Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

The Chinese team doesn't need any extra motivation to play against Japan!
The moment the national anthem played over the stadium, the Chinese national football team players were already in battle mode.

At the start of the match, the Chinese team skipped the probing phase and immediately launched an attack on the Japanese team's goal.

Japan's head coach, Takeshi Okada, had just sat down on the bench when he saw the Chinese national team launch such a fierce attack right from the start. He immediately jumped up and ran to the sidelines to watch the game intently.

In this match, the Japanese team did not make any major changes to their starting lineup, and continued to use the same defensive counter-attacking tactics as in the previous match against Denmark.

In the last match, Japan's possession rate was only 35%, a full 30 percentage points lower than their opponents.

In terms of shots on goal, Japan had six fewer than their opponents.

But relying on three counter-attacks that created one-on-one opportunities, the Japanese team scored three goals in a row, completely crushing the Danish team, who had a clear advantage in statistics!

Clearly, in this match, the Japanese team wanted to continue the winning formula from the previous game, hoping that the Chinese team would make the same mistakes that the Danish team had made.

The idea is correct, but whether it will work is another matter, since the Chinese team's playing style is quite different from that of the Danish team.

Just one minute into the game, Lin Feng dribbled past an opponent and drew a foul, winning China a free kick in a good position.

Matsui Daisuke's foul angered Takeshi Okada. Before the match, when setting up tactics, he had instructed the players to control the number of fouls and reduce fouls in the backfield to avoid giving the opponent a direct free kick opportunity.

Lin Feng has already scored two free kicks in this World Cup, and his form is red-hot.

When the opponent is in such good form, deliberately fouling them and giving them free throw opportunities is practically suicide.

However, the game had barely begun when the players on the field ignored his instructions.

In front of the Japanese team's goal, Eiji Kawashima nervously stared at Lin Feng not far away.

The ball was in such a good position; he felt the opponent was probably going to shoot directly at the goal.

However, the opponent was positioned directly behind the ball, making it impossible to tell which foot he would use to take the penalty kick.

This prevented Eiji Kawashima from anticipating the situation, leaving him with no choice but to compromise by standing in the middle of the goal line.

However, given that the opponent has consistently scored free kicks from particularly tricky angles throughout their career, if they are aiming for the corner of the goal, there is absolutely no chance of them reaching the ball if they are standing in the center of the goal line.

His plan was to wait for the opponent to shoot, then judge which foot the opponent would use based on their footwork, and then quickly move to block the shot.

It's not impossible to do this, but it really tests the goalkeeper's reaction speed and lateral movement ability.

Standing in front of the ball, Lin Feng took a deep breath.

After glancing at the positions of the wall of players and the goalkeeper, he began his run-up.

One step, two steps, three steps...

The entire stadium seemed to fall silent, and everyone's eyes were focused on Lin Feng.

Kawashima Eiji watched Lin Feng's footsteps nervously, and the moment the ball flew out, he quickly rushed to the left.

He anticipated that Lin Feng would shoot in this direction!

But he made the wrong bet!
Although Lin Feng did use his right foot to shoot, he changed the ball's trajectory by altering the point of contact at the moment of impact.

The ball did not fly towards the top left corner as the Japanese goalkeeper had predicted. Instead, it went straight up and down like an elevator, quickly falling after clearing the wall of players and almost grazing the bottom edge of the goal frame before flying into the net.

The goal was scored from exactly where the goalkeeper was standing.

In other words, if the Japanese goalkeeper hadn't made that preemptive move, he would most likely have been able to save the shot.

"The ball went in!!!"

"China is in the lead!"

"China scored in just the first minute of the first half!"

Inside the CCTV studio, the two commentators had just finished their opening remarks when the Chinese team scored!
Not only the TV commentators, but also the fans online were in an uproar.

[What happened, guys? I just turned on the TV, and the Chinese team is already in the lead! The game has only just started!]

[Holy crap, is this for real? The game hasn't even been a minute, and they've already scored?!]

[This is absolutely true, the most unbelievable thing ever! The Japanese player fouled Lingard, but Lingard scored with a perfect free kick! They've shot themselves in the foot!]

[Although I had a feeling the Chinese team would beat Japan, I never expected it to be this easy. They started with a goal in hand; how could the Japanese team possibly compete?]

The goal came so quickly and suddenly, completely beyond their expectations, that most people couldn't believe it was real!

"We just received a message from the back office that this goal by the Chinese team is the fastest goal so far in this World Cup!"

"Prior to this, the fastest goal in this World Cup occurred in the group stage, in the match between England and the United States!"

Gerrard received a pass from his teammate in the 4th minute and slotted the ball home, setting a new record for the fastest goal of the South Africa World Cup. However, today, this record was significantly surpassed by the Chinese team!

"Lin Feng's goal came in the 55th second of the match, a full three minutes faster than Gerrard's goal!"

It seems the Chinese team has broken another record!

On the field, Lin Feng, who had just scored, ran to the sidelines and made his signature celebration at the corner flag.

The tens of thousands of Chinese fans at the scene excitedly shouted "siu" in unison. The loud and unified sound shocked the neutral and Japanese fans present, who felt overwhelmed in terms of momentum.

The early goal had a significant impact on the mentality of both teams' players.

The Chinese national football team was already in high spirits and fighting will, and now, stimulated by the goal, they are all like they've been injected with chicken blood.

On the other hand, the Japanese team had developed a bit of a fear of China because they had lost too many and too badly in the past.

They finally managed to beat the airport team against other teams, which boosted their confidence a little.

The structure completely collapsed the moment the ball was conceded!

The Japanese players were dejected as they watched their opponents celebrate their goal.

Past defeats and their painful memories resurfaced, gradually eroding their confidence. Affected by this, the Japanese team seemed to have lost their spirit after the game restarted, unable to mount any effective attacks. Forget about equalizing; even defending their own goal was a major problem.

Seeing that the opponent dared not attack, the Chinese national team felt relieved and began to press forward relentlessly, launching a siege on the Japanese team's goal.

In the 7th minute, the Chinese team won another free kick in the attacking third.

However, this time, Lin Feng's free kick from the left went over the crossbar, which gave the Japanese players on the field and the Japanese fans in the stands a slight sigh of relief.

Even the best free-kick master can't score every free kick. If that were the case, what would be the point of the competition? Why not just hand the championship trophy to the other team?
Although the free kick didn't go in, Japan's passive situation remained unchanged.

In the 10th minute, Lin Feng passed the ball back from the left wing, and Zhou Haibin received the ball and delivered a cross from the flank.

Han Peng shook off Tanaka Tomio and, at the near post, 7 meters from the goal, launched a diving header that nearly sent the ball into the opponent's goal again.

Takeshi Okada and the Japanese players on the field were all taken aback. If the goalkeeper hadn't reacted quickly and swatted the ball away, the score would have been 2-0!
"Pay attention, everyone! Get your spirits up!"

Takeshi Okada roared angrily on the sidelines, clearly very dissatisfied with the team's performance!
Similar to the situation in China, this match was watched by at least tens of millions of people in Japan.

Seeing their team fall behind from the start and play so listlessly and without any fighting spirit, many Japanese fans turned off their TVs in disappointment.

If the team continues to play with this kind of mentality, this match will most likely be another crushing defeat.

The previous defeats have already left them with psychological scars, and they don't want to see their national team experience such humiliation again on a major international stage like the World Cup!

The head coach's roar seemed to awaken the fighting spirit of the Japanese players.

Although their offense still hasn't improved, at least defensively they've performed much better than at the start of the game.

Faced with Japan's tight defense, the Chinese team did not rush to attack, but patiently passed the ball around looking for an opportunity.

Starting from the 15th minute, for more than 20 minutes, neither side was able to create any good scoring opportunities. At one point, the Chinese national team went more than ten minutes without finding a shooting opportunity.

But the Japanese team fared even worse. Since the start of the game, they haven't managed a single shot on goal, and they've barely even made it into the 30-meter danger zone in the attacking third.

Despite being behind in the score, the Japanese team is still playing so conservatively; they are clearly afraid of being beaten.

If they had faced a different opponent in this match, they wouldn't have been so cowardly.

Since the opponent wasn't in a hurry to attack, the Chinese team wasn't in a hurry either.

Anyway, they're in the lead right now, so they can afford to drag it out.

In the 33rd minute, the Japanese team finally found a chance.

After intercepting the ball in his own half, Makoto Hasebe noticed that the Chinese team's formation was too far forward. He made a diagonal pass to his own central midfielder, Keisuke Honda.

Keisuke Honda realized this was an excellent attacking opportunity. After receiving a pass from his teammate, he wanted to launch a fast break before the Chinese defenders could get into position.

But the Chinese team didn't give him that opportunity; Zhao Xuri rushed over from the side and entangled him.

The two engaged in a fierce physical confrontation. Keisuke Honda was at a disadvantage in both height and weight. If he hadn't trained in the Russian Premier League for several years and made significant progress in his physical strength, he might have been knocked down on the first hit.

Even so, he couldn't hold on for long. Under Zhao Xuri's interference, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Although Zhao Xuri did not commit any obvious foul, the referee still ruled that he had committed a foul and awarded Japan a free kick in a good position.

Zhao Xuri was quite unhappy with the ruling and wanted to go up and argue with the referee, but he was persuaded to go back by Lin Feng after only a few steps:
"Alright, alright, don't forget what the coach is watching. You must control your emotions on the field, don't get carried away, and don't lose your temper. If you get a card and it affects your ability to play in the next game, it will be a huge loss!"

The captain's words calmed Zhao Xuri down.

After calming his teammates down, Lin Feng went up to the referee and exchanged a few words with him.

Perhaps because of his good attitude, or perhaps because he was the biggest star player in this World Cup, the referee was not impatient. Instead, he patiently explained the basis for his ruling to him.

After learning the details, Lin Feng had no objections, thanked the referee, and ended the exchange, as if he had simply come to ask for an explanation.

But that's not actually the case. Lin Feng's actions already put pressure on the referee, just not as obviously.

This time the referee provided an explanation. If a similar situation occurs again, the referee will have reservations when making a ruling because he knows someone is watching him and needs to provide a reasonable explanation.

Therefore, to avoid trouble, some calls that could be made or not might simply not be made.

The Japanese team took this free kick very seriously. Apart from the goalkeeper, almost all the other players moved from their own half to the Chinese half to participate in the attack.

They haven't had a single shot on goal since the start of the game, and this is likely to be their first shot.

Such a rare opportunity should be seized. If they are lucky enough to score directly from a free kick like the Chinese team, their current disadvantage will be instantly reversed!
Keisuke Honda stood in front of the ball, gazing solemnly at the distant goal.

Despite several Japanese players rushing into the Chinese penalty area, Keisuke Honda did not intend to pass the ball to them.

He decided to try his luck by kicking it himself!

The reason for this decision is that Keisuke Honda had scored a goal from a free kick in a previous match.

Although his free kick skills are not as high as Lin Feng's, he is still considered very good in Asia.

The whistle blew, and Keisuke Honda completed his run-up.

The football, spinning intensely, traced a beautiful arc in the air, flew over the wall of players, and headed towards the left side of the goal.

Keisuke Honda truly lives up to his reputation as someone who can score directly from a free kick in the World Cup; the quality of his free kick was indeed quite impressive.

But he wasn't so lucky; the Chinese goalkeeper on the other side was no ordinary player!
Having received high-level training at Inter Milan and completed three seasons in Serie B, Wang Dalei's current strength is vastly different from what it used to be.

While maintaining his extremely fast reaction speed, he has made significant progress in his positioning ability, movement speed, and basic save skills.

The instant Keisuke Honda completed his free throw, Wang Dalei accurately predicted the ball's trajectory in the air, quickly moved a few steps to the right, pushed off the ground, and leaped into the air, stretching his body to its limit.

Although he is not particularly tall for a goalkeeper, Wang Dalei, with his exceptional reaction speed and mobility, managed to tip the ball over the crossbar with a remarkable effort just before it was about to fly into the net.

Wang Dalei prevented a goal from the Japanese team, keeping the score at 1-0! (End of Chapter)