Chinese players who were selected for the national team left their clubs one after another and flew to China to participate in the "China Cup".
Qin Qi also left Frankfurt, but instead of returning to China, he went to Marseille, France, to participate in an international youth football invitational tournament held there.
As the absolute main force and captain of China's current U21, Qin Qi certainly cannot be absent.
In China, both professional media and popular fans regard him as the representative figure of Chinese football after Hu Lai and his generation.
Although he has not played in the Frankfurt White Hart first team yet.
But even training with Frankfurt's first team and participating in the reserve league has benefited him a lot.
Qin Qi met Peng Weijun in the U21 national team.
As soon as the two met, Qin Qi asked him: "Have you really changed to playing full-back?"
Peng Weijun nodded: "Yes, I even changed my number to No. 6!"
In this International Youth Football Invitational Tournament, Peng Weijun registered as a left back, and his registration number was the number of a full back - No. 6.
"I thought you would be struggling for a while..." Qin Qi said with a smile.
"Actually, I was really confused." Peng Weijun said, "It's such a big thing. An offensive player who has been training for more than ten years suddenly becomes a defensive player... How can I not be confused? I have to say that Brother Hu is awesome.
Already."
"Because he suggested you switch to left-back and you agreed?"
"No. He suggested that I practice free kicks."
Of course Qin Qi knew that Brother Hu suggested that Peng Weijun practice free kicks. He had heard about it from his father.
But he still doesn't understand how Brother Hu could tell that Peng Weijun has a talent for free kicks.
And his father told him that Peng Weijun did have two brushes...
"He suggested that I practice free kicks. Then I discovered that I can really practice them... I thought that if I could practice free kicks well, even if I was playing as a defender, I would still have the means to score. Then I wouldn't worry about it anymore."
Peng Weijun said.
"So how's your free kick practice going?"
"It's still early. Occasionally, I can make waves in the world." Peng Weijun shook his head. "But I feel that after retreating to the full-back position, my performance is indeed better than when I played as a winger before."
"It's better to move a dead tree away than to move a living person away." Qin Qi was happy for him, "If you are like this, you will definitely be able to join the national team in the future."
"Hey, it's still early." Peng Weijun waved his hand, and then he changed the question: "Some time ago, Dillon came to see our South China Tigers game, and he chatted with Director Qin alone for a long time. There are rumors outside that Director Qin may
Being taken to the World Cup by Dillon, do you know about this?"
"It's not like he told me everything." Qin Qi shook his head.
"Oh, I still want to get some inside gossip from you." Peng Weijun was disappointed.
"What's there to ask about?"
"If Director Qin can really join the World Cup coaching staff, then you will also have a chance to go to the World Cup!"
"I think too much. If my dad can really go, that is, he is a Chinese coach, how can he decide the World Cup roster? There are only 23 places, and I don’t know how many people are trying to squeeze in. How can I rely on myself?
Dad just went in?"
Qin Qi kept shaking his head.
"Don't think about the World Cup. If we want to participate, we can only wait another four years. Let's win the invitational tournament right now. Or, in the longer term, we can at most think about the Olympic Games two years later..."
"It would be good to be able to participate in the World Cup in four years. It will be the local World Cup." Peng Weijun was still looking forward to it, imagining the picture of that beautiful future. "But I was only 23 years old at that time. Even if I could participate in the World Cup, I should be a substitute.
...It’s not bad to be a substitute, as long as I can participate in the World Cup!”
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"Hey, tell me, is Brother Lin really able to participate in this World Cup as a coach?"
"I think it's very possible. Otherwise, why would Dillon go to Lin Ge specifically? Aren't there rumors before that the Football Association hopes that Dillon can take our own local coach to the World Cup to experience it?"
"That's great. If Brother Lin can really go to the World Cup, it will be considered as fulfilling his biggest wish, right?"
"His biggest wish is to participate in the World Cup as a player, right?"
…
In the conference room where the Chinese team is stationed, the international players gathered together chatted with each other and discussed a recent domestic gossip.
Just before this training camp, the Chinese national team head coach Jorge Dillon appeared in Lingnan. He first watched a Lingnan South China Tigers game, and then visited the Lingnan South China Tigers training base on the second day of the game.
Watch their training.
After the training, he and Qin Lin closed the door and chatted for half an hour.
No one knew what they talked about, and the two of them never mentioned it during the interview, or they just said something to try to cover it up.
This deepened everyone's doubts and speculations.
As a result, rumors that Dillon might take Qin Lin to participate in the World Cup became rampant.
This is indeed a topic worthy of attention.
As the "last boss of Chinese football", Qin Lin failed to achieve his goal of leading the Chinese team to the World Cup throughout his career, which became an eternal regret in his playing days.
Just when everyone thought he would never have a chance at the World Cup, he unexpectedly took a turn for the worse.
If he joins Dillon's coaching staff as a Chinese coach, it can be regarded as a curve to save the country and participate in the World Cup, right?
Everyone is happy for Qin Lin.
Only these players don't know whether this is a good thing or whether it can make up for the regret in Brother Lin's heart.
Because they are all players, they know that participating in the World Cup as a player and participating in the World Cup as a coach are completely different experiences.
What they call "participating in the World Cup" does not mean going to the World Cup to watch the games, check in, and feel the atmosphere of the World Cup like fans do.
When participating in the World Cup as a player, of course, I hope to appear on the World Cup stage, not in the audience.
If Qin Lin participates in the World Cup as the Chinese coach of Dillon's coaching staff, does it count as being on this stage?
Can the regrets of the playing days really be made up for?
Everyone's discussion about Qin Lin stopped after Dilong and Yu Jintao came in.
"Let's have a very simple meeting today, mainly to unify our thoughts."
Yu Jintao said to the players who looked at them.
After everyone calmed down, Dillon began to speak, and Yu Jintao translated his words word for word.
"...'China Cup' is our last regular event before the World Cup. Four teams gather here to compete for a championship trophy. This is 'actual combat'. In addition to Venezuela, the other two teams are also participating
This World Cup can be regarded as a 'mini World Cup'.
"So I hope that everyone can adjust their mentality from training to competition, and treat the 'China Cup' like the World Cup, instead of going back to China for a vacation. You must remember that every drop of sweat you put in now will be used in the future.
The sweet fruits will be harvested in three months.”
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On March 23, Saturday, in the China Cup semi-finals, the Chinese team faced Senegal at home.
Senegal ranks 22nd in the FIFA rankings, five places higher than Japan, the highest-ranked team in Asia.
It is definitely not an opponent that the Chinese team can manipulate at will.
Facing such a team, the Chinese team must cheer up and go all out.
This is actually a good thing for the Chinese team preparing for the World Cup.
If the opponent is too weak, it is easy to fall into laziness and complacency.
But if the opponent is too strong, it can easily cause a lot of frustration. Consecutive defeats will not have any positive help in preparing for war.
Confidence is sometimes a more important factor than skills and tactics.
Senegal is a strong rival for the current Chinese team, but it is not invincible.
Hu Lai obviously knew this very well, so even though there were only two games in the "China Cup", he still used [Lingxi Card] on his national team teammates before the game.
Increase combat effectiveness by improving tacit understanding.
It reduces the chance of the Chinese team being eliminated in the semifinals.
In the end, with his two goals in the game, the Chinese team tied with Senegal with a score of 2:2, and then advanced to the final through a penalty shootout.
However, in the final, facing the Croatian national team, which was ranked sixteenth in the world, the Chinese team failed to defeat their opponents.
They lost 1:3 and missed the "China Cup" championship.
Winning Senegal but losing to Croatia will neither frustrate everyone's confidence nor inflate it too much.
These were two warm-up games that even the head coach of the Chinese team, Jorge Dillon, could not fault...