There is a belief called football

Chapter 584 The Battle of Tehran

When the plane hovered in the night sky of Tehran, most of the players of the Chinese team were already sound asleep. Li Qiao slept lightly, and occasionally opened his eyes to look at the scenery outside the porthole.

"It should be here," Li Qiao thought to himself.

Stretching out, Li Qiao closed his eyes again. After being a professional player for so many years, especially after going to Europe, Li Qiao has become a trapeze artist, traveling between major cities every day, so now that he is in a strange city, Li Qiao has nothing to be excited about.

After getting off the plane and getting on the bus, the players still looked out of the window at Tehran curiously. Because of well-known reasons, midnight here is very quiet, without the hustle and bustle of big Chinese cities, and there are few vehicles on the road.

Even if one or two motor vehicles have been driven occasionally, they are very old Citroen or Renault (I don’t know why, there are many old French cars in Iran), Mercedes-Benz like domestic ones, BMW running all over the street is not seen here.

"This place is still backward compared to our China in the 80s," Qi Bing nuzui said.

Li Qiao smiled, "You are obviously born in the 90s, how did you see it in the 80s?"
Qi Bing choked on Li Qiao's words, "I don't know how to search online, besides, my parents have kept old photos."

Li Qiao raised his hand to signal that he was wrong, "Don't look at Iran's backwardness, but Iran is known as the Persian cavalry, and it is difficult for Argentina in the world to bite down on this hard bone."

"Yes, I found some old videos on the Internet. Iran's home court is like crazy, and their fans are crazy."

"National character", Li Qiao said lightly.

"Then what kind of national character do you think we are?"
"Why do you ask me this question"?
"You are smart",
Li Qiao chuckled and thought: "Our character is like jade, soft on the outside and strong on the inside."

Qi Bing nodded after hearing this, "No wonder people say that a gentleman is like jade, how about this, for my birthday this year, you can give me a piece of Hetian jade, I want XJ's suet white jade."

"Why do not you go to hell",
Qi Bingle said, "Stingy."

*****
Iran is a very tricky country. This game is very important. Hundreds of Chinese media applied to report, but in the end Iran only allowed CCTV to enter the report. This caused dissatisfaction with the Chinese national team, because when Qatar came to Tehran for the game, Iran did not restrict it.

This is obviously a small move aimed at China. Now the Chinese team is a big favorite in Asia. When encountering China, any team would be terrified.

Not only is the Chinese media restricted, but Iran also restricts Chinese fans from going to Iran to watch football. Female fans are all refused visas, and very few male fans get visas. Moreover, male fans have to attend classes before entering Iran to learn Iranian rules. For example, in Iran, strange men are not allowed to strike up a conversation with women in public places.

So in this way, the only Chinese who can come to the stadium to cheer for the Chinese team are Chinese working in Iran. Most of them are overseas employees of Chinese companies. It is estimated that there are only a few hundred people, and there are also some embassy staff.

Forget about these, what's even worse is that the quality of the training ground provided by Iran to China is also very average, and it can't meet the requirements of the Chinese team at all.

With so many difficulties, the Chinese team began their difficult preparations in Iran. In the first training session, many new players to the national team felt unwell, but Stan not only did not worry, but smiled instead.

Stan has experience, this is altitude sickness, because he has experience, so soon under the intervention of team doctor Dong Zhou, the training went on normally.

Stan is very clear that Iran is the most difficult opponent to deal with in the qualifiers, and it is also the last strong enemy. If they win this game, the Chinese team will basically qualify.

But experience tells Stan that this opponent is not easy to chew on. Argentina in the World Cup is the best example. A team like Iran can fight hard and is resilient.

After a fight, Zhang Yuning sat on the ground, the little guy waved his hands on the ground, and Stan hurried over.

"What's wrong"?
"Coach... can't breathe... gas... breath...",
Stan patted Zhang Yuning on the back, "Don't worry, I can't die, I tried it four years ago, they all came here like this", after speaking, Stan pointed to Li Qiao, Qi Bing and others.

Zhang Yuning has been living in the Netherlands, where the altitude is the lowest. When he ran to a high altitude area all of a sudden, he was still engaged in such intense sports as football. If he was not in good health, he might have passed out.

Things went as Stan expected, after two training sessions, everyone got used to it and could reach the state of the game.

*****
At the press conference, Queiroz and Stan were friends, so this time the two sides held a joint press conference.

"I still remember the time I trained with Stan in XZ four years ago. I can only say that Stan is so creative," Queiroz used such words as his opening remarks.

Stan laughed, "I hope there is a chance to do it again",
After speaking, the two looked at each other and smiled heartily. Stan can say such a big talk, but Queiroz can't say it yet, because for the Iranian team he leads, there is no chance of qualifying.

After a brief recap, the media questioning session began.

"Coach Stan, if you win this game, the Chinese team you lead will qualify. What do you think?"
Stan shook his head, "Theoretically not yet", implying that you are right.

In terms of points, winning this game does not guarantee the advancement of the Chinese team, but in reality, it is impossible for the opponents behind to stop the Chinese team.

"Coach Stan, how do you feel after you come to Tehran? I feel out of breath." This is a question from a Chinese reporter.

Stan smiled, "Fortunately, I have been to both XZ and Bolivia, and Tehran is okay for me."

The Chinese reporter added another question, "How sure are you of winning?"

"80%"
There was a rustle at the scene, and many reporters lowered their heads and smiled maliciously, "80%? You really think of yourself as the German team."

Stan took a glance and knew what these people were thinking, "What? Did you say less? Well, 90%."

The Iranian reporter couldn't help it anymore, "Then, Coach Stan, do you know what the Iranian team's winning percentage is at home?"
Stan doesn't know, and he doesn't need to know, "I really don't know, please don't tell me, I just want to win the game quietly."

"Wow, why don't you go to heaven?"
Of course, this sentence was translated by me, but the OS in the hearts of the Iranian reporters present probably meant this.

In the last round, they beat South Korea 5-0. It is normal for the Chinese team to have such dominance in Asia, but Iran is different. To put it bluntly, people in this country are still relatively ignorant. For example, they basically do not broadcast other teams’ games, so in Iran, many people think that the Chinese team is the old Chinese team.

Only Queiroz understands that Stan is not bragging, so when he talked about this game, Queiroz said: "The Chinese team is the champion of the Asian Cup, and it is also the first in Group B. I think it is normal to lose to the Chinese team."

As soon as this remark came out, the people below were in an uproar, especially the Iranian journalists. Some people immediately stood up and said: "You can't say that. Is the Chinese team stronger than Argentina?"
"Of course I didn't mean that",
"We have all heard that since you are so partial to Stan, you might as well be Stan's assistant."

"Please pay attention to your words," the press officer reminded.

Unexpectedly, Stan is really not afraid of big things. He chuckled and said, "Good idea, I really lack a good assistant like Queiroz."

One sentence choked all the Iranian journalists to death, what can they do now?It was what they said, Stan was hit with a stick, and the Iranian reporter who asked the question was flushed with anger, and the beard on his face rose and fell with his breath. He really wanted to take off his shoes and throw them at Stan, so that he could taste the treatment of the President of the United States.

But in the end he didn't do this, but sat down, because Iran still has 3 qualifiers behind, if he dares to make trouble, then the AFC is likely to cancel Tehran's home qualification.

The entire press conference was held very intensely, and the atmosphere was tense. We all know Stan's temper, and he has always been a man with a needle point.

This restless press conference foreshadows that the upcoming war will not be peaceful either.

The game was very intense. In the devil's home court in Iran, the Chinese team could not take advantage of the first half. The Iranians took out the trick they used to deal with Argentina - stick to it.

But after the game entered the second half, Iran's defense finally fell. Li Qiao's corner kick was passed into the penalty area like a precise guidance, waiting for Zhou Dun in the middle to jump up and smash the ball into the goal. The Chinese team led 1-0.

The second goal 10 minutes later was basically the same, except that the goal was replaced by another central defender—Wei Xiao, and Li Qiao was the one who passed the ball.

In the end, with two corner kicks, the Chinese team defeated Iran 2-0 in the away game. Before the game, the whole country of Iran was scolded, and the spearhead was directed at the head coach of the Iranian team, Queiroz.

Queiroz was called a traitor by the Iranians. The Iranians have prejudices against Westerners. In addition, Queiroz helped Stan speak before the game, so the Iranians took the anger of losing the game on Queiroz.

And Queiroz finally couldn't bear it anymore. After the game, he made a major decision-resign and quit.

This frightened the Iranian Football Association. It is difficult to find a head coach of Queiroz's level, but it was too late. Not long after Queiroz announced his resignation, Queiroz flew back to Portugal.

(End of this chapter)