Chapter 285: The legend ends, Spain's 23-man squad! (Transition chapter)

Madrid, Las Rozas training base.

When Lin Quan came to report, most of his teammates who had been called up to the national team had already arrived.

Outside the training base, there were many Spanish fans who came to cheer for the team.

Because this World Cup is held in South America, many Spanish fans are unable to go to the scene to cheer for the team.

Therefore, they chose to send them blessings in advance before setting off for Spain!

"Lin, come on!"

"Bring back the championship trophy!"

"Don't let those guys from South America have the last laugh. Europe is the orthodoxy of football!"

After seeing Lin Quan, the fans shouted his name and encouraged him with all kinds of words.

If it were in the past, when Lin Quan was in a good mood, he might have satisfied the fans' requests for photos and autographs.

But after the "bitter" lesson at Manchester Airport, he no longer dared to sign autographs for fans casually.

Sign one and get two, sign two and get four...

He found that he had underestimated his influence and popularity among the fans!

After arriving at the training ground and greeting several teammates, Lin Quan quickly went to the locker room to change his clothes, and then quickly joined the training.

He took a quick look and found that there were a few familiar faces missing from the team, but there were also a few unfamiliar faces.

"Where's the captain?"

Lin Quan poked Xiao Fa and asked in confusion.

Fabregas obviously knew who the captain Lin Quan was talking about. He asked in surprise:

"Don't you know? The captain announced his retirement yesterday!"

"Well, didn't he say he would play the entire World Cup with us? Why did he retire?"

The captain the two were talking about was not the on-field captain Casillas, but the old captain Puyol.

When participating in the World Cup qualifiers, Puyol once expressed his desire to compete in the Brazil World Cup with his teammates.

Lin Quan always kept this sentence in mind, but he didn't expect that he would announce his retirement ahead of schedule.

"Alas, the team's 23-man roster is full. Pu didn't want to embarrass the coach, so he took the initiative to withdraw from the national team. He has also retired from the club. Since he has retired from the national team, there is nothing to remember, so he might as well just announce his retirement."

Lin Quan remembers that in the original history, Puyol announced his retirement at the end of the La Liga.

This time, he did not choose to retire immediately after the end of the league, but waited for a while before retiring.

Obviously, he has the idea of ​​participating in the World Cup.

Puyol was born in April 1978 and is 36 years old this year.

At this age, it is obviously impossible for him to become the main force of the team, and he cannot even provide much substantial help to the team.

And every spot on Spain's 23-man roster is extremely valuable.

If he occupies a place on the list, it is likely to cause trouble for Bosque's lineup.

Therefore, his retirement choice is obviously to sacrifice himself and become a global team.

Lin Quan felt a little sad when he heard the news of Puyol's retirement.

He didn't have much contact with Puyol, but in the limited time, the leader of the locker room had a great influence on him.

As the soul of Barcelona, ​​Puyol is born with strong spiritual attributes and leadership qualities.

Even though he is old and cannot help the team on the court, he can still play an important role in comforting and encouraging his teammates in the locker room.

Thinking of this, Lin Quan had an idea.

He stopped training and took the initiative to find Bosque to give him advice.

"Invite Puyol to temporarily join the coaching staff and go on the expedition with the team?"

Bosque was confused by Lin Quan's wild idea. He looked at Lin Quan in confusion and asked: "Lin, didn't you notice that there are only 22 players in the 23-man roster? I reserved a place for Puyol but he refused to come. If you invite him to be an assistant coach, will he agree?"

Bosque is not a person who does not remember old friendships. Puyol worked with him for six years and has always been the defensive general he relies on most.

He actually also hopes to help Puyol and take him to participate in the World Cup again.

But Puyol himself refused, he did not want to be a burden to the team, Bosque could not force him to participate.

What's more, Puyol's current competitive strength has indeed declined a lot, and it is difficult for him to play in the game.

Having him sit on the bench all the time might hurt Puyol's self-esteem.

Just like Manchester United captain Gary Neville, he only played four times for Manchester United in his last season, and spent almost all of the rest of the time sitting on the bench.

Ferguson values ​​his influence in the locker room and hopes he can help the team in the locker room.

But Gary Neville doesn't want to be a mascot because he knows his current strength can no longer help Manchester United.

So he chose to retire.

Puyol's choice is almost the same as Gary Neville's choice! Will Puyol agree to come back as a coach at this time? "I think so. The old captain has always wanted to participate in this World Cup with us. Now it seems that he can't play as a player, but participating in the World Cup as a coach as part of the team can also be regarded as a wish of his!"

“Moreover, the veteran captain has rich experience in competitions. Not only can he provide substantial help during defensive training, but he can also provide us young players with valuable game experience, which is also beneficial to the team!”

Bosque held his chin and looked at Lin Quan for a long time, thinking, your style of playing football is so mature that it doesn't look like a genius of an 18-year-old player. Do you still need others to provide you with experience? If you find an excuse, make it more convincing. I don't even want to expose you!

"Well, the team does lack a defender coach. If you can convince Calais, I will give him the position!"

Bosque couldn't resist Lin Quan's nagging, so he had to believe the reasons the other party made up.

After getting Bosque's consent, Lin Quan left happily.

After looking at Lin Quan's back and then at the assistant beside him, Bosque asked hesitantly:

"Tony, do you think we are too pampering this kid?"

"Spoil? Who? Lin?"

"Um!"

"Haha, I don't think so!"

Toni couldn't help rolling his eyes. He really wanted to tell Bosque that there was a very interesting saying when the outside world commented on Spain.

The general idea is that with Spain's current lineup and configuration, let alone Bosque, they can win even if they tie a dog to the coaching bench.

Before Lin Quan joined, although Spain was strong, it had serious problems on the offensive end.

But his joining made up for Spain's shortcomings and allowed Spain to have its own nuclear warheads.

For a player like this, it would not be too much to say that we favor and pamper him, or even hold him carefully in the palm of our hands.

Let's not talk about the distant past, let's take Spain's neighbor Portugal as an example. What is Ronaldo's status in the Portuguese team? What is Lin Quan's status in the Spanish team? As for his current treatment in the team, Toni feels that it is completely unrelated to the word "pampering" mentioned by Bosque.

In Tony's opinion, Bosque is not doting on Lin Quan enough! Otherwise, the vice-captain or something like that should be given to one!

Xavi and others will soon retire from the national team, and the Spanish national team needs to establish the core of the next generation as soon as possible.

The only one who could take on this task was Lin Quan.

Therefore, even if he is not given the position of captain of the national team now, the position of vice-captain should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

But looking at Bosque's arrangements, there seems to be no such plan in the short term, which makes Tony feel that he seems to be deliberately suppressing Lin Quan and not giving him the treatment he deserves.

As for the reason for doing this, it is probably because they don't want to promote him too quickly and affect Lin Quan's mentality.

After all, many young players who become famous at a young age are always prone to becoming self-inflated and then destroying themselves after becoming famous.

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…

After talking to Bosque, Lin Quan immediately called Puyol.

"Lin, what's going on?"

Puyol was surprised that Lin Quan called him suddenly.

"Captain, come back, we need you!"

Lin Quan did not waste any time and went straight to the point in inviting Puyol.

Since the national team's 23-man roster is not yet full, Puyol still has the possibility to seize the last chance to get on board.

On the other end of the phone, Puyol smiled bitterly after hearing Lin Quan's words:

"I am old and can no longer contribute to the team. Taking me with me would only make me a burden to the team. It would be too undignified for an old guy like me."

Puyol's words were very sad. Hearing Puyol's words, the four words "the hero is old" emerged in Lin Quan's mind.

Sure enough, Bosque guessed correctly. A direct invitation would not work. If Puyol was really brought in but not allowed to play in the game, he would probably be even more injured.

Out of consideration for maintaining Puyol's self-esteem, Lin Quan did not directly invite him, but instead asked in a roundabout way: "Captain, what are you going to do after you retire?"

Lin Quan's jumping around the topic made Puyol silent for a while. He actually hadn't figured out what to do.

When he decided to leave Barcelona, ​​he was planning to go to the lower leagues to make money.

Although his current level is not enough to continue playing in the top five leagues, he should have no problem playing in leagues like the Middle East or the North American Major League.

With his title as a world champion captain, he can get a big contract in these low-level leagues and play for the last few years, thereby making money and continuing to enjoy his football life.

For a lot of players his age, that’s very appealing.

However, Puyol has only played for one team in his life, the Red and Blue Army, and he does not want to betray his beliefs.

Although playing in lower-level leagues in the last few years could help him earn an extra 100,000 or even tens of millions of euros, for Puyol, his faith and loyalty to the Red and Blue Army cannot be measured by money.

So, after thinking it over again and again, he finally decided to retire and gave up the idea of ​​going to the lower-level leagues to make money.

But you have to find something to do after retirement, right?

For retired players, most of them will continue to choose to engage in football-related work, except for a few who leave the football career.

For example, changing careers to become a coach, going to a TV station to be a commentator and commentator, signing a contract with the club you used to play for to become an administrative and management staff of the club, etc.

Puyol decided to retire after considering his great contribution to the team.

Barcelona is planning to invite him to serve as assistant to the sports director and allow him to continue playing for Barcelona.

The salary of this job is not much, but the benefit is that he can continue to stay in Barcelona, ​​which may be very attractive to Puyol.

However, this position is vulnerable to political influence.

Almost all the previous sports directors were the confidants of the club chairman, so as long as the club chairman changes, this position will inevitably be cleared out.

The current sporting director of Barcelona is Zubizarreta, who was promoted by Rosell. As Rosell's confidant, he cannot be trusted by the newly elected club president, so it is only a matter of time before he is purged.

If Puyol accepts Barcelona's invitation, he will most likely be forced to resign in January next year.

The Barcelona club may not be aware of this, but they still gave him such an awkward position. This practice is very puzzling. I don't know whether it was intentional or accidental.

Puyol did not hide anything and told Barcelona about the invitation.

Lin Quan thought seriously for a while and persuaded:

"Captain, would you like to consider changing careers and becoming a coach? Not only can you continue to work in football-related jobs, but one day in the future you may be able to return to Camp Nou as a coach like many legendary stars!"

Lin Quan's words moved Puyol very much. There was a living example in front of him - Guardiola! Guardiola, who played for Barcelona for more than ten years as a player, returned to Camp Nou as a coach.

His return directly established Barcelona's Dream Three Dynasty, won two Champions League trophies for Barcelona, ​​and forced Barcelona, ​​a team whose foundation and strength were far inferior to Real Madrid, to the same level as Real Madrid.

Guardiola's successful transformation is a huge motivation and stimulation for many retired players.

They can't help wanting to imitate him! Puyol is no exception! "Okay, I'll think about it!"

"That's right, Captain. Our national team is currently lacking an experienced defensive coach. Would you like to consider it?"

As if worried that Puyol would refuse out of shame, Lin Quan added: “Captain, didn’t you say you wanted to win the World Cup with us? Since I can’t win the trophy as a player, I’ll just participate as a coach!”

Puyol was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized that this might be the real purpose of Lin Quan's call.

This guy, did he go through so many twists and turns just to say this?

He was a little touched, sniffed, and said without hesitation: "No problem, I can report anytime!"

After Puyol clearly refused again, Bosque quickly recruited another player into the team.

At this point, Spain's 23-man squad for the 2014 Brazil World Cup has been released.

Goalkeepers: Casillas (Real Madrid), Reina (Napoli), De Gea (Manchester United) Defenders: Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Alba (Barcelona), Pique (Barcelona), Ramos (Real Madrid), Javi Martinez (Bayern Munich), Albiol (Napoli), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid) Midfielders: Busquets (Barcelona), Xavi (Barcelona), Iniesta (Barcelona), Fabregas (Barcelona), Alonso (Real Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid), David Silva (Manchester City), Mata (Manchester United).

Forwards: Lin Quan (Manchester City), Pedro (Barcelona), David Villa (Atletico Madrid), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Torres (Chelsea).

It is worth mentioning that Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa, who originally had dual citizenship of Brazilian and Spanish, eventually chose to join the Spanish national team.

This move caused great controversy. Fans of the Brazilian team regarded him as a traitor, believing that he shamelessly betrayed his own country in order to cling to Spain.

On the other hand, Spanish fans are not as welcoming to his move as they were in history. After all, they already have Lin Quan.

So Diego Costa became a rat in a bellows, being bullied from both sides! (End of this chapter)