After returning from the mountain, Zhang Kuang calmed down and became his 'football superstar' again. He sat at the dining table and finished his meal slowly.
After eating, he drove to Hong Kong Team's base and the training base. Zhang Kuang greeted the staff and players at the base one by one. Then he went to the office building of the base and met the head coach Troussier. Troussier greeted Zhang Kuang for coffee, and then the two chatted.
Troussier: "Zhang, congratulations on another successful season. You have been working hard for a season. How about you take a few days off first? It shouldn't be a big problem for you to adjust with the team. I will give you three days off. You can rest first."
Zhang Kuang: "Ah? If you do something special for me, will other teammates have any objections?"
Troussier: "Haha... If anyone dares to have an opinion on your special powers, it's easy. Let them have the same abilities and contributions as you, and I will give them such special powers."
Zhang Kuang:"Then thank you."
Troussier: "You're welcome, anyone else would arrange it like this. Players need proper rest to maintain their condition. You just completed a season of competition and took a transoceanic flight. You deserve a few days of rest.
In addition, Zhang, in the first game of the top ten games against South Korea, which tactic do you think is better for us to use? Which tactic is more suitable for you to play?"
Zhang Kuang was stunned for a moment, then thought about it.
"Sir, we played South Korea in the first game. This is a strong Asia team. On paper, Hong Kong Team is far from its opponent. Therefore, I think the 361 defensive formation is more suitable.
As for which one is more comfortable for me to play, it doesn't matter to me. I just need to make sure the backcourt is accurate and concede fewer goals, and then provide me with the best shots at the right time."
Troussier nodded happily. "Okay, your idea coincides with mine. I also think that in the first game South Korea Team should focus on stability, focus on defense first, and lose fewer goals."
Zhang Kuang smiled and nodded. In fact, he had already guessed what Troussier was thinking. Maybe Troussier asked him just to confirm or for some other purpose.
Zhang Kuang feels that there is nothing wrong with Hong Kong Team playing 361 against South Korea Team. After all, Asia is one of the top four and ranked 35th in the world.
One is the newly promoted second-rate team Asia, ranked 71st in the world, which is more than double the difference. Although Hong Kong Team has superstar Zhang Kuang, there is only one Zhang Kuang, and there are 11 people playing on the field.
So, what's wrong with putting up a 361 formation? There's nothing wrong with it at all.
After Troussier received a satisfactory reply from Zhang Kuang, he asked him to go back and rest.
And Zhang Kuang couldn't talk about going home to rest. He first called He Qigang and his wife out to have a meal together. The next day he went to Shenzhen and spent a day having in-depth communication with Xionghua Football School Shenzhen Branch's teachers and players. He talked with the staff about the school's management, the students' level development, and the planning for the next season.
Of course, he also spent half a day playing football with the players. While teaching French on the spot, he demonstrated to the students how to start, accelerate, pass, cut inside, and shoot hard. He also taught how to develop a good header.
Unfortunately, these can only be used for offensive players. He can only teach midfield defensive and organizational players to a limited extent.
Even so, it still made the players excited, and the school even videotaped the whole process. These can be used as promotional videos for the school to tell parents how many times a year the world's top shooter will come to teach on site.
On May 24, he came to Xionghua Hong Kong Branch, the same process, the same teaching, answered some questions from the students, took photos with them and signed autographs.
After meeting the teachers and students of the two schools, Zhang Kuang really took a good rest at home on May 25. In fact, his rest was not considered a rest. At most, it was sorting out his income and financial management.
A season is over, the championship, golden boots, Qi and Blood Points, Upgrade Card have all been settled, and those that should be upgraded have also been upgraded, so it is necessary to settle his income and financial management.
In fact, he rarely cares about his property income and expenses. For Zhang Kuang, he has almost no expenses. Except for the two football schools, this villa, the hotel in Manchester, and the villa rented by Paris, he has no expenses.
In the 2011-12 season, his total after-tax income was just over 23 million euros. The main reason is that he is too lazy and does not do much endorsements and advertising. Otherwise, earning 40 million euros would not be a problem.
However, his expenses in the 2011-12 season were less than 5 million euros, so he still invested 18 million euros in income into the stock market. Adding the money he previously invested in U. S. stocks, his total investment in U. S. stocks reached about 24 million euros.
He bought United States technology stocks such as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, among which Apple rose the most, reaching 66%, Nvidia 15%, Tesla 31%... the average increase reached 23%.
In other words, in the past year, his assets have reached about 30 million euros, about 300 million yuan, which is very satisfactory to him.
No matter how much money he has, he can eat so much and play so much. There are thousands of Chinese delicacies to eat, and he has basically eaten them all. If he wants to eat, he can't spend a lot of money.
As for the non-Chinese food, it's not that there are no delicious ones, but they are very few, and they are not very expensive, at least not expensive for him.
Some people in the West are afraid of getting the Nguyen virus when they eat similar delicacies. Although they are immune to all poisons, who knows if they can prevent the Nguyen virus?
As for playing, he can't play with Denmark, a kind of human beast, and he can't accept it mentally and physically.
Those Europe dignitaries play across ages and genders, but his current mentality is not that abnormal.
He now has a huge training team and he is having a lot of fun, surpassing at least 99.5% of the men in the world.
So, what does he want?
He has no desire for wealth or power. He just wants to become an immortal quickly and then see what the world outside the Superman class is like.
On May 26, Zhang Kuang returned to Hong Kong Team to report.
The training base is at So Kon Po, which is across the street from Hong Kong Stadium.
It is said to be a base, but it actually borrows the locker room and a piece of grass from a public sports ground. The quality of the grass is average. It will accumulate water when it rains and become hard when the weather is sunny.
Captain Fan Chun-yip complained about this to reporters before, and Zhang Kuang reported this to He Qigang. Now Hong Kong Football Association is looking for a new base, which requires a good piece of land.
But Hong Kong Football Association doesn't have enough money, so it's very difficult.
Hong Kong Any rich person can afford to build it, including He Family, and even Zhang Kuang.
However, just because the rich are rich does not mean that Football Association is rich, and it is very troublesome for the rich to donate some money. We need to check what is the purpose of donating the money and is it self-interested?
These are all digressions, anyway, the current training base of Hong Kong Football Team is here.
When Zhang Kuang arrived, the morning training had already begun.
He stood on the sidelines, changed his shoes, and walked over. Troussier was standing near the center circle with his hands on his hips, watching the players compete in groups.
Seeing Zhang Kuang coming over, France nodded and didn't say anything more. He just pursed his lips towards the side of the court, meaning: Let's see first.
Zhang Kuang stood on the sidelines and watched.
To be honest, Hong Kong Team's joint training is completely different from Manchester United's training. Manchester United's training is fast-paced and fierce, and everyone has already thought about the next step before they get the ball.
Hong Kong Team's training is slower and rougher. Some players stop too far with the first hit of the ball and have to chase after the second hit.
There's nothing we can do about it. The gap in players' ability is too big. Even at twice the pace, the cooperation between players and stopping and distributing the ball are still very standard.
But what if the rhythm is increased to 1.2 times, 1.5 times, or even 2 times or 3 times? This is the time to test the players' basic abilities.
Why can't other Lenovo players play in the five major leagues? This is the reason.
If the body reaction and technical movements are 0.5 seconds faster, it is another world, and if the decision-making time is 0.5 seconds faster, it is another world.
Why is it said that Hong Kong Team is twice as different as South Korea Team? The difference lies in this. Under the same rhythm, the body reaction, footwork skills and decision-making are worse and slower than others.
This is the same as playing games. People have already finished reloading, aiming and shooting within 0.05 seconds. If you are still reloading, who will die if you don't die?
Faced with the situation where some of Hong Kong Team's players had a slightly inferior foundation, Troussier didn't scold him, he blew the whistle, paused, walked over, said a few words to the player alone, then stepped back and started again.
Zhang Kuang watched it for a while, and I have to say that Troussier has something. Although the overall strength of the Hong Kong Team players is inferior, Troussier, through the frequent changes of formations between the three defenders and the six defenders, can quickly allow the team to form a two-on-one or even three-on-one interception tactic. Each of these small tactics is combined into a large defensive net.
This kind of arrangement directly makes up for the deficiencies in personal skills and tactics. It is a tactical arrangement that relies on multiple people to assist in defense to achieve the goal. In this way, there are fewer people responsible for the offense, so someone at the front needs to be extremely sharp in counterattack.
It just so happens that Zhang Kuang is such an excellent candidate.
The intention of the France people is very clear: to deal with South Korea, first be steady, then be fast.
The next few days were spent practicing together as a team, and then watching the videos. Troussier's team classified all South Korea Team's game videos in the past year and cut them into different videos. They also classified and cut dozens of videos of their first-team players.
The key is that it is not only the introduction of these players and the national team's game videos, but also the highlight moments of these players in the club in the past six months, as well as the restricted highlights.
That is to say, the advantages, disadvantages, technical characteristics, habits, temperaments, etc. of each player are sorted out.
In addition to the players, there are also the technical and tactical characteristics of coach Choi Kang-hee.
For a few days, the team practiced together every day, and then conducted targeted training on how the South Korea Team players should respond.
Of course, these are meaningless to Zhang Kuang, because as long as the ball reaches his feet, everything changes to another level of meaning.
--
On May 31st, South Korea Team came to Hong Kong. They also had to adapt to Hong Kong's climate, competition venue, food, etc. in advance.
The team was surrounded by reporters as soon as they got off the plane at the airport, but no one from South Korea Team, from the coach to the players, spoke and remained silent.
After entering their training base, the door to the outside world was closed early, and the whole process was closed.
It wasn't until June 2nd, during the pre-match press conference, that their head coach Choi Kang-hee met with reporters.
Hong Kong Stadium News Release Hall, more than 150 reporters were crowded inside.
Reporters from Japan, South Korea, and Australia all came, and China mainland media also sent people.
This is the most important game in the history of Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Team football, bar none.
Troussier wore a dark gray shirt and no tie. He sat in front of the microphone with a calm expression.
Reporter: "Mr. Troussier, this is the first time Hong Kong Team has entered the top ten. Facing an opponent like South Korea, what is your goal?"
Troussier glanced at the reporter and said, "Goal? Our goal must be to win. As long as Hong Kong Team plays, the whole team's goal is to win."
Reporter: "So are you going to fight South Korea Team tomorrow?"
France's lips twitched. "Everyone will know tomorrow. We have always been very pragmatic. It doesn't matter whether we are fighting an attack or a defensive counterattack. All our techniques and tactics are for victory."
Reporter: "How is Zhang Kuang's current status? He has just played the busiest and most high-pressure season in the United Kingdom. How much of his strength can he still show in Manchester United?"
Troussier said, "Everyone can rest assured about Zhang Kuang's condition. Tomorrow South Korea Team will see the pressure from the world's top shooter. You must know that in the past season, he scored 163 goals."
Reporter: "Does the team have special tactics to target a certain player of South Korea Team? Who do you think is the biggest threat to South Korea Team?"
Troussier: "South Korea Team's biggest threat is of course their head coach Choi Kang-hee. He is an experienced head coach, and South Korea Team's players are exceptionally brave under his command."
Reporter: "..."
Troussier ended his speech after answering about a dozen questions, and then he stood up and left.
Later, Choi Kang-hee walked into the press hall.
South Korea's expression was more serious than Roussier's. He wore a black suit. When he sat down, he first glanced at the reporters in the audience.
Reporter: "Coach Cui, is South Korea Team's goal this time a three-pointer? What is the biggest challenge?"
Choi Kang-hee nodded. "Of course, we are here just for three points. However, there is no easy game in the top ten. Hong Kong Team has a coach like Troussier and a world-class shooter like Zhang Kuang. In the group stage of the top 20, they won all 6 games and showed super offensive ability. This is the biggest challenge South Korea Team will face tomorrow."
Reporter: "Park Ji-sung didn't come. Is South Korea Team really not calling him into the team anymore?"
Choi Kang-hee's expression did not change. "Park Ji-sung has retired from the national team, but it doesn't matter. Our current lineup has been tested in many competitions, and we are confident."
Reporter: "How do you plan to prevent Zhang Kuang?"
Choi Kang-hee paused for a moment. "Zhang Kuang is not that easy to guard against. Europe has so many top players. We don't have a better way. Let's try our best to guard against him as a whole."
Reporter: "..."
--
"Oriental Daily News": "South Korea head coach admitted that Zhang Kuang can't guard against it!"
"Jing Daily": "Troussier: I promise to win three points tomorrow!"
"Ta Kung Pao": "Although Zhang Kuang is powerful, we cannot underestimate South Korea. They are ranked 35th in the world, while we are only 71st."
Hong Kong's media has just become popular. There are various analyzes in public opinion, some are blindly optimistic, some are anxious, and some even say 'Hong Kong Team will show up when it encounters a strong team'.
These arguments are not only reflected in the media, but also reflected on social platforms, and the Internet has become a quarrel.
No matter how noisy the public opinion is, the outcome will eventually be decided on the field.
June 3, evening.
Hong Kong Stadium.
This golf course is located in So Kon Po, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side.
The stadium was completed in 1953 and can accommodate 40,000 people. It is the holy land of Hong Kong Hong Kong Football Team.
Tonight, it was full again.
Thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred and seventy-six people.
The ticketing system showed that all tickets were sold out three hours after the tickets were opened.
Scalper tickets have been sold to ten times the original price, and the cheapest grandstand tickets have been sold from 200 Hong Kong dollars to 2,000 Hong Kong dollars.
There are fans from Shenzhen who come through the customs specifically to watch the game, some who come by direct train from Guangzhou, and some who fly here from Shanghai.
Not to mention the Hong Kong local fans, the red Hong Kong Team jerseys are surging in the streets and alleys around the stadium, like a red river.
Of course, there were also two to three thousand fans from South Korea, with bandages on their heads and flags flying in their hands.
Outside the stadium, a police cordon was set up. Mounted police officers weaved through the crowd, and several security personnel wearing fluorescent vests checked backpacks at the entrance.
There was a long queue in front of the stall selling drinks and hot dogs, and the smell of fish eggs and siomai mixed together in the evening air.
TVB's broadcast truck is parked on the west side of the stadium, and the antenna has been set up.
CCTV's broadcast team is also on site, and He Wei and Zhang Lu have already taken their seats in the commentary box.
The broadcast truck of South Korea KBS TV station also came, as did their ace host Seo Ki-cheol and the most popular commentator Lee Yong-soo.
The team of Sky Sports is also here, but they are here to record material today. This game is not live broadcast on the United Kingdom.
Inside the stadium, TVB commentary booth.
Chung Chi-kwong is wearing headphones and there is a stack of information in front of him.
Sitting next to him is Wong Hing-kwai, a veteran of Hong Kong Football Team who is wearing a dark blue polo shirt today and holding a pen in his hand.
They are waiting for the designated time and the live broadcast host outside the venue to complete the introduction before handing over the task to them.
The same goes for CCTV-5. He Wei and Zhang Lu are chatting and sorting out relevant information.
This is not in a studio, and no one will give you some information on the spot, so you must prepare it in advance.
For example, if a player breaks a certain record, there will be staff in the studio to help search out the information and tell the host immediately. However, on-site commentators cannot do this, so they have to prepare in advance and become familiar with it in advance.
The time came to 19:20, and finally the players from the two teams slowly came to the player tunnel and were ready to enter the stadium, so the broadcast signal was also given to the commentators on each site.
He Wei: "Friends, good evening, everyone. What you are watching now is the first round of Group A of the 2014 Brazil World Cup Qualifiers Asia Zone Top Ten Tournament. Tonight's match is between China Hong Kong Team and South Korea Team at home..."