host must win

Chapter 444 defending the theme of 2004
At 12 o'clock in the evening on December 4th, Manchester United ushered in the 11th round of the Premier League and played against Southampton at home.The Red Devils continued their strong performance and beat their opponents 16:3 at home, continuing to lead the Premier League standings.

Immediately, Manchester United split into two groups, one led by assistant coach Queiroz with a substitute rotation lineup, went to Istanbul, Turkey, to participate in the last Champions League group match, and challenged the Turkish giants Galatasaray away.On the other way, led by Ferguson, he went to Japan to participate in the last Toyota Cup.

Because Manchester United has basically secured the first place in the Champions League group, and the last group match of the Champions League group match is too close to the Toyota Cup match, Ferguson made this seemingly risky arrangement.

曼联差一点便阴沟里翻船, 被里昂抢走小组第一的位置。在12月9日凌晨进行的欧冠小组赛D组第6轮的比赛中，以全替补搭配青年队球员出战的曼联，在客场以0:3的比分惨败。

At the same time, Lyon beat Sparta Prague 5-0 at home.In this way, both Manchester United and Lyon have achieved a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss, with the same points.

Fortunately, Manchester United has accumulated enough goal difference advantages in the previous 5 rounds of the group stage. Although they lost 0:3 in the last round, the Red Devils still achieved 18 goal difference advantages by scoring 9 goals and conceding 9 goals. Overwhelmed Lyon, who scored 17 goals and conceded 11 goals, with a goal difference of 6 goals, and won the first place in Group D.

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On December 12, the second European Golden Boy Award was released. Manchester United teenager Wayne Rooney won the award by beating his teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for his outstanding performance after joining Manchester United.

This is the second time that a young Manchester United player has won this award. The previous one was also the first for the European Golden Boy Award, and the winner was Yin Jun.

The young talents of the Red Devils won the previous two awards.

Rooney traveled to Turin, Italy, to lift the European Golden Boy trophy himself.Therefore, he did not go to Japan with the team to participate in the Toyota Cup, but went to Turkey with the substitute lineup to participate in the final round of the Champions League group stage.

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A day later, the final Toyota Cup was held in Yokohama, Japan.As the Champions League champions, Manchester United faced the Copa Libertadores champions, Caldes from Colombia.

Yin Jun once again became the master of the game, scored twice to help Manchester United beat their opponents 2:0 in regular time, and won the last Toyota Cup championship trophy.

The swan song of the Toyota Cup made many fans feel complicated.

For this Toyota Cup, there are very few reports from major Japanese newspapers, and even these few reports focus on the news of "how many tickets are still unsold".Just the day before the game, there were still more than 3000 tickets unsold, which was unimaginable before, so many Japanese fans lamented that this year's Toyota Cup "will be held in silence."

Before the start of the game, many Japanese fans entered the stadium silently, without the usual elation when watching the game.Veteran fan Kamada said: "I have watched the Toyota Cup for 20 years, and I have a special feeling for it. It's a pity that I won't be able to see it next year."

He told reporters that he came here on purpose after traveling for nearly 3 hours.

In contrast, some foreign fans seemed very happy.

Outside the arena, a Colombian couple was sorting out a flag, and they were preparing to bring the flag into the field to cheer for the Caldes team. "Colombia!" The female fans shouted proudly, while the male fans waved the national flag vigorously.

Perhaps for them, it doesn't matter whether the Toyota Cup is the last one, what is important is that they can see their home country's team in the Toyota Cup this time.

Of course, the happiest were the Chinese fans, who once again witnessed Chinese pride dominating the game.

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Yin Jun, who drove away the Toyota, did not make any stay in Japan.Because before he came to Japan, he had already been informed by "French Football" that he had won this year's European Golden Globe Award, and he accepted an interview with "French Football" magazine at his home in Manchester and shot the award-winning video.

For Yin Jun, this is something that he is familiar with. After all, he has experienced it once a year ago, and now he is just repeating it again.

Now, Yin Jun flew back to Paris overnight to attend the European Golden Globe Awards Ceremony held on the evening of December 12th local time.

For Yin Jun, he beat his competitors almost without any suspense and won the European Golden Globe Award.According to the award results announced afterwards, Yin Jun won 52 out of 48 judges with 5 points, and the final total score was as high as 253 points!
This is a record score. The previous highest score was Zidane in 1998. The Juventus king scored 52 of 5 45 points, and the total score was as high as 244 points!
Besides Yin Jun, the scores of several of his main competitors were even less than half of Yin Jun's!
Ranked second is Andriy Shevchenko from AC Milan. The Ukrainian nuclear warhead scored 128 points. Barcelona star Ronaldinho ranked third with 123 points.

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It is no surprise that Yin Jun won the European Golden Globe Award, because long before the results were released, all parties have predicted that Yin Jun will defend the European Golden Globe Award with an unprecedented advantage.

It is really because Yin Jun's performance in 2004 was so outstanding, whether it is personal performance or collective honor, compared with several of his main competitors, he has obvious advantages.

With the release of the European Ballon d'Or, the eyes of the world football are focused on the 2004 World Footballer of the Year who will be announced a week later.

Although all media are currently optimistic about Yin Jun winning the highest award in world football, anything can happen before the result is released.Although Yin Jun has obvious advantages, it is inevitable to be overturned, especially in the World Player of the Year award, which is more important for the performance of the national team. Yin Jun, who was born in a "weak country" in football, is inherently at a disadvantage.For example, last year, he was favored by various media, but he lost to Zidane in the end.

Almost at the same time as the European Golden Globe Awards, there is also the first round of this season's Champions League knockout round.In the UEFA draw ceremony, Manchester United, as the first in the group, got a fairly good lottery, and got Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

In the other seven matchups, Real Madrid played against Juventus in Serie A, Liverpool faced Leverkusen in Sanya, Eindhoven and Monaco, and Bayern Munich and Arsenal were drawn. Together, Porto played against Inter Milan, Barcelona played against Chelsea, and Lyon met AC Milan.

(End of this chapter)