host must win

Chapter 382 The Real First Class in Asia

The time has entered August, and clubs in major European leagues are in full swing to enter the pre-season warm-up stage, while the Asian Cup is coming to an end.

On the evening of August 8, at the Qilu Sports Center, the first Asian Cup semi-final was played between Japan and Bahrain.

As the defending champion of the Asian Cup, Japan's goal is naturally to defend the title.In the quarter-finals, Japan encountered tenacious resistance from Jordan, the dark polo team in the quarter-finals. In the end, Japan relied on luck to win in a penalty shootout.In the semi-finals, they encountered another group of big dark horses in this Asian Cup-Bahrain team!

Due to the lack of overseas players such as Hidetoshi Nakata and Junichi Inamoto, Japan's lineup is not strong this time.Bahrain is the biggest dark horse in this year's Asian Cup. In the opening match against the host Chinese team, they scored two goals in a row when they were behind 0:5, which once scared the Chinese team into a cold sweat.Bahrain eliminated Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.

Bahrain is somewhat similar to Greece in the 2004 European Championship. As the most improved team in Asia last year, Bahrain hopes to replicate the glory of Greece and succeed in this Asian Cup.

The Bahrain team almost succeeded. Endo Yasuhito’s malicious foul got him an early red card, and also made the Japanese team face the desperate situation of fighting with ten men in most half of the game, but the Japanese team had the advantage of overall strength , took a 2:1 lead.Allah Al-Kubair's brace not only lifted him to the top scorer list, but also allowed Bahrain to level the score.Then Nasser's goal gave the Bahrain team the hope of advancing to the final, but at the last moment of the game, Yu Nakazawa took a diving shot near the second penalty point and dragged the game into overtime.

Shortly after overtime began, Keiji Tamada scored the winning goal.Bahrain's miraculous performance was finally put to an end after Allah Khobar missed two goals and was blocked by Japan from the threshold of the final.

Afterwards, all eyes turned to the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. The Chinese team will compete with the Iranian team for another place in the final.

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At nine o'clock in the evening on August 8, Workers' Stadium.

In the second match of the Asian Cup semi-final, China played against Iran.

This key battle made the fans full of expectations, and the Workers Stadium was once again overcrowded.

With the soaring performance of the national team, domestic fans have become more and more fanatical.

Especially before the game, when the national anthem sounded in the stadium, nearly [-] fans accompanied the players and staff to sing the national anthem loudly. The momentum was extremely powerful, whether they were in the stadium or sitting on the TV The audience in front of the plane couldn't help feeling excited and excited.

Yin Jun still appeared in the starting lineup without any surprises. At a critical moment like the semifinals, Alihan would naturally not hide and let Yin Jun stay on the bench.

The Chinese team once again played a [-] formation in this game. The goalkeeper is still Liu Yunfei, and the defense is Sun Xiang, Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng and Sun Jihai.

At the critical moment, Alihan still chose to trust the more experienced Sun Jihai and let Wei Xing sit on the bench.

The midfield is a combination of Yan Song, Shao Jiayi, Zhao Junzhe and Yin Jun, and the double forwards are still Li Jinyu and Dong Fangzhuo.

After reaching the semi-finals, the fighting spirit and enthusiasm of the whole national team have already reached a high point. Under such circumstances, even the head coach Alihan shouted before the game that he would enter the final and win the championship.

This is an inevitability that follows the trend.It would be stupid for the head coach to pour cold water on the team at this time.

In the locker room before the game, Alihan said during the mobilization: "I believe that with our current strength and state, no team in Asia can stop us from moving forward!"

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Although the idea of ​​beating chicken blood is a little uncomfortable, it is really useful.Encouraged by Alihan's words, the national team was also encouraged from top to bottom, and they actively launched an offensive towards Iran from the very beginning of the game.

Only 2 minutes into the opening game, Dong Fang Zhuola went to the left to instigate an offensive, Sun Xiang made a pass from the side and hoisted into the penalty area, and the Iranian defender made a clearance.But the ball was still under the control of the Chinese team, and soon another wave of offense was launched. Shao Jiayi suddenly shot a long-range shot from the outside of the penalty area.

The front of the penalty area is a hidden danger exposed in the match between Iran and South Korea. The three conceded goals are all related to this.

Before the semi-finals, Alihan naturally studied all the games of the Iranian team, and also saw the weaknesses of the Iranian team, and made targeted deployments.

Especially with Yin Jun as a big killer, Alihan spared no effort to ask the Chinese team to focus on attacking the soft underbelly at the front of the Iranian team's penalty area.

The Iranian team also quickly counterattacked. After getting rid of the defensive player in the middle, Karimi dribbled the ball forward to instigate an offensive, went straight behind him, and sent the ball into the penalty area, but the goalkeeper Liu Yunfei attacked decisively and hugged the ball.

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After the opening, the two teams had offense and defense with each other.

The Iranian team obviously also focused on studying the previous few games of the Chinese team, and adopted a strategy of central defense and side attack. On the one hand, they used the defense in the middle to contain Yin Jun's performance, and at the same time, they played their own strong offensive advantages on the side.

All four goals against South Korea came from Iran's right.

Iran's targeted defense made it difficult for Yin Jun to play in the middle. After all, two fists are hard to fight with four hands, not to mention that Yin Jun is surrounded by two to three opposing players at any time. This made Yin Jun suffer from the opponent after the opening The tight marking, it is difficult to get a chance.

It wasn't until the No. 12 minute that Yin Jun ran out of space and got a chance, and then crossed into the penalty area from the side after going down to the bottom.

But in front of the Iranian defender, the Chinese team's attack also failed to create opportunities.Both Dong Fangzhuo and Li Jinyu failed to grab the spot, and the football was easily controlled by the Iranian team.

From the beginning, Yin Jun has always had a feeling of powerlessness, very depressed and depressed, which made him want to go crazy.

Although he had been closely guarded by his opponents in the previous airport games, Yin Jun didn't feel too much restraint, because the previous opponents were relatively limited in strength.

As the top team in Asia, the Iranian team is not at all comparable to Bahrain, Indonesia, Qatar and Iraq.

He is very clear that this is the Iranian team's targeted defense against him, and even to some extent, he should be honored for this, because every time he takes the ball, he can attract the attention of the Iranian defensive players.But he was still upset because he didn't get a chance to perform.Except for this cross, he didn't even have a decent chance to perform.

(End of this chapter)