"Hu Lai... long shot!! Beautiful!! What a good shot! With seven minutes left in the game, the Chinese team recovered a goal! The score is now 1:2, we still have a chance! Come on, Chinese team
!do not give up!"
Hulay, who had just scored a long-range shot, did not go to the corner flag area to celebrate this time. Instead, he called on Zhou Zijing, who was in front of the goal, to pick the football out of the goal and ask the Iranian team to kick off quickly.
Zhou Zijing had already rushed into the goal before he did so, and even almost had a conflict with the Iranian goalkeeper. He wanted to pick up the ball, but the ball was kicked away by the Iranian goalkeeper, allowing him to pounce.
Empty.
This made Zhou Zijing very unhappy, but he just glared at the other party fiercely and did not really go up to argue with the other party.
He knew that if he really made trouble for the opponent, it might cause a riot, and wouldn't it be the Chinese team itself that would suffer? Because it would be the Chinese team's game time that was delayed...
"At the end of the game... the Chinese team finally failed to score another goal... the score was finally fixed at 1:2. The Chinese team unfortunately lost to Iran and missed the Asian Cup semi-finals..."
As He Feng explained in a low tone, the Chinese team players on the field gave up running.
Hu Lai appeared in the close-up shot of the game broadcast. He Feng continued: "Hu Lai performed very actively in this game. He pulled a goal back for the Chinese team in the 83rd minute, which once made us
I saw hope... He looked very depressed in the camera, but in fact his performance was already very good..."
Hu Lai indeed seemed very depressed. He was standing on the court, with his hands on his hips, breathing heavily, his eyes dull, and he didn't know where he was looking.
An Iranian team player came up and wanted to shake hands with him, but he just gave it a perfunctory gesture without even a polite smile on his face.
It can be seen through this lens that he really feels regretful and sad that the team stopped in the quarterfinals.
Before this Asian Cup, he and his teammates had high hopes.
The semi-finals are the official goal, and winning the championship is what everyone thinks the Chinese team should accomplish.
As a result, they went home in the quarterfinals.
In fact, Hu Lai performed very well in this Asian Cup, scoring seven goals and ranking first in the scorer list. He may be the most qualified person in the entire Chinese team to leave the Asian Cup with his head held high...
"Hu Lai, although you did not advance to the semi-finals this time. But it is your first time to participate in the Asian Cup and you can hope to win the top scorer. It is still a good result..." When Hu Lai stood in front of the background board for an interview
, the voice of CCTV beauty reporter Wang Shanshan sounded.
She should be trying to comfort Hu Lai, who was obviously unhappy at a glance.
But Hu Lai, who was always very polite, did not accept her favor this time. He interrupted her directly and said in a stiff tone: "I don't care if I can win the Golden Boot. Compared with this, I hope we can win it."
Go further in the Asian Cup..."
The picture is frozen here.
Li Qingqing, who pressed the pause button, stared at the frowning face on the phone screen and also frowned.
※※※
"well……"
While waiting for their luggage next to the luggage carousel at the Frankfurt airport, Xia Xiaoyu sighed and said: "I wonder if the Internet has already scolded us to death..."
Ever since the Asian Cup lost to Iraq 0:2 in the first game, there have been endless scoldings against the Chinese team on the Internet. Although most people scolded Dong Jianhai, many people also scolded the players. Xia Xiaoyu stopped surfing the Internet at that time and retreated into self-isolation.
"Not really." Zhang Qinghuan shook his head and said, "On the contrary, everyone was surprisingly tolerant this time and felt that we did our best..."
Before he finished speaking, Wang Guangwei next to him suddenly said: "I don't think I tried my best."
Others turned to look at him.
With everyone watching, Wang Guangwei continued: "I feel like I played like shit in this Asian Cup..."
"Old Wang, don't say that..." Chen Xingyi said something to comfort him. "After all, you scored a goal, why did you perform so badly?"
Wang Guangwei shook his head and refused to accept the consolation: "What's the use of scoring a goal? I am a central defender, and defense is my job. I concede goals in every game, and it is indeed the defender's problem. Team Yao is older, I should take the lead
I went up but didn't... so my performance in this Asian Cup was very bad."
"You have objective reasons..." Hu Lai also comforted him, "You basically didn't play much in Eldrea. It's normal to not play for a long time and not be able to find your form. But this matter
Don’t be impatient, this is a stage you must go through.”
Others also nodded. As players studying abroad, they can all relate to it. After just going abroad, they face a completely unfamiliar environment, language barriers, different eating habits, no friends, no one to talk to, and uneasiness about the future... these are all always present.
torture them.
At the same time, as players studying abroad, they have high expectations from domestic fans. Any slight disturbance can immediately attract the attention and discussion of millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of people. The pressure is not ordinary.
Others only see the glory of overseas players when it is officially announced that they will go abroad to play football, but they cannot see or are unwilling to see the hardships they have to work hard in Europe.
They have also experienced the "necessary stage" Hu Lai said, but the length of time is different.
Offensive players are in a better situation because it is easier to get opportunities. Defensive players are different. As a defensive player, Wang Guangwei, this process will be particularly long.
This is also why Lin Zhiyuan chose to refuse when he received an invitation from a European team. Everyone admired that kid. Even though he usually looked like he didn't know the heights of the world, he was still very cautious and sensible when it came to studying abroad.
.
As a goalkeeper, if he goes abroad to play football, he may not be able to find a chance to play. It is possible for him to sit on the bench for several years.
Wang Guangwei still disagreed with Hu Lai's statement: "This doesn't make sense. Some players can't play in the game when they are in the club, so why can they perform well when they return to the national team? We have seen many such examples in the World Cup, right?
"
This time Hu Lai himself was speechless and didn't know how to respond to Wang Guangwei.
"Speaking of the World Cup..." Wang Guangwei seemed to have a lot to say today, and he couldn't stop talking.
It was obvious that he had been taciturn on the plane before... but maybe his silence at that time was just accumulating a desire to talk.
"Speaking of the World Cup... I have always thought back to our first World Cup many times in the past six months. What do you think of our performance in the first World Cup?"
Wang Guangwei raised his head and looked at his friends, asking them to answer this question.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer Wang Guangwei's question, because they didn't know what Wang Guangwei's question meant.
Seeing that they were silent, Wang Guangwei continued: "Don't you think it's pretty good that we remained undefeated in the first World Cup and tied with Brazil 3:3 in the last game? After that World Cup, we came back from the plane
all the way to the airport, and then back to their respective hometowns... Who is not holding a non-stop celebration party? You are welcome wherever you go, and you can't even think about running away if you are recognized by fans when you go out... The grand occasion at that time was the most unprecedented since I started playing football.
What we have never experienced before is even more exaggerated than after we entered the World Cup."
When other people heard what Wang Guangwei said, they also looked dazed. The original scene was replayed in front of them like a movie. It was indeed an "unprecedented event."
As professional players, they have never enjoyed such exaggerated treatment before. Even after returning from the Olympics, they have not reached this point. They can be considered popular without being scolded. After all, the previous Chinese men's football players are no different from street rats. They can be compared with
Rapists and murderers are classified as one type of people. When men's football players are mentioned, everyone gnashes their teeth and tries to belittle them.
"I'm not saying that our performance in the World Cup was not good enough. I just think that we can actually do better. We finally... gave up the chance to win. After Hulay equalized the score, there were actually six months left before the end of the game.
Seven minutes. At that time, the Brazilian team was already panicking. If we can press out and fight them hard, maybe we can beat them and replace them as the qualifying team?"
Wang Guangwei's words stunned everyone present.
Chen Xingyi thought of the dream he had on the plane back to China. His shot hit the goal post and missed the chance to beat Brazil.
The annoyance and pain in the dream at that time did not look like a dream at all.
"... But we didn't do that. All of us were satisfied with the final draw with Brazil and an undefeated group... But what's the use of this unbeaten time for us? Didn't we go home in the end? What if we
If we all press forward, even if we can't score, the final result will definitely not be worse than being eliminated from the group, right?" Wang Guangwei continued to talk, he really went "on a killing spree" today.
"After the World Cup, everyone was praising us, praising us, and affirming our results and performance in the World Cup. So we ourselves thought so, as if it was such an amazing result... But I often think about it now.
, but I only feel regret and regret. I regret why we didn’t think of trying again. We may have missed the best opportunity to defeat Brazil... The outside world said that this was our first World Cup, so we were able to achieve this result.
Very good. Indeed, but who said that when participating in the World Cup for the first time, one should be content with only playing three group matches?"
Everyone present, including Hu Lai, Chen Xingyi, Zhang Qinghuan, Luo Kai, and Xia Xiaoyu, listened to Wang Guangwei in silence.
"When I think about it now, I still feel ashamed. I did not set victory as the goal, but was satisfied with a draw. I think this is wrong. The fans said that because they are considerate of us, but if we also forgive ourselves, we will blame a lot for our poor performance.
As an excuse...are we going to be content with just playing three group matches in the next World Cup and then go home? Our career is limited, how many World Cups can we participate in? Play three group matches every time? You just
Don’t want to play more games in the World Cup? I know some things are unpleasant, but I still want to say it today. Everyone has gone abroad to play football, and they should know what level we are in Europe. Don’t look at Hu Lai..."
Wang Guangwei saw everyone turning their heads to Hu Lai and said quickly.
"Exclude Hu Lai."
"Hey, Lao Wang, why did you exclude me?" Hu Lai protested.
Wang Guangwei ignored his protest, but looked at the others and said: "So far, Brother Huan can still play in Saria, but now I don't know how the situation will change when I go back after the Asian Cup.
Because all the original positions have been taken by others. Although Luo Kai played many games and performed well, he played in the Dutch second division..."
Luo Kai was expressionless and did not express any objection.
"Little Xingxing, you can only play occasionally and don't have much playing time. Not to mention Xiaoyu is in the reserve team. I'm the worst. I can't even play in official games... If this continues, in three years we can compete
How much better was last year's performance? In the last World Cup, we scored a total of six goals, and Hu Lai scored five. In this Asian Cup, we scored ten goals, and Hu Lai scored seven by himself. The World Cup three years later
And in the Asian Cup four years later, do we still expect Hu Lai to be alone?"
During Wang Guangwei's questioning, everyone's expressions became very serious.
Hu Lai opened his mouth, but in the end no words came out.
"When I was playing in China, I didn't have a clear understanding of my level. I thought I was pretty good. Later, in the World Cup, when I played against high-level opponents, I was a little desperate to defend against Romanov, who was at the end of his career.
I have to try my best, and I have to rely on some off-the-beaten-path tricks...Now that I am playing abroad, I can see my all-round gaps..."
Just as he was talking, Wang Guangwei caught a glimpse of his two suitcases being delivered on the conveyor belt.
He took a step forward, lifted the two boxes respectively, put them on the luggage trolley, turned around and said to his teammates: "The media says we are young players every day, but in fact we are not young anymore. Don't think of studying abroad.
As long as everything goes well, we... may be returned!"
After saying that, he pushed up the luggage cart, turned around and left.
The remaining five people looked at each other and fell into an embarrassing silence.
Finally, Zhang Qinghuan, the eldest, sighed and said: "What Lao Wang said makes sense... Let's all work hard. There really isn't much time left for us. Don't let Hu Lai push us further and further away."
"Brother Huan, what do you have to do with me..." Hu Lai felt aggrieved. He stood here without saying a word, not showing off.
Then he saw everyone looking at him.
Among them, the boy Luo Kai's eyes seemed to have flames about to burst out.
He grinned, "Okay, for the future of Chinese football, I will sacrifice something..."
