Chapter 153 Change

Gao Lin saw the ball roll into the net and turned to run towards Zhou Yi without hesitation, embracing him tightly. He had to thank this "junior" who was five years younger than him, because his arrival had changed him.

In fact, although he was a forward, Gao Lin wasn't particularly outstanding at scoring goals. The numbers spoke for themselves—his first club was Shanghai Shenhua, where he stayed for five seasons, playing sixty-seven games and scoring only twelve goals.

And his first Chinese Super League goal for the team didn't come until a year after he started playing in the league...

Although he later transferred to Guangzhou Evergrande and became the top scorer in the China League One with twenty goals, the level of the China League One wasn't high. As a national team player, Gao Lin scoring so many goals didn't necessarily mean he was good at shooting.

You have to know, he never scored double-digit goals in a single season in the Chinese Super League...

In the national team, although he was selected in 2005 and represented the country in competitions, his first goal in an international A-level match didn't come until 2009.

As of the end of last year, he had played forty-one games for the national team and scored only eight goals.

For reference, Gao Lin's competitor for the forward position in the national team, Yang Xu, was first selected for the national team in 2009. As of the end of last year, he had only played eight games for the national team and scored three goals.

Forty-one games with eight goals, an average of one goal every five-plus games.

Eight games with three goals, an average of one goal every two and a half games.

Who was more efficient?

But Gao Lin still got more opportunities to play in Gao Hongbo's national team. Why?

Because Gao Lin's role wasn't reflected in scoring goals, but in his support for the team's overall attacking system.

As a center forward, Gao Lin could actively pull out to the wing to play as a winger. Although his shooting wasn't great, he had good awareness and passing ability, so he could set up goals for his teammates.

In Gao Hongbo's team, which especially emphasized quick passing and cooperation in the final third of the field, they didn't really need Gao Lin to score goals.

But as a forward, who wouldn't want to score?

Even players who aren't forwards like to score goals, let alone a center forward.

Moreover, Gao Lin had always been criticized for his scoring ability, and he certainly wanted to shut these people up with practical actions.

Until this Asian Cup...

With Zhou Yi's help, he had now scored... five goals!

Temporarily surpassing Koo Ja-cheol to become the top scorer.

Gao Lin, running back, hugged Zhou Yi tightly.

The other Chinese players also surged in from all directions and embraced the two of them.

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When the game restarted, the Chinese team, which had just equalized, was in high spirits, and under Zhou Yi's impetus, they launched a fierce attack on the Australian goal.

There were a few attacks that really made Australian fans break out in cold sweats.

The Chinese team's small and quick style of play was indeed a bit difficult for the Australian players to handle, especially with Zhou Yi as the "attacking hub" to coordinate.

If Zhou Yi was the CPU processor of the Chinese team, then the processing speed of this processor was simply astonishing!

In the complex environment of the football field, he almost didn't need to observe or think. After receiving the ball, he could immediately pass it out, and then run to the next position, receiving and passing the ball.

If someone were to record and analyze his running trajectory throughout the entire game, they would probably be surprised to find that Zhou Yi's every running choice was just right, with almost no waste in distance or timing!

Of course, the Australian players hadn't seen it yet. They could only instinctively feel that Zhou Yi was not simple, and very powerful, based on their actual experience in the game!

Of course, he was powerful. How could he become the core of Dortmund at the young age of nineteen if he wasn't?

During this time, Australia could only retreat across the board and defend with all their might to cope with the Chinese team's attack.

And the Chinese fans were having a great time. The commentator Liu Hong was exclaiming and shouting like he was having an orgasm.

Gao Hongbo on the sidelines also stood by the field throughout the entire time, staring intently at the field, swaying his body with every pass the team made. These actions showed his inner emotions, sometimes excited, sometimes annoyed, sometimes regretful, and sometimes expectant...

He was fully immersed, looking like an actor who was deeply involved in the play, immersed in it.

Gao Hongbo was indeed immersed in it.

Although he had always emphasized quick passing and cooperation near the opponent's penalty area during training, no matter how well the team did in training, the success rate would decrease to varying degrees in the game, and the degree of decrease depended on the opponent's defensive toughness.

He felt that there was still a long way to go for the Chinese players to reach his ideal performance.

But unexpectedly... in these eight minutes, he actually saw the football in his mind, beautiful beyond compare!

The exquisite passing and running coordination, like the rising tide, impacted Australia's defense time and time again, making them embarrassed!

"At this time... just one goal... would be perfect..."

Gao Hongbo muttered to himself.

But the goal didn't come for a long time.

This high-intensity, fast-paced style of play demanded a lot of physical strength and overall team coordination. Although they played beautifully during this time, it couldn't last.

The Chinese team didn't even besiege Australia's penalty area for ten minutes before they had to slow down and retreat again, continuing to entangle with Australia.

On the one hand, Zhou Yi's physical strength couldn't continue to be maintained at a very abundant level. His non-stop running and passing was very energy-consuming, especially when attacking, because he often needed to arrive at the receiving point in time, so he had to sprint frequently. Those were all anaerobic exercises, consuming all the energy stored in the body.

On the other hand, the Chinese players couldn't always keep up with Zhou Yi's rhythm. These eight minutes, they were already amazing to be able to keep up with Zhou Yi's fast-paced, almost brainless way of playing. It was impossible for them to continue to persist.

In this way, under the dual factors, the Chinese team's storm-like attack finally ended, and the Australian players could breathe a sigh of relief...

When the Chinese team's attack receded like a receding tide, the Australian commentator breathed a long sigh of relief. The sound of his exhalation spread throughout thousands of households in Australia through the microphone. Many Australian fans, like him, spewed out a mouthful of turbid air from their mouths and noses. During this time, they were so nervous that they almost forgot their heartbeats. If the Chinese team's siege continued for a few more minutes, they might have died...

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"Ahhh! What a pity!" Seeing that the Chinese team didn't maintain the previous offensive, Liu Hong held his head in the commentary box. "Maybe we could have continued this attack for a little longer, and we could have scored... but unfortunately, there is no if in football. In fact, the national team's performance has been very, very, very outstanding! You have to know that we couldn't see such a scene from the national team before!"

He was right, not to mention before, these eight minutes were not seen in the other national team matches in this Asian Cup...

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"This is really unbelievable!"

After returning to the hotel, the Japanese players gathered together to watch the live broadcast of the Chinese team's game. When they saw the eight minutes of the Chinese team besieging Australia, they all widened their eyes, and a few almost put their heads on the TV screen...

The Chinese national team displayed in these eight minutes made the Japanese players feel strange and... terrible.

Yes, terrible.

They never thought that the Chinese team could play like a real Barcelona.

Japan football has always prided itself on being the representative of Asian technical football, but these eight minutes made them feel threatened.

Kagawa Shinji didn't exclaim anything, nor did he put his body up to see more clearly.

He wasn't surprised by this, because he had trained and played with Zhou Yi for half a season. Although it was only half a season, he fully witnessed Zhou Yi's ability.

He could often feel such football in Dortmund's training.

The core, of course, was Zhou Yi.

Only Zhou Yi had the ability to drive so many people.

He was now very glad that his teammates had seen the Chinese team's performance in these eight minutes, otherwise, if they still looked at the Chinese team with old ideas and perspectives, they would probably suffer a big setback in the final!

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After the Chinese team's eight minutes, Australia began to press up to attack.

What was no different from the eight minutes was that Zhou Yi was still running, but he was running a little slower, and the sprints were significantly reduced.

He was using running to help the team defend, and using passing and control to slow down Australia's rhythm, maneuvering with them.

The overall strength of the Chinese team was indeed inferior to Australia, so he had to put in more effort to ensure that the situation was maintained in a very delicate state of equilibrium.

Delicate to the point that when the time was right, without too much effort, this equilibrium could be broken...

※※※

The delicate equilibrium was maintained, and although there were some twists and turns in the middle, the general trend was not changed.

Until the end of the ninety minutes of the game, Australia was unable to break through the Chinese team's goal, and of course, the Chinese team didn't score again.

The two sides ended the ninety-minute game in a draw, and the game entered thirty minutes of extra time.

Thus, both semi-finals of this Asian Cup will be played for a full one hundred and twenty minutes...