"Good evening to all those watching in front of the TV!"
"What you are seeing now is the quarter-final match of the 14th Asian Cup. Today's battles are between China and Japan."
"Before the game, the Chinese team's head coach Zhu Guanghu said to reporters that the Chinese team's Asian Cup will only officially start from this game, and they are very confident to win."
"The team's star player Wang Xiaodong also stated in an interview that he has a strong determination to defeat his opponent. From this point of view, this game will be a very fierce game."
"The starting lineup of the Chinese team today is goalkeeper No. 22 Yang Jun; the four defenders are No. 3 Sun Xiang, No. 4 Zhang Yaokun, No. 5 Li Weifeng, and No. 7 Sun Jihai; the four midfielders are No. 8 Li Iron, No. 15 Zheng Zhi, No. 10 Wang Xiaodong and No. 12 Zhao Xuri; the two forwards are No. 11 Dong Fangzhuo and No. 6 Shao Jiayi."
"Except for goalkeeper Li Leilei's ankle injury, the starting lineup for this game is basically the same as the first game of the group stage."
"As for the Japanese team, the starting goalkeeper is No. 1 Kawaguchi Nokatsu; the three defenders are No. 3 Yuichi Komano, No. 22 Yuji Nakazawa, and No. 21 Ryo Kachi; the five midfielders are No. 7 Yasuhito Endo, No. 10 Shunsuke Nakamura, No. 13 Keita Suzuki, No. 6 Yuki Abe, and No. 14 Noritake Nakamura; the two forwards are No. 11 Hisahito Sato and No. 19 Naotai Takahara."
"Although it is a 352 formation, the Japanese team's lineup has always been called the 'third forward'. We must be careful of No. 10 Shunsuke Nakamura's long-range shot. This former Japanese footballer's free kick skills are outstanding."
The Chinese team entered the quarterfinals as the first in the group with two wins and one draw, scoring 13 goals against their opponents; while the Chinese team advanced to the quarterfinals with one win and two draws and was second in the group, and also moved to Malaysia from Vietnam, so The Chinese team immediately launched an attack after the game started and was bound to overwhelm the opponent.
In front of the Japanese team, which has stronger overall coordination, a defensive mentality will not work.
No matter how stupid Zhu Guanghu is, he still knows this truth.
So as soon as he started, he ordered his players to use their speed and height to attack the opponent's defense line, trying to control the rhythm of the game, win quickly, and never give the opponent any chance to come back.
This approach is actually a bit risky. After all, for most team members, physical strength itself is a problem.
In this way, it is equivalent to putting the treasure in the first half. Once the situation cannot be opened, even if Wang Xiaodong is a perpetual motion machine, it will be of no help without the cooperation of his teammates.
However, Lao Zhu's opening play met the fans' expectations.
If the national football team uses traditional Italian defensive counterattacks to win 1-0, fans may not necessarily be happy to see it.
...
In the stadium, Sun Jihai dribbled the ball along the wing alone.
It didn't take long before he found a Japanese team member wearing a blue robe blocking his path. He just glanced at the opponent and realized that the opponent was running towards him.
Sun Jihai slowed down his pace and slowly approached his opponent.
Endo Yasuhito looked at Sun Jihai nervously. He knew that the Chinese in front of him was the second-ranked star in the opponent's team.
As Manchester City's meritorious full-back, Sun Jihai, who has returned to the national team, can definitely play as a winger.
Therefore, in this position, Endo Yasuhito did not dare to be careless at all, and always maintained an appropriate distance from Sun Jihai to prevent his opponent from suddenly speeding up and throwing him away.
Out of the corner of his eye, Sun Jihai noticed that his opponent did not rush over, but paused and followed him towards the baseline.
Just when the pace of the two people was getting closer to the same pace, Yasuhito Endo suddenly tilted his body and leaned directly over, trying to squeeze Sun Jihai out of the baseline.
But Sun Taiyang was not a vegetarian. He accelerated sharply to avoid the opponent's center of gravity, barely avoiding the opponent's collision.
In order to maintain control of the ball, Sun Jihai had no choice but to slow down after catching up with the ball again.
Sun Jihai, who was born in 1977, is 30 years old this year. He has a premonition that he will return to China to play football soon. Next year's Olympic Games may be the last national team competition in his career.
Whether it is speed or strength, he is no longer the strong winger who could play on the right line five years ago.
During the struggle with his opponent, Sun Taiyang clearly felt that if he and his opponent had to compete physically and quickly, he might not be able to win. Even if you win for a while, you can't hold on for the whole game.
For Sun Yangyang at this moment, what he needs is not the body, but experience.
Seeing that Sun Taiyang brought the ball forward to Ibrahimovic again, just when Yasuhito Endo wanted to push his opponent away with more force, Sun Jihai held the ball with his left hand, and then stopped the ball backward with the outside instep of his right foot. The body turned accordingly.
Endo Yasuhito never expected that Sun Jihai would brake so decisively. He lost all center of gravity due to carelessness and staggered forward to the right.
Brief answer: Sun Taiyang got rid of his opponent so "easily", and the red fans in the stands cheered loudly. Now is the perfect time to attack!
Bypassing Endo Yasuhito who almost fell, Sun Jihai glanced at the middle and made a pass.
Looking at the ball flying in the air, Dong Fangzhuo knew that the ball was passed to him, so when Sun Jihai shook Endo Yasuhito away, he decisively moved towards the opponent's goal.
But soon, he found that he was not moving so smoothly.
Although Japan only has three defenders, the two defensive midfielders can easily retreat when defending and instantly stand up in a five-back formation.
Among so many defensive players, Dong Fangzhuo could not squeeze through no matter how hard he squeezed, and the pass was finally saved by Kawaguchi.
Seeing that the opportunity was missed like this, the team members couldn't help but feel a little regretful.
However, there are many crosses like this from the Chinese team. As long as you seize an opportunity, it is enough for the opponent to drink.
It seems that Dong Fangzhuo hasn't played against an East Asian team for a long time. In fact, today's game is no better than in the Premier League. When he makes reasonable use of his body, it is his opponents who often suffer.
Seeing such a result, even Zhu Guanghu couldn't help shouting on the sidelines: "Body, body!"
"Push in, squeeze in!"
"Even if you don't score, you still have to create opportunities for other teammates, right?"
Shouting was not enough. Zhu Guanghu was so anxious that he used his hands and feet at the same time and kept gesturing to the players.
It seems that he also knows that no matter whether he reaches the semi-finals of the Asian Cup this time, his position as coach will not be guaranteed.
...
Kawaguchi was able to throw the ball with his hands to start the attack. Ryo Kachi quickly handed the ball to Shunsuke Nakamura, and his captain advanced towards the Chinese team's half.
However, before midfield, Shunsuke Nakamura found a red figure appearing in front of him.
Wang Xiaodong, who is 1.85 meters tall, appeared in front of him at some point and glanced at the opponent's eyes. He seemed to be saying: "You can either choose to pass the ball, or you can give it a try."
Shunsuke Nakamura hurriedly slowed down. Although he plays in the Scottish Premiership, Wang Xiaodong's name is still very loud in the British Isles.
Although he really wanted to test whether Wang Xiaodong was as exaggerated as reported in the newspaper, it didn't seem appropriate at the moment.
No matter what, let’s bring the ball to the opponent’s half first!
Shunsuke Nakamura stopped the ball with his foot and gently pulled it back, as if waiting for someone.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced at his left side and saw a figure wearing a blue jersey cutting in at the high speed.
Suddenly, a flash of red flashed in Nakamura's peripheral vision.
The Japanese captain, wearing the No. 10 blue jersey, grinned, "Oh, I'm just waiting for you to come!"
In an instant, Nakamura pulled the ball backwards again, then swung it to the side with his right leg as the axis, turning sideways to let Wang Xiaodong's attack pass.
Taking a peek at his teammates on the wing was just a cover. His actual idea was to use this to attract Wang Xiaodong to make a move, and then use his body to avoid the opponent.
But soon, he discovered that he had underestimated his opponent.
Wang Xiaodong was right to grab it, and the direction and target angle of his force were also within Shunsuke Nakamura's plan.
But Wang Xiaodong was not a well-designed program. After noticing Nakamura Shunsuke's intention to escape, he quickly moved his body to the left, and even used his left side without center of gravity to resist the turning Nakamura.
Bang!
Nakamura, who turned with the inertia, had just turned halfway when his back shoulder suddenly felt pain, as if he had hit a concrete wall.
Before he could react, Wang Xiaodong took advantage of the situation and reached directly between Shunsuke Nakamura's legs with his right foot, kicking the ball out of Nakamura's control.
Blue No. 10 subconsciously ran forward, trying to control the ball by blocking his body, but he didn't expect the figure behind him to move faster than him.
In other words, Red No. 10 acted more decisively than him.
The impact from his side almost caused Shunsuke Nakamura to lose his center of gravity and staggered to the side.
In an instant, Wang Xiaodong, who had squeezed away the Japanese captain, caught up with the ball and walked away.
He rushed to a place thirty meters in front of the penalty area and kicked it violently. Fortunately, Kawaguchi Nora maintained high-intensity concentration. He jumped up and blocked Wang Xiaodong's powerful shot. Then he quickly climbed up and held the ball in his arms.
Looking at the Japanese goalkeeper who was holding the ball and dying, Wang Xiaodong slowly retreated.
In this way, the two teams were tied in the first ten minutes. But in the first showdown between the two teams' No. 10s, people with a discerning eye made a distinction based on their performance.
...
In the 14th minute, the Chinese team once again got an offensive opportunity.
Wang Xiaodong took the ball in the midfield and headed forward.
After receiving Wang Xiaodong's gesture guidance, Sun Jihai quickly went to the bottom.
In the eyes of outsiders, Sun Jihai was just a cross-change with Zhao Xuri, but Endo Yasuhito did not let Sun Jihai go down easily like this and hurriedly followed him.
But when Wang Xiaodong dribbled the ball diagonally past Zhao Xuri, he did not hand the ball to Sun Jihai as the other players thought, but directly rushed forward with the ball.
Every moment on the court is changing, and even a previously thought-out plan may change its mind at the last second.
At this time, Sun Jihai, who was at the bottom, did not stop immediately, but turned around and rushed straight into the penalty area.
For a moment, the two Japanese defenders felt like they didn't know who to guard. They glanced left and right, looking for teammates who were making up defense.
"Li Jie, come out! I'll deal with Ferrari!" Yang Pan waved his hand outward, signaling Li Jie to get out of the way. Li Jie also obeyed and walked out without saying a word.
Seeing the opponent's No. 6 Yuki Abe looking for someone, Wang Xiaodong pushed his foot and suddenly a through ball came out.
Seeing this, Sun Jihai kicked his right leg hard and strode forward.
At this moment, Wang Xiaodong's through ball also passed through Nakazawa Yuji's crotch and rolled diagonally in front of him against the turf.
Jia Diangliang in the middle saw his opponent about to form a one-on-one attack, rushed forward with all his strength, and fell to the ground to tackle.
At that moment, Sun Jihai took another step forward and kicked the ball away first.
At this time, Kadi Liang's foot that originally tackled the ball directly tackled Sun Jihai's ankle.
"Ouch!"
Sun Taiyang let out a wail and threw himself forward in the Japanese team's penalty area, his whole body trembling.
"Beep!!!"
The referee's whistle also sounded at this moment. He ran into the penalty area and pointed at the penalty spot!
"Penalty kick!" He Wei's voice came through the microphone.
"Sun Jihai fell in the Japanese team's penalty area. There was no other problem with the ball. The referee awarded a penalty kick! In the 15th minute of the first half, the Chinese team got a penalty kick!"
