host must win

Chapter 586 Undefeated End
When Manchester United won three consecutive victories and topped the Premier League standings, the Chinese team suffered a defeat.

On the evening of August 8th, in the last match of the quarter-finals of the German World Cup Asian qualifiers, the Chinese team played at home against the North Korean team, which had lost the last five consecutive games.

Since the Chinese team had already advanced to the finals of the World Cup in Germany, for the purpose of examining players more extensively in this game, Alihan did not select overseas players who played in Europe, and played in the Super League class.

Although there are many overseas players such as Yin Jun absent, all fans do not think that the Chinese team will lose to the younger brother North Korea at home.After all, whether it was the previous first-round match between the two sides, or the East Asian Cup just a month ago, the Chinese team defeated the North Korean team.

Because of this, the Chinese team felt listless in the first half. On the contrary, the North Korean team was eager for a victory. In the 28th minute, the North Korean team took a corner kick, and the Chinese team was not far away. Nod the goal first to break the deadlock, 1:0.

Before the end of the first half, Kim Chol-ho, who was only 19 years old and made his debut, completed a "Cruyff-like turn" outside the penalty area. After getting rid of the defender's defense, he kicked and shot to expand the score to 2:0.

In the second half, the Chinese team changed from the listless and low energy state of the first half, and broke through the ten fingers of North Korean goalkeeper Kim Myung-gil twice within 5 minutes.

In the 49th minute, the goalkeeper of the North Korean team gave the Chinese team an unnecessary corner kick. After the corner kick was taken, the North Korean team failed to clear the siege. Zhao Junzhe passed the ball into the penalty area again. The North Korean team made an offside error. Xie Hui headed the ball accurately The ball was delivered to the goal, 1:2. After 5 minutes, Gao Lin hit the goalkeeper from an angle to equalize the score.

The North Korean players did not give up until 60 seconds before the end of the game. The North Korean team passed a high ball into the penalty area. The defender was a little hesitant when making a clearance. An Zhenghao took the opportunity to head the ball into the penalty area. An empty goal locked the score at 3:2.

………………

The loss to the North Korean team at home has greatly shocked the Chinese team.

Because this not only means the end of the Chinese team's 46-match unbeaten record, but also allows the Chinese team to see the cruelty of football: even if the opponent is as weak as North Korea, it is still possible to beat the Chinese team!
However, Yin Jun, who did not participate in this game, felt that it was actually very beneficial for the Chinese team to suffer this defeat.On the one hand, this game took place when the Chinese team had already qualified ahead of time, and it would not cause any actual damage to the Chinese team; on the other hand, this game poured cold water on the Chinese team to calm them down .

Because the Chinese team not only broke the unbeaten record of the national team in 35 games held by the Brazilian team, but also won the Asian Cup and the Confederations Cup consecutively. They won the second East Asian Cup with a defeat record, which filled the whole country with an atmosphere of blind optimism, thinking that Chinese football is already very strong.

To put it in a fashionable way, the Chinese team is a bit drifting, and it's not the usual drift, but drifting so that they can't tell the difference between the south, the north, the north, and they can't recognize themselves.

As a result, he was now defeated by his younger brother, the North Korean team, who thought his strength was far inferior to his own. This was undoubtedly a blow to the Chinese team, and he was a little dizzy.

Of course, if the Chinese team can really wake up because of this defeat, it will be very beneficial to the World Cup finals next year. I am afraid that this will not attract everyone's attention.

Fortunately, Yin Jun is currently the captain of the Chinese team. Although he did not play in this game, many reporters still went to Manchester to interview Yin Jun before the start of the match between Manchester United and Aston Villa, asking him his views on this matter.

Yin Jun did not remain silent this time, but was outspoken. He hoped that the national team would face up to this defeat, earnestly learn from the lessons of failure, and respect every opponent from the bottom of their hearts. Only in this way can they truly grow.

………………

After Manchester United defeated Wigan Athletic, Ferguson flew to Monaco with Yin Jun, preparing to attend UEFA's awards ceremony last season and the UEFA Champions League draw ceremony for the new season.

Although Manchester United's record last season was not good, Yin Jun still played a fantastic personal performance, which made him selected for UEFA's best team of the season, as well as UEFA's best player of the season and best midfielder Candidate, so was invited to this UEFA celebration.

At the awards ceremony held at 8:25 local time on August 16th in Monaco, Yin Jun won the best growth of the season, but in the selection of the best player of the season, he lost to the captain of the rival Liverpool, Steven Gerrard.

杰拉德是上赛季利物浦夺得冠军杯的精神支柱。去年12月小组赛对奥林匹亚科斯的比赛中，他的关键一球把球队带进淘汰赛。在决赛0:3落后的逆境中，又是杰拉德头球破门，吹响了反攻的号角。25岁的杰拉德因而成为以欧洲冠军队长身份获得欧战最佳球员称号的No.1。此前，贝克汉姆(1999)、雷东多(2000)、埃芬博格(2001)、齐达内(2002)、殷俊(2003和2004)也来自当年的欧洲冠军队，但他们都不是本队队长。

In addition, Cech, Terry and Ronaldinho won the best goalkeeper, defender and forward awards respectively.

………………

Another thing that the whole world is paying attention to this afternoon is the grouping of the UEFA Champions League in the new season.

Although Manchester United stopped in the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, they still became one of the eight seeded teams by virtue of their top ranking in the UEFA standings.The other seven seeded teams are Real Madrid, AC Milan, Barcelona, ​​Liverpool, Inter Milan, Bayern Munich and Arsenal.

The three teams are ranked among the seeds, which also shows the heritage of the Premier League's first league.

Since the Red Army only ranked fifth in the Premier League last season, they were not eligible to participate in this season's Champions League, but at the last minute they received special approval from UEFA, so the team had to start from last month. Played from the first qualifying round.

Despite receiving preferential treatment from UEFA, Liverpool do not enjoy another UEFA preference, the so-called "country protection" clause, which is designed to prevent teams from the same country from meeting each other in the group stage. .

Liverpool and their rivals Arsenal and Manchester United, who are also from the Premier League, are in the A zone of the upper half as the seed team, while Chelsea are in the B zone of the upper half, so the Red Army may meet the Blues in the group.

Naturally, it is impossible for UEFA, which is good at making gimmicks, not to make good use of this.

Sure enough, during the draw, Chelsea were drawn into Group F where Liverpool were.

Manchester United, as the top seeded team, was drawn into Group D.In the same group, there are Villarreal in La Liga, Lille in Ligue [-], and Benfica in the Portuguese Super League.

(End of this chapter)