As the Asian Cup approaches, the Chinese team's internal match begins to be filled with an atmosphere of both tension and excitement.

This national team is very young. Although veterans such as Li Weifeng were able to "play for the country", they were not selected into the national team. A 27-year-old player like Chu Zhongtian is considered a veteran in the team.

After all, this is their rare opportunity for the competition. Because they missed the 2010 World Cup, the national team has no valuable opportunity for the competition in recent years. This group of players has very little experience in competition. This may be one of the reasons why some people are not optimistic about the Chinese team.

And in the team, everyone is still fighting for the main position.

After arriving in Doha, the Chinese team had a teaching match with Iraq. You can't tell that this match was a teaching match, but it was more like a formal match. The Chinese team players were very hard-working, so Gao Hongbo asked everyone to relax during the halftime break. He didn't want to hurt a few more people when the Asian Cup approached.

Although Chu Zhongtian has been competing in European football for many years and has accumulated rich experience, his experience in the intercontinental competition of the national team is pitiful zero.

Since he was selected for the national team for the first time in 2006, he has missed two important events, the World Cup in Germany and the World Cup in South Africa due to the national team. In the 2007 Asian Cup, he was just playing, but he was unable to participate because of a thigh muscle strain and an arm fracture in the League Cup final. He could only watch his national team be humiliated 3:0 by Uzbekistan. Under the good situation, he didn't even qualify for the group and went home. Coach Zhu Suishin made a "mad dog theory", but in the end everyone went crazy. In the semi-finals of East Asia, Chu Zhongtian was competing in the Bundesliga again and did not participate. As for the Olympics... he was not considered by the Football Association at all, and the quota of over-age players was given to others, but well, he avoided destroying his half-life reputation at his doorstep.

So after all, he has been in the national team for four years and has not even participated in a major competition... I don't know this thing, but I was shocked by it. Everyone doesn't believe that Chu Zhongtian, as the most successful player in Chinese football, the captain of the Chinese national team, and the most famous and most popular athlete in China, has never participated in the national team's intercontinental competition. This Asian Cup was his first, his maiden battle.

The core of the Chinese team is the first time participating in such a competition. This is something that Chinese team opponents can use and look forward to. They look forward to Chu Zhongtian, an inexperienced captain, lost his chain at critical moments. This is also the "fine tradition" of Chinese football, and always disappoints everyone at the most critical moments. Although Chu Zhongtian is famous and has won the Asian Footballer for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010, no one can guarantee that he will not show the shortcomings of inexperience in world competitions like the Asian Cup.

Football is a very experienced sport. Rich experience can allow second-rate teams with average level to defeat first-rate teams with high level but lack experience in major competitions. The tournament-based cup competition is a hotbed of uproars.

Before the Asian Cup, the bookmaker gave the championship odds to 16 teams, and the Chinese team ranked lower in the middle. This was still the result of Chu Zhongtian joining. If Chu Zhongtian was not available, they would probably have to count down.

The only person the Chinese team can count on is Chu Zhongtian, and all the high expectations of Chinese fans are placed on Chu Zhongtian. Now the Chinese media’s reports on the Asian Cup have almost become the “Chu Zhongtian report”. Whenever the national team is mentioned, Chu Zhongtian will be mentioned. The others have basically become the foil of Chu Zhongtian and passerby.

Is there a lot of pressure from such a high level of attention? It must be great! Chu Zhongtian may be the most pressured player in Asia, because he has to bear the dream of 1.4 billion people alone. Therefore, the opponents fully consider this when analyzing the Chinese team. They believe that they can find a breakthrough from Chu Zhongtian. Under such a great pressure, Chu Zhongtian's performance will definitely be affected. There are countless players who perform abnormally under the heavy pressure of the competition. Many world-class stars have fallen under this pressure, let alone Chu Zhongtian?

※※※On January 7, the Asian Cup kicked off, with host Qatar playing against Uzbekistan at the Caliph’s serve. This was the opening game of this Asian Cup. In the end, the host defeated his opponent with a goal and got a good start 1:0.

The next day, the Chinese team ushered in their first game.

There is a slogan on the bus ride in the Chinese team: "1.3 billion people, eleven players, a dream: AFC Asian Cup."

This was the slogan prepared by the organizing committee for each team before the Asian Cup. At that time, each team had three slogans, which were placed online and accepted votes from fans from various countries, and they chose the slogans of their own national teams, and the selected slogans were sprayed on the bus on the team.

At that time, China had three slogans for Chinese fans to choose from. The first one was "This is the most eye-catching and correct choice-China". This one was obviously unreliable. The Chinese men's football team has never been the "most eye-catching and correct choice". It was said to be the blindest and most embarrassing choice. Therefore, this one received the lowest vote rate.

The second is "China: the eternal Oriental Dragon". This sentence is quite touching, but it has nothing to do with football. In football, China is definitely not called an "Oriental Dragon", so the vote rate is not high. Although the third one is not very satisfactory, the only way to choose the general is to choose this one.

Taking a bus with such a slogan printed on it, the Chinese team was disappointed from the hotel they stayed. Their first group match was the Gulf Cup champion Kuwait. The team defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the 20th Gulf Cup, which just ended a month ago, and won the Gulf Cup for the tenth time in history. At the same time, they just won the West Asian Championships in September last year, and won two consecutive championships in more than two months. Kuwait is in very brave form.

The first game of playing such a powerful opponent is under great pressure on the Chinese team.

Everyone always has high hopes for the first game, and there is a saying in China: "Good start". Therefore, the result of the first game has a great impact on the team.

But in this group, it seems that every opponent of the Chinese team is very strong. Let’s not talk about the host Qatar, who has the right time, place and people. Kuwait is the Gulf Cup champion, while Uzbekistan beat China 3:0 in the Asian Cup group stage three years ago, which directly led to the Chinese team not qualifying in the group under the good situation of one win and one draw.

Each one is easy to deal with.

And look at other groups, with the current abilities of the Chinese team, there is no group that is easy to play. Almost all teams will have a hard time playing, and there is little chance of winning.

The players also felt nervous.

One of the common problems of Chinese players is that their psychological quality is not strong enough. Although there are inspiring slogans posted on the walls of the training base every day, this is not helpful to their psychological quality.

When playing against a team that is weaker than them, it feels easy to deal with. When it is found that it is difficult to deal with, it becomes a panic and becomes distracted. Even if it wins, it will be very difficult to win. This can be seen from the Guangzhou Asian Games that teams that are recognized as the bottom of the team like Kyrgyzstan in the second game of the National Olympic Team must be defeated in the last minute to win.

Not to mention the strong team. Before the game started, they lost their fighting spirit and performed in a mess on the court. Or blindly confident, they all said that the gap between the opponent and themselves was not big. In fact, when they went to play, they found that this was not the case at all. The gap between them and themselves was light years. When they panic, they were in a mess and they were in a mess. They quickly collapsed after being scored, and finally lost the big score.

These are all common problems in Chinese football. Chinese football may only have a little confidence when bullying the young by bullying the young.

Chu Zhongtian has been observing his teammates' performance from the hotel to the bus. The Chinese team's self-confidence is a little stronger than their predecessors, because it performed well in the warm-up match, tied Germany, defeated France, and even defeated the miserable South Korean team who had not won for 32 years 3-0. This gradually accumulated.

But very limited.

Their confidence is based on victory and is very fragile. Once the ball is lost, this confidence will quickly collapse, just like a sand castle built on a beach.

The above and the results observed by Chu Zhongtian.

They are different from Chu Zhongtian. Chu Zhongtian's confidence is truly based on trust in himself. No matter what happens, he always believes in himself. Winning is naturally good, and losing will not shake his confidence, but will only make him angry and want to win back the lost.

This kind of self-confidence is innate and cannot be defeated.

The confidence and morale of teammates must be further enhanced, otherwise the mentality of being shaken by some minor problems during the game is likely to be shaken.

This is much harder than leading Hoffenheim to the Champions League.

But Chu Zhongtian did not frown, he enjoyed the fun of this challenge. Is there anything more difficult than leading the Chinese team to win the championship? No.

He wants to go against the will of heaven.

※※The team arrived at the locker room, and everyone changed their clothes and went out to warm up.

Chu Zhongtian dragged it in the end, he deliberately said that he had something to talk to head coach Gao Hongbo.

"Guide Gao, I observed it for a while and I think everyone's confidence doesn't seem to be too strong..." Chu Zhongtian said to Gao Hongbo.

Gao Hongbo nodded, and he also felt this. The team's state is excited, and nervousness is mixed together. Excitement does not mean confidence. Nervousness can very well indicate that the players' self-confidence is not strong. After all, the opponent they faced in the first game was Kuwait, the Gulf Cup champion. Kuwait is now in a strong morale. What about the national football team? The devastating defeat of the national Olympic team at the Asian Games was also blamed by the media and Chinese people on the adult football team. Many people didn't even understand the difference between the national Olympic team and the national team, and they scolded it. After the FIFA year-end ranking, some people questioned the authority of this ranking: "I lost so many games at the Asian Games, how could the ranking rise to two places?" Therefore, it is not incredible that the national football team lacks confidence. When 99% of the people in China are not optimistic about them, where do they come from confidence?

Gao Hongbo repeatedly emphasized that in this Asian Cup, he did not set specific goals for the team, in order to relieve pressure from the players, but at the same time it may also have a counterproductive effect, which will cause the players to feel that even the head coach has no confidence in them, so why are you trying to do it? "I want to take some time to say a few words to everyone before the game starts." Chu Zhongtian said to Gao Hongbo. He is not unfamiliar with doing this. He often does this in the club. The last part before playing is his time, and head coach Rangnick doesn't care about it.

Gao Hongbo knew what he was going to do, so he nodded and agreed: "Okay, I'll leave you time. Is ten minutes enough?"

Chu Zhongtian shook his head: "Five minutes are enough."

※※※When warming up, Galafar Stadium has already served as a lot of spectators. Al Galafar Stadium is the venue for this Asian Cup, and will also host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. At that time, the stadium will be renovated and expanded, with colorful strips of cloth around the exterior walls, which looks much more beautiful than it is now and there are many more seats.

Today, Al Galaf Stadium can only accommodate 21,175 people, and it is not as big as Hoffenheim, the club where Chu Zhongtian plays.

The stadium with 20,000 people is not full yet. Because it is not the host or the star team game, everyone is not very enthusiastic about watching the game. In the past, only about 60% of the seats were made, and many of the top seats were empty. Among these 60% of the seats, most of the seats were seated by fans from Kuwait. This Asian Cup was held in West Asia, and it is very convenient for West Asian countries to watch the game. Therefore, Kuwait fans accounted for the vast majority of the game. It can even be said that Kuwait played at home in this game.

There are not many fans coming to cheer for the Chinese team, only about one or two thousand. They sit scattered in every corner of the stands, looking like they are flooded by the Kuwaits.

There are even many of these Chinese audiences who are not fans at all. They are Chinese employees working in Qatar and come specifically to cheer for the Chinese team. There are really very few Chinese fans who fly from China to Qatar to watch the game. On the one hand, it is too far, and the cost of back and forth is very large. On the other hand, it is naturally that the Chinese team has always performed poorly in such competitions. No one is interested, and there is no need to spend tens of thousands of yuan for such a bad team. If they fail to qualify in the group stage and lose very cowardly, wouldn’t they spend money to make a mistake?

"We have so few people..." A national team player murmured after the Kuwait flag flying all over the stands.

Although he has been carrying a lot of infamous and his strength is not good, he still hopes to hear his familiar cheering voice. After defeating the South Korean team 3-0 in the East Asian semi-finals, the players of the team came to the stands to thank the Chinese students and fans who cheered for themselves in the rain. Listening to their feeling of singing "The five-star red flag flutters in the wind, how loud the victory song is", it is still unforgettable until now.

"We are away games." Chu Zhongtian said from the side, and his teammate turned his head and looked at him.

"Stop watching, warm up quickly!"

Chu Zhongtian turned around and ran away, and everyone started to warm up. However, some people still couldn't help looking into the stands, hoping to see more and more red. However, every time they were disappointed, there were not many Chinese supporters, and the increase was also very slow. On the contrary, there were more and more Kuwait fans wearing traditional Arab costumes, and the shouts they made were deafening, making Chinese players even more nervous.

Chu Zhongtian was calm and composed in such shouts. For him, this level of shouting was not worth mentioning. Whether in England or Germany, the shouting from fans there was several times higher than the shouting of these Kuwait fans. He led the team to play games in several of the most fanatical stadiums and was treated with crazy booing, but his performance was not greatly reduced. On the contrary, his performance was even better.

So this interference does not work for him. He has reached the state of treating his opponent's booing as his motivation.

※※※After the warm-up, the whole team returned to the locker room. At this time, there was still more than half an hour before the start of the game. Gao Hongbo told everyone to give you the final advice. After more than a month of closed training, today, we will see the results. Whether it is a hero or a bear, the answer will be gradually revealed from this day.

At the same time, at the Doha News Center of the Asian Cup in Qatar, China CCTV was doing a program before the live broadcast of the game, inviting experts to come to the studio to analyze the arrangement of the Chinese team and the opponent in this game, and look forward to the performance of the two teams in the game.

Chu Zhongtian is the player they mentioned the most. Who made this Chinese team just such a star player?

"To be honest," Zhang Lu, a guest specially invited, blinked and said, "How the performance of this national team depends entirely on how Chu Zhongtian performed."

It's really a truth... "From the pre-match reports, Chu Zhongtian seems to be in good condition, so I think everyone can still look forward to this game."

"Kuwait's ranking is lower than us, but their strength is definitely not lower than us. If the young men of the national team think that ranking can determine everything, this game will be dangerous. I hope Gao Hongbo can make the young men clear at this time. To be honest, the biggest problem of our team is that they are too confident when playing weak teams, and they are seriously lacking in confidence when playing strong teams..."

In the locker room, Gao Hongbo was telling his players: "Kuwait's international ranking is 105, but it doesn't make sense. The game depends on 90 minutes of performance on the court, not international rankings. Treat them as opponents who are stronger than us!"

※※The programs on TV have come to an end, and the director prompts the host to enter the advertisement.

In the locker room, Gao Hongbo finished all the things he should say. He left the time to Chu Zhongtian and then leaned against the wall with his coaching staff.

Chu Zhongtian walked up, stood in the middle of the locker room, looking around everyone.

"I have a few words to say to everyone." His expression was very calm.
Chapter completed!