"I know that the current situation is very good for us, but we cannot let down our guard because our game has not yet started, and Syria has always been a difficult opponent."

A few days later, Dragons coach Lippi said this at a pre-match press conference held in Malacca, Malaysia.

This game is nominally the "home field" of Syria, but due to the complicated domestic situation, the game was also moved to Southeast Asia.

In fact, it is foreseeable that this game will become the home court of Dragon Kingdom. After all, there are quite a lot of Chinese in Malaysia.

The reason why Lippi said "the situation is good" is because the other two games of this group have already been played.

These are two results that are beneficial to the Dragon Kingdom.

First, the Iranian team defeated Uzbekistan 2:0 at home with goals from Azmoun and Taremi.

This score allowed the Iranian team to consolidate the first place in the group with 17 points with 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. It also fixed the score of third-ranked Uzbekistan at 12 points.

But even more important is another game.

The Qatar team, which ranked bottom in the group, was upset and defeated the invincible South Korean team 3:2 at home!

This makes the South Korean team still ranked second in the group, but its points are still unchanged at 13 points.

In this way, the opportunity for the "opponent to make a mistake" that the Dragon Kingdom team had been waiting for finally came.

The current Dragon Country team has 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses and has 10 points. If it can defeat Syria in tomorrow's "away" game, the points will reach 13 points.

Such points will not only surpass Uzbekistan, but will even surpass the South Korean team in one fell swoop due to the goal difference advantage, directly jumping to second place in the group!

And the second place in the group will be able to qualify directly from Group A!

Therefore, when these two results were reported to the Dragon Kingdom, the entire Dragon Kingdom fans were excited.

Everyone also believes that the Dragon National Team will definitely be able to seize this opportunity and then firmly hold the initiative to qualify in their own hands!

This is actually what the national football coaching staff represented by Pan Yi is worried about. The optimism of public opinion will also bring unnecessary pressure to the national football players.

Therefore, Lippi did the same as Pan Yi did during the team meeting, hoping that the outside world could relieve the pressure on the players.

"The defeats of Uzbekistan and South Korea gave us an opportunity, and in fact it also gave Syria an opportunity." Lippi continued:

"We have 10 points, while Syria has 8 points. If they can defeat us, their points will reach 11 points, and they will overtake us. So for Syria, this is also a matter of qualifying.

Great war."

"So we must not ignore Syria. Don't forget, just last October, when we played at our real home court, we lost to them with a score of 0:1."

"In Asia, there is actually no real super team. Whoever dares to underestimate their opponents will pay a heavy price. Qatar is also an example. After they have been eliminated early, who would think they can still beat South Korea? But

They just did it.”

"What I want to say is that facing such an opponent, we have no strength advantage at all. Even if we may get more support from fans in this game, we must go all out."

"I can understand the mood of media friends and fans. Please believe me, when I heard the news about these two games, I was as happy as you. But I must remain cautious."

"Every game strategy I make and all my work goals have only one goal, which is to do everything possible to defeat the opponent. I hope to bring the national team into the World Cup. But the previous three consecutive victories have various factors.

There are various factors, and we cannot be careless at all."

"Our players have been under tremendous pressure at the club. They have been playing in the league for several months, and some have even traveled back and forth between Europe and China. I can feel the mood in their hearts about fighting for their country, but I

We also hope that all media reporters and fans can understand and respect us."

"I have led many teams and have dealt with media reporters and fans from various countries. Praising and beating are always the best weapons of public opinion. Please forgive me for my offense, but I really think that in the past period of time,

Public opinion is praising us, which will cause us to bear a lot of unnecessary psychological pressure and burden."

"Thank you everyone for your understanding and support, but we must put all our minds into this game, rather than assuming that we have obtained three points. The more this happens, the more likely it is that the score will get away from us."

After what Lippi said, the media reporters at the scene also nodded.

They also feel that this period of time seems to be too optimistic, and they are even so optimistic that they forget that Syria is a team that once defeated the national football team at home in Dragon Kingdom.

Coupled with the fact that Qatar defeated South Korea, it will really not be a surprise to see anything happen in tomorrow's game.

"We will call on all major media and fans to view this game with a normal mind and avoid putting more pressure on the national football team!"

The reporter from "Football News" stood up and said.

This is also what the reporters present thought, and they also agreed.

As reporters who specialize in reporting on the national football team, they themselves are first and foremost fans of the national football team, and of course they also hope that the national football team will get better.

Since the head coach wants to reduce the pressure on the national football team, of course they will do it.

As for other minorities, some unscrupulous media or self-media that only look at traffic, let it go, as long as the mainstream media can make the right choice.

"I heard that some players are not in very good physical condition. Can Mr. Lippi reveal that?" a reporter from "Sports Weekly" asked.

This mainly refers to domestic players participating in the Chinese Super League.

Although the 12th round of the Chinese Super League ended 10 days ago, some major national football teams, such as Changzhou Hengtai, still participated in the next AFC Champions League match.

In the game against Kashima Antlers, several Choshu Kota players also suffered from injuries and were substituted midway.

So the media is also a little worried about this and wants to know how they are recovering in the past few days.

Lippi said that after the players returned to the team, the medical team has officially taken over and the situation is still OK. He hopes that the outside world can reduce unnecessary speculation and avoid panic.

"The current list of twenty-five people was drawn up by Pan Yi and I. Since they are all called into the national team, it means that their physical condition can meet the requirements of the competition. You don't have to worry about this."

"Of course, even minor injuries will have some impact on the players' competitive status, but we will, as always, select players who are in the best shape and meet the requirements of the national team as starters."

"I would like to reiterate that the correct mental state is more important than the physical state, so I hope everyone can try to give us a more relaxed and stress-free preparation and competition environment..."

——

Lippi in front was still dealing with reporters, while on the other side, Pan Yi was understanding the situation with the team's physical coach Claudio Gaudino.

"The situation is not particularly good."

The world's top physical fitness expert was worriedly talking to Pan Yi.

Pan Yi was mentally prepared for this.

The situation of the Chinese Super League itself is a bit more special than that of the European Leagues.

This "specialness" does not refer to the level of competition, but mainly to the vast territory of the Dragon Country. Chinese Super League teams often play an away game, which is similar to Western European teams flying to Russia and Ukraine.

Coupled with problems in domestic flights, urban traffic and other aspects, players' consumption of away games far exceeds that of away games in the Champions League, let alone domestic away games in major European leagues.

This does not include away games in the AFC Champions League.

It takes over 12 hours to fly from Guangzhou to Japan.

Halfway through the Chinese Super League, this objective situation still has a certain impact on the players' bodies.

Injuries that occur during games are actually often caused by these external factors.

When the national football team started training this time, people like Zheng Zhi, Mei Fang, Li Xuepeng, and Wu Xi all had some injuries.

In fact, this also includes Lin Liangming. Although he is not a Chinese Super League player, he also showed a certain degree of fatigue in the FA Cup final, otherwise he would not have been substituted early.

Obviously, these players have not improved particularly after a few days of rest, which will inevitably affect their competitive state.

"If you can't recover 100%, then don't force it." Pan Yi said.

"you mean……"

"We have other good players, no problem."

Pan Yi patted Gaudino on the shoulder and said with a smile.

Indeed, if the national football team suddenly loses five main players, it will have a certain impact on the team's strength.

But Pan Yi believes in the current national football team.

There is always a way!

Gaudino obviously still had some doubts: "But..."

Pan Yi means to simply use substitute players, but the problem is that the current situation of the national team is there, and the strength is just like this. Using substitutes will inevitably affect the performance of the national team.

More importantly, no one is sure whether the team will fall behind after replacing many key players.

You know, Syria is really not a soft persimmon!

While the two were talking, Lippi had also completed the press conference and walked out.

Pan Yi immediately went up to him with Gaudino:

"Come, let's study tomorrow's starting lineup..."

——

On the evening of June 13, Malaysia.

When Lippi and Pan Yi led all the players of the Dragons National Team to appear at the Hamjabat Stadium in Malacca, the audience burst into applause.

As everyone expected before the game, the stadium has become a sea of ​​red, filled with people waving five-star red flags.

Today, it is actually the home stadium of the national football team!

In the stands, the fans of the Dragon Kingdom unfurled a banner and saw that it read "Play with style, no matter you win or lose, we support you!"

This also shows that the fans now understand the current situation of the national football team and are doing their best to relieve the pressure on the team!
To be continued...