When Zhou Yi was preparing for the second round of the league at Bracker Training Base, reporters flocked to him. Everyone wanted to hear what he, the core Dortmund, thought about the team being assigned to the death group. Some reporters came to interview him about his feelings about being on the list of ten best players in European clubs.

Zhou Yi seemed calm and even a little indifferent about the best ten-person list.

"The strongest ten people? I have never stopped saying this. There are only three people who can attend the award ceremony every year, so the 'strongest ten people' is the gimmick you made up, right? No official said this. It doesn't make any sense."

Zhou Yi's words were equivalent to breaking a basin of cold water for those excited reporters, but this is a normal practice for a person who has high requirements for himself. If he is complacent if he is included in the so-called "strongest ten" list, his achievements may end here.

There are only some Chinese journalists who pay attention to the so-called "strongest ten people", and more people pay attention to the group stage.

Zhou Yi seemed very self-righteous about this matter. He asked the reporters: "Do you know the Champions League D group in the 1989-1999 season?"

This answer is meaningful. How could these professional football reporters not know about the Champions League D group in the 1989-1999 season? They were simply impressed by the death group that year.

So what does Zhou Yi mean by this answer?

Is it mean that Dortmund can become Bayern Munich or Manchester United in that year? But the problem is that first of all, Dortmund has to qualify from this group...

It's not that easy to qualify from this group.

Klopp also seemed as confident as Zhou Yi when interviewing with reporters: "We know that the opponent is strong, but Dortmund is also a strong opponent in the eyes of his opponents. We will fight hard against any team that blocks us."

After being assigned to the death group, Dortmund did not show any negative emotions, which made Dortmund fans feel a little more relaxed...

And there is a change that makes Dortmund fans very happy.

After seven seasons, Dortmund returned to the Champions League in the 2009-2010 season. They were divided into a group with defending champions Inter Milan, Valencia and Twente, which was the Champions League death group that season.

How did the media view the results of this grouping at that time?

They all think that the situation of Dortmund's qualifying is worrying, and it is not easy to grab a qualifying place, and they have to rely on the favor of luck. They believe that the most practical thing for Dortmund is to adjust their mentality and accumulate experience, and do not expect any group qualifying.

At that time, Dortmund was really looked down upon in the European arena.

And this time, he was also assigned to the death group, and the degree of death was even worse than the last time. However, everyone's evaluation of Dortmund was not a bad thing, but believed that Dortmund was an important part of the death group, and believed that Dortmund could wrestle with any opponent in this group stage, and no one was sure to win Dortmund.

This is the result of Dortmund entering the Champions League knockout stage for two consecutive seasons, one season in the quarterfinals and one season in the quarterfinals.

In the football world, respect and recognition are earned by strength.

※※※

After the Champions League group draw ceremony, Dortmund ushered in the second round of the Bundesliga, and they challenged Nuremberg away.

In this game, Zhou Yi only played halftime and appeared, and was replaced during the halftime break. In the end, Dortmund shook hands with Nuremberg 1:1 away.

Zhou Yi was replaced early because he would return to China to participate in a very important World Cup qualifier.

Before, the Chinese Football Association had continued to communicate with Dortmund. Because there had been similar things before, and the two sides had good communication and cooperation, this time it also formed an agreement, allowing Zhou Yi to only play in the half-time league and retain more physical fitness for him to return to China to participate.

Fortunately, there is only this national team game in September, and Zhou Yi can come back after the game, so there is no need to waste too much time, and the losses suffered by the club are relatively small.

However, if Zhou Yi has such privileges, Yang Muge will not be treated so well. After all, Zhou Yi is the core of the club, and the head coach will also consider the players' mood. If he is more willing to play for the country, the club will be compatible.

Although Yang Muge is Yang Muge's main player, he has no core treatment. Schalke 04 will never let Yang Muge play halftime in order to get him back to China to participate.

In this game, Schalke 04 defeated Augsburg 3-1 at home, and Yang Muge played the whole game.

Fortunately, Yang Muge's physical fitness is much better than Zhou Yi, so even if he plays forty-five minutes more than Zhou Yi, it's no big deal.

In Spain, Sun Pan was not recruited into the national roster for this competition due to injury. He will stay in Spain to continue recuperating. However, he has already started training and thinks he is not far from his return.

He Ying has no physical fitness problem, because in the third round of the league, Barcelona defeated Valencia 1-0 at home, but he still was not able to enter the roster. Without the game, how could he be ineffective?

The central defender Guo Nu, who played for Siena in Serie A, also played the whole game, but unfortunately Siena lost 1:2 away to Sampdoria.

In addition to Sun Pan, four of the five little dragons were selected to the national team list and wanted to return to China to prepare for the game against the Japanese team.

Among the entire national Olympic team, not only four of them were selected for the national team. Forward Wu Lei and full-back Cao Yun were also selected for the national team's roster with their outstanding performance in the Olympics. However, this is not the first time Wu Lei was selected for the national team. As early as the 2010 East Asia Cup, he was selected for Gao Hongbo's national team, but he has always been a fringe international player and his status in the national team is not stable.

During the London Olympics, the media reported that the national team head coach Gao Hongbo was watching the game in London. At that time, some people speculated that Gao Hongbo was here to observe the outstanding players in the National Olympic Team. Perhaps after the Olympics, they would be recruited into the national team one after another.

Unexpectedly, after the Olympics, Gao Hongbo moved almost half of the national Olympic team into the national team.

This is a bold move. After all, so many people come in, it means that the same number of former national team players will be eliminated. This large-scale adjustment is actually very risky, because to offend people and destroy the original vested interest structure. After all, it is not easy to be able to enter the national team, and no one wants to get out.

Although the National Olympic Team won the Olympic gold medal, it does not mean that they are definitely suitable for the national team. After all, the tactical systems of the National Olympic Team and the National Olympic Team are different.

If the grades are good, that's fine. Even if someone is dissatisfied, there is no excuse to vent. But if the grades are not good, then for Gao Hongbo and the young players of the National Olympic Team, the pressure will be overwhelming.

But the first game the players of the National Olympic Team joined the team was to fight against the most powerful team in the Japanese group...

Still away!

If Gao Hongbo loses this game, will Gao Hongbo face pressure from some people in China? Will the players of the National Olympic Team also become victims?

In fact, there is no need for Gao Hongbo to recruit so many players from the National Olympic Team in one go. Not only will it be an impact on the national team players, but it also needs to make the newcomers adapt to the national team's tactics again.

But Gao Hongbo has recruited so many people, and it is useless to say anything. Gao Hongbo is sometimes stubborn and can't figure out how this thin and shy man's physical strength contains such explosive power...

He was also so stubborn when coaching the Changchun team. His stubbornness allowed him to lead the "civilian team" of Long Pass Yatai to win the Chinese Super League championship historically. But it was also because of his stubbornness that he had an irreconcilable conflict with the players after the championship and was eventually dismissed by the club. However, the Changchun team, which lost Gao Hongbo, could no longer regain his lost glory.

Gao Hongbo is not a head coach who is good at dealing with his relationship with the media. When he just became the head coach and coached Guangzhou Songri Club, after a match against Sichuan Quanxing led by Tavarez, Gao Hongbo, who lost the game, directly accused the other party of relying on the referee at a press conference, and then stood up and left without giving reporters a chance to ask questions.

Because of these personalities, Gao Hongbo has never been very popular in the media. When Wanda Group sponsored the Football Association last year, there were rumors that he would be replaced by a famous foreign coach. At that time, there were some remarks criticizing Gao Hongbo in the media, believing that he could not bring long-term progress to Chinese football and was limited in strength, and was not the best candidate needed by the Chinese team.

Before the Asian Cup, his "Asian Third-rate Theory" and "Asian Cup Training Theory" also aroused criticism from many fans and the media, and the public opinion environment was very unfavorable to him.

As a result, the runner-up of the Asian Cup and the team's performance in the entire Asian Cup was really amazing. Public opinion praised Gao Hongbo more. At this time, everyone would not say the good or bad of "Asian third-rate" and "Asian Cup training". There was no sound about the matter of changing foreign coaches.

What is shown in everyone's eyes is that Gao Hongbo is still sitting in the position of head coach of the Chinese national team.

At this time, some media commented again: Gao Hongbo is still far from the world-class head coach. Compared with all Chinese and foreign coaches who coach in China, he is not the best one, but he is the one who is most suitable for Chinese football, which is enough.

For Chinese football, which is used to being too ambitious, it is actually not important whether it is Camacho or Lippi. The world-renowned coach is indeed of good quality and high rank. But letting university professors teach elementary school students is not a waste of resources, it is a problem of not being right at all.

With the current level of Chinese football, it is useless to invite Mourinho and Guardiola to come. Gao Hongbo, who is native to the country, understands Chinese football better and has more motivation to change the current situation of Chinese football.

However, football is a sport that pays more attention to results. If the Chinese team had not won the runner-up in the Asian Cup, Gao Hongbo would have to be dismissed even if he understood Chinese football. He would have to get out of class and get out of the way.

Similarly, now he has recruited six players from the National Olympic team in one go to join the national team. If such a risky move ultimately makes the national team lose too badly in Japan and touches the self-esteem of the Chinese people, he may be unstable in his position as coach again.

It just so happened that Brazevic, who led the National Olympic team to win the gold medal at the London Olympics, is now in a high reputation. It seems natural to ask him to replace Gao Hongbo, and it may not be unsuitable...

Gao Hongbo's fate can only depend on how this team performs. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!