On August 12, Chu Zhongtian did not return to China to participate in the warm-up match between the Chinese team and Thailand, but stayed in France to participate in the Ligue 1. He led his teammates to defeat Le Mans who came to challenge at home.

The game was broadcast live to the whole country by CCTV Sports Channel.

Because Chu Zhongtian performed well in the Ligue 1 and the Cup last season, CCTV has increased its efforts to broadcast Ligue 1 in this season. In fact, the change from the past is to only broadcast Metz's game. Even if the other games are the national derby of Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon, they ignore them. They know that Chinese audiences and Chinese fans are actually not interested in Ligue 1 at all. Those who are interested are a very small number of people, and these people were ignored in the past. Now because of Chu Zhongtian, the French Ligue 1 has suddenly attracted people's attention. In fact, they are not the French Ligue 1 itself, but Chu Zhongtian. Therefore, only broadcast Metz's game can satisfy the vast number of Chinese football in China.

Fans and TV viewers need it. For other games, TV5 will broadcast three European Leagues and one South American Argentina League every weekend. There are many games, and basically they cannot be arranged. It is not easy to ensure that there is a Metz game every week. In terms of schedule, if Metz game happens to conflict with big teams such as Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​it will be a dilemma for CCTV's sports channel - those rich teams' games have a wide audience in China, but Chu Zhongtian is also very popular... The result of the battle between the two sides is often broadcasting Metz games live, and the giants' games with time conflicts are delayed.

However, this arrangement did not attract much protest, because although there are many fans who like the wealthy club, no matter what, everyone is Chinese and they all hope to see the players of their own country perform well in Europe. As long as Chu Zhongtian continues to perform like this, those Real Madrid fans, Barcelona fans, Milan fans... and other wealthy club fans are willing to give up their support for their teams for the time being and support Chu Zhongtian. Because they think it is worth supporting such a strong Chinese player, even if they sacrifice a little of their hobbies.

Football has long been a simple sport in today's world, but has become a totem that can inspire the public opinion and morale of a certain country. Similarly, there are other competitive sports, such as each Olympic Games is actually a demonstration of the comprehensive national strength of each country. In recent years, the top three countries in the medal list are always powerful big countries - the United States, Russia and China, rather than those small countries.

China has made rapid progress in its economy over the past 20 years of reform and opening up, and has also achieved a position consistent with their status as a great power in diplomacy, scientific research, sports, etc., but football is a pain in the hearts of the Chinese people, which is really inconsistent with China's current identity as a great power. Chinese fans all hope that Chinese football can get better, and at least it will produce a "national hero" who can perform well in the European League... Just like Yang Chen in Frankfurt, he used goals one by one to bring joy and beautiful memories to every Chinese football fan.

Today, in Chinese football, there are no more players with such idols and strength.

Until the appearance of Chu Zhongtian.

The appearance he played when he knocked Chelsea down at Wimbledon Athletics was simply "dream". A genius emerged and began to write his legend in the most gorgeous way.

But then he fell into decline again. For a moment, everyone thought that this was another injury caused by the Chinese football environment. In fact, no matter how much Chu Zhongtian had to do with the Chinese football environment at that time, he had no relationship with the Chinese football environment.

Always, there were very few people who were still looking forward to Chu Zhongtian during that time and supported Chu Zhongtian. Perhaps even the most hardcore Chu Zhongtian fans were no longer in their hopes for Chu Zhongtian at that time.

It was not until Chu Zhongtian was dormant in Metz for more than half a season that the phoenix was reborn and returned to everyone's vision again.

His subsequent performance is not enough to describe it as "magic", he has to use "myth". A Chinese player who has only played amateur game and became a monk halfway through the road, after more than half a season of silence, another meteor that people think can only leave sadly suddenly hits again like a comet, which made all Chinese fans not expect. His game at Metz is getting better and better and more mature, and he has only taken half a season to get the core position of the team. Such performance is probably comparable to Yang Chen's craziest season in Frankfurt.

If Mess was just a thrilling relegation in the first season, the team was still too weak and Chu Zhongtian's performance lacked explanation, the second season can prove that Chu Zhongtian's success is not due to good luck, but that he really has that strength.

Metz won the French Cup and qualified for the League Cup this season, and he himself was named the best player in the French Cup final. In the past two seasons of Ligue 1, he has set records for many Chinese players: the first Chinese player to score goals in the French League, the first Chinese player to win the best on the spot, the first Chinese player to win the important cup championship in France, the first Chinese player to participate in the French Cup final, the first Chinese player to become the best Chinese player in the final, and the first Chinese player to be selected for the best team of the season after the end of the season... For such a player, who else can you pay attention to if you don't pay attention to Chinese fans?

Therefore, when Metz played against Le Mans at home, CCTV chose to broadcast live, which was very popular.

In that game, Chu Zhongtian did not disappoint the Chinese audience who stayed up late to wait in front of the TV. He instigated a goal and also performed well on both ends of the game. As long as the football was handed over to his feet, Metz's offense had a direction. Once the football bypassed him, Metz's offense was a bit like "whatever you play" and could only rely on Ribery and Menez's personal skills to solve the problem.

In the first home court of the new season, Metz fans kept shouting Chu Zhongtian's name in the stands.

After Chu Zhongtian signed a new contract, he became the highest-paid player in the team. The original first salary Ribery became the second. This is an interesting coincidence, which seems to indicate the change in the status of the two in the team and in the minds of fans. Ribery was the well-deserved first star of Metz before, but with his "scandal" with many clubs this summer, and his public statement that "only stay in Metz for another season, he will definitely leave next season", his image in the minds of many Metz fans has plummeted. On the contrary, Chu Zhongtian, who stated that he must stay in Metz as soon as last season ended and soon renewed a new contract with the club, replaced him and became the first person in Metz in the minds of fans.

The way fans express their feelings is very direct. Just listen to which player they call the most in the stadium stands, and when which player gets the ball, their cheers and applause are the highest, which player is the most popular.

Now when Chu Zhongtian got the ball, there were cheers and applause like tsunamis in the stands. When Ribery took the ball, he could even hear some sporadic boos in the stands... Although most popular among fans, the best of this game was given to Ribery, because he scored two goals in this game, which directly helped the team win.

※※※After the second round of the league, on August 16, Japan will have a Asian Cup qualifier in which the Chinese national team will face Singapore at home in Tianjin. In the previous two qualifiers, the Chinese team won and lost, and the results are quite optimistic. Singapore is the weakest team in this group. It is logical that it will be no problem to win this game.

So before the game, Chu Zhongtian did not receive the call from the national team, so no one cared about such news.

But after the game, many people found that they missed Chu Zhongtian, who was calling the wind and rain in the French league.

The Chinese team defeated Singapore 1-0 at home, and the scene was not superior, and the result was ugly. Even a semi-professional team like Singapore did not win.

For a moment, the roar of "Chinese team disbanded! Zhu Suishen was dismissed!" sounded again in the stands of the stadium.

After the game, the media rushed to ask Zhu Suishin why he did not call Chu Zhongtian back to China for the competition this time, and asked him why he had to call for a warm-up match like the Thai team, and that the match against Singapore was no longer called.

Zhu Suishin first looked at him, but later he was forced to ask, simply said: "We think that playing against opponents like Singapore does not need to call back players."

He can't say this completely a quibble, because he did not summon a few overseas returnees, and only Shao Jiayi returned home to participate in the game. People like Sun Jihai, Chu Zhongtian and others were not recruited, but Sun Jihai was just a full-back, and his role on the court was obviously incomparable.

The media can only explain this accident as Zhu Suishin underestimates the enemy too much, and the result of underestimating the enemy is a tragedy.

There is another qualifier on September 6th, when the Chinese team played in Singapore away. This time, the media called in advance that Zhu Suishin would summon Chu Zhongtian and other overseas players to the team. They could not directly call Chu Zhongtian, as it is too obvious. As the saying goes, shoot the first bird, Chu Zhongtian doesn't want to make the first bird. Xu Xiaodi greeted his friends in the media circle, and asked them to be smarter in doing things and not put Chu Zhongtian in a place of injustice. "China has finally made such a helping player. Do you have the nerve to destroy him with your own pen? Don't think I don't know, how you have done it all these years. I was also a good guy with you at the beginning!"

※※※The hard victory of the national team did not affect Chu Zhongtian's mood. He continued to train under the bright blue sky of Metz and prepare for the battle.

Now he can occasionally see Lin Beiyao at the Holy Mountain Furien Training Base, and this little girl has graduated in the summer. But she obeyed the original words: "Brother Chu, stay in Metz, I will stay too."

She stayed in Metz and chose to continue her graduate school. Anyway, her family is in good condition, so she is not in a hurry to let her work and earn money to support her family.

She said she was studying for a postgraduate degree here, but she actually ran around France with her camera in her arms. She went to places near Metz on weekends and ran south when she encountered a longer holiday.

She told Chu Zhongtian that it was because of shooting Chu Zhongtian, which completely aroused her interest in photography: "I plan to travel around the world after graduating from graduate school, haha! Be a professional photographer!"

But now she has less time to film Chu Zhongtian. At first, she was the guest star by Kang Jianbola because the domestic media ignored Chu Zhongtian. Now that everyone is paying attention to Chu Zhongtian, there is no need for her to guard Chu Zhongtian anymore, but her friendship with Chu Zhongtian has not faded. Sometimes when she goes to another place, she will take pictures of the latest scenery with her mobile phone and send it to Chu Zhongtian to tell him where she is now.

However, Chu Zhongtian could still feel that when he first arrived in Metz, the people who were with him were gradually moving away from him in the most difficult times. This may be life, because a person always meets many people in his life, some people will stay and walk a long way with you, while others are just passing by.

Is Mathilde a passerby? Sometimes he thinks this way, but he thinks this way less and less.

The performance of the Chinese national team in the Asian Cup qualifiers was bumpy, while Messe's performance in the Ligue 1 was remarkable.

After winning two consecutive victories in the first two rounds of the league, Metz challenged Nantes away on August 19, winning 2:1. Chu Zhongtian scored his first goal of the season in this game, which was to pick up a gap in front of the goal. This goal made the Chinese media happy for a while, so the call for Zhu Suishin to ask him to return to China to participate in the match against Singapore was even stronger.

After winning three consecutive rounds, Metz also ranked first in the league with nine points, which is the first time they ranked first in the first league in recent seasons. They are also the only team to maintain a complete victory after three rounds of this season. Teams like Marseille, Lyon, Lille, and Bordeaux either have a draw or lose the ball, and are all left behind by Metz.

After three rounds of league games, the French media also exclaimed that Messe this season was eye-catching, which made the youth army created by Fernandez exert its strong strength, which may disrupt the situation in Ligue 1.

On August 26, in the fourth round of the league, Metz finally ended their three-game winning streak and was tied 2:2 by Toulouse at home. Perhaps the players wanted to win too much to win four consecutive games and continue to occupy the top of the standings. Metz did not perform well at the beginning of this game, and Chu Zhongtian was also affected. Toulouse scored two goals in the first half. During the break, they were beaten by Fernandez for fifteen minutes before returning to normal in the second half. They fought back and almost achieved a big reversal at home. Unfortunately, Chu Zhongtian's long shot was above the crossbar without defense, and missed an excellent scoring opportunity.

Three wins and one draw in four rounds, scoring eight goals, conceding three goals, and accumulating tens. Metz ranked third because of his disadvantage in goal difference, while Marseille and Lyon ranked first and second respectively with their advantage in goal difference.

After this game, the people who should buy this summer were bought, and the people who wanted to sell it were sold. Sami Traore was introduced for one million, Rodriguez was bought for one million, Cabo was bought for seven hundred thousand, Kamala was drawn for four hundred thousand, Valbuena was won for four hundred thousand, and Felicio was won for one hundred thousand. In addition, Tro, Jaiovi and Obetan were all obtained for free, Valasiac and Khalifa. Ba was loaned. Mes spent 4.14 million euros this summer in transfer introduction, not too much. Fernandez is really a carefully calculated head coach.

In terms of selling players, Tum was sold for 750,000 yuan, Gayer also sold for 1.1 million yuan, let Leka go for 500,000 yuan, and sold for the main right-back Belia last season, bringing a total of 3.85 million euros to the team. The income and expenditure were basically the same, and there was no economic burden on the club.

※※※After the four-round league match, international match day is approaching. This time the national team is calling Chu Zhongtian, and Mess has no reason not to let him go, so Chu Zhongtian packed his luggage and flew directly to Singapore to meet with the national team.

Despite being summoned to the team, Chu Zhongtian still did not get a chance to start. Zhu Sui called him to join the team just to calm the media topic.

The core of the Chinese team is still Shandong Luneng's main midfielder Zheng Zhi.

Chu Zhongtian worked on the bench for 75 minutes. In the last fifteen minutes, Zhu Suishin saw that the team could not open the situation and could not score the goal, so he allowed Chu Zhongtian to play as a substitute. However, Zheng Zhi was still on the court, and he was still the core of the team. Chu Zhongtian's position was a bit nonsensical, and he was the right forward... In a completely unfamiliar position, if Chu Zhongtian could still perform at a normal level, then he would not be a human, but a god.

So when the Chinese team was tied 0:0 at home by the Singaporeans, Chu Zhongtian was not surprised by the result at all, or none of the Chinese players present were surprised... waiting for Zhu Suishen's certain advantages to criticize the media and fans, but as an experienced veteran, he must not be afraid of facing such a scene. After the game, a reporter asked him why he didn't let Chu Zhongtian start, and why he sent him to the court and then let him play a completely unfamiliar position, Zhu Suishen's answer sounded vague: "He just flew back from France to participate in the competition. He only practiced with his teammates once before the game, and the jet lag was not completely reversed. I can't take the risk of letting him play..."

Chu Zhongtian flew back to France from Singapore the next day after the game to meet with the team to prepare for the fifth round of the league on September 9th.

Although the continuous long-distance flight did not cause Chu Zhongtian's physical fitness problems, it still affected his condition. Metz lost to Lyon away in the fifth round, 0:2. Lyon finally avenged the revenge of losing the Super Cup. Chu Zhongtian was replaced by Yai Ovi in ​​the 70th minute of this game and performed mediocrely.

So the domestic media had something to say to Zhu Suishin: "You don't need to call someone, put them on the bench for 75 minutes, and the national team also played a shameful 0:0 draw. As a result, Chu Zhongtian, who was struggling for a while, lost his form in the league. Since you don't need it, you might as well not call him at the beginning, at least he can ensure his form in the league, and for Lyon and Metz, you don't need to lose so easily. Now this is really a delay."

In the match against Lyon, Metz encountered its first defeat of the season, but Metz's media reaction was very plain, and Metz's team himself did not take this loss too seriously.

Because on the evening of September 14th, they will go away to play a team called "derry_city". This team is unknown and indeed their first opponent in the League Cup.

On September 14, Chu Zhongtian premiered in Mays' League Cup and will be released in Londonderry, the second largest city in Northern Ireland.
Chapter completed!