After Gerald won the game with a hat-trick, Liverpool players also left England and set off for Japan to play in the Club World Cup.

This year's Club World Cup is theoretically the second: the first was the Club World Cup held in Brazil in 2000. However, that Club World Cup had not yet merged with the Intercontinental Cup, which was also called the "Toyota Cup" at that time. Although the organizers of that competition also worked hard to organize the competition and invited many strong teams, including Real Madrid and Manchester United, because the competition itself was not valued at the time. In addition, after that competition, due to the sponsorship issue, the second session, originally scheduled to be held in Spain was not held. Until last year, after the Toyota Cup ended at the end of 2004, the naming rights of the Toyota Cup ended.

This competition was merged with the Club World Cup and became today's Club World Cup. The venue of the competition is still held in Japan, and the biggest difference from previous years is that the Toyota Cup competition in previous years was that the European champions and South American champions decided the winner in one game. Now, the Club World Cup competition has become a seven-game tournament. In this competition, the club champions from Asia, Africa, Oceania, Central and North China and the Caribbean will first draw lots to play teams, and then the winner will enter the semi-finals. European and South American teams will enter the semi-finals directly. After the victory and loss are decided, the finals will be held, the third and fourth third places, and the fifth and six finals.

This is a good thing for sponsors: there are more clubs and more games, so they naturally make more money. However, for European and South American champions, it is not a good thing: such a game system reform has made them have at least two games to play anyway, which is undoubtedly a heavy pressure for European and South American teams, which are already very heavy in the schedule.

However, the championship in this game is still very attractive to Liverpool players. The reason is also very simple, because Liverpool has never won this championship.

Although Liverpool was very strong in 80 years and could almost be called a sweeping Europe, they lost completely when they participated in the Toyota Cup twice and played with South American players. Not only them, in fact, Liverpool, Villa, and Nottingham Forest all lost to South American teams in the 1980s. It is precisely because of this that in people's evaluation, Liverpool's glory in the 1980s is not enough to compete with Milan. Although they are all dominating at home and dominating in the Champions League, in addition to more European footballers, Milan also has a good record in the Toyota Cup. The Milan dynasty has obvious advantages over South American teams and can be called invincible. However, Liverpool's Toyota Cup record is not very good. In their contemporaries, they have played all over Europe, but they have not been able to play all over the world.

Zhao Yaning has always been a little confused about this issue. In his impression, European football is the center of world football. Although South America produces outstanding players and has always had good national team record, their league schedule is chaotic, and the football atmosphere has always advocated offense, personal ability, and personal performance of talented players. Often, some young players, at a young age, won the best honor in the Brazilian league, and then wanted to run outside. Or many old players can no longer play in Europe, and when they return to South America, they can still dominate and dominate. Why can such a league defeat Liverpool in the 1980s?

He was a little confused about this question, so he asked Maicon in the team directly. After all, the South American people are the ones most familiar with South American football in the team.

"The Brazilian League is very strong." Macon immediately replied, "Let me explain it to you like this: you have played against the Portuguese Super League and know their strength. Most of the players in the Portuguese Super League are Brazilians - because Brazilians are not foreign players in the Portuguese Super League and have excellent strength, so the Portuguese Super League uses a lot of Brazilian players. Most of their teams use second-rate players in the Portuguese Super League. Because the Portuguese Super League is generally poor, they cannot afford good players. And the teams they can buy good players, Benfica, Lisbon, Porto and Braga, are all teams that have performed well in European battles. What is the level of Brazil's team? Just refer to the strong teams of the Portuguese Super League, and this is their strength."

Macon paused for a moment before continuing, "Of course, the tactics of the Portuguese Super League are better than Brazil. After all, every major tactical change started in Europe. Europeans do have advantages in tacticality, but the talented players in Brazil cannot afford it. However, they become famous in South America and have to become famous before they are ready to go to Europe. Do you still remember how Louis was fooled by Riquelme in the Club World Cup? In that game, he was so flirted like a child, and he refused to help defend. Riquelme became famous by that game. In fact, if you count carefully, in the past, our South America's performance was always better than Europe. Until the Boseman Act was introduced, European teams were rich and could sign up at will. In recent years, South American players have suffered serious losses, and Europe's advantages have suddenly become extremely great, so we really can't fight against them."

People say that Europe is the center of football, but in fact, the real great contribution of European football lies in every tactical innovation rather than the top players. In fact, South America has always had more outstanding players than Europe. Before the Boseman Act was introduced, European teams could only have three foreign players. In this case, relying on their own domestic players, they are actually not much better than South America in terms of overall strength.

Figo was exposed and he was helpless to turn his head away. Real Madrid's Toyota Cup match was his nightmare. It was the match for Riquelme to become famous and also Figo's most embarrassing game. In fact, his performance can be said to be average, but against the backdrop of Riquelme, he had nothing to do. In the end, he became angry and refused to assist in defense, which was even more of a scandal that he could not erase.

"But, don't South American teams all advocate offense and aren't they very enthusiastic about defense?" Zhao Yaning continued.

"Why do you have this kind of thought?" Macon said in confusion, "We like attack, but La Liga also like attack. Who says that attack must not be defensive, and it must be weak? Speaking of defense, Ayala, Samuel, Zanetti, are these Argentinians the same? Which of our Brazilian Lucio, Cafo, and Carlos is not bad? Like attack, it does not mean that we can't defend. South American players' defense has never been bad. Moreover, South American teams don't like to enter.

Attacking, South America is different from Europe, and there is no such thing as a trend here. There are people who play any kind of football. It is a bit nonsense to say that we don’t defend. In fact, South American players are much more dirty than Europeans. South America’s defense is not as delicate as Europe, and it is true that it is not detailed enough in tactics, but our players are very capable, and they are quick, ruthless, and more courageous, even stronger than ordinary European teams."

Speaking of this, Zhao Yaning also understood why the South American team is very good. The South American team's strength is not weak. Although it may be a little worse than the top European teams, it is definitely a strong team. However, in the sudden meeting between the Club World Cup, the European teams do not have much advantage in terms of strength of both sides, and they are far away in Asia. The away impact is greater for European teams that rely on tactics, while the South American teams that rely on the personal abilities of stars will benefit greatly at this time. It is originally a game of decisive victory and loss. They are not familiar with each other enough. With their personal abilities, it is no wonder that the South American team will win.

"It seems that there is still a tough battle to play."

"More than one game." Figo also shook his head, "The first game should be playing against the winners of the North American champion and Oceania champion. It is estimated that the North American champion can win, so you have to be careful in that game."

"This time the North American champion is Saprisa Costa Rica? A team I have never heard of..."

"You've heard of American football, have you ever heard of it?" Figo also said, "The American Football League, they have never won a North American championship once. However, many of their players often send to the English Championship, English League One, and large-scale European sub-league talents. This is enough to show their strength. Being careful is not harmful, their strength will not be very weak."

American football is actually very good. Although they are considered to be a football desert, they still have the top 20 levels in the world. Moreover, they are close to Mexico, a big player, and they also have many players. And they have never won the championship in the game, so we can know the strength of North American football.

It turns out that the world is so big and there are so many strong teams. It’s really a bit like watching the sky. I originally thought that winning the European championship would be amazing. This Club World Cup championship was just a handful. Who knew that this championship was actually very difficult...

"However, we can worry that it is difficult to get it, you can't." Figo spoke again.

"Why?" Zhao Yaning asked back.

"You are the team's tactical core. Where are we stronger than them? The strength lies in our better tactics. We are a whole and our team consciousness is better! These things are controlled by you, that is, the key to victory is in your hands. As long as you can perform well, we can win!"—

When Liverpool's team arrived in Japan, the playoffs had already decided: Saprisa defeated Sydney FC and entered the semi-finals to prepare to play against Liverpool.

At this time, when Liverpool players got off the plane, they were already so sleepy that they couldn't bear it.

"A fifteen-hour flight, and the jet lag has to be lost... Joey, we will definitely not ask you to come back from the national team and play immediately. I feel very uncomfortable."

A strong feeling of discomfort attacked the entire team. After all, the jet lag problem is not so easy to solve. Zhao Yaning himself has almost adapted because he often returns to China to play national team games. He only needs to spend a while to sleep. However, these teammates who have never been to Asia have some trouble adapting to the jet lag.

In fact, as early as after the Liverpool and Middlesbrough matches, they began to deliberately adjust their rest time, training time and meal time to adapt to a game. However, the adjustments at their own homes are still different from those outside.

"Joey, if you need to adjust the jet lag, you might as well go to a nap." Benitez said to Zhao Yaning.

"I have no problem... Coach, don't you need to rest?"

Benitez just shook his head against Zhao Yaning's problem, "I don't need it. I want to study the opponents in our game so as not to have any accidents. This game fills a gap in honor of the club, and we must be very careful."

Although Benitez spoke like this, Zhao Yaning still felt that he was a little strange. For some reason, Zhao Yaning always felt that Benitez seemed to be a little worried and absent-minded at this time.

What can make him so sentimental? Zhao Yaning is not clear about his thoughts, and his relationship with Benitez is not good enough to examine the other party's thoughts. Since he doesn't want to say it, then he just doesn't ask.

At this time, Zhao Yaning was still tired. This was not his first time to come to Japan. Here, he won the championship in the semi-finals of East Asia, and this place was a blessing. Last year, because of his transfer, he was unable to participate in the last Toyota Cup. Monaco lost that game. This year, when he came here, he could not lose anymore.
Chapter completed!