Chapter 51: The Sino-Japanese War (Part 1)

  In the 16th minute, Hao Haidong was fouled from behind by a Japanese player on the left flank in the front court. Shao Jiayi took the free kick and passed it into the penalty area, but it was headed away by Japan's central defender.

  In the 18th minute, Zheng Zhi launched a counter-attack, and Sun Xiang's long shot was blocked by a Japanese player.

  In the 21st minute, Nakamura Shunsuke, with his excellent personal ability, won a free kick for Japan on the left side of the penalty area. He took it himself and kicked the ball into a beautiful arc that flew into the penalty area. However, China's old problem of not marking tightly reoccurred, and as a result, Nakazawa Yuji, who was supposed to be marked by Li Dawei, got past Zheng Zhi, who is 7cm shorter than him. Although he didn't create a scoring opportunity under Zheng's interference, he still headed the ball back into the middle of the field. Japanese midfielder Fukushi Hiroshi then scored with a header in front of goal, putting Japan ahead 1-0!

  After losing the ball, China's movement became bigger, Sun Xiang and Zheng Zhi were booked with yellow cards. But the situation on the field changed again in a short time. In the 27th minute of the first half, Japan's corner kick was broken, China quickly counter-attacked, Sun Ji-hai's dribbling breakthrough won a good position for a frontcourt right-wing free kick, Shao Jia-yi placed the ball well and was thinking about which way to shoot, but Gao Lin came over and said "Shao Ge, I have an idea."

  Xiao Gao ran over and whispered a few words to Jia, then stood in front of the ball as well. Does he also want to take the free kick? In previous matches, he rarely even took long shots, CCTV5 commentator Huang Jianxiang said in puzzlement.

  "It's not that easy to practice any ball......", guest Zhang Lu was also puzzled, due to the tension, he even forgot to say his usual "hehe"......

  "Ka Yat and Siu Kau started sprinting together, but Siu Kau suddenly slowed down. Shouldn't Ka Yat shoot? No, Ka Yat didn't shoot, the ball is in! Wong Kin Sheung's commentary couldn't keep up with the pace of the game, his words were incoherent as he exclaimed, it wasn't until the slow-motion replay that he could clearly explain to the audience what had just happened..."

  "Let's take a look at the slow motion, uh, first two people start sprinting at the same time, and then Xiao Gao suddenly slows down, even we thought it would be Jia Yi who shoots, the Japanese players were also deceived and jumped up, but Jia Yi rushed to the ball and suddenly flashed to the side without shooting. At this time, Xiao Gao, who had previously stopped his forward momentum, suddenly took a big step forward and shot with one foot. The ball rubbed against the grass, rolled quickly from under the feet of the Japanese players who jumped up, and rolled into the net after rubbing against the near post. China tied the score! 1:1! Great creativity, great goal, let's cheer for the Chinese team!" Huang Jianxiang exclaimed...

  Guest Zhang Lu was much calmer, analyzing the ball as follows: "This shot is not just about creativity. Suddenly slowing down and then suddenly accelerating, completing the shooting action without any deviation, even excellent football players find it difficult to do so. This shot can explain how outstanding Gao Jun's explosive power and physical coordination are. What we should admire more is the extremely high accuracy of this shot. Japanese goalkeeper Kawaguchi Nene is small and agile, with a very fast drop, but under insufficient follow-up, the speed of the rolling ball is limited. Even if the line of sight is blocked and the reaction is slightly slow, it's not necessarily possible to break through the opponent's defense; however, Gao Jun's shooting angle was too tricky, almost sticking to the goal post, Kawaguchi Nene wouldn't be able to reach even with his hand stretched out..."

  "This is bullying Kawaguchi, taking advantage of his short stature! Just like the 'dwarf' tactic we use when playing table tennis...", Huang Jianxiang laughed unscrupulously.

  Japanese goalkeeper Kawaguchi Nobuo is almost driven mad, as a goalkeeper with a height of only 1.79m (and possibly even less in reality), this has always been his biggest worry, and now he's been taken advantage of and lost the ball, that feeling is truly indescribable...

  However, Gao Lin's goal also reminded the Japanese that China's goalkeeper Liu Yunfei was also a short player. Just as the Chinese players were still basking in the joy of victory, Japan threatened China's goal again with a long shot, fortunately Zheng Zhi blocked out that unexpected cold shot with his body, otherwise with the fragile psychological quality of the national football team, the consequences would be unthinkable.

  In the 31st minute, Yu Hai took advantage of Gao Lin's pull-back in midfield and made a diagonal run from the left flank into the penalty area before passing to Li Ming at the far post. The veteran striker met the ball with an acrobatic volley that flew into the top corner of the net, leaving Kawaguchi Lulu no chance. China thus completed their comeback!

  Yu Hai brought the ball into the penalty area with his signature "small quick steps", and Japan's defenders were completely occupied by Da Chong and Xiao Gao, and surprisingly no one came up to intercept, until someone rushed up. Yu Hai passed the ball... Beautiful! It was the veteran Li Ming, who volleyed the ball in the air at the back post, scoring a brilliant goal, and China achieved a comeback! Congratulations to the Chinese team! Huang Jianxiang shouted hysterically, while the stands were already filled with drums and flags...

  After realizing that the Chinese team was not just two forwards who could score, the Japanese team had to split their defense, which gave Gao Jun some space to operate. However, Gao Jun, who never abandoned his vigilance, keenly discovered that after this goal, the referee began to obviously favor Japan. Earlier, when he jumped up to contest a header in the Japanese penalty area, he was pushed down by an opponent's defender, but the referee turned a blind eye. Moreover, at this time, the overly excited Chinese team had already pressed forward to the halfway line, leaving large spaces behind them. With the referee's help, launching a counterattack was almost suicidal, and once Japan launched a quick counterattack, losing the ball was inevitable.

  At this point, Gao Jun took the opportunity of a dead ball to tell Yu Hai to retreat and defend. Yu Hai is tall and fast, with good defensive skills, and staying back can effectively suppress Japan's quick counterattack. Although doing so would sacrifice Yu Hai's attacking ability, China was already leading in score, and there was no need to blindly press forward...

  At the same time, Ali Han saw the problem and was about to let the translator give instructions to the players on the field, but he saw that the field had already made adjustments automatically. He thought it was Yu Hai's own idea and couldn't help but feel happy in his heart, thinking that after Zheng Zhi, he finally found China's second player with strong competitive ability. Coincidentally, Yu Hai really had this potential, so after getting more freedom from Ali Han, Yu Hai's performance became more and more outstanding, becoming one of the indispensable core players of the national team...

  PS: New book on the chart, seeking recommendation votes and member clicks ^_^