The reasons why it is so valued by public opinion are very complex.
In the history of Chinese football, if the "X" in "X-phobia" is the most famous, it is definitely South Korea.
Judging from the 33 historical encounters between the Chinese and Korean teams compiled by FIFA, the Chinese team is at an absolute disadvantage with 2 wins, 11 draws and 20 losses. In recent years, the Chinese and Korean adult teams have struggled to win. The most recent encounter was
In the first round of the top 12 last year, the Chinese team suffered a disastrous away defeat against South Korea on 03. The last time the Chinese team defeated South Korea was in the East Asian Cup in 2010. At that time, the Chinese team led by Gao Hongbo scored the same 30 points.
Sweeping the South Korean team is also a game that is rarely praised in the history of Chinese football.
If it were just a matter of victory or defeat between two national football teams, China would not pay so much attention to it. Like other rivals in world football, football is often entangled with other things, beyond the level of sports competition.
We are both in the global village of the world, and we are both in the monster house of East Asia. The relationship between the suzerain state and the vassal state has existed for thousands of years, and the Korean War has been controversial. Later, the vassal state left the former far behind economically. The gap is still not small, and
The inferiority complex of the vassal states for thousands of years has been fully "released" in these leading decades, leaving the two countries with countless entanglements that they can't sort out.
That sense of superiority when the poor suddenly become rich and get carried away, and the spread of South Korea's appropriation of traditional Chinese culture on the Internet. The Chinese people who have gradually begun to recover their national power are extremely unhappy, and the Chinese people have begun to overtake them in many aspects.
When I gradually became able to tease Koreans with the attitude of "your uncle is still your uncle", lagging behind in football became a permanent pain.
In addition, there is another more important off-field factor in this game.
Although countless people, including FIFA, have been emphasizing that sports have no boundaries and football has nothing to do with politics, the country has made a series of outrageous manipulations against Rakuten, and countless merchants have followed suit and even hyped up Rakuten.
The highly sought-after Weilong Spicy Tiao, which is full of "pink" flavor like "national", elevated this game to the level of "bringing glory to the country" and "national sinner".
Countless self-media in China are hyping this game, but the official media have never mentioned THAAD. They are just using various actions to prepare for this must-win game.
Shonan Xingchengguang, which is responsible for hosting this game, spent more than 60 million yuan to upgrade the hardware and software of Helong Sports Center. They used new high-grade turf, upgraded the sand layer and drainage equipment under the turf, and replaced
The seats in the stands are just for the Chinese team to have a good playing field and Chinese fans to have comfortable conditions to watch the game.
At the same time, during the game, the hotel where the national football team is staying will be suspended while preparing for the game. The press studio and press hall have been renovated, and tables and chairs have been newly installed recently. In the infield, a new giant electronic display has also been hung.
Setup completed.
It can be said that the local government has done everything it can.
The external conditions are in place, and the team is preparing in an orderly manner internally.
As an experienced coach, Lippi said the most to the players during today's tactical arrangements and drills before the game, "Well done, not bad, you are the strongest in Asia."
He never talks to his players about heavy words such as "heavy duty and hard work". Even if many head coaches attach great importance to such things as asking players to eat breakfast on time and early, Lippi seems to be particularly concerned these days.
Tolerance: "I have to let the AFC Champions League players rest for a few more days."
Lippi's attitude made his players particularly confident. Zheng Zhi, as the captain of the national team, expressed his ambition to score points: "There will definitely be pressure, but which game is without pressure? I hope more
These pressures are converted into motivation. I hope to score enough points and lay a solid foundation for the following games."
Also agreeing to express their confidence are Li Yun and Qin Minghao, who are regarded as the "leaders" studying abroad. As the core of the team's defense, Li Yun said: "I have met several overseas players in the Bundesliga and South Korea. They
I am very powerful, but I believe I can solve these problems."
There is a reason why Li Yun can say these words casually without fear of being laughed at. As the main center back of the team currently ranked second in the Bundesliga, he does not have enough confidence when facing the offensive opponent ranked 13th in the Bundesliga.
possible.
As for another core player of the Chinese team, Nie Jiang was even more arrogant: "In the game against the Korean team, I only lost the last one. This time, at our home court, I will definitely win."
return."
His words made the fans laugh. Indeed, in the previous National Youth, National Youth and National Olympic games, Nie Jiang's team remained undefeated. However, compared with this, the fans saw that Nie Jiang
He had an expression on his face that said his last loss was just an accident, and he couldn't help but laugh.
In fact, the answers given by these three players were exactly the answers given by all members of the national team when they interacted with fans and guests at an official event held by the Chinese Football Association China Team three days before the game.
Their statement gave fans great confidence.
"If you win this one, you can lose the rest!" This was the most liked comment in the media.
"If Son Heung-min can't play, it would be unreasonable if we can't even beat a team that can draw with Syria."
The fans' confidence is not only reflected online, but also in the football market.
Tickets for this China-South Korea battle are divided into 6 levels: 180 yuan, 380 yuan, 480 yuan, 580 yuan, and 1,280 yuan. Compared with the "Battle of China and South Korea" in November last year, the tickets for this game are
The price has increased slightly. But since the tickets went on sale on March 1, most fans have been faced with the word "sold out".
In order to ensure fair ticket sales, the organizing committee this time adopted a ticket purchase method based on identity verification. Each ID card can only buy a maximum of two tickets, but there are no remaining tickets for sale at any level.
Even if there are a few tickets that end up in the hands of scalpers, the price has tripled. In their hands, a 380 yuan ticket requires at least 1,000 yuan to purchase.
With a temperature of around ten degrees Celsius and continuous light rain, the humid and cold weather in Star City formed a sharp contrast with the fiery enthusiasm of the fans.
South Korea also feels the same concern in China.
Lotte, a Korean company, suffered heavy losses in China because it provided venues for THAAD. Their 99 stores in China were pressured by domestic inspections on fire safety, food safety, etc., and they were forced to close 71 of them in one go.
, the other remaining stores are also dying.
The person directly related to Lotte was given a splitting headache, and other aspects were also affected. South Korea has always been regarded as a popular tourist destination by the Chinese people, and it is also suffering this time. It is said that tourism revenue has been "cut in half" year-on-year.
”.
Against this background, South Korea, where nationalism has been rising, also attaches great importance to this game.
"Chinamen are no match."
"The Chinese league is rubbish and will only spend money on foreign players."
"Players who play overseas don't have to come back. It's enough to rely on our K-League players to play in China."
Complaints about Chinese football abound in Korean media comments before the game.
The vast majority of Korean fans believe that South Korea will definitely win, and many people even start to think about what to do if they win the game: "If China loses, will it retaliate against South Korea more? The players must protect themselves."
Of course, given the national character of South Korea, the warning was sufficient: "If we lose to China in this environment, we will really riot. It will be more serious than losing in the Korean-Japanese War."
“If you lose to China, live there and breathe in the smog to your heart’s content!”
Even official organizations like the Korean Football Association issued posters that insulted China. In the poster they released for the South Korean team, a giant panda kneels in front of a Tai Chi tiger. The giant panda is also much smaller than the Tai Chi tiger.
Such explicit posters have rarely been seen before.
Unlike Lippi who worked hard to maintain the relaxed atmosphere of the team, South Korean coach Stillik was extremely confident: "Based on past results and the score in the first round, we have no reason to lose confidence. The goal is 3 points."
Indeed, if we judge the strength of the two teams based on past records, South Korea is undoubtedly much higher. It has never lost in the world preliminaries and Olympic trials. The 3:0 in the first round gave him enough
Confidence.
From the perspective of players, there are four players who have played in the five major leagues, Augsburg double stars Ji Dongyuan and Koo Jizhe, the "Asian Football King" Tottenham's Son Heung-min, and the absolute main force of the Premier League team Swansea's Ji Cheng
Yong, the quality is even higher than that of several overseas Chinese players.
At the same time, many Korean players play in the Chinese Super League, which also proves that the overall strength of the Korean team is higher than that of Chinese players. Otherwise, why would Korean players come to China instead of Chinese players going to South Korea as foreign aid.
FIFA's ranking of the two teams also provides evidence from another aspect. Although the current Chinese team has won continuously and gained a lot of points, it had too many debts in the past and could only be ranked No. 1 in the world.
72nd, 6th in Asia, while the South Korean team is ranked 40th in the world, second only to the Iranian team in Asia, and 32 places higher than the Chinese team.
The last, simplest and crudest way is to compare the worth of players from both sides.
Calculated based on the most authoritative German transfer data, the total value of the Korean team is 61.53 million euros, and the total value of the Chinese team is 37.81 million euros. Even excluding Son Heung-min, who cannot play in this game, South Korea’s 36.53 million euros are not even higher.
How much lower is the Chinese team?
In fact, there is a lot of debate about the total value of the Chinese team. Some people think that there is still a premium to some extent. Because the European leagues are eager for capable Chinese players, their values are generally inflated. Some fans think that they are inflated.
Just because few Chinese players go to Europe to play football, and the Chinese team's past performance is also poor, it is natural for them to be priced down. When a large number of Chinese players can go to Europe to play football, the true worth of Chinese players will be reflected.
But in any case, from all aspects, the overall strength of the complete South Korea team should be higher than that of the complete Chinese team. Son Heung-min's absence can be said to be the biggest variable in this game.
When various media outlets took all the above comparisons to the extreme, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' regular press conference on March 23 pushed the attention to this game to the extreme.
At the press conference, a South Korean reporter asked Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mengying: There are reports that China has deployed a large number of police forces for the World Cup qualifying match between the Chinese team and the South Korean team in Changsha tonight. Is this true? This move is
Isn't it because of worries about possible conflicts after the football match due to the current relations between China and South Korea?
Although Mengying answered this question with the most diplomatic answer, this is also a rare time in the history of Chinese football that a game is linked to the relationship between two countries.
On March 23, 1935, Beijing time, the sixth round of Group A of the 2018 Russia World Cup Asia Top 12 China’s home match against South Korea started.
At a long whistle from the Australian referee Peter Green, Nie Jiang returned the ball to his teammates, and the Chinese team kicked off first.
In this game, Lippi, who was determined to win, directly started with 433, with the three forwards of Nie Jiang, Wu Lei, and Ding Huaiyi, followed by the three midfielders of Qin Minghao, Xu Mingyu and Zheng Zhi, and the four defenders were Li Yun.
Feng Xiaoting, ** Peng and Jiang Zhipeng, the goalkeeper is Zengcheng who has performed well just after recovering from injury at the beginning of the season.
South Korea did not show any weakness and also formed a 433 formation. Two Chinese Super League players Hong Zhenzhao and Jang Hyun-soo partnered as central defenders, and Kim Jin-soo and Lee Yong from Jeonbuk Hyundai. The three midfielders on the left and right sides of the defense are from left to right.
The forward line of Koo Myung-jin, Koo Ja-cheol and Ki Sung-yong consists of Nam Tae-hee, Lee Jung-hyup and Ji Dong-won.
Lippi gave up the more balanced offensive and defensive 4231 and played Wu Lei, a fast and impactful forward. It was clear that he wanted to score points at home.
With the arrangement of up to four players in the midfield who can take the ball and organize and dispatch in the midfield, Lippi tried to accumulate strong points in ball-holding ability and regional linkage ability in the midfield to form a solid ball transfer network in the midfield.
The continuous organization and dispatching on the field, and finally the tactical idea of penetrating the Korean team's defense through ground technical attack is clear at a glance.
Judging from the tactical execution of actual games, this is indeed the case.
The starting midfielders and frontcourt players maintain a relatively close distance from each other, and almost everyone has no fixed position. In offensive organization and transition from defense to offense, Qin Minghao, Xu Mingyu, Zheng Zhi, and Ding Huaiyi can all
Taking the ball and receiving the ball, and constantly changing positions at the same time, ensure the success rate of the transition from defense to attack to the greatest extent. More midfield controlling players can better fight against the Korean midfielder from the aspects of taking the ball and reducing mistakes.
In other words, Lippi believes that the tactics he has deployed can keep up with the Korean team in the midfield competition. It seems that his praise of the players and his confidence in winning are not just words.
In the second minute of the first half, the Chinese team relied on Ding Huaiyi's very imaginative outside instep pass on the left wing to pass the ball to the Chinese team's midfielder Qin Minghao. The latter's tacit understanding with Ding Huaiyi was obviously beyond the Korean team.
As expected, when the Korean team kicked over, Qin Minghao had already got the ball half a step ahead of him. The Korean team's defense turned into a foul, and the foul location was in a good position in front of the penalty area.
place.
It can be said that this is a brand new version arranged by Lippi for the Chinese team.
