Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"The ball is in!"

"National football team captain Li Weifeng stepped forward!"

"He made up for his disappointment at not being able to play in the last Asian Cup final with his goal!"

Before the 2004 Asian Cup final, Li Weifeng suffered a back injury and broke two ribs in the semi-final match against Iran, causing him to miss the final.

They could only watch helplessly as their team missed out on the championship trophy!

Today, Li Weifeng prevented such a regret from happening again.

He seized the golden opportunity and scored the crucial goal!
If a one-goal lead wasn't significant enough, then two goals in hand gives China a substantial advantage!
Zhang Lu chuckled and said, "Hehe, the Japanese team's defense is indeed not very tall. Nakazawa Yuji can only selectively mark Han Peng or Gao Lin, and he can't do anything about the other positions!"

Zhan Jun also said, "Lin Feng's corner kick tactic was also very cleverly designed. He deliberately let Han Peng and Gao Lin lure the opponent in the penalty area, while lurking the real killer outside the penalty area. When the ball was kicked off, he unexpectedly rushed into the penalty area, catching the opponent off guard!"

Zhang Lu also gave Lin Feng a rare compliment:
"Since Lin Feng joined the national team, the threat of China's set-piece tactics has increased several levels. Moreover, he himself has an extremely excellent free kick, which gives the national team a new way to score in addition to the regular attacking methods!"

Judging from Lin Feng's performance at the club, the national team's set-piece tactics should also be his creation, a point that is generally undisputed by outsiders.

"Now it depends on how the Japanese team adjusts. There's still plenty of time in the game. If the Japanese team can adjust, they might still have a chance. But if they don't adjust in time, or if they can't stop the Chinese team's next attack, the suspense in this game may soon be lost!"

Zhang Lu said in a relaxed tone, "Who could have imagined that this match would go like this before it started?"
Given the strength of the Japanese team and their dominance in Asia, many people were prepared for a tough battle.

As a result, the Chinese team scored two goals in just over ten minutes. What happened to the hard-fought battle?

What happened to the dominance of the Asian hegemon?

That's it?

After conceding consecutive goals, the Japanese team was clearly getting anxious.

After the restart, they chose to launch a relentless and all-out attack.

To be fair, the Japanese team's midfield does have some strength.

Every player in their midfield has solid footwork and good mental fortitude.

Under pressure from the Chinese players, they dared to take the ball and make moves.

Instead of losing possession due to slightly increased pressure, or simply lacking the courage to take the ball and passing it back to a teammate as if it were a hot potato, they should act accordingly.

The latter often appears in later generations of the Chinese team. When you watch them play, they are either passing the ball around or making lateral passes, and you can hardly see any forward passes.

Furthermore, the national team players have very poor mental fortitude. They are afraid to take the ball when they are pressed by the opponent and only want to pass it away, for fear of losing the ball and being criticized by the fans.

The main reason for this situation is that the Chinese national football team players lack technical skills and have poor resilience under pressure. Moreover, after being criticized and ridiculed by Chinese fans for decades, the players have lost confidence.

A player who was very daring in his club and league days couldn't perform the same moves in the national team. Instead, he became timid and hesitant, afraid of making any mistakes and taking the blame for them.

If you don't even have the courage to draw your bayonet, how can you possibly defeat your opponent?

The more matches a team loses, the greater the blow to the players' confidence, leading to a situation where the more the national team loses, the less the players can play.

At this time, someone needs to bravely step forward, take responsibility, and not be afraid to take the blame!
This is what Lin Feng has been doing for the past two years. But now, besides him, many other people in the national football team are willing to step forward and not be afraid to take the blame!
The Japanese players have consistently been winning in Asia, so they don't have the same heavy psychological burden as the Chinese national team players.

Even after conceding two goals at the start of the game, the Japanese players remained aggressive and fearless.

Japan's attack had some effect. In the 22nd minute of the first half, Yasuhito Endo broke through on the wing and passed the ball across the penalty area.

Naohiro Takahara received the ball on the edge of the penalty area, turned and shot, but his shot was blocked by Feng Xiaoting.

Japan then took a corner kick, but due to their shorter stature, the ball was controlled by the Chinese team, almost resulting in a counter-attack.

Despite the failed attack, the Japanese team did not give up.

In the 27th minute, Shunsuke Nakamura delivered a brilliant lob pass in the attacking third, and Yasuhito Endo cut into the penalty area from the left wing, dribbled past Sun Xiang, and fired a low shot that went wide of the post.

In the last few minutes, the Japanese team was quite active on the flanks, especially Yasuhito Endo.

In the Japanese team's attacking tactics, when the full-backs push forward, they briefly have a numerical advantage on the flanks.

The Japanese team will utilize their strengths in short passing and the individual abilities of their wingers, either by creating space through passing combinations or by actively breaking through to find opportunities.

However, so far, none of Japan's shots have posed a threat, and they haven't had a single shot on target since the start of the match.

On the contrary, the Chinese team took advantage of the opponent's large-scale push forward and launched several very threatening attacks in the middle.

In the 29th minute, Zheng Zhi initiated a combination play in the middle, and Lin Feng received the ball near the center circle and delivered a long-range through ball.

This pass pierced through the Japanese team's midfield, accurately delivering the ball to Gao Lin's feet.

Unfortunately, Gao Lin had just received the ball and hadn't even had a chance to shoot when he was brought down by the opposing defender.

Yamaguchi Satoshi's foul was very timely, because if Gao Lin had just one more second, he could have passed the ball out.

Just now, Han Peng, another striker for the Chinese national team, was unmarked. If Gao Lin had passed the ball out, it would have been very likely that another goal would have been scored.

Conceding two goals in the first half was a devastating blow for the Japanese team.

If they concede three goals, it would be a nightmare for them.

There has never been a successful comeback from a three-goal deficit at halftime in the Asian Cup final.

Even in international competitions, this has only happened once.

Are the Japanese team still half asleep today? Their defense looks like it's made of paper.

Yes, the Chinese national football team's counter-attacks are incredibly accurate; they almost scored again just now!

[The Japanese team seems a bit disorganized now. When Zheng Zhi dribbled forward just now, they were so focused on defending him that they completely ignored Lin Feng, who is the most dangerous player. I wonder if they've been driven mad by the game.]

Clearly, more than one person has this suspicion: both of China's goals were related to Lin Feng.

If the fans were to be the head coach of the Japanese team, they would want to have two burly men closely marking Lin Feng every step of the way, not giving him any chance at all.

[Who says the Japanese team didn't defend? Keita Suzuki and Yuki Abe were specifically assigned by the Japanese team to limit Lin Feng, weren't they? It's not that they didn't try, but the opponent had a Gundam, what could they do if they couldn't defend? They were desperate too!] The referee pulled out a card for Satoshi Yamaguchi, and this yellow card sparked speculation among Gao Lin and others:
This guy has a yellow card, so he'll definitely be very cautious in his defensive actions. Maybe we can find a breakthrough by targeting him!

Although Gao Lin didn't pass the ball, he won a free kick in an excellent position for the Chinese team.

Because of his excellent position, Lin Feng didn't bother with any set-piece tactics and simply unleashed a powerful shot at the goal.

A scream rang out from the field, and a Japanese player wearing a blue jersey collapsed to the ground.

Lin Feng's shot hit the defender's chest and was blocked.

The ball was still at the feet of the Chinese team, but seeing that someone on the opposing team was injured, the Chinese players kindly kicked the ball out of bounds, without taking advantage of the situation.

The injured player is Japan's center back, Yuji Nakazawa. He was the one who jumped high and used his body to block Lin Feng's shot.

Judging from his pained expression, he seemed to be seriously injured.

"Lin Feng has a very powerful shot. His powerful shot once reached a speed of 130 kilometers per hour. If such a powerful shot hits a player directly, it can easily cause injury!"

In the commentary booth, seeing the Japanese team doctor already jogging onto the field with his medical kit, the two commentators casually remarked something.

"Yuji Nakazawa is the tallest player in the Japanese defense. If he leaves the field due to injury, the Japanese team may be even more passive when facing the Chinese team's aerial attacks!"

Zhan Jun tried hard to control the expression on his face. He suspected that Lin Feng's kick just now was aimed at a person!
After all, with Lin Feng's pinpoint accuracy, it's unlikely he'd miss his shot!

Zhan Jun really wronged Lin Feng. He genuinely didn't aim at the player when he kicked. Who knew that Nakazawa Yuji would jump so high!

If the opponent doesn't jump, he naturally won't touch the ball, so you can't blame him for this!

The Japanese team doctor rubbed and massaged the collapsed Yuji Nakazawa for quite some time before finally getting him back to his feet.

Although Yuji Nakazawa kept rubbing his chest after standing up, seemingly still feeling uncomfortable, the Japanese team coach on the sidelines clearly did not intend to substitute him.

The game continued, and after the Japanese team threw the ball out of bounds, they didn't return it to the Chinese team. Instead, they launched an immediate attack.

A chorus of boos immediately erupted from the crowd!
"How shameless! Do you even have possession of the ball?"

"Damn it, as expected of the Japanese, they are truly despicable. We didn't take advantage of them, and they repay kindness with enmity!"

The Japanese team's actions were indeed excessive, so not only the Chinese fans at the stadium but also neutral fans booed them.

As for the Chinese national football team players on the field, they are even less likely to show any goodwill towards the Japanese team.

I'm talking to you about professional ethics, and you're trying to play dirty tricks on me!
Okay, okay, this is how you play, right?
It's your lack of martial ethics that's the problem. Next time, even if you're injured or fall to the ground, or even if someone dies, we won't stop attacking!
Yuichi Komano dribbled the ball all the way to the frontcourt, then passed it across to the middle, where Shunsuke Nakamura followed up with a long-range shot that grazed the post and went out of bounds.

This was Japan's most threatening attack since the start of the game.

Although the methods were not honorable, they did indeed pose a threat.

But it was precisely because of this that the national football team players were thoroughly enraged.

After successfully defending against the opponent's attack, the Chinese team immediately retaliated.

Li Leilei launched a long ball into the attacking third, and Gao Lin headed it to Lin Feng after a header challenge.

Lin Feng chipped the ball to Han Peng in the penalty area. Han Peng leaned on Nakazawa Yuji, turned his back, and passed the ball back to his teammate who was following up.

Shao Jiayi decisively took a shot, unleashing a very threatening long-range effort from almost the same spot.

Although the goalkeeper saved the ball in the end, China's attack put Japan's defense on edge again.

Goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi nervously shouted at his teammates from inside the goal line to cheer them up, while head coach Osim vented his frustration on the sidelines.

The match had been going on for over thirty minutes, and the Japanese team on the field felt unfamiliar to him.

Is this still the team I know?
Why has it become so unfamiliar?

The offense is like constipation, while the defense is like diarrhea.

Why did the players collectively underperform?
So, are they all conspiring to impersonate me?

Or was it that the opponent's strength far exceeded expectations, putting immense pressure on the Japanese players on the field and causing them to underperform?

The latter seems more likely, but the former cannot be ruled out. After all, the South Korean team next door got rid of their head coach through a player revolt.

It's not surprising that the Japanese team members did this.

The corner kick was taken, and this time the Japanese team managed to get the ball in the air.

Unfortunately, the ball that was cleared still fell to the feet of the Chinese team. Zhao Xuri finally seized the opportunity and, without thinking, kicked the ball towards the goal again.

There was a loud bang!
Zhao's kick slammed into the crossbar, and the vibration of the crossbar was like the heartbeat of the Japanese players, almost causing ventricular fibrillation!

That's terrifying!

How come any player that just pops out of nowhere can pose such a huge threat to their goal?
At that moment, the Japanese team members were plunged into deep self-doubt, wondering if they were really that bad...

Towards the end of the first half, the Chinese team launched wave after wave of attacks.

In the 39th minute, Lin Feng suddenly started from the left wing, dribbled past several players and broke into the penalty area. After attracting several opposing defenders, he passed the ball across the goal.

Unfortunately, Gao Lin and Han Peng were a step too slow in their runs, and the opposing goalkeeper got to the ball first.

The Chinese team then won several more free kicks and corner kicks, but Gao Lin and Han Peng failed to capitalize on the opportunities, either heading the ball wide or failing to get to the ball properly.

Japan's goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi also had an outstanding performance in those few minutes, making several crucial saves against China's shots.

Especially during first-half stoppage time, facing Lin Feng's lob shot from outside the penalty area, Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu made a diving save to tip the ball over the crossbar, preventing the opponent from extending the score to 3-0.

However, the Japanese team was in a very passive situation, and in the last ten minutes or so, they were almost completely crushed by the Chinese team on their home turf.

If they can't change this passive situation, they might concede another goal in the second half! (End of Chapter)