In the first ten minutes of the game, the Chinese team had mixed feelings.
Except for the goalkeeper, almost all the players gathered around Sun Jihai, seemingly performing some kind of ritual.
"Brother Sun, how are you doing, Brother Sun?"
"Brother Sun, lie down, don't move around, and take a rest first."
"Brother Sun, don't worry, we will persist until the end..."
Sun Jihai: "..."
"I'm not dead yet!" Sun Jihai cursed angrily.
"Why are you making such an expression?"
"I've earned it!"
"Don't forget that five years ago, I didn't even get a penalty kick!"
After hearing Sun Jihai mention five years ago, many old team members fell silent again.
Especially Li Tie. Although Zheng Zhi is the captain, Li Tie's big brother status cannot be shaken by the word "captain".
"Old Sun, don't worry, we are on the field. We will never make it easy for the RBs who are living a good life!"
"Tie Zi..." Sun Jihai took a deep breath, relaxed his tight and curved back, and lay down directly on the turf.
"Why is the sky so gray..." Sun Jihai looked at the sky above his head and slowly closed his eyes.
The team doctor hurried onto the field with a medicine box, put Sun Jihai on a stretcher, and hurriedly ran towards the sidelines.
"Wait a minute."
Wang Xiaodong suddenly chased after the third team doctor, grabbed the medical kit in his hand, and took out a pair of sunglasses from inside.
After feeling something blocking his eyes, Sun Jihai opened his eyes and saw a sky that was darker than the gray before.
"Thank you, Xiaodong."
"It's nothing, Brother Sun. A hero won't let others see his tears."
The camera zoomed in, and the fans only saw the corners of Sun Jihai's mouth turned up slightly on the stretcher, revealing a smile.
Different from five years ago, at this moment, China Taiyang's heart felt much more stable.
The referee from Iraq made a decisive decision. He took the lead in awarding a penalty kick before anyone else could react.
First, he covered the mouths of the Chinese players with a penalty kick, and then quickly showed a yellow card over the head of the fouled Kadi Liang.
Seeing that it was a yellow card, those Japanese players who still wanted to explain quickly changed their camps and stood in front of the indignant Chinese players one by one, preventing them from approaching the referee.
A tackle foul in the penalty area is a red dot feast.
But somehow, under the penalty imposed by the Iraqi coach, Kadiryo and the Japanese team escaped this disaster.
In the stands, Milu saw the clues at a glance.
"It seems that Iraq is very confident in defeating Vietnam!"
"That's right, Mr. Milu." The Chinese reporter accompanying Milu smiled bitterly, "And in the eyes of the other party, our Chinese team is more of a threat than the Japanese team. Alas, I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing."
The quarterfinals this time were hailed by the media as a competition between China, Japan and South Korea VS the two countries, Iran and Australia.
In addition to the above-mentioned six teams, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia do not seem to be favored.
But in fact, except for Vietnam, the other seven teams are basically on the same level and have a high chance of winning the championship.
This is the Asian Cup!
Compared with the Chinese team, other teams are strong teams; compared with the Intercontinental Cup, all teams are weak teams.
The arrival of Wang Xiaodong seems to have changed the rules of the game. 5-0 Malaysia, 3-3 Iran, 5-1 Uzbekistan. The Chinese team has never played such a hearty score in the past.
Iraq, the top eight team, got a good draw and met Vietnam, the weakest team in the top eight.
Although the opponent is one of the hosts, even in the midst of war, Iraq still has a high chance of defeating the opponent and advancing to the semi-finals.
Therefore, choosing a weaker opponent among the semi-finals has become the next step for Iraq.
The Chinese team originally brought two goalkeepers. Li Leilei's condition is not very good. Even if the national football team is promoted, he may not be able to play in the next game; and Yang Jun is a goalkeeper without any competition experience, and he does not know whether Zhu Guanghu is How could he be selected among goalkeepers such as Zong Lei, Liu Yunfei and Zeng Cheng.
You know, in the just-concluded Toulon Cup, it was the penalty saved by Zeng Cheng that helped the National Olympics advance to the Toulon Cup finals. Such a brilliant performance was not selected for the second goal of the national team. Once it was questioned by fans and media.
The goalkeeper is weak, and now they have lost another right-back general. The Chinese team's complete lineup is being disintegrated by injuries little by little due to the accumulation of schedule.
Originally, the fans were not happy after the yellow cards of Zheng Zhi and Li Datou were eliminated. Now that they saw their Chinese Sunshine being carried out of the stadium again, everyone's hearts became tense again.
"Even if you beat the Japanese team, how can you compete with the next opponent with such a disfigurement?"
"Oh! Just stop talking about that. Let's get through this game first and then talk about it!"
"Yes, a penalty kick. The penalty kick hasn't been taken yet! When the penalty kick is scored, even if we hold on to this goal, 1-0 will be enough for us to advance!"
In the stands, fans whispered to each other.
In the eyes of the fans, 1-0 may be the best way to advance.
...
Zhu Guanghu stood up from his seat when Sun Jihai fell in the penalty area. He looked panicked and kept shouting.
Until Sun Jihai was carried off the court, he did not step forward to take a look. He continued to give loud instructions on the sidelines and designate free throw players.
In fact, Sun Jihai has always been Zhu Guanghu's "favorite general".
During the Jianlibao selection, Zhu Guanghu twice suggested bringing Sun Jihai on board.
But at that time, he was also a man of low reputation and was just an ordinary coach who had just been selected from domestic auditions. Therefore, even when Jianlibao returned to China for the first time, Sun Jihai had never been to Brazil once.
Even so, Sun Jihai still relied on his own ability to play domestically, and also moved to Crystal Palace and later Manchester City.
In this Asian Cup, Zhu Guanghu brought Sun Jihai with him without any hesitation, which is enough to show Sun Jihai's status in his mind.
But now, when his favorite player desperately used an ankle to get a penalty kick, Zhu Guanghu's heart was indeed in chaos.
He remembered the military order he had made before setting off for the expedition. Now the Chinese team had less than 80 minutes left to reach the semi-finals.
"Wang Xiaodong! Zhao Xuri, go and tell Zheng Zhi that this ball is for Wang Xiaodong to kick. He can kick it accurately. It is for Wang Xiaodong to kick!" Zhu Guanghu howled for a long time on the sidelines until he saw Zhao Xuri running After Zheng Zhi ran, he shut his mouth, straightened his scattered tie, and then came to Sun Jihai's stretcher.
"Jihai, are you okay?"
Sun Jihai shook his head: "Coach, I'm fine. But, it seems I'm done here, the next game..."
"Jihai, what you have done here is enough, the fans will remember your contribution! Don't worry about the next game, you have to believe in your teammates on the field! I believe they will..."
"Coach, I believe it!" Sun Jihai suddenly laughed, "I feel more at ease now than ever."
"That's good, that's good!" Although he didn't understand why Sun Jihai was so confident, Zhu Guanghu still nodded and said, "Xiao Liu, let Jihai deal with it quickly. If it doesn't work, you should call Call an ambulance.”
After saying that, Zhu Guanghu turned to Du Wei and warned: "After you go up, stand in the middle. Tell Yao Kun to let him play on the right side. We just need to defend the right side well. We don't seek merit, but we seek no faults. Do you understand?"
"Um."
Du Wei nodded, and after seeing the fourth official holding up his sign, he hurried onto the stage with his arms in hand.
On the court, Zhao Xuri also ran to Zheng Zhi's side and conveyed Zhu Guanghu's message.
Zheng Zhi nodded, pulled Wang Xiaodong aside and said, "Xiaodong, the coach said you should take the penalty on this ball."
"I'll take the penalty?" Wang Xiaodong pointed to his nose, "I remember I'm not the first free throw shooter, right? Aren't you and Brother Li in front of me?"
"Yes, but the coach named you to play this time." Zheng Zhi said helplessly.
"Why?"
"Why?" Zheng Zhi was stunned when he heard Wang Xiaodong's question.
Over the years, every member of the national team has extremely obeyed the instructions of the captain and coach. They acted immediately after receiving the order and never sloppily followed.
Inability to do something is a matter of lack of ability and awareness. As long as there is guidance to do it step by step, no one will choose to refute it.
The reason is simple, those players with personality simply cannot be selected.
Of course, today's Wang Xiaodong is an exception.
"Uh... Xiaodong, you see you are now the top scorer in our team, and also the top scorer in the entire Asian Cup. With this penalty kick, you might even get the top scorer in the Asian Cup. Do you think so?" Zheng Zhi patiently explained to the team members for the first time.
"Top scorer in the Asian Cup?" Wang Xiaodong muttered. He had never thought about this before.
After thinking for a moment, Wang Xiaodong nodded, "Okay, it's not that difficult to be the top scorer in the Asian Cup. Since the coach requires it, I will strive for the facts."
"Okay, that's good." Zheng Zhi nodded repeatedly, then patted Wang Xiaodong on the back, "Xiaodong, don't be nervous, we are behind you...Eh? Xiaodong, why are you still standing? Go and shoot the free throw. !”
