One hundred and fifty-eight chapters do not accumulate a small step, there is no way to a thousand m
Zhou Zijing’s goal completely destroyed Mexico’s will to resist.
After all, this is an international football invitational tournament, not the World Cup.
There is still a difference in players' level of commitment compared to the World Cup.
So it can be said that Zhou Zijing killed the suspense of the outcome of the game.
After the game restarted, although there were still a few minutes, Mexico's performance was completely different from that after conceding the previous goal.
They don't have any deep grudge against the Chinese team, and they can't afford to fight against the Chinese team when they are two goals behind.
So amidst the singing and cheering of the Chinese fans, the Mexican players also gradually slowed down their pace and were not as hardworking as before...
Dillon also took the opportunity to make substitution adjustments.
Replace Hu Lai with Gao Chen.
Give Hu Lai a chance to enjoy the applause and cheers of the fans alone here.
After all, this is the Andong Provincial Sports Center and the home stadium of the Anton Shining Stars.
Hu Lai has played here for two and a half seasons, helping Anton Flash win the Chinese Super League championship and the Football Association Cup.
His status in the hearts of Star Flash fans is different.
Almost all the fans here can be said to be fans of Hu Lai.
Giving him such an opportunity can also be said to be a "goodwill" move by Dillon to Hu Lai.
Who dares to say "the generals are at odds"?
When Hu Lai was replaced, all the Chinese fans in the stands of the Provincial Sports Center stood up from their seats and applauded Hu Lai.
For a moment, applause roared.
Amidst the applause, He Feng said: "Hu Lai was substituted in the 88th minute of the game. His 'China Cup' ends here. In this 'China Cup', he scored a total of three goals, which is the best score for the Chinese team."
An important contributor to winning the game...and here, the Andong Provincial Sports Center, is his 'home'. He used his best performance to repay the fans who supported him and loved him...perhaps Hu Lai will never be seen again in the future.
Back when Anton was playing for Stars, he can still return to this stadium to play as a player of the Chinese team... And every time he comes back, he is going home... Welcome home, Hu Lai!"
Amid applause, Hu Lai walked to the sidelines and completed the handover with Gao Chen. Instead of leaving in a hurry, he turned to all directions and waved to the fans in the stands.
The applause was even louder.
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The fact that Hu Lai was replaced meant that the competition for the championship in this game was completely over.
After all, keeping Hulay on the court means that the Chinese team still wants to score goals, or is still wary of Mexico. If Mexico scores a goal, then with Hulay on the court, the Chinese team still has the possibility of scoring.
Once Hu Lai is replaced, it means that Dillon also feels that there is no suspense in this game. The Chinese team is sure to win. Only in this case will Hu Lai be replaced in advance.
The fourth official held up a sign indicating three minutes of injury time.
A mediocre stoppage time did not leave any chance for Mexico to make a comeback.
These three minutes of injury time were basically spent amidst the singing and cheering of Chinese fans.
The substitute players of the Chinese team also stood on the sidelines, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle for the end of the game, so that they could rush into the court to celebrate with their teammates.
This is a friendly match, but it becomes different because of the "China Cup".
The Chinese team is about to win a rare international championship in their team's history. Before this, except for the East Asian Cup, the Chinese team has never won a championship in an official adult-level event since the founding of New China.
Of course, there are Chinese teams that are champions of various informal international invitational tournaments, but those invitational tournaments are not considered formal competitions because the standards of opponents are not uniform. In addition to the national team, there are also club teams and national youth teams in an invitational tournament.
Team selection, etc. Even if you win the championship in such an event, the gold content is actually not enough.
Not to mention that even this kind of competition with insufficient gold content was a long time ago. The last time the Chinese team won an informal invitational tournament was back in 1997.
In addition, the Chinese team has not even won an official competition championship.
After entering the 21st century, the Chinese team has only won two championships in official competitions, namely the 2005 East Asian Cup and the 2023 East Asian Cup.
These two championships are the only two championships that the Chinese team has after entering the new century.
Moreover, the East Asian Cup is still participated by the National Olympic team. Although it is a national team competition in name, it is actually at the National Olympic level.
If we really pick out the words very strictly, the Chinese team actually does not have a single adult-level official competition championship.
Today's "China Cup" is actually their first official competition championship!
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the cheers at the Provincial Sports Center reached the climax of the game.
He Feng, who was commentating on the game at the scene, had to shout at the top of his lungs: "The game is over! The game is over! Congratulations to the Chinese team! They defeated the powerful Mexico 3:1 in the final and won the championship of the first 'China Cup'!!"
"The important thing is actually not this championship, but what we have shown in this China Cup! It gives us hope! The road to the 2030 World Cup... starts now!"
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Amidst huge cheers, the substitute players of the Chinese team rushed into the court and hugged their teammates in celebration.
Head coach Jorge Dillon walked towards the Mexican team's coaching bench. The two were still several meters apart, so he took the initiative to extend his hand and shake Alfonso Ledez's hand.
Although he lost the game, Leders still maintained a polite smile on his face. He held Dillon's hand and said to him: "When I heard that you left Europe and went to coach a club in China, I thought
You're ready to retire, Jorge..."
Dillon smiled and said: "In fact, I am indeed ready to retire, Alfonso. After coaching the Chinese team..."
Leders was a little surprised, but then he suddenly realized: "It would be appropriate to make this team the last team you coach..."
Dillon once coached in La Liga's dominant team, Kings of Madrid, while Ledes also coached in La Liga, leading another team, Serbian Navigators.
The two have played against each other many times in the league. Ledes' Serbian Navigator often caused trouble for Dillon's Kings of Madrid, and the Kings of Madrid also beat the Navigator hard.
These two were rivals before and are still rivals now.
But times have changed, and now they are no longer on the center stage of world football, and the antagonism between them has naturally disappeared over time.
When Dillon heard Ledes say this, he laughed: "How is it? Is my team okay? You played against the Chinese team last year."
The Mexican national team played against the Chinese team in a warm-up match last September, but at that time the head coach of the Chinese team was Dong Jianhai, not Dillon.
The result of that game was that Mexico defeated the Chinese team 2:1. Dong Jianhai’s adjustments to the national team’s formation had no effect. It was also that game that made Dong Jianhai give up the idea of making changes and continued the tactics left by Shi Wuyin.
And staffing, until the 2027 Asian Cup quarter-finals against Japan...
The Chinese team lost to Mexico at that time, but now the Chinese team defeated Mexico 3:1.
In just seven months, the Chinese team has undergone earth-shaking changes.
Ledes shrugged: "Sorry, Jorge. I was not the head coach of Mexico at that time. So I can't answer your question..."
But this was an excuse, he just didn't want to give Dillon a chance to be proud.
After saying that, he planned to wave and leave: "Goodbye, Jorge. I hope we can meet again at the next World Cup."
"Ah, then you can be careful not to capsize in the CONCACAF qualifiers." Dillon joked.
"You should worry about the Asian qualifiers!"
The two said goodbye to each other in a quarrel, and then walked towards their respective teams.
Dillon, who won the victory, went to celebrate with his players, while Ryders, who lost the championship, went to comfort his players.
In every football match, there are winners and losers. Sometimes, the final result is not actually the most important thing.
Mexico lost this game and also lost a championship. But to them, it was just a commercial competition championship that paid them to come, and it had no gold content. Although the loss made them sad, it did not
It will remain in their memory for too long. Maybe tomorrow this failure will not disappear from their lives.
But for the Chinese team, what they won was more than just a championship.
The emerging event "China Cup" may be just a commercial competition to make money for other participating teams. It just has the name "XX Cup" and looks different from ordinary commercial competitions.
Yes. But in essence, it is still a commercial competition, which is completely different from the real Asian Cup, European Cup, and World Cup.
The Chinese team also knows this. To put it bluntly, the Chinese Football Association and Chinese companies spend their own money to find high-level warm-up match opponents for the Chinese team. In order to attract these teams, they naturally have to pay more. Those opponents are rushing
Are you here to compete for this championship? It’s more about the appearance fee...
But the Chinese team was still excited after winning the championship.
Not only them, the Chinese fans are also very excited.
Is it because they don't know what level of competition the "China Cup" is?
No.
They know.
But they are still so happy because they see positive things from this victory and this championship.
For Chinese football, the championship of a senior warm-up match is actually not important. Many people have not realized at this moment that this is a rare official competition championship for the Chinese team...
What matters is what they put in to win this championship and what it showed.
This is the real reason why Chinese fans are elated.
This championship is insignificant, so what?
You can't reach a thousand miles without taking small steps.
A thousand miles begins with a single step.
Now this insignificant, low-valued commercial competition championship is the "first step" for the Chinese team to compete in the 2030 World Cup.
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The award ceremony was relatively simple. After all, it was only a "cup match" with four teams participating and only playing two games.
Simply set up the podium, and players from both sides will go on stage to receive their awards.
Mexico went up first, and each of them received a silver medal and a panda doll.
The Mexican players have recovered from the pain of losing the game. They all had smiles on their faces when they came to the stage to receive their awards, especially after seeing the panda dolls. They also raised the dolls in their hands and showed them to the camera.
with...
From the perspective of this group of Mexican players, they had a wonderful vacation in Jincheng, Anton Province, China.
If the championship is gone, it will be gone...
Even Nuno Alvarez is relieved now and does not hold on to the grudge between himself and Hulay.
When it was the turn of the Chinese team players to take the stage to receive the award, excited voices came from the live broadcast:
"Let us welcome...the champions of the first China Cup...the Chinese national men's football team!!"
The scene was filled with cheers.
Amid cheers, the Chinese team players stepped onto the podium one by one and happily received the medals. Finally, captain Hao De won the first "China Cup" trophy on behalf of the team.
The music started and colorful ribbons fell from the sky.
After the award ceremony, the Chinese team players came to the sidelines, held the trophy, interacted with the fans in the stands, and thanked the fans for their support.
The fans in the stands gave them a thumbs up and shouted: "The Chinese team is awesome!"
“Come on Team China!!”
Reporters gathered outside the Chinese team players and recorded the scene with their cameras and video cameras.
At this moment, a familiar melody sounded on the live radio.
The Chinese fans cheered loudly.
Then... they collectively sang along with this melody:
"The five-star red flag is flying in the wind!!"
"What a loud victory song!!!"
Hearing the singing, Dilong happily said to Jin Tao: "Listen, Yu! The song of victory is ringing again!"
Yu Jintao smiled and nodded: "Yes... I hope we can hear it more often in the future..."
"It will definitely happen, Yu. It will definitely happen." Dillon murmured as he looked at the people in the distance.
The singing soared over the Provincial Sports Center and echoed in everyone's hearts.
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PS, I’m very sorry. From today to the 5th, there will only be single updates. Please allow me to save some articles...