Despite the Chinese reporters being satisfied and approving of Gao Hongbo's starting lineup, and full of confidence in the national team, the situation after the game started did not develop in the direction they had hoped for.

Playing away, the Chinese team did try to go head-to-head with the Japanese team. With Zhou Yi orchestrating, the Chinese team launched several attacks on the Japanese team's penalty area, but none of them truly threatened the goal guarded by Japanese goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima.

On the other hand, the Japanese team's attacks were more threatening than China's, forcing Chinese goalkeeper Zeng Cheng to make two saves, causing the Chinese fans in the stands to gasp in alarm.

Subsequently, the initiative of the game fell into the hands of the Japanese team.

The Chinese team could only defend for most of the time, while the Japanese team intensified their offensive, creating a series of dangerous situations in front of the Chinese goal.

Even the commentator Liu Hong said, "The situation in front of the Chinese team's goal is very tense at the moment! The Japanese team's offensive is very swift! Kagawa Shinji takes a shot… careful!"

Fortunately, the shot went wide of the goal.

But this shot also showed the predicament of the Chinese team.

This scene puzzled many Chinese fans – the same team that lacked its core player Zhou Yi in the Asian Cup final was able to play very tenaciously against Japan, so why is this Chinese team playing so embarrassingly against Japan now?

The TV broadcast showed a close-up of Gao Hongbo, the Chinese team's coach, on the sidelines. He sat on the coaching bench, silent and with a serious expression. Facing the situation where the Chinese team was being suppressed, he did not anxiously stand up and direct the game from the sidelines.

In fact, many people are curious about one thing.

Logically speaking, the Chinese team's performance in winning the runner-up in the Asian Cup was very good, far exceeding everyone's expectations, especially since they were only there to "train" before the competition. Subsequently, they also achieved two consecutive victories in the Top Ten matches. For the national football team, these were very good performances. After the experience of the Asian Cup, this national team should have been well-coordinated. It was the time to achieve results, so why did Gao Hongbo suddenly recruit five players who had never been selected for the national team in one go at this time?

This was a Top Ten match against Japan, not a friendly match where he could scout new players. No coach would ever recruit a large number of new players or use new players before such a match.

This is why the Chinese media believes that Gao Hongbo's approach is problematic, and they don't understand why Gao Hongbo is doing this.

But in fact, Gao Hongbo had been seriously considering the issue of rejuvenating the team after the Chinese team's home game against Oman. So he flew to London specifically to watch the Chinese Olympic team's games, watching all six matches.

His views are different from those of the media and fans.

He does not think that the national team lineup that won the Asian Cup runner-up is already stable. He doesn't think there is anything that cannot be adjusted. The World Cup qualifiers are a long process, from June 2012 to June 2013, a whole year. If they have to play in the Asian zone play-offs, there will be two more games in September next year.

During this process, it is normal for anyone who is not in good form to be removed from the national team lineup.

As for why he recruited five players who had never been selected for the national team in one go, it is also very simple. In the match against Oman, Gao Hongbo found that the national team's "Zhou Yi dependency" was becoming more and more serious.

It is not to say that relying on Zhou Yi is bad. Zhou Yi is the core of the team, and he should be responsible for more. But football is a team sport after all, and relying on one person will not get you far. Moreover, Zhou Yi is an excellent midfielder organizer, but he needs people to complete the attacks he organizes, and he also needs people to protect him. If his teammates do not perform well enough, even if he uses all his skills, he can only play hard, win thrillingly, or even fail to win despite his best efforts.

The match against Oman proved this. It was so difficult to win against the weakest team in the group at home, so what about Japan and Australia? To qualify for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, the Chinese team must be in the top two in the group. Getting third place would require playing in the play-offs, and after playing in the Asian zone play-offs, they would have to play against South America, which is not a good thing for the Chinese team.

Why was the match against Oman so simple? After the game, Gao Hongbo and the coaching team conducted a review and analysis, and everyone reached a consensus that the team was too dependent on Zhou Yi, and they were playing football with less and less thought and less and less effort. They believed that Zhou Yi would solve any problems anyway, so they could not muster the spirit of bayoneting at critical moments. Once that energy was released, it would be difficult to raise it again.

Some national team players relaxed their demands on themselves after the Asian Cup, and their training attitude was not serious enough. They thought that their position in the national team was stable. Some national team players gradually could not play in matches because of matters in their clubs, and their match form was worrying. Their physical condition was not as good as during the Asian Cup. In addition, some people were unable to cope with higher demands due to their own strength…

No matter how hard they trained, it would be difficult for the team's strength to reach his requirements. This may be the so-called "bottleneck."

These are all inducements for Gao Hongbo to rejuvenate the national team.

And the reason why Gao Hongbo made such a decisive decision in the end was the outstanding performance of the Olympic team in London. He saw a team full of vigor and vitality in London, and there were many outstanding players in the team.

If Sun Pan had not been injured, the number of newcomers recruited into the national team this time would have been as high as six.

Zhou Yi's personal ability is very outstanding, but as an organizing core, he also needs equally outstanding teammates to cooperate with him. Otherwise, his passing intentions will not be understood, and his wonderful passes will be wasted… that won't work either.

In Gao Hongbo's view, some people in the current national team can no longer keep up with Zhou Yi's rhythm and cannot meet his requirements. Although they may be veteran national players, it is irresponsible to the team to let them continue to stay in the national team. So they must be replaced.

This may be a bit cruel, but if the World Cup qualifiers are lost, the players can continue to return to their clubs to enjoy themselves, while Gao Hongbo, the coach, will have to resign and be scolded by thousands of people, bearing the main responsibility for being eliminated. If he doesn't do this, then he is being cruel to himself.

So although his actions may offend some people, it is excusable for the benefit of more people.

Of course, his experience in Changchun also gave him some lessons, that is, the rejuvenation of the team cannot be done too suddenly. Everyone should be given time and opportunity to accept it psychologically, and he should know how to take advantage of the situation. This is an essential skill for people who do great things.

He knows that there will definitely be people within the national team who will be puzzled and dissatisfied with his recruitment of so many Olympic team players. It doesn't matter, he doesn't intend to explain this matter, because football itself will teach them to recognize themselves. If someone is not good enough, and no one believes him if he says so, then let football tell everyone. This way, there will be less resistance to his actions.

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Zhou Yi was concentrating on the game on the field. He didn't have as many thoughts as coach Gao Hongbo. No matter who his teammates were, he insisted on playing his own football, and his goal was to help the team win, regardless of the strength of the opponent.

But he could indeed feel the pressure that the Japanese team brought to the Chinese team.

Logically speaking, the strength of the national team should be higher than that of the Olympic team, but after playing in an Olympic Games, Zhou Yi had different feelings. He felt that playing in the Olympic team was more comfortable than playing in the national team now. He guessed that this may be related to the fact that there were more familiar teammates in the Olympic team. After all, Sun Pan, He Ying, Guo Nu, and Yang Muge were teammates who had been playing together for a long time.

During this period, the Chinese team was suppressed in their own half, and Zhou Yi didn't have much room to play. In the attack, he could only use long passes to create some opportunities for He Ying in front.

But it was not easy for He Ying to face the Japanese team's defense alone. Moreover, He Ying's own condition was not good. His rhythm and feeling after getting the ball were not as good as when he was in the Olympic team.

Even the commentator Liu Hong saw this. Zhou Yi passed three long passes to He Ying, and He Ying failed to control the ball well the first time twice. The extra adjustments delayed him more time and gave the Japanese defenders time to surround him.

Why is this happening?

Liu Hong believes that fatigue and the nervousness of playing in the national team for the first time caused He Ying's performance to be less than satisfactory.

But this is not very convincing. At least the first reason doesn't make sense, because the team gathered ten days ago. How could they still be tired from traveling after ten days?

In fact, there is a reason that may have been deliberately overlooked. That is, He Ying did not play a single game for Barcelona this season. He was not even included in the squad for three consecutive games. Because of the lack of games, he could not maintain his form, and it was difficult for him to find his rhythm. It should be known that this national team game was He Ying's first official game after the Olympics. It would be strange if his form was good.

It's just that everyone is unwilling to admit that the reason for He Ying's poor form is that he stayed in Barcelona. They still hope to see He Ying make it to the top in Barcelona.

Every Chinese fan has a dream of playing for a top club, hoping that there will be a place for our Chinese players in the starting lineup of a real European top club.