"Oriental Dragons save Liverpool!"

"The core of this team can only be Longshute!"

"Coutinho is still too young!"

"Who can be better than him in three goals and two passes in 30 minutes?"

"After Miniole, Lovren and Ince also fell at the feet of the new leader!"

"Scoring goals by yourself, caring for your teammates, where can I find such a core?!"

...

Whether it was head coach Rodgers or Long Shute, he never expected that this game would become a key battle for the team to truly determine the first core.

After experiencing such a game, where is Coutinho still qualified to compete with Long Shute for the team's tactical status?

Boss Long is willing to give him a free kick opportunity... That's already polite to him 100 points!

As you are like the cloud-piercing arrows, Master Long will give you three or four in a minute!

-

The excitement of reversing West Ham United 5-2 has not yet subsided, and the Liverpool players who were still holding a summary meeting in the locker room have all calmed down.

Assistant coach Sean Odrisco turned on the widescreen TV hanging from the wall.

Two familiar figures appeared on the screen.

That was the two powerful UEFA officials who Long Shute just met at the Monaco award ceremony a few days ago - the Big Bald Secretary-General Infantino, and the Director of the Ministry of Economics.

"Gentlemen, be quiet," Odrisco reminded, "it won't waste too much of your time."

This is the draw ceremony for the group stage of the 2015-16 UEFA UEFA UEFA UEFA Europa League (commonly known as the UEFA Cup, Europa League).

This is the first time since Long Shute's career that he has watched the Europa League draw.

If it were two years ago, Long Shute would never believe that this scene actually happened to him.

But that's the truth.

Compared with the Champions League, the level of the UEFA Cup is undoubtedly a big step lower, and the economic income such as attention, influence, bonuses, broadcast fees, etc. are far inferior.

An ambitious club or a capable player will not take events like the UEFA Cup seriously.

But that's the truth.

Liverpool, ranked fifth in the league last season, can only participate in this season's Europa League.

Although he had known this reality for a long time, Long Shute was still a little unhappy.

There are a total of 32 teams in the Champions League, while there are a total of 48 teams participating in the group stage of Europa.

The 48 teams were divided into 12 groups, with the top two in each group, that is, a total of 24 teams entering the knockout round.

In the knockout stage, the third place in the eight Champions League groups will also join the middle, 24+8, thus forming the top 32.

Each round of knockout matches is a home and away game, so if you want to win the UEFA Cup championship, you have to play 6 group matches, 8 knockout matches, and a final, with a total of 15 games. It is necessary to play two more games than winning the Champions League championship.

This is a life-threatening Premier League team with close schedules!

Too many games, too little prizes, insufficient attention, insufficient honors, affect the league... Under the influence of various factors, Premier League clubs actually do not pay attention to the Europa League. Whether it is Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, or Arsenal, they would rather use this event as a good opportunity to hone substitutes and young players...

This may be a good excuse.

Only Chelsea, who did not win the Champions League back then, paid a little attention to this trophy...

-

The influence of the Europa League can be seen only from the number of guests.

The Champions League group stage draw invited nearly 20 legendary celebrities, and the UEFA draw... In addition to the host, there are only two UEFA officials, Infantino and Marchetti. Many club head coaches - including Rogers - are too lazy to attend the meeting on site...

In Infantino's introduction, Long Shute also added a little bit of the knowledge of the football club.

If the top teams in major leagues are all the top teams in major leagues, then the UEFA Cup is filled with a large number of second- and third-rate league teams.

Even in the seed team ranked first, Long Shute had a team that didn't recognize...

Ukrainian team Dnipro.

However, there are many famous clubs in the first gear: Tottenham, Ajax, Marseille, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Naples, Schalke 04, Dortmund...

Since Liverpool only played 6 UEFA Champions League group stages and 2 UEFA Champions League knockout matches in the 14-15 season, and 12 UEFA Champions League games in the 12-13 season, their European Cup points can only be ranked second.

Infantino and Marchetti, two officials, were not as enthusiastic as they were when they were in charge of the Champions League draw, but completed their work as quickly as they were routinely done.

The three teams in the same group as Liverpool are exactly the same as the news that Long Shute got from the system:

Kazan Ruby in the Russian Premier League, Lyon in the Ligue 1, and Sion in the Swiss Premier League.

A relaxed voice sounded in the locker room after watching the lottery:

"It's still a good signing and no strong teams in the four major leagues."

"I don't want to go to Russia to play games in winter! That ghost place is too cold!"

"I would rather skate and play snowballs in the British Isles than play football with them on the territory of the Russians!!"

"I've been to Russia before, and the fans there are so cruel!"

Odrisco coughed and posted a newly printed schedule to the notice board on the wall:

"The match with the Russians was on October 22nd and November 5th. The host was the first and then the away. Even Russia would not freeze you little bastards to death!"

-

After watching the Europa League draw ceremony, Liverpool Club was officially disbanded.

In the next week, most players will participate in international competitions of their respective national teams.

And Long Shute ushered in a short rest time.

Although the 2014 World Cup in Brazil has just passed, preparations for the 2018 World Cup in Russia have officially begun.

Qualifying matches have also been launched on various continents, and the AFC is of course no exception.

In fact, as early as March 2015, such as East Timor, Mongolia, India, Nepal, Chinese Taipei, Yemen, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, these traditional football teams had already fought in the first round of battles.

Starting from June, the official qualifiers, that is, the top 40 matches, began.

The 40 teams are divided into 8 groups. The first place in each group will get a place to advance to the next round. There are 4 other teams with the best results and second place can also advance, thus forming the third round of the top 12 matches.

The Chinese team is divided into the same group as Maldives, Qatar, Bhutan, and Hong Kong.

Just like the results of each lottery draw, there is an optimistic sentiment in the vast number of public opinion in China.

There is no reason why this result makes everyone unhappy:

Apart from Qatar, the other three teams... What is the difference between the Chinese team, which ranks 46th in the world, and the points-giving boy?!

Bhutan has a population of 800,000, which is comparable to a county in China.

The Maldives has a population of 420,000, which is comparable to half a county town. There are 200,000 men, and there are about 30,000 men from 18 to 35. Among these 30,000 people, it is really difficult to pick out 25 players...

As for Hong Kong, China, which has the third strength in the group, we are not bragging about ourselves. Even if a marginal figure in the Chinese Super League goes to the Hong Kong Super League, he can become the overlord!

Even if the Chinese team cannot beat Qatar, they can easily score points on the other three opponents to advance with the advantage of goal difference, right?!

Ideals are beautiful, and reality is indeed fascinating for a time.

The first World Cup qualifiers took place in June, when Long Shute was busy acquiring Liverpool.

The Chinese team, who played away, beat up friendly neighbor Bhutan with a score of 6-0, and ushered in a good start to the first game.

Although the Chinese team in 2015 did not welcome their legendary captain back, they had a fantastic start.

The newly appointed French coach Alan Perrin led the team to a wonderful three-game winning streak in the group stage in the Asian Cup held in January. Various praises soared into the sky. The hat of "the real savior of Chinese football" was even slapped on his head.

Fans saw such a powerful national team!

Although there is no special nature, their team still plays a very ornamental artistic football (relatively speaking)!

Although he was beaten back to his original form by Australia in the first round of the knockout round, most people still believe that this is just a small problem. As long as he gives Perrin a little time, he can bring greater progress to the team.

In the East Asian Cup (East Asian Final Four), the Chinese team lost 0-2 to South Korea, 2-0 to North Korea, drew 1-1 with Japan, barely won a runner-up, but considering that Japan and South Korea sent out all the second teams, the runner-up, which is not a heavy weight, seems even more tiny...

The 6-0 defeat of Bhutan is actually not as wonderful as the score, because in another game that followed, Hong Kong massacred Bhutan with a more disparity of 7-0. In comparison, such a victory cannot bring people any joy...

Then this weekend, the Chinese team will welcome the Hong Kong team in Shenzhen.

September 3.

The Chinese team has the advantage.

The Chinese team bombarded the whole game.

The Chinese team had four shots to the goal frame.

The penalty kick that the Chinese team should have won was missed by the referee...

The Chinese team tied Hong Kong 0-0 at its home court.
Chapter completed!