China's team lost the game, and the next day, Zhou Yi was surrounded by Chinese reporters stationed in Germany outside the club's training base. They wanted to hear his thoughts on the game from the day before.

"I watched the game," Zhou Yi said at the start, making it clear that he wasn't talking nonsense without even watching the game. Then he gave his conclusion. "I don't have any thoughts."

"Is it because you're disappointed by the defeat?" a reporter asked.

Zhou Yi looked at him with some surprise. "How could I be? What's disappointing about losing a game? This is the Top Ten Tournament! Every team has to play eight games. We've played half of the group stage, and we've only lost one game. What's not to be satisfied with? This is the Top Ten Tournament, the highest-level competition in Asia. To be honest, it's even higher level than the Asian Cup. Which of the teams that can participate in this kind of competition is easy to play against? It's normal to lose to anyone, so I don't have any thoughts."

"But some people are saying that if you had been on the field yesterday, you would have definitely won the game…"

Zhou Yi shook his head repeatedly. "That's too amateurish. I wouldn't dare guarantee that we could win just by showing up. Football is round! What if we flew thousands of kilometers back and hadn't adjusted to the time difference yet, and we played like we were sleepwalking, how would you explain that if we lost the game? It's not like that's impossible. We're human, not robots. How could we not have any headaches or unexpected situations? I understand and support Gao Zhidao's decision not to call us back to play. If I were him, I wouldn't call a bunch of exhausted and sleep-deprived people to play."

"So losing to Qatar at home is normal?"

"What else?" Zhou Yi retorted, leaving the reporter who asked the question speechless.

"But the key isn't the result. It's not that we're not allowed to lose, but losing like this doesn't give us any hope…"

Zhou Yi sighed, then said, "It's just one game. There's no need to make a mountain out of a molehill. The Top Ten Tournament is a long competition. And these Top Ten Tournament games that are sandwiched between two European league games aren't every game. I think instead of questioning this and questioning that about why we lost, you might as well question the AFC about why they would arrange a fair and square World Cup qualifier between two European league games, making it feel like we're doing something sneaky, like thieves. Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Oceania don't have national team games scheduled at this time. Why is Asia so special? Personally, I think this kind of schedule is simply baffling."

With that, he waved his hand, stopped answering questions, and turned to leave.

In fact, the last question, what he thought in his heart was not the same as what he finally said. He sighed and suppressed his true thoughts. Because he knew that saying what he really thought would offend a lot of people and cause internal division, so he decided not to say it. He still had to go back to China and get along with his national teammates in the future.

What he wanted to say wasn't anything new, and it wouldn't show how amazing his insight was. Saying it wouldn't change anything except offend people. Since he wasn't in that position, it was useless to worry about it.

※※※

That day, it wasn't just Zhou Yi who was asked about the national team's recent defeat in interviews. Other Chinese players who were playing abroad and hadn't returned were also asked similar questions.

Their answers were similar to Zhou Yi's as well. First, they didn't think that the reason they lost was because they hadn't returned. Second, they didn't think that the defeat would have any impact on China's goal of qualifying for the World Cup. Even the most low-key and humble Yang Muge was strange when he was interviewed that everyone was so hung up on the failure of this one game, not understanding what the big deal was.

What domestic public opinion considered to be a shocking defeat, they thought was commonplace. So some people speculated conspiratorially, was this a collective excuse for the overseas players who hadn't returned?

Of course, this kind of conspiracy theory didn't have much of a market, because it was too ridiculous.

People who believed in this kind of conspiracy theory could basically be classified as "brainless."

But since the overseas players had all said so, then everyone could only temporarily put aside their anxiety and patiently wait for the next national team game to come. When all the overseas players returned to the team, they would see how their performance and results would be.

But they would have to wait a little longer. Because the next Top Ten Tournament game wouldn't be until June of next year, June 4, 2013, when the Chinese team would play against Oman away.

Of course, there would be some national team games before that, there would still be some warm-up matches, friendlies, and things like that. But the quality of these games was very low, and the performances and results in these games couldn't prove anything. Gao Hongbo's national team was famous for performing well in warm-up matches and friendlies, but official matches were completely different from warm-up matches and friendlies.

※※※

On the afternoon of November 17th, Dortmund welcomed their opponent, Fuerth, for the twelfth round of the league at home. Zhou Yi, who hadn't gone back to China to travel, started and played the entire game, and his stamina was not a problem at all.

Dortmund defeated Fuerth 3:1 at their home stadium.

At the same time, in another game, Bayern Munich unexpectedly drew 1:1 with Nuremberg away from home.

The gap between the two teams suddenly changed from four points to two points!

"...Bayern Munich has made some mistakes recently, and Dortmund has taken advantage of these opportunities. It seems that it is still too early to say that this season's league title belongs to Bayern Munich. Klopp's team has not given up, and they have already advanced from the Champions League group stage as the top seed in the group, which will help them devote more energy to the league," the German media commented.

They were right. Next was Dortmund's Champions League group stage away game against Ajax. Because they had already qualified as the top seed in the group, this game was actually meaningless for Dortmund.

Klopp didn't even take all of the main players to the away game.

He left some of the main players in Germany.

But even this Dortmund still defeated Ajax 4:1 away, taking a three-goal lead in the first half and ending the suspense of the game.

Dortmund's victory over Ajax also helped Real Madrid a bit. Because Ajax originally had four points and Real Madrid had six points, the points difference between the two teams was not big. And in this round of the league, if Dortmund deliberately let water and lost to Ajax, Real Madrid would even be in danger of being second in the group—in the same round of the group stage, Real Madrid drew 1:1 with Manchester City away from home.

This group of death now looks like a joke...

※※※

Back in the league, Dortmund rotated again. After two seasons of experience in the Champions League and domestic league, Klopp knew that if he wanted the team to maintain its level in multiple competitions, he had to rotate. Whether or not to rotate is the key to measuring whether a team can become a giant.

Basically, small teams don't rotate, one is because it's not necessary, and the other is because they don't have the ability. Rotation requires a lot of bench depth.

To be honest, Dortmund's bench depth hasn't reached the level of Real Madrid and Barcelona, but if they want good results, they must rotate.

In this rotation, the players who played in the Champions League game during the week were basically replaced, and Zhou Yi was among them.

The players who rested during the week all started.

Dortmund encountered a stubborn resistance from Mainz away from home. In the end, with a goal and an assist from Mark, they defeated Mainz 2:1 away from home, maintained their winning streak, and continued to put pressure on Bayern Munich.

Under the pressure from Dortmund, Bayern Munich won 5:0 against Hannover 96 at home. The two teams were still two points apart, and the competition was very fierce.

However, in the fourteenth round of the league, Klopp's rotation had a problem. Dortmund, who still used rotation, were tied 1:1 by Dusseldorf at home.

Because of the rotation, Dortmund had never been able to put together a full set of strongest lineups in these games, always playing with half sets. Frequent rotation caused the players to still be unaccustomed to the situation.

After all, they are not Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona... such traditional powerhouses. Dortmund was still a mid-range team a few years ago, and they had never used rotation at all.

Rotation and non-rotation both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage of rotation is that it allows everyone to play in the game, maintain their game status, and reduce physical exertion. But the disadvantage is that the lineup is not stable enough, the players' cooperation is prone to uncoordinated situations, and their state will fluctuate.

The advantage of non-rotation is that the lineup is stable, the players cooperate well, and the tactical completion is higher. As long as the physical fitness is not a problem, it is the strongest lineup. But the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, the main players have a heavy game burden, their physical fitness is consumed quickly, and they are prone to collapse due to insufficient physical fitness in the later stages of the season. At the same time, the substitute players lack game training, and they cannot stand up when they are needed, and the strength gap between the main players and the substitutes is too large.

From the perspective of club management, the disadvantage of rotation is very obvious, that is, the club needs to purchase more high-level players. There must be at least two players of comparable level in one position, which increases the club's financial burden. Buying people requires more money, and the salary expenses for buying people are also a non-negligible expense. And what if you spend a lot of money to buy someone, but find that the player is not adapted to the team's tactics, is not adapted to life in Dortmund, and cannot play his own level, then isn't the money wasted?

Non-rotation has no disadvantages for the club's finances, because it saves money. One set of lineups can play the world, and there is no need to invest too much in the substitute lineup.

In the previous two seasons, Dortmund rotated less, mainly relying on a set of main lineups. It can be said that the non-rotation approach achieved Dortmund's first two seasons, allowing them to win the league title for two consecutive seasons, and also reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the Champions League respectively.

However, the non-rotation approach has also become a bottleneck that Dortmund cannot break through. It was precisely because of non-rotation that Dortmund's players were too physically exhausted after defeating "Cosmic Team" Barcelona in the semi-finals last season. In the end, they lost to Chelsea in the semi-finals and stopped in the top four.

If Dortmund had the capital to rotate, perhaps such a thing would not have happened.

This is why Klopp has been rotating from the beginning of this season.

If you want to make a breakthrough in the Champions League and not give up the domestic league at the same time, you must rotate.

Even if you encounter some difficulties because of this, you must persevere on this road.

So after being tied by Dusseldorf, Klopp said in an interview that he would not change the current rotation policy.