Fox in the Penalty Area

After the away game against Royal Caterjon, Hu Lai did not return to Leeds with the team, but went directly to Barcelona to meet Zhang Qinghuan, then took a flight from Barcelona to Dubai, and finally arrived at Jincheng.

There, they will gather with their teammates from the national team to prepare for the next two China Cup games.

The China Cup is held on an international match day, so it does not need to delay club matches like the Asian Cup. Clubs must also release players unconditionally, which will not affect the national team players returning to participate in the competition.

In fact, the original idea of ​​the China Cup was to be held during the Spring Festival every year, which can be regarded as a New Year gift to Chinese fans.

However, once this idea was put forward, it was rejected in the internal meeting.

The reason for the denial is not because they are afraid that the Chinese team will cause trouble for fans across the country during the Chinese New Year. After all, the current Chinese team is undefeated in the World Cup no matter what, and it will not collapse at the touch of an opponent.

But during the Spring Festival...is there a national team match day?

No.

What kind of national team game is that?

Regardless of the trouble of recalling overseas players—the Asian Cup hadn’t even started yet, and everyone hadn’t realized how serious the consequences would be for overseas players to run back on non-national team match days— Let’s just talk about the opponents of the Chinese team. If it is not the national team match day, they will have no way to recall players who play in the European league. If you can't send the strongest lineup, you can only use the second team or even the third team to fool the China Cup.

This is a fatal blow to a new competition - it is equivalent to being labeled as "unprofessional" and "not popular" since the first competition.

What about the next game?

Therefore, competitions must not be organized during the Spring Festival.

It must and can only be held on the national team match day.

As a result, the two national team match days at the end of March were finalized for the China Cup.

The four teams are divided into two groups, and the semi-finals will be played first. The winners will then play the finals on the second national team match day, while the losers of the semi-finals will compete for the third and fourth places.

Besides Zhang Qinghuan, there was another person with Hu Lai.

That was his teammate at the club, Dominic Lasky.

The Polish striker was naturally also selected for the Polish national team, and he will accompany the team in this China Cup.

It can be seen that the Polish national team still attaches great importance to this event, and all the main players that can be called have been called back.

Laski's performance in the first half of this season was mediocre, but he is also a frequent visitor to the Polish national team. After all, he is also the strongest player in Poland at this age.

With his performance improving in the second half of the season, it is even more impossible for the national team to play without him.

In fact, the Polish national team originally planned to let the international players scattered all over Europe return to China to gather, and then take a plane to Jincheng, China.

But Laski applied to the national team and went with Hu Lai, which saved a day on the road and made it easier for him to rest and fight jet lag.

The national team did not refuse, and simply agreed.

Naturally, Hu Lai had no objection. How could he refuse when his teammates walked with him? Besides, Laski is quite likable, if Charlie Potter had such a big mouth, he might have found an excuse to refuse...

So just like that, Hu Lai brought Laski and Zhang Qinghuan to meet at the Barcelona airport.

Seeing Lasky standing next to him, Zhang Qinghuan didn't speak, but lowered his head and asked Hu Lai on WeChat: "Can he understand Chinese?"

Hu Lai glanced at the phone and replied directly in Mandarin: "Don't worry, Brother Huan, he can't speak Chinese."

"Oh, that's good..." Then Zhang Qinghuan stretched out his hand to Laski and said in English, "Hi, nice to meet you."

To Zhang Qinghuan's surprise, Laski was a little...excited, he grabbed Zhang Qinghuan's hand with both hands, shook it vigorously and said, "Hello, hello, I finally met the legendary 'Huan Bro'" (Note 1 )

Hearing this slightly weird title, Zhang Qinghuan turned to look at Hu Lai.

Hu Lai quickly explained: "The meaning of 'Brother Huan', Brother Huan."

"I understand. I'm just wondering why he would call me that?" Zhang Qinghuan asked with a frown.

At this moment, before Hu Lai had time to answer, Lasky next to him gave Zhang Qinghuan a thumbs up and praised repeatedly: "Bro Huan, New Bee!"

Zhang Qinghuan's face was full of black question marks: "Hu Lai, didn't you say that he can't speak Chinese?"

Hu Lai was also a little embarrassed, and quickly explained: "He will say this... Oh, two sentences, one sentence is awesome, and one sentence is fucked."

The corner of Zhang Qinghuan's mouth twitched: "What's wrong with you kid, teach this!"

Over there, Lasky grinned widely, gave Zhang Qinghuan a thumbs up with a smile, and repeated words like "awesome".

"Why does he always say that I'm awesome?" Zhang Qinghuan was puzzled. Although he had already become the main force in Sarria, Sarria did not even qualify for the European competition, and his influence was limited to La Liga. . It stands to reason that it is impossible for him to have a fan in the distant city of Leeds, right?

"Uh, this..."

Seeing that Hu Lai hesitated to speak, Zhang Qinghuan simply bypassed him, walked up to Lasky, and chatted with him in English: "Hello, I heard you can speak Chinese?"

Laski didn't expect Zhang Qinghuan to speak English, so he nodded happily, a bit like a husky: "Brother Huan, you can speak English? That's great! Actually, I don't speak Chinese either, so I know these two sentences. 'I'm fucking awesome', and it's all bullshit..."

Zhang Qinghuan turned his head and glanced at Hu Lai, seeing that he was moving outside, he asked, "Why are you going?"

"Go to the bathroom." Hu Lai didn't look back.

Zhang Qinghuan ignored it, and continued to chat with Laski: "Do you know what 'beautiful' means?"

Lasky nodded: "I know, nonsense said, it means very powerful."

Zhang Qinghuan nodded when he heard the words. Hu Lai didn't explain it nonsense. He thought that Hu Lai was using curse words to trick his teammates into saying hello.

Now that Lasky knew the meaning of awesome, Zhang Qinghuan was even more surprised: "Then why do you say I'm amazing? I remember that this is the first time we met, right?"

Laski quickly explained: "Oh, it's like this. I heard Charlie from our team, it was Charlie Potter who talked about you..."

"Speaking of me? Charlie Potter?" Zhang Qinghuan's mind was full of question marks.

Where is this!

He has heard of Charlie Potter, Hu Lai's teammate, and the relationship with Hu Lai seems to be pretty good. But what has he to do with me? Why is he talking about me?

Lasky continued to answer: "Charlie said that he was also listening to nonsense. Nonsense. When he was playing football in China, he had a teammate who was very good. He changed his girlfriend every day. He also witnessed three women fighting against each other when he was eating out. Fighting over who gets to sleep with his teammates at night..."

The more Zhang Qinghuan listened, the more something was wrong. Why did he feel a subtle sense of sight...

At this moment, Laski stared at him and said with some excitement: "Brother Huan, that teammate...is you! You are a legend!"

Zhang Qinghuan was stunned for a few seconds, then turned his head and glanced in the direction of the toilet:

"Hu Lai, what the hell!"

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"You are wicked or not, Hu Lai!"

Flying in the cabin of the plane at an altitude of 10,000 meters, Zhang Qing angrily scolded Hu Lai.

"I'm wronged, Brother Huan. Isn't it normal for young people to get together and brag for fun?" Hu Lai made a pitiful expression.

"Then why are you bragging about yourself! Why are you bragging about me?!"

"That won't work." Hu Lai shook his head, and said firmly, "To be a man, you must seek truth from facts. I have never done such a thing. How can I do such a shameless act of putting gold on my face?"

Zhang Qinghuan looked at his face for a few seconds: "You don't need to stick it on your face, it's enough to be shameless."

"Hey, Brother Huan, how can you spout blood? I'm telling the truth. That time when Lao Wang and I had dinner on Senwei Road, I did see it..."

"That's not a day to change women! You said I was like a stallion!"

"Is the stallion bad? Besides, I'm exaggerating a little at most, that is, I said that one is a hundred... But I haven't really done it. I want to apply your things to me. That's the relationship between zero and one, there is nothing to be confused with, it's a matter of principle, brother Huan, you have to be honest."

Hu Lai spoke very seriously.

Zhang Qinghuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, he didn't know what to say in the face of Hu Lai's sophistry, and in the end he could only make another mantra: "Hu Lai, what the hell..."

Seeing that Hu Lai and Zhang Qinghuan were chatting happily, Lasky next to him became interested, and leaned over to ask Hu Lai who was sitting in the middle: "Hu, what are you talking about? Can you tell me?"

"Ah, it's nothing, I just looked forward to the 'China Cup'. It's a pity that we didn't get together." Hu Lai found a reason casually.

The matchup of the first China Cup has come out. The opponent of the Chinese team in the semi-finals is not Poland, but South Africa.

Poland's opponent is Mexico.

"It's okay, Hu. As long as you beat South Africa and we beat Mexico, can't we meet in the final?" Laski said confidently.

Hu Lai smiled: "Mexico is in the top 16 of the World Cup!"

Laski thought about it, too.

Mexico is in the top 16 of the World Cup, and Poland, like the Chinese team in the last World Cup, failed to qualify for the group stage.

Both teams accumulated three points in the group stage, but the three points of the Chinese team were obtained through three draws. Poland actually won a game in the World Cup - they defeated Australia from Asia 2:1 in the last group match where they were already confirmed to be eliminated.

In terms of strength, Mexico is definitely stronger than Poland, and also stronger than the Chinese team.

So it is not easy to beat Mexico.

"How about we lose to Mexico and you lose to South Africa?" Lasky suggested after some consideration.

Hu Lai pushed Lasky: "Don't curse us!"

Laski laughed—he was clearly joking.

"No matter what, I will try my best to help the team beat Mexico, and then join you in the final, Hu." After laughing, Laski looked at Hu Lai seriously and said.

"Okay, see you in the final!"

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Note 1: Bro is the colloquial abbreviation of Brother, which means brother, buddy, buddy.