Chapter 229: Summer in a Familiar Place

On the evening of July 7, the match between Manchester United and SZ Shang Qing Yin was packed with spectators at the Macau Stadium, and the tickets were snapped up a month in advance. In addition, the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel also sponsored the match last night, and the sponsorship fee also became an important part of the match revenue.

It is reported that Manchester United will earn 4 million euros from the four games in Asia, and the Red Devils will achieve both fame and fortune. As the last stop, Jiaozhou, the southern center of China, is said to be a temporary addition to the itinerary.

This is not the first time that Manchester United has visited China. They came twice in 1999 and 2005, and both times they received a considerable appearance fee, and were very successful in terms of both business and brand promotion. The two pleasant trips to China strengthened Manchester United's determination to seize the Chinese market.

Due to the Asian Cup, Manchester United's original plan to go to Malaysia to play was strongly opposed by the AFC. The Premier League champions were forced to make emergency contact and add a friendly match in Jiaozhou, China, which was finally finalized in early July.

Although the incident happened suddenly, the ticket sales of the Jiaozhou match were still outstanding. The match will be held in the Jiaozhou Olympic Sports Center, which can accommodate 8 people. The organizers printed tickets and the sales situation was encouraging. According to the optimistic prediction of the Jiaozhou Football Association: this match will be another example of successful commercial operation after the match between the Dragon Team and the Brazilian Team in 03.

@

In fact, Ricardo thinks that if you take a bus from Macau to PY in Jiaozhou South, it will probably take less than 2 hours, excluding the time for customs clearance.

However, Manchester United chose another more cumbersome mode of transportation, which is to take a chartered plane. This way the journey is actually longer. It is not far from the Venetian Resort Hotel to the Macau Airport, but taking a plane is a more cumbersome thing after all, and the plane has not yet entered the high-speed flight stage before it is ready to land. It takes more than an hour to take a car from the Xinyun Airport in Jiaozhou North to the Changlong Hotel in Jiaozhou South, which is almost the time it takes to take a bus directly from Macau to the destination...

However, apart from the issues of itinerary and time, Manchester United's choice of travel mode also has other considerations, such as the need to take into account Manchester United's pomp and influence, as well as the factors of sponsors.

Manchester United's Asian tour this year has been strongly supported by Malaysia Airlines. As the Red Devils' sponsor, Malaysia Airlines provides charter services throughout the journey. From the UK to Tokyo, Japan, from Seoul, South Korea to Macau, and then to the last stop in Jiaozhou, China, and then on the return trip, all Manchester United members will enjoy five-star air service on the charter flight...

@

On the evening of July 7, Ricardo landed at Xinyun Airport, where he had been traveling many times over the years. He smelled the familiar humid and sultry air and smell. He felt as if he had returned home. He was particularly familiar with this southern land, and his thoughts were overwhelmed for a moment...

The Changlong Hotel became famous for its successful hosting of the Brazilian national team four years ago. Now, Manchester United will also stay in this five-star tourist resort hotel where old Li Qi has visited many times with his family and friends.

This time, Changlong has vacated the third floor of Area B of the hotel for Manchester United players and their families to stay, and Manchester United's meals will be arranged in the South Africa Hall. The restaurant will also suspend business to the public to ensure that all Manchester United personnel are not affected before and after meals.

At the same time, in order to ensure Manchester United's diet, Changlong strictly followed the menu provided by Manchester United in preparing meals: there were specific requirements for the specific number of slices of ham and bread, such as "all dishes cannot use shellfish, cream or light cream", "all seasonings cannot use mayonnaise, French sauce or oil-containing sauces", and there were dozens of precautions. In addition, Manchester United also provided recommended brands for some of the ingredients for the meals... Ricardo only learned about the meticulous logistics work through feedback from media reporters.

Yes, as soon as he arrived at the hotel, Ricardo was surrounded by a group of reporters and fans. Of course, his popularity is not as high as Ronaldo, but it has surpassed the local Chinese player Dong Yuanchao. Maybe this is the charm of curiosity! After all, it is a novelty for a foreign player to learn Mandarin and Cantonese by himself because he likes Chinese culture.

After Ricardo spoke Mandarin that was even more standard than Cantonese, and even said he knew how to write Mandarin, the media and fans looked at him even more enthusiastically, as if Ricardo was a lost lamb who had just converted to faith and needed everyone's comfort, concern and encouragement...

@

The next morning, Manchester United also held an open training session as usual. However, unlike the previous sessions where the audience was mainly media reporters, tens of thousands of fans gathered at the Jiaozhou Olympic Sports Center just to see their favorite stars train!

Under the crazy and enthusiastic attention of the fans, after the training session, Ricardo and Dong Yuanchao were specially left behind to cover the team. They spent nearly an hour signing autographs and taking photos with the fans who arrived at the venue. Ricardo also showed off his Chinese character signature skills after practicing for a summer...

On the afternoon of the 25th, Manchester United's stars continued to carry out commercial activities in groups. Rooney, Evra and Eagles went to attend a commercial event held by Nike, while Ricardo was in a group with Ronaldo and Dong Yuanchao. They first attended a meeting with Manchester United fans, and then participated in an exclusive interview with media reporters together.

But this time Ricardo was experienced. Compared with the introverted Dong Yuanchao and the speech barrier-prone Ronaldo, Ricardo automatically took on the role of host for Manchester United, actively interacted and guided the hosts of the organizer, and directed more topics to Ronaldo and Dong Yuanchao, so that he would not appear too abrupt or steal the limelight from the other two.

As for the 08 Olympic Games, which all Chinese people are most concerned about and proud of, Ricardo said without hesitation: If he can be trusted and selected by the Italian Olympic team, he will definitely visit China again. He likes it here very much...

However, Ricardo's outgoing and generous personality, as well as his fluent Chinese language skills, attracted more interest from Chinese media and fans. After the event ended that night, more invitations for cooperation and interviews came to him. Of course, they would not directly approach Ricardo himself, who was protected by the security guards of Manchester United Club and Changlong Hotel.

After finishing the evening training session, Ricardo returned to the hotel and was about to rest with Julian who had been shopping all day when he received a call from his agent far away in Europe.

"Hello? Uncle Mino, oh yes, I'm in China... I'm fine... Oh, your phone has been ringing off the hook so early in the morning? That can't be helped, there's a time difference between the two places..."

"A lot of people are looking for you? Well, I know you have a wide network of contacts and many acquaintances... Are you rushing to give us money? Is it another brand endorsement cooperation?"

"Uncle Mino, listen to me on this matter. We are not short of money and are in a period of growth. You can follow the usual practice in Japan. For South Korea, forget about other companies except Samsung Group. As for China, except for the state-owned enterprises, we will not accept any other companies no matter how much money they offer."

"Eh? So much? But it's still not enough, Uncle Mino, I'll go back and talk to you about this. I'm not sure how deep the water is. Anyway, you should discuss the cooperation with China with me before deciding..."

After hanging up the phone, Ricardo couldn't help but sigh that Chinese brand companies are starting to rise, especially in order to catch the momentum of the 08 Olympic Games next year, they have reached the standard of "really giving too much". However, Old Li Qi's experience also told Ricardo that business cooperation with China at this stage really cannot be accepted casually, otherwise there will be a lot of troubles later, and it is not worthwhile to affect your reputation for a lifetime.

However, Ricardo also had a plan in mind. After retiring, he would come to China to work as a commentator or commentator. The salary would be very good. After all, he was a "foreign monk" and could speak Mandarin and Cantonese. He was a rare species in every way...

@

The day before the game, after the morning training session, the commercial activities only arranged the morning schedule - mainly to visit and promote the Changlong Wildlife Park. Sir Alex gave the team free time at noon and in the afternoon, but there was another training session at 20 o'clock in the evening, and there was a curfew after the training session.

So Ricardo, who had been unable to contain himself for a long time, took Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs, Scholes and other team leaders and their families to travel to Jiaozhou, saying that they wanted to experience the exclusive in-depth travel guide he had discovered together, which would definitely let them experience the different southern Chinese culture.

Everyone was skeptical, but considering that Ricardo knew Chinese and Cantonese, and Dong Yuanchao was a taciturn person, they could only let Ricardo accompany him.

Of course, Ricardo knew very well how to satisfy this group of foreigners who had never seen the world. After all, old Li Qi had received countless waves of international friends or foreign colleagues in the company. Places like Galaxy City, Pijing Road and Wuyang Mountain were not places they liked to visit, and they dared not eat those scary clay pot rice, human head rice and deep-fried dough sticks.

Since they still had to train in the evening, Ricardo decided to feed everyone first and then go out for a walk in the afternoon to digest the food. So Ricardo took everyone to the Old West Gate to eat all kinds of snacks and then took them to visit the Ancestral Temple and Sha Island after dinner, so that the traditional Chinese Taoist culture could cleanse their decadent and lonely Western souls, and then let them experience the Republican culture with a sense of historical atmosphere...

After seeing Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs, Scholes and other bigwigs and their families all wearing various consecration charms in their bags, Ricardo understood that this group of foreigners were still pragmatic. Since they had already contributed merits and essence to China's traditional religious culture, they should also be given some favors.

So before the evening training session, Ricardo said mysteriously that he would play well in the last game, and before returning after the game, there was a good place in Jiaozhou North, just in the direction of the airport, that he wanted to take everyone to...

@

At 7:27 on the evening of July 20, the fourth match of Manchester United's Asian tour warm-up match against Jiaozhou Pharmaceutical Team officially kicked off at Jiaozhou Olympic Stadium.

In this match, because they were facing a weaker team from the second-level Chinese league, Sir Alex Ferguson had the space to make major adjustments to the formation, sending out a lineup composed mainly of substitute players, especially young players who had few opportunities in the first three games. Chinese player Dong Yuanchao also got the chance to start as a striker. In addition, the media's new darling, Li Qi continued to get the treatment of starting right midfielder.

Manchester United lined up in a traditional 4-4-2 starting lineup:

The goalkeeper is No. 2 goalkeeper Kuzczak;

The left and right backs are Simpson and Bardsley, and the double center backs are still the team's main players Vidic and Ferdinand;

The left and right midfielders are Martin and Leech, and the double central midfielders are Carrick and Gibson;

The two forwards are Rooney and Dong Yuanchao.

The opposing Jiaozhou Pharmaceutical Team was clearly well prepared. Facing Manchester United, who were in better form in each warm-up match, the blue-shirted and blue-pants team deployed a seven-man defensive formation of four defenders and three defensive midfielders to limit the rhythm of the Premier League champions.

It is true that breaking the iron bucket dense defense is a world-wide problem. Even if there is a big gap in level and strength, it can effectively reduce the number of goals conceded. However, what is said here is to effectively reduce the number of goals conceded, not to absolutely avoid conceding goals. In Li Qi's opinion, the iron bucket formation of the medical team is not perfect. It is a temporary defensive formation that has not formed a system. Therefore, Li Qi believes that it is not difficult to break such a formation...

However, in this game the whole team was intentionally or unintentionally passing the ball to Dong Yuanchao on the front line, hoping that the local star could at least score a goal and interact with his hometown folks.

In the 9th minute, Manchester United made a long pass from the backcourt. Martin stopped the ball and pulled back to dribble past the medical team's defense, then suddenly passed the ball to Simpson who came from behind. The latter made a cross pass in front of the goal, but Dong Yuanchao was only one step away and let the ball slip past the goal.

In the 14th minute, Manchester United switched to the right to attack. Li Qi and Carrick played against each other on the right wing and broke through the defense. Then Li Qi kicked a fast ball with his right foot near the bottom line of the penalty area. Dong Yuanchao near the small penalty area overwhelmed the defender and jumped high to shoot! But he missed the ball, which hit the crossbar and flew out of the bottom line...

Obviously Dong Yuanchao was still a little impatient, and lost his calmness and composure, so he always missed the goal by a hair's breadth. But everyone also understood that this situation was not difficult to solve. As long as Dong Yuanchao could score a goal, many problems would be solved, and then maybe goals would come one after another. Of course, it is also possible that the goal never came, and he fell into a vicious cycle of self-denial and anxiety...

Obviously Dong Yuanchao has entered the latter state to some extent, but it is still early at the moment.

However, Manchester United broke the deadlock in the 18th minute.

Li Qi broke through on the right wing, planning to cooperate with Carrick in the penalty area again. However, this time Carrick was tripped by the medical team's foreign aid No. 26 Oliveira after receiving the ball, and the foul position was just one step inside the penalty area. So the referee decisively awarded a penalty kick.

Originally, this penalty kick would be a golden opportunity for Dong Yuanchao to overcome his inner demons. However, Dong Yuanchao's position in the team was obviously not at that level yet, and Manchester United was also very disciplined. Even in a friendly match, the penalty kickers had to take the penalty kicks in the order arranged by Sir Alex.

So Rooney, who had the ball ready to take the penalty, could only express his regret to Dong Yuanchao and secretly decided to feed him more balls in the future.

Nothing unexpected happened afterwards. Lu Xiaopang deceived Guangzhou Pharmaceutical's goalkeeper Li Xiaoshuai and shot the ball into the center of the goal with a powerful shot, giving Manchester United a 1-0 lead.

In the subsequent games, Manchester United players continued to put pressure on the medical team, and took turns passing the ball to Dong Yuanchao on both wings. Rooney retreated half a square and played as a double striker with Carrick, constantly delivering balls to Dong Yuanchao in the penalty area.

But after Dong Yuanchao, who was shy and proud by nature, felt the kindness of his teammates, he played more flustered and at a loss, as if he didn't know how to respond to his teammates' support; however, Li Qi could feel that Dong Yuanchao's brain began to overheat, and he could no longer think, and could only use brute force to attack the medical team's defense line. For this, Xiao Dong was knocked down by the medical team's defender and suffered minor injuries...

However, when the game reached the 42nd minute, Manchester United changed the score again, but this time it seemed as if the goddess of fate played a joke on Xiaodong again.

Li Qi switched to the left and unexpectedly played a cross-run with Gibson, shaking off the defender and entering the penalty area. After Li Qi attracted the defense on the left side of the penalty area, he passed the ball back to Rooney at the top of the penalty area. The latter also understood and passed the ball diagonally to Dong Yuanchao on the other side.

But after Dong Yuanchao received the ball, he wanted to use too much force, or maybe he was too excited and nervous, so his leg kick was too big and he was half a second late. The ball was still blocked by the defender who came to defend...

But the ball passed the defender, drew a high parabola, and landed in front of Li Qi who had just entered the penalty area. At this time, Li Qi couldn't pass the ball back, after all, the goalkeeper had just fallen to the ground to make up for Xiao Dong's powerful shot and hadn't gotten up yet.

So Li Qi used the arch of his right foot to gently cushion the ball in the air and sent it into the near corner of the net on his side. Li Qi, who was about to pull Dong Yuanchao to celebrate, also carefully glanced at the linesman. Very good, the linesman did not raise the flag, ah, no, he did not raise the flag...

So Chang Wei, who had been beating Lai Fu in the first half, oh no, it was Manchester United who entered the halftime break with a two-goal lead; that is, Dong Yuanchao, who had shot 9 times in the first half, didn't even score a goal... It was so embarrassing, oh no, it was so pitiful. (;￣ー￣川

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