The Chinese team got off to a good start, the players were able to sleep well, and domestic public opinion began to become optimistic. Although Yi Zhe has joined, and although Perrin has not publicly proposed the Asian Cup goal, the domestic media generally look forward to Yi Zhe's performance and only expect the Chinese team to qualify in the group - after all, football is a team sport, and Yi Zhe can do it in the competition. No one dares to be too optimistic about how far the national team can go...
But now the trend has changed. Even though the next game is against their old enemy Uzbekistan, everyone believes that the Chinese team will definitely be able to compete.
But when the Chinese team went to the Brisbane Stadium for training the next day, under the lens of all the media, a child appeared on the training ground, and Yi Zhe held his hand and walked into the stadium.
It was Stephen, the "lucky caddy" who suddenly became popular in China.
Yi Zhe looked at the eyes of all the media and said with a smile: "This is the hero of our Chinese team!"
Yi Zhe kept his promise and talked through the coaching staff and all his teammates to give the little guy a football signed by the entire Chinese team.
"Stephen, I said, I will help you realize your wish."
Yi Zhe has already gotten to know this little guy. Although he is only twelve years old, he is already the goalkeeper of the U12 echelon of the Australian Super League club. Unsurprisingly, he is destined to enter professional football in the future.
Yi Zhe thought of himself when he first joined La Masia, and wrote a sentence on the football very seriously:
To the brave Stephen - may football be with you throughout your life.
The little guy was obviously reluctant to leave. Before leaving, he glanced at Yi Zhe and said, "Yi, do we still have a chance to meet again?"
Yi Zhe couldn't answer. After the next game, the Chinese team will move to Canberra. They may come back for the knockout round, but who can tell?
He could only smile slightly, touch the little guy's head, and replied: "Work hard, Stephen, maybe one day we can meet on the court!"
The little guy immediately became excited: "I won't show mercy when the time comes!"
This was considered a topic welfare open to the media. After sending off the little guy, the training of the national team officially began, but Zheng Zhi and Gao Lin looked at Yi Zhe very interestingly.
"Zhe, you will be a good father in the future."
The two fathers joked about it as "experienced people", but Yi Zhe had no intention of doing so.
"Things are very difficult right now. You are the captain, Brother Zhi!"
Yi Zhe is reminding everyone to take heart. Uzbekistan is more difficult to deal with than Saudi Arabia.
After the training, Perlan made an exception and allowed Yi Zhe to participate in the coaching staff's tactical discussion.
"Yi, tell me what you think about Uzbekistan."
Yi Zhe had already done his homework. The system showed that Uzbekistan's morale reached four stars. They defeated North Korea 1:0 in their first game. Yi Zhe noticed that the team's current morale index was also four stars.
This is destined to be a tit-for-tat contest. As for the opponent...
"Sir, again, we should be tougher than them!"
Li Tie, the Chinese coach next to him, frowned when he heard this. Still saying this, it doesn’t seem to be anything special.
"Yi Zhe, Uzbekistan's physical fitness is better than ours. If we don't use technology to restrain them, how can we be tougher?"
Yi Zhe replied calmly: "Uzbekistan is a European team in Asia. Its style is in the same vein as Russia. It has strong frontal defense, physical confrontation, and impact. But now we do not have the ability to really suppress the opponent with our technical flow. , If we can’t be tougher than the opponent... I’m worried that we will repeat the mistakes of the previous two Asian Cups.”
Li Tie's face suddenly turned ugly. He didn't expect Yi Zhe to settle old scores - he was still a player of the Chinese team in the 2007 Asian Cup, and he still remembers that experience.
"Yi, in your opinion, which player should we focus on?"
Yi Zhe casually mentioned Ahmedov, the defensive midfielder he played against in the Europa League group stage.
"Sir, we need to focus on him."
In Yi Zhe's eyes, only such a versatile defensive midfielder can catch his eye. But that’s not what was said in CCTV’s Asian Cup preview program.
In historical confrontations, the Chinese team suffered a lot from Uzbekistan. In the 2007 Asian Cup, the Chinese team, which had six major European players and could qualify with a draw, lost three goals in a row in the last ten minutes and was eliminated. In the 2011 Asian Cup, it was this opponent who sent the Chinese team out of the group with another draw. race.
Now a group of old acquaintances in the opponent's formation are still there.
"Nestrov, Ismailov, Deparov, Khydarov, Akhmedov... it is definitely not easy for the Chinese team. These players are all Uzbekistan's top players in the past ten years. The golden generation.”
But the pressure is even greater for Uzbekistan.
Listening to the terrifying cheers of the Chinese fans at the game, Uzbekistan coach Babayan looked gloomy.
The Chinese team in front of him is very different from the past, and he asked Akhmedov, who had played against Yi Zhe on the team, and the answer he got was that there was no way!
"I don't believe there are players that we can't deal with. Gentlemen, if we can't deal with Yi, just press their formation. The Chinese team only has one Yi, and we should firmly believe in this!"
The bald Babayan showed his fierceness.
Facing the familiar cheers of the Chinese fans at the Brisbane Stadium, Yi Zhe just kicked off the ball and directly released a through ball. The Chinese team's starting forward Gao Lin directly inserted into the penalty area and shot in front of Uzi defender Ismailov. Missed the goal.
"Yi Zhe! He got rid of it in the midfield right after the game started. Jeparov was completely incompetent in front of him!"
This veteran midfielder who had caused the Chinese team to suffer so much in the previous two games faced Yi Zhe this time, and it was his turn to suffer. Yi Zhe didn't even give him a chance to foul. Seeing that he was rushing towards him, he knocked the ball back and turned his body as flexibly as a top. Jeparov could only grab a handful of air with his hands.
"Yi Zhe! The dimension reduction attack has begun again!"
As soon as He Wei made a familiar sound, Akhmedov rushed up fiercely from the right and tackled with both feet - maybe he was not aiming for the ball at all, Yi Zhe had already taken the shot, and his movements did not restrain at all.
Fortunately, Yi Zhe had a warning sign and jumped half a step ahead of time, only for him to hit his calf and fall to the ground due to the inertia of his body.
But Ahmedov actually wanted to step over Yi Zhe's raised left leg, and even subconsciously wanted to step on it.
"Woo——"
The Chinese fans couldn't agree to it, and the whole stadium burst into fierce boos.
The referee on duty ran over quickly, but only showed Akhmedov a yellow card.
There was almost a conflict on the scene. Zheng Zhi took the lead and ran to the referee to argue.
Yi Zhe is not someone who likes to challenge referees, but he has to say something in this situation.
"Mr. Referee, are you able to escape such deliberate harm?"
But the referee asked him with a smile: "Yi, did he really step on you?"
This sentence made Yi Zhe so angry that he regretted it - the ruthless person still didn't do enough, he should have known to be more ruthless to himself.
