Chapter 330 What is Teamwork?

Wu Lei did not disappoint the expectations of Chinese fans. He took a run and shot in one go, achieving his first goal in the top 12 of the Asian qualifiers.

Seeing the ball go into the net, Jiang Yuan immediately gestured to the bench and clenched his fists in front of his chest.

Substitute!

Li Yi put his hands in his pockets and did not blow his hair. Although the team was leading 4:0, the coach was not in a good mood.

"Coach Li!"

Gao Hongbo, who was sitting in the back, shouted, "It's time to change players!"

Gao Hongbo knew that Li Yi didn't want to follow Jiang Yuan's lead, but reason told him that it was best for Li Yi to listen to Jiang Yuan.

Judging from the performance of the Chinese men's football players on the field, they are obviously more willing to listen to Jiang Yuan than Li Yi!
Li Yi did not say anything, but just looked at Zhang Yuning and nodded. The latter immediately ran to the fourth official and explained that the team wanted to make a substitution.

"Brother Yuan!"

Wu Lei is also a smart man. His first reaction after scoring the goal was not to run to the stands and celebrate with the fans, but to hug Jiang Yuan directly.

As a star of Shanghai SIPG, Wu Lei has always been the big brother of the national team. Until Jiang Yuan joined the national team, he also felt the feeling of being protected by someone.

Originally, if Wu Lei wanted to score a goal, he had to cooperate madly with his teammates, and also make sure he didn't make any mistakes in the final shot.

But now the situation has changed. Wu Lei only needs to run back and forth between the right and the center, acting as a wingman for Jiang Yuan, and then flatter him off the court. After that, he might get a penalty kick. It's so cool!
"Off the court, the Chinese team is making a substitution. No. 22 Zhang Yuning is replacing No. 7 Jiang Yuan. Oh, Li Yi is going to replace Jiang Yuan."

"Well, this substitution is expected. After all, for a player of Jiang Yuan's level, the impact he caused to the opponent in the Asian qualifiers was devastating. In this game, he has already run a long distance. For the match against Uzbekistan on the 11th, we still have to find a way to preserve Jiang Yuan's physical strength."

"That's right. With a score of 80:4 in 0 minutes, the Chinese team has already secured victory!"

He Wei was a little excited. Of course, not only He Wei, but also the Chinese fans in the live broadcast room and at the scene were in a state of high emotion.

The reason is simple: a 4-goal difference. If the Chinese team can maintain this score until the end, they will be able to rank second in Group A with one more game to play. Jumping from fourth to second is quite exaggerated.

Seeing his number appear on the fourth official's nameplate, Jiang Yuan handed the armband to Feng Xiaoting and then jogged off the field.

Clap clap clap!

Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa!
All the Chinese fans in the Xi'an Stadium stood up and burst into applause. No one spoke, but expressed their admiration and gratitude to Jiang Yuan with warm applause and gazes.

From the Asian Cup in January, the Olympic Games in August to the Asian qualifiers in October, three international competitions, Chinese football has changed a lot in the eyes of the Chinese people.

The armor and tracks are still as bad as ever, but there is a nuclear warhead installed in the front.

As the only country among the top 12 Asian qualifiers with nuclear strike capability, the Chinese men's football team has stood up.

The Chinese director on the scene gave the superstar a 20-second shot. Under the gaze of millions of people, Jiang Yuan took off his jersey, revealing his knife-like abdominal muscles, and slowly walked to the stands behind the bench.

The fans reacted quickly and immediately knew what Jiang Yuan was going to do.

"Give me!"

"I want it, Xiao Jiang, give it to me!"

"Woww! Give it to me!"

The jersey worn during the national team debut and hat trick, the value of this jersey is immeasurable!
The fans were all going crazy, and there were so many people who wanted it that Jiang Yuan simply gave it to the uncle closest to him.

This uncle is also a talented person. After taking Jiang Yuan's jersey, he showed it off to the kid next to him with a proud look on his face, which made the boy almost cry.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't cry!"

Jiang Yuan put his hand on the little boy's head and rubbed his hair: "I'll ask the referee for the ball later and I'll give it to you. Is that okay?"

According to convention, a player who scores a hat trick can ask the referee to take the match ball away. This is the case in the league and of course the same in the Asian qualifiers. It’s just that no Chinese player has ever accomplished the feat of taking the match ball away from the Asian qualifiers.

I have to say that Jiang Yuan is quite good at coaxing children. As soon as he finished speaking, the child stopped crying immediately.

After Jiang Yuan left the field, captain Feng Xiaoting led the Chinese team to start a defensive retreat. His back-pass to the ball made the Syrian striker very angry, but there was nothing he could do.

The strength of the two teams is 55-, and the Chinese team is playing back-passing. So Syria has no chance of scoring a goal and can just forget about it.

“Beep, beep, beep—!!!”

"Well, as the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the Chinese men's football team, playing at home, defeated the Syrian men's football team with a big score of 4:0 and successfully won the third round of the game."

"In this game, the starting captain Jiang Yuan was crowned the top scorer of the Chinese men's football team in the top 3 with 12 goals, and completed his debut in the national first team with a perfect performance."

"The victory in this game is a happy thing for the Chinese men's football team and Chinese fans. But it should be noted that five days later, on October 10th, Beijing time, the Chinese men's football team will play against the Uzbek men's football team away in the fourth round of their game."

"In the first round of matches before this, the Uzbek men's football team defeated the Syrian men's football team and the Qatar men's football team with a score of 1:0, ranking first in Group A..."

In the home team's locker room after the game, the Chinese men's football players began their party. Jiang Yuan wanted to take his teammates to a bar, but the national team had strict rules and did not allow staying up late to celebrate.

In desperation, Jiang Yuan chose a local barbecue restaurant in Xi'an as the venue for the celebration. It was not a particularly high-end restaurant, but everyone gathered around a large table, grilling food and eating together, and the atmosphere was quite good.

Wu Lei picked up a long string of beef and spread it on the grill. After finishing, he did not forget to use boiling water to wash Jiang Yuan's ceramic bowl and glass: "Brother Yuan, you really chose a good place. It's low-key and lively. It's just that the appearance may be a little..."

"What's this about?"

Feng Xiaoting disagreed with what Wu Lei said: "Celebrations are all about excitement and atmosphere. You have a meal in a hotel, the food is good, but it is definitely not as good as a barbecue restaurant. I support Brother Yuan this time!"

Jiang Yuan was treating everyone to this dinner, and it would definitely cost less if they had it at a barbecue restaurant, but everyone knew that for Jiang Yuan, there was really no difference between 3000 RMB and 30000 RMB.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Seeing that his flattery was snatched away by Feng Xiaoting, Wu Lei quickly changed his words: "No, no, what I mean is that the appearance is not important, I support Brother Yuan!"

"Hahahaha!"

The Chinese national football players in the barbecue restaurant burst into laughter and teased Wu Lei. Wu Lei ignored them and took two 1.25L bottles of drinks: "Brother Yuan, Sprite or orange juice?"

"Forehead……"

Jiang Yuan looked left and right, and after confirming all the drinks on the table, he looked at Li Yi who was sitting opposite him: "Brother Tie, can you drink?"

Jiang Yuan was used to being bullied by Terry and Hazard at Chelsea, so he would feel a little uncomfortable not drinking after the game. But Jiang Yuan didn't know how the national team handled it, so he still had to ask Li Yi.

The national football players sitting there were a little nervous. Although drinking was not banned, everyone drank secretly. Jiang Yuan also invited two coaches, Li Yi and Gao Hongbo, to the party. Drinking beer in front of the coaches was indeed a bit weird...

Li Yi and Gao Hongbo looked at each other, and finally Li Yi smiled and said, "It's okay. The next game is still 5 days away. It's okay to drink, just drink less."

After finishing, Jiang Yuan asked the barbecue restaurant waiter to bring 2 boxes of Snow Flower and Yanjing respectively. It’s not that Jiang Yuan likes Snow Flower so much, but this barbecue restaurant only has this kind of wine.

Compared to those fancy drinks in London bars, the taste of Snow Flake is a bit bland, and it feels like it has been soaked in water. But it’s better to have a lower concentration, so that you don’t get drunk and lose your mind.

"Brother Yuan, do you also drink after the Premier League club games?"

Wu Lei was a little curious, and Feng Xiaoting next to him was also quite surprised. Both of them had no experience of playing football abroad. In their opinion, players from the top five leagues were the representatives of self-discipline and talent.

Jiang Yuan took a big sip of beer, then stuffed a few peanuts into his mouth: "About the same, I drink almost every day, but I drink relatively little. For example, Eden and John, they have to drink 7 or 8 bottles after each game. They can drink a lot."

After that, Jiang Yuan added: "Eden and John are Hazard and Terry."

"Fuck..."

The Chinese players at the round table gasped.

Drinking 7 or 8 bottles after each game, it is a skill to stay awake, and playing in the Premier League three days later is another skill.

Jiang Yuan's words changed the male football players' views on the five major leagues. Feng Xiaoting chewed peanuts and sighed: "These foreigners are so good at playing... but they are really good at playing football."

If Jiang Yuan hadn't said it, Feng Xiaoting might have thought that Premier League players were all self-disciplined and talented, but he didn't expect that they were all alcoholics.

There is no way. There are really a lot of bars in the UK, and the beer culture is also good. Jiang Yuan didn't drink much to begin with, and this habit was developed by Azartree and the other man.

At this time, Li Yi, who was sitting opposite, held a skewer of freshly roasted lamb and said to the players: "When I was playing for Everton, those people would take me to the bar every time we won. Then I joined the team, and if I didn't go, it would be bad if I was isolated, so I had to go. Over time, I became more and more able to drink."

"But the bars in the UK are pretty average, not as fun as those in China."

Li Yi used his experience playing football for Everton to find common topics with Jiang Yuan, seemingly intending to ease the relationship, but the two were not from the same generation after all, and had somewhat different experiences.

Jiang Yuan and Li Yi toasted from a distance: "Brother Tie, you should compare the British bars more than ten years ago with the current Chinese bars. Of course, the Chinese ones are more fun. Some bars in London have been newly renovated. The Connaught is very good. I go there almost every time we win a game."

"What about losing?"

Zhang Yuning asked a rather unique question, and Jiang Yuan laughed out loud: "If we win, we go to the bar to celebrate. If we lose, we go to the bar to relieve our worries. Anyway, we have to rely on alcohol..."

Wu Lei helped Jiang Yuan pour wine. Jiang Yuan thanked him and raised his glass. The yellow wheat juice was still so charming: "This thing is really useful. Sometimes you just need to numb yourself."

"I support this!" Li Yi raised his glass and winked at the players at the table. Everyone raised the glasses in front of them.

"Come on, let's go!"

Feng Xiaoting gently touched Jiang Yuan's shoulder, leaned over and asked, "Hey, you guys went to the bar after the game, won't that affect your condition the next day?"

"Sleep until 2pm the next day"

Jiang Yuan said indifferently: "It's mainly because I have a day off the next day after every game, so it doesn't matter."

Hearing Jiang Yuan's words, Li Yi also felt a little emotional. Now the Premier League players are playing more and more extravagantly: "In the past, the players just played with all their heart and soul. Now these high-level players have to learn to resist external temptations. It's really not easy."

"..."

Jiang Yuan was silent for a while, and finally looked straight at Li Yi in front of him: "Temptation? I think it's okay. Players who can't resist temptation will be eliminated. Tie Ge, you are an experienced person. Do you have any suggestions for me about these temptations?"

!!!

Wu Lei, who was sitting on Jiang Yuan's right, was stunned. It was only after Wu Xi's reminder that he remembered to pour wine for Jiang Yuan. Li Yi on the opposite side obviously did not understand the meaning of Jiang Yuan's words, because he didn't think Jiang Yuan could understand what he had done.

"That's easy. You have to resist temptation completely from the beginning, because once you get caught up in it, you'll get deeper and deeper, and eventually you'll be stuck in the swamp and can't get out."

"Well, thank you Tiege"

Jiang Yuan stood up and toasted Li Yi again: "Learn from Brother Tie!"

"Well, it's not really about learning, I'm just sharing my experience, I hope it's useful to you."

Seeing Jiang Yuan standing up to toast him, Li Yi also stood up quickly, his face full of smiles, as if the little conflict between the two of them had passed.

……

CCTV1：北京时间10月6日晚7点35分，俄罗斯世界杯亚洲预选赛12强的比赛在西安体育场打响，在经过92分钟的高强度比赛后，中国男足以4：0的比分战胜叙利亚男足，其中，队内球星江远打入3球。

CCTV reporters reported that Chinese fans at the Xi'an Stadium celebrated until 3 a.m. on Chang'an North Road and Zhuque Street that night and set off hundreds of kilograms of fireworks.

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification for Asia, Group A Table:

1. South Korea, 7 points

2. Iran, 7 points

3. Uzbekistan, 6 points

4. China, 4 points

5. Syria, 1 point

6. Qatar, 0 points

Summary of the Football Daily: Although the Chinese men's football team won all three points in the match against Syria, the ranking of the Chinese men's football team in Group A remained unchanged after all the matches in the third round, as South Korea and Iran also won. But the good news is that China has opened up a gap with Syria, which is ranked fifth, and Qatar, which is ranked sixth.

The second headline on the front page of "China Football News" - At 10 a.m. on October 7, the Chinese national football team players were photographed boarding a plane at Xianyang International Airport. Their destination was Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Chinese reporters had arrived in advance and were ready to interview the players as soon as the plane landed.

The Sun - China's men's football team will face Uzbekistan in the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers, and Jiang's girlfriend Elina Karimova is from this country. Karimova is also a football fan, and it is not clear whether she will attend the game.

……

At 10 pm Beijing time on October 7, at Tashkent Airport in Uzbekistan, Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Wenwen was already on duty. According to internal intelligence, the passenger plane carrying the Chinese men's football team will land within 9 minutes. Now the Tashkent Airport is full of Chinese people, many of whom are wearing red Dragon Team fan jerseys, standing in groups of three or four chatting, and it looks very lively.

Relying on her nose as a reporter, Liu Wenwen found a fan who looked to be in his 30s for an interview. The fan wore glasses and looked like a scholar.

"Hello, sir..."

Liu Wenwen had just opened her mouth when the man with glasses suddenly shouted, "Fuck! Here they come! The plane, the plane outside!"

"Chinese men's football team!"

!!!

After hearing what the man with glasses said, all the fans in the hall looked outside and saw an Airbus 6027 with the number CZ330 landing on the runway.

This plane came from BJ and was the last flight from China to Uzbekistan that day.

According to a morning report from China Football News, the Chinese men's football team set off at 7 a.m., transferred in Xi'an to BJ and then flew to Tashkent, which took about 13 or 4 hours.

Fans and reporters rushed forward and almost confused the airport security.

Under the expectant gazes of everyone, Zhang Yuning, wearing the Dragon Team jacket, was the first to get off the plane, followed by Feng Xiaoting, Wu Xi and others, each carrying a suitcase in his hand.

In order to get the players' autographs when they entered the hall, everyone squeezed forward like crazy, but the reporters were more responsive and had already taken their positions in advance.

"Here!! Here, Jiang Yuan, wow!"

"Look here, look here!!!"

"Jiang Yuan!"

The fans were very enthusiastic. Jiang Yuan thought about it and finally agreed to be interviewed by Xinhua News Agency.

After the match with Syria yesterday, the reporter of China Football News wanted to interview Jiang Yuan at Xi'an Stadium, but it was raining when the match ended, and there was no indoor press reception room at Xi'an Stadium, so the interview was put on hold. Today, the Chinese men's football team arrived in Uzbekistan, which is a good opportunity to make up for the interview.

In order not to affect the order of Tashkent Airport, Jiang Yuan discussed with Liu Wenwen and finally allowed Liu Wenwen to follow the Chinese team to the hotel, and the interview took place in the hotel lobby.

"Jiang Yuan, in yesterday's match against Syria, you made your debut in the men's first team by creating a penalty and completing a hat trick. You showed a very terrifying ability to dominate the game. Many fans said that your strength has improved. Do you think your strength has improved?"

"Well, I think improvement in strength is only one aspect."

Jiang Yuan honestly said that his current level is not much different from that during the Olympics, and the main reason is not the improvement in his abilities.

"The key is the match status, because I just came back from the club and basically did not participate in the training with my teammates. In order to prevent myself from making mistakes, I played against Syria as if it were the club's opponent, because I think it is safer to do so."

what?
Liu Wenwen was stunned for a moment.

My goodness, what Jiang Yuan means by this is to treat Syria as a Premier League team.

No wonder Syria’s defense was so miserable yesterday. Jiang Yuan didn’t let up at all. Who the hell could withstand this?
"Do you think you can still perform as well in the next games?"

"Hiss... I will definitely try my best, but I will definitely not play like I did yesterday in the next few games."

Jiang Yuan analyzed the situation in front of Liu Wenwen, telling the Xinhua News Agency reporter and also giving a reassurance to the fans of the Chinese men's football team: "Football is a team sport. I will try my best to cooperate with my teammates. Only if we work together can we get a good performance in the Asian qualifiers."

"But……"

Liu Wenwen raised an eyebrow: "Mr. Jiang Yuan, it seems that you didn't cooperate with Gao Lin and Wu Lei in yesterday's game?"

Cough!

Jiang Yuan coughed twice, his face flushed. "It's like this. I personally really hope to cooperate with my teammates, but as I said just now, I just got off the plane and participated in the competition, so I am not very familiar with my teammates in the national team, Brother Lin and Brother Lei. Because I am not familiar with my teammates' running habits, I can only do it by myself."

"So what you mean is that you will try your best to find cooperation with your teammates in the next game against Uzbekistan, is that right?"

Facing Liu Wenwen's question, Jiang Yuan's answer was...

"Of course it is. No matter what, football is always a game of 11 people. If I take the initiative to find the rhythm of the team, then our overall performance will definitely get better."

Jiang Yuan is not stupid. This is an interview with Xinhua News Agency, and many underage children are watching. As a role model for the children, Jiang Yuan must instill a concept - football is definitely not a one-person game, everyone should play together!

"Yes, that's right."

Facing the camera, Liu Wenwen expressed her agreement with Jiang Yuan's words: "In team competition, we can't just look at how strong one person is, but we have to look at the team as a whole."

"As athlete Jiang Yuan said, football is a game for 11 people. Speaking of this..."

Liu Wenwen turned to look at Jiang Yuan: "As a core player of the Chinese team, what are your prospects for the match against Uzbekistan on the 11th?"

"First of all, we definitely hope to win. Although we got 3 points in the last game, we are still fourth, so we have a reason to win against Uzbekistan."

Among the top 12 teams in the Asian qualifiers, only two teams in Groups A and B can qualify directly for the World Cup, and the third place will have to play in the play-offs. The Chinese team is now only fourth. If this ranking remains after 2 rounds, the Chinese men's football team will have to say goodbye to the World Cup.

"Many people say that I don't care about my teammates when I play football. I think this is a big misunderstanding of me, so..."

Jiang Yuan said slowly with a serious expression: "In the next match against Uzbekistan, I will show the Chinese fans what teamwork is."

……

(End of this chapter)