Chapter 52: The Sino-Japanese War (Part 2)

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  In the impression of most Chinese fans, Shao Jiayi is a technical player, but in fact, with a height of 1.89 meters (most online data are his pre-foreign height of 1.86 meters, but he grew another inch after going to Germany and reached 1.89 meters) and weighing 80 kilograms, having trained in the physically demanding German league for a year and a half, Shao Jiayi already possesses considerable strength. Facing Japan's defensive midfielder Hiroji Nakata's pressing, he used his physical advantage to shield the ball at his feet and easily shook him off, taking a step forward before suddenly shooting from distance with great power and angle, unfortunately being blocked by Kawasaki Noboru who quickly adjusted his mindset and flew in to punch the ball out.

  In the 45th minute, Japan's Kaji Ryota made a low pass from the right route, and Zhao Junzhe blocked the ball out of bounds. Nakamura Toshiya took the corner kick, and Hao Daqiang cleared the ball in defense, but collided with a Japanese player and immediately bled from the head. The Chinese team's doctor rushed onto the field to lift him off for treatment. At this time, the Chinese team launched a very threatening attack, Zhao Junzhe received a wonderful pass from Shao Jiayi and made a breakthrough into the penalty area from the right route, but his cross was intercepted by Kawaguchi Noriyuki who stepped forward one step. The first half ended with China leading 2-1.

  At halftime, Hao's injury was undoubtedly the most worrying for everyone. According to the team doctor's preliminary judgment, it should not have hurt his bones, but after all, a lot of blood had been shed, and there might be mild concussion. To prevent the injury from worsening, he asked Hao to give up the second half of the game and go to the hospital for regular treatment immediately. However, Hao shook his head without hesitation, "Even if the injury worsens, it's just a few more days in the hospital. If this opportunity to win the Asian championship slips away, how can I have another chance in four years?"

  Ali agreed to Hao's request for a simple head bandage after hesitating, he also saw the referee's attitude begin to change, China's one-ball advantage was not secure, and compared to Hao, the two forwards on the substitute bench were too far apart, Li Yi could waste opportunities, while Da Yu, who had almost no ability to get rid of him, could be tied up by a single defender, even if it was a stationary Hao standing in front of the opponent's goal, his intimidation was much greater than theirs...

  Hao Haidong came on the field with a bandage wrapped around his head, winning thunderous applause from the audience, and China's morale was greatly boosted. Although Japan had the help of the referee from time to time, they were still suppressed for a while and couldn't breathe. In the 47th minute, veteran Li Ming broke through on the right flank in the front court, won a free kick, and personally took the penalty, passing the ball into the penalty area at an angle. However, due to insufficient speed, it was topped out by Japanese defenders with great effort. The ball fell under the feet of Japanese players, who immediately seized the opportunity to launch a quick counterattack.

  In the 52nd minute, Shao Jiayi made a sudden dash forward and saw an open space in front of him. He sent out a precise through ball that was like a surgical knife, and Hao Haidong, who had a bandage wrapped around his head, used his explosive acceleration to shake off the Japanese defender marking him. After receiving Shao Jiayi's pass, he formed a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper. Inspired by Gao Lin, he took advantage of Kawaguchi Yoshikatsu's weakness in terms of height and scored with a clever lob that curled over the outstretched hands of the goalkeeper into the net. However, just as the crowd was about to erupt in cheers, the referee blew his whistle, and the linesman raised his flag to indicate offside. The goal was disallowed!

  It was clearly a good goal, but it was blown away. The head coach of the national football team, Arihan, was furious and questioned the referee, only to be shown a red card by the referee without any courtesy. The fans in the stands were even more enraged, with "referee stupid" curses ringing in their ears for a while. Fortunately, the Chinese team is still leading now, so the mood of the audience has not yet lost control.

  Perhaps encouraged by the black whistle, in the subsequent game, the Japanese team's morale was greatly boosted, and they began to frantically counterattack, winning multiple frontcourt positioning balls in a row. However, the Chinese team clearly strengthened its control over Nakamura Toshio's passing landing point and did not allow the Japanese to gain an advantage.

  In the 63rd minute, Zheng Zhi made a sudden run from the backfield and dribbled past several Japanese players before making a low cross from the left side of the penalty area. Li Ming's powerful shot was blocked by a Japanese player, but Gao Lin managed to get his foot on the ball in the chaos and scored with a light touch, despite the referee initially hesitating before pointing to the center circle to indicate that the goal was valid, China extended their lead to 3-1 under extremely unfavorable circumstances!

  But the Chinese team's celebration had only lasted three minutes when a sudden change occurred on the field. Japan took advantage of a corner kick opportunity, and their midfielder Nakata Hidetoshi used his hand to block the ball into the goal. The referee ignored the linesman's signal and pointed directly to the penalty spot without hesitation, changing the score to 3-2, meaning Japan was now only one goal behind.

  The Chinese players, who were extremely dissatisfied with the referee's penalty, surrounded him to argue, but the referee still insisted on his own opinion. After team captain Li Da Tou was given a yellow card, the Chinese players were even more angry in their hearts, but they had no choice but to give up their appeal. After all, China was still leading by one goal at this time, and if they were penalized for appealing and Japan reversed the score, they would be scolded to death by the domestic media after the game.

  The handball clearly affected the morale of the Chinese team, and Japan took advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack. In the 71st minute, Mitoma took a free kick from the left side of the front court, and the arc fell very well, but the Japanese player who rushed to the back post was half a step late and failed to catch up, causing the Chinese players to gasp in shock...

  Two minutes later, Nakata Hidetoshi, who was already carrying a yellow card, flew into a tackle on Shao Jiayi. The referee signaled for the game to continue, but the Chinese players, who had been holding back their anger, swarmed around the referee in protest. Japan took advantage of the distraction to launch a quick counterattack. Tamada Keiji received a pass from Nakamura Koji and broke into the penalty area, beating Chinese goalkeeper Liu Yunfei before scoring an equalizing goal to make it 3-3. The crowd erupted in chaos, with fans on the stands losing control of their emotions. In addition to chants of "Referee is stupid!", many fans threw various objects onto the field. Fortunately, security was able to quickly restore order, otherwise things could have gotten out of hand...

  However, the fans' commotion wasn't entirely useless. The referees, now cautious, didn't dare to be as blatant as before. Anyway, he had already helped Japan enough today; if they still couldn't win the game, it could only be blamed on their own incompetence.

  But as the game has progressed, China's old problem of physical fitness has been exposed again. Everyone knows that if it drags into extra time, the physically exhausted Chinese team will surely lose, so they must solve the problem within 90 minutes.