Chinese champion

Chapter 264
"Our players played a very good game. They used their actual actions on the court to interpret what courage is. Although we lost three points because of their youth, their performance still made me feel very proud. Satisfied." These were Menotti's first words at the press conference.

"They got the first goal in the World Cup, the first point, they deserved it, and my only regret is that they deserved more than that, being equalized at the end of the game. It's entirely on me. I didn't notice the change in the mentality of the players at the first time, so I didn't replace an experienced veteran in time to stabilize the last few minutes. I deeply regret this, but I believe that With the state of our players today, they can continue to achieve good results in the next games to achieve our expected goals." When Menotti finished his second sentence, there were already reporters below Can't help it.

A reporter raised his hand to indicate that he had a question to ask, and he stood up after getting consent: "May I ask Mr. Menotti, what is the goal of the Chinese national team in this World Cup? Please stop using 'to make a historic breakthrough. 'This kind of answer is to perfunctory us, if it is just for a breakthrough, this task has been achieved after today's game, then what goal will the national team use as their motivation next?"

Facing the aggressive question of this reporter, Menotti smiled, like a cunning old fox, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out one and lit it, and then smiled and said: "Continue to break through to the next one." History, that's what we're aiming for."

The reporters were in an uproar, but Menotti still said what he didn't say. The next historical record, what does that refer to?Win a game, qualify for the group stage, or even reach the quarter-finals or semi-finals?

Facing the angry reporters, Menotti stood up and said coldly: "Our goal does not need to be disclosed to the outside world now, we will only move towards our goal step by step, you have to remember, if not Because I was very unlucky and tied the game today, I don’t even need to sit here and explain to you, I am a football coach, not a prisoner, and you have no right to interrogate me.”

"But we have the right to interview, and the fans have the right to know. We need to know what is going on with the national team!" A reporter retorted.

"Yeah, I know." Menotti turned to him, with a weird smile on his face: "But I have the right to refuse interviews, don't I? And from today, no member of the national team will accept interviews , until the end of the group stage, the next two games are very important, I can't let any incident that may affect our players hinder our players." Menotti dropped these words at the press conference, and then He walked in on his own.

"You can't do this! We have the right to interview!" A reporter blocked by security shouted at the top of his back.

But Menotti only left them an indifferent back.

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After leaving the press conference, Menotti lit a cigarette again after turning a corner, and after taking a deep breath, he sighed and leaned wearily against the wall.

"Teacher..." Maradona came from behind and looked at Menotti with complicated eyes: "If you do this, you will only push yourself to the opposite side of the media, even if you can lead the media in the next game. The Chinese team got a good result, but I think the Chinese media will still criticize you, haven't you thought about the consequences of doing so?"

"Of course I know, Diego." Menotti closed his eyes: "But if I don't do this, the pressure on the players will increase exponentially. They are all young, and the burden will only overwhelm them , This is also good, if all the conflicts are focused on me, then the focus will be on me, not them, and it will also allow them to concentrate on preparing for the next game."

He threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stamped it out: "Anyway, my tenure in the Chinese team is only until the end of the World Cup. Other things are out of my consideration. Don't listen to what the media says. It will only disturb your thoughts." It's more confusing. I don't want these topics to disturb my players. What's more, He is a very good coach. He is already very good. After learning from my experience, he will become even better. After I leave office, he will definitely be able to take over the position of the head coach of the Chinese team, leaving him a group of players who are full of hope for the World Cup instead of fear, which is the last thing I can do."

"Teacher, you are always like this. You spare no effort to protect the players..." Maradona sighed: "It was the same in 82, and it is also now..."

"Haha! Diego, don't you think this is one of the things a coach should do?" Menotti laughed happily: "Let's go, Diego, go to the locker room, we are going to Hamburg, Ukraine is not an easy team to deal with, and the nuclear warhead is a troublesome guy, we only have three days to adapt to the field!"

"Okay, teacher." The ball king is now as obedient as a child, and walked into the locker room behind Menotti.

"Boys! Let's go, the destination is Hamburg!" Menotti shouted in the locker room.

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"You guys are already here, are you with Zhao Xin? That's good, I'm really worried about you, ha ha." Pei Wei hid in the room and called Ma Keer: "We have a rest today, but unfortunately we can't Out of the hotel, I can’t go shopping with you in Hamburg. It seems that today I only have to go to the gym to kill time. That guy Zhu Jun wants to drag me to play billiards. ah."

"Hey, why is your head coach so unreasonable? Why don't you let you go to the street when you are obviously resting? It's so boring for us two girls to go shopping." Ma Keer complained on the phone.

Sweat... Pei Wei recalled the horrible scene in Greece. If the situation of those days really recurs, it is estimated that Pei Wei and Wu Qi, the two absolute main players of the Chinese team, will be exhausted before the game. On the field, the Chinese team was defeated by Ukraine. Thinking of this, Pei Wei hurriedly said: "Yes, it's really a pity, but it's a pity that I can't accompany you at this critical period." While talking, he secretly admired Menotti's Foresight.

"Hey, there is no sincerity at all!" Ma Keer smiled: "It's okay, you have a good rest, I will go with Zhao Xin by myself, by the way, cheer for the game the day after tomorrow, I will support you with Zhao Xin Go cheer up!"

"Hehe, I see!" Pei Wei hung up the phone after finishing speaking, and walked out of the room.

"Why is there no one?" Pei Wei looked at the empty living room. Wu Qi and Zhu Jun were not there. The hotel where the Chinese team stayed gave them the best rooms, which were suites with three small rooms and a living room. It also gives the players their own space.

"Where did these guys go?" Pei Wei pushed open the doors of several players' rooms but found no one there. He didn't find Wang Xiaomin until he opened the door of the room where Wang Xiaomin, Zhan Feng and Zhang Qi were in. A person is bored reading a book.

"Why are you the only one here, what about the others?" Pei Wei asked.

"They all went to the lobby downstairs. They can't get out of the hotel anyway. They probably went to their own business. I have nothing to do, so I have to read here." Wang Xiaomin stood up and said helplessly.

"Wow, this group of guys are too lacking in loyalty. They obviously know that you don't know them very well and they won't call you when they go out to play. The guy Zhanfeng is also the same. After all, he is a teammate with you. I don't call you, let's go, let's go out together!" Pei Wei pulled Wang Xiaomin up, ignoring his wry smile, and dragged him out of the gate.

"Hey, Brother Big Head, what are you doing?" As soon as he went out, he met Li Wei, the former captain of the Chinese national team, known as "Big Head". Pei Wei greeted him enthusiastically, but Li Weili ignored him, "Huh "After a cry, he turned and went downstairs.

"What is this guy doing? So rude?" Wang Xiaomin said dissatisfied.

Pei Wei smiled: "Who knows, maybe he is in a bad mood." Li Wei was originally the captain, an authoritative figure, and the main force of the national team, but after Menotti took office, he suddenly became a substitute. He was deprived, and few people listened to his words. Anyone who changed him would feel uncomfortable. Since the day when the national team gathered, no one has seen a smile on his face.Wang Xiaomin didn't know what happened before he joined the national team, so naturally he couldn't understand this.

"Forget about it, let's go down and see what those guys are doing."

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"It's six o'clock, let's go eat." Pei Wei raised his wrist and looked at his watch, suggesting.

"Okay." Zhu Jun threw down the poker cards in his hand and said weakly: "You two guys are too good, especially Wang Xiaomin, haven't you never played tractors before? Why are you so good? I lost more than 100 yuan .”

"I haven't lost as much as you!" Wu Qi also threw the cards in his hand on the table: "It's so strange, does Brazil also have this game?"

"Haha, when Wang Xiaomin and I were in Mallorca, we had no opponents in the whole team!" Pei Wei said proudly, "What's more, the two of you didn't cooperate at all. How could you be our opponent?"

"Wow, you despicable guy, you lied to me that Wang Xiaomin never beat you! Pay me back!" Zhu Jun gritted his teeth and yelled.

Pei Wei and Wang Xiaomin immediately put away all the change that was spread out on the table, "I would like to admit defeat! There is no reason to take back the money after losing! Besides, it is only more than 100 yuan, you won't lose even this Get up?" Pei Wei said with a smile.

When several people were joking, Hu Yong hurried in and shouted: "What are you still doing here, something happened!"

"What's the matter?" Zhu Jun asked suspiciously: "Did some player run out without permission? That's not a big deal."

"It's much more serious than this!" Hu Yong didn't have time to explain to them, he picked up the remote control from the table and turned on the TV: "This guy Li Wei actually ran out to be interviewed, and even criticized the coach and Xiao Lizi desperately. Defender, the CCTV-5 sports news at six o'clock is now on, watch it!"

Hu Yong switched the channel to CCTV-5. Since the Chinese team was staying in this hotel, the hotel staff specially took over the CCTV sports channel that Chinese players could understand. On the TV screen, Li Wei was being interviewed. scene.

Li Wei's interview lasted 15 minutes. This is almost a replica of Hao Dong's bombardment of Milucci in 02, except that the target of the bombardment has become Menotti. In the program, Li Wei expressed all his dissatisfaction It came out that Menotti's nepotism and improper command caused the Chinese team to lose a victory in a good situation, and Li Min and Wang Xiaomin, who were responsible for the two conceded goals, became his targets for bombarding Menotti. The reason, in his opinion, if he and other veteran players played in that game, those two goals would not be lost at all.

"Damn it!" Wang Xiaomin said angrily, "What kind of nonsense is he talking about? He doesn't even look at his own level. He is [-] times more irritable than Li Min! I admit that I committed the first goal. He made a mistake, but didn't he see his performance at other times? Li Min's mistake can't be said to be entirely his responsibility. "

"Is he stupid?" Zhu Jun asked suspiciously: "Anyway, Menotti is still the coach of the national team, and we didn't play badly in that game. Is Tunisia really so poor? He Did he not want Menotti to expel him from the national team? In 02, a famous player like Roy Keane was immediately kicked out of the national team after a conflict with the coach. Did he think he was even bigger than Keane? "

"He's not stupid!" Pei Wei sneered: "He thought that we would definitely not win in the next game, so he dared to do this. If we don't win in the next game, Menotti He will definitely not continue to be the head coach of the national team, and he will become a person who dares to tell the truth. There will still be dramas in the national team in the future, unlike now, Xiao Lizi has completely pushed him to the bench. Give it a go, maybe he will still be the captain of the national team in the future!"

"It makes sense." Wu Qi nodded: "But this bastard is too contemptuous of others. Who said we can't qualify and win?"

"I'll settle the score with him!" Wang Xiaomin stood up all of a sudden, and walked out angrily.

Pei Wei didn't hold him back, and Wang Xiaomin rushed out of the room quickly. "Oops, let's get out, or something will happen!"

Several people hurriedly got up and chased outside, Zhu Jun muttered in his mouth while chasing: "Actually, let Xiaomin teach that guy a lesson, so as not to see that guy's stinky face again, you don't know, it really sucks Appetite."

Pei Wei slowed down a bit, looked at Zhu Jun, and smiled wryly.

Angry Wang Xiaomin happened to meet Li Wei who came out of his room in the corridor, and he kicked up furiously: "I'll let you talk nonsense again! You bastard!"

Unprepared, Li Wei was kicked solidly and took a few steps back. Wang Xiaomin pounced on him and was about to hit him. Li Wei had already reacted, and immediately wrestled with Wang Xiaomin.

The height of the two is about the same, both are 1.8 meters three, and their physiques are also relatively strong. When they fight, they are evenly matched.

"It's over, we're late!" Pei Wei yelled, rubbing his forehead, rushed into the battle group, and pulled Wang Xiaomin away with Zhu Jun. At the same time, Hu Yong also pulled Li Wei away, while Wu Qi stopped the two of them. middle.

Hearing the noise, other players also walked out of their rooms. When they saw the two people staring at each other like two fighting cocks, they immediately understood what was going on.

The door where the coach was located opened, and He Jin came out with a gloomy face. He looked at the scene in the arena: "Li Wei, Wang Xiaomin, you two come in!"

Wang Xiaomin was still a little afraid of He Jin, so he agreed and walked over, while Li Wei snorted and followed him.

"What are you still doing standing here? Watching a show? Go down and eat!" He Jin shouted at the other players.

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The next day, the Chinese national team punished yesterday for the fight in the team. Wang Xiaomin did it first, but because Li Wei expressed doubts about his ability in the interview, the punishment was reduced and a fine of 5000 yuan was imposed. Li Wei violated the coach According to the regulations of the team, he accepted the interview privately and made many false statements at the same time, which caused a very serious adverse effect on the preparation of the national team. He was fined 1 RMB and was expelled from the national team.

Although this time the Football Association resolutely stood on Menotti's side, quelled the incident with a vigorous and iron fist, and minimized the impact on the team's preparations, but the matter still spread, which also made many people care and love Chinese football fans are worried: Facing a big loss in the first game, the Ukrainian team, which vowed to win the Chinese team to get the right to qualify for the group, can the Chinese team, which has internal and external troubles, survive this hurdle?

In the next two days of training, the mental state of the players did not appear to be very good, which further deepened this worry.

Can we really win this game?
(End of this chapter)