Chapter 64 Upgrade
While Gao Xiaodong was worrying about how to get enough matches, Chen Qiang, the owner of the new amateur league champion Puhua team, had already received two invitations to amateur matches.
One is the Immigrant Cup game, and the other is the Lisbon City Amateur League.
The Immigrant Cup is organized by the Portuguese immigration union. There are many South American immigrants and Eastern European immigrants in Portugal. The football level of the Immigrant Cup is also quite high. The Portugal-China team has only been established for more than two years, and the record is very poor and the level is very low. , so I have never been invited to the Immigrant Cup.
The Lisbon City League is organized by the Portuguese Football Association and belongs to the fifth level of the Portuguese league. The upper level of this league is the Lisbon Regional League, and the next level is the Portuguese C. It is hopeful that it will be upgraded to a professional league, close to the semi-professional level. , the level needless to say.
The amateur league championship that the Portuguese Chinese team just won was organized by the sports company Capris, which is of the same nature as the Immigrant Cup and not formal enough, so Chen Qiang was very happy after receiving the invitation from the Lisbon Amateur City League, and was able to play in Portugal's fifth place. Entering the first-level league is equivalent to stepping into the threshold of Portuguese professional football. If the Portuguese-Chinese team can attract better players, they may not have the opportunity to be promoted to the Portuguese third.
However, when Chen Qiang asked for opinions from the team about participating in the Lisbon League, the five coaches from the Star of Hope in the Portuguese Chinese team were not interested. They came to Portugal for training, and they played amateur football for fun. They trained for a year After half a year, I went back to China to be a coach, so I am not interested in upgrading and fighting monsters here.
Although Gao Xiaodong has no intention of stepping up from the fifth tier league, this is also a way out. Besides, Chen Qiang treats him well, and he has to help Chen Qiang. The most important thing is that he urgently needs to be promoted now, so he supports him clearly Chen Qiang said, Coaches, even if you return to China after the training is over, it will not affect the Lisbon League. Now they have given us face and invited us. If we don't play, maybe they will not play if we want to join in the future. No, I think we should not only play in the Lisbon League, but also in the Immigrant Cup, in addition to running the team, we also need to play our Chinese reputation.
Chen Qiang was so moved by Gao Xiaodong, wished he could give him a hug right away, he applauded vigorously, and said: Gao Xiaodong is right, this is the new generation of Chinese, with ideals and pride.
Seeing that the other coaches were silent, Zhang Mingsheng said, I think what Gao Xiaodong said makes sense. Even if we return to China, there will be other people to make up for the iron-clad soldiers. We can't pass up this opportunity.
The other coaches saw that both Gao Xiaodong and Zhang Mingsheng supported them, and that after they won the amateur league championship organized by Capris, they were respected and recognized by the local Chinese. This made them very happy, and everyone no longer opposed it. Call as long as you can.
The Immigrant Cup started before Christmas, and the Lisbon League started after Christmas. The two events had some crossover in the latter part of the Immigrant Cup, but the impact was not significant. The Portuguese Chinese team accepted the invitation of the two events, recruited and continued to fight for the championship war.
There are 16 teams in the Immigrant Cup. They are divided into four groups to play in the group stage. Two teams from each group qualify.
The Portuguese Chinese team has just won the national championship of Capricorn. They are full of morale, full of confidence, and not weak in strength. On the other hand, it will be the Brazilian immigrant team with the largest number of Portuguese and the strongest strength. The hope of the Portuguese Chinese team to win the championship is extremely slim.
When defeating the Romanian immigration team to reach the final of the Immigrant Cup, Gao Xiaodong has participated in all 6 group matches and 4 knockout matches, scoring 23 goals in 10 games, and is the second scorer in the cup, second only to Brazilian immigrant striker Fabio scored 25 goals.
After entering the knockout round, Gao Xiaodong played two more games in the Lisbon City League. Before the final against the Brazilian immigration team,
Gao Xiaodong is only one game away from being promoted to the amateur S class.
This made Gao Xiaodong very annoyed, so he urged Chen Qiang to contact the team to play a warm-up match, but Chen Qiang and the players of the Portuguese team firmly disagreed. They are now fighting on two fronts, and their physical fitness is almost overdrawn. The last game in Lisbon Most of the substitutes are on the bench in the league. If there is another warm-up match, then there is no need to play in the final.
This is the actual situation, and Gao Xiaodong can't force the whole team to play a meaningless warm-up match.
There are two games to be played in the final of the Immigrant Cup, and the Portuguese-Chinese team will play at home first.
Less than two months after winning the championship last time, the Portuguese Chinese team entered the fifth tier league and once again hit the Immigrant Cup championship. This was a huge stimulus for the Portuguese Chinese circle. Ambassador Zhang also personally came to the scene to cheer for the Portuguese-Chinese team.
In Portugal, Brazil and South America have always been the talent pool of Portuguese football. The Immigrant Cup has also attracted the attention of scouts at all levels of Portugal. Matimo's striker Oliveira was discovered from the Migrant Cup. Now he has been favored by Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super League, and he is very hopeful to enter the Portuguese Super League next season.
Therefore, on the day of the Immigrant Cup match, about 40 to 50 scouts and 20 to 30 reporters came outside the field, including Li Xiang, a reporter from Sports Weekly.
More than 2,000 fans came to the scene, which is almost comparable to the number of spectators in a fourth-tier league game.
There are so many fans watching the game, there are Chinese ambassadors and many celebrities in the Chinese circle, there are so many scouts and reporters, and the opponent is the powerful Brazilian immigration team. The players of the Portuguese Chinese team are nervous and excited. The game is completely abnormal. In three minutes, the opponent made a quick press error and was scored by striker Fabio.
Ten minutes later, the Brazilian immigrant team scored another goal. After leading by two goals, the game became a stage for the Brazilians to perform.
After all, the Puhua team is not a team of young people, nor is it a team of pure amateur players. Their players are all retired professional players and semi-professional players, and their mental adjustment is very fast. When the Brazilian team improvised, They narrowed their formation, tried their best to avoid conceding more goals, and at the same time waited for an opportunity to play the counterattack of the Brazilian immigrants.
The Brazilian team did not seize the opportunity to defeat the Portuguese team. After they had played enough, they found that the time until the end of the game was running out, and the match between them and the Portuguese team was still 2:0. This score is still good for securing the championship. Not enough, so the Brazilian team attacked with all their strength, trying to score a few more goals in the last time.
Due to the poor performance of the Puhua team in front, they thought that scoring a goal was like picking something out of a pocket. Unexpectedly, when they were aggressively attacking, the Puhua team seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack. The defender found Gao Xiaodong with a long pass.
The defender of the Brazilian immigrant team played tricks when competing with Gao Xiaodong for the top spot. He saw that Gao Xiaodong was not in a good position and couldn’t squeeze Gao Xiaodong, so he leaned on Gao Xiaodong with his body, and at the same time pulled down Gao Xiaodong’s jersey. .
Unexpectedly, Gao Xiaodong's strength was too great, and his leaning and pulling didn't work. Gao Xiaodong jumped up to grab the header, and the Brazilian defender was knocked dizzy with a deliberate fall.
When the Brazilian defender went to chase again, Gao Xiaodong had already reached the front of the penalty area, and broke through the gate of the Brazilian immigration team with a ground ball.
This ball excited the Chinese fans who had been frustrated for almost the whole game. They cheered for Gao Xiaodong crazily. Even Ambassador Zhang couldn't help asking the people next to him, who is this fat man.
Many scouts from Portugal's third-tier and fourth-tier teams heard that the fat man was only 17 years old, and they all focused their cameras on Gao Xiaodong.
However, the target of more scouts is the Brazilian forward Fabi who scored 26 goals. Many people think that the 24-year-old Fabi has the hope of becoming the second Oliveira.
Although the score of 2:1 was also very unfavorable, the Puhua team kept a little suspense of winning the championship. In the remaining time, all members of the Puhua team shrank their defense and tried to hold the score.
However, the level of the Football Kingdom is indeed high. Even amateur players, there are not a few players with excellent footwork. Scored the goal and locked the score at 3:1.
This score almost killed the suspense of the championship. The players and fans of the Portuguese-Chinese team were very sad. The Chinese celebrities headed by Ambassador Zhang were also very sorry. The Portuguese-Chinese team played well, but unfortunately the opponent was too strong. But not without exception, the only person who is happy is Gao Xiaodong, because he has upgraded.