Chapter 84: The Shanghai Derby (Part 1)
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However, three days later in the match against Dalian Shide, the league leader at home, Dongfang team, who sent all substitutes to ensure that the ACL would not be unexpected, lost 1-5, and the goal that slightly regained some face was scored by Gao Jun, who came on as a substitute in the second half. This game fully exposed the huge gap in strength between the main players of Dongfang team and most of the substitutes, and also made some fans and media question Xu Genbao's decision.
In their view, the next ACL match is a home game against possibly the weakest team in the group, Indonesia's Persija Jakarta, and they can just send out a few main players with some substitutes to deal with it, no need to give up the home game against Dalian Yifang for this, which may cause Oriental to lose this year's CSL championship...
However, the ACL match three days later fully explained why the old coach's caution was necessary. Since the Indonesians already knew the strength difference between the two sides, they were determined to play dense defense, and at one point, an extreme formation of "10-0-0" even appeared on the field. Originally, even if Eastern encountered such a situation, they could easily take down their opponents with their height advantage. However, the players were eager to kill the game as soon as possible to conserve energy, resulting in a slightly anxious mentality. Although there were many scoring opportunities in the game, they were all topped by them, and coupled with the opponent's goalkeeper's incredible performance, the game was still 0:0 at the 70th minute. If not for Gao Jun breaking the deadlock with his relatively unskilled header in the 75th minute, Eastern might have capsized in this match...
This match also exposed the young and immature side of Dongfang team again, but once this team gets into a rhythm, it's quite formidable. Due to the temporary suspension of the AFC Champions League, in the fifth round of the Chinese Super League away game against Shenyang Golden Deer, Dongfang team was able to field their main players, even though the team's physical condition had not fully recovered, they still managed to thrash their opponents 7-1. This also put their next opponent, cross-town rivals Shanghai Flower, on high alert.
To curb the Eastern team's sharp counterattack, the Shanghai Flower Team's head coach wisely put down his old-fashioned approach and retreated to defense, while requiring players to immediately counter-attack after losing the ball, even if it meant committing a foul to disrupt the Eastern team's counterattack. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that although the Eastern team was the home team in this match, due to the fact that it was a same-city derby, there were not many fewer Shanghai Flower Team fans on the scene than Eastern team fans, and they were more organized and aggressive, surprisingly overwhelming the Eastern team fans' cheering voices. Under the influence of the "home court atmosphere", combined with the fact that the Shanghai Flower Team is an old-brand team with great influence and deeper connections, the referees on the field inevitably tended to favor the Shanghai Flower Team, while the looser foul standards made the Eastern team even more disadvantaged...
The game had only just begun for 7 minutes, when Yu Hai clutched his calf in agony and fell to the turf. Gao Lin was shocked and broke out in a cold sweat, fearing history would repeat itself. Fortunately, after examination by the team doctor, it was found that he had only suffered a minor injury, although painful, but not serious. Only then did Gao Lin and Yu Hai himself breathe a sigh of relief.
The rough foul of the Shanghai team greatly hindered the offense of the Dongfang team, but what they didn't expect was that this vicious behavior thoroughly enraged Gao Jun. In order to save Chinese football, Gao Jun had been trying every means to let those domestic football talents who were unable to fully grow up due to injuries and other reasons in history escape the misfortune of history, but now Shanghai team's playing method may make Gao Jun's previous efforts go down the drain, how could he not be angry?
Gao Jun was considered a humble gentleman when he played or coached, but his personality is actually similar to that of his proud disciple Chen Tao, belonging to the "bad" type. He can control himself well and not show it, but once thoroughly enraged, Gao Jun will throw away his dignity and this "bad water" Gao Jun is undoubtedly more terrifying than usual...
"Ah! The No. 3 side defender of the Shanghai team has tripped up Gao Jun from behind, and Gao Jun is now rolling on the ground clutching his ankle, looking very painful. Hopefully he's not seriously hurt." CCTV-5 commentator He Wei suddenly exclaimed, "The referee walked over and showed a red card to the side defender without hesitation! Now Shanghai team is in big trouble, but if Gao Jun's injury is severe, I think Coach Xu would rather give up the 11 vs 10 advantage. Alas, the standard for punishing intentional fouls in domestic leagues is really too lenient, and I hope the Football Association will take notice of this. If a rare talent like Gao Jun is ruined by injuries, I think all those who care about Chinese football will be heartbroken..."
When He Wei said this, the screen also replayed the whole process of Gao Jun being knocked down earlier. From the slow-motion footage, it was clear that Bian Jun had indeed collided with Gao Jun and committed a foul. However, Tao Wei, a guest who used to be an athlete, confirmed that Gao Jun was actually just brought down to the ground and not really hurt. At most, he might have gotten some scratches, but there was no way he could be in so much pain as to cry out like that earlier. He couldn't help but frown, thinking "How did this kid learn to fake it so quickly..."
However, after Gao Jun got back up and continued the game, Tao Wei was a bit uncertain again seeing his stumbling gait. Considering Gao Jun's numerous fans, he didn't dare to express his thoughts immediately for fear of being scolded to death. Unexpectedly, when Dongfang team kicked off the free kick, Gao Jun, who had been limping like a cripple, suddenly burst out from the crowd like lightning and easily scored a goal without anyone marking him, helping Dongfang team take the lead 1-0! Dongfang team won the initiative in this derby match!
Due to Gao Jun's previous performance being too realistic, and more importantly, he had never done so before, even the old coach on the Eastern team's substitute bench was nervously letting the substitutes warm up just in case. The Shanghai Flower players couldn't help but be overconfident, and after Bian Jun left the field, the Shanghai Flower team lost another main defender, their defensive system inevitably became loose, and Gao Jun took advantage of this to easily break the deadlock on the field...
"It's indeed the case, not learning well at a young age." Tao Wei couldn't help but furrow her brow upon seeing this, but after careful consideration, she thought that for technical players, if they didn't use fake falls and other deceitful means to counter the rough fouls targeting them, it would be difficult for them to grow smoothly. Many talented players who had their careers cut short in history were proof of this point. Meanwhile, those world-class stars with longer careers almost all excelled at acting, and even many power-type stars were the same...
