Messi didn't get on, Huo Qigang was angry!

If it weren't for Messi, who would have believed that an American soccer club team visiting Hong Kong would attract so many fans and non-fans from all over China to watch the game.

Text | Sea passengers

"To listen to the play, you have to listen to Mei Lanfang, and to watch the ball, you have to watch Li Huitang. When there was a farce that Messi didn't play at the Hong Kong Stadium last night (February 4), Uncle Hai suddenly remembered such a sentence -

Nowadays, it can be called an "old saying".

On the other hand, I really want to say that football should not be a living show.

Messi appeared at the Hong Kong Stadium but did not appear Picture: Hong Kong media

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Messi's visit to Hong Kong this time is nothing more than a pre-season warm-up with the Miami International team he currently plays.

Of course, if it weren't for Messi, who would believe that an American football club team visiting Hong Kong would attract so many fans and non-fans from all over China to watch the game.

It was supposed to be an exhibition match. The Chinese say that "after Laba is the year". Whether it is the Hong Kong government or the organizer of the competition, they are all thinking about adding color to Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year and adding fun to Hong Kong citizens and tourists, especially mainland tourists.

Even, when Messi visited Hong Kong, the Hong Kong team he played against was not the Hong Kong football team that had just performed in the Asian Cup, but the star team of the Hong Kong regional league.

Shanghai Shenhua defeated Brazil's Santos in the Qatar Equality Cup, and the new team member Andre Luiz thanked the fans of the expedition Picture: Shanghai Shenhua Football Club's WeChat public account

Look, it's an exhibition game. It is similar to the provincial and Hong Kong cups played by Guangdong United and Hong Kong United before. This kind of competition is a kind of friendly competition, and the intensity of the competition is not even as good as that of internal teaching competition.

For example, after the match between Miami International and Hong Kong Stars, on the other side of Asia, in a match of the Equality Cup that started at 17 o'clock on February 4, Qatar time, the Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua defeated the parent team of the football king Pele 4-1 Brazil Santos team, which is the first consecutive victory of Shenhua after the previous 1-0 victory over Qatar Duhail.

The problem is that the Equality Cup competition in which Shenhua participates, judging from the nature of the competition, is still a pre-season warm-up game. Victory is gratifying, defeat is also gratifying. The main purpose is to run in the team, find the feeling of the game, and adjust the mentality for the arrival of the new season.

But at the Equality Cup, there were some rounds of hard bridges, hard horses, and real guns, but I also saw that most of the stands were empty. After all, neither Shenhua nor Santos, which is now what it used to be, has market value in Qatar. Relatively speaking, Shenhua was slightly better - there were die-hard fans who flew from Shanghai to Qatar to watch the game, which surprised the organizers who gave out free tickets.

And why did the match between Miami International and the Hong Kong League star team sell tickets, and the box office is as hot as the real international competition?

To put it bluntly, it's just to see Messi!

There were not only fans and non-fans from all over the country, but also senior officials of the Hong Kong government and a number of Hong Kong cultural and sports stars.

On February 4, Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee appeared in the stands of the stadium and wore pink elements that symbolize the colors of the Miami international team Photo: Hong Kong media

In the direction of Minatofu——

The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, John Lee, the Financial Secretary of the HKSAR Government, Paul Chan, and the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Kevin Yeung, all wore pink outfits with elements of the Miami International Team.

In terms of acting sports stars -

Tony Leung, Carina Lau, Tang Ziqi and He Shibei were also present.

Let's not forget that Inter Miami's owner, former England star David Beckham, also has star traffic in his own right. Uncle Hai saw that when Deng Ziqi took a photo with him on the spot, he still looked like a fascinated girl!

But in this game, the biggest regret, or the biggest failure of Miami International, is that Messi did not play!

Who remembers the score and who the goalscorer was?

David Beckham signs Deng Ziqi's jersey Picture: Hong Kong media

Hai Shute checked the game report of the professional sports media - "Miami International defeated the Hong Kong League Stars 4-1, Taylor, Sunderland, Campano, Taylor scored for Miami International, Anya once equalized, Messi and Suarez did not play".

Oh, even the fact that Suarez didn't appear is not so remembered by people, at least in the verbal criticism of some media, there is no spray on Suarez.

This can't help but ask, Messi, why don't you play, don't you also explain to the audience when you go on the court twice?

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According to Hong Kong media "Ta Kung Pao" and others, when Miami International signed a contract with Hong Kong, Messi was promised to play at least 45 minutes. I always feel that asking the other party to make such a commitment seems to have something to do with Ronaldo's failure to finish the race in China before. It can be seen that the Hong Kong side of this game attaches great importance to it and is quite cautious, for fear that Miami International and Messi will change their minds!

On February 3, Messi and Suarez attended the training as normal. In the game on February 4, Messi and Suarez sat on the bench. Even if the audience applauded and called for a refund, they were still unmoved.

On social media, someone posted a self-made heat picture of Messi against the Hong Kong Stars, ridiculing him for not playing

Inter Miami also has an explanation –

The coach didn't send two of them.

To be honest, if it is an international competition, it is normal and common for the head coach to not send the team's number one star on the field. Whether it's for tactical reasons, for the purpose of resting during the tournament, or if the manager has conflicts with the main players, it's normal for the main team to be hidden.

But the question is, is the Miami International team going to Hong Kong to participate in an international competition? It's just an exhibition game. Does the coach really have the final say?

The Hong Kong government has spoken out one after another: extremely disappointed with the organizer's arrangement, Messi did not explain to the fans as requested, and will ask the organizer to be responsible......

In fact, Uncle Hai saw some media release as early as February 2 - Messi has a hamstring discomfort and is afraid that he will play with an injury. If so, his subsequent attendance at the training seems to have become a cover-up. Tickets were also sold, and the audience arrived. It doesn't matter if he applauds or not, anyway, he can leave with his wallet bulging.

Believe it or not, the next time a so-called international star visits, you can still cheat a lot of money!

However, we must also see that there is always a price to pay for such "fraud"!

Fok Qigang expressed great disappointment with the arrangement of the organizer Tatler Photo: Hong Kong Wenhui

According to a report by Hong Kong Wenhui today (February 5), Hong Kong Legislative Council member (sports, performing arts, culture and publishing) Fok Qigang issued a statement on the 4th, expressing great disappointment with the arrangement of the organizer Tatler, and believed that Tatler and the Miami International team need to apologize and explain to the whole Hong Kong public.

"Over the past period of time, the organisers have been touting the 'King of the Ball' Messi, and the overwhelming publicity has attracted the eagerness of the public and fans, and the tickets have been sold out in an instant - the organisers and Miami International need to apologize and explain to the people of Hong Kong. This is Huo Qigang's original words.

The Hong Kong government even stated that it would deduct HK$16 million from sponsorship.

Uncle Hai wants to say that the Hong Kong government's heart to promote the cultural, sports and tourism industries can be seen from this. But spending 16 million Hong Kong dollars to sponsor this kind of commercial competition seems to be "in vain". No wonder legislators speak out!

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In 1977, the football king Pele played at the Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai

Looking back at this kind of exhibition match with the nature of friendly matches, of course, it was successfully held. For example, at the end of the 70s of the last century, the football king Pele visited China with the New York Universe team and played two games at Beijing Workers' Stadium and Shanghai Jiangwan Stadium. It has been said to be a beautiful talk to this day.

In the 90s of the last century, some European clubs such as Serie A and the Premier League came to China to play in the preparation period of the league. It also compares the name of Beijing's national security of "monopolizing all kinds of disobedience". "Gongti is undefeated", which was once said to be "undefeated" in this kind of exhibition game of Beijing Guoan. In retrospect, the away team that received the money seems to have extremely high emotional intelligence.

But since then, some big-name stars have appeared "let go". I remember one time a big star came to the scene, changed his jersey, and made warm-up preparations, but the temporary people just decided not to play. The reason is also simple -

People complained that the home field of a certain A A team at that time was like a vegetable field, and the field was full of potholes. "Playing on this kind of court, the probability of injury is too great." This is the reason given. I really can't argue with that.

Is Ronaldo coming to China once just for a feast?

In recent years, China's various stadium facilities have been greatly improved, and international big-name clubs and football stars have visited China to play games, but there have been many farces of temporary changes of football stars! For example, Cristiano Ronaldo has come and come, eaten banquets, and toasted "wine" -- Uncle Hai believes that what he drank was not wine, but white fungus and pear soup. But suddenly it was said that the game was canceled. This is not enough to drink sea cucumber soup!

What is the doorway in it?

is the uneven distribution of prize money and income,

Or there are other reasons.

On the other hand, I don't believe that top foreign table tennis players have the opportunity to play in China, and they pretend to be stupid and don't play. What a good opportunity to learn from each other and improve the level! Speaking of which, the level of Chinese football is too low. People don't take Chinese football seriously!

Public opinion is optimistic that Ivankovic, who has just stepped down from the position of head coach of the Oman team, will be the head coach of the national football team

Today, the "Football Daily" came out with the news, "Although it has not yet been officially announced that Kovic is out of class, the national football team has officially opened the selection of coaches; at the beginning of February, the Chinese Football Association officially convened relevant experts of the coaching committee to discuss the relevant content of the coach selection." The newspaper also said that the Chinese Football Association has begun to contact targeted candidates.

From Milutinovic, to Ali Han, to Perrin and Lippi, which is not a well-known and powerful foreign coach?

When the Japanese team failed to reach the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, head coach Mori Hoi said that the ultimate goal of the Japanese team - to win the World Cup - will not change!

Lee Hye Tang

Then, Uncle Hai can't help but say that the champions and runners-up of the 2004 Asian Cup are Japan and China. Isn't the ultimate goal of Chinese football to win the World Cup?

For the farce of these commercial competitions, those who should resort to law should resort to law, and those who should go through the commercial arbitration procedure should go through the commercial arbitration procedure. If you really want the world's first-class stars to play seriously with us, we have to improve our own strength! When we have an international superstar one day, are we afraid that someone will play a scoundrel?

Back then, the Asian football king Li Huitang who came out of Hong Kong's Causeway Bay is proof of this!

Taking a step back, if you run China's own leagues, including the Hong Kong regional league, and enhance the commercial value of the league, there will naturally be stars willing to play for domestic clubs. When the Chinese Super League club wins the AFC Champions League, what is the commercial value of the Chinese Super League? What is the number of international stars?