Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

When news of the West Asians splitting up reached East Asia, fans in China, Japan, and South Korea cheered.

[This is great! Asia has 4.5 slots, and with so many countries in East and Southeast Asia, getting 3 slots seems reasonable, right? With these three slots, wouldn't China, Japan, and South Korea be guaranteed a place in the World Cup?]

[That's right, we fully support the West Asians' desire to split up. We've long since stopped playing with these people. They're so far away, it takes seven or eight hours to fly between matches, and these West Asians always resort to underhanded tactics. We've had enough of them!]

Before the West Asians proposed the idea of ​​splitting up, similar thoughts had already been in the minds of fans in East Asian countries, but they just hadn't brought it up!

In earlier years, due to the relatively weak football strength in East Asia, the World Cup spots for the Asian region were almost monopolized by West Asian teams.

Back then, West Asian teams had all the advantages, so why didn't they suggest splitting up and leaving a spot for East Asian teams?

East Asian football is just starting to gain momentum, while West Asian football has only suffered one World Cup defeat, yet they are already so eager to split up.

Their selfish and self-serving behavior disgusted and repulsed East Asian fans.

After the split, it's unlikely that the East Asia region will get 3 spots, but 2.5 spots are guaranteed.

When allocating quotas, FIFA also has to consider the strength of teams in each region.

For example, Europe has far fewer countries than Africa, but it has three times as many World Cup slots as Africa and four times as many as Asia!
In East Asia, Japan and South Korea are regular participants in the World Cup. South Korea has never missed a World Cup since 1986, while Japan has never missed one since its first appearance in 1998.

Based on the past performances of these two teams, they are certain to secure two permanent spots.

Although the Chinese team has not participated in the World Cup many times, its strength has improved rapidly in recent years, and it is currently the only team in Asia ranked in the top 20 by FIFA.

Considering the Chinese team's ranking and the massive football market of 13 billion people behind it, FIFA would have no problem giving them half a spot, even if they didn't give them a full spot.

With two direct qualification spots plus half an additional spot, the East Asian team, given its strength, can compete with teams from other continents as long as they don't face South American teams.

Moreover, the 2.5 slots are a conservative estimate. If East Asia and West Asia really split up, FIFA's allocation of World Cup slots will inevitably have to be adjusted.

As East Asian football continues to develop, its international influence is also constantly increasing.

The allocation of 14 slots to the European region is simply outrageous. While European football is indeed very strong, having one continent monopolize nearly half of the slots is almost a monopoly. Cutting one or two slots and using them to support less developed football regions, such as Asia and Africa, would be much more appropriate.

Of course, FIFA also has another solution, which is to expand the World Cup again.

There are currently 32 teams participating in the World Cup, but this number is not static.

When the World Cup first started, the number of participating teams was not fixed, ranging from 13 to 16, before it was fixed at 16.

However, with the development of football and the widespread popularity of the World Cup around the world, the call for the World Cup to expand to accommodate more outstanding teams has become a global trend.

Therefore, in 1982, the number of teams in the World Cup was expanded to 24.

However, increasing the number of slots by only 8, plus 24 teams, makes it difficult to design and schedule the group stage and knockout stage.

Therefore, in 1998, the World Cup was expanded to 32 teams, which is the World Cup format that everyone is familiar with today.

However, judging from the history of the World Cup, the current format is definitely not static, and it will certainly be expanded someday in the future.

After all, it would be too difficult to tamper with the existing pie that each continent has already received, and it would provoke strong opposition from those who have vested interests, and could even lead to a complete breakdown in relations.

However, if you make the pie bigger and redistribute it, the difficulty is much lower.

Moreover, FIFA has complete control over how to distribute these extra resources.

Furthermore, the expansion policy will likely receive a wide response as it allows more countries to participate in the World Cup.

Of course, vested interests, such as the traditional football powerhouses of old Europe, will certainly oppose it, but as long as there is support from emerging regions, FIFA can completely implement this policy despite the opposition from Europeans.

While Asian fans were making a big fuss about the West Asians splitting up, fans in Oceania, especially in Australia, were getting a little panicked.

Australia was originally located in the Oceania region, but apart from Australia and New Zealand, the rest of the country consists of island nations and small countries with small populations, let alone strong football capabilities.

So Oceania fared very badly, only getting 0.5 spots.

As a result, although the Australian team always won the Oceania qualifiers, they almost always fell short in the playoffs.

Over the past few decades, the Australian team has participated in the playoffs five times, but has only won once, with a winning percentage of just 20%!

Unable to bear it any longer, the Australian team chose to leave the international stage and join the Asian community to reduce the difficulty of their advancement.

But they had just joined the AFC and played only one World Cup qualifier when the AFC was about to split up.

This news has Australian fans on edge, fearing that if the AFC is dissolved, they will be sent back to their home countries and continue their previous nightmare.

[Sigh, what will we do if the AFC really splits up?]

History has proven that staying in Oceania is a dead end; I think we should continue to rely on other continents.

[From a geographical perspective, East Asia is the closest region to us, so why don't we join the East Asian Football Federation?]

[Are you crazy? East Asia is practically a monster zone now. If we join the East Asian Football Federation, we'll not only have to face the monster that is China, but also Japan, South Korea, and even North Korea. Which of those teams can we reliably beat? Even against North Korea, we might not be able to win, right?]

If the East Asian Football Confederation (EAFC) isn't working, why not align ourselves with West Asian football?

Putting aside our distance from West Asia, given the selfish and self-serving nature of West Asians, do you think they would be happy to let us in and take their spots?

West Asians can't even accept having their spots 'snatched' by East Asians, let alone accept an outsider.

The Australian team is too strong; no West Asian team wants to let such a big shark in and steal their cake and butter.

With the Asian region out of the question, Australian fans had to choose from the remaining four continents.

From an ethnic and cultural perspective, they should join the European region. Countries like Israel, Turkey, and Kazakhstan in Asia have chosen to leave Asia and join Europe, seeking to align themselves with Europe.

This shows that UEFA is open to teams from other regions joining, but there are too many football powerhouses in Europe, and if Australia joins UEFA, it may face even fiercer competition.

Their strength is unmatched in Oceania, and they are considered a top team in Asia.

However, if placed in Europe, it wouldn't be quite up to par.

Traditional European powerhouses such as Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, England, Germany, and the Netherlands cannot be fooled by any of them.

The remaining teams, such as Belgium, Croatia, Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, and Russia, are also difficult to beat. Furthermore, there are no playoff spots in the European zone; if they don't perform well in the group stage, they won't even have a chance to fight back through the playoffs.

Thinking about it that way, joining UEFA doesn't seem like a good idea.

If even UEFA isn't a good idea, then the even more competitive South America should be excluded.

The remaining regions of Africa and North America are too far away, and the competition is also very fierce.

After much deliberation, the Australians pessimistically realized that they could only remain in the Oceania region and live their own little world.

The AFC hasn't even split up yet, but the first unlucky one seems to have already been identified.

……

Lin Feng only learned of the West Asians' desire to leave the Asian Football Confederation after returning to Madrid.

Actually, he doesn't really support the West Asians' actions to split the AFC. Although West Asians like to engage in some underhanded tactics and dirty tricks on and off the field, the current landscape of Asian football is that the East is strong and the West is weak.

As long as they don't split up, the three East Asian powerhouses will most likely secure all three World Cup spots. Even Japan, currently in the worst position, can at least play in the playoffs if they don't get a direct qualification spot.

But if the family splits up, these benefits will be lost.

However, if the East Asia region can really get 2.5 spots, then the difference between splitting up and not splitting up will be relatively small. From the perspective of saving physical energy, he would definitely support splitting up.

Overall, however, this incident has had a relatively small impact on the Chinese team.

Given the current strength of the Chinese team, whether or not they split up, it will not affect their qualification for the World Cup.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this confidence that Chinese fans have been able to calmly watch the drama unfold.

Compared to the relaxed schedule of the national team, the club team faces a much more challenging schedule.

On April 5, after a two-week hiatus, La Liga resumed.

Having just finished their national team matches, Real Madrid players had to board a plane to travel to Malaga for an away game.

Perhaps due to the physical exertion from traveling back and forth and playing for the national team, Real Madrid players were in a slump during the match, especially in the second half when they generally experienced fatigue.

Even Little Ma, who is known for his boundless energy, was so exhausted that he got cramps.

Compared to them, Malaga, who didn't have many national team players, were in better form and put pressure on Real Madrid in the first half.

In the second half, Real Madrid's fatigue became increasingly apparent, and Malaga took advantage of this to launch a more intense attack, hitting the woodwork in the 66th and 72nd minutes.

While lamenting their team's bad luck in missing several excellent scoring opportunities, the home fans were also full of anticipation for the upcoming matches.

It felt like the opportunity to defeat a top team like Real Madrid was right in front of them.

But the Malaga players got a little too cocky and forgot what kind of team they were facing.

In the 75th minute of the second half, Real Madrid made a very crucial substitution.

Mourinho substituted Pepe and Gago for the exhausted Mascherano and Real Madrid striker Raul.

This substitution seems to be an attempt to strengthen the defense, as if Real Madrid has resigned themselves to their fate and only wants to hold onto this draw and get a point.

But in reality, Mourinho's substitution had a deeper meaning.

Malaga's players clearly didn't see through Mourinho's intentions; when they saw the opponent substituted a defender for a striker, they all assumed the opponent had backed down.

They became even more reckless in the ensuing attacks, committing almost all of their forces to the offensive.

Clearly, Malaga wants to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat Real Madrid at home and secure these crucial three points!
Malaga is currently ranked eighth in the league, but they have the same points as Atletico Madrid, who are ranked fifth, and are only temporarily ranked eighth due to a lower goal difference.

Currently in the La Liga standings, the fifth to eighth place teams all have 43 points, with very little difference between them.

Although with their current performance, it will be difficult for them to break into the top four of the league and qualify for next season's Champions League.

However, making it into the top six and securing a Europa League spot is not particularly difficult.

If Malaga can win this match, they will gain an advantage in the competition with the other four teams, greatly increasing their chances of advancing to the Europa League.

Although the Europa League's exposure and commercial value are far less than the Champions League, participating teams can still receive a decent amount of prize money and broadcasting revenue, which may be negligible for top clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona.

But for an average mid-table team like Malaga, this amount of money is quite substantial.

That's why Malaga, as a member of the Real Madrid system, fought so hard against Real Madrid today.

They simply set their sights on Real Madrid, which can only be described as a miscalculation.

In the 79th minute, Malaga launched another attack on Real Madrid's goal.

However, their attack not only failed to score, but their own mistake gave Real Madrid a perfect opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Pepe, who had just come on as a substitute, successfully dispossessed a Malaga player thanks to his strong physique and accurate anticipation.

Malaga's players immediately launched a counter-press after losing possession, but Pepe remained calm and had already moved the ball to Gago, who was in an open position nearby.

Although Gago's attendance rate has been very low this season due to injuries.

But after recovering from his injury and seeking revenge, he doubled down on his training, and finally impressed Mourinho with his attitude, which earned him a chance to play.

Those who have experienced loss truly appreciate what they have now. Gago cherished this hard-won opportunity, and the moment he received the ball, he remembered the coach's words to him before he went on the field:

Lin Feng is the only one on our team who still has the stamina to launch a counterattack. He is our only hope to win the game. Your only task after you come on the court is to pass that damn ball to Lin Feng!
Gago looked up firmly at Lin Feng in the attacking third. At that moment, he seemed to be possessed by Redondo, delivering a surgical through ball between two defenders to his teammate's feet.

A silver saddle shines on a white horse, swift as a shooting star!
Watching Lin Feng's graceful figure dribbling the ball across the field, the Malaga fans closed their eyes in despair.

The moment the ball reached Lin Feng's feet, Malaga's fate was sealed.

Without any suspense, Lin Feng, who had fully accelerated, used his speed to overwhelm all of Malaga's defenders, went one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and sent the ball into Malaga's goal.

The Malaga people's beautiful illusions have ultimately been shattered. (End of Chapter)