Chapter 56: Ali Han's Worries
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"I originally planned to rush to the Super League successfully, or go to Europe after finishing the U20 World Cup next year, but after this game, I think maybe I'll consider it again after the end of next season." Gao Jun said with a smile. Over the past few years, perhaps due to the feedback effect of hormones in his young body, Gao Jun felt that his mentality was becoming younger and younger, although he was still much more mature than his "peers", but already far from the uncle-like appearance when he first crossed over, however, this made him look more like a young man...
Gao Jun's answer left the reporters bewildered, but soon a reporter reacted, "Right, if they win the FA Cup, Eastern will be able to participate in the AFC Champions League next year...... But does he have such confidence in defeating the winner of Guangzhou and Shanghai? And even if it is the AFC Champions League, the training value is not as good as the top five European leagues?"
But as a traverser, Gao Jun knew that at this time the Shanghai Flower Team, which was still one of the top teams in the Chinese Super League, had been upset in the semifinals of the FA Cup that year. Although Sichuan Crown Team also had some strength, Dongfang Team would have a great chance of winning as long as they didn't underestimate their opponent.
As for the second question, Gao Jun certainly knows that the training value of the AFC Champions League is not as good as the top five European leagues. However, going to Europe to play can only train himself, while leading Dongfang team to play well in the AFC Champions League can train a group of young players. And he had set the goal of saving the national football team from the beginning of his crossing, and it is impossible for him to achieve this goal just by being good at personal skills, he must have a group of trustworthy teammates who are at least not too dragging behind, so slightly affecting individual growth is also worth it.
Besides, among the five major leagues, even the most rule-abiding Bundesliga has intense confrontations. Gao Jun thinks it's better to wait until he is at least fully grown before making a comparison. Although domestic leagues are also very rough, they have an advantage in being familiar, and for this old ball skin, the safety factor is much higher than playing abroad...
The perfect performance of defeating Shandong Qilu in the counter-attack made domestic teams finally realize the strength of Dongfang team, and those China League One teams even adopted a turtle-shell defense to deal with Dongfang's extremely sharp counterattack, which undoubtedly greatly increased the difficulty for Dongfang to win. Fortunately, the teams in China League One are limited in strength after all, otherwise, the following days would not be easy for Dongfang.
However, advancing to the FA Cup final has clearly been beneficial for Shanghai East Asia's box office. After the start of the second half of the China League One season, the attendance rate at the 80,000-seat stadium increased by nearly 50% compared to the first half of the season, and the number of die-hard fans of national team mainstays Gao Lin and Yu Hai has also increased rapidly.
As for the number of fans, Gao Jun is definitely more popular with better performance and reputation, but if compared to Yu Hai's female fan base, he can't match up. Who let him be handsome and have a beautiful playing style? As for quality, it's even worse, handsome Yu Hai attracted many young girls, while Gao Jun, who is originally younger and has a baby face, is more liked by middle-aged people. This makes him recall a interesting rumor from Dalian football years ago: "In Dalian, calm and steady Xu Hong is supported by middle-aged people, handsome Li Ming is admired by thousands of girls, as for honest and kind-hearted 'Heizi' Zhang Hua, he is the favorite of Dalian's old ladies..."
However, in the first few games of the second half of the China League One season, neither of them participated because the national team had a World Cup qualifier against Malaysia on September 8. Alihan, who had fully trusted the two, once again left the two main positions to them, and Gao Jun and Yu Hai did not disappoint the head coach's trust. Although the early autumn in Malaysia was still hot and unbearable, Gao Jun successfully scored two goals by reasonably allocating his physical strength. Yu Hai also used his height advantage to score a header, and Sun Jiehai's reconciliation with Alihan and entry into the main lineup also slightly increased the national team's strength. In the end, this historic match, which was won by only one goal, ended with China winning 4-0, which undoubtedly greatly increased China's chances of advancing to the Asian zone eight finals of the World Cup qualifiers.
However, Hao Dapao's re-injury cast a shadow over Ali Han's heart. Although the team doctor diagnosed that the injury was not serious, Ali Han, who was once a world-renowned soccer star, knew very well that when old players get injured, it's like old people getting sick - even if it's just a minor illness, they can suddenly become unable to play. Hao Dapao's goal rate plummeted after his recovery, confirming Ali Han's worries. The "Hao Gao combination" that rose to fame in the Asian Cup was about to disband, just like the previous "Luo Luo combination". From now on, the road ahead for Gao Jun would become increasingly difficult and treacherous...
After finishing the national team's World Cup qualifiers, Gao Jun and Yu Hai returned to their club for only one league match before being called up again by the U-19 national team, as the 2004 AFC Youth Championship was about to kick off in two weeks. The U-19 national team's squad for the tournament saw little change from the Toulon Tournament, with Dong Fangzhuo not being called up due to his current status as a regular starter at Antwerp in Belgium, and Liu Chunming heeding Gao Jun's advice to let him focus on playing in Europe.
Most of the main players in this national youth team participated in last year's Finland World Youth Championship and this year's Toulon Cup, and both won the championship. Among them, Gao Junyi, Yu Hai and Xiao Zhenmeng were also selected for the national football team and performed well, so everyone generally had confidence in their strength and didn't take the Asian Youth Championship seriously.
The first match of the Asian Youth Championship was against Iran, the arch-nemesis of the national team. However, like South Korea, China's youth team is not afraid of them at all, and even has a significant advantage (Iran has never taken the youth national team seriously, and their player selection is mainly not through this channel). Moreover, the strength of this national youth team is unprecedented, so they easily beat Iran 2-0 without much effort. Gao Lin, who didn't play with full strength, scored all the goals for the team again...
The following matches were also a sweep, but the indispensable defensive core Feng Xiaoting was injured. Although it's not very serious, she won't be able to participate in the remaining Asian Youth Games. When Gao Jun heard this news, he was also very frustrated, "This glass person attribute is really headache-inducing!"
