Reporting to the National team

"Lin Feng has been recruited by the national team? Is that for real?"

"The roster has already been announced, how could it be fake?"

"That's incredible! Brother Linzi has accidentally set the record for the youngest national team player. If he can just make an appearance at the East Asian Football Championship, even as a substitute, he'll set the record for the youngest player to ever play for the national team!"

"Records aren't the important part; what matters is that this time we're going to crush the Japanese and the Koreans on the pitch. Didn't they go around bragging earlier, saying they wanted to show us how tough they are?"

"Right, I remember that Keisuke Honda from the Japan team talking trash, saying the only reason our youth team won the Dutch Youth World Cup was because they didn't run into the Japan team early on. He claimed if they had met, they would have beaten the living daylights out of our youth team. Heh, I'd love to see how this guy plans to beat the living daylights out of the Chinese team this time!"

The Japan team also participated in the Dutch Youth World Cup, and Keisuke Honda was a key player for that Japan Youth National Team, but they were eliminated early after losing to Morocco in the round of 16.

"Keisuke Honda is nothing but a clown. He just got called up to the Japan National Team, and it's not even certain he'll get any playing time. However, this Japan team has quite a few big-name Star Players, especially their midfield star Hidetoshi Nakata. He is a presence we truly cannot afford to underestimate!"

"Hidetoshi Nakata isn't coming, is he? Didn't the Japan Football Association announce they wouldn't be calling up their overseas legion?"

"Is that true? Are the Japanese really that arrogant? I heard the football association is taking this championship very seriously and is currently negotiating with Shao Jiayi's club, Munich 1860, to release him for the tournament. If the Japan team is really that complacent, we might actually have a chance to take them down this time!"

The number and quality of players the Japan team has studying abroad are quite good, ranking as top-tier in Asia.

Among them are Koji Nakata, who plays for Olympique de Marseille in Ligue 1, Hidetoshi Nakata and Atsushi Yanagisawa, who play for Fiorentina and Messina in the Serie A league respectively, and Junichi Inamoto, who plays for Cardiff City in the English Championship.

The two teams have a deep historical grudge, and Chinese fans absolutely loathe the Japan team.

Yet, because the National Football Players lack the strength to beat their opponents, this resentment has nowhere to vent and ends up backfiring on them.

It can be said that the current public opinion crisis facing the national team is largely related to their loss to the Japan team in the Asian Cup Final held on home soil.

If they could avenge that defeat this time, it would wash away the shame for Chinese football and might even turn the tide of public opinion.

At that point, trophies and honors wouldn't matter; as long as they can knock down the Japan team and the South Korea team, it would all be worth it!

In fact, before the 1980s, because Chinese football started earlier, they were able to firmly suppress the Japan team on the pitch, even maintaining a 60-year unbeaten streak against them.

But by the 1980s, the rise of the Japan team had become somewhat unstoppable.

From 1981 to 2005, the Chinese team and the Japan team faced each other 18 times over those 24 years, with the Chinese team only managing 5 wins, 3 draws, and 10 losses—a win rate of less than 30 percent.

The last time the Chinese team defeated the Japan team was 7 years ago, on May 7, 1998, during the East Asian Football Championship, where the Chinese team beat them 2-0 thanks to two goals from Li Bin.

Since then, the Chinese team has struggled to win against the Japan team; even a draw has become a luxury. Japanese football has become an insurmountable mountain in front of Chinese football.

A 7-year winless streak has even caused many National Football Players and fans to develop a Japan phobia.

Even though they desperately want to defeat the Japan team to settle the score, they have zero confidence in their own strength and are instead afraid of encountering the Japan team on the pitch.

Actually, when it comes to phobias, the national team's Korea phobia is truly beyond saving.

Since their first encounter in 1978, the national team has gone 27 years without a single win against the South Korea team.

Even if we shamelessly count the 1986 Nehru Cup, where the Chinese team defeated a South Korea team composed mainly of university students, it has still been 19 years without a win against them.

Compared to the Japan team, the South Korea team is truly the ultimate tormentor of the national team.

With a tough style of play, abundant stamina, fierce tackling, and strong discipline, the South Korea team naturally counters the Chinese team's tactics.

On top of that, South Korea's professional league developed earlier, and they have more players studying abroad, including world-class stars like Cha Bum-kun, who represent the ceiling for Asian players.

This has kept the South Korea team ahead of the Chinese team in terms of raw strength. Whenever the Chinese team meets the South Korea team, it's like a father beating his son—we are always the ones getting beaten.

Like the Japan team, the South Korea team has also chosen not to recall their overseas players for this East Asian Cup.

Although the East Asian Football Championship is an A-level tournament where the results directly affect FIFA rankings and points, neither the Koreans nor the Japanese seem to take it very seriously.

Perhaps in their eyes, even without recalling overseas players, they can easily defeat the national team relying solely on their domestic players.

In their eyes, Chinese football is at best second-tier in Asia, not even on the same level as them.

If that's the case, why use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken?

The fans of the national team are well aware of this, and given their understanding of the current strength of the national team, there really aren't many fans who are optimistic about the national team beating the Japan team or the South Korea team. Everyone's biggest wish is just not to lose again.

Of course, if they could actually defeat the Japan team or the South Korea team, that would naturally be even better.

Even if they only beat the Japan and South Korea teams without their overseas players, it would still have great positive significance for Chinese football, at least allowing the fans to finally vent the frustration they have suppressed for so long.

"Old Zhao, Brother Chen, what's the situation with the national team?"

When Lin Feng learned that he had been suddenly recruited by the national team, he was very surprised.

The national team hadn't given him any heads-up, leaving him completely unprepared.

But being able to join the national team, and even represent them on the pitch, was definitely good news for Lin Feng.

He urgently needed to play for the national team; it would allow him to activate the system's various functions faster and increase the development level of his existing modules.

The Serie A league was about to begin, and to cope with the challenges of various opponents and multiple fronts in the new season, Lin Feng needed to constantly improve his own strength.

If he could accelerate the development progress of the Kaka template, combined with his own rigorous and disciplined training, his growth rate would be extremely fast, giving him more confidence to establish himself in the Serie A league.

Therefore, after confirming the authenticity of the news, Lin Feng immediately contacted Zhao Xuri and Chen Tao to ask them for information about the national team.

Both of them had been selected for the national team before, and Zhao Xuri had even played as a substitute; the current record for the youngest player to play for the Chinese team was actually set by Zhao Xuri.

Although they were only fringe players in the national team, they had at least been part of the squad and knew the national players.

Compared to them, Lin Feng had never interacted with those people, and he didn't know much about their temperaments, personalities, or the factions behind them; what little he did know came from hearsay in the media from his past life, the accuracy of which was questionable.

Upon hearing Lin Feng's questions, Chen Tao and Zhao Xuri patiently provided him with introductions.

After listening to their explanations, Lin Feng couldn't help but frown.

This current National Football Team really was a case of a shallow pond with many turtles, a small temple with a great evil wind!

The complexity of the internal situation was even more severe than he had imagined.

Forget it, I'll just treat it as gaining some experience!

If these people truly couldn't be relied upon, at least they had the 85 Generation ready to step up and replace them.

As long as the China Youth Team could achieve good results in the Olympic Games three years from now and establish a firm foothold in the Big Five Leagues, it wouldn't be difficult to completely replace these people in the future.

After packing his things, explaining the situation to the club, and getting his leave approved, Lin Feng boarded the next available flight and set off for home.

He was officially heading to report to the National team!