Chapter 226 Red Devil 07 Asia Tour, Part

On July 2007, 7, the first day of the team's intensive training, Ricardo got to know most of his new teammates. Some of them had not yet returned to the team due to injuries or national team competitions, and they did not plan to participate in this Asian tour.

There are five people on the injury list, including captain Gary Neville, Solskjaer who is about to retire, striker Saha, current Asian No. 1 Park Ji-sung and goalkeeper Foster.

Among them, Park Ji-sung, who suffered a knee injury at the end of last season, was the most seriously injured. After surgery, the Korean player could only accept the award on crutches at Manchester United's championship celebration. However, the recovery after the surgery was not as ideal as expected. Ferguson also informed the team of Park Ji-sung's injury. The Korean star will have to rest for at least half a year and will not be able to return to the field until January next year.

Another is the aging Solskjaer. It is heard that Solskjaer is likely to retire directly this summer and start his coaching career in Manchester United's youth team.

In addition to the injured, there are three players who are currently playing for their national teams in international competitions and will also be absent: Argentine defender Heinze, Brazilian newcomer Anderson and Chinese player Dong Yuanchao. Dong Yuanchao and Ricardo, who were born in 85, are players of the same age, but the two did not have the opportunity to play against each other in the youth team.

In addition to the above 8 players, two players from Manchester United's first team asked for an extended vacation. One is Rossi, Ricardo's teammate in the U21 European Championship, and the other is Richardson, his opponent in the U21 European Championship. Both young players have been involved in transfer rumors recently...

In contrast, when Ricardo, who also participated in the U21 European Championship, returned to the team in time, it was obvious how much he was hated, although Ferguson and the coaching staff were very satisfied.

Rossi guessed that he would be compared with other children, so he could only secretly complain: That's because you haven't experienced Ricardo's ball-dominant attributes yet, and you will be annoyed enough later...

However, Ricardo was very sorry that he lost the opportunity to form the Italian twin stars again in the new team. Ricardo was very confident that Rossi would grow quickly in the new season under the firm guidance of his master. However, he learned from a phone call with Rossi before signing that this little brother who had not made a name for himself in the Premier League for three seasons would most likely be loaned or transferred back to Serie A in the new season; his agent was already negotiating for him, and Manchester United had decided to let him go.

In addition to Rossi and Richardson on the verge of leaving the team, the bloodthirsty Alan Smith is also caught up in transfer rumors within the team because the Manchester United club has made it clear earlier that it will not renew the contract with Alan Smith, and Ferguson also agreed.

So there are rumors that Everton is willing to pay 800 million pounds to buy the former Leeds star. Middlesbrough and Portsmouth are also willing to get involved in the battle, but Smith did not stay in England to complete the transfer like Richardson. He joined Manchester United's 24-man visiting list.

According to the insiders in the team, there are many reasons why Alan Smith was added to the Asian tour roster at the last minute, such as Saha and Solskjaer were injured, Dong Fangzhuo was in the Asian Cup and Rossi was on vacation. If Smith was missing, then Manchester United would only have Rooney as a genuine striker left on the roster.

In addition, there is a major signing that has not yet been finalized, which is also the last signing planned by Manchester United this summer, that is, the Argentine beast Carlos Tevez.

Sir Alex must prepare for the worst in the new season. If Tevez cannot transfer as scheduled, then someone must share Rooney's pressure. Judging from the health and experience of several forwards in Manchester United's current lineup, Smith is definitely ahead of Rossi, Dong Fangzhuo and other young players. Moreover, Ferguson has always admired Smith's fighting spirit and courage. Therefore, Sir Alex plans to use the trip to Asia to give Alan Smith another chance, while observing the player and waiting for the result of Tevez.

However, why did Ricardo first lay the groundwork for these teammates who have not returned or are about to leave? It was because Ricardo was afraid that he would forget about them later. The main reason was that he and the big guys in the team hit it off right away and felt that they had met too late. They shared the same ideals, sympathized with each other, had similar tastes, were in cahoots with each other, and were in cahoots with each other...

Although Ricardo is a newcomer, he arrived at the club's locker room an hour earlier than the training time, ready to greet the big guys in the team one by one, and offer his knees, oh no, it was a gift of greeting that Palop paid for and bought together.

On the day of the official announcement, Ricardo asked the team manager in advance and learned that the team's stars usually arrived at the locker room about 30 minutes before training. So today Ricardo was naturally the first to arrive at the locker room to arrange it. But to Ricardo's surprise, the second person to arrive at the locker room was Cristiano Ronaldo! He was less than 5 minutes later than him...

At this time, Cristiano Ronaldo was still a little immature. He was about the same height and build as Ricardo, but his face did not have the confidence and arrogance of a mature man. Instead, there was a hint of shyness and assertiveness.

Ronaldo had played against Ricardo in a friendly match at the beginning of last season, so they were not strangers. Ricardo took the initiative to greet Ronaldo in Portuguese, and naturally hugged Ronaldo and gave him a chest bump, which boys like to play, and Ronaldo did not refuse.

All of a sudden, the distance between the two of them disappeared, followed by simple self-introductions, and Ricardo took out his ultimate weapon to break the ice, which was some inexpensive small gifts.

The gift for Ronaldo was a specially prepared leather gift box of Armani brand endorsed by himself. Without giving Ronaldo any chance to refuse, Ricardo directly asked Ronaldo which one was his wardrobe, and naturally placed the gift box in front of Ronaldo's locker, and also invited Ronaldo to help distribute the welcome gifts to other teammates.

Ronaldo, who seemed a little shy, just accepted the offer and took the initiative to introduce Ricardo to other teammates and the locker layout. He seemed to become friends with Ricardo and started chatting with him. He completely forgot that he was a scheming boy who came to the locker room early just to warm up on the court in advance to give Sir Alex a good impression in the new season.

Of course, Ronaldo also recognizes Ricardo's ability. He has learned from his agent that he is very happy to have this strong player join the team. After all, he can help himself and the team win more honors. He mainly hopes that this Italian midfielder, who is good at assisting and organizing, can pass the ball to him more. Yes, Ronaldo naturally classifies Ricardo as a passer. After all, scoring is his main task in the new season...

After chatting with Ronaldo for a while and getting to know most of the players in the team, especially the big guys in the team, such as Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Rooney and Van der Sar, teammates arrived one after another.

So Hargreaves, who was also a newcomer but had not prepared any gifts, obviously put more force when bumping chests and shaking hands with Ricardo, and seemed much more enthusiastic. However, Ricardo turned around and said that he had specially prepared a gift for everyone for Brother Owen, which was a gift box of loose nougat, right in front of Hargreaves' locker, and quickly unpacked it and distributed it to everyone...

Then there was a good-natured joke and laughter in the locker room. The generous and cheerful Hargreaves did not take it seriously and actually opened the package and distributed the candies. He also pretended to treat several big guys in the team differently, which triggered another round of laughter and playfulness.

Sir Alex, who was already on the field waiting for the team to gather for training, learned from the assistant coach what happened in the locker room and showed his signature grin, squinting eyes and red face, which was meaningful...

After a warm-up and recovery training session, Manchester United's 24-man squad for the Asia tour was released:

The three goalkeepers are Edwin van der Sar, the loan-turned-regular Kuczak, and the youngster Eaton.

There are 9 defenders, led by Ferdinand and Vidic, including Evra, Brown, Silvester, O'Shea, Evans, Bardsley and Simpson;

There are also 9 central midfielders, led by vice-captain Giggs, including Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Hargreaves, Ricardo Leitch, Eagles, Gibson and Martin;

The three forwards are Rooney, Ronaldo and Smith.

Manchester United's Asian tour has a total of four stops. The first three stops are in Japan on the 4th, South Korea on the 17th and Macau on the 20rd. Jiaozhou, the southern gate of China, will be the last stop for the Red Devils.

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It takes about 12 hours to charter a direct flight from Manchester, UK to Tokyo, Japan.

On the flight, Ricardo reviewed "The Shawshank Redemption" with Julian on the small TV on the plane and took a nap. He also discussed with Julian two projects that he had been thinking about recently: the athlete data analysis system and a professional sports physiotherapy and rehabilitation center.

Julian didn't know much about the former and couldn't give much advice, but the latter was somewhat related to her current major and research direction. Julian said that she would help Ricardo consult professors and seniors at the University of Chicago next semester, especially her professors who have in-depth exchanges and cooperation with the Chicago Rehabilitation Center, which is known as the best rehabilitation hospital on the planet.

In addition, Julian also mentioned that one of her classmates is studying for a doctorate in a related field at the University of Padua in Italy, which is also a world leader in fascia physical therapy and sports rehabilitation.

Well, on the flight, Ricardo decided to hire Julian as his personal consultant, mainly to solve his personal problems and consult on projects in the field of sports rehabilitation...

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On July 2007, 7, Manchester United arrived in Tokyo, Japan. Not long after settling in the hotel, Manchester United players were gathered by Ferguson for the first public training session. The family and girlfriends naturally went shopping together, and Julian was naturally pulled away by Ronaldo and Rooney's girlfriends...

After the training, some Manchester United players attended various activities arranged by the club in batches. Ronaldo and Rooney went to the fan meeting, Giggs and Evra accompanied Sir Alex to the TV station for an exclusive interview, and Ferdinand, Hargreaves and others attended the sponsor's event.

This is different from the Asian tour with Barcelona two years ago, when Ricardo was a little-known young player and the club did not assign him any tasks other than training and games; but this time, Ricardo is a young star-level player in the team, so he is naturally a tool for the club to attract and pamper fans, and he must be assigned heavier commercial activities.

So Ricardo, led by Scholes, participated in a visit to children's welfare homes around Tokyo organized by UNICEF.

There's nothing you can do about it; Ricardo just likes kids. And when the kids and the journalists who were following him discovered that Ricardo could communicate naturally in Japanese, they immediately felt like they had discovered a new world. They almost ignored the existence and resentment of Ginger Head and all of them gathered around Ricardo, who was having fun with the kids, and frantically took photos and interviewed him.

The main question in the interview was when and why Ricardo knew Japanese. Of course, it was thanks to the developed short films in Japan, oh no, the animation industry! Right, so Ricardo has been a fan of Captain Tsubasa and Slam Dunk for more than 20 years, anyway, they are all waves, no mistake! Well, that's it...

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On July 2007, 7, Manchester United's first opponent in the Asian Tour was the Japanese giant Urawa Red Diamonds, whose home stadium is located in Saitama City, Japan, about 17 kilometers from Tokyo.

As the team name suggests, Urawa Red Diamonds are known as the Asian Red Devils, and their home jersey is very similar to that of Manchester United, both red shirts and white pants; however, in this friendly match, as the host, Urawa Red Diamonds chose the away uniform of white shirts and black pants, leaving the home red to the English Red Devils who came from afar.

However, the Jazz chose last season's starting lineup in the first warm-up game, a 4-3-3 formation:

The goalkeeper is Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar;

The left and right backs are Evra and Wes Brown, and the double center backs are Ferdinand and Vidic;

The three midfielders are Fletcher, Scholes and Carrick;

The front trident is composed of the left and right devil wingers Giggs and Ronaldo, and Rooney, known as the single arrow.

Sir Alex was not in a hurry to put the new player in the match list, after all, they had not practiced together enough. However, due to Ricardo's outstanding performance during the visit to the children's welfare home yesterday, which attracted a lot of attention from the Japanese media, the club's business director San Dezi specially communicated with Sir Alex before the game, and asked him to let Ricardo play in the second half to stretch his muscles and show his face to continue to get some attention.

Of course, the specific timing and duration of the game will be decided by Sir Alex Ferguson on the spot.

The year 2007 was the peak period for Urawa Red Diamonds, known as the Asian Red Devils. It can also be said that it was the strong performance in the past two years that allowed Urawa Red Diamonds to win the honor of Asian Red Devils.

They became the triple champions of Japanese domestic competitions in the last season of 2006, including the 2006 Japanese First Division League Championship, the 2006 Japanese Emperor's Cup Championship and the 2006 Japanese Super Cup Championship. Only the League Cup Championship was lost.

In addition, from 2005 to 2007, Urawa Red Diamonds also held the longest home unbeaten record of 25 games and the longest winning streak of 10 games, and another winning streak record is currently being created.

Old Li Qi knows that if Urawa Red Diamonds continue to develop at their current pace, the 2007 AFC Champions League title will eventually fall into the hands of the Asian Red Devils who are participating in the AFC Champions League for the first time.

After the opening, although Manchester United, who came from afar, took the initiative on the field, because it was the first warm-up match of the new season, the Manchester United players who had not yet adjusted to the time difference were obviously not in good shape. There were obviously more errors in passing and receiving the ball, and their technical movements were also a bit stiff.

Therefore, the first to break the deadlock were Urawa Red Diamonds, who were still in the middle of the season and in good form.

In the 26th minute of the game, the Asian Red Devils' veteran midfielder Hideki Uchidate received a diagonal pass at the front of the penalty area and took a powerful long shot, which went straight into the dead corner of the goal.

Urawa Red Diamonds maintained a 1-0 lead and entered the half-time break; but Sir Alex didn't care too much. After all, this was just a warm-up match to find the players' form, and they did sit on a flight for more than ten hours. As long as the players' spirit and fighting spirit could be shown, it would be fine.

However, at halftime, Sir Alex decided to make three substitutions: Evans replaced Evra, Silvester replaced Vidic, and Li Qi replaced veteran Scholes. Because Sir Alex found that Li Qi had started warming up since the 10th minute of the first half, his attitude and enthusiasm were really great...

After Li Qi came on the field, he made many mistakes in passing and receiving the ball, and his condition was not very good. After all, he had not had systematic training for 3 weeks. However, Li Qi had a characteristic that Scholes did not have, which made him particularly suitable for this kind of friendly match. That was Li Qi's excellent physical fitness. He was half a beat faster than you, had longer legs than you, and had faster reactions than you.

Therefore, Li Qi's active running and stealing in the midfield immediately brought changes to Manchester United's situation on the field.

Just three minutes into the second half, Li Qi used his physical advantage to steal the ball from veteran Uchidate Hideki, who had opened the scoring. Then Li Qi launched a counterattack and sent a straight pass to Ronaldo who was diagonally running into the penalty area.

After receiving the ball, Ronaldo first made two unnecessary kicks, then flicked the ball to the outside and cut into the penalty area. However, Li Qi thought Ronaldo should have taken a long step, so he missed the shooting angle. Fortunately, Ronaldo also used his excellent physical fitness to rescue the ball before it went out of the baseline and changed the shot into an inverted triangle pass.

Rooney at the front point missed the ball, but Fletcher near the penalty spot in the penalty area just caught up with it, and he took advantage of the opportunity to shoot the ball into the bottom of the net of Urawa Red Diamonds!

1-1, Manchester United equalized the score as soon as they came back in the second half!

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