Chapter 42 The Eve of the European War
After the game, Yang Feng invited the whole team to eat at a famous Chinese restaurant in St. Petersburg, as a reward for the cooperation of so many teammates in scoring goals!
During the period, Yang Feng also made an exception and drank once!
It may be because of celebrating the victory with teammates, or it may be to relieve my depression in the past two weeks!
result……
At the wine table, Yang Feng, whose alcohol-decomposing enzymes in his body surpassed ordinary people, drank all his teammates who claimed to be able to drink to the ground!
Don't look at Skrtel's tall and big man, after a few drinks, he started drinking crazy!
Forgive him, after all, the innate talent is not enough, and I don’t want to be like my Russian teammates, I have acquired it...
I also reported to the coaching staff before this gathering, after all, there will be European war missions after all!
However, although there is a UEFA Cup qualifying match to be played, the coaching staff still agrees to this party. First, the strength of the opponents in the European competition is not strong, and they may not be able to match these opponents in the Russian Super League. Second, it is because of the game time, five days later!
The first day after the league itself is a day for the whole team to rest!
Even if it is a qualifying match, the match day of the Europa League is still the same as the main match, later than the qualifying match of the Champions League. For Zenit, it is not so much a double match in a week, it is better to say, 2 matches in 3 days!
After this away game in Europe, after a day off, they will face Tomsk again at home. Fortunately, they are a team in the lower reaches of the league. In addition, the league points gap has widened to double digits. Therefore, Zenit's internal goals have focused on the European competition. Unless the European giants are drawn, at least entering the top 8 is the goal set by the management and coaching staff!
Of course, you have to eat one bite at a time, and you have to take steps step by step!
Passing the second round of qualifying first is the top priority!
After a whole day of recuperation, the whole team appeared on the training ground full of energy. Zenit will have 2 days of restorative training at home, and go to the away game one day in advance to adapt to the venue!
Because it was only fifth in the Russian Super League last season, although Zenit qualified for the European War, it has to start from the second qualifying round of the Europa League!
This time the opponent is Moras from the Slovak Super League!
In the first round of the qualifying round, Moras defeated the Kazakhstan team 4-2 in two rounds, successfully advanced and qualified to challenge Zenit!
The Moras team is actually the newly promoted team of the Slovak Super League this season. In the Slovak competition that started in the new season, their record is only in the middle and lower reaches!
As for the European qualification obtained in the second-tier league, it was Moraes who was upset all the way to the final in the domestic cup last season. After the rules were judged, it was postponed to him, so the real strength is actually very limited!
According to the report written by the scout sent by the team two weeks ago, as well as some of the club's logistics staff, they studied the video and watched it!
Although Moras's style tends to be delicate and technical, but because of the limited strength of the players and the fact that there are mostly young players, the approximate standard of strength may not even be comparable to the teams in the Russian League!
The only advantage may be that they are in their own home court!
In the world of professional football, problems cannot be solved by money alone!
Although Slovakia also belongs to the ranks of developed countries, the level of domestic football leagues is actually not high. In the whole of Europe, although there are some outstanding players, they have always been in the middle and lower reaches!
The level of its domestic youth training has not been very outstanding due to population constraints!
The youth training seedlings that appear occasionally will naturally choose to enter other countries. The more excellent youth training system and its domestic league are more like a platform for self-entertainment, so that more young people in the country can play games, and more Adapt to the professional football environment early, and then use this as a stepping stone to enter other national leagues with higher football levels, even the second-tier leagues, so as to continuously improve your own strength!
For example, the current Skrtel is a Slovakian! Skrtel, who was born in 1984, actually represented the Slovak Super League team Trencin in 2002. In the 2003-04 season, he played 34 times on behalf of Trencin. The ranking is fifth in the Slovak Superliga!
Also a 19-year-old kid, as the main force, Yang Feng was controversial at the beginning. He gained a firm foothold in the Russian Super League purely by his performance in the game and his own special talent!
But Skrtel played in the main position for a season!
Then he joined Zenit in 2004 and became a veteran of the current Zenit team, although he is only 23 years old this year!
But think about Skrtel's frizz now, and guess the defense line guarded by the 19-year-old Skrtel, such a team can rank fifth in Slovakia's top competition!
Well, it's clear at a glance what kind of league strength it is!
You know, Skrtel also guarded the drinking fountains for a year before he successfully played in Zenit!
The Zenit team flew to Slovakia with such a relaxed mood. After all, as the team most likely to win the Russian Super League this season, Zenit's strength is definitely at the Champions League level. Now let's play the Europa League Cup qualifying match is definitely a bully!
At Moravce's home ground, the Moravce Stadium! Zenit ushered in its first European game of the season!
As the team's regular main force, Yang Feng is naturally in the starting lineup!
He said that the opponent was weak and vulnerable! But Advocaat didn't dare, he really just arranged troops to train tactics at will! The Russian Super League championship is not the end of this Zenit team. Zenit is fully capable and will prove its strength in the Europa League!
As for the Champions League next season, Advocaat looked at his disciples...
Who knows, will they still be in the team next season?
Whether it is Arshavin, Tymoshchuk, Pogrebnyak, Skrtel, or even the professional newcomer Yang Feng who has just played in the Russian Super League for half a season, they have all received scouts from the five major leagues. extensive attention!
There is a huge gap between the overall strength and attention of the Russian Super League and the five major leagues.
Even with the support of Gazprom's strong funds behind it, the attraction of higher-level football leagues may be greater for every self-motivated player!
And the player's income is only salary? Greater game attention, higher exposure, fan effect, and advertising revenue are also important means for football players to obtain benefits!
This is also since the Bosman Act, the giants of the five major leagues, and their respective leagues, complement each other, attracting more capital investment, attracting more fans, and gaining greater attention around the world. The gap has widened, even if other leagues have large capital injections, they no longer have the opportunity to enter the field to share the cake!
Except for the five major leagues, the leagues of other countries are more like training grounds and talent pools. There is no longer the possibility of a small country league team relying on a generation of golden players to dominate Europe before the 1990s!
Zenit, who is in the Russian Super League, will come to the away game in this game. It will be the first game of the 2-round match with the Slovakian team Molas. Show off your offensive power to the whole of Europe!