Early the next morning, accompanied by the distant sound of waves in the silence, the tired national team members woke up listlessly from their deep sleep. They each walked out of the bedroom and went to the restaurant on the first floor. Even after washing their faces, they were still yawning.
"Huh? Steamed buns?" Yan Song picked up one strangely and took a bite: "Is it stuffed with pickled cabbage?"
"Where's the millet porridge?" Yuan Weiwei was also surprised to find the "baby".
Yi Shui'er's Chinese breakfast immediately aroused the enthusiasm of the team members. Even Wang Ai also had an appetite and took six tea eggs in a row.
Since the three group matches have to be played in three cities and staying in hotels, it will inevitably be complicated. Therefore, Claude, who was hired by Leonie and Gao Hongbo, solemnly made his first suggestion to the national team: this trip
When you go to South Africa to participate in the World Cup, you have to take care of yourself throughout the entire process, especially your food!
After he learned that the Chinese team would not play tricks on other teams, especially since the Chinese team had no experience in playing tricks or preventing tricks, he thought that instead of attacking and defending each other, it would be better to block themselves so that outsiders could not intervene at all.
Yan Shiduo, who had not yet handed over his duties at that time, thought about it and approved the suggestion. Therefore, the houses where the Chinese team lived in at least three group matches after arriving in South Africa were small manors rented through local Chinese-funded enterprises. Anyway, the country
There are 23 people in the team, 7 coaching staff, 4 team leaders, 6 security guards, and 1 translator, which can still be accommodated.
In terms of food, it was all airlifted from China, mainly meat and seafood. After Yan Shiduo and the others arrived in advance, they rented a refrigerated truck. Wherever the national team went, the refrigerated truck stocked with meat and seafood followed them. As for rice and white noodles
Vegetables and whatever, you can buy them anywhere.
This completely closed model minimizes plotting by opponents and avoids accidents for the delegation. After all, South Africa's security is notoriously poor.
The national team in the past did not have such luxury. Those who came from the poor era, even if they have money, they can still save as much as they can and make do with what they can. After all, just five or six years ago, the Chinese youth team went to Europe to play the Toulon Cup.
When I was in China, I was still so poor that I didn't even have a second set of clothes or even a training ball. The women's football team was even worse than the National Youth Team. They often dominated the world with just one set of clothes.
The arrival of Claude finally accelerated the change of all this. Without his suggestion, the national team would probably continue the past practice of renting a hotel at will. Then the environment would not be guaranteed at all and the conditions would not be as good as they are now. Four years ago
When the Chinese team participated in the World Cup in Germany, they lived in Tübingen the whole time, but this condition was no longer available in South Africa.
After breakfast, Gao Hongbo announced that he would have a rest in the morning. Those who didn't like to go out would stay at the manor. Those who wanted to go out would take everyone to the beach for a while. The World Cup lasted for half a month, one game after another, one opponent after another.
, the schedule is tight and strict, and this string cannot be pulled all the time. What's more, we have been training in China for ten days before coming here, and everyone has played a whole season before.
At nine o'clock in the morning, everyone was at the beach blowing the sea breeze. In South Africa in June, it was quite cool in the morning and evening. It was only about 20 degrees at noon. The temperature difference was not small, so everyone came wearing coats. It would be better when the sun came up. Yes.
Some came with the ball and kicked it around on the beach, while some came empty-handed and just sat and chatted. Several coaches, team leaders, and captains like Wang Ai still gathered together to study tactics. Although everyone’s family members had already
He came, but he did not live with the national team. Instead, he formed a separate "delegation". Unless the national team had something to say, he would just play his own game.
After returning to the manor for a meal and resting for an hour at noon, everyone took the bus to a middle school two kilometers away.
Schools in South Africa were on vacation, so the organizing committee helped contact them and rented them for a few days. After arriving at the place, the accompanying reporters wanted to follow and take photos, but Yan Shiduo announced that the national team had entered a fully closed state. Everyone, whether reporters or local Chinese,
Representatives of foreign-funded enterprises, overseas Chinese, and team members are all unable to receive them, and their team leaders are responsible for them.
The Spanish team has been under constant fire these days. All kinds of news are flying all over the sky. Although Spain was defeated by the Chinese team in the Confederations Cup group stage last year, it then defeated the Chinese team 4:2 in the third place battle.
Even though super striker Wang Ai is still scary, he still lost. The Spanish team used this game to tell the outside world that football is a sport of 11 people.
Whether it is the Spanish team or the Spanish media, the only attention paid to the Chinese team is Wang Ai, with Chen Tao and Li Weifeng at most, and the rest are "insufficient".
The Chinese team is not interested in any media promotion now. They are focusing on studying the game, studying tactics, and studying opponents. As the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning. Whether this new system can work or not, the key is this World Cup.
, If it works, then stand firm. I dare not say that the Chinese team will play like this in the future, but it will definitely be embedded in the genes. But if it doesn’t, then it will become a joke.
However, it is not that there is no news from the Chinese team. In order to interfere with the Spanish team's sight, at Claude's suggestion, the national team took the initiative to contact the local newspapers in South Africa and released a lot of false news, such as Wang Ai was injured and who was involved.
Who had a conflict, who suddenly returned to China to be investigated, etc.
Whether Yan Shiduo or Gao Hongbo, I don’t know if this is useful, just like I don’t know whether the news released by the Spanish team is true or false. Anyway, it’s okay to have dates or not, as long as it doesn’t affect the national team.
Just prepare for war.
This kind of treatment makes the domestic reporters very angry, but there is nothing they can do about it. This World Cup is different from the past. It is not okay to talk nonsense like before, and the leaders will not let it.
On the morning of the fifth day when the national team came to South Africa, the whole team went to the Durban Stadium to adapt to the venue. This was the first of four opportunities for the Chinese team to adapt to the venue arranged by the organizing committee. In fact, the World Cup in South Africa has already started for three days, but
The Chinese team is in the last group, so the kick-off is also the latest. It will not be played until the day before the second round of Group A on the 16th, and the two games are on the same day.
Wang Ai's biggest worry before was that the court was too slippery. The Chinese team was 3 centimeters taller than the Spanish team. Therefore, if the court was really like the Bernabeu, it would be very detrimental to the Chinese team. Fortunately, after repeated tests, it was found that the court was not bad and would not be a problem.
Just slip and fall.
When the Chinese team went back at noon, they happened to catch up with the Spanish team's bus. They arrived in the afternoon and the Chinese team returned tonight. Tomorrow morning it will be Spain, the Chinese team will return in the afternoon, and then they will return to Spain in the evening. The organizing committee
The arrangement was clear and simple. However, both parties were not in the mood to say hello. The Spaniards had no expression on the Chinese team through the glass, and probably the Chinese team as well.
