The Chinese team’s warm-up match this time is still played in Europe.
Two games, one in Sevilla and one with the Spanish national team.
In this game, Dillon sent out almost the strongest lineup in the first half, but he failed to gain the upper hand against Spain.
In the first half, the Chinese team struggled against the champions of the previous World Cup.
Only in the 41st minute, the Chinese team won a penalty kick through Hu Lai.
At that time, Spain already led the Chinese team 2:0 at home.
Not only the score, but Spain, which is better at passing and controlling the situation, also had the upper hand.
Although Hu Lai helped the Chinese team get a goal back with this penalty kick, making the score in the first half fixed at 1:2, it didn't seem like they lost much.
But in the second half, after both sides made substantial adjustments, the game lost its suspense.
Hu Lai was replaced in the 60th minute.
Therefore, it cannot be said that the performance of the Chinese team in the second half was due to replacing Hu Lai.
In the end, the Chinese team lost to the Spanish national team 1:4 in the away game.
Although this team no longer has Cerrados, the World Cup Golden Ball winner, the Spanish national team, which has no shortage of talent, is still very strong.
In the current FIFA rankings, Brazil is first, while defending champion Spain is second.
FIFA's ranking does not fully reflect the strength of a team, but it refers to situations where the rankings are very close. For example, if Brazil ranks first, it does not mean that they will definitely be able to defeat Spain.
But when the rankings are far apart, this ranking still has great reference value.
Spain ranks second, while the Chinese team ranks...31st.
Even if Cerrados retires, the Spanish national team still maintains most of its championship lineup.
The midfield is still the "championship three midfielders":
Gaspar Rosas and Victor Campuzano, as well as Juan Ramirez.
The three of them were the cornerstone for the Spanish national team to win the championship three years ago.
Although Rosas is now thirty-four years old, he is still in good shape.
Not to mention Ramirez, he is still the top defensive midfielder in the world. The success of Madrid Pirates in the past two seasons is also inseparable from his performance.
Although it seems that he is not as popular as Hu Lai, but as his nickname goes, he is the "cornerstone of the championship."
With such a powerful midfield combination, the Spanish national team can always control the ball easily, making it difficult for the Chinese team to play.
Under Ramirez's targeting, it was almost difficult for Zhang Qinghuan to create a threat.
The job of organizing the offense could only be left to midfielder Xia Xiaoyu.
But Xia Xiaoyu also faced harassment from Campuzano, and his defensive task was not light either - Gao Ruimin simply couldn't stop Rosas and Campuzano, Catalonia's main midfield combination.
Because the Chinese team spent too much energy in the midfield, they were unable to support Hu Lai in the attack.
Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai also acted like full-backs for most of the first half - they were overwhelmed by Spain's right back Joseva Iglesias and left back Ion Martinez respectively. Even halftime was very sad.
The Chinese team's defense failed to withstand Spain's layered offensive and conceded four goals.
The loss to Spain basically reflects the gap between the Chinese national team and the world's top teams at this stage.
The Spanish national team is the defending World Cup champion. Although there are no "popular players" like Melli and Kabangca in the team, the overall strength is very strong and there are top players in every position.
In fact, they only lost three goals, which is already a good result for the Chinese team.
Therefore, unlike the loss to Serbia in the warm-up match last month, after this loss to Spain, there was no strong backlash from domestic public opinion in China.
After all, they are World Cup champions. Even the most arrogant Chinese fans and media dare not think that the Chinese team can defeat the Spanish national team.
Especially this is the home stadium of Spain, one of the venues for next year's World Cup.
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After losing to Spain, the Chinese team did not go anywhere else. They continued to stay in Seville, Spain, and then played a warm-up match with an African team.
This is the first time in this World Cup preparation cycle against a non-European team.
The team chosen is not strong - Benin.
This team also did not reach the World Cup finals.
Even so, Benin is not an opponent that the previous Chinese team could easily defeat.
It’s just that the Chinese team is no longer what it used to be.
So facing an African team with a weak belly, the Chinese team finally won their first victory in the warm-up match.
Hulay scored a goal and assisted once in the game, helping the Chinese team defeat Benin with a score of 3:1.
This goal also became his 90th goal in 2029.
From now until the end of this year, Hu Lai also has ten games left. Among them are six La Liga games, two Champions League group matches, and two Club World Cup games - the Club World Cup games are played for one and a half games. In the finals, you can continue to play in the finals only if you win, so strictly speaking, the Club World Cup is currently one game, but with the strength of Madrid Pirates, it should not be a problem to reach the Club World Cup finals - so even if there are ten games left this year .
With Hulay's current goal efficiency exceeding one goal per game, scoring ten goals in the remaining ten games does not seem to be a problem.
From this point of view, he is really likely to set an unprecedented record of more than 100 goals in a year.
After the warm-up match with Benin, all the Chinese team's games in 2029 are over.
Their next gathering will have to wait until the "China Cup" in March next year, and then it will be the final training camp and warm-up match before the start of the World Cup.
All in all, the Chinese team only has two training and warm-up matches before the World Cup starts.
They must seize these two opportunities and refine the team to the extreme in order to give their best performance in the World Cup.
Fortunately, in this warm-up match, the Chinese team won in the end.
If Benin cannot win, it will probably severely damage the confidence of Chinese fans and media in the team.
If we can end this year's competition with a victory, everyone can have a good year.
From this point of view, the World Cup preparation plan led by Jorge Dillon's team is quite thoughtful.
The opponents for next year's "China Cup" have not been finalized in advance like the previous two editions.
This is because the team that will ultimately participate in the "China Cup" needs to be determined based on the Chinese team's grouping in the World Cup - the "China Cup" is also an important part of the Chinese team's preparations for the World Cup.
Now as the Japanese team eliminated Canada and got the last ticket to participate in next year's World Cup in Spain and Portugal, the World Cup group draw is imminent.
This will be the most eye-catching link before the start of the World Cup.
The thirty-two teams participating in the World Cup include fifteen European teams:
Host countries Portugal and Spain, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, England, France, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Croatia, Sweden.
Five South American teams:
Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile.
Five Asian teams:
China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia.
Four African teams:
Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Morocco.
Three CONCACAF teams:
United States, Mexico, Costa Rica.
No team from Oceania has qualified for the World Cup.
Among these thirty-two teams, except for the two host countries that automatically become seeded teams, the seeding teams of the other six groups are determined by the current FIFA rankings.
The teams in the remaining three tiers are also determined according to the FIFA ranking order.
So even though the Chinese team entered the World Cup for the second consecutive time and performed well in the top 12, allowing them to rise from the original 50th to 31st in the FIFA rankings,
It was still classified into the fourth level.
Just when most of the Chinese team players took flights back to China, and Hu Lai and other overseas players also returned to their respective clubs to prepare for the weekend league, the FIFA World Cup group draw results also came out:
Group A: Portugal (9), Colombia (15), Senegal (22), Norway (36)
Group B: Brazil (1), Croatia (16), Japan (27), Mali (38)
Group C: France (3), Uruguay (13), Russia (30), Iran (32)
Group D: Germany (5), Mexico (14), Poland (28), Morocco (40)
Group E: Argentina (4), Belgium (8), Czech Republic (23), Costa Rica (35)
Group F: Netherlands (7), Switzerland (18), Chile (29), Saudi Arabia (44)
Group G: England (6), Sweden (19), United States (26), South Korea (33)
Group H: Spain (2), Italy (10), Nigeria (20), China (31)
Note: The number in brackets is the team’s current FIFA ranking.
