There is a belief called football

Chapter 611
With three whistles, Bayern was eliminated by Barcelona in the semi-finals. Barcelona finally completed their revenge a year later. They lost to Bayern in the final last season and lost the championship.

And Bayern also missed the chance to defend the title. After the game, the players shed sad tears, especially Lahm. This is the last time he participated in the Champions League. After this season, he will officially retire.

Muller seemed a bit stupid. Before the game, the media predicted that Bayern was likely to reach the Champions League final, and even become the first team to win the Champions League for two consecutive years after the restructuring of the Champions League, but Bayern still lost in the end.

Li Qiao stood in the middle of the court. After a year, he changed from a hero to a mediocre player, but only he knew that for the World Cup, he did not give his best this season.

At the same time, thousands of miles away in China, a person raised his arms and shouted, "Long live, Bayern is eliminated, my prayers have worked."

This person is Stan, because Bayern was eliminated, Li Qiao can come to the national team to report in advance and prepare for the World Cup, which is very important to Stan.

"Li Qiao, I feel sorry for you, Bayern was eliminated",
After the game, Stan sent this passage to Li Qiao immediately, with a sad tone, but he added a big smiley face at the end.

"Stop being hypocritical, Stan, I don't know you yet"?Li Qiao replied.

"Okay, then I won't pretend, the Bundesliga is coming to an end, hurry up and report to the national team",
"Isn't your list of 23 members not yet announced?"
"Fuck me, if you announce it or not, you have to come, can you miss me? Don't even think about it, I will tie you up."

Li Qiao chuckled, "Stan, you are becoming more and more rascal."

"No way, I am from Serbia, we are a fighting nation."

"Okay, I'll go after I finish here, maybe a little later," Li Qiao said.

"It's okay, you don't need to go back to your country, go directly to Kiev, we will meet there",
Putting down his phone, Stan looks out the window. The last and most important piece of his World Cup puzzle is about to be added.

Watching and watching, Stan's eyes were drawn away from the neon lights outside the window, and he began to imagine various scenes in the World Cup.

The next day, Stan held a press conference and announced the 23-man roster of the Chinese team for the World Cup.

Goalkeepers: Qi Rate, Wang Dalei, Zhen Cheng.

Defense line: Chen Fei, Zhou Dun, Wei Xiao, Qi Bing, Shi Ke, Zhang Linpeng, Zhang Chengdong, Wang Tong.

Midfielders: Zhang Xizhe, Hao Junmin, Liao Lisheng, Wang Kong, Sun Ke, Lin Zhijian, Lin Liangming, Xu Xin.

Forward line: Li Qiao, Zhang Yuning, Ding Mu, Yu Dabao.

This list should be said to be uncontroversial. The principle of Stan's employment has always been the local and overseas players, so it should be said that Stan's announcement of the big list is just a routine.

But the reason why everyone came is because of one thing, that is, the last warm-up match opponent of the Chinese team-Spain.

The game was scheduled to be held in Kiev. After the game, both sides flew to Russia. The Chinese team is based in Sochi this time. It is a five-star hotel arranged by the Chinese team's own sponsor, and there are two professional training grounds.

So many journalists flew to Sochi immediately after reporting the Chinese team's game with the team.

At the end of the press conference was a question-and-answer session.

"When will Li Qiao come to Xianghe?"the reporter asked.

"Li Qiao will not come to Xianghe, he flew directly from Munich to Kiev, we will meet there, and everyone except Li Qiao will arrive at the Xianghe base the day after tomorrow."

"Will Spain send all the main lineup to fight?"
"I don't know. I can only guarantee that I will take this game seriously, but I can't guarantee what will happen to the opponent."

"One more question, Stan, your contract is until the end of the World Cup, will you renew it"?
Stan paused, "You are very concerned about this issue"?
All the reporters at the scene nodded in unison. Perhaps at that moment, the whole of China was nodding.

Stan spread his hands, "But I'm sorry, this is a topic I really can't talk about. It's a taboo for coaches to talk about it before the game."

"But I can promise you, I will have a good talk with the Chinese Football Association."

As soon as these words came out, the reporters at the scene breathed a sigh of relief. If Stan leaves, how boring Chinese football will be in the future.

Although Stan didn't promise anything, at least he left a gap to give everyone hope.

*****
When we first arrived in Kiev, everyone was intoxicated by the beautiful scenery of Ukraine, especially the charming Ukrainian beauties on the street.

"Fuck, the beauties here can't be seen with 10 pairs of eyes," Qi Bing said.

Boom, Qi Bing was beaten firmly on the back of the head by Stan again, "I came here for a competition, not to show you beauties."

"There's no competition now, so it's fine if I take time to look at the beauties, otherwise why would my mother give me a pair of eyes?"
There was another bang, and everyone else laughed, but let alone, there are so many beauties in Kiev, and everyone secretly took a look at them.

In addition to beauties, the ancient buildings in Kiev are also very attractive. Kiev is a famous historical city. There are many beautiful Baroque buildings here, but the players can only look through the windows of the bus and have no time to visit.

For Kiev, the players of the national team can only pass by in a hurry. Everyone's real destination is not far away in Russia, in Sochi.

Li Qiao also arrived that night, along with Diana. Li Qiao originally planned to stay at Diana's house, but Stan insisted not to allow them. Privileged players are not allowed in the "Si Family Army", so Li Qiao and Diana went to the hotel to report after they separated.

On the practice field the next day, Stan had the players form a circle and stood in the middle, which felt like a holy sermon.

"Today I will talk to you about dreams",
"Qi Bing, do you still remember the first question I asked you on the first day you came to Tianbao?"
"Remember, what to play for".

Stan nodded.

"Remember when we came, on the bus to the airport, those fans along the way"?
Everyone nodded.

"Their longing eyes, do you know what they long for?"
"Know", everyone shouted in unison.

"I don't want to talk too much to you this time. I just want to say, let's play football for the fans' expectations. We play football. We can be sorry for ourselves, but we can't be sorry for the fans, you know?"
Everyone nodded.

"Also, my team has no privileges, no matter if it's the World Footballer", Stan looked at Li Qiao, "It's still a monkey", Stan looked at Qi Bing, everyone was happy, "We are a whole, an indestructible whole".

"Everyone knows that we are facing great difficulties. We are divided into the death group, Brazil, Portugal, and Côte d'Ivoire. The outside world is waiting to see our jokes, but can we let people see the jokes?"

Everyone lowered their heads and knew how difficult the upcoming difficulties would be.

"Head up," Stan snapped.

"We haven't set foot on the battlefield yet, you bowed your heads." Following Stan's violent yelling, everyone raised their heads again.

Today’s Stan is a bit different. He used a word—battlefield. Yes, the 4-year World Cup is actually a war in peacetime. It can make one country cry, another country laugh, make one country proud, and another country bow its head. This is football, and this is the World Cup.

"I don't want to see you bow your heads until the World Cup is over, you know?"
The crowd nodded.

After the training, Stan left. The training task was handed over to Queiroz. Now Stan's team division of labor is the same as that of the European giants. It is very meticulous. Queiroz is in charge of training.

*****
The game against Spain was very peaceful. The Spanish team sent all the main players to play, but neither side meant to fight desperately.

Stan shook his head on the sidelines. To be honest, the effect of the warm-up match was not up to his expectations, but the World Cup is about to start, and the warm-up match at this time can only be at this level, and no one will compete at this time.

In the first half of the game, Cork of Spain hit the goal post with a long shot. He didn't get any chances, but Spain had an absolute advantage in possession of the ball. The 70% possession rate allowed Spain to take the initiative on the field.

Although Portugal, the opponent in the World Cup, does not have such a strong ball possession rate as Spain, the styles of the two teams are very similar. If you can't find a good way to play against Spain, you should be very passive when you face Portugal in the end.

Facing Spain, the main method of the Chinese team is to defend and counterattack, especially players like Li Qiao, Ding Mu and Zhang Yuning, who can have a strong ability to control the ball and seize opportunities. Sure enough, in the second half, Ding Mu scored a goal, but it is a pity that the moment Li Qiao passed the ball, Ding Mu was a little offside, and the goal was invalid.

The final result was 0-0. Stan knew that Spain only exerted 5% of their strength. Such a result was of no reference value, but when facing the media after the game, Stan still expressed his satisfaction with the result of the game.

After the warm-up match, Stan led the team to fly to Sochi. The first game of the Chinese team will start in 10 days, against Brazil.

On the plane, a few words jumped into Stan’s mind—dream, glory, loss, and tears. He thought of Bolivia 4 years ago, and he was with Queiroz at that time, but this time Queiroz had become his assistant.

"nervous"?Stan asked.

Queiroz shook his head, "I don't know."

"How did you feel 4 years ago",
"To be honest, being a coach in Iran is just a job, but being with you feels like a journey."

"Am I so special"?
"Yes, you are a complete madman",
Stan laughed, "Maybe only a lunatic can be a football coach, this job is too stressful."

(End of this chapter)