When the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match, it meant that Guangzhou Hengyuan had no chance to enter the Club World Cup final, and they could only fight for third place.

This result was not surprising, although it was a little disappointing. However, the players of Guangzhou Hengyuan quickly returned to normal.

The difference in strength was too great. They had tried their best in the game, so there was nothing to regret about this result.

Everyone wants to win, but there can only be one winner. What can you do?

Take it easy. Losing a game isn't the end of the world. Life goes on.

At this time, it's more realistic to think about how to play the Club World Cup third-place playoff next game.

Only captain Zheng Zhi's face didn't improve at all. He seemed to still be brooding over losing the game.

But at this moment, Zhou Yi took the initiative to find him, "Let's trade jerseys?"

Zheng Zhi was stunned. He never expected that Zhou Yi would take the initiative to ask him to exchange jerseys.

But after reacting, he didn't refuse. Instead, he took off his jersey and handed it to Zhou Yi.

He didn't know why Zhou Yi wanted to trade jerseys with him, but it didn't matter.

Zhou Yi and Zheng Zhi didn't say much after exchanging jerseys. The two gave each other a high-five and then separated.

There was no extra communication throughout the entire process.

But this scene had already fallen into the camera lens and was transmitted to the fans in front of the TV.

For foreign fans, this scene was normal. But for Chinese fans, this scene could not help but make them start to have all sorts of thoughts.

Zhou Yi actually took the initiative to find Zheng Zhi to exchange jerseys after the game?

Those who are familiar with Zhou Yi know that he is not someone who likes to exchange jerseys with others. The number of times he has taken the initiative to exchange jerseys with people is even more rare. It might only happen when he is competing on the same field with his good friends.

And now he actually ran to take the initiative to find Zheng Zhi to exchange jerseys?

To say that it was a whim?

Absolutely no one would believe it.

There must be a deeper reason and intention behind this.

What intention?

Generally speaking, exchanging jerseys is a very common social activity after a game. For example, exchanging jerseys with idol players is mostly a way for fans to show their respect for their idols. This is also one of the most important reasons for the jersey exchange activity. Back then, two Leverkusen players fought for a Messi jersey and became a laughing stock.

However, this way of exchanging jerseys is when fans take the initiative to ask their idols to exchange jerseys.

Another reason for exchanging jerseys is because the two heroes cherish each other, appreciate each other, so they exchange jerseys after the game. This situation generally occurs between players who have been famous in football for a long time and have a certain status and achievement. For example, in Zinedine Zidane's last game retiring from Real Madrid, he exchanged jerseys with Villarreal's main midfielder, Riquelme.

In any case, exchanging jerseys is a way to express goodwill and respect.

Of course, there are also people who refuse to exchange jerseys, which is mostly because they are in a bad mood.

What does it mean that Zhou Yi took the initiative to find Zheng Zhi to exchange jerseys?

He certainly wouldn't be Zheng Zhi's fan, wanting to collect his idol's jersey.

Then it should be the second possibility, the two heroes cherishing each other?

Zhou Yi used this method to convey a signal that there was no conflict between him and Zheng Zhi, and dispelled those rumors.

This is a very clever method. He doesn't need to say too much, nor does he need to face the entanglement of reporters. He only paid the price of a jersey and solved the problem.

Sure enough, after seeing this scene, Chinese fans posted their opinions on this matter online.

"No matter what their relationship is in private, at least they can do this in front of a global audience. There shouldn't be any more conflicts in the future, right?"

"Even if it's just a superficial show, I think it's valuable. Many times, unity is maintained by superficial shows. You can't ask everyone to be good friends. No one can control what they think in their hearts, as long as it's not made public. I think Zhou Yi's approach is quite smart."

"Now the facts prove that there is really no conflict between Zhou Yi and Zheng Zhi. Can we please stop blaming our Zhou Yi for Zheng Zhi not being able to enter the national team?"

"I think this is Zhou Yi giving Gao Hongbo a difficult problem -- look, I really don't have anything with Zheng Zhi, so are you going to recruit Zheng Zhi or not?"

...

※※※

Zheng Zhi looked down at Zhou Yi's jersey in his hand, then turned back to look for Zhou Yi in the crowd. He had already put on Hengyuan's red jersey and walked into the Dortmund crowd. They were celebrating the victory of this game.

He looked down again at the jersey in his hand, the yellow and black Dortmund jersey, with Zhou Yi's number and name printed on the back, and the Dortmund team emblem on the front.

This is the team emblem of a European powerhouse.

He had also played in Europe, but he was far from any powerhouse.

Zhou Yi stood out in the Bundesliga at the age of eighteen, won his first league title at the age of nineteen, and won the Champions League at the age of twenty-two, and he won it as an absolute main force core player.

Sometimes when he thinks about it, he really feels envious, jealous, and hateful...

How can the gap in talent between people be so great?

Now he knows why Zhou Yi came to exchange jerseys with him.

Wasn't it to prevent others from saying that he and himself had a lot of conflicts?

Zheng Zhi smiled.

What conflicts could he have with himself?

With such a huge gap here, how could there be a conflict?

The two of them are not in the same world at all, and there is no possibility of intersection. Where does the conflict come from?

When Zhou Yi first joined the national team, there were still some "noises" in the national team, but he only used one game to quell those noises, and the ability he showed was completely convincing.

Ordinary people can compete with each other, but how can you compete with a peerless genius?

Ridiculous, right...

He shook his head, put the jersey he had exchanged from Zhou Yi on his shoulder, and then walked towards his teammates.

As the captain, he needed to comfort his teammates.

※※※

After playing the semi-final with Hengyuan, the next game was the final. The final was scheduled for the evening of December 21st.

There were still three days left.

Compared to them, their final opponent was going to be a little unlucky - the other semi-final will be held tomorrow night, which means that the team that breaks into the final will have one less day of rest than Dortmund, which is a great test of their physical fitness.

The next night, the other semi-final began.

It was between Raja Casablanca, a team from the host country Morocco, and Atletico Mineiro, the champion of the South American Copa Libertadores.

Logically speaking, there should be no suspense in this game. The strength of the South American champion Atletico Mineiro is definitely stronger than Raja.

Other teams were able to participate in the Club World Cup because they were the champions of various continents. Only Raja Casablanca was able to participate because of their status as the host country.

In the end, the South American champion will definitely win. Although the Toyota Cup was replaced by the Club World Cup, which increased the number of participating teams, in the final analysis, this is still a competition between the European champion and the South American champion for the world championship. It's just that there are more matches, and some opportunities must be given to teams from less developed football regions to show their faces...

So the African champion, the Asian champion, the Oceanian champion, the North and Central American champion, etc. are all there to make up the numbers, not to mention a host country that is not even a continental champion.

And the leader of Atletico Mineiro is the famous Ronaldinho. It shouldn't be a problem to take down the host.

But the actual result of the game was very surprising - Raja Casablanca took the lead in the game.

Then Ronaldinho used a direct free kick to equalize the score.

The 1:1 score was maintained until the eighty-fourth minute, and then the home team was awarded a controversial penalty.

With this penalty, the host completed the comeback.

At this time, there were only a few minutes left before the end of the game. The lagging Atletico Mineiro launched a frantic counterattack - they didn't want to be eliminated in the semi-finals. They came to compete with Dortmund for the championship, and they didn't pay attention to other teams. If they lost now, how embarrassing would it be?

As a result, the host Raja team took advantage of Atletico Mineiro's eagerness to equalize the score and pressed forward aggressively, using the gap behind them to expand the score again with a counterattack.

This time, even Ronaldinho was powerless to recover...

The host Raja Casablanca team upset and defeated the South American champion team, becoming Dortmund's opponent in the Club World Cup final...