Chapter 61: Taking the lead, 1:0 Japan team! Given that the Chinese national team is likely to adopt a defensive counterattack tactic, the Japanese team focused on practicing offensive routines during their pre-match preparations. Set pieces, crosses from the wing and long shots from outside the penalty area, the Japanese team has been training these almost all day. As for the training time of defensive tactics, it has been greatly compressed. The opponent has retreated to launch a defensive counterattack, so what's the point of defending? The only thing the Japanese team is afraid of is probably Lin Feng's speed. In response to this, Zico made targeted arrangements, asking the Japanese team's midfielders to pay attention to cutting off the connection between the Chinese national team's midfielder and Lin Feng, and not giving them the opportunity to pass threatening balls. As long as Lin Feng can't get the ball, his speed advantage will naturally be impossible to use. Even if the Chinese team unfortunately stole a ball through a defensive counterattack, it wouldn't matter as long as the Japanese team could score more goals. Because Japan did not score in the previous game against North Korea. This caused the outside world to question the Japanese team's offensive capabilities and also cast doubt on Zico's coaching ability.
Zico, who was once a world-class player during his playing career, naturally did not want to be mediocre after becoming a coach. Coaching the Japanese team is just a stepping stone for him to reach a higher stage. According to Zico's plan, after leading the team to the World Cup in Germany next year, he will resign as head coach of the Japanese team and go to the top five leagues. If he wants to get a chance in the top five leagues, he needs to prove his coaching ability in the Japanese national team. Therefore, Zico hopes to lead the team to a big victory and get rid of outside doubts. …… Time flies, and soon it is August 8, the day for the second round of the East Asian Cup. The focus of this round is the match between China and Japan. As the Chinese national football team won 3:0 against South Korea in the last round, they are currently ranked first in the group with a 3-point and 3-goal advantage. If the Chinese national football team can beat the Japanese team in this round, then their chances of winning the championship will become very good. For the Japanese team, due to the unexpected loss in the first round, they must win this round to retain their hopes of winning the championship. Otherwise, the Japanese team will be eliminated one round early and miss the chance to win the East Asian Cup. In order to win this game, the Japanese team played with all their main players. Zico fielded the strongest lineup that the Japanese team could muster at this stage to face the Chinese national team. The Chinese national football team also played all the good cards they could! There was good news before the game. After the Football Association's appeal, Gao Lin, who was wrongly given a red card in the previous game, was finally disqualified. This means that Gao Lin can continue to play in this game! However, the red cards given to Li Weifeng and others could not be cancelled, so in this game, the Chinese national team almost made a complete replacement in the back line. Feng Xiaoting and Ji Mingyi replaced Li Weifeng and Zhang Yaokun and became the starting central defender combination of the Chinese national team in this game.
Both of them have relatively little playing time and are relatively young, so the outside world does not have much confidence in this combination. In the eyes of many people, the combination of Feng Xiaoting and Ji Mingyi is likely to become a breakthrough for the Chinese national football team in this game. The Japanese team obviously thinks so too! After confirming that the two main central defenders of the Chinese national football team would not be able to play in the next game, the Japanese team began to study how to take advantage of this. As a newcomer, Feng Xiaoting was obviously regarded as a breakthrough point by the Japanese. After studying Feng Xiaoting's game videos, they believed that Feng Xiaoting was a guard who was not good at physical confrontation. To deal with such a defender, you just need to send your tall and strong players to attack hard. The idea is good, but when it comes to actual implementation, it turns out that it is not the case. Feng Xiaoting's physical confrontation ability is not as weak as the Japanese team thought. Although Ji Mingyi has little presence and has always been Li Weifeng's substitute in the national football team, his defensive ability is not weak. The combination of these two players not only did not let down, but completely withstood the most frenzied attack of the Japanese team in the first fifteen minutes of the game. "Feng Xiaoting's defensive ability is pretty good!" "Except for his weak header ability, he seems to be ridiculously strong in other aspects!" "You must be kidding. Can someone who is chosen by Barcelona be weak?" "Haha, the Japanese have hit a wall this time, right? They thought they had found an easy target!" The Chinese national team fans, who were originally frightened and worried about the team's new central defender combination, were relieved after watching the first fifteen minutes of the game. The performance of Feng Xiaoting and Ji Mingyi completely exceeded their expectations. Especially Feng Xiaoting, this kid's defensive style is completely different from the traditional impression of the tough and domineering central defender. He plays smarter and more slickly. Other defenders use their strong physical fitness and powerful athletic ability to block the opponent's forwards like a wall, preventing them from scoring goals. But Feng Xiaoting is different. He is like a water snake, entwining his opponent and making his kicking feel extremely awkward and uncomfortable. The forwards on the Japanese team were not weak, but they were unable to use their full strength when they met Feng Xiaoting. They could not exert even half of their full power and were all silenced. If Feng Xiaoting was only good at defense, that would be fine. But in addition to his strong defense, he also has very solid footwork. It is often seen that after successfully defending, Feng Xiaoting uses his excellent dribbling and passing abilities to act as a half midfielder and participate in the Chinese national team's counterattack. On defense, he is the team's last link, and on offense, he is the team's offensive initiator. In this back and forth, he played an additional role than others. Obviously both sides had 11 players, but as the game went on, it felt like the Chinese national team had one more player than the opponent. This made many fans who had never seen Feng Xiaoting play football exclaim that it was outrageous, and they couldn't help but think: When did such an outlier appear in our national football team? Why is it that I can't understand the way this kid plays? Some veteran fans with rich experience in watching football saw shadows of many people in Feng Xiaoting. And these people, without exception, are top defenders in football! No wonder Barcelona took a fancy to Feng Xiaoting, it turns out this kid is really something! ……
At the beginning of the game, the Chinese team played relatively conservatively. Because he was worried that his own defense line could not hold up, Zheng Zhi, who had played every position except goalkeeper, often ran to the back line to play as a defender to help his teammates share the pressure. With Li Weifeng unable to play, Zheng Zhi took his place and became the new captain of the national football team. After he became the captain, he shouldered the captain's responsibilities, going wherever there were difficulties to provide support and putting out fires on the field. With Chen Tao absent due to injury, Zheng Zhi, the core of the organization, ran to defend, which reduced the creativity of the Chinese team's midfield a lot. In the first fifteen minutes of the game, there were almost no threatening attacks. But as the Chinese team's defense gradually stabilized, the performances of Ji Mingyi, Feng Xiaoting and others also got better and better. Zheng Zhi then felt relieved and returned to his familiar position of defensive midfielder, starting to take on the responsibilities of organization and attack. His return immediately brought changes to the Chinese national team's offense. In the 27th minute, the Chinese national team's attack reached the Japanese team's half. After Zheng Zhi got rid of the defender, he moved to the wing in a large area. After receiving the ball, Sun Xiang pretended to break into the penalty area, attracted the attention of the opponent's full-back, and then passed the ball to Lin Feng who was making a forward run. Lin Feng made a move to shoot, and the Japanese team's center back rushed forward to block him. But his shot was just a feint. After seeing the opponent blocking the ball, Lin Feng gently poked the ball with his toes, and the ball went through the small door of the Japanese central defender. A white figure rushed into the penalty area like a ghost and kicked the ball. boom! The football drew a beautiful arc in the air and went straight to the blind spot in the upper left corner of the goal. The Japanese goalkeeper was powerless to do anything about it! The score became 1:0! The first team to score was the Chinese team! The scorer is China’s No. 29 – Li Jinyu! (End of this chapter)