Chương 401: Chapter 401: Spain vs. China
Chapter 401: Spain vs. China
The warm-up match wasn't an official game, and since the opponent was relatively weak, some young players on the Spanish team seemed a bit complacent. "It's just the Chinese team, shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Seeing their relaxed attitude, some of the veteran players couldn't stand it. "We've played against the Chinese team before. Their defense is decent, but their offense is average. In the last friendly match, they hardly threatened our goal. But if we underestimate them, we might end up being embarrassed!" said David Silva during training.
He was referring to a warm-up match three years ago. At that time, Spain was preparing for the upcoming European Championship, so they chose two relatively weak Asian teams—South Korea and China—for warm-up matches. On May 31, Spain easily defeated South Korea 4-1. Considering that China's national team was even weaker than South Korea's, everyone in Spain thought the match against China would be even easier.
The betting odds also favored Spain, giving them a two and a half goal advantage, with almost everyone expecting them to win big. However, the result was surprising. Despite having an absolute advantage throughout the match, Spain couldn't score against China's defense. It took them more than eighty minutes to finally score a goal through David Silva, winning only 1-0. This match left a deep impression on the Spanish team, highlighting their weakness in scoring. This problem persisted, making their World Cup qualifiers the following year extremely difficult, as they couldn't even beat weaker teams like Georgia.
Fortunately, the emergence of Lin Quan and coach Bosque's quick decision to recruit him finally solved Spain's scoring problem. After naturalizing Diego Costa, no one would say that Spain lacked firepower anymore. After all, the world saw Spain's fierce attack during last year's World Cup.
"Really? Is the Chinese team that strong?" Morata asked, looking skeptical. He doubted David Silva's words. With players like Lin Quan and himself on the team, how could they not defeat a third-rate team like China? "Are you kidding me?"
Isco and other young players also gathered curiously. They all looked at Lin Quan, who was of Chinese descent and should know more about the strength of the Chinese team. Seeing everyone looking at him, Lin Quan cleared his throat and said, "Don't underestimate the Chinese team!"
"Why? Their record doesn't seem that impressive," Morata scratched his head. Last year's World Cup saw poor performances from Asian teams, with none of them winning a match and almost all finishing at the bottom of their groups. In such a weak region, China had missed the last three World Cups. How strong could they be?
"Heh, haven't you heard the saying?" Lin Quan smiled. "The Chinese team might be third or even fourth-rate in official matches, but in warm-up matches, their strength can rise a level. Even the French team lost to them once."
What? Even France couldn't beat them? Hearing this, the Spanish players' expressions became serious. Although France wasn't as strong as Spain, they were still a top team in Europe. If the Chinese team could beat France, they might indeed pose a challenge.
Facing such an opponent, the world's top-ranked Spanish team had to give it their all. If they were careless and lost, it would be incredibly embarrassing!
"Don't hold back in tomorrow's match. Give it your all and try to score!" Lin Quan told Morata and the other young players.
"Yes, Lin, we will listen to you!" They all nodded heavily. They followed Lin Quan's lead and took his words seriously. The team was going through a transition, with many young players getting opportunities from coach Bosque. Whether they could secure a spot on the national team depended on their performance.
With Lin Quan leading, these young players were very diligent and serious in training. Their enthusiasm and fighting spirit made the coaching staff nod in satisfaction. "Good, the young players are full of energy and not slacking off during training!"
"Hehe, it's mainly because of Lin Quan setting a good example!" "Yes, despite his strength, he trains meticulously and often does extra practice. How could others slack off?"
Hearing the coaches' discussion, Bosque was very pleased. He hadn't expected his decision to promote Lin Quan to vice-captain to have such an effect. This was good news, as few young Spanish players had the talent and ability to match veterans like Xavi and Iniesta. If they didn't train hard, Spain's national team strength would surely decline.
But with Lin Quan setting an example, these players could avoid complacency, recognize their own strengths and weaknesses, and work harder to make up for their lack of talent. In this way, the future Spanish team might not reach the current team's ceiling, but they wouldn't be far off.
After all, with Lin Quan, Spain would remain a top-tier team. Whether they could stay number one in the world would depend on the rise of other strong teams. Realizing that this generation of players couldn't compete with Spain, many European teams had accelerated the promotion of their young players. Among them, the French coach Deschamps had done the best and fastest job. Thinking about Deschamps' French team, Bosque felt quite a bit of pressure.
"It looks like we need to give more young players a chance in tomorrow's friendly!" If Deschamps dared to promote and use young players, why couldn't he, Bosque?
On the training field, when Bosque announced the starting lineup for tomorrow's match, the young players cheered. The starting lineup included eight players born in the 90s. Among the veterans, only Ramos and Lin Quan would start, with the others resting on the bench. Of course, the friendly match had no substitution limit, so these veterans would likely get a chance to play in the second half. After all, with so many fans watching, they couldn't just send out a bunch of substitutes the entire time!
Spain's team is filled with stars and has a huge reputation. With Lin Quan, the top player in football, their training grounds attracted many fans and journalists.
Most of these fans and journalists came specifically for Lin Quan.
So, whenever Lin Quan made a brilliant move, dribble, or shot during training, the crowd would scream and cheer, continuously shouting encouragement.
Some fans even shouted phrases like "Lin Emperor is awesome" and "Lin Emperor, score another one."
The Spanish players didn't understand Chinese, so they didn't know what the crowd was shouting.
Hearing the cheers and encouragement, the veteran players remained calm, having seen this many times before.
But the young players couldn't contain themselves; they wanted to show off their skills to the fans, treating even an internal practice match as seriously as an official game.
The veterans hadn't taken the internal practice match too seriously at first, usually going easy on the younger players to avoid giving them a psychological blow.
But as the young players took the match seriously, the veterans had to step up their game.
After all, even if they didn't want to show off, they couldn't afford to embarrass themselves in front of the crowd!
They were the main players, and being beaten by a bunch of substitutes would be humiliating.
So, the veterans were forced to play seriously as well.
The spectators outside didn't know what was happening inside; they were just deeply attracted to the match!
"As expected of world champions, even an internal training match for Spain is so intense!"
"Wow, Spain's team is really strong. Not only are the main players incredibly strong, but even the substitutes are terrifyingly good. China's team is in big trouble tomorrow!"
"Haha, what's there to be afraid of? China loses to everyone anyway. Whether it's 3-0 or not, even I could play and we'd still lose!"
"I don't think it will be 3-0. Spain is so strong, it might be a massacre!"
"Not necessarily. China is strong in friendly matches. Last time they almost drew with Spain!"
Although most Chinese fans believed China would lose, hardly anyone thought China would win.
However, some still held a glimmer of hope, thinking that if China played their best and defended well, they might draw with Spain.
After all, this was their home ground, and last time they almost managed it!
While Spain was preparing seriously, China's team was also busy.
China's head coach, Perrin, was arranging various defensive tactics for the team.
Perrin wasn't very famous, but he had led China to three straight wins in the group stage of the Asian Cup at the beginning of the year, securing first place in the group.
Although they quickly lost to Australia, the champions, in the knockout stage, this was a very bright result for China, which had been in a slump.
If they had been luckier and not drawn the strongest second-place team, Australia, they might have made it to the top four.
Because of the good performance in the Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association decided to renew Perrin's contract.
Clearly, the association had high hopes for Perrin, hoping he could lead China out of its slump and make a push for the next World Cup.
Perrin might not be as famous as Camacho, but he had a great work ethic.
His tactics were tailored to the strengths of the Chinese players.
What were China's strengths?
Poor footwork, poor psychological resilience, poor physical confrontation...
Basically, there were no strengths.
Since everyone had poor footwork, Perrin selected a group of players with excellent physical fitness, letting them use their physicality to compensate for their lack of technical skills.
The advantage of this approach was that at least their physical confrontation abilities improved, not leaving every aspect as a weakness.
The downside was that China couldn't perform any fancy plays and had a very basic offensive strategy. If the opponent strengthened their defense, China would struggle to score.
But for tomorrow's match, this didn't matter at all.
Facing world champions Spain, no one expected China to win, and Perrin and the players thought the same.
Since winning was off the table, they didn't need to worry about attacking and focused on solving their defensive problems.
The whole world knew Spain was known for their footwork and technical skills, with relatively weak physical confrontation abilities.
In last year's World Cup final, Germany had dominated them physically.
Of course, China's physical abilities couldn't compare to Germany's.
But they didn't need to pursue victory like Germany. They just needed to shrink their formation to their own half, even to the edge of their own penalty area.
Doing so would greatly enhance their defensive strength and reduce the space Spain had for their intricate passing and ground penetration.
In this situation, increasing physical confrontation intensity was an excellent defensive strategy.
Thinking this through, Perrin finalized the tactics for tomorrow's game.
Time flew by, and it was soon match day.
Before the game, the Bird's Nest stadium was packed, with over 90,000 fans present.
Even though China's team had a poor reputation and record, there were still many fans wearing red jerseys to support them. At a glance, more than half of the spectators were Chinese fans.
They held various banners and signs saying things like "China, don't be afraid, just fight," "Go China," and "China, beat Spain."
Honestly, China's record didn't really deserve such support.
Since it was an away game, Spain didn't wear their red jerseys, opting for their white away kits instead.
There were fewer fans in white jerseys supporting Spain because they usually wore red in most matches. But since China was using red, Spain had to change their kits.
The white kits looked quite good; from a distance, they even looked like Real Madrid on the field!
Before the match, during the national anthem, all the fans stood up and sang loudly, creating an impressive atmosphere.
When it was Spain's turn, the stadium fell silent, and even the Spanish players didn't sing.
This was because Spain's national anthem had no lyrics.
(End of Chapter)
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