Chapter 622
China Team 4:0, Two Geniuses from China and Japan Take the Stage!
"What's going on over there? Why is it so lively?"
"Who knows? Maybe they're having a concert or performing a talent show?"
"Haha, performing a talent show? Or is it about exploring the beauty of language?"
"Is there anyone who understands Japanese who can translate what they're saying?"
The Japanese head coach's roar in the locker room could be heard even through two doors.
The Chinese national football team players suddenly felt some sympathy for their Japanese counterparts, who had been subjected to far too much criticism.
Takeshi Okada, who usually seems very strict, was behaving exactly as the national team players had always imagined him to be.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. If he loses this game, he will most likely be fired and might even become a villain in Japan, facing condemnation from Japanese fans and possibly losing his place in Japanese football.
With such severe consequences, it's no wonder he was furious.
"Alright, let's stop worrying about others and talk about the tactics for the second half!"
Zhu Guanghu had no sympathy for his Japanese counterparts. If the roles of the Japanese and Chinese teams were reversed at this moment, he did not believe that the other side would show mercy to him and the Chinese team.
To secure his position, he had to step over the corpses of his colleagues.
Compared to a regular match, defeating the Japanese team, who are burdened with both old and new grudges, would obviously be more pleasing to domestic fans.
Given China's significant lead, Zhu Guanghu plans to make substitutions early in the second half, allowing the starters and veterans to rest and giving substitutes a chance to play.
With only one year left until the World Cup, the Chinese national football team has no major tournaments to play after completing the World Cup qualifiers.
Therefore, opportunities to train in real combat are becoming increasingly rare!
……
The second half began with the two teams switching sides and the game continuing.
Perhaps it was the Japanese team coach's hairdryer treatment in the locker room that had an effect, as the Japanese team's performance in the second half was indeed much better than in the first half.
Their players had fewer concerns and were no longer timid. Instead, they went all out and launched a full-scale attack on the Chinese team.
Takeshi Okada is quite capable. After the Japanese team unified their thinking and maintained full tactical discipline, his pursuit of a fast, agile style of play, combined with a numerical advantage in the attacking third, finally paid off.
After the start of the second half, the Japanese team created several scoring opportunities in the attacking third.
Unfortunately, the Japanese players failed to capitalize on their opportunities for various reasons. Japanese striker Keiji Tamada even repeated a handball in the penalty area, reminiscent of his performance in the 2004 Asian Cup final, due to his anxious mindset.
But this time, the referee saw through his scheme and prevented it from succeeding.
Although China's defense is considered very strong in Asia, it is not invincible.
Japan's attacks during this period put considerable pressure on China's defense.
"Don't shrink your formation so much; give the opponent space!"
"Spread out and push forward!"
"Intensify pressing and pay attention to protecting the area in front of the penalty area!"
The opponent's attack came on strong, and Old Zhu finally couldn't sit on the bench and watch anymore.
He went to the sidelines, cupped his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, and shouted loudly to the national team players on the field, directing them to play the game.
Seeing that even the Chinese team's head coach was forced to stand up, the Japanese fans in the stadium cheered excitedly, as if they were the ones leading the game.
【Wait, how could the Japanese win?】
[Isn't it just that they forced the Chinese team to make clinical adjustments? Did they really have to go through with it?]
[Anyone who didn't know better would think Japan had scored!]
Domestic fans watching the live broadcast of the match were puzzled by the reaction of Japanese fans.
The Japanese team launched a few good attacks, and the Chinese team didn't concede a single goal, yet they all started cheering!
How much do they want to win?
Although the Japanese team's offensive looked impressive, as time went on, the Japanese players, unable to break through, began to get impatient.
They are increasingly worried about a counterattack from the Chinese team!
As fate would have it, in the 55th minute, Japan's attacking coordination went awry, and the Chinese national team intercepted the ball in their own half and quickly moved it to the wing.
Hao Junmin walked quickly with his mouth clenched, facing Nagatomo Yuto, who was about the same age as him.
Hao Junmin relentlessly crushed his opponent with his tank-like body, breaking through on the wing and dribbling all the way to the front, before delivering a cross.
Two Chinese players were vying for position inside the penalty area, but Hao Junmin seemed to have gotten too excited. He passed the ball quickly and flat, and Han Peng at the near post couldn't catch it in time. He could only watch helplessly as the ball rolled past him.
Gao Lin, who was at the far post, was actually a little late to catch up, but he didn't care. He slid in and threw himself out, trying to seize the opportunity to complete his hat trick.
But the goalkeeper was faster, and Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu got there first and cleared the ball.
Japan's crisis was not over; the ball bounced off the rim and landed on the perimeter, where it was caught by a Chinese defender.
As Feng Xiaoting watched the ball land in front of him, he didn't care about anything else and kicked the ball!
Intentionally planting flowers but not blooming, unintentionally planting willows and willows make a shade.
Feng Xiaoting's long-range shooting is not outstanding; he rarely scores through long-range shots in matches.
But his lucky shot turned into a world-class goal, hurtling towards the top right corner of the goal at incredible speed.
The Japanese goalkeeper, who had just hurriedly gotten up from the ground, had no time to make a save and could only watch helplessly as the ball once again pierced through his goal.
The score became 4-0, and the Chinese team won another goal!
Goal!
"Goal! China 4-0 Japan!"
"This is Feng Xiaoting's first goal in this World Cup qualifier, but it's just as spectacular as the previous three!"
"While there might have been an element of luck in that goal, luck is also a part of skill!"
Seeing the Chinese team score goals non-stop, and with multiple players contributing to the scoring.
The two commentators have completely relaxed and are now enjoying themselves.
[Feng Xiaoting's long-range shot was absolutely beautiful!]
[Haha, I thought Zhao Xuri was the one who took the shot, but when I checked the starting lineup, he wasn't on it!]
[You know what, for someone like me who doesn't watch sports very often, I really can't tell Feng Xiaoting and Zhao Xuri apart; I often confuse the two!]
[Can't tell the difference? +1!]
[One of them plays as a defensive midfielder and the other as a center-back; you can tell them apart just by their positions!]
To put it simply, the one who cleared the ball inside our own penalty area was Feng Xiaoting! The one who cleared the ball inside the opponent's penalty area was Zhao Xuri!
Sitting on the bench, Zhao Xuri was unaware that netizens were criticizing him online.
After seeing his teammate score, he and the others on the bench jumped up from their seats, clenched their fists, and cheered loudly.
They were celebrating when they suddenly heard the coach calling their names:
"Zhang Linpeng, Zhao Xuri, Zhou Haibin, Dong Fangzhuo, go warm up!"
Zhu Guanghu originally planned to make a substitution after the 60th minute of the game, but now it seems there is no need to wait.
Upon hearing the coach call their names, the players rushed out of the bench.
"These guys...?"
Zhu Guanghu shook his head and chuckled. His disciples were eager for battle, which was a good thing.
Unfortunately, the substitution list is limited, and among those who went out to warm up, some are destined not to play.
Fortunately, there is a World Cup qualifier in a few days, at which point we can see if we can give them more time.
The national football team doesn't have many talented forwards and defenders, and the squad available for rotation is limited.
However, the midfield reserves are simply too abundant; whether you field three or four midfielders, there aren't enough positions.
The new generation, the middle generation, and the veterans all had to fight for a chance to play.
While Zhu Guanghu was still worrying about how to arrange the midfield positions for the next match, the coaching bench of the Japanese team next door fell into an eerie silence.
Japan's head coach, Takeshi Okada, seemed to breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
My heart, which was still hanging in suspense, is now completely dead.
With just over thirty minutes left in the game, trailing by four goals, they had absolutely no hope of a comeback.
He no longer needs to worry about his position as manager, because this match has sealed his fate.
But Takeshi Okada relaxed, as if a huge burden had been lifted, and a change finally appeared on his expressionless face.
He glanced back at the bench behind him, and the substitute players who were under his gaze all lowered their heads, not daring to meet his eyes.
The team suffered such a crushing defeat that they were all afraid of becoming the head coach's punching bag.
"Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa, Takaaki Yano, the three of you go outside and warm up!"
To their surprise, the head coach did not get angry with them, but instead called out the names of three substitutes and asked them to warm up.
The three of them didn't dare to ask any more questions. After saying "Yes, sir," they lowered their heads, carefully bypassed Takeshi Okada, and ran to the sidelines to warm up.
"Oh? The Japanese team is also making a substitution?"
Seeing the commotion coming from the Japanese team's bench, both commentators and fans watching on TV turned their curious gazes towards it.
"Shinji Kagawa was born in the same year as Zhang Linpeng, and he's only 20 years old this year, quite young!"
"Yes, I heard he's one of the best young players in Japan, and the Japanese media have hailed him as the Japanese Lin Feng!"
"Oh? The Japanese media speaks of him so highly?"
Lin Feng is currently recognized as the world's best midfielder in football. For the Japanese to compare a newcomer to Lin Feng is indeed a very high compliment.
The two commentators' words piqued the curiosity of many fans.
This has aroused curiosity and anticipation among many, who are wondering what kind of performance this young player will deliver on the field!
They didn't have to wait long. Five minutes later, as if they had planned it together, the two teams made substitutions together.
China substituted Zhang Linpeng for Sun Jihai, while Japan replaced Matsui with Shinji Kagawa.
Sun Jihai suffered from injuries while playing for Manchester City last season, and his physical condition is not at its best at the moment, so he needs to rest.
Considering that Sun is already quite old and will fade out of the national team after this World Cup, Zhu Guanghu has begun to intentionally promote and train Zhang Linpeng so that he can take over the right flank of the Chinese team as soon as possible.
Zhang Linpeng, who had been training at Inter Milan for several years, did not disappoint coach Zhu after coming on as well.
The young and strong Zhang Linpeng attracted the attention of the entire stadium with two consecutive straight up-and-down sprints as soon as he entered the field.
Japanese fans were stunned to see him use his body to overpower Yuto Nagatomo, who was marking him, and forcefully break through the encirclement of two players while pressing each other.
They felt that this guy was even stronger than Hao Junmin, the right winger of the Chinese team. If Hao Junmin was like a small tank, then Zhang Linpeng was simply a bulldozer.
This powerful impact is almost unmatched in Asia, and only the muscular players in the top five European leagues can compare.
Therefore, his physique is simply a game-changer on the Asian sports field.
After watching Zhang Linpeng's performance, many Japanese media outlets even dubbed him "Asia's No. 1 right-back" in their post-match reports, demonstrating the immense impact of Zhang Linpeng's emergence on them.
If it were just Zhang Linpeng being exceptionally strong on his own, then that would be one thing.
The key point is that after he came on, Hao Junmin was completely unleashed. Both of them are the kind of small but powerful players with explosive physical abilities. Their alternating attacks had a 1+1>2 effect, causing the Japanese team's left flank to completely collapse.
If Zhang Linpeng's crossing ability hadn't been relatively average, and his crosses hadn't landed in such poor spots, the Chinese team would have extended their lead much earlier.
Even so, his performance was enough to amaze the vast majority of Chinese fans.
Xiao Zhang has made great progress in the past few years!
Yes, compared to the Asian Cup two years ago, I feel his current ability is already comparable to Sun Jihai's!
I was initially quite worried about who would fill the right-back position after Son Heung-min's retirement, but now it seems there's absolutely no need to worry!
[Who can argue with that? After watching this match, I'm sure the other teams should be worried!]
[Why not just promote him to the starting lineup and let Sun Jihai focus on recovering from his injury? Anyway, the Chinese team doesn't have any major matches next year, so it's a good opportunity for him to improve team cohesion and gain match experience!]
Compared to Zhang Linpeng's performance after entering the game, Shinji Kagawa's performance was far less impressive.
The reason why Shinji Kagawa underperformed was simple: his opponent was Lin Feng!
When I watched the game from the bench before, I didn't have such a direct feeling. I just felt that the performance of some of the senior midfielders in the team was a bit abnormal, and their error rate was obviously more than usual.
When he finally took to the field and actually fought Lin Feng, Shinji Kagawa immediately understood the predicament of his seniors.
The pressure he was under was immense!
Although he had been playing for more than 60 minutes, Lin Feng's stamina was still very high, no less than that of the newcomer who had just entered the game.
Moreover, Lin Feng completely outclassed this rookie in terms of physical strength, speed, and competition experience.
Shinji Kagawa was full of anticipation, ready to begin his performance, but his dreams were shattered by Lin Feng's two interceptions as soon as he stepped onto the stage! (End of Chapter)