After the artistic performance ended, people continued to enter the venue.
For the World Cup final, no literary and artistic superstars are attractive. Everyone only pays attention to the game itself.
"Xiao Zhao?"
Zhao Kangming, who was at the guest table, was lightly tapped from behind. He turned around and was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened and he smiled:
"Brother Xiaojun?!"
The man standing in front of him had a big beer belly and was looking at Zhao Kangming with a smile.
Although his appearance has changed a lot since he gained weight, few Chinese fans may be able to recognize him.
But Zhao Kangming still recognized it at a glance. The person in front of him was Wang Xiaojun, his center back partner who fought side by side with him in the Chinese national team!
"It's really you! I didn't expect you to come too!"
Zhao Kangming was surprised and confirmed one thing, that is, the invitation list of the Chinese Football Association must be particular, and it is definitely not just based on the contribution to Chinese football.
Otherwise, why invite him and Wang Xiaojun?
What he has in common with Wang Xiaojun has nothing to do with his contribution to Chinese football, but has to do with another thing - he and Wang Xiaojun were two iconic losers on the way to the World Cup for Chinese football.
In the 2001 World Cup qualifying match, it was Wang Xiaojun's own goal that caused the Chinese team to miss the World Cup.
That was the closest to the World Cup finals.
Just one year after this own goal, Wang Xiaojun retired.
And he was only thirty-four years old when he retired.
This shows how much this own goal hit him.
As for Zhao Kangming, in the top 40 of the 2005 World Cup preliminaries, as the main central defender, he was sent off in the first 14 minutes, causing the team to miss the top ten.
Zhao Kangming works so hard to dig out young people and train new people, but this is actually to pay off his original mistakes.
Wang Xiaojun was not like Zhao Kangming, perhaps because the blow was too great for him.
After retiring, he neither became a coach nor engaged in any football-related work.
Just like that, he disappeared from public view.
Except for being mentioned by the media and fans every time Chinese football failed to compete in the World Cup, at other times, people have almost forgotten this former "China's number one central defender."
As a result, both of them were invited by the Chinese Football Association to appear in the finals at the same time.
Perhaps the Football Association wants to make up for the regrets of both of them in this way - not only did we break into the World Cup finals, we also made it to the World Cup finals!
"Haha, I didn't expect the Football Association to still remember me..." Wang Xiaojun said with emotion. "When they called me to talk about this, I thought it was a telecommunications fraud..."
Zhao Kangming raised his head and burst into laughter. He smiled, and the corners of his eyes became moist.
He tried hard to hold back and said to Wang Xiaojun: "Brother Xiaojun, what have you been doing these past few years? I haven't heard from you since what happened last time."
What he was talking about last time was that someone took an online ride-hailing ride, hailed a car driven by Wang Xiaojun, recognized him, recorded a video and posted it online, which sparked a wave of discussion.
And this was already six years ago.
After that, there was no news about Wang Xiaojun.
"Hey, what else can I do? My son has become successful, so I don't need to go out to show off, so I can just stay at home and take care of my grandson." Wang Xiaojun said with a smile.
Looking at Wang Xiaojun's current appearance as a kindly old man, it's really hard to imagine that he was once a famous and iron-blooded central defender in Chinese football, a hard-working Saburo who often failed in games.
It is precisely because of his toughness that he has carved a niche in Chinese football.
The original playing numbers of the Chinese national team are all arranged in order. The starting goalkeeper must be No. 1, and the starting center must also be No. 9.
This rule was changed when Wang Xiaojun came here.
Because Wang Xiaojun likes No. 14 - his birthday is August 14 - he wears No. 14 in the club and also wears No. 14 in the national team.
Of course he didn't agree at first, so Wang Xiaojun also wore the No. 4 jersey for a while. Later, as Wang Xiaojun became more and more capable and became the absolute main force of the Chinese national team, he also had some privileges and could play in the national team.
It's time to wear the number 14 jersey.
It can be seen that Wang Xiaojun was actually a very individual player when he was young.
It is even more unimaginable that such a unique player would now become no different from an ordinary old man...
Now the old man smiled and praised his former center back partner: "Xiao Zhao, you are still great. You have trained so many outstanding players. I think it is natural for the Football Association to invite you to watch the final!"
He also gave a thumbs up.
Zhao Kangming smiled and did not continue to discuss the topic: "Speaking of which, Brother Xiaojun, you finally have an excellent successor to your number!"
Wang Xiaojun shook his head and smiled: "What does it have to do with me..."
The two were chatting when another person came next to them.
"Oh, I've been looking for you for a long time, and it turns out that you are already waiting at your seats." Shi Wuyuan appeared beside them with Yao Huasheng, "Brother Jun, Lao Zhao!"
Next to him, Yao Huasheng greeted the two seniors respectfully: "Director Zhao, Mr. Wang!"
Wang Xiaojun and Zhao Kangming stood up again and returned the greetings to the two people.
Then Zhao Kangming noticed the suit on Shi Wuyin, pointed at it and said in surprise: "Are you willing to put it on?"
Shi Wuyin looked down at his suit and said with a smile, "Yes, let it come out and breathe."
Then he patted Yao Huasheng beside him: "Among us, the luckiest guy is Yao Huasheng. He really made it to the World Cup!"
Yao Huasheng did not dare to make any mistakes in front of the three real big brothers of Chinese football. He quickly said humbly: "I am lucky... Without the foundation laid by you, how could I be..."
Zhao Kangming pointed at Shi Wuyin and said: "Didn't you also play in the World Cup? If you play as a coach, doesn't it count as playing?"
Everyone laughed.
Then Wang Xiaojun asked: "Just the four of us?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a gray-haired old man walked over from a distance, raised his hand and greeted Yao Huasheng in very unskilled Mandarin with a strong accent: "Hey, Yao!"
Everyone looked up and saw that it was Jorge Dillon.
The most famous coach in world football!
These four well-known figures in Chinese football had a much more respectful attitude when facing Dillon.
"Mr. Dillon!"
Dillon gestured to them and said, "I'm not good at listening. I'm not good at speaking."
Finally, he opened his arms again: "Hello!"
Shi Wuyuan touched Yao Huasheng and said, "Be the translator for Mr. Dilong!"
Yao Huasheng frowned: "Director Shi, how can I be a translator with my English skills..."
"I'll do it!" A hearty laugh sounded from behind everyone.
Everyone looked back and saw an old woman wearing a red suit with gray hair and outstanding temperament standing in front of them with a smile.
Wang Xiaojun called out in surprise: "Xiao Su?"
Zhao Kangming and Shi Wuyin exclaimed: "Sister Liwen!"
Yao Huasheng's attitude was respectful: "Sister Su!"
Jorge Dillon also greeted in a gentlemanly manner: "Ms. Su!"
Standing in front of them is the legendary figure in the history of Chinese women's football, Su Liwen, the first representative Asian player and Chinese player to win the honor of Miss World Football - she won this honor much earlier than Li Qingqing.
Seeing Su Liwen, Zhao Kangming couldn't help but give a thumbs up to the Football Association: "The Football Association is very particular, and this candidate has nothing to say!"
Hearing Zhao Kangming's disguised compliment, Su Liwen smiled slightly, then turned to Dillon and said to Dillon in fluent English: "Your translator is less than not here, so I will be your guest translator today."
Su Liwen, who once served as vice president of the Chinese Football Association and director of the FIFA Council, does not have any language problems.
"Then I'm sorry to trouble you, Ms. Su. I really hope to communicate with the top players in Chinese football... For example, I would like to ask Mr. Zhao how he discovered Hu?"
This question really scratched Zhao Kangming’s itch.
Bringing Hu Lai from high school to the professional team has always been a glorious history that Zhao Kangming can boast about for the rest of his life.
However, while he was proud, he also had to remain reserved in front of a group of people, especially foreign friends.
"It's a long story..."
※※※
A group of people from the Chinese football club gathered in a large private room and were chatting with each other.
Until someone comes.
"Let me go, Fatty Dong, why are you here?" Lu Heng, general manager of South China Tigers, looked at the sudden appearance of Dong Wen, his eyes widened, and he almost couldn't hold back his swear words.
Dong Wen smiled crookedly: "Hey, Mr. Lu, what did you say? Why can't I be here? The Chinese team has reached the World Cup finals. Isn't it because of our shining stars?"
Chai Shun, general manager of Dashun Golden Arrow, said to Dong Wen: "Mr. Dong, let's agree first that watching football is just a matter of watching football. This is a business matter and we don't want to talk about it!"
Dong Wen smiled: "Don't worry, I won't poach you this time. I have a man who is looking for you. It depends on whether you are interested or not."
When he said this, although everyone in the industry knew that Fatty Dong's big belly was full of bad things, they still couldn't help but be curious about what Dong Wen meant by "throwing wealth and honor."
Everyone looked at me, I looked at you, and finally all looked at Lu Heng, the general manager of South China Tigers.
Lu Heng coughed and asked, "What's 'splashing the sky with wealth'?"
Dong Wen saw that someone had taken the bait... No, someone was interested, so he smiled and said: "Taking advantage of this World Cup, let's join forces to make the reputation of Chinese players in the world bigger and stronger, and jointly go overseas to bring more players to the world."
Chinese players are sent to play abroad. Isn’t this better than poaching me and trying to pry you off at home? It not only shows the big picture, but also goes overseas to earn euros..."
Having said this, Dong Wen paused for a moment, but observed everyone's reactions and found that no one was impatient, and everyone was obviously tempted, so he continued:
"Let me tell you, after this World Cup, no matter what the result is, the focus of the world will be on our Chinese football for a month. There will definitely be many foreign teams interested in our players, not to mention those who have already gone abroad.
Yes, most of the famous beauties have their own owners. What about the players who are still playing in our country? Let me tell you first, there are already foreign clubs asking for the price of Rong Yi of our Flash Star!"
Lu Heng couldn't help interrupting him and asked: "Isn't it just selling players overseas? What's so strange about this? We also have players going abroad to play football. Why is it necessary for everyone to do this together? Do you still have to order it for everyone?
Price?"
"Hey, brother, why don't you understand? When I say union, I don't mean to engage in some price alliance. I mean, we start from the stage of cultivating talents at the club, improve the quality of youth training, and benchmark the advanced and developed football in Europe.
standards, give young players more playing time, encourage young players to go out...form such a consensus.
"Then when negotiating with foreign clubs, we can also communicate with each other and share some information. For example, we now have a cooperation agreement with Leeds City, and their scouts have been observing our players here for a long time, but at the same time we also
Know their needs...
"But I don't think this is my exclusive resource. If Leeds City or other English teams need an outstanding striker, but we don't have one. Can't I share this news with you?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Heng showed a thoughtful expression, while others around him couldn't help but nodded.
"So, I just want to discuss it with everyone to see if this matter can be done. Of course, I know that this is just an idea, and we have to discuss how to do it. If it can be done,
Let's do it. Nowadays, Chinese football is becoming more and more popular, and more and more children are learning to play football. Our football population is growing rapidly.
"Have you ever thought that with so many extra players, can our domestic clubs be able to handle them all? What if not? Why don't we all work together to make the cake bigger and include more Chinese players?
What about going abroad and going global?"
Hearing what Dong Wen said, all the Chinese Super League managers in the private room fell into deep thought.
Dong Wen, on the other hand, took a leisurely time and took a glass of ice-cold beer from the dining table, taking a long sip with satisfaction. Then he walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the private room, holding the wine glass, and looked at the bustling stadium with contentment.
※※※
Junpei Morikawa and Tatsuya Sugiyama stood in the stands packed with people.
There were both Chinese fans and Argentinian fans around.
They are not in the north and south stands, but they will not complain about their location. In fact, it is not easy to come in and watch the game.
"Thank you so much to the Japan Football Association! Otherwise we wouldn't be able to get in!" Tatsuya Sugiyama looked at the stadium that was already packed with seats. He had to raise his voice amidst the huge noise.
They originally wanted to buy tickets for this final on their own, but later found out that they had thought too much. In the end, they had no choice but to turn to the Japan Football Association and get two tickets through the Football Association's channels.
Only then can we enter the stadium to watch the game, so that people will not go to China, but can only watch live TV in bars or hotel rooms...
Junpei Morikawa did not speak, but took out his mobile phone to record a video and shoot around the court.
After filming, he put the video in the exclusive group.
And added a sentence: "Morikawa is here to cheer everyone! Go forward! Chinese team! For the glory of Asian football! I will cheer for you!"
When Tatsuya Sugiyama saw Junpei Morikawa's behavior, he reminded him: "They shouldn't be able to see what you posted now, right?"
"It's okay, they can see it later."
As soon as Junpei Morikawa finished speaking, he heard music being played and the music suddenly stopped.
Then the same picture appeared on dozens of screens, large and small:
Players from China and Argentina appeared in the tunnel of the stadium one after another.
The hero everyone has been waiting for is about to appear!
There were loud cheers at the scene.
The fans waved at the screen, as if players from both sides in the tunnel could see them.
