Chapter 1 Forgetting the Basics

The Chinese media supported and recognized Gao Hongbo's decision not to recall the four overseas players, including Zhou Yi, to participate in the match. Everyone agreed that it wasn't necessary to bring them back on such a tight schedule for a match that wasn't crucial.

Considering the time difference and the physical toll of long flights, even if they were called back, they might not be able to perform at a high level.

Furthermore, the Chinese team had often been criticized by the media and fans for constantly making players who played overseas fly long distances back for friendly matches.

How could such a mistake be repeated and become a "tradition" of Chinese football?

More importantly, in everyone's view, the Chinese team's situation in the Top Ten Tournament was excellent, and qualifying seemed almost certain. This time, they were playing against Qatar, the second-to-last team in the group, at home. Surely they could win?

Even Gao Hongbo thought so, believing that since they were first in the group, there was no need to have all the overseas players return for a match. They might as well train and rest well at their respective clubs.

They might be able to beat Qatar, who were in poor form, at home with just the domestic players. Besides, he hadn't called back zero overseas players; he had called back He Ying, hadn't he?

Given He Ying's performance in the last national team match, there was reason to be optimistic this time as well.

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Thus, the almost entirely domestic Chinese national team welcomed Qatar, the second-to-last team in their group, to their home stadium.

Before the match, both the media and the fans were optimistic about winning. Some media outlets and fans even said that the credit for winning shouldn't always be given to the overseas players. The local players were also very strong, and the domestic professional league in China was getting better and better. The local players who trained with high-level foreign players had also made significant progress. This match was an excellent opportunity to show the world their skills.

As a whole, the national team's victories were never the result of just one or a few individuals. While praising Zhou Yi and the others, one shouldn't ignore their local teammates. Perhaps they didn't enjoy the cheers and attention of the European arena like the overseas players, but they were just as indispensable.

Some media outlets even compared the national team's overseas players to the eye-catching parts of a beautiful house, while comparing the domestic league players to the foundation of the house. They were buried deep underground, unknown, but very important to the house. They called on everyone to give these domestic league players confidence and support.

These arguments were quite correct, and the words were beautifully expressed, creating a strong resonance.

Everyone expressed their anticipation for the all-domestic team to put on a great show on the stage of the Top Ten Tournament.

But just twenty minutes into the match, the Chinese team conceded a goal…

They were scored on by Qatar in a counterattack!

In their own stadium, in front of tens of thousands of Chinese fans who had full confidence and expectations for them, the Chinese team conceded a goal and fell behind!

The atmosphere suddenly changed from what it had been before.

Previously, the entire stadium was filled with ease and anticipation. Every fan was cheering for the national team while anticipating a goal.

But now…

The goal they had been anticipating did come, but it was scored by their enemy, Qatar!

“…The Chinese team made a mistake in defense. The coordination between the defender and the goalkeeper wasn't good enough…” Commentator Liu Hong said helplessly.

After conceding the goal, the Chinese team desperately launched a fierce attack on Qatar's goal. Qatar, already leading by one goal, were content to quickly fall back on defense, shrinking their entire line in front of their own goal, intending to maintain their one-goal lead until the end of the match.

By the end of the first half, the Chinese team still hadn't managed to tie the score.

After the start of the second half, Gao Hongbo's adjustments during halftime didn't have any effect.

At least everyone could see that the Chinese team's attack was still very chaotic, completely lacking a system or method. They were simply attacking wherever they thought of, without any purpose or direction.

He Ying stood alone at the front, running into empty space again and again, but no one could send the ball to him.

At this time, commentator Liu Hong said, “…I think everyone must be missing Zhou Yi at this moment, right? When Zhou Yi is on the field, our attack isn't like this…”

He spoke the minds of many fans. Online, impatient fans had already started cursing the national team's performance: "They were blowing so hard before the match, but it turns out they're all flash and no substance. Without the overseas players, they're so vulnerable!"

"I just don't understand, why didn't they call up Zhou Yi and the others?"

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Later, seeing that he couldn't get the ball up front and had no chances, He Ying began to retreat, transforming from a goalscorer into a person who could get the ball to organize the attack. After all, he had the highest level of skill and ability in this national team.

After he retreated to the midfield, he did help stabilize the Chinese team's midfield and create some opportunities. But unfortunately, the national team's other forwards couldn't seize the opportunities. Neither Gao Lin nor Wu Lei could turn He Ying's passes into goals.

Of course, their performances were also severely criticized by fans online.

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In the end, the Chinese team, with a chaotic midfield organization and a powerless forward line, lost the match despite being highly favored before the game. They lost to Qatar 0:1 at home, causing an upset.

When the final whistle sounded, the Chinese team's players were dejected, completely unprepared for losing the match at home.

At the beginning of the match, they had come with the determination to win. After conceding the goal, they were still thinking of reversing the situation and winning. With fifteen minutes left in the match, their goal had become "as long as we can tie the score." But after the match ended, even that goal hadn't been achieved…

This was truly tragic.

The Chinese national team players' faces revealed bewildered expressions, unable to understand why they had lost to Qatar at home.

They were first in the group, and Qatar was second to last. How big was the difference in strength?

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After the match, a panting He Ying accepted an interview with reporters.

This match was more tiring than the previous few matches for him, because he did the work of several people. On the front line, he was He Ying, responsible for scoring goals. After retreating to the midfield, he became "Zhou Yi," who had to organize the attack. And when Qatar launched a counterattack against the Chinese team, he, with his excellent stamina and speed, had to play the role of "Yang Muge," responsible for intercepting Qatar's counterattack.

How could he not be tired playing like this?

"I'm disappointed that we weren't able to win the match…" He said, shaking his head.

The reporter asked, "You were favored before the match, but you lost. What do you think caused this?"

He Ying took a few deep breaths and said, "The reasons are complicated, and it's hard to explain in a few words. But for me personally, I feel that my performance wasn't good enough. That's the reason for the loss."

As a player, He Ying took the initiative to take responsibility, even though he didn't really need to. But he did it anyway, because he had high demands on himself. He truly believed that as the only overseas player who had returned to participate in the match, the Chinese team's failure to win the match was his responsibility.

At the post-match press conference, Gao Hongbo took all the blame for the loss upon himself: "The failure to win was due to tactical and personnel arrangement issues. As the head coach, I take full responsibility."

A reporter asked, "Does the issue of personnel arrangement refer to not recruiting all the overseas players?"

Gao Hongbo shook his head to deny this: "It has nothing to do with this."

"Then if the overseas players had been recalled for this match, would you have been able to guarantee victory?" The reporter pressed.

Gao Hongbo continued to shake his head: "I can't make such a guarantee. Football matches aren't that simple. It's not like it's either this or that."

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After the match, Gao Hongbo's on-the-spot command and starting lineup arrangements were criticized by the media. Some media outlets questioned why Gao Hongbo only called back He Ying and none of the other overseas players. Some media outlets questioned his substitution adjustments during the match, and some media outlets simply questioned whether Gao Hongbo's use of an all-domestic team in this match was to give some people the opportunity to bribe their way into the national team for a chance to gain prestige. After all, the national team's results were excellent, and the national team had changed from a stale bun that no one wanted to a popular item. A national team spot had suddenly become valuable.

This defeat was too sudden for the Chinese team, and it was also too sudden for the Chinese media and fans. Against the backdrop of not being at a disadvantage against Japan and being able to defeat Australia, this defeat was truly unreasonable.

Some people believed that the defeat was because Gao Hongbo didn't choose to recruit all the overseas players, completely forgetting that pre-match public opinion had been overwhelmingly in favor of not recruiting overseas players, wanting to give the all-domestic team trust and respect. Now, they were pushing all the blame for the loss onto the all-domestic team players, who were useless mud that couldn't be plastered onto a wall.

Some people also believed that the failure wasn't because overseas players weren't recruited, and the strength of the all-domestic team players was definitely not as inadequate as it was reflected in this match. The main problem was that head coach Gao Hongbo, the chef, didn't use the ingredients well to make good food. So this reflected the low level of the head coach.

Some people thought even further, feeling that since the level of domestic coaches was limited, should the Chinese team replace them with a high-level international renowned coach after they enter the World Cup finals in Brazil? Only then could they achieve a historic breakthrough for Chinese football in the World Cup?

A defeat seemed to have destroyed all the warmth and tacit understanding that had been established before.

Of course, there was also Gao Hongbo's own limited level as a head coach, but in fact, there were probably deeper reasons.

That was, after everyone's appetites had been raised by the previous victories, how would they face this huge psychological gap?

The Chinese team, or rather, Chinese football, now faced a new problem, which was a kind of "blind optimism and confidence." If Chinese football had been blindly inferior in the past, then now it had gone from one extreme to another.

The historic gold medal at the Olympics seemed to have made the vast majority of Chinese fans and media believe that the golden age of Chinese football had arrived. The Top Ten Tournament, with three wins and one draw in the first four matches, ranking first in the group, made many media and fans cheer, and it also made people in the football world very optimistic about the future of the Chinese team, strengthening their previous judgment that Chinese football was about to stand up from now on.

What was there to worry about playing Qatar, who were second to last in the group, at home?

But in fact, there were probably not many people who could clearly recognize that the Chinese team's current results didn't truly reflect the level of Chinese football. It could only be said that Chinese football, including Gao Hongbo himself, was lucky to have encountered a "golden generation" that had fallen from the sky at this time. It was those young players who had changed the Chinese team's results.

But they could only make improvements in the national team's competitive results. They couldn't change the face of Chinese football as a whole.

If this golden generation was gone, what would Chinese football become like?

It would still be the same as before, without any changes.

These people could only win glory for China on the football field. They couldn't change Chinese football in terms of system, culture, and economy. If these basic things didn't change, even if a golden generation was produced by chance, how could outstanding young players be produced continuously?

So neither the Olympic gold medal nor the first place in the group in the Top Ten Tournament was a victory for Chinese football, but a victory for the golden generation of players. But they were cultivated by European football, and their success didn't really have much to do with Chinese football. It couldn't prove that Chinese football had since straightened its chest and walked away with its head held high.

In fact, Chinese football was still the rat that everyone shouted at and beat. This could be seen from this defeat at home against Qatar…

Whether it was extreme inferiority or extreme confidence, in the final analysis, it was because there was no real confidence. This was the impact of Chinese football's decades of poverty and weakness.

If Chinese football didn't undergo some fundamental changes, if it wanted to achieve any results in the future, it could only rely on God's favor and the appearance of a batch of talented players. But God wouldn't always favor China. Brazilian football had such a good foundation, and talented players emerged one after another, but there weren't many who could truly be called a "golden generation." Looking at the changes in Brazilian football over the ten years since winning the World Cup in 2002, it was truly sighing. Even a football kingdom like Brazil would experience a lack of succession, so what qualifications did Chinese football have to be complacent?