Chapter 20: Finland World Junior Championships
Helsinki is a beautiful city, but the strict management of the Chinese national team has never given everyone the opportunity to go out and visit, unless they can achieve good results in this competition, so that the coaching staff may be able to give everyone a day off before returning home. However, it seems that achieving this is not easy, as the first match of the National Youth Team unfortunately encountered the host Finnish team.
But what surprised the audience was that as soon as the game started, China took the initiative. Less than 3 minutes into the game, China won a free kick, Li Benjian kicked out a very fast low shot, and Jiang Chen's shot was precise, 1-0! China took the lead!
But just 2 minutes later, the Finnish team also took advantage of a cross pass, and player Paliika, who was also number 11, headed the ball to tie the score. After that, the Chinese team fell into a passive situation, at which point Gao Jun stood out, indicating that the team should retreat its overall formation, thus greatly increasing the defensive thickness, more importantly, giving Yu Hai, with his astonishing speed, even greater space for counterattacks...
In the 28th minute, Li Benjian sent a beautiful back pass, and Yu Hai immediately accelerated to catch up with the ball. At this time, all Finnish players except the goalkeeper were left behind, and the live commentator couldn't help but exclaim, "This speed is simply faster than the wind! Does Robin have a little Chinese brother?"
The reason why the commentator thought of Luo Ben is that the two have a very similar "small step", but Yu Hai's speed can indeed be described as swift and decisive. At just 16 years old, his 100m speed has already reached 11 seconds 3 (hand-timed), which is extremely rare in the U17 World Cup where all players are under 17 years old. Adding to that, the defender had to turn around, so it's no wonder Yu Hai was able to pull away from him instantly...
Although the Finnish defenders desperately chased, they still couldn't catch up and could only pin their hopes on their goalkeeper. However, what really saved Finland was their goalpost. All that was heard was a "clang" as Yu Hai's powerful shot hit the right post of the goal and bounced out! Yu Hai couldn't help but feel regretful for missing this one-on-one opportunity...
The goalpost made a great contribution, but the danger in Finland's penalty area was not yet eliminated. Huo Junmin rushed into the penalty area and shot angrily, but this high-quality shot was bravely blocked by the Finnish goalkeeper who quickly returned to his position. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a ghostly figure rushed into the penalty area, lightly pushing the ball with the instep of his foot, and sent the little guy who seemed reluctant to enter the goal into the net. 2:1, China took the lead again over the host!
Although the Finnish team wanted to equalize quickly, they were intimidated by China's counterattack and no longer dared to launch a large-scale attack like before. China had an advantage with one goal in hand, so they didn't rush either. As a result, the scene was somewhat dull for a while. However, the level of Finnish fans was obviously higher, and they did not urge the team to launch a large-scale counterattack, but only kept cheering them on.
In the 18th minute of the second half, China could have directly killed the game, but He Chao, who is not good at heading, headed high a cross from Cong Hao with perfect speed, arc and accuracy.
Wasting opportunities will be punished, the Finnish team used a free kick opportunity in 1 minute, and No. 9 Petrescu scored a strange ball that was both a pass and a shot. The tall and powerful Finnish No. 13 jumped high, disrupting the judgment of Chinese goalkeeper Tian Xu, allowing Finland to unexpectedly score, tying the game at 2-2.
Just as the two sides were about to shake hands, the Chinese team got a corner kick opportunity in the front court. After seeing Gao Jun's signal, Hao Jue quickly took out an inswinging ball that flew straight into the near corner. Gao Jun, who started quickly, rushed to the ball before the opponent's defender and changed direction, flying into the net, 3-2! The Chinese team scored a thrilling goal in the first match against the host!
In this game, Gao Jun's greatest contribution was that when the head coach was at a loss, he stood up and adjusted the tactics on the field, quickly turning the situation around. He himself also showed his efficiency as a shooter again, scoring two goals with just 5 shooting opportunities throughout the game. Although his state is far from what it was during the Asian Youth Games and Second Division League, considering that the opponent is stronger, Gao Jun got 4 of his 5 chances with headers, which he is not very good at, this performance is already quite impressive.
The first victory made the head coach Liu Chunming very satisfied, but the main goalkeeper of the national youth team, Tian Xu, lost Liu's trust due to his low-level mistakes. The new player Zeng Cheng, who had been substituting before, finally got the chance to play and seized it, from then on he was able to secure the main position, if not, then he would go back to where he came from!
The next opponent is the powerful Colombia (historically advanced to the top four), Coach Gao considered that South American teams, especially youth teams, have strong individual abilities but relatively loose defensive organization. He advocated using passing and collaboration to create opportunities. The Chinese players' skills may be slightly inferior, but because all the frontcourt players except Jiang Chen are from the same club, Dongfang, their tacit understanding is very good. When adopting a team-oriented playstyle that focuses on passing and cutting, the advantage of tacit understanding can make up for the lack of individual ability. Especially since Dongfang's playing style has always been based on ground penetration through passing and cutting, there is no problem with adapting to this approach...
In the 32nd minute of the first half, the Chinese team unexpectedly launched a series of consecutive passes, which were beautifully coordinated. Finally, Rao Jiamin, who had made a diagonal run from the flank, received a through pass from Gao Lin and scored with a shot from near the penalty spot, putting China 1-0 ahead! The crowd of fans at the scene applauded warmly for this wonderful team goal.
In the 67th minute, China got a free kick opportunity. Jiang Chen's shot hit the post and bounced back to him. He immediately passed it to Yu Hai on the left flank. Yu Hai pushed the ball with his left foot, which reached Zhang Chenglin at the edge of the penalty area. Zhang Chenglin kicked the ball with great force, and although the Colombian goalkeeper Arenas dived for the save, the ball still entered the net due to its immense power. The score became 2-0, but this also forced Colombia to launch a full-scale counterattack, and their powerful impact immediately made China's fragile defense line shaky...
