Dear Gua

Chapter 349 Predictable Preliminaries (Daily Transition)

Gijón is a coastal city in Spain, located west of Bordeaux, on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay.

In the last century, Gijón was known for its steel casting and naval industry. With industrial reforms, it gradually transformed into a city focused on tourism, education, and commerce.

This small piece of land even has a very "unique" La Liga team - Sporting Gijón!

They entered La Liga in the 15-16 season and escaped the relegation zone by a one-point advantage.

Countless Dou Dizhu (Happy Beans) players are "die-hard" fans of this team.

Because Sporting Gijón is the team that gets slaughtered the most. For example: they conceded 50 goals in 20 rounds, averaging 2.5 goals conceded per game.

To put it nicely, they can be called "Don Quixote." No matter who the opponent is, they never park the bus! They play head-on! Known as the "Honey Badger" of La Liga.

In contrast to Luo Xiaoping of Serie A, Sporting Gijón refuses draws: either you beat me flat, or I hammer you flat.

Whenever the team wins, seafood products sell out.

This city has more than just football culture. The "Gijón Coffee Shop Award" is one of the most important literary awards in Spain. Although it originated in a century-old coffee shop in Madrid, the prize money is sponsored by the Gijón City Council every year.

Excellent works such as *That Glimpse of Painful Spring*, *Animals of the Night*, and *Bath Resort* have all won the award.

Diego Costa doesn't like coffee.

He was riding an electric scooter, carrying Li Kang and Koke through the ancient streets.

The sea breeze blew across three pairs of different colored shorts.

The sun was warm, and the shadows of the trees were mottled.

The three had applied to the coaching team for this outing: to buy local specialties.

"That's the Pelayo statue, and opposite is the Revillagigedo Palace! Baroque-style architecture!"

"It's Baroque!"

"Li, why are we buying souvenirs at the museum? Gijón's specialty is dried fish! That's the most practical thing to bring to your friends!"

The Chelsea striker chattered endlessly, feeling a headache just looking at the words on the stone tablet.

Li Kang jumped off the electric scooter and ran to the store at the entrance of the museum to buy a roll of tape and two copies of ancient books.

He had no interest in Asturian art, and couldn't understand it either.

Koke bought a fake *La Maja Vestida*, and also bought a Flamenco dance trilogy disc from a nearby stall vendor. He wasn't interested in art either, just attracted by the naked stars on the cover.

"Don't look at me like that, I bought it for Saúl, that kid likes to watch this stuff."

With the World Cup qualifiers approaching, more and more tourists arrived in Gijón.

Many people recognized the Spanish stars and happily raised their phones to take pictures.

Diego Costa urged his teammates to get in the car quickly, as he still had to buy dried fish.

Before the fans could fully react, the electric scooter kicked up dust and disappeared into the narrow streets.

Several paparazzi reporters put away their cameras, already drafting their articles in their minds.

《Ideological Opposition: Jewish Saint Will Sink the Fallen Invincible Battleship.》

《Experience the Charm of Gijón Culture: The Unique Aesthetics of the 200 Million Man.》

《Incompetent Del Bosque: Overindulgence of Superheroes!》

That night.

Estadio El Molinón, lively and extraordinary.

The stadium, which can only accommodate 30,000 people, had not hosted an international event for a long time.

The 1982 Spanish World Cup saw the birth of football history's most infamous collusive match: the "Disgrace of Gijón."

Because of this scandal, FIFA revised the rules of the game: the last round of all major competition group matches must kick off at the same time, and goalkeepers are not allowed to handle back passes.

"ESPN! ESPN! Good evening, viewers!"

"Welcome to the sixth round of the 2018 Russia World Cup qualifiers, Group G!"

"Spain versus Israel!"

"The camera is on the stands, the famous Israeli actress Gal Gadot has also come to the scene!"

"A few months later, *Wonder Woman*, starring her, will also hit the big screen."

"The genius youngster Li Kang is sitting on the bench! Much anticipated! The entire stadium is chanting his name!"

"Recently, the public and the media have been bombarding the Spanish coaching staff, questioning why they didn't call up Li Kang for the qualifiers!"

Morata sat on the bench.

Isco next to him handed him a bottle of mineral water, saying he couldn't unscrew it.

Saúl grabbed it, patted the bottom of the bottle, and snapped it open.

Del Bosque let Li Kang sit next to the coaching bench.

"There won't be too much pressure in this game."

"To avoid injury, you won't be on the field for too long, just relive the passionate atmosphere of the national team!"

Li Kang nodded seriously.

In the past two days of training matches, he and his teammates had been working on coordination.

Without Iniesta, David Silva, and Cazorla, the magic of the Matador Corps' passing and control had greatly diminished.

The Spanish coaching staff was trying to complete the changing of the guard before the 2018 World Cup. But apart from Li Kang, no one among the younger generation of players could replace the three midfield magicians.

What about Fabregas? That guy was injured again before the international match day.

Miñano was very concerned about online public opinion, he didn't understand:

After the European Cup, netizens always demanded that Li Kang be called up to play in the World Cup qualifiers, but the opponents were all weak teams!

Li is only 19 years old this year, and the club has high-pressure operations on multiple fronts in the Premier League and Champions League, he's already very tired.

Professional players should not be overused when they are young, because many injuries are irreversible.

The fouling standards in international competitions are no less than those in the five major leagues.

"Now, let's introduce the starting lineups of both sides."

"Spain is fielding a 4-3-3 formation!"

"Goalkeeper: De Gea."

"Defenders: Carvajal, Piqué, Ramos, Alba!"

"Midfielders: Busquets, Saúl, Koke!"

"Forwards: Vitolo, Diego Costa, Aspas."

"The Spanish coaching staff's forward line experiment!"

Aspas was a little excited. As Celta's top scorer, he finally had the opportunity to step onto the international stage.

He once wore Liverpool's number 9 shirt. He only scored one goal.

After returning to La Liga, he switched to playing as a right winger, becoming more and more impressive with age, but the team needed to use him as the core to launch attacks.

"Israel is fielding a 4-3-3 formation!"

"Goalkeeper: Marciano."

"Defenders:"

The biggest star in the Israeli lineup is Zahavi.

He once won the Israeli Premier League Golden Boot for three consecutive seasons.

Champions League qualifying round top scorer.

At the persuasion of his wife, he joined a Chinese Super League team in the summer of 2016 for a price of 6.3 million euros.

Compared to other top foreign players, this price can only be said to be a bargain, and it is far less than the price of Chinese national team players.

But he put on the most visually appealing performance in the Chinese Super League.

In terms of creativity and灵性 (lingxing - hard to translate, meaning something like "spiritual intelligence", "flair", or "divine spark"), even big-name foreign players worth tens of millions of euros cannot compare with him.

During this historical period, many strong teams in the five major leagues extended olive branches to him.

Unfortunately, this guy is afraid of his wife, and his wife has fallen in love with everything about the Eastern country.

It doesn't matter, maybe after playing in the Chinese Super League for a few years, he will still have the opportunity to play for a European powerhouse.

The game was not suspenseful.

The strength gap between the two sides was too great.

13th minute.

Alba started from the left wing and sent in a highly threatening low cross.

Diego Costa stood proudly in the penalty area, stopping the ball, turning, and sweeping a shot!

The ball passed through the crotch of goalkeeper Marciano, stirring up the white net.

1:0!!!

Too easy.

Diego Costa was not too happy, calmly celebrating before returning to the center circle.

The difficulty of the game was too low, and Chelsea's "dirty striker" had also transformed into a "gentle and refined gentleman."

18th minute.

Koke sent a挑传 (tiaochuan - a lifted pass, a chip pass) from the arc of the penalty area, Vitolo missed an empty goal.

22nd minute.

Busquets passed a deadly through ball, Aspas missed a one-on-one.

45th minute.

Ramos moved forward, caught Carvajal's precise pass, and headed the ball into the goal!

2:0!!!

51st minute.

Koke took a corner kick, Diego Costa squeezed away the opponent's weak center-back, and headed the ball with a powerful header!

3:0!!!

The home fans were immersed in great joy.

The king of qualifiers.

Spain had been unbeaten at home for 58 consecutive matches.

The last loss could be traced back to 1993!

80th minute of the match.

Amidst the calls and anticipation, the moment the fans had been waiting for happened.

Li Kang replaced Saúl.

Morata replaced Aspas.

The invincible fleet set sail!

The Jewish saints were rubbed frantically on the ground.

Rubbing to a certain extent will generate heat.

The bloodthirsty Israeli players frantically violated the Spanish midfield commander.

Gradually, boos arose from the stands.

The headlines of major media outlets had already been drafted: 《Del Bosque is Burying the Future of the Invincible Fleet.》

《Excessive Consumption! Superheroes Must Be Called Up Even Against Weak Teams?》

Beep! Beep beep~

Finally, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

Israel, full of fighting spirit and insisting on attacking, conceded seven goals.

Spain was far ahead in the Group G standings.

Although he was violated many times, Li Kang was not injured at all, and he didn't even sweat much. His jersey was just a little dirty. As for the intensity of the game? He felt it was not as good as the team's internal training match.

The Israeli players were miserable. They knew the physique of Spain's number 6 was terrible, but they didn't expect that after several "intense melees," the one who was injured more seriously was themselves!

Even two people couldn't "lumberjack" Li Kang.

The new and old Matador Corps certainly had many problems.

But their terrifying record in the qualifiers almost secured their place in the 2018 World Cup finals!

Some media believe: the qualifiers are all about who is better at bullying菜 (cai - literally "vegetable", meaning weak opponents).

The night wind was very cool.

The staff quickly put a coat on De Gea.

At the entrance of the tunnel.

Miñano asked doubtfully, "Boss, should we call up Li for the remaining few rounds of the qualifiers?"

Del Bosque stroked his mustache and smiled, "The Strait of Gibraltar? Macedonia? Tonight's game has been enough to shut up the fans and the media by letting Li play!"

"He has more important things to do right now."

"League title."

"Champions League!"

(End of this chapter)