Chapter Seventy-Four: Japan Conquers the Stars

  New book rushes into the charts, continue to ask for recommendation votes and member clicks ^_^

  This distance is actually a direct shot, but after Hou Junmin left the team, there was no player in Dongfang's main lineup who excelled at long-range free kicks. Even Ribery, who could take direct free kicks, had never scored from more than 30 yards in training. Therefore, for this free kick opportunity, Dongfang still chose to let Korner, who is excellent at long passes, take the shot. After the ball was kicked out, Gao Jun at the front point couldn't head the ball under the opponent's tight defense, but Ao Lin broke the deadlock with a beautiful diving header from the middle of the road, 1:0, and Dongfang easily took the lead!

  The game had just begun and they lost a goal so easily, Yokohama F. Marinos' head coach Takahiro Okada was naturally very angry, but he didn't blame the players on the backline because even he, as the head coach, hadn't expected that Akira Ito would be so big and agile, and his explosive power and starting speed were beyond Takahiro Okada's expectations.

  Although the Chinese team became Asian champions for the first time more than half a year ago, Japanese football is not convinced of this. They generally believe that the strongest teams in Asian football did not send their strongest lineups, which is the fundamental reason why China won the Asian Cup. Since the Japanese do not look down on the Chinese national team, they naturally look down even more on Shanghai Dongfang, a team with only two players selected for the national team. Of course, regarding Gao Lin's miraculous performance in the Asian Cup, Okada Takeshi gave special attention to him. Yu Hai has incredible speed, excellent dribbling skills, and decent heading ability, so he warned his defenders to be extra vigilant. However, he did not think that there were many more powerful players in Dongfang...

  However, after that lost ball, Okada Takeshi quickly corrected his mistake and assigned captain Nakazawa Yuji to mark Aulin. But although Nakazawa Yuji was already one of Japan's top defenders, his physique was tall and thin, with a height of 1.87 meters but only 74 kilograms in weight, which was even less than Feng Xiaoting. His strength was naturally not enough to compete with Aulin, who had a European-style build. Aulin's extremely fast speed and explosive power made Nakazawa Yuji have to foul repeatedly to stop him. As a result, the game had only reached the 26th minute when Nakazawa Yuji received a yellow card. This was thanks to the referee's mercy; if this match were not at Yokohama's home stadium, Nakazawa Yuji would definitely have been sent off already...

  Okada Takeshi was also amazed by the lively performance of Ao Lin, "Tall and powerful, with excellent jumping ability, speed and agility, as well as outstanding balance and ball control skills. If such an excellent player were Japanese, he would be a mainstay of the national team's center position. How could he not even make it into China's national team?"

  The national football team's head coach, Alihan, was also amazed by Gao Lin's performance on the stands and regretted not noticing such an excellent striker earlier. However, he didn't know that Gao Lin's outstanding performance in this match wasn't because his ability could crush regulars in the AFC Champions League, but mainly because Gao Lin's characteristics were particularly effective against Japanese teams. That's why General High specially advised Alihan to watch this match.

  Historically, after his debut, Ah Lin almost always performed exceptionally well in matches against Japanese teams, making every Japanese team feel extremely painful. As a result, Japanese fans even reverently called him the "Asian C-Ro". The reason for this is that Japanese teams generally lack players with excellent one-on-one defensive abilities, mainly relying on teamwork. Once they encounter a player with strong breakthrough ability, they will struggle, especially if the opponent is not a selfish "lone wolf" who only scores goals and doesn't pass the ball. What's more fatal is that Ah Lin has all-around excellent attributes, making it impossible for Japanese defenders to limit him by targeting his weaknesses, as every aspect of his game is superior. No wonder Ah Lin was able to single-handedly tear apart Yokohama's defense...

  Moreover, although Ao Lin is only 19 years old now, he has made significant progress in the past two years due to his improved technique, scientific and rigorous training, and numerous formal competitions. His current strength is comparable to that of his peak period in history, with only a slight gap in physical and technical aspects. However, his shooting ability surpasses that of the historical "Ao Flying Machine". This is because there is a player named Gao Jun on the team who has an extraordinary ability to grasp opportunities, so even when Ao Lin has chances, he tends to pass them to Gao Jun, which has led to his scoring ability being overlooked. In this match, however, since the Eastern team's frontcourt was focused on defending against Ao Lin, he got chance after chance to shoot, and his rapidly improving shooting technique finally had a chance to shine.

  "Dongfang No. 9 got the ball and shook off Nakazawa Yuji's defense, turning around to shoot with his foot, but the ball was slightly high, what a close call! The Japanese commentator let out a sigh of relief while also expressing strong dissatisfaction towards Okada Takeshi and Nakazawa Yuji, "I don't know why Coach Okada didn't make adjustments in time, if this continues, they'll definitely lose. After this match, Nakazawa Yuji needs to reflect deeply as well, can't even defend against a Chinese rookie who nobody has heard of, how will he defend against world-class forwards at the World Cup next year?"

  In just 35 minutes, the unknown Gao Lin not only scored a goal but also hit the post once and had two shots slightly off target. He also forced both of Yokohama's central defenders to receive yellow cards. Under such circumstances, Okada Takeshi could only let one defensive midfielder participate in defense while asking Nagasawa Yusuke to use his agility to support Nakazawa Yuji instead of rushing forward immediately. This barely restricted Gao Lin's breakthrough, which had previously seemed unstoppable. However, this made Yokohama's defense against Dongfang's other attackers even weaker. Even though Gao Lin himself was no longer easily getting scoring opportunities, he could still provide great help to his teammates through his movements and passing. Such outstanding performance finally completely conquered the stands' Arihan...

  In fact, among the domestic players in the Dongfang team's first-line lineup, except for Gao Jun, Ao Lin's potential can be said to be the greatest, even surpassing Yu Hai (without considering Yu Hai's comprehensive advantage of being able to play multiple positions). This is because his muscle type, flexibility and balance are all better than Yu Hai, while his jumping ability and ball control skills are even more outstanding. In terms of physical conditions alone, only Dong Fangzhuo in history can be compared with him, and Ao Lin has a lower difficulty in cultivating talents due to his better passing ability.