Chapter 167 U23 Asian Cup and Rio Olympic Games Qualifiers, Jiang Yuan’s choice?

"What do you say?"

A series of question marks flashed through Jiang Yuan's mind. The National Olympic Committee called him. What was going on?

"Well, hello, Mr. Jiang. Let me introduce myself. My name is Zhao Yang, and I'm the director of the Office of the Chinese Olympic Committee. You can just call me Zhao Yang!"

Jiang Yuan knew nothing about the Olympic Committee, but from the tone of Zhao Yang's voice, he could tell that the guy on the other end of the phone should be a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, and he spoke quite kindly.

"Hello, Director Zhao. So...is there anything I can help you with? Oh, by the way, you sound much older than me, so just call me Xiao Jiang!"

Zhao Yang must have something to talk to him about since he went to so much trouble to get his phone number, so Jiang Yuan did a quick decision.

"Um……"

Zhao Yang hesitated for a while, then replied: "Mr. Jiang, I will not hesitate. On behalf of the National Olympic Committee, I would like to invite you to participate in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. I know that the Olympic Games are too low-level for you, but to be honest, we want football to achieve some results in the Olympics, which will be of great benefit to the development of football in our country."

“The Rio Olympics?”

Jiang Yuan was delighted when he heard this, but immediately frowned: "Director Zhao, as far as I know, the Rio Olympics will not start for a long time, right?"

There is still a long time before the start of the Rio Olympics, and Jiang Yuan's implication is to ask Zhao Yang whether the Olympic Committee wants him to return to China to participate in joint training.

If that was the case, Jiang Yuan would never agree to it. Although it was his dream to win glory for his country, he had just established himself in the Premier League. Wasting time training at Chelsea to train with the Olympic team? Impossible. As long as Jiang Yuan was not a fool, he would not do that.

Moreover, let alone Jiang Yuan himself, even if Jiang Yuan wanted to go, whether Chelsea was willing to let him go was still a big problem. The Olympics was not a FIFA A-level event, and Chelsea had the final say on whether Jiang Yuan stayed or went.

Hearing Jiang Yuan's question, Zhao Yang suddenly felt a little embarrassed and answered hesitantly: "It's like this. In January next year, we will have a U1 Asian Cup to play. That game is an Olympic qualifier. If our National Olympic Team wants to participate in the Olympics next year, they must get the top three in the U23 Asian Cup."

"hiss--"

Jiang Yuan suddenly felt his scalp tingling. According to Zhao Yang, the Olympic football qualifying round has not yet begun, and with the current strength of the National Olympic Team, it is impossible to guarantee a top three finish in the U23 Asian Cup.

This is why Zhao Yang called himself.

Jiang Yuan licked his lips and didn't rush to express his opinion. Instead, he wanted to listen to Zhao Yang's opinion first: "Director Zhao, I want to ask, what do you want me to do, or...what do the Football Association and the Olympic Committee want me to do?"

PS: The national team is under the jurisdiction of the Football Association, and the national Olympic team is jointly managed by the Football Association and the Olympic Committee.

"We hope you can represent the Olympic team in the U23 Asian Cup!"

This time, Zhao Yang didn't hesitate at all and directly made his intention clear.

"call--"

Jiang Yuan was in a dilemma. Between his desire to win glory for his country and his rationality, rationality prevailed in the end: "Director Zhao, I'm really sorry. If it's the Olympics, I'll consider it, but if it's the preliminaries..."

Jiang Yuan's words were rather tactful, but Zhao Yang was no longer a child, so of course he could hear what Jiang Yuan meant, which was that Jiang Yuan didn't want to waste his time on the Olympic preliminaries which were not even as good as the Olympics.

Zhao Yang was also expecting this, but he had already made preparations before he came to Jiang Yuan: "Mr. Jiang, after discussions between the committee and the Football Association, we don't need you to participate in training before the game. It's very simple, you just need to come to play the game!"

Jiang Yuan did not answer immediately, but first looked up Chelsea's schedule for January next year.

There are 5 games a month, 4 in the Premier League and 1 in the FA Cup. The FA Cup game is against a fringe team in England so he can ignore it, but with 1 Premier League games a month, Jiang Yuan really doesn’t know how to find time to play in a U4 Asian Cup.

So Jiang Yuan chose to shirk his responsibility: "Director Zhao, I'm really sorry... I have four competitions in January, and we don't know if the competition times overlap. I really want to participate, but you know, it's difficult for me to do so."

"Jiang Yuan, we've checked the information. The fastest flight from London to Qatar only takes 6 hours and 35 minutes, from Heathrow International to Hamad. It's very simple. After you finish your training in London, take a flight to Qatar that night and sleep on the plane. Isn't that done?"

Jiang Yuan didn't expect that the Olympic Committee's idea was so outrageous.

"But Director Zhao, can you make sure I can get on the plane?"

"You don't need to worry about this at all. There are two airlines that fly directly from London to Qatar: British Airways and Qatar Airways. There are no less than 15 flights a day at Heathrow Airport alone, from 8 am London time to 10 pm London time!"

After hearing Zhao Yang's answer, Jiang Yuan also realized that the people from the Olympic Committee and the Football Association had already known a lot of information in advance.

They are serious about letting Jiang Yuan participate in the U23 Asian Cup!

The price of a first-class ticket on British Airways' Boeing 777 is about 5000 pounds to 8000 pounds. Jiang Yuan can buy a first-class ticket to fly to Qatar for the competition after training, and then buy a first-class ticket to fly back after the competition.

Moreover, the first-class cabin solved Jiang Yuan’s sleeping problem very well. With the help of the system, it seems that this can indeed be achieved?
Jiang Yuan did not give an immediate reply, which made Zhao Yang realize something.

Have the opportunity!
So Zhao Yang asked tentatively: "Mr. Jiang, what do you think? You don't have to participate in any training, and you don't even have to bring any luggage. Just come, and we will prepare everything for you!"

"hiss--"

Jiang Yuan took a breath and said slowly: "I still need to think about this. You know, my personal agreement is useless. Whether the club is willing to let him go is still a question."

Jiang Yuan's idea is to secure his position as Chelsea's main player within the next three months. In this way, even if Jiang Yuan goes to play in the U1 Asian Cup in January next year, his position in Chelsea will be unshakable.

If Jiang Yuan had not become the tactical core of Chelsea, there would be no point in discussing this matter at all.

"Of course, we all know that we will get in touch with Chelsea, and I hope you can communicate with the club as well!"

Zhao Yang's tone of voice became more and more excited. Although things had not been settled yet, according to what Jiang Yuan said, he personally had a positive attitude towards participating in the competition.

As for Chelsea... just take your time!
"correct!"

Jiang Yuan suddenly changed the subject and asked a new question: "If the schedule is announced, please remember to send me a text message, still using this phone number. Then, I want to ask, who is the head coach of the National Olympic Team?"

"Fu Bo!"

Fu Bo? I don’t know him.

Jiang Yuan shook his head. He didn't have the habit of watching domestic football. To be honest, this was really a blind spot in his knowledge.

So Jiang Yuan asked Zhao Yang the question he was most concerned about: "Fu Bo? If I am willing to come, how are you going to arrange the tactics?"

"According to your arrangement"

"?"

……

After talking to Zhao Yang, Jiang Yuan attended training as usual. He did not mention the incident to anyone at Chelsea, and did not even ask about Mourinho's attitude.

In Jiang Yuan's opinion, if this matter is raised now, Mourinho will definitely reject it. Zhao Yang said on the phone that the list needs to be confirmed in mid-December, and Jiang Yuan only needs to give a reply before the list deadline. In this case, Jiang Yuan does not need to rush, and what he needs to do now is to focus on the club's games.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan did not go to find Mourinho, but Mourinho came to him first.

On the second floor of Cobham Base, in the head coach's office, Jiang Yuan and Mourinho sat face to face on the sofa.

"Um...Jose, what can I do for you?"

Jiang Yuan's posture was a little restrained, and it looked like he had something to hide.

Mourinho got straight to the point: "I heard from the security at Cobham that you were playing football at the base last night. Didn't you sleep?"

Jiang Yuan touched his head and realized that this was the case.

It has to be said that the level of security at Cobham is quite good. When Jiang Yuan was in Porto, he practiced for more than a month before being discovered by Lopetegui. As a result, he was caught during his first overnight training at Chelsea.

Jiang Yuan knew that he had no need to hide it: "It's like this, sometimes I can't sleep, and it's nice to play football at this time."

"hiss--"

Mourinho rolled his eyes at Jiang Yuan and said, "My good friend, we have the Champions League to play in three days next week. How can you stay in top form like this?"

"Jose, let's speak for ourselves. My performance in today's training match was pretty good!"

Jiang Yuan raised his eyebrows. In the afternoon's 9v9 small-field training match, he scored 3 goals by himself, second only to Costa at the center position.

"..."

Mourinho was silent for a while, but couldn't find any way to refute Jiang Yuan's words.

"Didn't your previous coach tell you that frequent high-intensity training will cause harm to your body? Lopetegui is too unprofessional!"

Jiang Yuan poured himself a glass of grapefruit juice, took a sip and said slowly: "Of course I did, but I have insomnia and I have to find something to do, and I'm not injured."

Mourinho pouted: "Not getting injured now doesn't mean you won't get injured in the future. Your body is precious. You can't get injured just for 2000 million."

“Pour me a glass of juice too.”

Mourinho took a small teacup from the coffee table. He didn't expect that this guy liked this old thing as much as Terry.

Drinking grapefruit juice with a teacup, Jiang Yuan didn't know whether to call Mourinho an idiot or elegant.

"Oh, right! I bought this in Chinatown. It's said to be the cup that the emperor used to drink tea 500 years ago. I only spent 500 pounds on it!"

"What?"

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan turned the teacup over and saw the four large characters "The First Year of Longqing", followed by a line of small characters below.

Made in Yiwu

"Forehead……"

Jiang Yuan touched his head, and seeing Mourinho's happy face, he finally couldn't bear to say it out loud: "Nice teacup, very suitable for drinking juice! Jose, I know that extra training is not good, but please rest assured, I will take care of my body"

Mourinho took the teacup from Jiang Yuan, took a sip of grapefruit juice like the Chinese do, and then put the cup back on the coffee table. Jiang Yuan was speechless watching the whole process.

"Okay, let me ask you, what do you think of the tactics I have arranged now?"

Mourinho changed the subject, and Jiang Yuan's originally relaxed nerves suddenly tightened again: "If I don't say it well, will you scold me?"

"of course!"

"Um... OK! To be honest, I am quite satisfied with the fact that I play as a right winger, but I also know that Chelsea's left side needs to be given to Eden, he is the main force"

Although Jiang Yuan is ambitious, he is also smart. He thinks that Hazard is now the biological son of Chelsea and Mourinho, while he is more like Mourinho's adopted son.

Under the same performance conditions, biological sons often receive more praise and opportunities.

"As long as I am satisfied, this lineup has played well. I plan to handle it this way in the next game."

Mourinho nodded and said: "In the Champions League match against Maccabi Tel Aviv in three days, I still want you to start as the right winger. This opponent is not weak. You can take the opportunity to score a few more goals with Eden and Diego, otherwise you will have no chance later. The Champions League, you know, this is the most technically difficult game."

Mourinho is right. If you ask what the most important game in football is, it is definitely the World Cup. But if you talk about technical and tactical content, the Champions League is undoubtedly the highest level game.

"Don't worry, Jose, I want to score more than anyone else!"

Jiang Yuan had a smile on his face when he said "goal". As a striker, scoring goals is his job.

……

On the other hand, China Media Group held a high-level meeting for the two channels CCTV5 and CCTV5+. Director Wu Guobin conveyed the instructions from the top to the TV station employees through the meeting.

"First of all, we on Channel 5 will randomly broadcast two Premier League games for free each week. The leaders above want us to stop doing that randomly from now on. As long as there is a Chelsea game, we will broadcast it. The remaining one will be randomly selected. Do you understand?"

"Director Wu!"

Someone in the conference room raised his hand and asked: "Some Premier League games are at 0:1 or even :. If Chelsea's game is in this time slot, should we also broadcast it?"

"Of course! We can broadcast the Champions League at 3 o'clock, but not the Premier League at 1 or 2 o'clock?"

Wu Guobin said with a sullen face: "We are the Central Radio and Television Station. Serving the people is our top priority. Domestic fans are so enthusiastic about Chelsea's game, and you are going to broadcast a match between Sunderland and Norwich? You try broadcasting it, and the fans will complain to us!"

"Anyway, what they mean is that as long as there are Chelsea games, no matter if Jiang Yuan is in the starting lineup or not, all of them will be broadcast. The Champions League group stage is coming soon, so get ready!"

……

PS: I have to write about the national team. I know some people don’t like writing novels about the Chinese national football team, so in the later chapters, if there are matches of the National Olympic Team or the national team, I will post a chapter in the previous chapter, and you can choose to subscribe.

Regarding the national team plot...I will skip the Olympic preliminaries and some small competitions in the Olympics, but I still need to write about the key competitions.

In addition, I personally believe that the national team matches are the soul of this book. I will try to write it as realistically as possible without any outrageous plots.

The content of the national team includes: Olympic preliminaries, Olympic Games, Asian Cup, World Cup, in addition to the main games, there is also underground football, including the black-eating-black game between Chen Shuyuan and Li Yi, the head-on confrontation between Jiang Yuan and Li Yi...

If you don't like it, it only means that we are not destined to be together or my level is not good enough. However, even if you abandon the book because of the content about the national football team, I still want to thank you, thank you for your company, thank you for your support along the way, and we will see you again if we are destined to!
(End of this chapter)