Green Journey

Chapter 405 Another upset!

After the start of the game, Manchester City pressed across the board, grabbing the Middlesbrough players at a loss and losing ground.

When the game entered the 15th minute, Middlesbrough only had a poor 13% possession rate.

In the 18th minute of the game, the ball was intercepted in the middle circle, and the ball was quickly handed over to Chu Zheng.

After taking the ball, Chu Zheng ejected along the left rib and started to enter the left rib area at the top of the arc. Suddenly, he kicked the ball to the left during the run and directly penetrated Middlesbrough's defense.

De Bruyne quickly adjusted after taking the ball on the left side of the penalty area, and pushed his left foot vigorously to the lower right corner of the goal.

The ball was played with the right angle and power, but former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Valdez made a superb save, rubbing his fingertips and the ball slipped past the post.

In the 22nd minute of the game, Manchester City won the fourth corner kick.

De Bruyne drove directly to the front point, and Stones took the lead in rushing to the landing point to take off and ferry the ball to the back point.

The ball was a bit sudden, and there was a rebound from the early landing.

But Chu Zheng still reacted in time, throwing off the Middlesbrough left defender Fred who was marking the side, went forward in time, jumped up and raised his right foot high, trying to block the ball into the goal.

Although Chu Zheng's movements were a bit awkward, he still successfully completed the shot.

However, just after the ball flew to the inside of the goal post and was about to get into the goal, Valdez appeared, and with a swoop, he pushed the ball out of the baseline with both hands.

In the 34th minute of the game, Navas received Fernandio's ball from the right, and then dribbled the ball inside.

After reaching the front of the top of the arc, he suddenly turned backwards, entered the Middlesbrough penalty area from the right side of the top of the arc, and then swept across the goal.

The ball hit the Middlesbrough player and rebounded to the right front of the small penalty area.

Chu Zheng was right in front of the ball, and he shot coldly without stopping the ball.

However, there was an evil goal. Valdes happened to be near the shooting line. He stretched out his left hand to the left, and the ball was blocked by him, and then was cleared by the Boro player.

Then Manchester City continued to attack and kicked Middlesbrough, who had no intention of putting on the bus, into a bus formation.

As time went by, the goal never came, which made Manchester City fans even more anxious.

At this time, many selective forgetting fans and the media finally remembered how Arsenal were tied in the 9th round of the Premier League.

Although Middlesbrough's results were not good, they did not concede many goals among the 20 Premier League teams.

Therefore, Middlesbrough's defense line actually has something.

Especially the frontal defense and high-altitude ball defense of the two central defenders in the middle are really good. Arsenal are so boring.

When the game entered the 40th minute, seeing that the ground penetration attack had little effect, Chu Zheng and De Bruyne took turns to pass the ball from the two ribs or a 45-degree diagonal line from the side.

Soon, the goal appeared. In the 45th minute of the game, after Chu Zheng got the ball in the middle circle, he once again broke through from the middle to the ribs relying on his excellent foot skills and speed.

After attracting Middlesbrough's defensive focus to the left flank, Chu Zheng suddenly made a cross pass.

De Bruyne kicked the ball directly about two or three meters away from the upper right corner of the penalty area, and crossed the middle at a slash of 45 degrees.

At the moment of passing the ball, Aguero, who was sandwiched between two Middlesbrough players at the penalty spot, succeeded in anti-offside.

In the second half, Manchester City continued to attack, trying to score again and seal the victory.

Then Middlesbrough goalkeeper Valdez became more and more brave, and he blocked Manchester City's shots again and again.

When the game entered the 90th minute of regular time, the score was still 1-0, and everyone believed that Manchester City had won.

However, at 90 minutes and 48 seconds, an unremarkable cross from the left side of Middlesbrough made Manchester City's defense line show its original shape.

At the end of the point, Kolarov disappeared, leaving the short Clichy to fight alone, and was attacked by two 190 big men from Middlesbrough.

In fact, Clichy did not react slowly. He jumped in time and used his head to intercept in the air. However, his height was flawed, and he let the ball pass over his head. De Roon, who was inserted behind him, jumped directly and hammered the ball in from a short distance. Manchester City goal.

Since then, this round of a big upset was born.

This draw made countless ghosts fly into a rage, and cursed Manchester City and Guardiola.

After the game, the media also criticized Guardiola, saying that Manchester City's tie with Middlesbrough was caused by Guardiola's failure to use stable defensive players.

Regarding the accusations from the outside world, Guardiola did not admit it, nor did he justify or excuse himself, only saying that Kolarov's playing as a central defender in this game was a tactical need.

That night, the North London Derby, the focus of this round, came to an end. Arsenal and Tottenham shook hands 1-1.

But the Manchester City fans couldn't help laughing.

Because Liverpool beat Watford 6-1 and Chelsea beat Everton 5-0.

Since then, Liverpool have topped the Premier League table with 26 points, Chelsea are in second with 25 points, and Manchester City have been squeezed to third, with Arsenal in fourth on 24 points.

The big victory of Klopp and Conte also made them the darlings of the European football media recently.

Needless to say, Klopp's lunatic tactics make people see the shadow of Dortmund. This guy wants to create another youthful storm in Liverpool.

But Conte is a bit of a god.

Because just a month ago, Chelsea conceded 6 goals in 9 league games, losing to Liverpool and Arsenal successively.

A poor start almost cost Conte a delicious sack.

As the saying goes, if you are poor, you want to change. In times of crisis, Conte decisively changed his formation, changing from a 433 to a 343 formation, and reactivated the original fringe players such as Moses and Alonso.

After the change, the Blues were completely reborn and quickly recovered their form. Not only did they attack well, but their defense also became extremely stable.

2-0赫尔城，3-0莱斯特城，4-0曼联，2-0南安普顿，4场比赛就轰入了11球，却一球没丢。

After this round, Conte has achieved a five-game winning streak, and it can be said that he has secured the Blues' position.

The next day, as the major Premier League stars headed back to China to participate in the continental world preliminaries, the attention of the media and fans also turned to their respective national teams.

Chu Zheng's return also excited the domestic media and fans.

The opponent of the Chinese team in this round is Qatar, which is the second-to-last in Group A, and it is still playing at home, so the domestic media and fans are also very confident in winning Qatar.

On November 11th, at 15:19 BJ time, Kunming Tuodong Stadium, 35 seats were packed to the brim, and there were red crowds as far as the eye could see.

Back in the national team, Chu Zheng was pressed by Gao Hongbo in the midfielder position. He was no longer as free as Manchester City, and could freely move around in various positions.

With Chu Zheng and Zheng Zhi present, although the Qatari players were tall and powerful, they were repeatedly strangled by Chu Zheng and Zheng Zhi in the middle attack.

But China's offensive end has done little.

Because Qatar adopted hand-to-hand tactics today, the Chinese team, which is weak in physical confrontation, fell down again and again.

However, despite getting free kicks in the frontcourt many times, there was still no goal.

Chu Zheng even took the initiative to ask for a free kick, but unfortunately he didn't hold the ball down.

Until the 82nd minute of the second half, Chu Zheng won the top fight in the penalty area, and was about to be dragged down by the Qatari players. Before he fell down, he had an idea, swung his shoulder, and gave the ball to Wu Lei.

In the middle of the penalty area, Wu Lei won the ball and dived to the top, directly hitting the ball into the penalty area.

The ball was pleasing to the eye, and it was a stroke of genius. All the Chinese fans on the scene immediately shouted Chu Zheng's name, and the atmosphere was extremely hot.

In the end, China defeated Qatar 1-0.

Two hours later, the results of the other two games came out, and the domestic fans were all overjoyed.

Iran, which ranks first in Group A, was tied 0-0 by Syria in the away game.

The South Korean team defeated Uzbekistan, which is second in the group, 2-1 at home.

In this way, although the Chinese team with 8 points is still third in Group A, it is only one point behind Uzbekistan, which is second in the group.

It can be said that this is a very crucial victory.

After the game, because Yunnan and Sichuan are adjacent, Chu Zheng originally planned to go home after the game, even if he stayed for half a day, it would be nice to have a meal with his parents.

But the club was so urgent that even Pep Guardiola personally called and told Chu Zheng to return to the team quickly to prepare for the 12th round of the Premier League three days later.

Chu Zheng had no choice but to give up the idea of ​​going home and take an international flight to Manchester.

(End of this chapter)