Fans and friends, remember Zheng Zhi's last game for the national football team?
In the Asian Cup three years ago, the Chinese team lost 0-3 to Iran, regrettably stopping the top 8 and failing to go further. After the game, the 39-year-old veteran Zheng Zhi, who was the captain of the field, cried bitterly, and the CCTV reporter facing the interview said the touching words: I feel that I have played for the national team for more than ten years, although I have paid all my strength, I still want to say sorry to the fans, because I have not brought anything to the national team.
After that game, Zheng Zhi completely withdrew from the national football team, he was old and had to make way for younger players. However, just recently, after three years, the 42-year-old Zheng Zhi was once again selected for the national football team with excellent performances, and staged the "Return of the King", only this time he had a new identity - assistant coach.
Zheng Zhi's former good brother Li Xiaopeng became the head coach of the national football team, so he invited Zheng Zhi as a helper to help himself, and Zheng Zhi naturally agreed. So there was such a scene: the Shandong Luneng frontcourt trio (Li Xiaopeng, Zheng Zhi, Li Jinyu), who dominated the Chinese Super League, gathered again in the national football team, just like yesterday.
Li Xiaopeng can be said to take very good care of Zheng Zhi, the little brother, he divided all 15 assistant coaches into two groups, each leading the players to carry out confrontation training, but only For Zheng Zhi and another coach there is no requirement in this regard, and he can play freely.
In addition, Li Xiaopeng has another expectation for Zheng Zhi. Just when the national football team was shooting a family portrait, Zheng Zhi not only took a makeup photo of the coach, but also took a makeup photo of the player. This also means that Zheng Zhi, like the Guangzhou team, also has two identities in the national football team, one is a coach, and the other is a player!
42-year-old Zheng Zhi once again wore the jersey of the national football team to play football? Yes, such a scene may happen in the near future: On January 27, China vs Japan; on February 1, China vs Vietnam. In these two games, Zheng Zhi has a certain hope to play!
Zheng Zhi's level of playing naturally needless to say, although he is 42 years old, his physical condition is maintained very well, and it is better to fight against young players in the Chinese Super League. At present, the midfield of the national football team is actually very unstable, Wu Xi, Arthur Junmin and other people have good offensive strength, but the defensive ability is relatively poor, and there is a lack of a truly experienced player to sit.
Presumably, Li Xiaopeng also trusts Zheng Zhi very much, otherwise he would not have recruited Zheng Zhi as a coach of the "rookie level", and what he really liked was Zheng Zhi's player identity. Therefore, Jiang is still old and spicy, if it were not for zheng Zhi's player makeup photos being exposed, we would never know Li Xiaopeng's true intentions.
Imagine that after three years, Zheng Zhi, who is already 42 years old, once again put on the jersey of the national football team to fight for the country, what a shocking picture. This reminds me of the saying again: Veterans don't die, they just wither away!