After getting out of the elevator, Wang Xiaodong touched his growling stomach and walked towards the hotel restaurant.
As soon as he entered the door, Wang Xiaodong was stunned by the atmosphere in the restaurant.
There were a dozen men eating in the corner of the restaurant, but strangely, none of them whispered to each other, let alone spoke freely.
Not only that, you can't even hear the sound of smacking while eating.
Such an atmosphere made the few tourists nearby not dare to make too much noise, and even the ladies in the kitchen kept their mouths shut and stopped talking.
"Bring me some rice, some fried garlic sprouts (tai) and some roasted eggplant."
Wang Xiaodong pointed to the lunch box and ordered two vegetarian dishes.
As a former Tottenham Hotspur player, Wang Xiaodong would not dare to order the fried noodles that a dozen men were eating before the game.
"Auntie, what's going on?"
Seeing his aunt fetching rice, Wang Xiaodong took the opportunity to ask softly.
"Ah, that's from the North Korean national team. They are going to play this afternoon." The aunt said in a low voice with a "Don't tell anyone" look.
"Oh, it turns out we are foreign friends!"
"Who wouldn't say yes!"
After finishing the meal, Wang Xiaodong took the dinner plate and came not far from the North Korean team members to sit down and eat.
Before the salted duck eggs were completely wet, a dark shadow appeared in front of them.
When he looked up, he saw two North Korean friends standing nervously in front of him.
If one of them hadn't had two eyes that were too pointy and too small, Wang Xiaodong would have thought it was Zhang Gali's crotch.
"You are?"
"P-Excuse me, are you Mr. Wang Xiaodong?"
Another man with a crew cut spoke first.
Okay!
No one else in the restaurant recognized me, but your opponent recognized me first.
Wang Xiaodong nodded and stood up: "Yes, it's me."
"Great!￥#%￥#..."
Flathead's face lit up with joy, he turned his head and mumbled a few words to Gazi.
Nagazi also looked happy when he heard this, and quickly spoke in Korean.
"Hello Mr. Wang Xiaodong, I am Kim Yongjun, a member of the North Korean national team, and this is my teammate Zheng Dashi."
"He said he admires you very much and is your fan."
"We were discussing before the game whether you would play or not!"
"I didn't expect to meet you here!"
Wang Xiaodong shook hands with the two of them politely, then sat together and started chatting.
Kim Yongjun is the former captain of the North Korean national team. He previously played for Yanbian and Chengdu Sheffield United in the Chinese League One. Due to the earthquake and the national team competition, Jin Yongjun had to terminate his contract with Sheffield United in advance.
As soon as Wang Xiaodong entered the room and was immersed in eating, Zheng Dashi recognized Wang Xiaodong and begged Jin Yongjun, who had experience studying abroad in China, to help translate and meet his idol.
The three of them chatted briefly for a few minutes. The North Korean team members over there also finished their meals, lined up and placed the tableware in the prescribed places, and then left quietly.
Seeing their teammates greeting them, Zheng Dashi and Jin Yongjun also quickly stood up and left.
Before leaving, Zheng Dashi suddenly turned around, grabbed Wang Xiaodong's hand, and muttered a long string of words.
After Jin Yongjun translated, Wang Xiaodong smiled and patted the shoulder of this man who was 5 years older than himself.
"No problem, as long as you can score a goal in the game, I will change jerseys with you."
After receiving Wang Xiaodong's affirmative reply, Zheng Dashi was so excited that he bowed repeatedly.
...
The kick-off was on time at 19:45 at the Olympic Sports Center. At the 21st hour of the game, North Korea relied on its defensive counterattack tactics and iron will to finally open up the situation for the team.
Kim Jong-il, who came on as a substitute, quickly broke through from midfield and passed the ball to Choi Jung-cheol, who then passed the ball to winger Ahn Cheol-hyuk.
An Zhehe's cross hit Li Weifeng's back and bounced near the penalty spot. At this moment, Du Wei had already rushed over and tried to make a big save.
However, Zheng Dashi, who followed in the middle, did not take Du Wei's swinging leg into consideration at all. He stretched out his right foot first and used his toes to push the ball into the gate guarded by Zeng Cheng.
The next second, Zheng Dashi was swept to the ground by Du Wei's right leg, and he fell violently on his back.
3 to 1!
North Korea scored its first goal of the Big Ten tournament.
After scoring the goal, Zheng Dashi struggled to get up and limped to the sidelines.
He did not come to the bench of the national football team to "claim credit" to Wang Xiaodong. Instead, he came to the bottom of the visiting team's stands, roared at the small number of fans who came to cheer, and kissed the team emblem on his chest.
Zheng Daese, who was born in the island country and whose parents are both from South Korea, has always belonged to North Korea in his inner spiritual nationality.
At this moment of scoring, he was more excited than anyone else.
After the game, Wang Xiaodong took off his jersey without saying a word and looked at Zheng Dashi who had folded his jersey neatly and handed it to him in an orderly manner. He walked up to the opponent and gave him a firm hug.
"See you in Pingxiang!" Wang Xiaodong said in the Korean he had just learned.
