"...Because Syria defeated Qatar 3-1 at home in the penultimate round of the top 12, the situation of the Chinese team is still not optimistic. They not only want to win Qatar in the last round, but also pray that neither Uzbekistan nor Syria can win, or that even if Syria wins, it will not be able to win a big score. It seems that it is difficult to defeat their respective opponents, especially Syria, especially Syria, they challenged Iran in the last round in the away game..."

"... But Iran has already qualified early. Their performance after qualifying early is really hard to give them any hope. Judging from the attitude of the game, Iran, who qualified early, has obviously relaxed. Moreover, Iran and Syria are both West Asian teams. Do you know if there will be any underground transactions then? Never underestimate the dirty and darkness of West Asian football. In order to kill the Chinese team, the Iranian team may really dare to lose to Syria at its home court. And just focus on the game between China and Qatar, with no more or less, to ensure that Syria's goal difference is one more than the Chinese team..."

"At present, the Chinese team has two goals in goal difference, and Syria has zero. There is two goals in goal difference, but that's not enough. I think if the Chinese team plays against Qatar in the last game, they should try their best to win... I don't believe that Iran dares to lose to Syria with a big score at its home court!"

Although the Chinese team defeated Uzbekistan, the clouds that shrouded all Chinese fans in the hearts of them did not dissipate.

At this time, people don’t care much about the results of the South Korean team and Uzbekistan. What they care more about is the results of the match between Syria and Iran.

At the same time, Korean media and fans have also begun to pay attention to this game.

Because if they lose to Uzbekistan away, and Syria beat Iran, South Korea, China and Syrian three teams together have 14 points, and they have a goal difference.

The Chinese team now has two goal difference, Syria has zero goal difference, and South Korea loses one.

As long as the Korean team loses, the goal difference will only decrease and there will definitely not increase.

If this is the case, as long as the South Korean team can lose to Uzbekistan, they will definitely be eliminated and they don’t even have the qualification to playoffs.

The Korean team, which was originally considered to be qualified for the World Cup, was forced to the edge of the cliff, was unexpectedly impossible for many Korean media and fans.

In the last round of the top 12 matches, the situation in this group was complicated.

※※※

After the match with Uzbekistan, the next day, the Chinese team flew to Doha to prepare for the last top 12 match against Qatar.

Gao Zheng was interviewed at the airport and he seemed very confident: "I don't care about the situation in the other two games, because the situation is more beneficial to us now."

Unlike the worry in the media, Gao Zheng believes that the situation is more powerful for the Chinese team: "Because it is very simple, we only need to score as many goals as possible and win. As long as we can win with a big score, no matter what the result of the other two games is, it doesn't matter who wins and who loses, and we will all qualify for the playoffs."

A reporter wanted to remind Gao Zheng that the road ahead was dangerous: "But it is difficult to win the opponent with a big score away..."

"We do our best." Gao Zheng smiled and waved his hand, waved goodbye to the reporters, turned around and entered the security checkpoint.

※※※

After finishing his last adaptation training at the Caliph Stadium, the Chinese team returned to the hotel where they stayed for dinner.

In order to prepare for this game, the Chinese Football Association specially stayed in a full set of chefs from China. They also brought a lot of Chinese ingredients to ensure that the Chinese players could get used to it during the few days here.

There will be no problems because of eating.

Of course, these things do not necessarily meet the health standards of athletes’ diets that everyone thinks.

But it is too cruel to require athletes to eat boiled chicken breasts all the time.

While paying attention to nutrition, we should also pay attention to psychology. After all, Chinese people’s eating habits from childhood to adulthood are Chinese-style. Forcibly requiring Chinese players to eat completely according to the Western style will lead to players having no appetite at all and not wanting to eat.

As a result, when we were having a regular meal in the restaurant, we pretended to eat something casually, and when we returned to our room, we started boiling instant noodles...

It is said that instant noodles are junk food, but Chinese Olympic champions eat this kind of "junk food", which does not prevent them from competing for gold and silver.

Gao Zheng just sat down with the plate and was about to eat when he saw the captain Zheng Zhi coming over with the plate and asked him, "Is there anyone next to him?"

Gao Zheng shook his head: "No."

"Then can I sit down?" Zheng Zhi asked again.

"OK."

Zheng Zhi put down the dining plate and sat down opposite Gao Zheng.

"Thank you." The first sentence he said after sitting down was this.

"Captain, you are here again..."

“I just think it’s not enough to say it once.”

"Then you have told me two or three times. It's really unnecessary. You're too polite. The World Cup is the goal of all of us, and I'm also for myself." Gao Zheng said.

"Then I want to thank you too."

"We haven't played the last game yet, and even if we get the playoff qualification, we have to play two games with Australia or Saudi Arabia first. After we play, we have to play with the teams in Central and North America... There is no sign of the eight characters yet." Gao Zheng waved his hand.

"No matter whether I can enter the World Cup in the end, I want to thank you. At least this time we fought to the last moment. This is the first time since I joined the national team that I have had such an experience." Zheng Zhi smiled.

Gao Zheng couldn't laugh.

The captain made his mark in 2002 and won the Chinese Footballer, but he was not lucky and was outstanding in the second half of the year and failed to catch the last train of the World Cup.

The captain might think it was nothing at that time. He was so young and won the Chinese Footballer at the age of 22. His career had just begun. The Chinese team entered the World Cup again with a historic momentum in the society. The football craze in the whole society was surging, and Chinese football would definitely get better and better. He just caught up with the golden age of Chinese football, and his future would definitely make great achievements.

I didn't participate in the World Cup this time, I will participate again next time.

Unexpectedly, he was not in the golden age of Chinese football, but in the dark age.

Since the Chinese team defeated Syria 3-1 in the Bahrain Four-National Championship on December 7, 2002, Zheng Zhi has played 97 games for the national team so far, only three games away from the 100-game mark. Including the next game with Qatar, it is only two games away.

But none of these 97 games were World Cup games, nor were none of them in the last 12 matches of the World Cup Asian qualifiers.

Not only did he not compete in the World Cup, he had never even played in the top 12 games.

A national football icon, the well-deserved core and captain, has never even played in the top 12 games.

This is really incredible.

In the darkest time of Chinese football, it can even be said that Zheng Zhi is the only face of Chinese football. He won the honor of Asian footballer at the worst time of Chinese football. This is a Chinese player after Fan Zhiyi won this honor in 2001.

Many people scolded him because he "kicked" Xise's leg. Many people scolded him because he kicked the penalty kick against Hongkang, which caused the Chinese team to fail to reach the top ten.

But so many people scolded him, and they stopped scolding him because they found that Zheng Zhi was the only one left in Chinese football...

They are scolding this only pillar.

The captain, born in 1980, just celebrated his thirty-seventh birthday.

Before this, which Chinese professional player could still play for the country at the age of 37? Who could still become the core of the Chinese team's midfielder at this age?

He struggled to hold on until he found a successor.

During this arduous journey, he still had the dream of participating in the World Cup deep down.

It is not for Chinese football, but for himself, to give an explanation to the younger one.

So why did Gao Zheng rush back to China to participate in the top 12 matches against the South Korean team just after he recovered from his injury? Why did he have to sing a counter-tune with the team doctor group of Atletico Madrid?

Because he knew that he had the dreams of many people, including Director Zhao, Old Man, and Captain.

"Don't worry, captain, we will definitely participate in the World Cup. You can't mess up your 100 national team games," Gao Zheng said.

If everything goes well, the last game of the Chinese team in the Asian play-offs will be the captain's 100th game.

That game will determine whether the Chinese team is eligible to compete with the Central and North American teams for the last World Cup quota.

"Thank you." Zheng Zhi said with a smile.
Chapter completed!