Chapter 35 Starting lineup

On the afternoon of the 28th, all the players of the Chinese team arrived in Seoul, and after two days of training in Seoul, the Sino-Korean war finally came.

The bout is at 6 p.m. Beijing time on September 1, which is 7 p.m. local time in South Korea.

In the past few days, the local weather in South Korea is good, the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in September has entered autumn, the summer heat has passed, the cold winter is far from coming, now the average temperature in Seoul, South Korea is about 24 or 5 degrees, and the sky can not see any clouds, under the blowing of the breeze, this is indeed a good weather that is very suitable for football matches.

In Seoul, the sun has set, but the sky is not completely dark. However, the lights of the Seoul World Cup Stadium have all been turned on, and the whole stadium is like daylight.

South Korean fans wore the white jerseys of their home stadium with Taejitu on their faces, and about 65,000 South Koreans, men and women, young and old, poured into the football stadium, which was built specifically for the World Cup.

Although at club level, teams who regularly play in the AFC Champions League will know that the market for Korean clubs is not good, especially in the AFC Champions League in midweek, when many South Korean teams did not have high attendance at home.

But the Korean national team is different, as can be seen from the now full Seoul World Cup stadium, the enthusiasm of the South Koreans for their national team is still very high.

Seoul orld Cup Stadium is a football stadium built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, which is the largest dedicated football stadium in Asia, located in Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea.

The stadium is not too good in the memory of Chinese fans: no club in history, including the Chinese team and the Chinese Super League, has ever won at this stadium, Evergrande drew 2-2 away to Seoul in the first leg of the 2013 AFC Champions League final, and Luneng lost 1-3 to Seoul in the first leg of this season's AFC Champions League quarter-finals.

This stadium, which can accommodate more than 66,000 fans, this time the South Korean side gave the Chinese team 1,000 tickets, and more than 1,000 Chinese team fans can only look at the entire stadium from the corner of the stadium farthest from the turf, and it is completely difficult to notice this small number of Chinese fans.

However, in China, countless fans have been waiting in front of the TV early on, waiting for the game to start.

CCTV started the live broadcast of the game from more than 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and reported the game from multiple angles through the discussion of guests in the rear studio and the connection of reporters in the front.

After all, this is the first time that the Chinese team has participated in the top 12 after 15 years, and the all-round grievances between China and South Korea in football have attracted much attention.

At half past five in the afternoon local time, the players of the Chinese team walked out of the hotel and prepared to take the bus to the stadium.

Amid the cheers of countless fans and the flash of mobile phone cameras, when all the players had come from their rooms to the hotel lobby, team leader Li Tie and assistant coach Madaloni began to shout for the players to get on the bus.

Fans waiting outside the hotel waved their scarves, waved national flags and shouted at the players: "Come on!! Come on, everyone!! Come on for the Chinese team!! ”

The players waved to them, and the audience burst into cheers.

Winning the Asian Cup has allowed the national football team to somewhat redeem some of its image in the hearts of fans.

Amid the cheers, the reporters who had been ready for a long time pressed the shutter of their cameras.

Soon, on the domestic Internet, the Chinese team players boarded the bus, the fans cheered, and various pictures and videos began to circulate on major websites and Weibo, so that more people paid attention to the progress of the game.

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If the Chinese team is quite lively on the side, then on the South Korean team's side, the atmosphere can only be described as an explosion. After all, this is Seoul, the home of South Korea.

Huge numbers of South Korean fans even blocked the streets of Seoul, South Koreans shouted slogans and waved Tai Chi flags, and the South Korean team's bus slowly drove towards the stadium for seven minutes.

If it had been a few years ago, the South Korean team played the Chinese team at home, and it would definitely not have caused such a scene.

As if this was not just a qualifier, but a World Cup match, the Koreans were passionate about the game.

In addition to the credit of the media, the most important thing is that the current strength of the Chinese team cannot be underestimated. With Li Qingshan, even the self-confident and even arrogant South Koreans dare not say that the Chinese team is a weak team that can be kneaded by them - even if they don't admit it verbally, they still express it in action.

This South Korean team has a very good home record. Since Stillick became head coach of South Korea, the Koreans have not lost on their home turf – they haven't even conceded a goal at home!!

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The buses of the two teams slowly drove towards the stadium, and at the same time, the names of the two teams were made public.

There were not many surprises on the Korean side, and in order to prepare for this game, the Koreans recalled all the foreign players they could recall.

South Korea's starting line-up:

Goalkeepers: 1-Zheng Chenglong;

Defenders: 3-Oh Jae-suk, 15-Hong Jeong-joong, 4-Kim Ki-hee, 20-Jang Hyun-so;

Rear waist: 16-Ji Chengyong, 14-Han Rong;

Avant-garde: 7-Son Heung-min, 13-Gu Zi-chul, 17-Li Qinglong;

Forward: 10-Ji Dongwon

A 4231 formation, the formation used by Koreans.

On the back line, South Korea's captain Ji Chengyong started the game, Swansea's main player, who played a crucial role in the South Korean team's lineup, and Son Heung-min and Tangerine Juice are all good players in Europe, especially Son Heung-min, who scored two goals in the first three Premier League games this season, and also had three assists, and his form is very hot.

On the Chinese side, Lippi also fielded the strongest starting lineup he could field.

The goalkeeper is still Zeng Cheng from Guangzhou Evergrande; On the back line, the two central defenders are also partners of Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang from Guangzhou Evergrande, and the right wing-back and left full-back are also Zhang Linpeng and Li Xuepeng from Guangzhou Evergrande. The back line is very much in need of run-in and tacit understanding, therefore, since Lippi took office, he has directly moved the defensive combination of Guangzhou Evergrande to the national team - after all, the tacit understanding of teammates in the club is definitely better than that of the national team that trains from time to time.

In the midfield, Lippi sent a combination of Zhang Xi, Wu Xi, and Hao Junmin, and in the front court, the left and right sides were Yu Hanchao and Wu Lei! The center forward at the front is naturally no surprise, it is the captain of the team, Li Qingshan!

When such a starting line-up came out, all the media pundits and fans were a little surprised.

Before the game, people thought that Lippi would be relatively conservative away from home, and maybe he would send a defensive lineup, but judging from this starter, Lippi didn't seem to be too cautious about South Korea's away game....