"Schalke's top scorer Huntelaar returned after a two-game truce, Yang Feng returned to the bench, Metzelder replaced Papadopoulos who was suspended due to a red card, Atsuhito Uchida served as the starting right back, and Jurado and Pukki replaced Holtby and Obasi.
For Hamburg, Yarolim is suspended due to accumulating 5 yellow cards..."
Yang Feng and Son Heung-min sit on the bench, while supporting actor Atsuhito Uchida starts?
Asian derby, a lonely game.
In fact, based on Yang Feng's performance during this period, he is almost qualified to start, but the team has only been back from the Netherlands for three days, and he played for 70 minutes in that game.
Yang Feng is not born with a perpetual motion machine that can't run to death. In addition, he has just reached adulthood and his physical condition has not yet reached its peak, so physical fitness is actually one of his shortcomings. He can play for seventy or eighty minutes with full concentration. The gas tank is almost bottomed out.
However, youth has the advantage of being young and has a strong recovery ability. Even if he is asked to start this game, he can actually play, but his recent training condition is not very good. Stevens obviously also believes more in Huntelaar and Law. It's just a veteran combination like you.
However, it was not the striker pair that opened the scoring for the team, but a clever connection in the midfield and backcourt.
Less than 5 minutes into the game, Uchida Atsuto took a pass from Hegel and inserted it into the right side of the penalty area and then made a pass. Puki headed the ball 6 meters away and broke the net, 1-0.
The two highly anticipated Asians became spectators, while another Asian who had almost been forgotten started and gave the team a dream start. The mentality of the fans from China, Japan and South Korea is really difficult to describe.
What people didn't expect was that after taking the lead, Schalke became passive.
In the 18th minute, Dickmeier quickly broke through from the right and crossed to the front of the penalty area. Ilicevic stepped into the left side of the penalty area and kicked off, but Uchida Atsuto blocked the crossbar.
In the first 18 minutes of this game, Uchida was indeed the best player on the field, making great contributions on both offense and defense.
"Uchida-kun finally woke up!"
"Let the Germans see that Yang Feng is not the only Asian in Schalke!"
"I'm going to die laughing. The Chinese and Korean media have been speculating for a week, but in the end, our Neon People are the protagonists."
"Actually, it's mainly because of the speculation in the Korean media. Everyone on earth knows that Son Heung-min and Yang Feng are not players of the same level. Yang Feng is already at the level of Shinji Kagawa."
"No, no, no, Uchida and Kagawa are the light of Asia. China Kaede is just an alcoholic. He is not worthy to be compared with Kagawa-kun."
"You can't say that. Yang Feng is still very talented. You can't deny others just because he didn't perform well in one or two games."
"It's not me who says that, it's the Chinese people who say it themselves."
"You probably don't know that no one is more professional than Chinese fans when it comes to scolding Chinese players."
The defender being praised can only mean that the team is in crisis, and the situation on the field is indeed not very friendly to Schalke 04.
In the 22nd minute, Hamburg attacked quickly. Janssen received Arslan's ball and inserted it into the left side of the penalty area from 11 meters away. His left foot shot hit the side net.
Two minutes later, Dickmeier made a pass from the right, and Arslan volleyed directly with his right foot from 14 meters away, but Hildebrand got it from the side.
In the 25th minute, Schalke, who was on the defensive, launched a quick counterattack. Huntelaar got rid of his opponent on the right side of the midfield and sent a through ball. Jones went to the edge of the penalty area and hit the goal but was blocked by Drobny.
Jurado took this corner kick on the right side. The unguarded Metzelder unloaded the ball on his thigh from the front of the small penalty area and then volleyed with his right foot and broke the net, 2-0.
In the 29th minute, Cachar's cold shot from more than 30 meters away was saved by Hildebrand and was saved by the left post.
Two minutes later, Schalke once again launched a threatening counterattack. Huntelaar knocked across the front left side of the penalty area. Pukki inserted his right foot into the penalty area and shot a low shot, but Drobny used his toe to rub it out of the left post.
Immediately after Schalke took a left corner kick, Huntelaar was pulled down by Westerman when he was running and won a penalty kick.
The Dutchman took charge himself and made a free throw, 3-0.
Huntelaar scored his 21st league goal of the season, tied with Gomez.
In the 45th minute, Janssen made a cross from the left in the penalty area, but Matip made a clearance and kicked it to Cachar. The latter volleyed with his right foot from 14 meters away from the left. The football flew into the right side of the goal, 1-3.
Leading by two goals at halftime and with most of the victory in hand, Stevens finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He was afraid that the loss to Twente would become a gap, and the team would suffer a huge loss.
At the beginning of the second half, Raul's left-footed low shot from within the arc of the penalty area missed the right post.
In the 55th minute, Hoegel was unable to continue the game due to a strained thigh muscle, and Holtby came on as an emergency.
Hamburg did not show the determination to counterattack, and the offensive was just scratching the surface. Hamburg coach Fink finally made a big move.
Son Heung-min warms up.
On the other side, Stevens also waved to Yang Feng...
"Yang Feng is about to play, but the person he wants to replace is not Raul, but Huntelaar who just scored a penalty kick. Stevens doesn't know if he is worried that Huntelaar has not recovered from his injury or because Prepare for the second round with Twente in four days, and prepare to replace the Dutch hunter in advance.”
Huntelaar didn't look very happy. After all, he could overtake Gomez again if he scored one more goal. But since the coach had arranged it this way, he could only walk to the sidelines no matter how dissatisfied he was.
Yang Feng also thought that even if he came on the field, he would be replaced by Raul. After all, Raul also played in the Europa League three days ago, but he did not expect that Stevens would replace Huntelaar.
He first looked at Son Heung-min on the other side.
Who would have thought that this young man who looks ordinary now will become a real Asian brother in a few years, and may even be the strongest player in the history of Asian football. But now, he is standing on the same starting line with him. In the game, he was even the one who made a false start but was not called for a foul.
Sun Xingmin nodded to Yang Feng, then high-fived Ilicevic who came off the field, and quickly entered the court.
Yang Feng also reached out to touch Huntelaar and stepped onto the lawn.
"Yang Feng finally played. Although he failed to score in the Europa League last week, I hope he can continue his scoring form in the league and help the team maintain a sufficient threat to Dortmund..."
Duan Xuan's tone contained some complex emotions that even he himself was not aware of.
Yang Feng didn't have much experience abroad. He didn't know that the news about him going to the bar had been added to the story by some domestic media and turned into a nightclub. All kinds of meaningful words and guidance hit the target of Wotu fans accurately. Yang Feng, who had been molded into an inspirational role model just a few days ago, suddenly started to show signs of being beaten up by everyone.
Compared to Duan Xuan, the South Korean commentator's eyes were of course more on Son Heung-min, "Son Heung-min came on the field when the team was lagging behind! There was half an hour left in the game and the team was two goals behind. What a familiar script. ah……"
Just a month ago, Yang Feng came on as a substitute when the team fell behind 0-2 and completed a hat-trick to help the team reverse. After that, he had great success all the way and directly became the teammate of Gotze, Reus and Lewandov. Sky and other equally famous supernovas.
So even if they don't want to admit it, all Korean fans are secretly hoping that Son Heung-min can copy Yang Feng's script, score goals like Yang Feng, counterattack like that, have an epiphany, and soar into the sky.
