Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 452 We have no choice but to fight Japan to the death.
"Goal! Goal again!"

"Shan Yongzhuo, a hat trick, yet another hat trick. For him, completing a hat trick is as easy as eating and drinking!"

"This time, it was a signature Shane corner kick that found the back of the net, leaving the Australian goalkeeper with no chance!"

The Sydney Olympic Stadium erupted in commotion as the CTV5 commentator shouted.

The Chinese fans who came to the scene were very excited. They shouted and cheered in celebration. Whether they were Chinese fans studying and living in Australia or Chinese fans who traveled thousands of miles to accompany the team, they all felt an immense sense of honor.

Australian fans were in an uproar.

Many Australian fans have seen Shan Yongzhuo's corner kick skills online, but the internet is just the internet.

Seeing Shan Yongzhuo score directly from a corner kick, and even break through the Australian team's goal, is truly astonishing for them.

"That's amazing! No wonder he's the world's number one player!"

"Yes, that's a corner kick that went straight into the goal, that's really impressive."

"They have orders, can we really win?"

"How can we win? We're already down by three goals."

"There's nothing we can do. They have a star player like him, while we only have Cahill..."

"Can we still qualify?"

"We have no choice but to fight Japan to the death; the Chinese team is not an opponent we can defeat!"

"..."

Australian fans are buzzing with discussion, saying that the Chinese team is now a world-class powerhouse, an opponent that Australia can't possibly compete with.

You can't really blame them for thinking that way; the first half wasn't even over yet, and the 0-3 score was quite a bloody one.

However, in the eyes of those who truly understand, the reason for the current situation actually lies with only one player: Shan Yongzhuo.

All three goals were scored by Shan Yongzhuo through his individual ability; his teammates only needed to defend and pass the ball to him via long passes.

This easily gives people the impression that "I could do that too"...

In fact, this is what many Chinese Super League players watching on television think.

In their view, the things the Chinese national football players did on the field were things they could do too.

Judging from this, it seems likely that the current Chinese national football team, with Shan Yongzhuo on their side, will qualify for the World Cup finals.

What an immense honor this is!
Let's play in the World Cup!
It's frustrating that they weren't selected for the national team.

This could only leave them heartbroken.

On the field, Shan Yongzhu celebrated briefly, and his teammates surrounded him, all of them very excited, especially veterans Li Weifeng and Zheng Zhi.

It seems very likely that we can win this match now.

Defeating Australia means two consecutive wins in the final round of qualifying. There are only eight matches in the final round, and two consecutive wins at the start is a very good start.

After the game restarted, the Australian team seemed to have lost some of their spirit.

Their mistakes on the field have increased significantly, which is definitely due to the score.

Fortunately, there wasn't much time left in the first half. After a few back-and-forth battles in midfield, the first half ended, and both teams returned to their locker rooms.

At halftime, the score was 0-3, with the home team listed first and the away team second. China led Australia 3-0 at halftime.

Australia is trailing by 3 goals, and their morale is very low.

In the locker room, no one spoke; the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

Head coach Osik walked in, stood in the middle looking at his players, took a few deep breaths without speaking, as if making some kind of decision, and finally shouted: "In the second half, we must attack with all our might!"

"They can't just defend forever and hold onto the goal. What we need to do is attack, score as many goals as possible, and try to equalize the score."

Since taking over the Australian national team in 2010, the former German striker Osik has not actually had a very happy time.

His defeat at the 2011 Asian Cup led to him losing the trust of the Australian Football Federation.

However, he was, after all, a member who assisted Behnkenbauer in helping West Germany win the World Cup in 1990.

Therefore, this disharmonious marriage has continued intermittently to this day.

Osik is well aware that a crucial prerequisite for continuing to coach the Australian team is being able to lead them to the World Cup finals.

Otherwise, he would very likely face dismissal after this qualifying tournament.

But now, in the first match of the top ten qualifiers, facing the Chinese team, they have encountered this situation again, which is giving Osik a real headache.

"Is there really no way to defend against him?"

Osik was extremely troubled by Shan Yongzhuo, but after thinking it over and over, he still couldn't find a way to limit Shan Yongzhuo, so he could only let his players go all out to attack.

In his view, the counterattack in this game was basically doomed to failure, and at worst, they would only lose by a larger margin.

It would be better to let the players unleash their full potential and attack, at least to score a few goals. This would also boost the confidence of the attacking players.

In Osik's mind, the Chinese team was no longer considered a competitor for qualification.

In his view, given Shan Yongzhuo's ability, the Chinese team would definitely be first in the group, and the Japanese team would be no match for Shan Yongzhuo.

Therefore, Australia's biggest rival is Japan, and the two teams will inevitably fight fiercely for second place in the group.

Defeating the Japanese team is Osik's biggest goal right now.

The fifteen minutes of halftime passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, both teams returned to the field. With the referee's whistle, the second half officially began.

Most people would believe that Australia will strengthen its defense against Shan Yongzhuo, and at least will no longer launch reckless attacks.

Shan Yongzhuo had a perfect performance in the first half, completing a hat-trick and single-handedly leading the Chinese team to the lead.

If we continue to let Shan Yongzhuo run rampant, how can we play here?
This is not the case.

After the match had been going on for a while, people were surprised to find that Australia was still only using one defender, Wilkshire, to closely mark Shan Yongzhuo, while the other players were still heavily involved in the attack.

However, this is a normal situation. When you're down by 3 goals at home, you'll lose anyway if you don't attack, so you might as well go all out and try your best.

This kind of attack caught the Chinese team off guard from the start.

Chinese players have always had a problem: they easily lose focus at the beginning and end of a match.

Even Feng Xiaoting, who has made great strides in La Liga, has this problem.

This time, he failed to keep up with Cahill in time, giving Australia an opportunity.

(End of this chapter)