Chapter 424 Chelsea VS Chinese Men's Football Team
As expected, Kennedy's incident began to ferment, and by noon that day, the term #ChelseaplayerinsultsChina had already stabilized at the top of Baidu's hot Kennedy is not only being scolded by fans of the football club, but even some people on Weibo who never watch football have joined the fight.
At 2 pm, Kennedy and Chelsea successfully dominated the hot searches. The organizers in China also found the Chelsea club as soon as possible, and the club and Kennedy himself apologized through social media respectively.
The club's apology was very timely, and Kennedy himself also sent a message via Instagram.
"Friends, if anyone is upset, I want to say I'm sorry because I used the word PORRA as a way of expression, not racism."
These were Kennedy’s exact words, and this was how he explained it to Jiang Yuan in the morning.
But the problem is that "porra" means "fuck", and Kennedy said "porra" is an interjection.
Can this thing tm be used as an interjection?
As expected, Kennedy's apology was of no use. Immediately, a bunch of fans in China started to criticize Chelsea on their Weibo account. After they were unhappy with their criticism, they set up a ladder to attack Kennedy on his Instagram account.
Under pressure, Kennedy deleted his first apology and posted a new one, saying that he had no intention of offending anyone and that he liked China very much.
Unfortunately, Chinese netizens’ searching ability is very amazing, and a fan immediately found the video of Chelsea leaving the hotel yesterday.
Kennedy was the only Chelsea player among the 27 players in the team who ignored the fans and walked directly onto the bus. Although he was finally pulled back by Terry, it can be seen from the perspective of the fans' photos that Kennedy's expression was impatient and even a little disgusted.
[porra china, with two pig heads, you said this was unintentional offense, do you believe it yourself? ]
[Damn, I was proud to be a Chelsea fan, but after this incident, I don’t dare to tell anyone I know that I’m a Chelsea fan. Can Kennedy get out of here? He can only play a few games a season, but he wants to get the most traffic.]
[He is still a child, can't everyone scold him more? ]
[Get this idiot out of my car now, what a piece of shit, I didn’t realize he was an idiot in the previous seasons]
[My opinion is that sooner or later, this kind of person will be shot dead in a convertible. Can Chelsea arrange a Lincoln convertible for Kennedy when he travels in the future? ]
[You want to bring bad reputation to my car, right? Then those reporters will say that Chelsea is insulting China. Can the club please deal with Kennedy immediately? ]
Chinese fans have always been very verbally aggressive. This is one of the rare topics that can make fans of Messi and Ronaldo stand on the same page. Not surprisingly, Chelsea was forced to close the comment section of their Weibo account, and Kennedy's Instagram was also bombarded.
Jiang Yuan returned to the hotel where the national team was staying as planned. The distance between the national football team and Chelsea's hotel was only 15km, so Jiang Yuan arrived before lunch. The national football team players who had received the news in advance were waiting in the lobby on the first floor.
Jiang Yuan briefly greeted the players, then Mourinho came over and called Jiang Yuan away.
"What's going on Robert, why did he do that?"
Kennedy transferred to Chelsea in August 2015, just two months later than Jiang Yuan. Mourinho was quite familiar with the young Brazilian, but he did not expect that he would do such a thing.
Calling Chinese people pigs on Chinese territory, Mourinho is now just glad that he is not the head coach of Chelsea, because managing a player like Kennedy is even more difficult than Pogba.
Although Pogba jumped, he at least gave the team a positive feedback during the game.
Kennedy, on the other hand, has directly brought bad reputation to the club. Now Chelsea’s public relations department in China is having a hard time.
"I don't know either. He said he was embarrassed. I saw him apologize and he sent it twice. He sent it twice in just 2 minutes. Haha."
As Jiang Yuan was speaking, Mourinho motioned for Jiang Yuan to sit down first: "Then do you believe that he didn't do it on purpose?"
“Of course not.”
Jiang Yuan's voice suddenly rang out: "I asked him directly, and I could feel that he said that on purpose."
"jesus"
Mourinho curled his lips. As the club coach before Jiang Yuan and Kennedy, he should have stood up and acted as a mediator when there were conflicts between the players, but the Portuguese did not choose to do so, because what happened today was not a quarrel or a fight, but a national conflict.
This contradiction is difficult to reconcile, or even impossible to reconcile. Kennedy wants to reduce the anger of Chinese fans with just two tweets, but Mourinho knows that this is completely impossible.
"Jose, do you want to speak for him?"
Jiang Yuan looked up into Mourinho's eyes. He felt something was wrong with Mourinho's silence just now. According to this guy's personality...
"No, I didn't mean that. I'm no longer the coach of Chelsea. This is not my business. I just need to make sure that this incident does not affect your competitive state. That's enough."
After Mourinho finished speaking, Jiang Yuan's cell phone rang.
When he opened it, he saw that it was a message Kennedy had sent him on WhatsApp.
[Jiang, I know I was wrong this time. If possible, could you please say a few words for me in the media? I promise I won’t do such a bad thing again.]
There is no doubt that the event organizers and Chinese fans are not satisfied with what Kennedy said in his apology, and are constantly increasing public pressure.
"what happened?"
Mourinho saw Jiang Yuan taking out his cell phone, so he asked him a question. The latter waved his hand, turned off the screen and put the phone back into his pocket.
"It's okay, the son of a bitch sent me a message."
"..."
Mourinho sighed. The player he had coached for more than two years suddenly showed this side of him. As the former head coach, he felt uncomfortable: "Maybe you can talk to Thomas. He is your coach now. The transfer window is not over yet. You can just ask the club to send him away."
Hearing Mourinho say this, Jiang Yuan's eyes lit up: "Is this okay?"
"Of course, you said that being in the same team with Robert would affect your training state. Thomas and Roman would definitely send Robert away."
This is Mourinho's experience as the former head coach of Chelsea. If Jiang Yuan takes a tough attitude, Tuchel will have no choice.
"hiss……"
Jiang Yuan took a deep breath and said, "Robert also transferred here in 2015. His experience at Chelsea is actually about the same as mine."
“No, it’s not a question of seniority.”
Mourinho shrugged: "He only played for 25 minutes last season, which is less than the number of goals you scored. What are you afraid of? Just force him to leave. Let me remind you that next year is the World Cup year. Don't let Robert affect your training."
In the end, Mourinho's true colors were revealed.
"Well...I'll think about it."
Jiang Yuan's emotions are a bit complicated right now. He has been a club teammate for 2 years. Sigh...
At 3: in the afternoon, the same time as yesterday, Jiang Yuan came to the Bird's Nest Stadium again, but this time he followed the national team instead of the club.
Chelsea displayed the FA Cup trophy. The Chinese men's football team actually wanted to display some trophies as well, but unfortunately the national team didn't have anything to show off, so the trophy display segment was changed to a parade around the field to thank the fans who came.
"It's okay, it's okay, as long as we get into the World Cup, there's no rush for the trophy"
"Come on! Come on! There are still two more games in the second half of the year, come on!"
"Clap clap clap!"
"Jiang Yuan, you already warmed up yesterday, you can take a break today!"
Jiang Yuan judged the sound, found the fan who asked him to take a break, and shouted, "It's okay, it's not too intense, it's okay!"
"Kennedy, can you please tell Kennedy to get out of here right away, Xiao Jiang?"
Fans found that when they spoke out on social media, all they got was endless apologies from Chelsea and Kennedy, but these apologies had no practical effect.
The smart players had already started looking for Jiang Yuan. When Jiang Yuan came to the bottom of the stands to sign autographs for the fans, the nearest fans immediately shouted, "Brother Yuan, can Kennedy take care of this? Please, that kind of idiot doesn't deserve to be in Chelsea!"
"Let him go!"
It can be heard that the fans are very angry. Jiang Yuan didn't know what to say. He could only keep saying that there would be a good way to handle this matter, but he didn't say how to deal with it specifically because he himself didn't know.
"This matter must be handled properly, it is very serious"
"Of course, I will, I will."
"Brother Yuan, will you be on stage tomorrow?"
"30 minutes, I guarantee it will be 30 minutes."
"..."
The Chinese team's open training match ended at 5: pm. Half an hour later, Chelsea Club spoke again on Weibo.
Chelsea Football Club: Kennedy's behavior does not represent the entire team, and it also fails to meet the high standards that our club expects of its players. Our club is responsible for disciplining young players who are ill-mannered, and will not tolerate such behavior. The club will impose severe penalties on the person involved.
From verbal apologies to severe punishments, it can only be said that the Chinese fans' online crusade has indeed worked.
The People's Daily also joined the battle, criticizing Kennedy's "uneducated behavior" and saying that "such players are not welcome to come to China."
Once the People's Daily came out, the organizers, who were already under a lot of pressure, were now under even greater pressure and had no choice but to quickly negotiate with the club.
The final result is that Kennedy will be included in the squad for tomorrow's game, but Tuchel will not let him play.
The organizers were somewhat helpless, but this was the best way to deal with it.
Kennedy's incident was still fermenting, but the event schedule could not be changed. On the afternoon of July 7, players from both teams arrived at the Bird's Nest almost at the same time.
When you walk in from the main entrance of the Bird's Nest Stadium, the first thing you see is the huge posters on both sides, one blue and one red.
The blue one is Jiang Yuan wearing Chelsea jersey, and the red one is Jiang Yuan wearing Chinese national football jersey.
Jiangyuan Derby is worthy of its reputation!
In the stadium, new coach Tuchel led his players out of the player tunnel and stepped onto the grass on the plastic track. Fans noticed that Chelsea did not let Kennedy appear in the pre-match warm-up, which was a good detail.
Then came the Chinese men's football team. Mourinho put his hands in his pockets and lowered his head slightly. Behind him were Wu Xi, Zhang Linpeng and other national football players. Jiang Yuan stood at the end of the team. When he walked out, a voice immediately rang out at the scene.
Today is the Chinese team's home game, and Jiang Yuan received more cheers than Hazard and Pogba combined.
Although the training has just started, 70% of the seats in the stands are already occupied. According to experience, if the stands can be filled with more than 70% of people an hour before the game, there is a high probability that the stadium will be full today.
In addition to the Bird's Nest, CCTV-5 will also provide a special broadcast for today's game. If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the most popular football match held in China in recent years.
"Robert, isn't he coming out?" Jiang Yuan ran over and hugged Pogba, and asked about Kennedy.
"No, Thomas asked him to wait in the locker room. He probably won't play today."
"Okay, Paul, tell Robert that today is a good time to apologize. It can be during halftime or at the end of the game. It depends on him."
This was the final concession made by Jiang Yuan and Kennedy's two-year teammate. Pogba gave a thumbs up: "OK"
"Okay, I'll go first then."
Jiang Yuan just turned around and prepared to leave when Pogba called him back: "You want Robert to apologize, right?"
"Yes, I need an apology, a sincere apology. Tell him that what they did before is not an apology, and it is useless."
……
The game was about to begin and the stands of the Bird's Nest were becoming more and more lively. According to the starting lineups announced during the warm-up, all the main players of both teams were in the starting lineup without exception.
Hazard, Pogba, Kante, including Jiang Yuan and Wu Lei from the Chinese team, all the main players will come on the field directly in the first half, which makes the game very lively.
I originally thought that the most exciting moment of today's game would be when Jiang Yuan came on as a substitute in the 50 minutes of the second half, but now it seems that is not the case. Both sides started firing as soon as the first half began!
In the visiting team's locker room, Tuchel put his left hand in his shirt pocket and held a black pen in his right hand, and made a few simple strokes on the tactical board: "Because it is a warm-up match, we can try a new style of play. In the case of three defenders, the midfielder must remember to return to defense, and then..."
Tuchel thought about it and looked at the Blues players sitting on the bench, and his thousands of words converged into one sentence: "Be a little more sensible during the game, well, that's about it"
"Okay, everyone, relax. Today's game is mainly to familiarize ourselves with our new season's style of play. The score doesn't matter. The score doesn't matter."
Tuchel walked away and Love pushed the tactical board in the middle away.
There are still 20 minutes before the game starts, and this time is used for chatting with the players.
Pogba spotted Kennedy sitting in the corner without chatting with anyone, and stood up to go over, but he was stopped by Hazard.
"what happened?"
"Do you want to chat with him? Don't go over there. We are all isolating him now."
Hazard said, Pogba shook his head: "It's okay, I just want to bring a message to Jiang"
Pogba stood up and sat down half a meter away from Kennedy, then moved his buttocks horizontally over and said, "Robert, I have a message for someone."
"Hmm? Is it Jiang?"
"Yes, he asked me to tell you to apologize to the Chinese fans at halftime or at the end of the game."
"Apologize on the spot, no, that's impossible, I didn't do anything wrong!"
Kennedy spread his hands to express his innocence. There were more than 9 people at the scene today. If he apologized for his insulting behavior towards China in front of more than 9 people at the China National Stadium, wouldn't Kennedy be unable to hold his head up in front of the Chinese people?
"So who told you to post that kind of stuff?"
Pogba reached out and grabbed Kennedy's head twice. Although Kennedy was a little dissatisfied, he did not dare to resist in the end.
“These are the ones I brought with me.”
Pogba stood up: "This is your last chance"
"No! You can't do this, Paul, you need to say a few words for me!"
"Fuck, this has nothing to do with me, this is something you did"
Pogba wanted to beat Kennedy up, but he finally calmed down: "That's all I have to say. Well, it's up to you what you do in the end."
……
At 19:35 in the afternoon, players from both teams walked out holding the hands of their caddies. Because they did not belong to the same team, there was no singing of the team song or the national anthem before the game started. Jiang Yuan and Terry came to the middle of the court.
The referee of the game, Fu Ming, shook hands with the captains of both teams. After waiting for the players and other assistant referees to shake hands, Fu Ming took out a coin and said, "If it's heads, then you choose first..."
"Snapped!"
The coin was thrown on the ground and Jiang Yuan chose the ball.
This game is completely the Chinese team's home court, so choosing sides is actually useless.
“Your luck is still so good.”
Terry sighed and then hugged Jiang Yuan. He didn't expect that Chelsea would play against a national team in their warm-up match, and the captain of the national team was his teammate from the club.
"I'm so lucky today, so you better be careful"
Jiang Yuan joked and handed the Chelsea flag in his hand to Mourinho, who took the flag and walked towards the bench. He was stunned for a moment as he walked on the way. After realizing that this was indeed what he should do, he placed the flag on the soft chair on the bench.
At the same time, a rough and powerful male voice was heard at the scene.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are now watching the 2017 FAW Toyota Chelsea vs. Chinese men's football match. The match will start at 19:40 Beijing time."
"Now let's introduce the starting players of both teams! First up is the Chinese men's football team wearing red clothes."
"Number 1, Zeng Cheng!"
Mourinho was still emphasizing some tactics with the players off the court. When Zeng Cheng heard his name, he put down the mineral water bottle in his hand and raised his hand to the audience in the stands.
"Number 6, Feng Xiaoting!"
"Number 7!"
When the number came, the commentator paused for a moment, and the fans in the stands were very cooperative. The Bird's Nest was surprisingly quiet at this time.
"Jiang-Yuan!!!!"
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
"Jiang Yuan!"
"Here we come, Wuhu, Jiang Yuan!"
The whole audience cheered, and fans from the Dragon Team Fan Association also gave Jiang Yuan drum beats, which formed a sharp contrast to the silence just now. Jiang Yuan jumped up and raised his hand to signal while running towards his position.
"Wuhu, Jiang Yuan!"
Pogba imitated the sounds of Chinese fans in the stands and danced in Chelsea's half.
……
Chelsea (3-5-2)
Goalkeeper: Courtois
Defenders: Zouma, Terry, Gary Cahill
Midfielders: Ake, Pogba, Kante, Azpilicueta, Willian
Forwards: Hazard, Ibrahimovic
Head coach: Thomas Tuchel
Chinese men's football team (5-3-2)
Goalkeeper: Zeng Cheng
Defenders: Deng Hanwen, Zhang Linpeng, Feng Xiaoting, Gao Zhunyi, Jiang Zhipeng
Midfielders: Zhang Xizhe, Hao Junmin, Liao Lisheng
Forwards: Jiang Yuan, Wu Lei
Head coach: Jose Mourinho
Both Chelsea and the Chinese national team use a double striker formation, but judging from the players' positions, the lineup Mourinho arranged for the Chinese national team is more solid - because there are more defenders.
As for Chelsea's 352, in fact, 352 is not Chelsea's mainstream style of play recently. Compared with 352, Tuchel prefers 343 when playing against weak teams, so that he can create a numerical advantage when attacking in the frontcourt.
But no matter what, Chelsea only has two forwards today.
No more!
The game had just begun and, as expected, the Chinese team deployed the bus.
352?
Sorry, 352 is actually fake. Except for the names and player numbers, everything else on the starting lineup table is fake.
From the players' positions at the beginning of the game, it can be seen that Mourinho must have done a lot of things during the training camp in June, the most important of which was to practice this iron bucket formation.
Although Chelsea gives Mourinho a headache, the fact is that this team is still a bit too exaggerated for the current Chinese national team.
If we play in a proper way, we will probably concede 6 or 7 goals, let alone win the game. The best way is to play pure defensive counterattack like this, maybe we can control the net goal loss to less than 3!
Seeing Mourinho park his own bus at the Bird's Nest Stadium, the fans at the scene had somewhat ambiguous expressions.
Mourinho said in an interview that if the Chinese team wants to play against a strong team, they have to give up the midfield in order to avoid possible midfield strangulation by the opponent. Today, Chinese fans will see whether there is any reason for Mourinho's playing style.
Although……
Although the opponent is indeed a little bit stronger...
The bus was deployed, and Chelsea began to press as expected, with Mourinho shouting on the sidelines: "Watch carefully, watch carefully, people on both sides should watch, don't rush to pass the ball, watch the position carefully"
After the 8th round match against Syria, Mourinho found that the national football players were prone to make some strange passing choices, which were caused by not observing carefully when passing the ball.
Although fast dynamic vision is a talent and not easy to improve, it can still be improved a lot if you are willing to pay a little attention during the game.
Hazard and Ibrahimovic both pressed forward at the same time, cooperating with Pogba in the middle. In the end, Hazard easily intercepted the clearance pass from Zhang Linpeng.
In this position, Hazard can rely on his personal ability to try to rush directly into the Chinese team's penalty area.
It was very, very dangerous. Mourinho outside the field shouted "pass back" in English, and Hazard paused for a moment.
It was during this pause that Jiang Yuan ran up from behind and directly intercepted Hazard.
……
(End of this chapter)
