"Let me just say, this kid Zheng Zhi is still good!" General Fan leaned on the back of his chair and boasted to others in the stands.
Completely forgetting that a minute ago, he stood up nervously and kept uttering Shanghainese profanities.
In the stadium, although the players from both sides returned to half-time, the atmosphere in the stadium was completely different from before.
Zheng Zhi's penalty kick not only represented the Chinese team's temporary lead, but also greatly improved the morale of the national team.
Some fans who didn't know the truth even shouted loudly in the stands: "Look, a penalty kick that even Wang Xiaodong, a returnee from overseas, didn't dare to take, was scored by our captain Zheng Zhi."
"What's the use of returnees? Don't you still dare not take penalty kicks?"
"You are still young and cannot withstand the test of the competition. At critical moments, you have to have veteran players to withstand the pressure..."
No matter how many misunderstandings the fans had, after the restart, the national football team's morale was indeed high and they had a small climax by suppressing their opponents.
It seems that the Japanese team has fully understood the control characteristics of the Japanese team. The Chinese team's offensive transmission is more concise and quick.
After taking a 1-0 lead, the Chinese team tried to suppress its opponents while adhering to its own characteristics.
In the 20th minute, Yuji Nakazawa violated Wang Xiaodong in the midfield and received the first yellow card of the game.
Wang Xiaodong used a quick free kick to suddenly form a coordinated penetration in the middle. Shao Jiayi broke through to the right corner of the penalty area and passed in. Du Wei's header, which followed up, did not have any power, but the suddenness was enough to force Kawaguchi to show off. Embarrassingly blocking the ball out of the baseline.
In the 23rd minute, Wang Xiaodong's free kick was blocked by the wall. Shao Jiayi, who followed up, once again organized and passed the ball near the small penalty area. Dong Fangzhuo's goal was interfered by the opponent's defender and hit the ball high.
In the 25th minute, Zhao Xuri also got a good chance to attack in an open spot inside the penalty area, but his lob shot was confiscated by Nokawa Kawaguchi with a smile.
Three minutes later, the Chinese team used continuous passes to form a melee in the opponent's penalty area. Li Tie's close-range attack was subconsciously blocked by Kawaguchi Nomi, which once again resolved the crisis in front of the goal.
After withstanding the Chinese team's continuous pressure attacks, the Japanese team gradually began to use its overall cooperation to push the battle line from its own half to near the midline.
Especially Shunsuke Nakamura's control of the ball in the midfield. His constant running and passing made the Chinese team's frontcourt players exhausted and wasted energy in vain.
When the first half entered the last ten minutes, due to the drastic loss of physical strength of the Chinese players, they had to give up their frontcourt position and a small amount of the ball, causing tension with the opponent in the midfield.
After the previous collision, Nakamura Shunsuke also learned a lot.
He knew that it would be difficult for him to gain an advantage in a head-to-head confrontation with Wang Xiaodong.
It is not difficult to get rid of defenders like Wang Xiaodong one-on-one. All it takes is a sudden burst of speed and flexible footwork.
However, these two abilities are very rare for East Asian players. The Japanese team's research direction is football as a whole, so it is difficult for the team to have a player who is above the average level.
In this case, Shunsuke Nakamura can only choose to pass the ball every time he faces Wang Xiaodong's defense.
Although this method of "avoiding a fight" was booed by many fans at the beginning, but now, discerning people have begun to discover that Nakamura's "Tianji Horse Racing" trick is indeed used very cleverly.
As for the Japanese team, no one is willing to confront Wang Xiaodong, the "big devil".
Even some necessary physical collisions and emergency fouls are still handled by some marginal players of the Japanese team.
These players will not hesitate to receive a yellow card, and may even be replaced by the coach at any time.
But it is such a "lower horse" that constantly competes with the Chinese team's "higher horse". It not only consumes his vitality, but also makes Wang Xiaodong's advantages and strengths useless.
After "getting" Wang Xiaodong, the Japanese team used the other ten players to VS the ten players of the Chinese team, and the "game" suddenly became easy and simple.
First, in the 32nd minute, Naotai Takahara's long shot caused Yang Jun to miss. Then Norioka Nakamura moved left and right in front of the Chinese team's penalty area to find space, and his low shot went straight to the lower left corner of the goal, but Yang Jun barely saved it.
Seeing the Japanese team starting to counterattack, the fans and Zhu Guanghu became a little nervous.
"Keep it, keep it!"
"Even if this goal advantage lasts until the end of the game, we can at least go into the halftime break with a lead, right?"
"Save the siege, Bigfoot, make the siege! Don't waste time in the penalty area!"
"It's too small, let's make a clearance! Stop passing the ball randomly!"
Seeing the players intercepting the ball while on defense and then continuing to pass the ball in a small area, the fans were heartbroken.
What's the point of such a pass?
What if Bigfoot returns the ball to the opponent after making a clearance?
The main reason is that it was interrupted. Can your temporary defense organization be able to defend it?
I am really afraid of what will happen.
In the 39th minute, No. 11 Hisahito Sato successfully counterattacked at Zhang Yaokun's feet and launched a counterattack at the front of the Chinese team's penalty area.
Zhang Yaokun, who had the ball stolen, had no choice but to pull the opponent down behind him and give the opponent a set kick in the frontcourt.
Shunsuke Nakamura stood in front of the ball, slowly retreated to the right behind the ball, and it turned out to be a left-footed player!
When the international players stood on the wall, Shunsuke Nakamura started running without thinking.
A series of actions were completed in one go. Shunsuke Nakamura, who ran in front of the ball, stood still on his right foot and raised his left leg.
Whoosh! ! !
The ball flew over the head of the second wall of people on the inside, then spun rapidly and fell towards the outside.
Although Yang Jun had anticipated the path of the ball, the speed of the ball was too fast.
When he fell in front of the goal line, the ball had already hit the goal and bounced, grazing the post and flying into the net.
A world-class falling leaf slash!
"Beep!!!"
The referee gave a long whistle and pointed his finger in the circle.
"Ah! This ball was scored directly by the opponent!" He Wei's disappointed voice came from the screen.
"Nakamura Shunsuke's free kick flew over Shao Jiayi's head and then bounced in front of the goal."
"Yang Jun failed to make the save and could only watch the ball go into the net."
"Such a bouncing ball is unfriendly to all goalkeepers. It is not easy for Yang Jun to do this."
"What we should pay more attention to is the free kick ability of No. 10 Nakamura Shunsuke."
"Giving the opponent a free kick in this position is really inappropriate!"
1 to 1.
After equalizing the score before the end of the first half, the Japanese players' mentality was obviously much more relaxed.
A group of people rushed to Shunsuke Nakamura and high-fived each other, and then chattered a lot. He waved to the fans and ran back to his own half.
Looking at his opponent's back, Zheng Zhi raised his hands and patted them hard, loudly encouraging: "It's okay, don't worry about it. It's just a goal. Aren't we not behind?"
"Don't relax, the first half is over in a few minutes, so hold on to these few minutes."
"Let's keep up the good work in the second half and just hit them one more goal, right?"
"Cheer up, everyone, do you hear me???"
Perhaps Zheng Zhi's encouragement had an effect, or perhaps the Japanese team completely completed the first half's mission after equalizing the score.
In the remaining minutes, neither side launched a decent attack. Amidst the back and forth in midfield, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
In the player tunnel, Zheng Zhizheng and several other core players summarized the gains and losses in the first half. But Sun Xiang came over from behind with a grimace on his face, as if he had eaten shit.
"What's wrong with Xiao Sun? Why are you so virtuous?" Zheng Zhi pressed Sun Xiang's head, "It's okay, isn't it just equalized? What's so great about it!"
"Captain, that's not the case." Sun Xiang shook his head, his face flushed with anger.
"What happened?" Zheng Zhi asked curiously.
"Captain, do you know what those little RBs just said?" Sun Xiang gritted his teeth.
"say what?"
"They said... that free kicks can be scored casually, but we can only score goals with penalty kicks..."
Hearing this, the faces of the international players present dropped at the same time.
Turning around, I happened to see a group of smiling Japanese team members walking by, chatting and laughing.
"Pfft~~~" At this moment, a disdainful chuckle suddenly came from the team.
Wang Xiaodong blinked, "Brother Sun, what did you say about a free kick and penalty kick just now?"
"I..." Sun Xiang looked at Wang Xiaodong's narrowed eyes and suddenly felt a little scared. But then he thought that the other party was his teammate, so he repeated what he just said.
"A free kick..." Wang Xiaodong nodded after listening to Sun Xiang's narration, "In that case, let them see what a real free kick looks like!"
