"Lu Juren, are you smart?! I have given many advices and reminders, where have you forgotten my words? Why are you sent so many substitutes? Although you have qualified, you have to prepare for the next stage. If Turkmen is lucky enough to win the first place in the group, then the second place in the group will put us in a desperate situation and face Iran or Japan directly. At that time, we will not be able to finally fight out, and we will not be able to complete the task in the first stage. You kid come to see me?!"

"Also, why don't you make adjustments to the roster at the last moment, especially when facing the chaotic situation that you can't conquer in the second half for a long time, where is your usual courage to judge the situation?! Besides, even though you know that Iraq is not that easy to fight, why do you hide your main players in hiding them? Don't you beat them hard and beat the dogs in the water?" The angry and roaring voice of Gao Qiang, vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association, came from the other end of the phone.

Gao Qiang thought for a while, sorted out his emotions, and his tone softened: "If you don't want to do it, just call and report and leave early to avoid being tired here. Everyone works hard for so long, just for you to squander it? If you still want to do something, please work hard and lead this team well."

"This team was created by you by yourself. What is its significance? Don't you know? The leader of the General Administration was very angry. Director Shen rushed to the bureau overnight to make a review speech. Some leaders have already proposed to change coaches. It is our Director Shen who will give you all the good things to do, so you will have the opportunity to continue to stay in this position. What to do next, you should do it yourself."

Lu Juren is a former international player and has a certain prestige in domestic football. At that time, the Football Association also disagrees with the public and hired him as the head coach of the 08 Star Team.

Along the way, although the General Administration of Sports of China and the Football Association were not very satisfied with his work, at least he still gave him enough patience.

As the head coach of the young and strong sected by the General Administration, he doesn't have to worry too much before he completely killed the game. Lu Juren also understood this point, so he didn't care too much about Gao Qiang's criticism.

Lu Juren listened patiently, without interrupting his speech during this period. After listening, he just said lightly: "The responsibility lies with me, I am fully responsible for the cause of this failure."

After making a lengthy comment, Gao Qiang couldn't help but get furious: "Lu Juren, what do you mean? You have to know that your current identity is the head coach of the National Youth Team. The 08 Star is the meaning of the General Administration of Sports above. The achievements of this team are not only related to the face of the host of the Olympic Games next year, but also directly related to the status of our Football Association in the General Administration;"

"I want you to remember clearly that you are the head coach and the general manager of this team. Once the results do not meet the expected results, the above may get you out of class at any time. Even I will not be able to protect your coach position. If you don't do it well and show your results! I'm not here to hold you accountable, you should take care of yourself. I don't want to see a team that returns in a bad way."

After saying that, he hung up the phone heavily and did not say a word to the maverick coach;

Lu Juren calmly hung up the microphone. In fact, this situation had been foreseeable by him, so he had no intention of defending himself. He seemed very calm in his heart, and losing did not affect the overall situation. He could give the main players a chance to take a rest. This was actually done according to the plan, but the result was a little unexpected.

As for the problems exposed by the team, it is better to be exposed before the knockout round than to be covered up by two wins against the weak team, speeding up checking for shortcomings and filling in gaps, which will be of great benefit to the team.

Another reason that was not explicitly stated was that Lu Juren was setting off smoke bombs and showed weakness appropriately without changing the overall situation, and paralyzing the next opponent. This cunning tactical arrangement was somewhat risky, but fortunately he did not mess it up in the end.

At the post-match press conference, Lu Juren said at most when facing the difficulties of journalists from various countries, "I take all the responsibility, and the players have tried their best."

This answer of course made the reporters who were aiming to explore more exclusive inside information very unhappy. The press conference suddenly became a speech from the head coach of the Iraqi team. The representatives of the Chinese team retreated from the venue in advance, which greatly displeased the participants!

After returning to the team meeting, Lu Juren still didn't say much. He just briefly summarized the reasons for the failure;

He patted Zhao Yue, the culprit of the crushing defeat, on the shoulder, and did not speak, and then faced the whole person: "I still say the same thing. I will take responsibility for this game. No one of you has to feel guilty. Play the following game seriously. This is just a not-so-important group match, don't care too much."

"Don't just think that we lost. In fact, we have won a lot of things. Iraqis are really good. You should learn this positive game mentality in the future. Never give up until the last second."

"Especially next summer, you will stand in front of the vast number of fellow villagers to compete. I hope that through today's competition, you can get the most sincere experience of the relevant countries and nations; in the future, learn the fighting spirit of Iraq well, which will be a huge wealth on your way forward!"

The team members listened silently, feeling that the coach's speech was filled with a strong sense of tragic meaning, and every listener felt excited;

This is the first defeat of the National Youth Team in recent times, and at this critical moment, everyone thought the coach would definitely be furious;

But the players saw a calm coach silently taking on all the responsibilities that should be taken or even should not be taken, and trying their best to create a relaxed psychological environment for the players. This is the most touching point. Everyone began to truly understand this usually cold and taciturn head coach;

Every word he said was loud and inspired the frustrated team members;

Long Tian blinked, a little dissatisfied and a little confused. Apart from that, there were not many other ideas.

The group stage matches will not be fully completed tomorrow (26th) and the match chart of the 1/8 finals will not be scheduled the day after tomorrow (27th), so the Chinese team is still resting in Nagoya, waiting for the whereabouts of the next city and news about the next opponent.

Considering that the team's health was relatively fatigued after three games within six days, the team's coaching staff did not arrange training content today (25th). Instead, accompanied by Japanese officials, they visited the famous ancient buildings of Nagoya City, Nagoya Castle and Atata Shrine, visited Higashiyama Park and Shirata Garden, and listened to the hibiscus of Nagoya;

"Mountains and rivers can be pleasant to the heart", the ancients' summary is very appropriate, lingering in the mansions and roaming in the green mountains and rivers, and obsessed with the sound of nature. Although it was winter, the hearts of Chinese players were extremely warm, and the sorrows that were difficult to let go were also reduced a lot;

Lu Juren didn't say much to the team members, there was no angry punishment or a sharp criticism;

It is common to lose and be punished and scolded in the league. The players are used to this way of playing football, so they are generally not used to Coach Lu's cold treatment. They always feel that they owe the coach. They would rather he scold everyone than be depressed in their hearts!

At 10:35 pm on the 26th, Hiroshima, with the referee's final whistle, South Korea defeated Bahrain 2:1 and entered the quarterfinals with the top spot in the group;

In another group match between Group F played in Kobe, Singapore defeated Southeast Asian brother Indonesia 1-0 with a last-minute goal and joined hands with South Korea to enter the second stage.

With the end of these two games, all the group stages are completed. The finalists are waiting for the organizing committee of the competition tomorrow (27th) to announce the situation chart of the top 16 matches.

Group A, the host shouted to the great powers with 9 points and 21 goals: The winner of this Asian Youth Championship trophy is called Japan! Brunei won two wins and one loss and scored 6 points, and was shortlisted with the second place.

Group b, the Chinese team won two wins and one loss and had 6 points. Although they lost unexpectedly in the last round, they advanced with good luck; the Turkmen team only had one goal difference less than the Chinese team and was unwilling to advance to the second place.

Group C, Iran won two wins and one draw with 7 points, occupying the top spot in the group without any dispute; Kuwait won a valuable 1 point in the last round, won two draws and 5 points, successfully suppressing the tenacious North Koreans.

Group D, the "Gulf Giants" Saudi Arabia won two wins and one draw with 7 points, and the first place was reasonable and expected; Malaysia won one draw and lost with 4 points, and advanced thrillingly.

Group e, Thailand won two wins and one draw with 7 points, firmly entrenched at the top of the list; although Hong Kong, China lost to Thailand in the last round, thanks to its extraordinary performance against Uzbek in the second round, it had 4 points, defeated the Central Asian overlord with two goal difference goals, successfully broke through, and became the biggest dark horse in this cup.

Group F, South Korea won two wins and one draw with 7 points, and Singapore won one win and two draws with 5 points.

The other four shortlisted teams are: Iraq (b), 4 points, 0 goals; Uzbek (e), 4 points, -1 goals; North Korea (c), 4 points, -4 goals; Lebanon (a), 3 points, -4 goals.

There is a small episode here: After the game in Group A, all Lebanese teams with only a thin 3-pointer were given up their hope of promotion, went to Kyoto on the 25th, visited Nagoya on the 26th, and booked a flight ticket to Beirut on the 27th;

When the competition organizing committee informed the Lebanese team leader on the evening of the 26th that they had entered the top 16 and asked to wait for the match situation to be announced the next day, the bearded Arab man excitedly repeated five times at the microphone: "How is it possible, we have qualified?!"

It made every Lebanese player ecstatic, as if he accidentally picked up the mythical and legendary Aladdin magic lamp!

This is indeed rare. In recent cup competitions, as the strength gap between participating teams narrows and the style of playing approaches, the competition for these four third-placers has become increasingly fierce;

Looking around the last three Asian Youth Championships, all the teams that advanced to the third place were 4 points. No wonder the Lebanese had such a funny self-decisive move;

On the other hand, what's wrong with the football field?

Football is round, and before the final whistle sounds, all versions of the results may be staged!
Chapter completed!