Chapter 60: The first match of the Club World Cup

When the plane of Guangzhou Evergrande's players landed in Agadir, Morocco, the logistics team of Guangzhou Evergrande, which arrived in Morocco a week earlier, was already waiting at the airport. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Guangzhou Evergrande's logistics are undoubtedly excellent, from the time the players get off the plane to the time they enter the hotel, next to the hotel, is a training ground rented by Guangzhou Evergrande.

Agadir is a port city located in the southwest of Morocco. With beautiful scenery and mild climate, it is a natural harbor and a holy place for leisure and vacation. In the hearts of many Moroccans, Agadir is the most beautiful city in Morocco.

After coming out of the airport, the Guangzhou Evergrande players got on the bus to the hotel. Red buses travel across Agadir along the Atlantic coastline, with hotels of various styles dotted along the sea.

The players leaned against the window with their mobile phones to take pictures, and for a while, the car was not carrying footballers who had come to Morocco to participate in the Club World Cup, but a tour group that had come to Agadir.

This relaxed atmosphere continued into the second day's training.

The training ground rented by Guangzhou Evergrande is close to the sea, with beautiful scenery, with the vast blue Atlantic Ocean on one side and the rich Souss grassland on the other. Even the training seems a little lazy.

In such a relaxed state of mind, even Conca, who has always been restrained and calm, rarely smiles. Conca has decided not to renew his contract at the end of the season and to return to Brazil.

He seems to be in a good mood right now, and even sat down on the ball against Elkeson on the training pitch, drawing laughter from the players.

Lippi was also in a pretty good mood at this time. This is a rare event for Guangzhou Evergrande that does not have a performance requirement. In Lippi's view, Guangzhou Evergrande is to come to Morocco to play a few games, and then go home to end this hard and successful season and give the players a month-long vacation.

As for winning the Club World Cup?

Lippi doesn't think that Guangzhou Evergrande's strength can break through Bayern Munich.

So he doesn't care about the players playing and laughing in training, it's the last few games of the season anyway, and it's good to let the players relax.

Guangzhou Evergrande's first opponent in the Club World Cup was the African champions, Al Ahli from Egypt. If you want to get a chance against European champions Bayern Munich, you have to win this opponent first.

Compared to Guangzhou Evergrande, which is the new AFC Champions League champion, their opponent Al Ahli is not small. Although their world ranking is far below that of Guangzhou Evergrande, Al Ahli has won the Egyptian First Division 36 times and the African Champions League 8 times, and has been voted the best African team of the 20th century.

Al Ahli has just one foreign player in the squad, but they have as many as 11 Egypt internationals in their squad. That's half an Egyptian national team.

It was the first time in history that the two sides met and did not know each other. However, playing in Africa, the opponent is a team from Africa, and perhaps playing away from home is a big challenge for Guangzhou Evergrande.

However, in the previous Club World Cup history, Asian teams have played African teams six times, and Asian teams have won five times, with the only defeat coming last year's Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1-2 defeat to Al Ahly. This may give Guangzhou Evergrande some confidence.

The match between the two sides will be played at 0:00 Beijing time on December 15.

Outside the Agadir Stadium in Morocco, Arab fans in white turbans clearly dominated the numbers. However, you can vaguely see some Guangzhou Evergrande fans wearing red jerseys.

In the dressing room, Lippi made arrangements for the game. Although the team is relaxed at the moment, it definitely does not mean that they do not care about the result.

"I'm sure everyone is fascinated by the beauty of Agadir, and if we want to stay here, we better win this game first!" Lippi said as he pushed his gold-rimmed glasses.

His rare joke drew bursts of laughter from the players. After everyone had finished laughing, Lippi continued: "We don't know much about the team, and we can only see part of it through some limited video routes. So, we started with a little bit of caution. Start with a tentative attack with a long pass. ”

Lippi glanced at Li Qingshan when he said this.

Li Qingshan immediately raised his hand and signaled: "I understand, coach!" ”

Lippi nodded, he and his No. 1 player had established some tacit understanding this season. But next season he won't be on his team.... Lippi thought with regret in his heart.

Lippi didn't go into a long story, in fact there was nothing to say about tactics, and he wouldn't easily change his tactics without knowing his opponents.

When the game began, both teams, who were unfamiliar with each other, looked cautious.

In the first minute of the game, Guangzhou Evergrande found Elkeson on the right side through a long pass, Elkeson took the ball down after receiving the ball, and the cross hit the defender and went out of the bottom line. Guangzhou Evergrande's first tentative attack won a corner.

Huang Bowen's corner kick cross from the right side, Li Qingshan grabbed the front point, the opponent was obviously wary of him, and two defenders came to defend. However, the opponent still lowered Li Qingshan's header ability, and under the attack of two Al Ahli defenders, Li Qingshan still completed the header attack, but the football bounced outside the post and went out of the bottom line. Guangzhou Evergrande took the lead in completing a shot on goal.

With the end of the early tentative phase, both sides began to stop being conservative and began to press the attack.

In the fifth minute, Al Ahli also got an offensive opportunity, Muteab burst into the penalty area with the ball, crossed on the right side of the penalty area, and Abtri's header hit the top of the goal with no one marking seven meters in front of the goal, shocking Zeng Cheng in a cold sweat!

As the game progressed, Guangzhou Evergrande gradually suppressed the offensive momentum of Al Ahli and gradually controlled the situation on the field. In terms of strength, Guangzhou Evergrande still pressed the opponent.

Al Ahli began to see more danger in front of goal, but it was a pity that Li Qingshan was unlucky today, and his several attacks did not convert into goals, either deflected wide of the goal or were defused by the opposing goalkeeper.

Knowing that in the forty-second minute of the game, Li Qingshan, who was very active in the game, finally scored.

Conca picked up the ball in the middle and shook off a defender and fired a long-range shot from the edge of the box, which bounced off the post and bounced back into the box. The quick-witted Li Qingshan cushioned the ball into the empty goal two meters in front of the goal. Guangzhou Evergrande led African champions Al Ahli 1-0 in the first half.

After the start of the second half, Al Ahli, who was not far behind, began to press the attack aggressively, and Guangzhou Evergrande, which had a one-goal lead, began to shrink the formation slightly and comfortably counterattacked.

In the 53rd minute of the game, Al Ahly's cross from the left was directly picked up by Zeng Cheng, and then he directly threw the ball to launch a counterattack, Muric took the ball on the left side of the center circle and turned around, and rushed forward with the ball in front of the opposing defense.

After attracting the attention of the opposition players, Muric crossed diagonally to the right, and Conca did not choose to continue to the bottom after receiving the ball on the right side, but instead curled the ball directly into the box at a 45-degree angle. Li Qingshan, who was inserted at high speed, pressed the opponent's central defender to meet the ball and rush to the top, and the football went into the net. Two to zero!

The ensuing game completely entered the rhythm of Guangzhou Evergrande, before the end of the game, Conca went straight to Muric, and after Muric successfully countered offside, he used his speed advantage to throw off the defense and burst into the penalty area to push and break the net.

In the first match of the Club World Cup, Guangzhou Evergrande easily won with a score of 3-0.

In their next game, they will face the Champions League champions - Bayern Munich!