Chapter 1 After Several Days of Training

After several days of training, world-class coach Lippi recognized Zhao Gang's ability.

Seeing once is worth more than hearing a hundred times.

Lippi had watched many recordings of Zhao Gang's matches. Even at his age, while coaching in Long Country, he would stay up late to watch Zhao Gang's live matches.

Those shocking scenes were not as direct or as exciting as seeing them in person.

On the field, he was simply on a different level from the other players.

Whether it was passing, breaking through, physical duels, or even one-on-one defense, Zhao Gang demonstrated a level far exceeding these domestic players.

In the first two training sessions, Zhao Gang was extremely uncomfortable on the field. Because the teammates he was cooperating with were no longer De Bruyne, Sterling, and Aguero, but Wu Xi and Zhang Xizhe. His passes often went astray, and his teammates had difficulty receiving the ball. It was common to see them put their hands on their hips, shake their heads, and raise their hands in protest.

After a few training sessions, Zhao Gang changed his passing strategy, aiming directly at his teammates' feet, which greatly improved the success rate.

His adaptability was also very strong. Since he couldn't change his teammates' habits in a short time, he would change himself first and then slowly work on the others later.

After all, they would soon face the challenge from Qatar at home.

After several training sessions, the national team arranged a friendly match, but it was only played against Long Super League teams, and no other national teams were invited.

After the matches and training, Lippi finally finalized the roster and the starting players in his mind.

Fu Huan, the defender who later contributed to the famous Long Super League moment that became a national laughingstock, was not included in the roster.

Lippi may have realized that something was wrong with this kid at this point.

"Everyone gather!" Assistant coach Li Tie shouted loudly, showing excellent leadership skills. The players filed in, walking past Li Tie into the meeting room.

When Zhao Gang passed by Li Tie, Li Tie's very serious face broke into a smile, and he even nodded to Zhao Gang.

He also knew that Zhao Gang was Lippi's most valued player.

Although Li Tie was also useful under Lippi and his status was not lower than Zhao Gang's, Li Tie did not dare to underestimate Zhao Gang.

Now, with massive media publicity, fans' crazy enthusiasm, and even the influence of the national team's sponsor, Nike, Zhao Gang had become the hottest commodity in Long Country.

Not to mention him, Li Tie, even those office personnel who were good at infighting had to be careful. Once an unnecessary conflict occurred with Zhao Gang, the fans and media across the country would be watching, and no one could bear that kind of pressure.

Lippi was going to talk about how to face the Qatar team.

In the history of the two teams' encounters, Long Country actually had the upper hand. However, the losses were all crucial matches related to life and death.

The most famous, of course, was the "Black Three Minutes" of the last century.

In the final round of the 14th World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Long Country's last opponent was the Qatar team.

At that time, Qatar had no hope of qualifying and no desire to do so. The Long Country men's football team only needed to defeat Qatar to achieve their historic World Cup dream.

As a result, after Long Country scored a goal in the 78th minute to take the lead, Qatar scored two goals in the 86th and 89th minutes, completing an incredible comeback and creating the Black Three Minutes.

Dreams shattered, hearts broken.

Qatar had no desire to qualify, and Qatar and Long Country were quite friendly diplomatically. They shouldn't have been fighting so hard against the Long Country team, which confused many people.

In fact, there was a reason why Qatar was so desperate to stop the Long Country team.

They were seeking revenge.

The reason for the revenge can be attributed to the "stupid move" of the Long Country Football Association at the time.

In the 1970s, Qatar and Long Country had very friendly diplomatic relations, and the two countries' football associations also began various collaborations. In the 1980s, Long Country's football reached a first-class level in Asia. Compared to now, it was like comparing mud to clouds.

In order to improve its competitiveness, the Qatar Football Association was very willing to spend money to play against the Long Country team.

Unfortunately, after a seven-year honeymoon period, the Long Country Football Association did something puzzling.

First, Qatar took the initiative to lend a helping hand during the Long Country team's preparations for the Asian Games, providing food and lodging and allowing the Long Country team to go to Doha for a warm-up match.

Enthusiastic, generous.

The following year, Qatar Football happily returned to Long Country, preparing to play a warm-up match with the Long Country national team.

As a result, the comrades of the Football Association arranged for the Long B team (second-tier league) to play a warm-up match with the Qatar national team.

The Qatar national team came with all its main players, and the Football Association comrades arranged for a third-level team to play the match.

This was not just offering a warm face to a cold backside; it was simply buying a pile of shit with a bunch of gold.

The Qatar national team's resentment, coupled with media promotion, made the Qatar football community united, determined to work hard and eager to complete a revenge!

Unexpectedly, this opportunity came very quickly. Two years later, when Long Country football reached the most critical moment of qualifying for Asia, the Qataris showed more fighting spirit than in all previous matches. Like playing in the World Cup, they all mustered their strength and blocked Long Country from the World Cup circle.

That wasn't the end of it. Eight years later, the strong Long Country team defeated Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in a row, once again launching an attack on the World Cup. If the Long Country team could win at home, the qualifying situation would be excellent, and it was likely that they would break out of Asia in one go.

As a result, in Zhao Gang's hometown, Lianhai Stadium, Qatar scored two goals in five minutes in the second half after falling behind, reversing the victory over the Long Country team!

The Long Country team's defense made serious mistakes in this match, creating a very famous football meme, "Replace Li Tie."

The relationship between the Long Country team and the Qatar team completely turned into enmity from the initial honeymoon period due to some bizarre behavior by the Football Association.

If these two losses were still acceptable, then the black whistle in 2008 was really unacceptable to Long Country fans, and they even felt extremely aggrieved.

At that time, Long Country football was once again attacking the World Cup.

In the top 20 qualifiers, after drawing with Qatar in the away game, the Long Country team encountered a black whistle in the home game, a blatant black whistle.

At that time, the Qatari was elected president of the Asian Football Confederation. Taking advantage of this convenience, the Qatar team received home-like treatment in Long Country, and finally defeated Long Country with a non-existent penalty kick.

The Long Country team was eliminated in the group stage and did not advance to the top ten!

Even if the Long Country team had entered the top ten at that time, it would have been unlikely to break out of Asia, but this kind of black whistle in full view was really suffocating and infuriating.

Therefore, facing Qatar football, at least Zhao Gang, who knew these things, would do his best and would not need any motivation at all.

In the beginning, the Long Country Football Association didn't do its job properly, but there were some reasons. The national team's main players had to prepare for the Olympic Games that year, and there was no way to send them to participate in the warm-up match.

The black whistle in '08 should never be forgiven.

This kind of act of using the power of the Asian Football Confederation to put pressure on referees and influence football is something that any normal football player would despise!

...

All the players entered the meeting room and sat upright.

"I don't need to say too much about the Qatar team. Even I have heard about some of the grievances between the Long Country team and the Qatar team.

As an Italian, I sympathize with your past experiences.

Therefore, facing this team, I believe I don't need too many words of encouragement. When you get on the field, if you still have any sense of shame, you will show 200% of your fighting spirit to kick, fight, and grab!"

"What I want to say today is the characteristics of this Qatar team. They play very united. Because they have money, they have naturalized many foreign players, and their individual abilities are also first-class in Asia.

When they face opponents of the same level, they like to control the ball and master the rhythm.

Therefore, the most important thing for you on the field is not to control the ball, but to press and keep giving them pressure, making it difficult for them to pass the ball and making them play uncomfortably!

The forwards must keep running and pay attention to their passing routes at all times!

Once you win the ball, you must find Zhao as soon as possible. If you can't find him, he will also let you pass the ball to him through running!

I believe he can do it, and you should believe it too!

Another characteristic of the Qatar team is their counter-pressing in the frontcourt. They are very persistent in this. Therefore, the midfielders must always support the defensive line. When the defenders are dealing with the ball, the midfielders must always pay attention to running and responding, and must not easily lose possession of the ball!"

Lippi kept explaining.

"Our attacking ability has always been insufficient, but with Zhao's addition, the front line will definitely get very strong support. According to past experience, the Qatar team will not shrink back and defend. They will look for opportunities to attack. That is our chance."

Lippi even studied all the players of Qatar and pointed out their weaknesses and strengths one by one, telling the Long Country players how to defend and how to attack, almost spoon-feeding the Long Country players.

Zhao Gang nodded while listening. Although his football skills were outstanding, his football thinking was too far behind coaches like Lippi and Guardiola.

Therefore, although his position on the field was ambiguous, he would definitely try his best to meet the coach's requirements.

The tactical play of these coaches is definitely more professional than him.

Professional people should do professional things.

Just as the Long Country team was studying the Qatar team, the Qatar football team was also studying the Long Country team.

The most troubling thing for them now was Zhao Gang.

In recent years, Qatar football has begun to try to control the ball, stacking a large number of players in the midfield and mainly playing with three defenders.

This tactic allows them to achieve very good results in Asia. After all, Qatar players still have an advantage in terms of individual strength.

However, once facing a super-strong midfield attacker, the three-defender system will collapse.

A through ball can make them want to cry.

And this is one of Zhao Gang's specialties.

The scene of Real Madrid playing three defenders and being pierced by Zhao Gang with one kick was still vivid in his mind.

The Qatar coach did not believe that his three defenders could be compared with Ramos, Marcelo, and Carvajal.

But this tactic was already mature. If he changed the formation rashly and these players were not adapted, wouldn't it be worse?

"Zhao, this Long Country teenager..." The Qatar coach shook his head. Damn it, Zidane, Mourinho, and Wenger couldn't completely restrict him. How could I find a way?

However, the Long Country team is not Manchester City, and it is not even as good as Norwich once was.

No matter how strong a person is, without the support of teammates, it is impossible to win the game.

He can't keep dribbling the ball all the way from his own penalty area to the opponent's penalty area in one game, right?

The Qatar coach thought again, damn it, this guy has really done this kind of thing, and more than once!

Damn it, Qatar is so rich, why didn't they naturalize him?

If that guy was in Qatar now, Lippi would be the one with a headache.

Everyone knows his characteristics, but they just can't restrict him.

Fast speed, strong breakthrough, good passing, fierce shooting.

Single defense is impossible.

They can only use the strategy of zonal defense to cut off the connection between him and his teammates.

Minimize his threat as much as possible.

But zonal defense requires players to run a lot, and their stamina may not be able to handle it.

Once the last ten minutes arrive, and the players are too tired, this guy will suddenly explode and score two goals in a row, wouldn't it be all over?

"I will not change the formation! We will not change our play because of one person! No matter how strong he is, he is just a person, not a god!

Show your level and keep the ball at your feet! Once they gain possession, work hard to grab it back. We are a team, let's move together and crush them hard!!" The Qatar coach was full of energy. Could he be scared by a child?

Fight him!

He can break through, he can shoot, but can he beat our eleven people?

This Asian qualifier is not highly watched around the world, because European and South American teams are playing at the same time, and Asian teams are still a bit inferior.

But in Long Country, it was already boiling.

The Long Country fans scold the Long Country team while still supporting them with all their enthusiasm during the matches.

And this time, there is Zhao Gang, who the Long Country fans care about the most, making his debut for the national team!

Countless fans have already watched Zhao Gang's matches, and their biggest expectation is that Zhao Gang can represent the Long Country national team!

Winning glory for the country, these four words, will always exist in the blood of the Long Country people.

National sentiment is definitely not something that Europeans and Americans can understand.

Before the game started, a large number of fans had already appeared in Mingkun City. People who came from afar booked hotels and waited excitedly. Many people could not book hotels around the stadium and had to choose places further away, and it even took an hour or two to drive to the stadium.

And this game also attracted the attention of another country, England.