“I intend to resign from my position as head coach of the Chinese national team.”

Gao Hongbo spoke the words calmly, but Zhou Yi was shocked.

He was stunned for a while before saying, "Did someone pressure you?"

He knew that the Football Association leaders had gone to Spain immediately after the incident, and the two sides must have had secret talks.

“Don’t guess wildly, Zhou Yi. I’m the one pressuring myself. I have high expectations for myself, as you know.”

Zhou Yi was silent. Gao Hongbo did have very high demands on himself. He was a man of few words, but he was ambitious.

He hoped to become the top domestic head coach in China.

He was always trying to improve himself. In private, he had also revealed that after coaching the Chinese team in the World Cup, he would resign and go to Europe to study.

“I do have a dream, to lead the Chinese national team to the World Cup, and I have been working hard for it. But you must have heard about the recent situation. Sometimes I feel powerless…” Gao Hongbo spoke slowly, pausing in between, which showed that neither his physical strength nor his spirit had fully recovered.

“I hope to innovate in tactics and have more changes. But the training effect of the new tactics and the new three-center-back formation is not very good…”

In fact, Zhou Yi had also heard about Gao Hongbo’s tactical formation reform in the national team. He wanted to implement a three-center-back system, with Guo Nu, Feng Xiaoting, and Zhang Linpeng as the three center backs.

Zhou Yi had also discussed with his friends why Gao Hongbo wanted to do this. Perhaps Yan Min’s outstanding performance in Dortmund gave him the inspiration and confidence to do so.

The three-center-back system has high requirements for the two wingers, and Yan Min is exactly the kind of winger who can meet those high requirements, coupled with Wu Lei, who performs well in the domestic league.

In addition, the three-center-back formation is very effective in breaking the opponent’s pressing, and since the Chinese team has Zhou Yi, they will inevitably be pressed by the opponent. In this way, the three-center-back formation can help Zhou Yi break the opponent’s pressing. At the same time, playing with three center backs also requires sufficient ball control ability in the midfield. The presence of Zhou Yi, Yang Muge, He Ying, and Yan Min gives the Chinese team such a foundation. All of these made Gao Hongbo want the Chinese team to play with a three-center-back system.

But it is difficult for players who are used to playing with a four-defender system to adapt to it.

Even Guo Nu showed signs of maladjustment.

Therefore, the Chinese team’s defense in the two warm-up matches was a big problem, and they were almost beaten into sieves by the opponents.

But Gao Hongbo is stubborn and will go all the way once he sets his mind on something. Therefore, after the first game exposed the problems of the three-center-back formation, he did not give up on the three-center-back formation, but continued to push it forward. As a result, the second game was lost to the “soft persimmon” Bosnia…

“…If we can’t achieve results before the World Cup starts, then we will waste time and do useless work. I will be a sinner…” Gao Hongbo said in a heavy tone. “Thinking of this makes me very uneasy. In fact, a few days before I fainted, I had pain in my heart, but I didn’t bother to think about it at all…”

“I wanted to do my best, but I ignored the gap in my personal ability. The result of constantly putting pressure on myself was that I broke this string…” Gao Hongbo said with a wry smile on the other end of the phone. “No one forced me to resign. In fact, after the leaders of the Football Association came over, they advised me to rest well and return to work as soon as possible. But after this incident, I thought a lot while lying in bed. I think I was very selfish before…”

“I only thought about myself, but I didn’t consider the future of the team, and I didn’t consider the players… I wanted to be famous in history, but I didn’t think about what to do with the team. A head coach should take the team’s work as the primary task, and should put the team first. If I really love my country’s football, then I should hope that the national team will achieve good results in the World Cup. But my personal ability is not enough to complete such a task, so in fact, when I entered the World Cup finals, I should have given way to someone more capable…”

“You can’t say that, Coach Gao, there’s no problem with your ability…” Zhou Yi quickly persuaded.

“You’re just saying nice things to me.” Gao Hongbo didn’t appreciate it. “I know my own weight.”

“But Coach Gao, at this juncture, if you resign, who will take over? It’s a big taboo to change coaches before a battle…”

“If I hadn’t found a successor, of course I wouldn’t have resigned.” Gao Hongbo said. “Did you think I’m still a reckless youth who resigns on impulse?”

“So…”

“I still have to thank Guangzhou Hengyuan Club…” Gao Hongbo sighed. “They contacted the Football Association as soon as possible, saying that if I couldn’t complete the task of leading the team, they would be willing to let their head coach be the firefighter, and all the salary and bonuses in the national team would be taken care of by their club.”

Zhou Yi was startled: “Lippi?”

“It’s him.”

“This… Can Lippi agree? To be a firefighter?”

“He agreed.”

“…” Zhou Yi didn’t know what to say. He felt that a proud person like Lippi shouldn’t accept a decision to change coaches before a battle to take over a mess… Although he coaches in a Chinese club, he shouldn’t be so passionate about Chinese football, right?

“Actually, I think he accepted it because of you.”

Gao Hongbo’s words surprised Zhou Yi even more: “For us?”

“Yes, because of you, He Ying, Sun Pan, Yang Muge, Guo Nu, and others.”

“What does this have to do with us?”

“Don’t you know how many coaches want to coach you? Working with you is really happy and fulfilling.” Gao Hongbo suddenly sighed. “Of course, there is also pressure. If you have players like you and still can’t win, or even win beautifully, then it must be the head coach’s problem. Ha!”

“Uh…” Faced with Gao Hongbo’s praise, Zhou Yi didn’t know how to respond.

“Okay, don’t think so much, my historical mission has been completed. Next, let Lippi lead you on the road to the World Cup. He is a world-class coach with much higher ability than me. With him leading the team, I am also more confident about the team’s prospects in the World Cup. I’m here to tell you in advance, so you can prepare early, and then play your core role in the team, cooperate well with the new head coach, and together create a new history for our Chinese football in the World Cup.”

Since the matter had been decided, Zhou Yi didn’t pretend to dissuade him, but nodded and promised, “Don’t worry, Coach Gao. I will definitely not let you down.”

“Okay, I’m relieved to hear you say that. Then I won’t bother you, you have a good rest.”

“I’m the one who’s bothering you, you have a good rest, Coach Gao. Don’t get too excited when you watch the World Cup games, be careful with your health.”

“Okay, okay, I will follow the doctor’s advice, haha!”

Gao Hongbo laughed, and in his laughter, the two hung up the phone.

※※※

When Zhou Yi finished the phone call, he turned around and found that Kotana was sitting next to him reading a book.

“Have you been here all along?” Zhou Yi was surprised.

“Finished the call?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you talk about?”

“We are going to change coaches before the battle.”

“That’s right, the sooner you make a decision, the better, but has the candidate been found?”

“Lippi.”

Kotana was stunned when she heard the name, as if it was difficult to connect the name with the Chinese national team.

“Marcello Lippi?” she asked.

“Yes. ‘Silver Fox’ Lippi.”

“Big deal.” Kotana sighed. “So the call just now was from the former head coach?”

“Yeah, he told me the news in advance, and it hasn’t been announced to the public yet.”

“Why tell you in advance?”

“Because I’m the core of the team, right?”

Kotana rolled her eyes at him: “You’re really not polite.”

Zhou Yi grinned.

His mood suddenly improved.

If Lippi were to be the firefighter, Zhou Yi would feel much more at ease.

In addition, from the phone call just now, he could also hear the change in Coach Gao’s heart. Obviously, at the end of the call, Coach Gao, who had put down the pressure and responsibility, could still joke around.

Although it was a pity that he couldn’t lead the team to participate in the World Cup, to some extent, this kind of willingness to let go might be a relief for Coach Gao.

At least if the Chinese team doesn’t perform well, no one will blame Coach Gao anymore.

Zhou Yi logged on to his mobile QQ and left a message to everyone in the group: “I said, guys. We really have to go all out this time, if we fail, there will be no reason or excuse.”

"?"

"What do you mean?"

The others were surprised by Zhou Yi’s inexplicable words.

“It’s nothing, it’s just to go all out, and we must not leave any regrets in Brazil…”

“Isn’t that nonsense? Of course we won’t allow any regrets!” Sun Pan said.

Zhou Yi couldn’t tell them either. Since Coach Gao only told himself, he certainly didn’t want himself to tell others, so as to avoid complications.

A day later, explosive news came:

The Chinese Football Association officially agreed to Gao Hongbo’s application to resign as the head coach of the Chinese national team, and at the same time announced that Marcello Lippi would take over as the head coach of the national team.