Chapter 619 The World Cup Unveils

"How is it, how does it feel to be in the national team?"

After the two warm-up matches, the outside world collectively looked down upon the Spanish national team.

This view spread quickly and widely among Spanish fans. Even Guardiola, who was on vacation in Asia, heard about it and made a special call to Lin Quan.

"It's the same as before. There's no special feeling. If I have to say it, it's probably because there are more young players, which automatically raises the status of an old man like me in the team to a higher level."

Hearing Lin Quan's joking words, Guardiola on the other end of the phone breathed a sigh of relief.

He was still joking, which meant the situation wasn't too bad.

Maybe the media reports are a bit exaggerated. This Spanish team is indeed facing serious problems of aging lineup and lack of support, but it is not that unbearable.

After all, with 22-year-old Lin Quan in charge, the lower limit of this Spanish team will not be too low.

But the media are right. It is easy for Spain to reach the knockout rounds, but it is very difficult to win the championship.

Judging from Guardiola's perspective, the biggest favorite in this World Cup should be the French team.

However, this kind of cup competition is very contingency. Even if the favorites to win the championship do not perform well or something unexpected happens, they may be upset and eliminated.

So until the last minute, no one can be sure of the winner.

After chatting with Guardiola for a while, the latter had already booked a flight ticket for the 14th and was obviously preparing to watch the first game in Spain.

Whether as a coach, a father or a fan, Guardiola will never miss an important event like the World Cup.

But if he comes on the 14th, he will not be able to make it to the opening game of this World Cup.

…

On June 8, the Spanish team took a plane and arrived in Krasnodar, Russia.

In the next month, this will serve as the training base for the Spanish team. Of course, the prerequisite is that they can not be eliminated and fight until the end.

When I got off the plane, a large number of fans came to the airport to pick me up.

When these fans saw Busquets, Iniesta, Pique and others walking in the front, they cheered excitedly, shouting the names of the players and the name of the Barcelona club.

Although Barcelona's record has declined in recent years, the fan base accumulated by the Dream III Dynasty cannot be underestimated.

These people seemed to be here to pick up the Spanish national team, but in fact they were here for several Barcelona players.

When Ramos, who was walking behind, passed by, these fans unconsciously shouted Barcelona's name, which made Shui Ye couldn't help but frown and glared at the fan who yelled the loudest.

The man seemed frightened by Ramos's eyes, and his voice stopped abruptly.

As a player of Real Madrid, Ramos does not like Barcelona. After all, the grievances between the two teams in the league are too deep, and conflicts and conflicts often break out between the two teams.

But to be honest, in the Spanish national team, the Barcelona gang has been more influential than the Real Madrid gang in the past ten years.

Compared with Real Madrid, Barcelona pays more attention to youth training, or it can be said that the success rate of Barcelona's La Masia youth training camp in the past ten years is too high, and a large number of outstanding youth training players have emerged, making them firmly Dominated the Spanish national team.

On the other hand, Real Madrid, under Zidanega Pavin's policy, prefers to buy famous stars from outside to serve as the face of the team, leaving less outstanding positions to newcomers and youth training players.

Later, even these positions were simply handed over to foreign players, making Real Madrid almost become a mercenary army, and most of the main positions in the team were occupied by foreign players.

If your main players are not domestic players, then naturally you won't be able to produce many international players.

Therefore, within the national team, it is normal for the Barcelona gang to suppress the Real Madrid gang.

However, in this year's national team, Real Madrid players surpassed Barcelona players for the first time.

Among the international players selected for the 23-man roster this time, there are 6 players from Real Madrid and only 4 players from Barcelona.

That's why Ramos is so unhappy. When there were few people, the limelight was taken away by the Barcelona gang. He had nothing to say. But now that there are more people in the Real Madrid gang, the limelight is still stolen by the Barcelona gang. He is not happy. .

Compared with players from Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​players who play in other leagues or other clubs did not react much to the actions of the fans at the scene.

The grievances between the Western Super League giants have nothing to do with them.

The only thing worth worrying about is probably whether the fight between the Real Madrid gang and the Barcelona gang will affect the team's unity and combat effectiveness.

The players from the Barcelona Gang were followed by the players from Real Madrid, but the reaction of the fans at the scene was very dull. Except for Ramos and Isco, who got a little applause and cheers when they passed by, the others almost didn't get anything.

This is actually not surprising. Although Real Madrid was the Champions League champion last year, the people selected for the national team, such as Nacho, Carvajal, Lucas, Asensio and others, are either substitutes or in the same position. It is difficult to get the limelight due to the position, so the exposure is not high enough.

Compared to them, Lin Quan, who appeared later, immediately set off the scene as soon as he appeared, receiving warm cheers from thousands of fans at the scene.

Lin Quan was walking and talking and laughing with Thiago, who played for Bayern, when he was startled by the sudden loud cheers.

When he looked up, he realized that it was coming towards him, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.

He waved to the fans and said hello to the fans.

"Привет!"

Although I don’t understand Russian, I temporarily learned the phrase “hello” in Russian before coming here, which came in handy at this time.

Although Lin Quan's pronunciation was not standard, the fans at the scene were still very surprised when they heard it, so they raised the cheers a few decibels, which attracted people around the airport to look at him.

"Who is that person? Such a grand ceremony?"

"It seems to be from the Spanish national team!"

"Holy crap, if it's true, doesn't that mean Emperor Lin is inside?"

"How can it be false? Didn't you see the banners and slogans held by the fans?"

"Hey, what a coincidence, let's go and have a look. I heard that Emperor Lin likes to sign autographs and take photos with the fans who pick him up at the airport. Maybe we can get lucky too!"

There are still many people who hold this idea. As a well-known fan-loving fanatic in football, Lin Quan will not refuse fans' autograph requests under normal circumstances.

But today's situation is slightly different. The security personnel at the airport don't want to cause trouble for themselves.

With so many fans crowded here, trouble may occur if you are not careful.

It would be great fun if some criminals took the opportunity to cause some damage or something.

So they separated the fans and players tightly, without giving the two sides a chance to come into contact.

In this way, after the Spanish players got off the plane, they got on the team bus and drove directly to the training base.

After arriving at the training base, Del Bosque asked the players to seize the time to allocate rooms and then familiarize themselves with the environment as soon as possible.

There is no need to train today. After a good night's rest and recharge, we will resume full training tomorrow.

While the World Cup hasn't started yet, Spain still has a few tactics to practice.

…

Just as the Spanish team arrived in Russia, many popular teams such as Brazil, Germany, Argentina, and France also arrived one after another.

And arriving with them were fans and reporters from all over the world.

For a time, the streets of Moscow were filled with fans wearing uniforms of different national teams.

The football atmosphere has begun to become more intense, and the focus of the entire football world has also gathered here.

Taking advantage of the fact that the World Cup has not yet begun, major media have launched early warm-up and campaign activities.

On June 9, German media took the lead in revealing the top five favorites to win this World Cup, as ranked by German football legends and experts.

In the list compiled by the Germans, the German tank tops the list as the biggest favorite to win.

The lineup is luxurious, and the overall value exceeds that of Spain. The young and impactful Gallic Rooster ranks second.

Two-time defending champion Spain ranked third.

Latin American duo Brazil and Argentina ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

Perhaps because they were thinking about the host's oil, the Germans gave the host a face and ranked Russia in the top eight.

After the German rankings were announced, it naturally aroused heated discussions among fans.

Many people think it is shameless for Germans to brag about themselves and put themselves first.

But they have no opinion on the ranking of other positions. As for who is the favorite, fans each have their own opinions.

Some people think it’s Germany, some people think it’s France, but no one thinks it’s Spain.

"Tsk tsk, aren't they just two warm-up matches? Are you looking down on the Spanish team so much?"

Some fans who support Spain can't stand it, and others look down on the Spanish team too much.

The overall strength of this Spanish team is indeed not as good as the previous two World Cups, but it is not as bad as they said.

It’s a very simple truth. Who do you think is better between Lin Quan in 2018 and Messi in 2014?

If it's not easy to compare, then compare Lin Quan in 2018 and Messi in 2018. Argentina is now the top five favorite to win the championship, but the overall strength of Argentina is far behind Spain.

This Argentina team is almost completely supported by Messi. Without Messi, it will not be able to play. Messi, who was forced to withdraw from the national team, had to come back to save the game.

They can all be in the top five, how can Spain be ranked third?

Of course, such a voice did not receive support from many people.

"Come on, tell me, who can Spain knock out between Germany and France?"

Spanish fans deliberately said that these two teams were defeated by their own hands, but the records of the two sides were from a few years ago. They really haven't played against each other much in the past two years, so they suppressed what they wanted to say.

After typing on the keyboard for a long time, I finally deleted them all, leaving only one sentence:

"See you on the field!"

Of course, the winning or losing of the game will not be determined by the quarrels of the fans. Whether it is a mule or a horse can only be determined by pulling it out for a walk.

On June 14, the opening match of the 2018 World Cup started.

The first game is the host country Russia against the Asian team Saudi Arabia.

Because in the German predictions, the host country was ranked among the top eight, which made many people before the game even more optimistic that Russia could win this game.

After all, no matter how bad Russia is, it is still a European team, while Saudi Arabia is just an Asian team.

The performance of Asian teams in the last World Cup was so disastrous that there were calls in the international football community, hoping that FIFA could reduce the number of World Cup quotas in the Asian division.

Of course, there are also some betting dogs that take the unconventional route.

After all, the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish!

Since everyone is optimistic that Russia will win, let's take a gamble and buy Saudi Arabia to win.

There is a saying that goes well, if you buy football, your villa is close to the sea!

If you lose, you will work in the sea, if you win, you will be a young model in the club.

But there is another saying that is also very good: Bet on dogs and lose everything.

Everyone is optimistic that Russia will win, and of course there is a reason for it.

In the opening match, Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5:0, shocking a lot of people's jaws.

It also made the desperate gambling dog lose everything!

Seeing that his team was being beaten miserably, the Saudi Crown Prince who attended the opening game could still talk and laugh calmly at first, but as the team conceded more and more goals, he finally couldn't stand it any longer.

Damn, what the hell is this kicking!

On the other hand, the Russian President on the side smiled like a child and kept clapping without stopping.

FIFA President Infantino, who was sandwiched between the two, looked a little embarrassed. Russia was not a traditional strong team, but it actually beat Saudi Arabia 5:0.

The strength of the teams in the Asian Division is too weak!

It is conceivable that after this game, calls for reallocation of World Cup quotas will definitely appear again.

But for the promotion and development of football, the quotas on the Asian side must not be moved.

After all, the current 4.5 quotas have already made it difficult for the two most populous countries to participate in the World Cup. If the quotas are cut again, these two countries may never hope to enter the World Cup in this life.

But if the quotas in Asia are not moved, then countries in Europe, Africa and other regions will be in trouble again.

Just thinking about it gives me a headache!

At this moment, he began to seriously think about his previous proposal to expand the World Cup.

If the number of participating teams is expanded to 48 teams, the opposition will be much smaller.

Moreover, after the quota is relaxed, more teams in the Asian Division will be able to participate, and the opportunities for the two most populous countries will naturally be greatly increased.

It's just that this is easier said than done.

Some people support military expansion, while others do not.

Moreover, after the expansion to 48 teams, the existing schedule will definitely need to be adjusted, which will also involve the timing of leagues in various countries and the coordination of clubs.

Following the second game of the opening game, Uruguay, the remaining group A match, faced Egypt.

Egypt is not a traditional strong team, but Egypt has received a lot of attention in this World Cup.

The main reason is because there is a star named Salah in the Egyptian team.

Salah performed very well last season and has now become a hot and popular star in the entire football world. He is a household name in Egypt and is the idol of many young people.

However, Egypt still lost to the stronger Uruguay in this game.

This also proves once again that football is a team sport and one person alone is not enough. (End of chapter)