Chapter 102: Advance Exit
In addition, another very important reason for Gao Jun's rapid progress is that he was too young during the World Youth Championship, and his thin and short body severely restricted his performance. At that time, Gao Jun did not show his true strength. Now, although Gao Jun still has a physical disadvantage, his height has reached 1.76 meters, and his physique is no longer too weak. The gap in power between him and his opponents is much smaller than during the World Youth Championship, so he dares to dribble and break through, and has enough explosive power to complete those difficult shots...
Gao Jun's almost unstoppable performance forced the Nigerian team to deploy more manpower to defend and assist, and the experienced Gao Jun immediately changed his strategy, starting to retreat or pull out to entangle the opponent's defense line, successfully opening up a large space. As a result, not only did Huo Jiamin, who was good at dribbling, easily break into the fatal area to shoot or pass the ball, but also Yu Hai and Ao Lin were able to do so. The tacit understanding and smooth passing coordination between the "Eastern Four" in the front court of the Chinese youth team continued to tear open the already disordered Nigerian team's defense line, making the wind howl in front of the Nigerian goal.
In the 22nd minute of the second half, Ah Long pulled to the right and passed into the middle. Yu Hai, who had just arrived in time, headed the ball, but Nigerian goalkeeper made a great effort to block it. However, Gao Lin took advantage of his incredible speed to get rid of the opponent's defense in that instant, stretching out one foot to score the goal, changing the score to 4-1, which basically determined China's victory in this match.
Yu Haisheng's header was parried by the goalkeeper, and Gao Jun scored with a rebound! China took a three-goal lead, and this match is won! Huang Jianxiang was excited and completely relaxed, even starting to joke about Gao Jun, "From this goal, it can be seen that although Gao Jun's personal ability has improved rapidly and he no longer relies solely on his teammates' support like before, his expertise in picking up scraps hasn't regressed either!"
Nigeria's morale clearly fell after the three goals, and even Mikel, who was personally very strong, lost his initial sharpness due to being isolated and unsupported. The Chinese team slowed down the pace of the game in order to conserve energy for the next match, but in the 81st minute, Gao Lin still managed to get a chance to shoot from inside the penalty area thanks to his excellent off-the-ball running and the Nigerian defenders' lack of focus, and easily scored into the corner, ultimately fixing the result of this game at an unexpected 5-1 before the match.
In this match, Gao Jun not only completed a hat-trick but also contributed a beautiful assist, undoubtedly the biggest contributor to the team's victory. After the game, he was again selected as the best player of the game. In addition, his perfect performance in the two games with 4 goals and 3 assists, leading the team to win both matches, made Gao Jun a strong contender for the best player of the tournament. On the scorer list, Gao Jun successfully rose to first place, even Barcelona's famous forward Messi could only look up at him...
What many people did not expect is that Gao Jun, who has always been considered a pure shooter, is now tied with teammate Yu Hai for the top spot in assists at this World Youth Championship. This fully demonstrates that as his ability to create space on the court has improved, Gao Jun's broad field of vision and intuitive passing have also found more room to shine.
Seeing Gao Lin's excellent performance, Steve Rolley was naturally overjoyed. However, Wenger in London began to regret not finding a way to persuade Gao Lin to join earlier. If Gao Lin continues his hot streak after the World Youth Championship, he will definitely attract attention from many top clubs. Even if Arsenal can still sign him, the price they need to pay will be much higher than expected, which is quite frustrating for a club that has always advocated "spending small money to achieve big things".
And now Arsenal doesn't even have the chance to "mend the fold after the sheep has escaped", because Gao Lin is fully devoted to the game during the competition and won't consider anything else, and he doesn't even have an agent now. So even if Arsenal wants to sign Gao Lin as soon as possible, they can only wait until after the World Youth Championship, but by then it will be too late...
Gao Jun was relaxed at this time, because in a match that had already ended before, Brazil, the same group as China, beat Switzerland 1-0. So after the Chinese youth team defeated Nigeria to win two consecutive victories, they not only continued to top the group but also secured qualification for the next round in advance.
Brazil is ranked second in the group with 4 points from one win and one draw, and they still have their fate in their own hands. As long as they defeat or tie China in the last match, they can ensure qualification, the difference being that a win would see them advance in first place, while a tie would see them advance in second place. Switzerland and Nigeria, on the other hand, can only hope for China to beat Brazil, and then they will have a chance to qualify if they win their own life-or-death battle in the last match. Therefore, after the second round of matches, the head coaches of these two teams coincidentally put pressure on China through the media, hoping that China would show the necessary sportsmanship and go all out to defeat Brazil...
Due to the F group's match being the latest, the last places in the other groups had already been decided before the China-Bahrain match. Although the Korean team did not achieve a three-game winning streak like the Chinese youth team in history, they still won the top spot in the group with two wins and one draw. As a result, regardless of the outcome of the China-Bahrain match, the Korean team will not meet the Chinese team in the round of 16. Instead, Ukraine, which finished second in that group, will face the second-place finisher in Group F. The Syrian team, which finished second in its group, will face the first-place finisher in Group F in the round of 16. Japan's youth team played its final match at the same time as the China-Bahrain match, but against Australia, a team with similar strength, and still had a relatively high chance of advancing. Even if they failed to advance, the Japanese team could still qualify for the round of 16 as one of the top third-place finishers in the six groups (a total of 16 teams advanced, including four third-place finishers).
The strength of the Ukrainian team is not strong, and the Syrian team that was defeated by the Chinese youth team in the Asian Youth Championship is even more so. Therefore, regardless of the outcome of the China-Brazil match, the probability of the Chinese youth team advancing to the quarterfinals is very high. In this way, the last group stage match for the Chinese youth team has become a purely honorary battle.
PS: It's already Monday, right? Seeking recommendation votes, member clicks and collections ^_^
