Hong Renjie stood at the door of the restaurant. Every Chinese team player who came to have breakfast had to say hello to him:
"Hello, Leader Hong!"
"Good morning, Leader Hong!"
"Have you eaten, Leader Hong?"
…
He smiled and returned the greeting one by one:
"Okay, okay."
"Good morning, Xiao Guo!"
"Eat, eat, today's breakfast is good. Master Fan specially made the debut breakfast for you! After eating, you will be stronger and in better condition! Hahaha!"
…
Yu Jintao, who also came for breakfast, just got off the elevator and before he saw anyone, he heard Hong Renjie's hearty laughter coming from the direction of the restaurant.
When he walked to the door of the restaurant, he saw Hong Renjie high-fiving Zhou Zijing, then patted him on the shoulder and pushed him into the restaurant.
"What are you so happy about, Lao Hong?" Yu Jintao asked curiously.
"I'm watching them here, and they are all very energetic." Hong Renjie turned to look at the Chinese team players in the restaurant and said. "It looks like they slept well last night."
"Is there any explanation for this?"
"Of course." Hong Renjie said, "In the first game of the World Cup four years ago, I stood in front of the restaurant like this, checking one by one to see if they had slept well. You can still see some dark circles under the eyes of some players, but today... one
nothing."
Yu Jintao suddenly realized: "Everyone's mentality has changed for the better."
"Yeah..." Hong Renjie said with emotion. "Four years ago, I was watching the game the day before the game, and it was also the Korean team's game. The Korean team still lost. And South Korea's loss that time was not as bad as this time.
The result really scared everyone. After all, it was not easy for us to win against the Korean team in Asia at that time. Such a strong opponent in the World Cup left the United States, which was not particularly strong, unable to fight back..."
Yu Jintao nodded to express his understanding: "You were worried that they wouldn't be able to sleep well, so you checked them one by one at the door of the restaurant the next day?"
"I didn't check them very deliberately. I was afraid that doing so would put them under greater psychological pressure. I just looked at them secretly, and on the pretext of saying hello to them, I checked them one by one, and every time I looked at one, I recorded their status in a small book.
"
After hearing Hong Renjie's words, Yu Jintao tilted his head, wanting to see what the little notebook that Leader Hong was talking about looked like.
Hong Renjie noticed his action and smiled: "Don't look for it, I didn't prepare a small book this time. In fact, I had some premonitions before, thinking that they should be different this time from four years ago. After all, the atmosphere in training is always the same
They were all very happy, and there were no conflicts or accidents caused by tension.”
"Hu Lai must remember the first move." Yu Jintao said.
"It's not just him. Everyone else performed very well, especially those who have participated in the World Cup once. After all, they have seen the world and know what the World Cup is like. If you know it, you won't be afraid. Look at me
I’m much calmer this time.”
Yu Jintao nodded: "I understand, Lao Hong, you have gone through such a big circle just to show off in front of me that this is your second time participating in the World Cup."
Hong Renjie burst out laughing, which even attracted the attention of the international players in the restaurant.
"Let's go eat, Lao Yu. Today's breakfast is really good. Master Fan and his apprentices have tried their best. They usually emphasize nutritional balance, but today Dilong specifically said in advance that he could give it to
Everyone makes what they want to eat."
"Okay." Yu Jintao agreed and asked before leaving: "Master Fan, are they participating in the World Cup for the second time?"
"Yes, just like me." Hong Renjie said with a smile.
Yu Jintao gave a thumbs up: "Eating well is also very important. Eating well is also a fighting force."
"Who says it's not?"
Yu Jintao bid farewell to Hong Renjie, who was like a janitor, and walked into the restaurant. He saw Master Fan Fushun, the "Queen Chef" who had followed the Chinese team in all the wars over the years, wearing a red chef's hat and busy behind the kitchen counter.
Several of his apprentices are scattered around, and they are also busy, dividing the work and cooperating, and they are busy but not chaotic.
Everything is in perfect order.
Some people are pulling the dough in their hands into silver-like noodles, some are frying eggs in front of the iron plate, and some are taking the steamer off the stove and opening the lid of the steamer. White steam spurts out, filling the kitchen.
They are all rendered like a heavenly palace, and the white and tender buns in the steamer are transformed into "flat peaches" that can prolong life.
The complex fragrance is centered on the operating table and spreads to the outside. It is refreshing and soothing to the stomach.
Seeing Yu Jintao coming over, Fan Fushun, who was busy with his fat head and round face, said hello with a friendly smile: "Teacher Yu is here? What do you want to eat? There are noodles, noodles, tofu, sweet and salty, you can order whatever you want!"
Steamed buns, steamed buns, flower rolls, jujube cakes, any kind of snack will do..."
Yu Jintao shook his head: "Bring me a bowl of beef ramen."
"Okay!" Master Fan agreed very crisply, then turned to the noodle cooking station next to him and ordered: "Ah Kuan, give us a bowl of noodles for Teacher Yu!"
"No problem!" Apprentice A Kuan pulled a piece of dough from the chopping board and said to Jin Tao: "Teacher Yu, wait a moment, I will pull it for you!"
"It's okay, I'm not in a hurry." Yu Jintao stood nearby with a smile, watching Ah Kuan fly with his hands, gradually tearing a piece of dough into countless noodles like a magic trick.
While waiting, two more Chinese team players came over, Mao Junzheng and Lin Zhiyuan.
One wants fried eggs, and the other wants to make a bowl of noodles.
In order to prevent the players from eating cold food, the eggs had to be fried freshly, so the two of them waited nearby.
Then chatted with the chef, Yu Jintao.
"What does Teacher Yu eat?" Mao Jun was asking.
"Ramen." Yu Jintao replied, then looked at the food on the plate in his hand and asked, "Is that all you eat?"
"What, he's in the second set!" Lin Zhiyuan pointed at Mao Junzheng and laughed.
Mao Junzheng smiled and counterattacked: "How dare you accuse me? You ate a lot of shrimp dumplings and soup dumplings before!"
Lin Zhiyuan smiled playfully: "It's rare that Master Fan and the others can lift the seal today. We can't let Master Fan and the others down. Can't we try a little of everything?"
When Fan Fushun heard Lin Zhiyuan's words, his eyes almost disappeared with laughter, and he nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Xiao Lin is right. After eating our food, we will ensure that everyone has the strength and energy to play well in Spain in the evening.
Avenge Lao Di!"
Yesterday, the famous Spanish media "El Mundo Deportivo" suddenly reported a "secret news" on the Internet, which was the "inside story" about Jorge Dillon's failure to coach the Spanish national team:
After the 2018 World Cup, the contract of head coach Jimmy Royvi, who led the Spanish team to the quarterfinals, expired.
The two parties had already discussed it before the World Cup, and no matter what the final results were, the contract would not be renewed. Because Royvi had already decided to sign a contract with the King of Madrid at that time - of course he did not say it, so the Spanish Football Association did not know
, all I know is that Royvi will no longer coach the Spanish national team.
So the Spanish Football Federation is looking for a new coach for the national team.
At that time, Jorge Dillon, who was still coaching the Serie A giant Turin Bulls, was the favorite to coach the Spanish national team.
After all, he just led the Turin Bulls to the Champions League championship two seasons ago. This is the second Champions League championship he has won in his coaching career, which is quite an honor.
It stands to reason that his willingness to take over the Spanish national team should be something that the Spanish Football Association desires.
Dillon has also publicly stated many times that being able to coach the Spanish national team to win the World Cup is the highest pursuit of his career. The 58-year-old Dillon even hinted that coaching the Spanish national team may be the last step of his coaching career.
stand.
But the end result was that the Spanish Football Federation selected the fifty-year-old Kiri Borja.
Borja was indeed one of the candidates at the time, but compared to the popular Dillon, Borja's reputation and resume were actually worse.
For example, he has no experience of leading a team to win the Champions League.
His only advantage is that he has coached five different La Liga teams and most of the players in Spain
They are all relatively familiar.
Compared with Dillon, Borja is like a commoner among coaches, while Dillon is an aristocratic elite.
There is a lot of speculation about why Dillon was not successfully elected as the head coach of the Spanish national team.
It was considered a major event in European football at the time.
Dillon expressed doubts and confusion after losing the election, and even criticized the Spanish Football Association for this.
However, the Spanish Football Federation did not announce any reasons, allowing various rumors to fly online and in the media.
During this period, every time Borja's team's performance went up and down, everyone would bring up the grievances between Dillon and the Spanish Football Association and re-hype it. For example, in the 2020 European Cup, the Spanish national team he coached won the quarter-finals
When he was eliminated from the competition...
Until the 2022 World Cup, Borja, who was not optimistic before the game, led his team to the World Cup finals, although they ultimately lost to the Italian team led by Caesar and finished second.
All talk about his unfitness to coach Spain's national team, which is packed with stars, has disappeared.
After that, no one used Dillon to sneer at Borja anymore.
In addition, Dillon's coaching results after his success with the Turin Bulls were unsatisfactory:
After he led the team to win the Serie A championship and the Italian Cup in the 2019-2020 season, the second season started with a five-game losing streak, and he was finally fired by the Turin Bulls before the winter break.
Later, Jorge Dillon moved to three teams, but failed to achieve success.
His last time coaching in Europe will be the 2021-2022 season.
When former national team coach rival Kili Borja led the Spanish national team to the Qatar World Cup finals in the winter of 2022, he was once again fired by the club during the winter break.
Then, unwilling to give up, he quickly signed a contract with Getafe 1326, preparing to help this team avoid relegation. And Getafe 1326 was the first team where he started his coaching career, which can be regarded as his return to his roots.
When he signed with Getafe 1326, the club heavily promoted it. What a "legend comes home", what a "place where the dream begins"...
In short, it should be as touching as possible.
As a result, who would have thought that just one month later, Getafe would sack Dillon at 1326.
It turns out that touching fairy tales are only valid for one month.
Dillon's dismissal was said to be due to the tense relationship between him and Agudo Morant, the then general manager of Getafe 1326 club. After becoming the team's head coach, Dillon demanded monopoly power and had an affair with Morant.
conflict.
After the dismissal, the two parties went to court over the issue of compensation, which was very unpleasant.
The feelings of the past are gone.
The touching propaganda a month ago now seems quite ironic...
And since Morant was the one who decided to sign Dillon and give him a chance to make a comeback, the subsequent disputes between Dillon and Morant, coupled with the lawsuit against his old club, also brought Dillon to court.
Long's popularity in Europe was completely ruined.
At that time, the Spanish media was full of all kinds of black stuff about Dillon. Regardless of whether it was true or false, fans watched it with gusto, and a lot of dark stuff about Dillon also appeared on the Internet.
The famous European coach in the past has been reduced to a "clown" that everyone shouts about and can laugh at.
After being dismissed from Getafe 1326 in February 2023, Dillon has been idle at home. No team asked him to coach, and even TV stations did not dare to ask him to be a commentator.
It looks like his career is over.
It wasn't until April 2024 that a club from China sent his agent an email asking the famous coach Jorge Dillon if he was interested in coaching in China.
Dillon, who had disappeared from the public eye for almost more than a year, has finally returned to the spotlight.
But in fact, for European football, there is no difference between him and continuing to disappear - no one will think that coaching in China is still the center stage of world football. A head coach
Going there to coach is no different than a player going to play in a Middle Eastern league: you'll end up making a fortune and then retire.
The Spanish media just used this incident to increase Dillon's popularity.
"World Sports News" ridiculed that Dillon may have spent all his savings during the year at home, and urgently needs to find someone who is stupid and has a lot of money to pay his pension.
"A professional team in China has found the most suitable head coach for them. Although it is difficult for the money-grubbing Dillon to gain a foothold in European football, he can still become like a god in the distant football desert of China.
Character, after all, the people there have not seen much of the world, they may still have braids, ha... The salary offered by the Chinese club for him was staggering. It is said that when Dillon heard the number reported by the agent,
His first reaction was not to agree or refuse, but to ask: 'Are the Chinese crazy? I don't know if the Chinese are crazy, but I think China may have just put up telephone lines... Hahahaha!"
Then Dillon once again disappeared from the mainstream view of European football.
When Dillon was in decline, Borja, the "green leaf" who was used to foil him in the past, reached the peak of his coaching career.
He led the Spanish national team to win the 2026 World Cup.
At this time, not many people even mentioned the past competition between him and Dillon...
Later, Dillon appeared again in European media reports, and it was he who became the head coach of the Chinese team.
This is because of Hu Lai's performance, which made European football interested in Chinese football.
"World Sports" jumped out again - this Barcelona media had a deep hatred with Dillon because of his past coaching the Madrid Kings - they reported the news of Dillon coaching the Chinese team with sarcasm.
:
"Congratulations to Jorge Dillon, he finally realized his lifelong dream - to become the head coach of a national team. What made Dillon agree to coach the Chinese team? Perhaps it was because of the home jerseys of the Chinese team and the Spanish team
They’re all red, right…”
Yesterday, Mundo Deportivo made important revelations. In their report, they revealed why the Spanish Football Federation did not choose Jorge Dillon.
And it's not a text report that "starts with a picture, and the content is all edited." This time, Mundo Deportivo directly produced a recording of the phone call of Spanish Football Federation Chairman Manuel Zenitalia.
In the recording, Zenitalia said:
"...Yes, we didn't consider Dillon at first, partly because of his character. You know, he will cause controversy wherever he goes, both in the Kings and the Bulls... Yes, he has fighting
Spirit. But football is not just about fighting spirit... On the other hand, and probably the most important reason, is that we think his understanding of modern football trends is out of date... Yes, let me put it bluntly, his
That approach is outdated. He was able to win the Champions League with the Bulls only because of Caesar's super personal ability. That Turin Bulls team, to be honest... anyone could have won the championship. Sorry, that's what I'm saying.
So direct."
At this time, another person in the phone recording asked: "Did you tell Dillon this?"
Zenitalia laughed out loud: "Oh no, no. We don't want to drag ourselves into the whirlpool of trouble."
The other party also laughed together.
The phone recording ended with the two people laughing.
Apart from the World Cup, this incident was the most explosive news in Spanish football yesterday.
Although no one is complaining about why Dillon was not elected as the head coach of the national team, in the past twelve years, some people have analyzed the real reason why Dillon did not coach the national team.
But this is the first time that officials have acknowledged those rumors: first, Dillon's troublesome character; second, he can no longer keep up with the development trend of modern football.
And it was said very rudely, even a bit of a personal insult.
After the phone recording was exposed by Mundo Deportivo, the current president of the Spanish Football Federation, Manuel Zenitalia, said he would consider suing Mundo Deportivo.
Yu Bao" leaked his private call recordings without permission.
He only sued the Barcelona media for leaking his phone recordings, instead of suing Mundo Deportivo for fabricating rumors... This is very intriguing.
In fact, it has been decided whether Jorge Dillon will achieve better results than Borja if he coaches the Spanish national team.
Kily Borja led the Spanish national team to a World Cup runner-up and a championship. Such achievements can be ranked among the top five in the entire history of world football.
So Dillon cannot do better than Borja anyway.
From this point of view, it was extremely correct for the Spanish Football Federation to abandon Dillon and choose Borja. It just shows that the chairman of the Football Association Zenitalia has a unique vision.
Many people are glad that the Spanish Football Association did not really choose Dilon. Otherwise, how could the Spanish team be as brilliant as it is today?
Even Dillon himself probably has to admit this.
Yesterday at the pre-match press conference, he was asked by the media about his relationship with Borja, and this is his answer:
"I have no problem with Killy, I respect and admire what he has done with the national team. I am very happy to see Spain win the world championship under his leadership. So yes, before tomorrow's game, I will
He shook hands and hugged. There was absolutely no problem between us."
But he refused to answer what he thought of the exposed call recording.
Obviously, although he has no objection to Borja, he still has a lot of resentment towards the Spanish Football Association, especially after knowing the comments made by the president of the Spanish Football Association about him.
From the perspective of football professionals, it is absolutely reasonable for the Spanish Football Association not to choose Dilon. At that time, the Spanish national team was based on Catalonia's midfield and tactical system, which was indeed the most popular tactical idea and focused on ball control.
.Those years were also when Catalonia United was relatively successful.
Dillon still prefers the traditional wing plus center model.
In fact, Caesar changed from a winger to a center during the period when Dillon was coaching the Turin Bulls.
Although he relied on this strategy to achieve success with the Turin Bulls, winning the Champions League and the league championship successively.
But I have to say that at that time, the whole of Europe was playing pass and control, and his "tactics of the last century" ("World Sports News" said) did seem very outdated.
In addition, his tactics required too high a center forward's scoring ability, and there were not many outstanding forwards in European football at that time who were good at scoring, which made it difficult for him to make it in European football in the later period.
So what the Spanish Football Federation did was right, and what Zenitalia said was right, except that the wording was a little careless...
But Fan Fushun is just a chef. He doesn't know the professional football knowledge. He only knows that Dillon is the coach of the national team, and now he is ridiculed and insulted by the Spanish media.
Since ancient times, how can a coach be humiliated and his subordinates remain indifferent?
So... eat well, eat well, and go and avenge your coach at night!