The Japanese fans in the stands were a little disappointed with the team's performance.
Because after the game starts, the Chinese team is more often dominant, and the Chinese team has far more opportunities to threaten their goal than the Japanese team has to threaten the Chinese team's goal.
Although it was the same in last year's Asian Cup, it is our home court now!
How could the Japanese team be given the upper hand by the Chinese team at their home court?
"Actually, we were able to overpower the Japanese team in the past."
Watching the game broadcast on TV, Hu Lixin sighed and said with emotion.
Xie Lan nodded: "Yes, yes, didn't we beat them in the Asian Cup last year?"
Hu Lixin glanced at her: "No, it was earlier."
"Ah? Earlier? How early is earlier?" Xie Lan was surprised.
Hu Lixin thought about it carefully, silently calculating in his mind how long ago it was, and then said: "About thirty, almost forty years ago."
Xie Lan was stunned for a moment: "When was that?"
"The 1980s and 1990s."
"Ah, so early...
"At that time, we couldn't beat South Korea, but we still had an advantage when facing Japan." Hu Lixin explained to his wife.
Hu Lixin, who was born in 1973, was in the final stage of the era of China's professional football system during his teenage years.
Although Chinese football, which was built on a national system, has not reached the World Cup finals, it was barely considered a second-tier top player in Asian football at that time, and could occasionally squeeze into the first-tier.
In front of Chinese football, Japanese football is like Japan during the time when it was sent to the Tang Dynasty. It is a complete little brother.
Perhaps due to conflicting tactics, it was difficult for the Chinese team to defeat South Korea at that time, but they often did not fall behind when facing Japan on the field.
Looking at the current situation of Japanese football, and thinking back to those days, it is really sad:
After all, even if we dare to play against Japan in an away game, we will be bragging and proud for a while.
Over the past thirty or forty years, football in the two countries has taken completely opposite paths.
Fortunately, Chinese football launched in-depth reforms in 2015, which finally stopped the downward trend at the critical juncture when Chinese football was about to fall into the abyss.
That's why today's scene happened.
It makes elderly fans like Hu Lixin feel like they are back in their youth.
When those young Chinese fans kept exclaiming "I'm so fucking awesome" in front of the TV and on the Internet, the old fans in their 50s and 60s felt that this was just Chinese football returning to its original position.
And this time it's not just as simple as returning to the original position, they will continue to move upward, getting rid of the air conditioning and ridicule.
Finally, we arrived at the place that everyone had only seen in dreams, but no one had ever been to.
※※※Sugiyama Tatsuya received the ball in the midfield, and he was immediately followed by Xia Xiaoyu - the person who defended Sugiyama Tatsuya in this game was not starting midfielder Gao Ruimin, but Xia Xiaoyu.
Although Xia Xiaoyu is not a midfielder specifically responsible for defense.
This is an unexpected arrangement by Dillon.
Logically speaking, Xia Xiaoyu is the organizing midfielder. Although he also has to defend, his defensive ability is obviously not as good as that of a defensive midfielder who specializes in defense.
But Dillon still asked him to defend Tatsuya Sugiyama.
It's because in Dillon's view, Sugiyama Tatsuya is already a European player - he went abroad to play football earlier than Hu Lai.
Although Gao Ruimin is a midfielder who specializes in defense, when playing domestically, Gao Ruimin is only an Asian-level player in terms of thinking and ability.
On the contrary, Xia Xiaoyu has played in Alvara for more than two seasons, and his understanding and ability of football tend to be European.
In other words, he can keep up with Tatsuya Sugiyama's pace.
Therefore, letting Xia Xiaoyu guard against Tatsuya Sugiyama would be more effective than letting Gao Ruimin guard against him.
Therefore, Xia Xiaoyu has a heavy task and a lot of pressure in this game.
Not only did he have to contain Tatsuya Sugiyama's performance in defense, he also had to actively advance forward in offense to support Zhang Qinghuan who was entangled by Junpei Morikawa.
When Xia Xiaoyu faced Tatsuya Sugiyama with the ball, he did not rush to steal the ball directly. Instead, he always stayed close to Tatsuya Sugiyama and used physical confrontation to interfere with the opponent's possession of the ball.
Under his close guarding, Sugiyama Tatsuya could only distribute the football to the wing.
But Xia Xiaoyu didn't let him go. Even without the ball, he still followed Tatsuya Sugiyama.
The Chinese team has as many as five players in the midfield. He is not worried that following Tatsuya Sugiyama's activities will cause any loopholes in the middle of the midfield.
And Gao Ruimin, the specialized midfielder.
Moreover, the Japanese team is different from the Chinese team in that they do not have a dual core in the midfield, only Tatsuya Sugiyama is the core of the organization and offense.
The Japanese team's attack ultimately failed.
After the football was passed to the left wing, the Japanese team's left midfielder Yuki Maruyama failed to stop the ball. He stopped the ball slightly and was intercepted by Luo Kai on the right.
"Luo Kai! Well done!
Luo Kai, who succeeded in stealing the ball, did not hesitate at all and quickly pushed the football forward, avoiding Maruyama Yukishi who came to counterattack.
He got out of the way of Maruyama Koshi who overran him, restarted, caught up with the football, and took the ball forward along the sideline!
The Japanese fans in the stands exclaimed.
Because this scene somewhat reminded them of the last round of the Premier League, when Luo Kai, wearing a Tramed jersey, attacked at high speed along the sideline.
"Stop him quickly!!"
The Japanese fans in the stands pointed at Luo Kai's dash and screamed in surprise.
Amid the exclamations, Luo Kai had already dribbled the ball past the center line.
The defensive midfielder Tsunoda of the Japanese team ran diagonally from the center, preparing to stop Luo Kai.
Luo Kai didn't bother much with him. He swayed his upper body and lowered his shoulders to the left, as if he was about to cut in.
After tricking Tsunoda Man into slowing down to prevent an inward cut, Luo Kai used the outside instep of his right foot to move the football forward, then accelerated to chase the ball. He just threw away Tsunoda Man cleanly!
When the latter reacted and started to chase, it was already difficult to catch up with Luo Kai, who was so fast...
"Beautiful! Luo Kai! Breakthrough from the wing!!"
Unlike before when he played as a right winger for the national team, Luo Kai, who now plays as a right midfielder, retreats deeper and further back, so he has more space to sprint and can give full play to his speed advantage.
Facing the Japanese team's left back Kawasaki Eiji who intercepted him in front, Luo Kai finally slowed down. The opponent chose a good position and he could not continue to rely on speed to force a breakthrough.
Just slow down.
At the same time, Zhang Qinghuan rushed from the middle to meet him. Of course, Morikawa Junpei was also following him.
After Luo Kai slowed down, he also tried to shake Kawasaki Eiji away with a fake move, but the latter remained unmoved.
This full-back who plays in Serie A is also a Europeanized Japanese player. He has rich experience and is not afraid at all when facing Luo Kai.
Seeing this, Luo Kai could only give up the idea of forcing a breakthrough and passed the football to Zhang Qinghuan who came up to meet him.
As soon as the ball was passed, Luo Kai accelerated and crossed into the penalty area.
Kawasaki Eiji quickly followed and retreated.
In this case, he would not be able to defend Zhang Qinghuan with Junpei Morikawa.
Facing Morikawa Junpei's defense, Zhang Qinghuan made a move to pass the ball directly, as if he wanted to hit the wall with Luo Kai. After Morikawa Junpei stretched his feet to block, his toes gently knocked the football away from Morikawa Junpei.
Push it between your legs!
At the same time, he ducked out of the way, then accelerated and started to cut in and move laterally from behind Junpei Morikawa!
Junpei Morikawa, who was passed over by Zhang Qinghuan, did not give up. He reached out to pull Zhang Qinghuan's jersey, but Zhang Qinghuan broke away!
He quickly turned around and rushed back again.
Zhang Qinghuan raised his right foot and tried to pass the ball at a 45-degree angle outside the penalty area.
Morikawa Junpei caught up with him and stretched his legs to block it.
Turns out this was another fake move!
Zhang Qinghuan raised his foot not to cross, but to step on the football!
Morikawa Junpei rushed over...
After getting away from Junpei Morikawa, Zhang Qinghuan used the soles of his feet to pull the football back and get out of the way to pass the ball!
This time he made a real pass!
Junpei Morikawa has been completely shaken away, and there is no way to stop him. He can only watch the ball being passed directly backward by Brother Huan!
There Zhou Zijing got in from behind and jumped up high!
Under the premise that Hu Lai helped him attract the two central defenders of the Japanese team, the defensive force he faced was very weak!
He almost hit the football over the head of the Japanese team's right back Yoshitoki Kiyota who took off in a hurry!
Even though the angle was not big, he still pushed the football toward the goal!
Although the Japanese team goalkeeper Nobuo Nishiguchi jumped up to save, he was still helpless in the face of Zhou Zijing's header that was so close...
Before he could block the near post, the football flew into the goal!
The Chinese team, who dared to show their sword, poked a hole in the Japanese team!