There is a belief called football

Chapter 186
That night in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the headquarters of the AFC, the leaders of the entire Asian football world gathered, and the chairman of the AFC will also attend the draw ceremony.

The Chinese team, which had nothing to do with this event in the past 10 years, unexpectedly became the focus because of the maverick head coach "Stan".

Before the game, a reporter who had a good thing asked whether the chairman of the AFC "Haman" would consider arranging a death group to enhance the attractiveness of Asian football.

And Harman's answer is very official - the draw ceremony is very fair, no one knows the result, even he himself does not know what the result is, and he also asked the reporter to be patient.But in fact, everyone knows that any draw cannot be fair. UEFA has been suspected of secretly manipulating the draw because it has drawn out the matchups that everyone "expects" many times.

In fact, under the current technology, this is very simple, as long as a small sensor is installed on each lottery ball, then everything can be under control.

But even so, every lottery ceremony still attracts a lot of attention. Who will be the unlucky one to enter the "group of death" and who will be the lucky one?

*****
At 8 o'clock that night, the media center of the Marriott Hotel was full of seats, and Stan and others were arranged in the front row. Although the Chinese team was not the seeded team in this draw, they still received the highest courtesy.

The first person to play was AFC Chairman "Harman". Harman's appearance was warmly welcomed by all the guests. He held a small card in his hand, which was obviously the content of the speech. First, Harman reviewed the history of the top 20 games, expressed his gratitude to the teams that were eliminated, and congratulated the 10 teams that finally entered the top 10 games.

Then there was a highlight on the big screen, a recap of the top 20 games and some great goals.

After 5 minutes, the highlights were over, and all the guests applauded. This is considered as a farewell to the top 20 competition. "It's that simple, the loser will not stay in everyone's heart for more than 5 minutes", Stan thought.

Then the big screen flashed, and the 10 teams that entered the top 10 appeared-Iran, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Lebanon, Japan, Australia, China, Oman, and Iraq.

The four seeded teams are South Korea, Iran, Japan, and Australia, and they will be drawn out first.

Although everyone knew the process very well, the secretary of the AFC who came out later, who was also the on-site host of the lottery, introduced the rules and the lottery process according to the script.

There are 32 and a half places in Asia for the top 4 of the World Cup. The top 2 of each group will directly enter the World Cup. The fifth place in Group A needs to play a two-round home and away play-off with the fifth place in Group B. The winning team will also play a play-off against No.5 in South America. It is still two rounds of home and away games, and the final victory can enter the World Cup.

To put it simply, as an Asian team, if they want to enter the World Cup, they can only fight for the top two in the group. If they play in the play-offs, the probability of being eliminated is 99%. Think about what the No.5 team in South America will be?Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and other teams.

And Stan also understands this very well. It is absolutely impossible for him to pin his hopes on the play-offs. Think about it, if you can't even beat South Korea and Iran, how can you play against a team like Uruguay.

After a brief introduction, the on-site host invited two guests to draw lots for tonight. The first is the legendary Korean star Cha Bum-geun, and the other is the most successful player in Iranian history-Ali Daei.

"Joe, have you ever thought that 20 years from now, you will stand on it as a guest of the lottery"?Stan clapped and whispered to Li Qiao who was sitting next to him.

Li Qiao didn't answer, just smiled, and then looked forward to it in his heart, "20 years later? I must retire. What kind of historical status will I have in world football?"
According to the arrangement of the on-site host, the two guests stood in their positions, and the climax of tonight-the draw ceremony officially began.

The on-site host pointed to a hemispherical transparent glass jar in front of Ali Daei, with 4 small blue balls inside, and then pointed to the same glass jar in front of Cha Bum-geun, except that there were only 2 small balls in the glass jar in front of Cha Bum-geun, and they were yellow.

The on-site host explained a little bit that what Ali Day needs to draw is the seeded team, and the small ball drawn by Cha Bum-geun determines whether the team Ali Day draws is in Group A or Group B.

"So, Ali Daei, are you ready?"
Hearing the host's inquiry, Ali Daei smiled and nodded, then he put his hand into the glass jar in front of him and stirred it. A few seconds later, Ali Daei took out a small ball.

The on-site host asked him to open it and show the team name on it to the guests.

Ali Daei turned the ball away, took out a small note, and spread it out to the guests. Everyone looked at the delegation of a country at the same time, "Australia".

The first one to be drawn is Australia, then Che Fangen will decide which group Australia will go to.

"Group B", Cha Bum-geun yelled out while spreading out the small note.

There is nothing wrong with being the first to be drawn, and there is nothing good about it, because any suspense has not been revealed, and it still depends on what will happen in the follow-up.

Ali Daei then drew the second team - the Japanese team.

At this time, there was a rustling sound on the scene, and many guests whispered to each other. If Cha Bum-geun still drew "B", then the two teams that entered the final of the 2011 Asian Cup will meet again. This may be a good thing for neutral fans, but apparently the Australians and Japanese do not think so.

All eyes on the scene were focused on Cha Bum-geun, especially the Iranians and Koreans, because if Cha Bum-geun drew B, then Iran and South Korea would automatically enter Group A, thus avoiding the top two in Asia.

"Group A",
Just when Cha Bum-geun shouted out, there were some happy and some sad. Australians and Japanese were happy, and Iranians and Koreans were worried. Maybe this is the reason why everyone likes to watch the lottery. It is really exciting.

After the round of lottery was completed, the on-site host confirmed again, Group A: Japan team, Group B: Australia team.

Immediately afterwards, Ali Daei drew his home country, the Iranian team. He was relatively relaxed at this time, because the Iranian team was similar no matter which group they went to. The Japanese team and the Australian team were similar in strength.

In the end, Cha Bum-geun decided that the Iranians would go to Group A and be in the same group as the Japanese team, which also meant that the Korean team would automatically enter Group B.

The current situation is Group A: Japan, Iran, Group B: Australia, South Korea.

After the seeded teams are drawn, the draws for other teams are random, but the rules have changed to a certain extent, that is, Cha Bum-geun's work is no longer needed. One will be drawn from group A, and then one from group B until the draw is exhausted.

Now the glass tank in front of Alidayi has been replaced by a batch of small balls by the staff, which are still blue, but the number is 6, and the Chinese team is in it.

The on-site host is very good at controlling the rhythm of the draw ceremony. He once again introduced the remaining 6 teams-Uzbekistan, Qatar, Lebanon, China, Oman, and Iraq.Then he made a joke to Ali Dayi-"Your hand is about to decide the fate of many countries".

The draw ceremony continued again - Ali Daei's next draw was Qatar, and Qatar finally went to Group A.

The next one will definitely go to Group B, and Ali Daei will draw Lebanon.

Now there are only the last 4 teams left, and the atmosphere on the scene is becoming more and more tense. Of the remaining 4 teams, the strongest are China and Uzbekistan.If both teams go to Group A, then Japan, Iran, Qatar, China, and Uzbekistan can be regarded as a death group.

And the Koreans in Group B will laugh their ass off. If so, South Korea and Australia can be said to be basically guaranteed. Oman, Iraq, and Lebanon can't stop the Koreans and Australians at all.

The first one to be drawn was Oman, and according to the rules he went to Group A. When this result appeared, the corners of the Japanese delegation showed a bright smile, and another well-recognized team entered Group A.

The next lottery is very important. If it is Iraq, it means that China and Uzbekistan will not be in the same group. This is good for everyone, but Uzbekistan is chosen by Ali Daei.

The current form is Group A, Japan, Iran, Qatar, Oman.

Group B, Australia, South Korea, Lebanon, Uzbekistan.

The director at the scene cut the camera to Stan at this time, and everyone knew that the next lottery was the most critical.

If it was a few months ago, everyone might have hoped that the Chinese team could join their group, because the Chinese team came to give points, but now the Chinese team is different. The Chinese team led by the AFC champion coach has shown good strength.

The on-site host seemed to deliberately maintain suspense. He suddenly asked Stan a question, "Coach Stan, which group do you want to go to?"
All the guests at the scene looked at Stan in unison, and Stan smiled and said, "Can you choose at will?"
The on-site host said: "Of course, let's talk about it."

Stan looks left, right, and says, "I don't feel like I'm welcome in their group".

Stan's words caused the audience to roar with laughter.

In the end Stan said: "I don't know, anyway, no matter which group it is, I will go to Brazil".

The guests at the scene laughed again, but this time it was mostly ridicule. In the end, Ali Daei drew the last team in Group A—Iraq, which also meant that the Chinese team entered Group B.

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(End of this chapter)