Chapter 165: The Chinese Team! Kick in the door!

"The goal of the national team is to win the championship!"

Soon, Li Qingshan's words appeared on the front pages of major media.

As the vice captain of the national team, his words are naturally considered by the outside world to be the collective will of the team. And because the captain Zheng Zhi was injured in the last round of the league, he doesn't know if he can pay in time before the Asian Cup, so Li Qingshan is likely to be the one who wears the armband of the national team captain in the Asian Cup in Australia.

Despite Li Qingshan, not many people in China have thought about the fact that the national team can win the Asian Cup.

After all, the downturn in Chinese football over the years has made people have no confidence to put forward any requirements for the national team's performance, especially in official competitions such as the Asian Cup.

Although Li Qingshan said that this is the direction of the national team's efforts, some people still questioned it.

For example, Ma De, a reporter from "Sports Weekly", questioned in a column: "Does the current national team have the strength to win the Asian Cup?" I don't think so, Li Qingshan is very capable and can bring enough influence on the offensive end, but what about defense? You know, apart from Li Qingshan, what is the difference between the current national team and the national team that lost to the Thai Youth Army back then? ”

"Lippi is a man, not a god, he also needs to watch the food, and there are only so many people who can give him the kind of people who can lose five goals against the Thai youth army, and this kind of defensive quality, it is hard to believe that the national team can make a breakthrough in the Asian Cup. It's all pickles, how can it be possible to make the taste of roast goose? ”

"Although Lippi has played quite well in various warm-up matches since he took office, such results are actually very low, and without the test of official competitions, it is difficult to say what kind of progress this national football team has."

Represented by Ma De, this is also the opinion of a considerable number of people, football is a whole sport after all, and Li Qingshan is a striker, his contribution to defense is basically zero, in this case, it is really difficult for the national team to muster confidence.

...........

With such controversy and discussion, the Chinese team announced their 23-man squad and submitted it to the AFC for registration.

Li Qingshan, as the only returnee player of the Chinese team, is impressively listed.

And Zheng Zhi, who is still recuperating from his injuries, also appeared on the list. It seems that Lippi still trusts Zheng Zhi quite a lot.

There are basically no surprises in other aspects, and since Lippi took over, his main squad has been relatively fixed.

There is no doubt that Guangzhou Evergrande has the most players, and a total of nine Guangzhou Evergrande players have been called up to the national team.

In terms of defense alone, Lippi basically moved the midfield of Guangzhou Evergrande over.

Goalkeeper Zeng Cheng, right back Zhang Linpeng, two central defenders Feng Xiaoting plus Mei Fang, and left fullback Li Peng.

Due to the long-term injury of South Korean foreign aid Kim Young-quan this season, he basically hasn't played much in the league. Such a line of defense is basically the main defense line of Guangzhou Evergrande this season.

With the addition of Zheng Zhi and Huang Bowen in the midfield, Gao Lin and Yu Chao in the front, nine players from the same club were transferred to the national team in one go, which is very rare in the history of Chinese football.

If it weren't for Lippi's World Cup champion halo on his head, some people would have questioned Lippi's cronyism.

But fortunately, the current national team has not been found to spray points, so the Chinese team has been training in Guangzhou for a period of time in a calm public opinion environment.

It was not until December 30 that they left for Australia.

What they will be able to achieve in Australia, and when they return from Australia, they will be greeted with flowers and applause or name-calling, nothing is still unknown.

.............

The weather in Australia is much warmer than at home. In December, even in the southern part of Guangdong, the weather has turned cooler.

At this time, it is a warm summer in Australia, and the maximum temperature outside does not exceed 28 degrees, which is a very comfortable body temperature and is very suitable for sports.

The first game of the Chinese team will be against Saudi Arabia at the Brisbane Stadium, so the Chinese team has found a training ground in Australia near Brisbane.

The Chinese team in Australia played two more warm-up games to further hone the lineup.

Judging from these two warm-up games, the players of the national team are in good shape. After all, although Li Qingshan has not been selected for the national team for a long time and has not participated in many training camps for the national team, he is no stranger to this national team.

After all, most of the teammates around him were his teammates during the Guangzhou Evergrande period, and the tactical play arranged by Lippi for him was also in Guangzhou Evergrande, or even more thorough - when he was in Guangzhou Evergrande before, the team was still running with a dual core, and now the national team is completely based on Li Qingshan's core tactics.

.............

As time progressed, the Asian Cup finally kicked off.

The first to play was the host Australian team, and at 17 o'clock on January 9, Beijing time, the opening match of this Asian Cup was played at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. Hosts Australia take on Kuwait.

Australia, of course, are one notch above Kuwait, and they play at home and are very proactive. In the end, Australia defeated Kuwait 4-1.

With the start of the opening match, the competitions of each group have also begun.

China's first match in Group B was played at 3 p.m. Beijing time on January 10, with Uzbekistan beating North Korea 1-0 at the Australian Stadium in Sydney.

After this game, it was immediately followed by the game of the Chinese team.

China takes on Saudi Arabia at Brisbane Stadium.

Due to the large number of local Chinese, the Brisbane Stadium, which can accommodate more than 30,000 people, poured into more than 20,000 Chinese fans wearing red clothes. It turned this stadium into the home of the Chinese team.

The Chinese are now the second largest ethnic group in Australia. A large number of Chinese immigrants, students, and businessmen poured into the southern hemisphere continent, and Chinese can be seen on the streets of major Australian cities.

Even due to the large number of Chinese, road signs in many cities in Australia are bilingual in Chinese and English.

When the players of the national football team walked into this stadium, they even had the illusion that this was still in the country.

Amid the cheers, the camera lens locked on the slogans put up by some Chinese fans.

In the middle of the stadium stands, several fans each held up a large sign to form a banner.

"Team China! Kick in the door! ”

A banner with a little black humor, but it can't tell the bitterness of the fans of the Chinese team.