Chapter 314 - 307: This Script Hasn’t Changed?

The fourth matchday of the final qualifying round was about to kick off, and fans back in China were eagerly awaiting it.

In the first three matches, the Chinese Team had secured three straight victories, putting them at the top of the group with nine points.

Japan was second with six points from two wins and a loss. Iran was third with one win and two losses, while North Korea was at the bottom of the group, having lost all three of their matches.

According to the rules, the top two teams from the group would qualify directly for the World Cup. The Chinese Team only needed one more win against North Korea to clinch their spot, which would mark China’s second-ever appearance at the World Cup, following their debut in 2002.

On paper, playing North Korea at home shouldn’t have been too difficult, but no one dared to get complacent.

Over the past few decades, Chinese Football had seen plenty of situations just like this one.

’A draw to qualify, a win to qualify...’

But in the end, the result was almost always a tragedy, with those infamous "few black minutes" of collapse happening time and again.

To a certain extent, the Chinese fans had been traumatized by past failures.

Because of this, the National Team adopted an extremely conservative attitude. They refused to even mention the word "qualify," and the official line to the public was that they were focused on playing every group match well and would not let any opportunity slip by.

The media, on the other hand, was in a frenzy, treating an early qualification as a foregone conclusion. The fans, however, didn’t dare to fully believe it. They were anxious, terrified of yet another unexpected failure against a weaker opponent.

In fact, for many fans back home, the three consecutive wins in the final qualifying round already felt somewhat unbelievable.

It was into this atmosphere of nervous anticipation that Yang Yang returned to China!

He returned to China from Amsterdam, bearing the titles of UEFA Cup Champion and Player of the Tournament, as well as Eredivisie Champion and Player of the Year. For the anxious Chinese fans, his return was like a massive shot in the arm.

Not only had Yang Yang returned, but he’d also brought a private coach with him—a powerfully built man, strong as a bear.

The relentless media quickly dug up Winston Bogard’s background, and all the fans learned that Yang Yang had actually poached a fitness coach from Ajax.

Soon, another media outlet broke a story: Yang Yang was seen working out every day at a high-end fitness club in Beijing. They even posted photos. Besides Yang Yang and Winston Bogard, the pictures also featured Su Ye, who fans had dubbed "the number one goddess of the football world."

The fitness club’s fame instantly skyrocketed, and it became a nationwide sensation overnight.

Fortunately, the club had high-end facilities, charged hefty fees, and was open only to members, so there was no worry of being disturbed by outsiders.

Besides the fitness club, fans soon revealed another of his haunts: Yihe Garden.

A fan on a morning run in Yihe Garden spotted Yang Yang and Su Ye, snapped a photo of them running together from a distance, and posted it online, sparking a heated discussion among users.

He did, however, stop visiting Su Ye’s alma mater, a place he used to frequent. With the college entrance exams approaching, he wanted to avoid distracting Su Ye and her classmates. Besides, he was due to report to the National Team in just a few days.

The media and fans back home universally praised Yang Yang for continuing to train hard upon his return, believing his current success was inseparable from his willingness to put in the grueling work.

Over the past year, Yang Yang’s diligence and self-discipline had made a huge impact back home, indirectly causing the media and fans to demand a higher standard from other domestic players.

Old narratives like "Chinese people aren’t built for football" completely vanished. Now, whenever news broke of a domestic professional player’s lack of discipline, the media and fans would immediately use Yang Yang as a benchmark for criticism and motivation.

"Just look at Yang Yang..."

Even Yang Yang himself hadn’t expected that he would indirectly contribute to the professional development of Chinese Football.

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Since both upcoming matches were home games, the National Team, for the sake of convenience, scheduled them to be played in Tianjin.

The National Team’s training camp was set up at the Beijing Xianghe Base.

By the time Yang Yang arrived, the other overseas-based players like Shao Jiayi, Zheng Zhi, Zhao Junzhe, and Sun Jihai had already reported for duty. Chen Tao had also completed all the paperwork for his transfer and finalized his registration with FIFA.

In a sense, Chen Tao was now officially an Anderlecht player.

The transfer fee wasn’t high: 80 thousand euros.

This great news sparked a lot of discussion among the players in the training camp. Many of the more ambitious players, who dreamed of going far in football, were envious of Chen Tao’s opportunity and deeply admired Yang Yang for his help.

This, in turn, elevated Yang Yang’s standing within the National Team even further.

After he rejoined the squad, the main topic of conversation was, of course, Yang Yang’s outstanding performance in the Eredivisie. Breaking the legendary record set by Ronaldo at eighteen was an absolutely massive event in World Football.

"Now, when the Scottish internationals on my team talk about Yang Yang, every single one of them gives a thumbs-up. They’re just full of praise!"

Coming from the sincere and dependable Zhao Junzhe, these words carried even more weight.

His National Team teammates were also extremely curious about his transfer situation. It wasn’t just the fans in China; football fans worldwide were watching closely, eager to know if Yang Yang would stay at Ajax or, if he left, where he would go.

Yang Yang had nothing to hide about his transfer, simply stating that nothing was decided yet.

After Chen Tao’s successful transfer to Anderlecht, however, many of the other national players started asking Yang Yang about opportunities to play overseas.

To be honest, it wasn’t just the fans who were dissatisfied with the current state of domestic football; the players themselves found it difficult and unfulfilling. Anyone with the courage to leave their comfort zone was determined to seize any chance to go abroad.

Yang Yang was an open book, promising that if anyone wanted to play overseas, he would help in any way he could. At the same time, he warned his teammates that the competition abroad was fierce and that they had to be mentally prepared for it.

Yang Yang didn’t mince words about the skill level of the domestic players, stating that it was extremely difficult to transfer directly to one of the Four Major Leagues.

"The European Professional Leagues are like a pyramid. It’s incredibly difficult to jump straight to the Four Major Leagues at the very top. South Korea’s Park Ji-sung and Lee Yong-Soo, and Japan’s Xiaoye Sheng Er all started in the Eredivisie and slowly worked their way up."

"Finding a team that’s the right fit, where you can actually get playing time—that’s the most important thing."

Yang Yang’s words earned the unanimous agreement of the team’s veterans, including Sun Jihai, Zheng Zhi, Zhao Junzhe, and Shao Jiayi.

The whole point of playing overseas was to train and improve. If a player blindly chased a big-name club, the stage might be grand, but without enough game time to even maintain one’s form, what was the point? There was no value in that.

Zheng Zhi was a prime example.

The club he currently played for, Mainz, wasn’t a famous name in the Bundesliga, nor was it well-known back home. But the key thing was that he was getting game time. Head coach Klopp had a good impression of him and was willing to give him chances, which made the move valuable for his development.

Conversely, there had been rumors that Bayern Munich was also interested in him. If he had really gone to the Bundesliga giants, would he ever have gotten a chance to play?

Chen Tao’s decision to start his European career at Anderlecht was based on the exact same line of thinking.

Hearing these firsthand accounts from players like Yang Yang and Zheng Zhi undoubtedly injected a dose of realism into the domestic players’ ambitions of playing abroad.

This became especially apparent during team training. The tempo of the overseas-based players was noticeably different from that of the domestic ones. This was particularly true for Yang Yang; many players couldn’t even keep up with his rhythm.

Even Chen Tao, who had the best on-field chemistry with him, had to go all out just to barely keep pace, and even then, Yang Yang often had to slow down for him.

Chen Tao stated this plainly to his National Team teammates. "This is how they play at Ajax. The tempo is just too fast. I could barely keep up, even during a low-intensity recovery session."

"But I have to admit, it’s an incredible environment for development. A team that can win the Champions League and the UEFA Cup—their quality is undeniable."

This served as even greater motivation for the national players who were considering a move abroad.

Learning is like rowing upstream: if you don’t move forward, you fall behind. Football was no different.

When others were bravely heading abroad to face new challenges, shrinking back would only mean being left further and further behind.

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「June 3rd, Tianjin.」

The fourth matchday of Group B in the final Asian Zone qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup.

The Chinese Team was at home against North Korea.

For this match, Arie Haan once again fielded a 4-3-3 formation, employing a double-pivot in midfield.

Clearly, the Dutch coach was playing it safe.

Choking at critical moments was a chronic problem for Chinese Football.

So, in this crucial match that the entire nation was watching with bated breath, no one could afford the slightest complacency.

From the opening whistle, the Chinese Team pressed forward aggressively, using their superior quality to control possession and dictate the tempo.

The North Korea Team set up in a 4-5-1, but once the game started, it looked more like a 9-0-1. They parked the bus, looking fully intent on defending for their lives.

The game almost immediately turned into an attacking drill for the Chinese Team.

But it wasn’t just Yang Yang leading the line who was being man-marked; the players on the wings and in midfield behind him were also tightly covered. This made it very difficult for China’s players to find any space to operate.

Against North Korea’s ironclad defense, the Chinese Team failed to create many clear-cut chances throughout the first half.

Yang Yang’s individual skill was undeniable, and his movement was relentless, but he was simply swarmed by defenders everywhere he went.

No matter where he ran, a North Korean defender was there, and they weren’t shy about using dirty tricks, kicking him at every opportunity.

He lost count of how many cynical kicks he’d taken over the course of the first half.

The Chinese fans, both in the stadium and watching on TV, grew more and more anxious as the half wore on.

It felt like a rerun of the dark history of years past.

’We attack and attack without success, then they score on a sneak attack, and we lose the crucial match. Has the script not changed at all?’

’Could it be? Is the National Team going to follow the same disastrous path all over again?’

’Were the three straight wins just an illusion?’

Just as the fans were starting to lose their patience, a restless energy filling the stands and living rooms across the country, just as the first half ticked into stoppage time, Yang Yang finally got an opportunity!