Lin Hai Ting Tao
Chapter 355 The Host Forced into a Dead End
Hao Junmin, who couldn't get a game at Schalke 04, was still a threat in the national team. His breakthroughs on the wing and free kicks were quite impressive.
This time, he relied on cutting inside after breaking through on the wing, then curling a shot into the far corner of the goal.
"2:0! Hao Junmin! China leads Kuwait by two goals!"
This goal wasn't assisted by Zhou Yi.
Actually, facing Kuwait, a two-goal lead was enough to guarantee China's victory in this match.
But Zhou Yi didn't relax.
After the game resumed, he continued to organize the offense, launching attacks on Kuwait.
Because he was very clear about the situation.
Qatar, as the host, lost their first game 0:2. Of course, they wouldn't easily give up hope of qualifying from the group. The second game was against China, and no one knew how that would turn out. What if they needed to compare goal difference at that time?
So now, if the Chinese team could score more goals, they should score more goals, so as not to suffer losses at that time.
Kuwait had already been beaten by China and had no fighting spirit. If they could score another goal, they shouldn't let it go.
He launched attacks time and time again, threatening Kuwait's goal.
The other players of the Chinese team may not have thought so much, but just followed Zhou Yi's rhythm.
In the seventy-seventh minute, the Chinese team scored another goal. This time it was striker Gao Lin who scored.
Subsequently, Gao Hongbo replaced Gao Lin, who scored, with Yang Xu.
But he didn't replace Zhou Yi. Maybe he and Zhou Yi had the same idea, hoping to score more goals in the game against Kuwait to prepare for the future.
In the eighty-second minute, Yang Xu, who had just come on the field, scored with a header from a corner kick, changing the score to 4:0 for the Chinese team!
"The Chinese team is going crazy!" commentator Liu Hong said excitedly.
This game naturally made the Chinese fans in front of the TV feel satisfied - look at this performance, how could this team be third-rate in Asia?
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In the end, the score of this game was fixed at 4:0. The Chinese team won by four goals, and their performance impressed many people.
Kuwait lost very depressed. They probably never imagined that they could lose so much just because Zhou Yi felt that he wanted to score more goals...
After this game, the Chinese team's next group match will be played at dawn on January 13, Beijing time.
The opponent is the host Qatar.
That will be a very difficult game...
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Shinji Kagawa's Japanese team debuted the next day. Somewhat surprisingly, they drew 1:1 with Jordan.
Moreover, the Japanese team's equalizing goal was scored in the ninety-second minute.
If the Chinese team really took first place in the group in the end, and the Japanese team took second place in the group, then they would meet in the first round of the knockout stage, which is the quarter-finals...
With the huge gap in strength between Chinese and Japanese football, this is actually not a good thing.
Five days later, the Chinese team ushered in their second group opponent, Qatar.
Because Qatar lost their first game, they must win the second game to ensure qualification. And if the Chinese team loses to Qatar, then they must defeat Uzbekistan in the last game to ensure qualification.
So for the Chinese team, the second group match is a game they cannot afford to lose, and it is a key battle for qualification.
In China, there is a more rational voice. When Gao Hongbo said "third-rate in Asia" and "Asian Cup training", it meant that for the Chinese team, being able to qualify from the group stage was already a great victory, and it could be called a successful Asian Cup journey.
Looking at the situation now, the analysis of those rational voices is correct. With the current strength of the Chinese team and the general environment of Asian football, being able to qualify for the Asian Cup group stage is indeed worthy of celebration.
You know, in the last Asian Cup held in four Southeast Asian countries in 2007, the Chinese team led by Zhu Guanghu did not qualify from the group stage...
At that time, everyone felt that it was simply a disgrace to Chinese football. However, after these four years of tossing, some people have felt that with the strength of the Chinese team, it is normal not to qualify from the group stage...
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Did Qatar do some work for this game?
Of course, they did.
This can be seen from the fact that Yang Hao, the Chinese team's defensive midfielder, received a yellow card just eleven minutes after the start of the game.
As the Chinese team's main defensive midfielder, Yang Hao, who is excellent in running and covers a large area, is a midfield iron gate for the team. As a result, such a defensive player gets a yellow card as soon as he comes up. How will he play the remaining eighty minutes of the game?
He must be playing timidly, for fear of getting a second yellow card and being sent off.
The South Korean referee Kim Dong-jin will definitely be watching Yang Hao in this game.
Yang Hao also played very uncomfortably. When the opponent took the ball in front of him, he didn't dare to make a move, he could only block the opponent, but he would soon be passed by the opponent.
In addition to Yang Hao's yellow card, Kim Dong-jin, the referee, was also more inclined towards Qatar in other aspects. As long as there was physical contact, if a Chinese player fell to the ground, he would ignore it, but if a Qatari player fell to the ground, he would definitely blow the whistle and rule that the Chinese player had fouled, giving the ball to Qatar.
The Chinese commentator Liu Hong spent one-third of the commentary in the first half criticizing the South Korean referee.
But he didn't dare to explicitly say that Qatar had done referee work, otherwise, the TV station might receive a protest call from the Qatari embassy during the halftime break...
At that time, if a football game broadcast turned into a diplomatic dispute, he would definitely be punished.
Qatar, who had the advantage on the field, also had good luck in this game. In the twenty-seventh minute, Yusef Ahmed suddenly took a cold shot outside the penalty area. When he shot, no one felt that this shot was any threat, but in the end... the football flew into the goal!
And it was still a dead corner, so Yang Zhi couldn't save it!
I really didn't expect that Ahmed kicked casually and actually scored a worldie!
China's nightmare seemed to be not over yet. In the last minute of injury time in the first half, Ahmed took the ball outside the penalty area, then suddenly turned around and shot from a distance. The football once again bypassed Yang Zhi and went into the goal...
The Chinese team was two goals behind in the first half!
Judging from the first half alone, people would think that the Chinese team was doomed to lose. They seemed to be stunned. Even a top star like Zhou Yi didn't show his strength at all.
The Qatari fans at the scene were also very excited, and the men wearing headscarves in the stands also showed their crazy side.
But after the start of the second half, the situation changed suddenly...
"Zhou Yi——!!!" Liu Hong shouted excitedly, "The ball is in, the ball is in, the ball is in, the ball is in, the ball is in——!!! Only three minutes into the second half, Zhou Yi used a curling shot on the edge of the penalty area to pull a goal back for the Chinese team!"
While he was shouting wildly, Zhou Yi had already been buried by his teammates on the field. The Chinese team was celebrating the goal.
The Qatari players were a little dazed. Some of them stared blankly at the Chinese players celebrating the goal, and some stared blankly at the football in the goal, not understanding how they lost the ball.
Just now, when Zhou Yi took the ball on the edge of the penalty area, everyone was defending against his pass. They didn't expect that he would suddenly shoot, and his right foot rubbed out a curve, bypassing the Qatar goalkeeper who rose into the air and spinning into the goal...
This ball was impeccable and undisputed. Even if the South Korean referee Kim Dong-jin wanted to blow the ball out, it was impossible.
After Zhou Yi scored, Qatar also strengthened their marking on him. Sometimes they used foul tactics, pushing Zhou Yi down and tripping him to the ground, but the referee turned a blind eye.
If you still dare to protest to the referee?
Sorry, here's a yellow card. Because the South Korean referee's fragile little heart cannot withstand any stimulation.
In this way, the Chinese team's offense could not make any progress for a long time. Until the eightieth minute of the game, the score was still 2:1, with the home team Qatar leading by one goal.
If the Chinese team loses this game, qualifying from the group stage will be really hanging...
Returning home after the group stage may be the result Klopp hopes to see, because in that case, the impact on Dortmund is the smallest.
But this is not what Zhou Yi wants.
In the eighty-first minute, after he took the ball in the frontcourt, he made a feint to pass the ball, but suddenly turned around and broke away in the opposite direction. The opponent was caught off guard and wanted to stop Zhou Yi with a foul, but Zhou Yi twisted his body and dodged the opponent's arm pulling his jersey.
Then Zhou Yi didn't pass the ball, but directly dribbled the ball into the penalty area!
Zhou Yi's move really greatly exceeded the expectations of the Qatari players, so when Zhou Yi suddenly entered the penalty area, many Qatari players didn't even react.
Zhou Yi rarely dribbles past people in the game, but this doesn't mean that he can't dribble past people, it's just that there is no need to dribble past people. Why not pass the ball if the problem can be solved with a pass? It's even more convenient.
Zhou Yi used to be a striker, so he still has the basic skills. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to stand out from the national amateur players and win the opportunity to go to Europe. This shows that his basic skills are still solid, and this kind of shifting and maneuvering to pass people doesn't require super physical fitness to support it, so it's not difficult for Zhou Yi.
After entering the penalty area, Zhou Yi made a move to shoot, and two Qatari defenders rushed over immediately from the left and right, blocking his shot with their bodies, just like closing a door.
But after Zhou Yi's foot landed, he just pushed the football to the side...
"Gao Lin!"
In Liu Hong's roar, Gao Lin swung his foot and shot!
The football flew upwards, crossed the Qatar goalkeeper's ten fingers, and then crashed into the lower edge of the crossbar, before bouncing into the goal.
The ball is in!
The Chinese team equalized!
Gao Lin didn't seem to expect that he would score. When he kicked it out, he thought he would miss it again... If he missed this ball, he would probably feel guilty for a long time.
The dazed Gao Lin didn't realize what had happened until he was hugged by Zhou Yi.
"The Chinese team has equalized!!"