Chapter 21: Go home

"How about it, Xiao Shi. What do you think after watching these two games?"
Li Zhifei asked Shi Wuyin on the phone.
"No idea, Old Li."
"How could I have no opinion? Comment on a few sentences?"
"No comment, no opinion."
"Hey, you guy... I'm not a reporter to inquire about you!"
Shi Wuyin laughed: "I know, Lao Li. But I really don't have any opinion. The national team under Dong's guidance is playing the same football as ours, even the staffing is the same. What do you think I have? Did we watch such a game less at the time?"
"Is it bad to continue our play?"
"Ha, don't try to confuse me, Lao Li. As I said, when you retired from the national team, don't talk about the national team. Especially don't judge the current coach, it's not good. When I was the head coach, I don’t like to see my colleagues talking to me."
Seeing Shi Wuyin's resolute attitude, Li Zhifei had no choice but to stop discussing this issue. He changed his mind and asked: "Okay. I understand. How do you live now?"
"Every day I sleep until I wake up naturally, don't be too cool!" Shi Wuyin laughed.
Hearing that Li Zhifei also laughed, and after laughing, he asked again: "What are your plans from now on?"
"In the future? I'm definitely going to work. But I plan to give myself a holiday and recharge first."
"Oh, I'm relieved to hear you say that you have to go out to work... I just want to say, when you have to decide to go out, remember to call me, and I will give you a partner!"
Shi Wuyin was delighted when he heard these words: "Oh, Lao Li. You are more than sixty people. If you don't hold your grandson at home, do you still want to make waves?"
"How do you say this? Isn't it possible for my old Jifuzhizhi to be thousands of miles away?"
"It's good, it's too good. Then it's settled. When I want to come back, I will find your team." Shi Wuyin agreed.
"Okay, I'm waiting for your call!"
After hanging up the phone, the wife next to Shi Wuyin asked him, "What are you doing, Brother Li is unwilling to be lonely?"
"I think... in all likelihood, my sister-in-law is talking about him again." Shi Wuyin murmured, "This hand-washed bowl... after all, it is clean without a machine..."
The wife laughed upon hearing this, and then asked after she laughed: "You really can bear it, so if the multimedia reporter asks you about these two games, you don't need to talk about it. Brother Li, are you still on guard?"
"It's not to guard against Lao Li, it's that I must always remind myself and calm my mind." Shi Wuyin shook his head, "I'm not in his position to do his job. Since I am no longer the national team coach, then don't get involved with the national team. Otherwise. When there is something going on, I can't get rid of it. Then how can I enjoy a good time at home?"
Shi Wuyin talked and hugged his wife.
But the wife looked up at the white hair on his head with a heartache: "Unfortunately, after resting for two months, your hair has not gone black..."
"I don’t want to go back in black. I don’t want to see white hair. I can dye my hair. But...I think it’s good." Shi Wuyin touched his hair. "So when I look in the mirror every day, I can think of me leading the team to play the World Cup. …Ha! That was your husband’s most awesome experience!"
※※※
After playing the game with Mexico, the national team disbanded on the spot.
Those internationals who are going to play in Europe made an appointment to fly from Jingyang to Frankfurt, Germany, and then transfer to their destinations in Frankfurt.
In this way, everyone will have a companion during the ten-hour long journey, and it will not be too boring.
In the past, Hu Lai returned to Europe by himself, passing by those airports and cities alone.
Now he is surrounded by teammates, everyone chats and frolics together, time is no longer difficult.
And when they appeared together in the airport terminal of Frankfurt, they even met a few Chinese fans in this foreign country.
After they discovered the international team, they brazenly came up to ask for a group photo and autograph.
When everyone met their wishes and was ready to leave, they kept waving their hands and loudly blessing: "Come on!"
"Oh! What's going on when I suddenly feel a little stressed..." Chen Xingyi said with emotion, saying goodbye to the enthusiastic fans.
"Ordinary heart, what pressure can you have? The sky is falling and there is still a tall man against it..." When Zhang Qinghuan was talking to Chen Xingyi, he gave Hu Lai a special look.
Hu Lai didn't care about Huan's small eyes, he said to Zhang Qinghuan: "Brother Huan will be a guest in Barcelona, ​​you have to invite me to dinner!"
"Why should I invite you to dinner?" Zhang Qinghuan asked vigilantly.
"Because I want to help you fight the rivals of the same city, Catalonia!" Hu Lai spread his hands.
Just when they flew back to China to participate in the national team competition, the new season's Champions League grouping results were also released.
As the defending champion of the Premier League, although Leeds participated in the Champions League for the first time, they were still classified as a "seed team".
So they were divided into a group with the strongest Catalan in the second tier...
In addition to Catalonia, in this group there are also Vesuvius, the traditional strong team from Italy, and the Gulf Beacon, the league champion from Turkey.
Premier League champion, La Liga runner-up, Serie A third runner-up and Turkish Premier League champion.
This group is simply called the "death group".
At the time of the draw, when seeing the result, the general manager of the Leeds club Eric Duffy's face looked unsightly, and his serious and tight facial close-up appeared in the live broadcast.
Any Leeds City fans who see the result of such a group draw, I am afraid that the expression on their face will not be much better than Dufie.
For the first time in the history of the Leeds City Club, they were placed in the group of death, and hopes of qualifying for the group were not optimistic.
In addition to Leeds in this group, the other three teams have a record of winning the European Championship-Catalonia has won five Champions League titles and two UEFA Cup titles; Vesuvius has won the UEFA Europa League three times. Cup champion. Bay Lighthouse has also won two Europa League titles.
In this group, only Leeds has the most lackluster European championship honor-zero.
So even though they are the first-class team, in fact, they may be the weakest in this group.
If it weren't for the reform of the Champions League, the Champions League seeded team consists of the defending champions, the UEFA Cup champions and UEFA's top-ranked league champions. If you still use the previous European war points to divide the grade, Leeds is a proper fourth grade team for the Premier League champions.
Perhaps because he knew how difficult Leeds City’s situation was in this group, Zhang Qinghuan did not quarrel with Hu Lai this time, but simply agreed:
"All right, depending on the result of your unlucky draw, I invite you to dinner as a comfort for your loss to Catalonia..."
Chen Xingyi roared beside him: "Hu Lai, if I were you, I would never eat this food!"
Hu Lai chuckled, "But you are not me."
Then he turned his head and said to Zhang Qinghuan:
"It's okay, anyone will be invited to win or lose anyway, I don't care."
Wang Guangwei still cared about Hu Lai very much. He asked: "Hu Lai, how far can you go in the Champions League this season?"
"I don't know, how far you can go." Hu Lai seemed very free and easy, and didn't seem to be entangled in the grouping situation.
"Did your coach announce the Champions League goals?"
"No. When I came out, I didn't know the result of the lottery. How to announce the goal? This goal must be determined based on the grouping results..." Hu Lai shook his head. "Anyway, I guess it's just a field fight, what can be done and what can be done."
"The problem is not that simple." Wang Guangwei shook his head, "How to choose between the Champions League and the league? The Champions League fights one after another, and the league at the same time? Should you give up?"
Others nodded after hearing this, indicating that Wang Guangwei was right.
For a team like Leeds that is not a giant, multi-line combat is a big problem, and how to choose is very important.
After all, there have been many similar precedents before, and because of participating in the European war, the team's performance in the league plummeted.
"Yeah, I went to Sarria and I met some fans and heard them talk about what happened in the past. Many fans regretted that they knew this was the case. It's better to not get the Europa League at all. Eligibility."
What Zhang Qinghuan was talking about was an old thing—the Sarria he played for had such a thing five years ago.
The previous season just returned to Europe after a lapse of 16 years, and was eligible to participate in the new season of the UEFA Europa League.
This was originally a happy event. At the end of the season, the enthusiastic scene of the whole team's fans cheering and celebrating seemed to be still yesterday.
As a result, Sarria, who played two fronts in the new season, failed to continue the magical performance of last season.
The failure to qualify for the Europa League group stage also dragged down the league.
Lost and lost in the league-before the winter break, they only won one league game, but the coach changed two.
Although Sarria did not have any European games to play in the second half of the season, the decline they accumulated in the first half of the season has been irreversible, forming a huge inertia, and finally pushing the team that ranked sixth in La Liga last season. In the second division...
After that, Sarria sank in the second division for two years before returning to La Liga.
Although the European war opportunity is a huge attraction for all teams. Fans yearn for the honor represented by the European war, and the club chased the generous bonus brought by the European war.
However, it may not be a good thing for a small team with a weak family background to qualify for the European war occasionally.
Even if you can get the prize money for the group stage, it can't make up for the economic loss caused by relegation from the top league.
Not to mention that it is impossible for a small team to compete for the European Championship. In the end, no matter how good it is, it will only serve as a green leaf for the rich and accompany the prince to study.
"But Brother Huan, those fans who said that, you didn't ask them, if Sarria had another chance to participate in the Europa League, would they not want the team to go?" Hu Lai asked instead.
Zhang Qinghuan was taken aback for a moment.
Hu Lai smiled and said: "So, don't worry about what you say, how to analyze it rationally. In fact, there is a real opportunity to participate in the European war, which team will give up? Although knowing that it will affect the team's performance in the league …Is it so that we will give up the European war and not compete for the Champions League qualification? There is no such reason, right? Of course we may be relegated from the Premier League because we played in the Champions League. But relegation is a future thing, and it is not always possible now. The UEFA Champions League is the current game. For the sake of a possible future outcome, it is too stupid to give up the current game. I don’t know what goals our head coach will set for the UEFA Champions League, but I will fight every game anyway. This is my number one. Participate in the Champions League this time!"
Hearing him say this, after a few people looked at each other, Wang Guangwei patted his forehead and said: "That's right, Hu Lai has a chance to participate in the Champions League anyway, UU reading www.uukanshu.com, we...hey! We are not even able to play in the UEFA Europa League. What are people worrying about here?"
Chen Xingyan pointed to himself: "Me! I have a chance! Our team is also participating in the Champions League!"
Zhang Qinghuan scolded: "You have a fart! Your club did not register you in the Champions League!"
"What if our team makes it to the knockout round? We can register again in January next year."
Everyone said, "Haha."
Zhang Qinghuan waved his hand: "It's gone. The main road is up to the sky, go aside! Bye bye, everyone!"
He went to Barcelona, ​​Xia Xiaoyu went to Lisbon, Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai flew north to Amsterdam, and Wang Guangwei went south to Genoa.
Hu Lai flew westward alone, back to Leeds.
The six people bid farewell in the terminal of Frankfurt Airport and went to their own places.
(End of this chapter)