Chapter Forty-Five First Release

  Rushed to the top of the list on Monday, urgently need recommendation votes and member clicks, hoping for everyone's support ^_^

  In the 18th minute, Shaoguan intercepted a pass on the left flank and made an accurate cross into the penalty area. Qatar's goalkeeper Burhan came out to meet the ball, but collided with Da Wei, who was making a run for the ball. The ball rolled towards Li Ming, who was unmarked on the right flank, but he kicked it away...

  Due to this intense collision, Boulahya was once knocked unconscious, but after emergency treatment, the 18-year-old still got up and continued to insist on the competition...

  In the 24th minute, Li Ming passed the ball to Da Wei in the front court, and Da Wei passed it to Li Yi. The Qatari goalkeeper Burhan saved the ball. After Li Ming's corner kick, neither side's players in the penalty area could get the ball, which spun out of bounds at the edge of the penalty area. Sun Xiang took a long shot but didn't put enough power on it...

  After China's continuous fierce attack failed, Qatar strengthened its counterattack. No. 15 Mua Ya Dun broke through Xu Yunqi on the left and passed the ball to No. 8 Shama Li, who shot angrily with one foot, but was saved by Chinese goalkeeper Liu Yunfei, who fell to the ground. After getting up, Liu Yunfei expressed great dissatisfaction with the defensive line...

  In the 42nd minute, Qatar midfielder Hamza made a beautiful through pass, and No. 9 Bechir received the ball and shook off Xu Yunlong's defense to form a single-handed shot, but the shot was too weak and was easily saved by Liu Yunfei.

  Easy side again, the Chinese team obviously accelerated the attacking rhythm, but never broke through the door, and instead, the defense appeared in Qatar's sharp counterattack. In this battle against the strong defense of the Qatari people, the big bird had no power or speed to get rid of the guard and gain a shooting opportunity. The game was over half and didn't even have a threatening shot. Alihan, who couldn't bear it, finally let Gao Jun come on and replaced him...

  Huang Jianxiang, who had been constantly complaining, suddenly came to life. "The previous match just witnessed the hat-trick of rising star Gao Jun, who has already been substituted in. Let's wait and see how this young player will perform against Qatar, Asia's second-rate strong team..."

  But it was not Gao Lin who broke the deadlock for China. In the 32nd minute of the second half, China got a corner kick in the front court. Li Ming kicked the ball to the back point, and Li Dajun jumped high and headed the ball to the front of the goal. Xu Yunlong, who had rushed to the front of the goal, met the ball that was bouncing on the ground and scored with a header, rewriting the score to 1-0. China finally took the lead with great difficulty!

  After that, the Chinese team played more and more spiritedly, completely controlling the situation on the field. In the 85th minute, Li Ming received a straight pass from Zheng Bing in the front right road, shook off the opponent's defense, and unexpectedly used his left foot to kick the ball into the middle, cleverly getting rid of the opponent's defender Gao Lin, who was marking him tightly, but headed the ball onto the right post!

  "Li Ming's left foot passed the ball, Gao Jun made a leaping header, oh no! The ball hit the goalpost..." Huang Jianxiang exclaimed excitedly before sighing in disappointment.

  In the 90th minute, Zheng Bing made a breakthrough on the right flank and created a corner kick. Li Ming kicked the ball out, but it was intercepted by a Qatari player. Just as Chinese players were rushing back to defend, Gao Jun anticipated the opponent's passing intention and intercepted the ball. At this time, all Qatari players had lost their positions while pressing forward. Gao Jun took advantage of the situation, dribbling into the penalty area and scoring with a direct shot past the onrushing goalkeeper, sealing the final score at 2:0! Excited Huang Jianxiang's voice was hoarse from shouting, and even Zhang Lu publicly praised Gao Jun as an invaluable talent. If he didn't know it was impossible, he would have wanted to poach this incredible young player for his own team...

  Following the previous game's hat-trick, Gao Lin scored another goal, unexpectedly temporarily topping the scorer list of this Asian Cup. For a time, he became the most sought-after interviewee among journalists. However, national team head coach Ali Han considered Gao Lin's age and refused the journalists' interview requests in order to protect him and prevent him from saying something that might affect team unity due to his naivety.

  Hao Dapao's injury recovered at an astonishing speed, although he was not fully healed yet, he could already participate in the quarterfinals. However, Gao Jun, who had performed well previously, got his first starting opportunity in the quarterfinals and formed a "Double Fast" combination with Hao Dapao.

  The next opponent, the Iraqi team, is actually just a national Olympic team, but as a traverser, Gao Jun is very clear about their strength. In history, this Iraqi national Olympic team miraculously defeated many world powers in the Athens Olympics and eventually won the bronze medal. Three years later (the 2008 Asian Cup was held one year earlier due to conflicts with the World Cup and European Cup), at the next Asian Cup, these players, known as the golden generation of Iraqi football, lifted the Asian championship trophy for the first time...

  However, in this match, the Chinese team won 3-0. On one hand, it was because Iraq's young players were not stable enough, and on the other hand, it was because the referee was obviously biased towards China, causing the young Iraqi team to lose their balance and ultimately suffer a crushing defeat. Although the Chinese team rarely took advantage of the referee in the Asian arena, this was just a trick set by the AFC. First, let China take advantage of the situation and eliminate Iraq, and then when it's time for the China-Japan match, they would turn against China, ensuring Japan wins the championship while guaranteeing ticket sales. If the Chinese people were not satisfied, they could respond with confidence, "Why didn't you say anything when we took advantage earlier?"

  On July 30, 2004 at 9:00 pm, the match between China and Iraq kicked off at Beijing Workers' Stadium. The Chinese team took advantage of their home field to launch a pressing attack on the Iraqi team from the start. In the 2nd minute, Li Ming made a diagonal run to the left flank and received a straight pass from Yu Hai, then shot with a small angle, but the ball hit the side net.

  In the 7th minute, when Iraq was clearing the ball, it accidentally kicked to Li Ming's feet. Li Ming looked up and saw the position, then made a precise long pass, Hǎo Dà Pào successfully broke through the defense and entered the penalty area one-on-one with the goalkeeper Ali, pushing the ball into the net, China took the lead 1-0 not long after the game started!

  In the 13th minute, Gao Jun, who is good at one-footed passes, almost simultaneously received a pass from his teammate and kicked a high ball to find Hao Haidong in great condition. The latter used his speed to break into the penalty area, shook off the opposing goalkeeper Ali, and scored an empty goal, expanding China's lead to 2-0 just four minutes later!