Silver Fox Fur Lining
After watching Everton's home game against Manchester United, Wu Yu and Gao Wei left Liverpool the next day and flew to Australia.
The Chinese national team will continue to stay in Australia, preparing for the Asian Cup on January 4th. Before the start of the Asian Cup, they have nearly half a month to adapt and get used to the local weather.
Wu Yu and Gao Wei got permission from the national team and flew directly from Europe to Australia to join the team.
Wu Lei, who plays in the Bundesliga, Zhang Linpeng, who plays in Serie A, Shi Bo Yu, who plays in La Liga, and Wang Shangyuan, who plays for Club Brugge in Belgium, like Wu Lei, all came from Europe to Australia.
Wen Yinghang is playing for Manchester United, and since the Premier League does not have a winter break, he will only be able to join up with his team a week later.
After more than 30 long-haul flights, Wu Yu and Gao Wei dragged their luggage to Melbourne Airport. The training venue for the national team is in Melbourne, and two of their group stage matches will also be held there.
According to the address provided by the national team, Wu Yu and another person appeared at the entrance of a relatively small and quiet hotel. The two appeared at the entrance of this hotel, finding that there were not many guests, occasionally only one or two people would come out from inside the hotel, the national team chose this place, it seems they valued its seclusion.
As they entered the hotel lobby, they saw Zhang Linqiang pulling his luggage, and a foreign old man with white hair and glasses was talking to him.
The old man also happened to see Wu Yu and Gao Wei coming in, and after saying a few words to Zhang Linqiang, he patted his shoulder and walked towards Wu Yu and the others, with a warm smile on his face.
"Welcome to the team!" The old man walked over and extended his right hand towards Wu Yun.
"Mr. Ripley, hello." Wu Yu shook hands with him politely and found that although this old man was already 66 years old, his handshake was still very firm and powerful.
He is Marcello Lippi, the trusted coach of China's men's national football team, 2006 World Cup champion coach, and led Guangzhou Evergrande to win the AFC Champions League in 2013. After leading Guangzhou Evergrande to win the Chinese Super League title for the fourth consecutive time in November this year, his contract with the club expired, and he was hired by the Chinese Football Association as the head coach of the men's national team, leading the team to compete in the 2015 Asian Cup.
"Was your trip okay?" Ripley asked with concern after shaking hands with Wu Yu.
Although the three had never met before, Lippi had observed their performances through videos and every one of the 23-man squad for the Asian Cup was handpicked by him, including seven players playing in Europe, so he was not unfamiliar with Wu Lei and Gao Wei.
Wu Yu and Gao Wei had already watched Lippi's coaching of Evergrande in Guangzhou, and before that, they had seen the Italian coach lead Italy to battle Germany in the World Cup on TV, when they were both just 11 years old.
"It's okay, but I haven't gotten over the jet lag yet, and I don't even know if it's day or night right now." Wu Yu said with a half-joking tone.
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"Then go rest, tomorrow we'll start training." Ripi patted his shoulder and said kindly.
No wonder he is a world-renowned coach, his charisma is really beyond words. Every move he makes reveals his confidence and dominance.
Wu Yu walked while looking back at Li Pi's figure, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The next day, Wu Yun and Gao Wei got up early. They didn't sleep much because of the jet lag, so they basically couldn't sleep in the second half of the night. So, they just got up at 6 o'clock in the morning and went to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.
Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, and late December is early summer, so the two of them, coming from rainy and snowy England with its biting winds, suddenly found themselves in sunny Melbourne, which was quite an adjustment.
Wearing a short-sleeved shirt in the morning, walking down the stairs with a gentle breeze.
"Wu Yu, Gao Wei, good morning." A voice came from behind.
The two turned their heads and found it was Head Coach Lippi, so they hurried to greet him. The three of them chatted as they walked towards the dining hall for breakfast together.
When Wu Yu looked at Ripi while eating breakfast, his eyes were very strange. Although he was already a 66-year-old old man with a head full of silver hair and wrinkles all over his face, he got up so early, yet he was in high spirits, without any signs of fatigue.
Can't figure it out, Wu Yun thought, if he were 66 years old, he would definitely sleep until he wakes up naturally.
During breakfast, Lippi learned about the situation of each club from the two men and knew that Wu Lei was recovering from injury and was in good condition. He couldn't help but nod his head in satisfaction. Gao Wei's performance at Benfica also received praise from Lippi.
Three people had breakfast halfway through when Fu Bo and Li Pi's coaching team and captain Zheng Zhi also appeared in the restaurant.
Fu Bo stayed with the team after Marcello Lippi left, as his assistant to help him manage and train the team. He also took charge of communication between Italian coaching staff and Chinese coaches.
Zheng Zhi is 34 years old this year, but his condition in Guangzhou Evergrande is still very good. He is still the main midfielder of the national team, so Lippi also took him to Australia for the Asian Cup. However, Zheng Zhi has already said that he will retire from the national team after this Asian Cup and focus on club matches.
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When most people were almost finished with breakfast, the other members of the national team appeared one after another in the dining hall. Ripa didn't say anything because the players on the national team all showed up at normal meal times, this old Italian man just happened to be used to getting up earlier than the players.
After finishing breakfast, Ripley and his coaching team went to prepare for the next training session. The national team staff also arranged the bus in an orderly manner. After the players finished their breakfast, they took them to the training ground for adaptive training.
Yesterday, Wu Yu and 6 other overseas players have returned to the team. Except for Wen Yinghang who is still in the UK, plus 16 domestic players, a total of 22 players selected for this national team roster will conduct their first collective training today.
China's group stage opponents are West Asian powerhouse Iran, Qatar and Uzbekistan, which can be said to have fallen into the "group of death", with every team being difficult to deal with, especially Iran, whose strength is even higher than the other three teams.
And this time China's 23-man squad is:
Goalkeeper: Zeng Cheng, Wang Dalei, Yang Zhi
Defenders: Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng, Gao Wei, Wu Xi, Rong Hao, Sun Xiang, Du Wei
Midfielders: Zheng Zhi, Wu Yong, Huang Bowen, Yang Hui, Zhang Xizhe, Sun Ke, Wen Yanbao, Zhao Xuri
Forwards: Wu Lei, Wang Shuangyuan, Gao Lin, Shi Bojun, Yu Dabao
"Pass the ball quickly! Be more proactive and run to the player who is receiving the pass, also move on the right side and create space!" Ripi shouted loudly at the training ground.
The players on the field are conducting group confrontations, Lippi is directing the attacking players to run positions, he occasionally stops the game and lets each player come over to concentrate on his tactical arrangements.
Apart from the original Evergrande players, more than a dozen other team members are training with Lippi for the first time, so Lippi has to re-input many tactical ideas to the players.
Even players like Wu Lei, who play in top European leagues, were initially perplexed by Lippi's tactical demands. As for those playing domestically, their poor English proficiency meant they could only barely understand Lippi's requirements through translation and explanation.
So after a training session, Li Pi stopped and explained his tactical requirements to the team members over and over again for more than ten times.
Although the performance of Chinese team players did not meet his expectations, he was still very patient in explaining to these players. The translator's throat was hoarse before he slightly controlled the number of times he spoke.
After the first day of training, Wu Yu felt that the intensity was not very high, but the hot weather made his body temporarily unadapted.
"How are you feeling? Not used to it after just coming back from the UK?" Captain Zheng Zhi walked over and tossed a bottle of water to Wu Yu.
"It's okay, the temperature difference is tens of degrees at once, and it really takes some time to adapt. But the coach's tactics took me a long time to understand." Wu Yu poured water from the kettle, splashing his face while speaking.
"You've already understood it now, that's not bad. When he first came to Hengda, I was also confused." Zheng Zhi said with a bitter smile.
"But he really is very dedicated." Wu Yu looked at Li Pi's figure collecting equipment and said with admiration.
"This is a good coach. Unfortunately, this might be the last time I play with him, from now on the national team will have to rely on you guys." Zheng Zhi said with a tinge of sadness.
Wu Yu didn't say anything, just smiled and patted his shoulder.
In the following days, the Chinese players gradually adapted to Lippi's training, and the Italian coach also conducted tactical training against the three opponents in the group stage.
China has been training in secret in the suburbs of Melbourne to break out of the Asian Cup's group of death, with only domestic reporters allowed to move freely within the team's base, while all other media have been shut out by Lippi.
The national football team's closed training is also very fulfilling, as the players' physical condition has been maintained quite well, so generally there are two trainings a day, sometimes in the morning for training, and in the afternoon at the hotel watching video of opponents' games for analysis.
Wu Yu found that Lippi, whether in training or in daily interactions, has a strong personality charm. He is meticulous in training, patiently explaining his tactical requirements to the players, and rarely loses his temper with them. And every day, he is always the first one to get up.
In just a few days, Lippi has earned the respect of all Chinese players on and off the pitch. They are now looking forward to this champion coach leading them further in the upcoming Asian Cup.
This confidence comes not only from the recent improvement of China's strength, but also largely from Lippi's aura.
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