On June 25, the Chinese team came to Bilbao in the Spanish province of Biscay, but the city was not friendly to them. The entire city overwhelmingly supported England and had deep resistance to China.

The closest city in Spain to the United Kingdom is Bilbao. This city had a lot of commercial and cultural exchanges with the United Kingdom in the 19th century. British-style buildings can still be seen everywhere in the old town, and even today there are still preserved buildings built by Bilbao in the 19th century.

Ferry service between Baltimore and Portsmouth.

"Boss, in the first game against England, do you think I can start?"

When Lin Yaodong said this in the fitness room, the two veteran goalkeepers of the Chinese team were not far away, and they couldn't help but sigh when they heard this.

"I trust you!"

Wu Jie's answer is equivalent to deciding the starting goalkeeper for this World Cup. Although the coaching staff still thinks that Lu Jian and Li Fusheng are more reliable, Wu Jie knows that Lin Yaodong is really safe.

"We faced the British team in the first game. Europeans say they are the representatives of long passes, but they just don't know how good they can be?"

Although Zhao Dayu played in Ligue 1 for half a season, Lyon did not qualify for European competitions, and he has not played against teams outside Ligue 1.

"West Bromwich Albion from English League One came to China in 1978. At that time, the Beijing team, Shanghai team, and Guangdong team all played against them, and they all lost miserably!"

Gu Guangming did play against the British team. At that time, he was already a member of the Guangdong team's first team and he also participated in that game.

"I think you can find out just by asking the boss and Haonan. They have both eliminated British teams."

Shen Xiangfu is 25 years old, but he still has the nerve to call Wu Jie boss.

"The British are fast and good at physical confrontation, but their foot skills are not delicate enough. They like to go straight when attacking. We must be smarter when defending. It is best to lure them into our ambush circle and use the numerical advantage to complete the defense. Don't fight hard!

"

Chen Haonan has a say in this. His teammate Cunningham in Real Madrid is a member of the England national team.

"The secret of our defense is to guard the center. Their side breakthroughs are difficult to block head-on, but as long as we keep the center airtight and guard against their crosses, let them sprint from the side."

Of course Wu Jie knew that the English team had a strong impact and hard defense would definitely not work, so he would set up an iron barrel formation in the middle and wait for the English to rush in and send him away.

He is very confident in his own defense, not only because he has been training the Chinese team's defense in the past two years, but also because Lin Yaodong is guarding the goal.

Lin Yaodong's current level has not yet reached its peak, but it is enough to defend England's shots from both wings. He also has good air defense capabilities and can deal with long shots. As long as the British are not allowed to easily break into the penalty area and shoot, it will not work.

Too big a threat.

"We should not underestimate the enemy, but we should not belittle ourselves either. The English's wing attack is very good, and their frontal impact is also good. But our two wingers are not worse than them. In the game on the 30th, the center attack will be left to me and Hao

To deal with it from the south, the two wings must be ready to respond to the attack at any time. It is best to cut inside, and you can't just cross the ball. Let's also let the British see China's two wings flying together."

Wu Jie did not forget to encourage his two wingers, although he was not sure whether Gu Guangming and Shen Xiangfu could make a difference on the wing?

On June 27, the Chinese team warmed up before the game at the San Mamés Stadium, the home stadium of Athletic Bilbao. This is the venue where they will play England three days later.

Gu Guangming actually played here. This is a special football stadium that can accommodate up to 40,000 people. The surrounding stands are steeply tiered, and the fans’ seats are very close to the playing field. The fans can easily make deafening noises, which makes San Mateo.

Metz Stadium has always been the famous hell stadium of La Liga.

"Except for having a slightly smaller capacity, this stadium is already among the top eight stadiums in La Liga."

Gu Guangming doesn't think this stadium is bad. Even domestic venues like the Workers' Stadium, which can accommodate 70,000 to 80,000 people, are far less advanced in terms of internal facilities. They are not even specialized football stadiums.

The atmosphere is also incomparable.

"The relationship between this city and the UK is extraordinary. It is said that more than 100,000 British tourists have come here in the past few days. However, all the tickets allocated to our country were not sold within the time limit. By then, it is very likely that this place will

It will be the home court of the British, and I hope everyone will be mentally prepared."

Wu Jie looked at the stadium and shook his head. Of course he knew that Chinese people in this era were unlikely to go abroad to watch games, so the tickets were basically bought by fans from other three countries.

When this matter is mentioned, everyone can only sigh helplessly.

In this era, World Cup ticket sales were divided into two stages. In the first stage, half of the tickets were given out for fans from the competing countries to purchase, and both participating parties could each buy 25% of the tickets.

But sometimes, because the economic conditions of participating countries are relatively poor, or their populations are relatively small, unsold tickets will be included in the second phase of free sales.

This is the case in China. In the first phase, they also received 25% of the ticket purchase rights, and the sales area was designated in China.

But in this era, tickets for group matches starting at US$20, with middle-level stands costing US$40, front-row stands US$100, and best seats costing US$150, are a pain in the butt for even the British, and Chinese people simply cannot afford them.

Only 4,000 copies were sold in the last half month, and most of them were bought by Chinese fans in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia through trust relationships. The remaining 6,000 copies were put into the second phase of sales.

Therefore, it is foreseeable that they will probably face more than 30,000 English fans in their first game, and the remaining Spanish fans will definitely support the English team, so they are basically playing away from home.

Chinese players, including members of the coaching staff, felt a bit low in morale when they heard what Wu Jie said. Of course, no one wants to play away from home on such a global stage.

But the reality is that we are so helpless. The country is still very poor at the moment. Even if hundreds of people pool their money together to buy tickets, they still have no money to go to Europe to support them.

Of course Wu Jie knew that speaking out about this would make everyone feel uncomfortable, but if they were not prepared now, they would not just be in a low mood on the day of the competition.

"Brothers, the difficulties in resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea are countless times greater than ours now, but our fathers still drove the Americans back to the 38th parallel. How can our generation be knocked down by this difficulty?" Wu Jie knew that there was something he had to say,

But after finishing speaking, I had to mobilize my morale, so I clapped my hands vigorously, called everyone over and started talking.

"We will definitely face many difficulties in this World Cup. But difficulties are both a bad thing and a good thing, because difficulties force people to find ways, and only in difficult environments can talents be cultivated. Moreover, the greater the difficulties, the greater the achievements. We only have

Winning such a competition will make it more meaningful and tell the world: As long as we Chinese are here, we must reach the top of the list."

Wu Jie’s words are not nonsense. Forty years later, most of the global ranking videos on YouTube, except for negative lists such as suicide rate, homicide rate, and crime rate, China will definitely be slaughtered as long as it is on the list.

Of course, football is a rare exception, but he must let football rush forward in this position.

"Well said, no matter how powerful the British are, our spirit of showing our swords cannot be lost. In three days, it is time for us to show our swords to the British!"

Chen Haonan also said loudly, this is a double act with Wu Jie.

"Boss, I have long heard that our team has a sword spirit, but what exactly is a sword spirit?"

Lin Yaodong was also cooperating with the two of them in the performance at this time. As he spoke, he unconsciously touched his left arm.

I don’t know if this is his imagination, but since getting this buff tattoo, he feels special every time he saves with his left hand.

"That's a good question. Yaodong has not been in our team for a long time. Let's tell him together, what is the sword spirit of Chinese football?"

Wu Jie asked loudly to his teammates.

"The brave will win when we meet on a narrow road. When facing an enemy, he will draw his sword. Wherever the sword points, he will be invincible."

The Chinese players have long been familiar with this sentence, and they shouted loudly when they heard it.

Don't worry, these words can really boost the morale of the army.

After shouting this sentence, the momentum of the Chinese team immediately became majestic, and even gave birth to a kind of pride that could reach Changhong.

At this moment, the CCTV camera crew was filming nearby, and the Chinese team's exchange was naturally recorded.

Wu Jie can imagine that after editing, this video will be sent back to China soon, and it will definitely be broadcast on the News Network before the game.

At that time, not only will his aura shine brighter, but the bright sword spirit of Chinese football will also be passed on to other sports fields.

Of course, China at this stage is not suitable for showing off its sword.

The next thirty years will be a period of patience for China, and we must be patient during this period.

But the bosses knew it well and would not make any trouble just because of his words.

The so-called sword spirit will only be suitable for a few fields such as sports in the next few decades.

After the Chinese team completes their training, they can still go to the designated training ground for training tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

This training ground is actually the training ground of Athletic Bilbao's youth training team, while the England team uses the training ground of the first team, and the two sides will not meet before the game.

The Chinese team is naturally not satisfied, but the Europeans must be facing the Europeans, let alone Bilbao, which has always had close relations with the United Kingdom.

If it's just this kind of differential treatment, I'm afraid that the referee will also face England on the day of the game, which would not be good.

But it's useless to think so much. They will definitely encounter a lot of troubles in this World Cup. At the moment, they can only cover it up with water and earth, and block it with soldiers.

Three days passed quickly, and the Chinese team watched a match between France and Czechoslovakia in the same group the day before the game.

This game was held in Valladolid, and the final result surprised the Chinese team, because the French team, which was obviously much stronger on paper, was actually tied.

The Czechoslovak team used solid defense to keep the French team quiet throughout the game, and only scored one goal in the end.

The French midfielder, the world's top midfielder, didn't seem that powerful in this game.

Czechoslovakia's defense was very solid. In the second half, Anthony Panenka, who invented the "spoon penalty", scored a penalty kick and finally tied the French team, which was strong on paper.

"The French team is obviously not in the state, and Czechoslovakia is more difficult to deal with than expected."

Wu Jie could see that the French were clearly out of shape on both offense and defense. On the contrary, the Czechoslovak team, which had the second highest average age among the 24 teams, showed the competitive level expected of a European champion.

This Czechoslovakian defense line has a very good understanding of each other, and the coordination between the midfield and the frontcourt is also excellent. If not for the serious decline in athletic ability, the French team should have lost this game.

"This result is good for us. France and Czechoslovakia each get one point. As long as we draw with England, the situation in the entire group will be much easier."
Chapter completed!