Early September—the two-week National Team match day.
Yang Yang and his Real Madrid teammates all returned to their respective countries to serve their national teams. Although the World Cup qualifiers' Top Ten Tournament had long since ended, and China Team had advanced to the Brazil World Cup as group winners, Queiroz had still carefully arranged two friendly matches.
One was against Cameroon from Africa, and the other was against Serbia from Europe.
Both teams were quite strong, and China Team was not confident of beating opponents like them.
Queiroz's purpose in arranging these two friendlies was simple: to further polish the team, adjust its offensive and defensive systems, increase its experience against different opponents, and especially gain experience facing European and African teams.
Everyone knew that when an Asian team reached the World Cup, it was bound to encounter teams from other continents, with European teams being the most likely opponents. Therefore, Queiroz hoped to find answers through these friendlies before the World Cup—what tactics China Team should use against opponents like them.
That was also why Yang Yang and the other overseas-based internationals had specifically returned home to serve their country.
Yang Yang was already twenty-seven, while Feng Xiaoting and the others were even older. Even if the Brazil World Cup was not their final World Cup, it would still be the tournament in which they had the greatest hope of achieving results during the peak of their careers.
Four years later, Yang Yang would be thirty-one, and the other players who had won the FIFA Youth Championship with him would all be in their thirties. Although rising stars such as Wu Lei had emerged, Yang Yang and the others naturally still hoped to break through and achieve better results.
It would be extremely difficult. Yang Yang and the