Chapter 1

Zhou Yi wasn't unwilling to reveal his future club; he simply didn't have time to consider it. He had already told his agent, Schulze, not to bother him with any transfer matters until after the Olympics. In other words, even if there were transfer offers, they should all be postponed until after the Olympic Games.

His goal was to lead the team to victory at the Olympics, a difficult task that required his full attention. How could he possibly be distracted by transfer considerations?

On the evening of July 26th, Beijing time, at 9:30 PM, the Chinese National Olympic team's first match in the London Olympics men's football tournament against Mexico kicked off.

As the match between China and Mexico began, countless fans across China sat in front of their televisions, watching the live broadcast. People's expectations for this National Olympic team were far greater than for the previous one.

Prior to the match, Chinese media and fans had analyzed the Chinese National Olympic team's prospects at the Olympics in great detail.

No one mentioned winning the championship, as that was Zhou Yi's "exclusive goal." More realistically, everyone felt that it would be a victory if the Chinese team could advance from the group stage. Making it to the semi-finals would be exceeding expectations.

The Chinese team's opponent in this match, the Mexican National Olympic team, was one of the four seeded teams in this Olympics.

Although Mexico wasn't the best team in the world in the realm of adult football, they were definitely one of the top-ranked teams in youth football. In the 2012 London Olympic qualifiers, they won all five matches in the North American region. In the 2012 Toulon Tournament, Mexico's U23 team, the National Olympic team, won the championship. In the 2011 U17 World Cup, they won the championship on their home turf with a perfect performance, and they also won the third place in the subsequent U20 World Cup.

Such outstanding and dazzling achievements fully demonstrated Mexico's youth training strength.

With Mexico's achievements in youth football, it was only natural for them to be listed as a seeded team.

Chinese media analyzed that if the National Olympic team wanted to advance from the group, surpassing Mexico to become the group leader required defeating Mexico, which would be difficult. However, if they lost to Mexico, advancing from the group would become troublesome.

In addition to Mexico, Gabon and Switzerland were also in the same group as China.

Realistically speaking, if the Chinese team wanted to ensure their advancement from the group, clashing head-on with Mexico wasn't a good choice. They could take a step back and aim for a draw in their match against Mexico, which was the most likely and beneficial outcome. Then, in the remaining two matches, they only needed to win one and draw one. Five points would basically guarantee them a second-place finish in the group and advancement.

If they lost to Mexico, the Chinese team would have to strive to win both of the following two matches to be on the safe side.

Therefore, the strategy and tactics for the first match against Mexico determined the outcome, and the outcome determined the tactics the Chinese team would adopt in the next two group matches.

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Facing Mexico, Blažević chose a counter-attacking tactic.

In fact, not only against Mexico, but this National Olympic team mainly played counter-attacking football under the leadership of Blažević.

This was because this National Olympic team had two very fast forwards – He Ying and Wu Lei.

He Ying and Wu Lei also had outstanding individual abilities and strong one-on-one skills, especially He Ying. In addition to his speed, he was also very well-rounded, with excellent passing and dribbling skills, and exceptional scoring ability.

The National Olympic team's ability to obtain an Olympic ticket from Asia was inseparable from He Ying's outstanding performance.

Having two fast forwards, a goalkeeper who often seemed divinely blessed, a defensive core with extremely freakish physical qualities, plus a tenacious defensive midfielder and a central midfielder with accurate passes and rhythm control comparable to a top DJ… Wouldn't it be a waste of personnel to constantly defend and counter-attack with such a lineup?

So, from the moment Zhou Yi joined the team, Blažević had only done one thing during this twenty-day training camp: frantically training the team's defensive counter-attacks.

He didn't need the team to play beautifully; he needed results.

And this happened to coincide with the Chinese people's expectations for this team – in a setting like the Olympics, the quality of the play didn't matter; winning was the only thing that mattered.

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Before the Olympics started, British media created a list of the "Ten Most Anticipated Rising Stars at This Olympics."

Mexican winger Javier Aquino was on the list. He currently played for the Mexican domestic powerhouse Cruz Azul, as a winger with excellent technique. He was one of the many unknown but highly promising young players at this Olympics.

However, the Chinese team was the biggest winner on this list, with as many as three players on the list – He Ying, Yang Muge, and Guo Nu.

He Ying, who was on loan at Valladolid last season, was the silver boot winner in the Segunda División. The British media also had high praise for him, ranking him seventh on the eight-man list. The British media believed that Barcelona should seriously consider He Ying's future this summer.

Guo Nu performed well at Cesena last season and had already become an indispensable defensive core for Cesena. Although he wasn't very tall, his excellent defensive awareness, super strong physical confrontation ability, and jumping ability made up for his lack of height. However, Cesena was ultimately relegated, which wasn't really related to Guo Nu himself. Defense was a work that emphasized discipline and cooperation. Guo Nu had already performed very well. Relegation was only because Cesena's overall strength was too weak…

Yang Muge began to get opportunities to play for Schalke 04 in the middle of the season, and then he went on an unstoppable run. By the end of the season, he was already an iron gate in Schalke 04's midfield.

However, Zhou Yi wasn't on this ten-man list. Logically speaking, everyone would definitely think that Zhou Yi should be ranked first when they saw this list.

But unfortunately, the person ranked first was Brazilian genius Neymar… not Zhou Yi.

Where was Zhou Yi?

This was how the British media that selected this list explained why Zhou Yi was left out: "In the opinion of our reporters, Zhou Yi has already moved beyond the concept of a 'rising star.' Yes, he can't be considered a 'rising star.' As Borussia Dortmund's core player, leading the team to win two league titles and reaching the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League respectively, everyone can clearly see his potential and ability. There's no need to put him on this list to steal the spotlight, right?"

Another person who didn't make the list was Sun Pan. The media gave a similar reason. They didn't think that Sun Pan should be considered a "rising star" either. He had already won the Europa League title with Atlético Madrid! Why would he come and compete with those geniuses who hadn't even played in a European league?

And so, Zhou Yi and Sun Pan were destined to become the men who didn't bear the title of "Ten Most Anticipated Rising Stars at the Olympics"...

But then again, if Zhou Yi and Sun Pan were also on the list, wouldn't the Chinese team be dominating the list? Would they leave any room for others to live?

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Before the match between China and Mexico, in the stadium's locker room, Blažević was giving the players a final pep talk.

"Boys, in ten minutes, it will be your first match at the Olympics. Are you ready?"

"I think you should all be clear that I'm a very strict coach. I'm very grateful that you persevered through my training. Now is the time for you to taste the fruits of your labor."

"When we were still in China, Zhou Yi publicly expressed his goal of winning a gold medal. I think that's not just his goal, but also the goal of all of us. That's why you put in extraordinary effort in training. All the hard work will gradually show its value from this moment on. I hope that when each of you remembers your experience participating in the Olympics in the future, you won't have any regrets or unwillingness. I hope that this Olympics can leave you with an incomparably wonderful memory."

"Mexico is our first opponent and also the seeded team in this group. The media has rated them as the favorites to win gold at this Olympics. I'm sorry that we're not among them. Although we also have many excellent players, perhaps Chinese football has left them with some bad stereotypes in the past, causing them to overlook us. But that's not important, because we can prove to them through this Olympics that you have nothing to do with the past of Chinese football. You are a team full of vigor and infinite future. Each of you can write a different future for Chinese football."

"And this future will start with this match. Defeating Mexico is not only for the three points to advance, but also to strengthen your dreams!"

Blažević didn't set the goal for this match as a "draw". He only wanted a victory.

No one was surprised by this, because that was their goal too.

Otherwise, why would they accept such hard training? You have to know that Blažević is a very strict coach in training.

※※※

After the match started, Mexico launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal, taking advantage of the opportunity to get the kickoff.

Faced with their fierce attack, the Chinese team retreated to defend. The two forwards, He Ying and Wu Lei, both retreated to the center circle.

From the looks of it, it was indeed not good-looking. The Chinese team was completely suppressed by the opponent.

As Mexico bombarded the Chinese team's goal, the Chinese fans in front of the TV were a little nervous. They were afraid that this young team hadn't been tested by major international competitions and would be nervous in the first match, leading to abnormal performance – wasn't this a normal performance for Chinese football?

If Mexico scored a goal, the team might even collapse.

Mexico's offensive momentum looked quite grand, but as for whether it brought any threat to the goal guarded by Sun Pan...

In the tenth minute of the match, Sun Pan yawned.

"Damn!" After yawning, Sun Pan pointed at Guo Nu and shouted: "Old Guo, can you let a little water go? At least let them shoot one shot on target!"

He felt that this Olympic match wasn't as intense and exciting as La Liga...

Chinese commentator He Ping said when he saw Sun Pan pointing at the defender and shouting: "Sun Pan is directing the defense..."

Guo Nu heard Sun Pan's shout, but he ignored Sun Pan, because he knew that Sun Pan was just talking nonsense - whether the opponent's shot was on target or not wasn't something he could control.

That Aquino came up with the ball again. This time Guo Nu didn't guard his position, letting his teammate the full-back deal with him. Instead, he directly made a fierce sliding tackle, kicking Aquino's ball out of bounds, scaring Aquino into jumping up on the spot, barely dodging Guo Nu's tackle.

After landing, he reached out to the referee to protest, indicating that Guo Nu's action was a foul.

But the referee ignored him - how could such a clean tackle be a foul? Do you think I'm stupid!

After tackling the ball, Guo Nu got up and ran back, while also turning his head to look at Aquino, who was complaining to the referee.

This is the person who's on the same list as me? Compared to those opponents he encountered in Serie A... he's simply too weak!