Chapter 41 "China's Counterattack!"

"China's counterattack!" the Japanese commentator exclaimed when Yang Muge intercepted the ball and passed it to Zhou Yi. "Zhou Yi passes the ball to Hao Junmin! Hao Junmin dribbles forward... He Ying! He receives the ball in the penalty area, great... A pass?! Zhou Yi—!!"

Finally, accompanied by the Japanese commentator's exclamation, Zhou Yi kicked the ball into the Japanese team's goal.

"Goal!!" The Japanese commentator roared, his voice hoarse and his emotions running high. This was, of course, not excitement, but frustrated agitation.

"Our lead has vanished! Now both sides are back to the starting line! To be equalized by the Chinese team after having such an advantage... It's unbelievable!"

"He Ying assisted Zhou Yi! This time he didn't shoot, but made the right choice!" Liu Hong praised He Ying excitedly. "After attracting the Japanese defenders, he passed the ball to the center, creating an opportunity for Zhou Yi, who rushed up from behind, to shoot without being marked! Well done, a very clear head!"

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After scoring the goal, Zhou Yi ran to celebrate, then beckoned to He Ying, signaling him to come up and celebrate together.

Although Zhou Yi scored the goal, he believed He Ying deserved the most credit.

Because the most crucial part of the entire offensive process was actually He Ying's forward insertion and the pass after receiving the ball.

The gap left by Maya Yoshida's rush forward was only seized by He Ying. Why? Because he was heading in that direction from the start, he could foresee that a gap might appear there. Because the center in front of the Japanese team's defense was empty, someone had to come out to fill the position. But why was it Maya Yoshida and not Masahiko Inoha? Because Masahiko Inoha had to defend Gao Lin, only Maya Yoshida, who was originally supposed to defend He Ying, could rush up. And He Ying didn't immediately push to the front in the counterattack, but roamed outside, looking for opportunities.

He waited for the opportunity.

That forward insertion was very timely and crucial, catching Maya Yoshida and the entire Japanese defense off guard.

After he inserted himself into the gap and got the ball, he knew his shooting feel wasn't right today, so he didn't shoot rashly, wasting the offensive opportunity. Instead, he stopped to wait, waited for the Japanese defenders to surround him, and then passed the ball out, giving Zhou Yi, who rushed up from behind, a chance to shoot without interference.

In this attack, He Ying played to his strengths and avoided his weaknesses. He was very calm, demonstrating his keen sense of opportunity, excellent movement, and composure in front of the goal—all of which were He Ying's consistent strengths.

If he had been obsessed with proving that his condition was fine and further proving that his choice to stay at Barcelona was correct, then this goal most likely would not have happened.

He Ying ran up and hugged Zhou Yi, a smile finally appearing on his face.

"Great job, He Ying!" Zhou Yi said, hugging He Ying.

He Ying smiled back at him: "You did a great job!"

"We both did a great job, hahaha!" Zhou Yi wasn't modest either.

The other teammates ran up and hugged them both, celebrating the goal excitedly.

Being able to score a goal away from home against the Japanese team and equalize was something to be very happy about. Especially after missing a one-on-one opportunity earlier. Some people really thought that this game might be lost…

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When the Japanese team lost the ball, Keisuke Honda was still in the frontcourt, he didn't go back to defend. At that time, he lay on the ground for a while, hoping that the referee would notice. But the referee turned and ran, ignoring him completely. By the time he got up from the ground dejectedly, He Ying had already received the ball in the Japanese team's penalty area.

What followed was the moment they lost the goal.

The source of the loss was him. It was him who was dispossessed by Yang Muge in the attack, and then the Chinese team launched a counterattack, and because the Japanese team was attacking before, some people didn't have time to retreat, catching the Japanese team off guard.

So he was responsible for this goal.

He turned his head to look at Yang Muge, the Chinese team's defensive midfielder, who was running towards Zhou Yi and He Ying to celebrate the goal.

Because his back was facing him, Keisuke Honda couldn't see the expression on Yang Muge's face, and didn't know if he was smiling at this moment…

He also remembered what Shinji Kagawa had told him in the player tunnel.

Don't underestimate him, or you'll be in trouble.

He was now a little regretful about why he didn't listen to Shinji Kagawa's advice…

But what's the use of regretting now? There's no medicine for regret in this world.

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"Zhou Yi! Awesome! Equalized!"

"At the critical moment, we still have to rely on Zhou Yi! The key man of the Chinese team! So satisfying!"

"But He Ying's pass was also pretty good…"

"He Ying finally had a moment of clarity and knew what he should do. It's a good thing he didn't shoot directly, otherwise he would have wasted another opportunity!"

"But if he had scored that goal just now, wouldn't we be leading Japan 2:1 now?"

Although He Ying assisted Zhou Yi's goal, in the eyes of domestic fans, He Ying's performance was still not good enough, and they were still concerned about the one-on-one opportunity that He Ying wasted.

This was inevitable, everyone would have this idea…

As long as He Ying misses a one-on-one opportunity, he must bear the consequences.

Unless he can help the Chinese team win the game with a goal or assist, otherwise, he won't be able to escape the blame.

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After the game restarted, He Ying did adjust his playing style, making more use of passing to create opportunities for his teammates, unless he had no target to pass to, then he would choose to shoot himself.

And judging from his shots, the assist obviously boosted his confidence and helped him regain some of his form. Two of the shots were quite threatening, although they didn't go in.

Liu Hong was also happy that He Ying regained his form.

But unfortunately, the Japanese team paid more attention to defense after losing the ball. In addition, after Keisuke Honda no longer confronted Yang Muge head-on in the attack, the Japanese team's attack was also more threatening than before.

The Chinese team had to put more energy into defense.

After all, for them, being able to beat the Japanese team away from home was the best result, but if they couldn't win, a draw was better than a defeat, right?

A draw away from home was completely acceptable for the Chinese team, but for the Japanese team, it was an absolutely unacceptable result.

So in the last ten minutes of the game, the Japanese team launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's penalty area, hoping to kill the game.

After equalizing, the Chinese team's morale rose and their defense was united. Even the veteran Li Fengwei performed very well.

In addition, Yang Muge made outstanding contributions in midfield defense.

Under the Japanese team's bombardment, although the Chinese team's goal was in danger, they did not concede a goal.

After four minutes of injury time, the referee finally blew the whistle to end the game!

"The game is over! The Chinese team conceded a goal first away from home, then Zhou Yi equalized the score, and finally tenaciously drew with the Japanese team!" Liu Hong concluded.

The Chinese players were very satisfied with a draw, so they celebrated on the field after the game, while the Japanese players were very depressed—this was their home field, and they couldn't even beat the Chinese team. Did they still expect to win against the Chinese team away from home? After this game, the Japanese players probably had a new understanding of the Chinese team's strength. It's not easy to win against this team away from home…

Zhou Yi was celebrating the draw with his teammates when Shinji Kagawa found him.

"Let's exchange jerseys, Zhou Yi." Shinji Kagawa tugged at his Japanese team jersey.

"Okay." Zhou Yi readily agreed.

The two of them took off their sweat-soaked jerseys at the same time and handed them to each other.

After exchanging jerseys, the two reached out and shook hands.

Shinji Kagawa said to Zhou Yi: "Be careful of Australia, especially in their home stadium. You will be their main target."

In the previous game between the Japanese team and Australia away from home, the two sides eventually drew 1:1. But the Japanese team also paid a heavy price in that game. They were shown a total of five yellow cards, one red card, and conceded a penalty kick.

Australian players fully utilized their physical advantage to foul and collide with Japanese players in their home stadium, but the referee turned a blind eye.

In that game, Shinji Kagawa was frequently fouled by the opponents, so he not only couldn't perform, but was also substituted off the field in the seventy-fourth minute.

Zhou Yi certainly knew what Shinji Kagawa meant, he nodded: "I understand, thank you, Kagawa."

"You're welcome, Zhou-san. I hope that China and Japan will be the two teams that qualify from this group in the end," Shinji Kagawa said.

After giving Zhou Yi advice, he turned and left, draped in Zhou Yi's number twenty-three Chinese team jersey.

Zhou Yi continued to look for his teammates.

The two of them didn't have any communication about this game that had ended.

Because it was really hard to say anything, to talk about the results and the process, both sides might have been dissatisfied.

But the game was over, so it was useless to say anything more.

If there were any regrets, they would make up for them the next time they played each other…

At that time, it would be the Chinese team's home stadium.