After playing in Uzbekistan, all members of the Dragon Country team took a short rest and then went to Qatar to prepare for the last game of the top 12 in the Asian region of this World Cup qualifier.
The importance of this game goes without saying. As long as the Dragons can remain undefeated in the away game, in theory, they can firmly suppress South Korea and qualify as second in the group.
This is mainly because the Dragon Country team has a greater advantage in goal difference. Considering that Uzbekistan itself has to compete for third place in the group, it will definitely compete with South Korea. Therefore, South Korea must earn enough goal difference from Uzbekistan to overtake. Dragon Kingdom is obviously impossible.
In other words, if the Dragon Kingdom draws with Qatar and South Korea defeats Uzbekistan, the score for both sides will be 17 points, but the Dragon Kingdom will still qualify under normal circumstances.
In other words, this is almost a "tie to qualify" game!
This seems to be a kind of curse in the Dragon Kingdom. I don't know how many times they have fallen into such a good situation.
Therefore, Pan Yi and Lippi also repeatedly emphasized in the team not to play with such a mentality.
Just treat Qatar as an opponent in the finals, fight hard against your opponents, strive to win, and don’t leave any regrets for yourself!
In fact, Qatar, which has already been eliminated early, does not have the so-called "release" idea.
Due to being eliminated early, the fighting spirit of their players has been greatly reduced, but they still hope to end this qualifying round with a victory.
Apart from anything else, they are the hosts of the next World Cup, that is, the 2022 World Cup, and they definitely don't want their performance to be too embarrassing!
Therefore, there are still many Qatari fans who came to the scene, hoping to witness their team defeat the Dragon Kingdom. This is also a kind of revenge for the away defeat in the first round! ——
After defeating five different opponents in the same group, the Dragon Country team has won all the applause, especially the team's tactical execution and spirit, which has been recognized by the media and fans. .
As for the away challenge to Qatar, the media and fans are generally optimistic. Lippi rarely said before the game that he was full of confidence in winning the game.
Such a statement tells the players from the side that this game is all about winning, and don't think about things like a draw to qualify.
In the locker room before the game, Pan Yi also hoped that everyone could continue their performance and mental outlook in recent games, and called on the players not to be stressed, to let go, to perform to the fullest, and to fight to the end.
"Before we go on the field, I hope everyone will think carefully about how we got here."
Pan Yi's words made the locker room silent for a while.
Every international player is immersed in memories and thoughts. They are all thinking about what made this team go from being at the bottom of the first four rounds without a win to almost qualifying for the World Cup after five consecutive wins. right?
What is it that makes these national football players, who were ridiculed and despised by various media and fans in the past, become national heroes and praised by everyone?
Are they superior in strength?
Obviously not!
Although a large factor is due to the new coaching staff, especially the addition of Lippi and Pan Yi, which has greatly improved the team's technical and tactical level, a large part of the reason is also due to their spiritual transformation. .
They all remember how they shed blood and sweat in these past games, supported themselves all the way, and fought through all kinds of hardships.
What they have been able to achieve today is their determination to never give up!
"Five consecutive wins have brought us closer to the World Cup, but we haven't really gotten that ticket yet."
"In the past decades of football history of Dragon Country football, there has never been a lack of black experiences of losing everything at the last moment. I sincerely hope that we will not repeat the mistakes of our predecessors."
"This game is very important. I hope that each of you can go all out and don't give up any hope. Even if we fight until the last minute and second, we must do our best to take three points from the away game and ensure that We qualified for next year’s World Cup ahead of schedule.”
"I don't know whether the World Cup is important or light in your hearts. You can only show it to me on the court and show it to everyone!"
——
Although it was an away game, the Dragon Country team still insisted on using the team's usual 4-3-3 attacking formation.
The goalkeeper is Zeng Cheng, the defense is Jiang Zhipeng, Feng Xiaoting, Mei Fang and Zhang Linpeng, the three midfielders are Wu Xi, Zheng Zhi and Huang Bowen, and the frontcourt is a combination of Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning and Huang Zichang.
The biggest change in today's lineup is to let Huang Zichang start, and he plays on the right today, while Wu Lei moves to the left.
It can be seen from this change that today the Dragon Country team is going to use the speed of the two wings to suppress Qatar.
To complement this, three players with better defensive abilities are arranged in the midfield to ensure the defensive quality and thickness of the midfielder.
This is a game that requires no mobilization at all.
Every player was on the field giving it their all, running and covering coverage from the start.
Qatar is obviously well prepared for this game. They understand that the current offensive ability of the Dragon Country team is not easy to mess with, and they have also learned the lesson of the defeat in the first round. Instead, they took the initiative to show weakness at home.
They gave up the traditional four-back formation and adopted a five-back formation, making it clear that they would use defensive counterattacks to fight to the end in this game.
However, Long Guo also expected this. As soon as the game started, they quickly started pressing and pressing in the midfield and frontcourt, and successfully grabbed the ball within thirty seconds.
After stealing the ball in the frontcourt, Huang Zichang passed the arc ball from the right. Zhang Yuning grabbed a header in the penalty area, but the ball went slightly wide.
This attack quickly ignited the passion of the Dragon Kingdom team. Especially the Dragon Kingdom fans who came from afar in the stands were very excited to see it. They waved the red flags in their hands and cheered loudly.
Today, they are here to witness the Dragon Country team entering the World Cup again!
Three minutes later, another midfielder from the Dragon Kingdom intercepted the ball. Captain Zheng Zhi suddenly dribbled the ball to the frontcourt and hit a heavy shot directly outside the penalty area. He hit a very high-quality long-range shot that was missed by the opponent's goalkeeper. Flying to hold up the beam.
Subsequently, Huang Bowen took a corner kick and Feng Xiaoting passed the header in the penalty area. Mei Fang attacked the goal in the penalty area, but the angle was too straight and was blocked by the opponent's goalkeeper, which defused the Long Guo team's attack.
After two consecutive waves of attacks failed to work, the Dragon State team appropriately slowed down its offensive, but still maintained its pressure on Qatar in the midfield and frontcourt.
Just when everyone thought that Qatar was going to survive the opening three attacks of the Dragon Country team and that the Dragon Country team was about to slow down its offensive, there was a pass-and-receive error between the Qatar defender and the midfielder.
Huang Bowen suddenly took the lead in front of the opponent's midfielder Thain, intercepted the ball, and drove the ball towards the defense line.
When Huang Bowen dribbled the ball close to the penalty area, the opponent's central defender Guka finally couldn't help but attack. But at this moment, Huang Bowen suddenly passed the ball behind him. Center Zhang Yuning quickly caught up and blocked the opponent's central defender with his body, making a beautiful pull. After turning around, he suddenly shot with his left foot from close range.
The ball passed under the opponent's goalkeeper with lightning speed and got into the goal behind him, 0:1!
Zhang Yuning finally scored again!
This goal completely ignited the passion of the national team and excited all the fans in the stands.
After a crazy celebration, the national players all returned to the court.
At this time, the Dragons fans in the stands shouted "Dragon Kingdom must win" and cheered, completely covering up the sound of Qatari fans wearing white headscarves beating unique Arab drums.
This kind of noise also deeply affected all the Dragon Kingdom players on the court.
The morale-boosted Dragon State team was ready to conquer Qatar in one breath, and once again planned waves of offensives on the court.
However, although the national players created scoring opportunities again and again, they either missed the scoring opportunities themselves, or the opponent's goalkeeper and defender performed well and failed to score in the end.
Time skipped twenty-five minutes. Lippi saw that Qatar was gradually regaining the feeling of the game. He immediately signaled the team to stabilize their position, stop fighting, and quickly focus on defense to maintain the one-goal lead and wait for the opponent to make mistakes. .
It's just that the current Long Guo team players are a bit jealous. With full control of the ball, they are still a bit too aggressive, always thinking that they can take advantage of the victory and score another goal to seal the victory.
But what I didn't expect was that Qatar soon seized an opportunity and launched a counterattack.
Their right midfielder Aishayet seized the defensive gap left by Jiang Zhipeng's forward attack and quickly counterattacked. After receiving the pass from his teammate, he rushed into the penalty area and crossed the middle. Forward Abra followed up and pushed the ball to successfully equalize the score. It's a draw.
One to one, the game returned to the same starting line.
This goal was a big blow to the players of the Dragon Kingdom. In the next ten minutes, the Dragon Kingdom team showed a bit out of shape, and even got an excellent penalty kick from the right side of the penalty area by Qatar. Foot opportunity.
Fortunately, Zeng Cheng stood in a very good position and blocked the angle. The opponent's shot failed to hit the goal frame and missed the bottom line.
Then Pan Yi kept reminding him from the sidelines, which gradually cheered up the international players, but they still fell into a struggle with Qatar. In the end, neither side made any further achievements in the first half and ended with a score of 1:1. First half.
——
Back in the locker room, Pan Yi scolded the international players for their poor performance.
On the one hand, it is the carelessness when conceding the ball, but the most important thing is the inability to quickly recover after conceding the ball, because such a conceding goal makes the team behave completely differently, which is simply unforgivable.
"If this continues, we may lose another goal!" Pan Yi said with anger on his face.
"I can tell you that the score between Uzbekistan and South Korea is still 0:0. We still have the advantage of qualifying, but can we only hope in others?"
"There are still 45 minutes left. If we really concede a goal and South Korea scores a goal at the same time, do you still have the nerve to go back to see your parents and folks in Dragon Country?"
"Okay, there's no need to go back to China. The thousands of Dragon Country fans in the stands right now have traveled thousands of miles to the Middle East to support you. Can you stand up to them?"
The international players all lowered their heads.
They were obviously ashamed of their performance in the last 20 minutes of the first half, mainly because they were equalized after taking the lead, which made them a little flustered because of their poor psychological quality.
Their mentality was to rush to get a goal back and exceed the score again, but they lost their position a little bit.
After all, only leading can make them feel safe.
Of course Pan Yi can understand the mood of the national football players, but sometimes you have to defend when you need to defend, and you have to scold when you should scold.
Now the national team's performance is getting better and better, and the group situation is so good that it almost makes people think that the Dragon Country team has qualified for the World Cup. This situation is not a good sign.
In the initial attack and goal just now, the Dragon Country team actually played very well. The players played well in terms of overall skills and tactics as well as offensive and defensive cooperation.
But after conceding a goal, the game was really bad.
After a scolding, Pan Yi quickly gave new instructions, requiring everyone to be decisive and confident in passing the ball in the next game, especially when passing crosses at the front of the opponent's penalty area. There is no need to hesitate in inserting a full-back.
Such instructions are actually very simple and are often practiced in training. However, the mentality of the national football players is a bit unstable now, and it is necessary to emphasize that it is necessary to do so.
And obviously, the players listened.
After changing sides in the second half, the Dragons once again firmly suppressed Qatar in the half.
The Long Guo team did not live up to Pan Yi's high expectations. In just six minutes of the second half, when an attack reached the front of the opponent's penalty area, Huang Zichang and Huang Bowen made consecutive cross passes, and Huang Bowen passed the ball to the left.
After Jiang Zhipeng caught up with him, he passed the ball from the left to the penalty area. Zhang Yuning scored from close range, 1:2!
After exceeding the score again, Zhang Yuning, who scored twice, was so excited that he forgot all about himself. He kept waving his hands, but he was soon stopped by his teammates chasing behind him and fell to the ground.
This 20-year-old youngster has become the current top scorer in the national team. This can be said to have fully repaid Lippi and Pan Yi's trust in him.
This goal also made the Longguo team players finally relax their tense nerves and play more comfortably on the court.
In the 60th minute, Lippi also replaced Zhang Yuning, who scored twice, with Gao Lin to increase the connection in the midfield and frontcourt.
At the same time, Lin Liangming also came on the field to replace Huang Zichang, allowing him to play as the right winger.
This substitution also showed its effect after ten minutes.
In the 83rd minute, it was a pass from Lin Liangming from the right. Gao Lin grabbed the first point in the penalty area and passed the ball to Wu Lei who was cutting in from the left. Wu Lei started to hit the ball without thinking. Once again, it penetrated Qatar's goal.
1:3!
In the end, the Dragon State team relied on Zhang Yuning's brace and Wu Lei's goal to defeat Qatar without any danger.
After winning this game, the results of other games no longer matter.
In fact, Uzbekistan eventually tied with the South Korean team 0:0, while Iran also tied with Syria 2:2 in an inconsequential game.
As a result, Iran and Dragon Kingdom are tied with 19 points and qualify from Group A together!
Due to Dragon Kingdom's advantage in goal difference, the final Group A ranking was Dragon Kingdom first and Iran second!
From last place in the group to first place, the Dragon Kingdom team has achieved a qualitative leap!
South Korea is ranked third with 15 points. They will compete with Australia, third in Group B, for a spot in the intercontinental play-offs.
The competition for the top two in Group B was also very fierce. In the end, Japan was first with 20 points, while Saudi Arabia was second with 19 points. Australia also had 19 points, but the goal difference was two less than Saudi Arabia, so it could only be ranked second. third.
But these playoffs and no play-offs have nothing to do with the Dragon Kingdom.
Dragon Kingdom has qualified!
They have entered the main stage of the 2018 World Cup!
For the Dragon Country players, this is not just a game, but also a ticket to the World Cup.
Longguo Football has been waiting for this for more than ten years, and they have been waiting for this for a lifetime.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the original tense emotions and atmosphere disappeared in an instant.
Captain Zheng Zhi rushed to the coaching bench and shouted to Pan Yi: "Boss, we won!"
Before he could finish speaking, he was choked with sobs and fell to the ground, hugging his head and crying.
He is the best player in Dragon Country football in recent years and a representative figure of Dragon Country football. At the same time, he is also the only player among Dragon Country players to win the title of Asian Footballer - the last one led the national team in 2001. Captain Fan Zhiyi who broke into the World Cup!
But Zheng Zhi was still too young in 2002, and therefore missed the opportunity for the Dragon Kingdom to participate in the World Cup for the first time.
He thought he could lead the national football team to continue their efforts, but he did not expect that the Dragon Country football team would usher in the trough and dark years, and failed to break through the first stage of the group stage for several consecutive sessions.
He originally thought that there was no hope for him in this life, but unexpectedly, a miracle happened!
Not only Zheng Zhi burst into tears, but many players on the court also cried bitterly. People on the coaching bench and the bench also hugged each other and cried.
They finally arrived!
After waiting for more than ten years and suffering for more than ten years, they finally arrived!
Pan Yi was also very excited. He walked quickly towards Zheng Zhi, pulled him up and took him onto the court to celebrate with all the players.
The same is true in the stands.
Many fans had tears in their eyes and congratulated the Dragon Country players on the field at the top of their lungs.
Many of them may have been students or children when the Dragon Country team last participated in the World Cup, but now some have married and started families, and some have entered middle age.
After 16 years of waiting, their dream finally came true!
The fans also put out the slogans they had prepared long ago:
"World Cup, here we come again!"
——
The next day of the game, BJ International Airport.
When the airport radio announced that the charter flight for the national team had successfully landed at the airport, there was a burst of cheers in the entire waiting hall, and the sound was overwhelming.
Thousands of fans and media reporters who came to the scene gathered towards the airport pick-up port.
Not long after, I saw members of the national team appearing one after another under the leadership of head coach Lippi.
All the fans and media reporters who gathered at the scene spontaneously obeyed the order of the ground staff and gave the warmest thunderous applause to the national players who returned home in triumph.
Countless fans at the scene raised cards with the faces of Lippi and Pan Yi to express their respect for the national team coaching staff.
Who would have thought that less than a year ago, the national team was still in despair with a poor record of one draw and three losses, and everyone felt that the national team would once again stop in the top 12.
Unexpectedly, one year later today, the same national team not only won repeatedly in the top 12, but also finally won the first place in the group and successfully entered the 2018 World Cup in Russia!
It is precisely because of this that the importance of the coaching staff is even more reflected.
In particular, Lippi and Pan Yi have brought earth-shaking changes to this national team, and Pan Yi's existence has brought fighting spirit and bloodiness to this national team that has not been seen for a long time!
It can be said that each of the six victories in the top 12 was achieved through the concerted efforts of all the national players and the extraordinary command of Lippi and Pan Yi.
What makes people even more ecstatic is that while winning consecutive games, the national team's performance is getting better and better, the formation is maintaining better and better, and the atmosphere within the team is becoming more and more united.
All of this gives people hope.
Nowadays, these national football players are no less attractive to fans than those popular stars, and now that there is "number one Internet celebrity" Pan Yi in the team, they are naturally more attractive.
The national football team finally made it to the World Cup, and Pan Yi was in a great mood.
When he saw some fans being blocked by the ground staff outside the security line, but they stretched out their hands and handed in the autograph book, Pan Yi would smile and nod, reach out to take it, and quickly sign his name on it.
The national players following him did the same, signing autographs for the fans in the same way, which made the fans at the scene even more excited.
Many fans who were not prepared earlier even took off their jackets and asked the coaches and players to sign their names on the clothes, saying that they would take them back to treasure.
Of course, there are more fans who have no way to squeeze to the front and can only shout loudly from behind to show their support for the national team.
And this kind of scene also makes the group of old international players in the national team feel very sad.
How many years?
Since reaching the World Cup in 2002, how many years has it been since the national team thought of such treatment?
Today, they truly experienced what it feels like to be a hero!
In fact, there are many scenes of them that can only be seen in various videos, that is, the moment they are confirmed to qualify, they have a big carnival all over the country.
After the game, the entire Dragon Kingdom fell into madness, and people poured into the streets from all directions.
Every street was filled with joy and tears. People upstairs in the residential buildings opened their windows, some banged pots, and some even set off firecrackers.
Fans from all over the country marched along the streets under the banner of "Dream Come True" and walked to various squares, shouting slogans all the way.
This carnival lasted for most of the night. It was not until the police shouted on the radio, "Everyone, go home and rest" that the crowd gradually dispersed.
After 16 years, we can finally be as excited as we were on the night we qualified for the World Cup in 2001;
After 16 years, we can finally shout "We are qualified" again instead of "RNM refunds" or "It's over";
Perhaps, Dragon Country football has never felt as good as it does now... (End of chapter)
