Chapter 532: Chapter 531 The Golden Generation Draws the Curtain
No one knows how long the dissolution of the mainland football association will last, but judging by their resolve, it’s not impossible for this bone-scraping cure to continue for three to five years.
Some even speculated that it could last ten years.
At first, some media attempted to protest, arguing that such a measure was too drastic and destructive to the entire industry.
But "Understanding Football" immediately stood up to refute, "Currently, there are fewer than five thousand professional players in our country, and the total number of registered professional and amateur players is less than forty thousand."
"Considering the number of people working in the industry, the scale of the football industry is quite small."
"Yet this small scale has influenced the flow of nearly a hundred billion in funds, which is extremely abnormal. This is not football; this is savage gambling under the guise of football, which is absolutely not allowed and should have been banned long ago."
"As for the real players and related professionals, they can still engage in amateur football activities. At the same time, we also recommend that these professionally trained players develop towards becoming coaches."
"Our country currently has a huge gap in positions such as youth coaches, professional coaches, and competition-level coaches. Even if all these players were to turn into coaches, it still wouldn’t meet future demands."
"Our Understanding Football and Sporting Lisbon can offer at least a thousand job positions at various youth training schools nationwide. Not to mention, elite football education, enhanced football programs, and top-level private football coaches are customized professions."
"Based on our economic forecasts, and understanding of the current salary levels of players on the mainland, the income of players who switch careers will at least increase by fifty to three hundred percent."
"Of course, this can’t compare with the earnings from playing fixed games or manipulating matches. But we believe that from this moment on, there will no longer be such so-called money-making avenues on the mainland."
"And this is what a truly healthy football industry looks like."
Under this report, there was even a recruitment contact number for the "Sporting Lisbon Regional United Academy."
Recruitment, Understanding Football was serious.
If the recruitment goes well, they even plan to set up a "Five Eight Same City" page, specifically for posting, well, recruitment ads.
...
The football storm in China has brought huge shocks to the football industry and organizations all over the world.
This unparalleled ability to execute is a distinct advantage belonging to China.
European countries have the desire but not the power, and often can only watch themselves slowly decay and fester.
But this is a shock to only a minority of professionals within the industry.
For ninety-nine percent of football fans around the world, this is just a slightly surprising piece of news.
Not nearly as eye-catching as the news that the teams from France, Argentina, and Portugal were all surprisingly eliminated in the group stage of the competition.
Zidane, having just suffered a defeat in the Champions League final, was hit by another blow in a short period.
The French team, with one draw and two losses, was embarrassingly eliminated in the group stage.
Although Zidane did not play in the first two matches due to injury, he still couldn’t help the team turn their fate around in the third and decisive match.
Regarding this, Zidane was full of self-reproach, "We never thought we would not make it through the group stage, and all the players are very disappointed."
"We were very unlucky. We created quite a few good opportunities but just couldn’t score... If we had managed to score one goal in the three games, the situation would have been very different."
When asked if France had Zidane play while injured during the match, hoping his individual ability could turn the tide for the team, Zidane said, "I’m afraid, every player on our team has that ability, but none of us managed to do it, which is really bizarre."
"In the end, it’s tough to accept this result, but it’s not the end of the world. We should forget today’s failure and start over... At least, the French team is not yet at a point where it needs to dissolve the team and the football association to rectify the situation."
After being reminded by Deng Kai, Maxa repeatedly watched Zidane’s interview and took learning notes.
A "disappointed" first captured the attitude.
This word is used by the superior towards the inferior.
The one who is disappointed must have done something wrong.
And the one who is disappointed is not at fault.
Therefore, when France’s team was eliminated, Zidane was innocent.
"We created many opportunities, but failed to score," it looked as if I, Zizou, was talking about my own long shots that didn’t go in, but... who created those opportunities?
Midfielders.
What position does Zidane play?
Midfielder.
Then who should have scored?
Forwards!
You see, isn’t this another way of absolving oneself?
"Every player has the ability to turn the game around," it seemed like he was praising his teammates, but in fact, he was distributing the responsibility.
It means that failing to turn the game around, you can’t say I wasn’t capable, it’s that no one was able to step up.
In the end, he brought up an incident from domestic football in China to divert attention, while also telling people... that Chinese football was so bad that it needed a thorough reckoning, whereas France’s football was still glorious, and hoped for more indulgence from everyone.
It’s typical of the sentiment that when you think your days are tough, looking at those who have it tougher will make you feel a lot better.
From this interview, Maxa benefitted greatly.
Similarly, after Argentina, which had been a favorite to win the championship before the game, was knocked out, several players also stepped forward to express some opinions.
They were intentionally or unintentionally comparing Argentina’s football woes to those in China.
This Argentinian squad, boasting a luxurious lineup including Boggs, Caballero, Pochettino, Musaer, Almeida, Zanetti, Veron, Simeone, Airma, Batistuta, Crespo, and Caniggia, took at least half the pressure off the French team.
Finally, Portugal’s Golden Generation, after controversy over not selecting Deng Kai and the last-minute recruitment of Ronaldo among other headline-grabbing incidents, joined France and Argentina at the same level with their elimination in the group stages.
They lost shockingly to the United States in their first round.
The fans were utterly furious as they conceded three goals in the first thirty-six minutes—a defense caught sleepwalking that made them wish for Feng Te instead!
In the second round, the Portugal team seemed to find their form, thrashing the Poland team four to zero.
In that match, striker Bolaita performed a hat-trick of goals and was substituted during garbage time by the youngster, Ronaldo.
Ronaldo then received a pass from Rui Costa and completed a goal, scoring on his World Cup debut!
But in the third match, the South Korea team defeated Portugal with the help of biased home refereeing.
After the game, Figo cried with passion.
Rui Costa couldn’t hide his sorrow.
The newcomer Ronaldo had red-rimmed eyes, shaking his head repeatedly, clearly very unhappy with his World Cup journey.
At this point, more than half of the players from Portugal’s Golden Generation knew that their national team journey had come to an end.
The glory belonging to the Golden Generation began to draw its curtain.
