Chapter 46: Old Enemy Iran

  Monday rush list, seeking recommendation votes and member clicks ^_^

  The smooth start delighted the 62,000 Chinese fans in the stands, and Liu Jianhong, who was commentating on the match, praised Gao Lin's pass: "Gao Lin's timing of this pass was excellent. If he had stopped the ball and then passed it, Hao Haidong would have fallen into an offside trap. But if a Chinese player had realized this point, even if they were aware of it, it would be difficult to make such a precise pass directly with one foot. Gao Lin's technique may not be flashy, but his basic skills are solid, and there aren't many players in the country who can match him. Coach Xu Genbao has made a great contribution to Chinese football!"

  In the subsequent game, due to Hao Haidong's status in the national team being far higher than that of Gao Ming, a newcomer, the ball was rarely passed to his feet. Although Hao and other Chinese players had several chances, they failed to seize them again. As Iraq completely lost control of the midfield, they were unable to get any shooting opportunities, let alone change the score. The 2-0 score remained until the end of the first half.

  At halftime, Iraq's head coach Adnan (I've always thought this guy was quite formidable, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him Asia's number one native coach) made adjustments to the lineup on the field. He replaced the mediocre 15th player, Turki, with midfielder Saleh, No. 6. This adjustment immediately had a miraculous effect, as Iraq quickly regained control of the field...

  In the 52nd minute, Iraq's No. 10 player Mahmoud broke through in the front court and obtained a corner kick opportunity for the Iraqi team. The tactical corner kick was sent into the penalty area, where defender Mounir headed the ball towards goal, but unfortunately it hit the post and flew out of bounds.

  Although being pressed by the Iraqi team's wave-like offense, China was given a good opportunity to counterattack when the opponent's full-line press went up. In the 60th minute, Shao Jiayi intercepted the ball in midfield and broke through to the penalty area with a pass, and Gao Lin did not miss this rare scoring opportunity, using his signature push shot to break through Iraq's goal, making the score 3-0!

  This goal thoroughly disheartened the Iraqi team, and China did not want to rush them into unnecessary casualties, so they slowed down the pace of the game and maintained a 3-0 score until the end. After the match, Adnan, the head coach of Iraq, was impressed by China's performance and highly praised several Chinese players who performed well in this match, with Gao Lin receiving his highest praise: "Your No. 19 is a genius player, if everything goes smoothly, he may become the greatest Asian player in history, without exception..."

  The national football team's coach, Arihan, was very satisfied with the score, but he was not satisfied with the process. In his view, Hao Haidong and Gao Lin have some similarities in their characteristics, but because both of them need at least two defenders to mark them in Asian-level competitions, if one is marked by the opponent, the other cannot be stopped. As long as the opponent does not use a rare five-back or three-center-back formation, they cannot cope with China's attacking combination. After all, the opponent also needs to leave someone to defend against China's two wing forwards and Sha Jiayi's insertions and shots.

  However, in this just-concluded match, the Chinese team's midfielder may be out of habit or for some unspeakable reasons, most of the time would rather pass the ball to Hao Dapao, who was tightly guarded by two Iraqi players, than pass it to Gao Jun, who had only one person, or even no one guarding him. If not for Iraq's poor performance in the first half today, it would have been really hard to say...

  To solve this problem, Ali Han even considered using Hao Junmin to replace the current state of Li Ming, so that both wing forwards would be loyal to Gao Lin. Even if the old team members still reject Gao Lin, just having two wingers can provide him with enough support. However, doing so would seriously damage team unity, so Ali Han was also hesitant for a while.

  At this time, Hao Dapao brought several players to actively find Ali Han to admit his mistake. It turned out that in the just-concluded quarterfinals, Iran defeated South Korea 4-3 and became China's next opponent...

  The 1997 Dalian Golden State was an unforgettable nightmare for Hao Haidong and his teammates, while the current Iranian team is not much weaker than that time. The main player of China's bitter master Madavikia at that time has now become a core player of the German first division Hamburg team, but the number one star of Iran today is Karimi, who is still playing in Iran and is known as "Asian Maradona" by Iranians. This superstar is now in an unbelievable state, and he incredibly scored a hat-trick in the match against South Korea's national team, helping Iran defeat their strong opponents...

  These two Asian superstars, plus Ali Daei who is as old but still strong like Hao Haidong, make Iran's attacking power terrifying. With the psychological factor of their past encounters, if China can't unite together, they will only reenact the nightmare of 1997 in Dalian.

  In 2001, the smile of forgiveness with General Fan was indeed a credit to Milu, but it also showed that Hao Dapao had begun to understand the importance of team interests. Moreover, this time they were on the home court of the Chinese team against their arch-rivals, so he would take the initiative to lower his head, which is not surprising at all. Of course, Xu Genbao behind General Gao was also an important factor that cannot be ignored, and he was also Hao Dapao's mentor.

  General Fan retired from the national team, and Hao Dapao naturally became the undisputed "big brother" in the national team. What he said was law, even Li Datou, the current captain of the national team with a strong personality, didn't dare to disobey him. Now that he has personally said "whoever has the best chance in the next game will get the ball", everyone can only follow suit, and Alihan's biggest worry is thus resolved.

  However, Hao Dapao's efforts were not in vain. He suggested to Ali Han that Sun Jihai, who had been benched due to his poor attitude during training, be reinstated as a starter. Although Ali Han was not fond of Sun Jihai's lackadaisical demeanor, he acknowledged that the player did have skills. In contrast, Wei Xin, the current starting right-back whom Ali Han had personally promoted, was still far inferior to Gao Lin, the core player of the national team, in terms of value and future prospects. Moreover, even when Sun Jihai was not giving his all, he was still more capable than Wei Xin. Considering the importance of the semi-finals, Ali Han eventually agreed to Hao Dapao's suggestion.