Chapter 77: Death from drought, death from waterlogging
Morikawa Junpei and his agent Mitsui Takahiro stood in front of a small British-style building.
“Is this here, Mr. Mitsui?” Junpei Morikawa asked, looking at the house in front of him.
Mitsui Takahiro took out his mobile phone, turned to the address he had recorded in advance, checked the house number, and then nodded: "Yes, this is it. This is the house that Hu Lai rented in Leeds City."
Then he raised his head and looked at it: "Although it has much fewer rooms compared to the big villa you had in China, it is definitely more than enough for the two of you..."
After Hu Lai knew that Morikawa Junpei would transfer to Leeds City, he directly stated in the group that Morikawa Junpei would not need to look for a house or stay in a hotel when he came to Leeds, but would go directly to the house he rented in Leeds.
The two of them live together so that they can take care of each other.
Of course, the main reason is to facilitate him to integrate Morikawa Junpei into the team and life in the UK.
Morikawa Junpei did not refuse Hu Lai’s kindness.
So he and his agent Mr. Mitsui now appeared in front of this house.
“Open the door, Junpei.”
Mitsui Takahiro reminded Morikawa Junpei who was standing still.
The latter then put the suitcase aside and found the key from his backpack.
Even this key was specially given by Hu Lai to his agent Yong Jun to fly to Jincheng and hand-delivered to Morikawa Junpei.
For Morikawa Junpei, this is not just a key given to him, it represents Hu Lai's trust and expectations for him, and he naturally has to take it seriously.
So he bowed slightly and took the key from Yong Jun's hand with both hands.
Opening the door and going in, the air in the room that had been closed for almost a month was a bit turbid, making people want to hold their breath.
It wasn’t until they opened all the windows on the first floor that fresh air flowed in, and the uncomfortable feeling disappeared.
They did not go to the second floor. Instead, they stood on the first floor and looked at the place where Morikawa Junpei would spend an unknown amount of time.
Very ordinary furnishings, very ordinary layout.
This is not the kind of mansions of various styles owned by Premier League stars that are often seen in the news.
One thing can be proved that this house does not even have a swimming pool in the backyard...it is just a small garden.
Hulai did not make any modifications to the house after renting it.
For Morikawa Junpei, who lived in the large villa in Jincheng, it could be described as “shabby”.
But Morikawa Junpei doesn’t care about this either.
Mitsui Takahiro was a little surprised: "Hu Lai's life is really ordinary..."
“Hulesan’s requirements for life are not high,” said Junpei Morikawa. “He is a very pure person who just wants to play good football.”
Mitsui Takahiro smiled and said: "Looking at the size of the backyard, there is no way we can build a football field."
Their eyes looked out through the window at the small garden lawn.
“Hulesan said that training in the Premier League is very intense. Even if there is a football field, we will not have the strength to play football again after returning from team training.”
Mitsui Takahiro turned around and looked at other places, and then he found a wine cabinet with many bottles of wine in it. This discovery made his eyes light up: "I didn't expect Hu Lai to be a wine lover... eh."
When he walked closer, he realized with embarrassment that the wine cabinet contained wine, but it was different from what he thought.
These "wines" are actually the "Best of the Match" trophies won by Hu Lai.
When Mitsui Takahiro was looking at these "trophies", Morikawa Junpei also joined in: "These are all won by Hulesan in the Premier League. He told us that when he has saved enough, he will send them back to China and send them to
He keeps it at home."
"Hu Lai... what a terrible person!" Takahiro Mitsui lamented. "I remember when you first participated in the East Asian Cup. At that time, Hu Lai was just an unknown player among the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea. As a result...
…Now the identity of Asia’s No. 1 person has been changed from Park Soon-tae to him.”
“Mr. Mitsui, someone who can think of building a football field in the backyard of his house and playing football after training should be so powerful.” Junpei Morikawa said seriously.
Mitsui Takahiro laughed: "That's right. If you love football to this extent, success is inevitable. You are also lucky, Junpei, to meet him by chance in your career."
Morikawa Junpei smiled slightly.
Mitsui Takahiro added: "Don't worry Junpei, although you did not participate in this Asian Cup. As long as you can play at your normal level in Leeds City, I think Director Motegi will definitely recall you to the national team. This transfer
It is very crucial for your career. Don't think about anything and just play like you did in Flash Stars. With Hu Lai by your side, I believe you will quickly adapt to everything here."
“Well, I will try my best, Mr. Mitsui.”
After receiving the answer, Mitsui Takahiro turned his attention to the drunkard again and said half-jokingly: "Why don't we also buy a wine cabinet here, and then set a goal and strive to fill the cabinet with the best champagne in the room!"
He was teasing, but unexpectedly Morikawa Junpei nodded: "Okay."
This made Mitsui Takahiro a little surprised, and he glanced at Morikawa Junpei.
Morikawa Junpei didn't say anything, he just looked at the cabinet of "best of the match" in trance.
The Japanese team without Junpei Morikawa did not encounter any resistance in the first game of the Asian Cup. The powerful defending champion defeated Thailand, the second-tier team in the group, with a score of 3:0.
Hiroto Motegi, the head coach of this team, does have the confidence not to recruit Junpei Morikawa.
In fact, the Japanese media was only surprised and surprised that Junpei Morikawa was not selected for the national team in the first two games after the World Cup. Then the popularity of this topic quickly died down.
As for the fact that Junpei Morikawa didn't even participate in the Asian Cup...it's not even news in Japanese football.
There are too many talents in Japanese football. The midfielders of the current Japanese national team all come from the main players in the five major European leagues. Talents among his peers like Tatsuya Sugiyama can only play as a substitute in this national team.
As the Asian Cup champion last season, the Japanese team has one and only one purpose in participating in the Asian Cup this time, and that is to defend the title.
They have successfully defended their title once in history, that time in the 2004 Asian Cup in China. In the final, the Japanese team defeated the host China team with a controversial goal.
What they have to do now is to defend their title undisputedly.
And based on this, we will strive for an unprecedented three consecutive Asian Cup championships. Before this, no national team has been able to achieve this.
In the 71-year history of the Asian Cup, a total of four national teams have successfully defended the title.
South Korea won the Asian Cup in 1956 and 1960.
Next is Iran, who won consecutive Asian Cups from 1968 to 1972.
Saudi Arabia "scored twice" in 1984 and 1988.
The youngest team to win two consecutive championships is the Japanese team, which won the championship twice in 2000 and 2004.
But no team has been able to win the Asian Cup three times in a row.
The Japanese team now first needs to become the first team in the history of the Asian Cup to successfully defend the title twice.
Judging from this first game alone, they are indeed in full champion shape.
So it’s not a big deal that Junpei Morikawa is not in the Japanese national team.
The Asian Cup lost to Iraq 0:2 in the first game, which put the Chinese team under tremendous pressure.
Fortunately, in the second group match four days later, the Chinese team defeated Palestine, the weakest team in the group, 4:1 in what was considered a last-ditch battle.
Hu Lai scored twice in this game, finally venting all the frustration he felt after not scoring a single goal in the previous game.
The remaining two goals were scored by Wang Guangwei with a header from a corner kick, and the other was scored by Luo Kai from a long shot.
This victory allowed the Chinese team to avoid the embarrassing result of being eliminated early.
Despite winning the game, there was still a steady stream of criticism in the public opinion after the game.
Because the Chinese team lost the ball.
Faced with Palestine, the weakest team in this group, they still conceded goals. Naturally, this performance cannot satisfy the Chinese fans who have high hopes for the national team.
From their point of view, defeating Palestine is not worth mentioning at all. Because if the Chinese team cannot even win against Palestine, it can be disbanded.
What makes them dissatisfied is that facing such a weak Palestine, the Chinese team's defense can concede goals.
So when facing stronger opponents, with this kind of defensive performance, how can we ensure that our goal will not be sieved?
If the attack fails to penetrate the opponent's defense like it did against Iraq, and our own goal allows the opponent to score, how can we still play the game?
Compared with the picturesque frontcourt, the level of China's midfield and backcourt is a bit...hard to describe.
This is also a problem that has existed since the last top 12 tournament, and even Shi Wuyin has not solved this problem.
After the World Cup, more than one Chinese fan lamented on the Internet: If the Chinese team's defense could be better, with our offensive firepower, would we be able to achieve a historic victory in the World Cup? Or even... Is it still possible?
Can you advance to the knockout rounds of the World Cup?
It seems that the defensive problem has not yet been solved. The Chinese team has not conceded goals in all the games so far, whether it is a major competition such as the World Cup or Asian Cup, or a friendly match.
The last time they kept a clean sheet in an official game was back in the second leg of the play-offs on November 19, 2025, which will go down in history.
The Chinese team defeated Paraguay 2:0 at home and reached the World Cup finals for the first time in history.
Lin Zhiyuan saved the opponent's penalty kick during the game. The Chinese team's defense seemed to be hanging up, allowing the Paraguayans not to score a single goal in the 90 minutes.
Since then, the Chinese team’s defense has never had such a highlight moment.
Goals must be conceded in every game, at least one goal and at most four goals.
Nowadays, even against a weak team like Palestine, they can concede goals, which really makes Chinese fans a little upset.
The problem starts with the midfield defense. In the midfield barrier, after Gao Ruimin was injured, the Chinese team could only rely on veteran Jiang Wanqing, who is about to turn 34 years old.
Although Jiang Wanqing performed very tenaciously in the World Cup, his ability and physical condition have indeed declined too much compared to his peak period.
Precisely because of the inability to intercept in the midfield, situations often occur where the opponent's offense directly faces the back line. In this way, the pressure on the back line will be very high.
As for the position of defensive midfielder, whether it is the new generation or the Mesozoic generation, currently, neither is too reassuring.
How Chinese football is short of players at this position may be evident from one thing:
This time, Junpei Morikawa did not participate in the Asian Cup, which did not cause any disturbance in Japan. However, in China, some fans lamented: It would be great if Junpei Morikawa had not participated in the game on behalf of the Japanese national team. Chinese football can completely consider naturalization.
he.
After all, Japanese football has a lot of talents in the midfield and looks down upon Junpei Morikawa, but Chinese football does! Junpei Morikawa made great contributions to the Shining Stars' successful relegation last season. He was also selected as the best foreign aid in the Chinese Super League after the game.
line-up.
Now they have gone a step further and went to Leeds.
Suddenly he became a Premier League-level player.
Isn’t such an excellent defensive midfielder exactly what Chinese football needs?
This post actually received support from many people on the Internet, which shows how desperate Chinese fans are about the strength of Chinese football in the position of defensive midfielder. Of course, most of the people who came to like and express support were Anton Shen
Fans of the Stars, everyone has a good impression of this Japanese player who is diligent on the field and low-key and humble off the field. They are no longer as resistant as when they first heard that the Stars Club was going to introduce a "little Japanese".
It is a pity that Junpei Morikawa has already played for the Japanese team. According to FIFA regulations, it is absolutely impossible to transfer to China and play for the Chinese team.
Furthermore, the Chinese Football Association’s attitude towards naturalized players also makes this matter destined to be nothing more than fanboyism on the Internet, and they will drool while watching Japanese football.
It’s simply like “drought leads to death from drought, and waterlogging leads to death from waterlogging”…
