Chapter 21 Qualifying From the Group in Advance
"Ouch-ouch——"
From the moment Tang Zheng dropped the ball, the Brisbane Stadium erupted with deafening shouts.
Lu Liang took the ball and entered the penalty area. Saudi Arabian central defender Shahrani was strong, but his movement speed was slow. Lu Liang, who was flexible with his right foot, suddenly pushed the ball to the right with the outside instep of his right foot, and it was fifteen minutes from the goal. Suddenly shoot a cold arrow from a distance.
The football stuck to the wet turf and quickly rushed towards the far corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Walid Abdullah made a save immediately, but Lu Liang's hit was beyond his reach because The football accelerates on the wet grass, and it takes time for his body to reach the ground.
Obviously, Lu Liang's shot did not give Walid Abdullah time, and the football hit the lower right corner of the goal.
At the same time, He Wei, the CCTV commentator in the commentary box, suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted: "At the twenty-third minute and forty-five seconds of the game, Tang Zheng made a wonderful pass as soon as he stole the ball. Through the ball, Lu Liang caught up with him. Facing Saudi Arabian central defender Shahrani, his choice was amazing. He turned away from the angle and shot directly. His shot also proved the absolute strength of the new European Golden Boy Award winner! "
The Chinese fans in the stands were as excited as children, especially the older generation of fans, who had experienced the darkest period of Chinese football.
At that time, Koreanophobia, Japanese phobia, Islamophobia, and sandophobia would all affect the normal preparation of Chinese players before the competition, but now this Chinese team is no longer the Chinese team that anyone can bully. !
On the contrary, South Korea, Japan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all retreated when encountering the Chinese team, waiting for opportunities to counterattack.
Before the game, Saudi Arabia confirmed that the team's top star Shamrani would miss the Asian Cup due to injury. Therefore, the game strategy formulated by the new head coach Aurelian was defensive counterattack. However, his defensive system seemed to have changed under Tang Zheng's crack. Vulnerable.
The Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV were even more excited and couldn't contain themselves. Fans who have watched the Chinese team's games for a while know that the Chinese team has not defeated Saudi Arabia for 18 years. After curing their Korean phobia, the Chinese fans Hopefully all symptoms are cured and they want the world to know...
The giant dragon from the east has awakened!
When the game restarted, what was surprising was that Saudi Arabia, which was lagging behind, did not quickly organize an effective attack and chose to defend passively as in the past.
In fact, it is reasonable to think about it. After all, the Chinese team performed very strongly during this period. The two full-backs of the Chinese team, Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi, have very strong breakthrough abilities with the ball, and the midfielder has Tang Zheng as a loader. If the passer of the GPS navigation system is not careful, it is very likely that he will lose the ball first after failing to score.
Therefore, head coach Aurelian chose to continue the game according to the defensive tactics arranged before the game after careful consideration.
After all, a football match is a ninety-minute battle, and falling behind for a short period of time is not really falling behind.
Leading the score, the Chinese team's offensive rhythm slowed down slightly under the deliberate control of Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi, forcing the Saudi Arabian players who were lagging behind to press out.
However, the Saudi Arabian players have extremely high tactical execution ability and did not be tempted by the Chinese players to blindly attack. However, the Chinese team was not in a hurry. The two sides seemed to have a tacit understanding to end the 45-minute game in the first half.
The Chinese team wearing red jerseys led Saudi Arabia wearing white jerseys 1:0.
The fifteen-minute intermission passed quickly. In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again. Saudi Arabia, which was lagging behind, strengthened its offense, but the pressure of the two full-backs was still limited. Obviously they were worried about the speed of Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi.
Aurelian is right to worry about the Chinese team's counterattack, but he seems to have forgotten that Saudi Arabia is now leading.
Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team, proved that Jiang is still the best. Since Saudi Arabia is not in a hurry, he did not ask the team to strengthen their offense and still signaled Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi to control the rhythm of the game.
The score of 1:0 is indeed the most unsafe score in the world, but it is very safe under the non-threatening impact of Saudi Arabia.
Ten minutes passed quickly in the second half. The broadcaster gave the ball possession ratio of both sides. The Chinese team led Saudi Arabia with 65% and 35%. Five minutes into the game, the Chinese team took the lead in making substitutions. Sun Jingbo replaced Wu Sanshi. Pressure from the right on the Saudi Arabian defense on the left.
In this way, the Chinese team's left and right wings have strong ability to break through with the ball. Coupled with the excellent passing ability of the two full-backs, the Chinese team's offense has become more and more three-dimensional.
Saudi Arabia's continued passive defense also gave Tang Zheng a great opportunity to advance and participate in the attack. In the 66th minute of the game, Zhang Linpeng sent a precise cross from the right side of the attack at 45 degrees.
The football flew over the heads of Gao Lin and Shahrani at the penalty spot and flew towards the penalty spot.
Goalkeeper Abdullah turned his head and looked over as the football flew, his pupils suddenly shrank, pointing at the unmarked Tang Zheng and subconsciously exclaimed: "Be careful!!!"
Central defender Hausawi originally wanted to wait until the football flew over and then jump high to head the ball to clear the ball. However, at the moment he took off, a Chinese player wearing a red jersey suddenly appeared in front of him. The big number '10' on the back suddenly appeared. Who is the Chinese player in front of me?
It's... Tang Zheng!
The most threatening player of the Chinese team!
In the flash of lightning, Hausawi had no time to react and could only watch as Tang Zheng leaped high and completed a powerful header.
Because the distance was too close to the goal, goalkeeper Abdullah had no way to deal with Tang Zheng's powerful header. Even before he had time to react, the ball had already hit the lower left corner of the goal...
※※※
"Ouch, ouch, ouch -"
The deafening roar of Chinese fans rang out over the Brisbane Stadium.
Although leading Saudi Arabia 1:0 is a very good result for the Chinese team, after all, it has an absolute advantage in the game, but a 1:0 lead is also the most unsafe score in the world.
Now Tang Zheng helped the Chinese team expand the score to 2:0. It can be said that the victory has been basically preserved and the Asian Cup group stage has started well.
Tang Zheng looked very excited after scoring the goal. When he appeared on the broadcast screen, he raised his arms and shouted, looking up to the sky and roaring, venting the huge pleasure brought by the goal.
A two-goal lead basically means winning the game. As long as they win one more game, they can qualify from the group and advance to the quarterfinals.
In many football matches, it is one thing to be dominant in terms of strength, but it is another thing to win, especially games involving national glory, which are even more important.
Central 5 commentator He Wei said passionately: "When the Chinese team was unable to attack for a long time, Tang Zheng finally stood up as the Chinese team's number one star. He used his iconic header to help the Chinese team expand the score in the second half. Three points in hand! Winning the first victory in the group stage is only a matter of time! Before the game, domestic and foreign media believed that the Chinese team was one of the favorites to win the Asian Cup, but I really want to say something! We can get rid of that 'One', except for the Chinese team, other teams are one of the favorites!"
The Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV felt a little proud when they heard this, and even had a sense of superiority. They were not afraid of being defeated in the first round of the group stage.
The strength is here, is there a problem with losing character?
Is there any other team that can beat the Chinese team?
The sky above the Brisbane Stadium continued to be filled with cheerful cheers from Chinese fans, who even once played Mexican waves in a fanatical atmosphere to fully vent their excitement.
Sandphobia ends from today!
The result of the game also verified this possibility. In the end, the Chinese team defeated Saudi Arabia 2:0 at the Brisbane Stadium with two goals from Lu Liang and Tang Zheng, taking the lead in winning Group B and taking the lead.
In another Group B match later at the Australian Stadium in Sydney, Uzbekistan defeated Palestine 1:0 and ranked second in the group.
The second round of the group stage of Group B is a direct confrontation between the top two and the third and fourth place in Group B. In other words, whoever wins the game between the Chinese team and Uzbekistan can stand out from Group B in advance.
There is no doubt that Chinese and foreign media are optimistic that the Chinese team will defeat Uzbekistan and advance from Group B.
The game also proved that the Chinese team had absolute strength to stand out from Group B. Three days later, also at the Brisbane Stadium, the Central Asian Wolves Uzbekistan did not pose any threat to the Chinese team. Instead, they continued to play under the leadership of Tang Zheng. Constantly defending, there is no time to consider offense at all.
However, I have to say that Uzbekistan's defense is very good. There is a player named Ahmedov in the midfield who is very strong. He can attack and retreat and defend. His focus and attitude during the game are particularly correct. He pays great attention to Tang Zheng. Extremely high.
It is a pity that Xiao He succeeded and Xiao He lost. Akhmedov paid so much attention to Tang Zheng that other players were ignored.
It was veteran Zheng Zhi who helped the Chinese team score this time. He stepped in and received Tang Zheng's through ball and got a long shot opportunity from the front of the penalty area. Uzbekistan goalkeeper Nesterov made a save. But he didn't touch the football. The football stuck to the turf and hit the lower left corner of the goal.
The Chinese fans at the Brisbane Stadium were as excited as children and were hysterical, as if they saw the Chinese team winning two consecutive games in the group and qualifying early.
Uzbekistan, which is lagging behind, has no choice. In the other second round of Group B, Saudi Arabia defeated Palestine 4:1. Once Uzbekistan loses to China in this round, Uzbekistan, which has no goal difference, will retreat. After reaching third place in the group, the last round of the group match against Uzbekistan, which was second in the group, was a disaster.
Because by then Saudi Arabia can qualify from Group B as second place in the group as long as it does not lose to Uzbekistan, and Uzbekistan must defeat Saudi Arabia if it wants to advance.
As we all know, it is much easier to score goals on defense than on offense. Once Saudi Arabia is determined to defend, Uzbekistan really has no way to break through Saudi Arabia's iron barrel formation.
In this case, Uzbekistan, which was lagging behind, could only find a way to score and equalize the score by strengthening its offense, because there were too many variables to leave the suspense of qualifying until the third round.
However, Uzbekistan, which has strengthened its offensive, has left more and more gaps in the midfield and backcourt. Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi are both players with broad vision and can often take advantage of them when switching from defense to offense.
Uzbekistan head coach Maksudov naturally understood that the Chinese team was about to counterattack, but he had no choice. Facing a strong team like the Chinese team, he had to gamble, otherwise Uzbekistan would be the eliminated team!
It is true that you have to bet without losing, but you should also base your decisions on your own strength.
It is a pity that Uzbekistan did not win the bet. Before the end of the first half, Tang Zheng, Hao Junmin, Lu Liang and Gao Lin successively played wonderful "two-on-ones" to cooperate with the ball and enter the penalty area.
Just when Tang Zheng raised his right foot to shoot, center back Ismailov, who plays for Changchun Yatai, knocked Tang Zheng to the ground from behind.
The referee Ariza decisively blew his whistle, pointed his right index finger at the penalty spot and gave Ismailov a yellow card.
Tang Zheng, who took the penalty kick, did not waste the opportunity. He also continued his career accuracy of never missing a penalty kick and kicked the ball to the lower right corner of the goal, helping the Chinese team expand the score to 2:0.
In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again. The Chinese team scored another victory under the cheers of the 'Dragon Fans Club' at the Brisbane Stadium. It was Tang Zheng who scored.
In the 58th minute, Lu Liang's breakthrough on the left rib helped the Chinese team win a direct free kick opportunity in an excellent position.
The free kick is about 28 meters away from the goal, close to the left side, which is very suitable for right-footed players to hit the goal directly.
Uzbekistan goalkeeper Nesterov is cautious and attentive.
Despite this, Nesterov still had nothing to do about Tang Zheng's direct free kick. The football was like a cruise missile, falling at a very fast speed after crossing the wall, and then grazed the intersection between the lower edge of the crossbar and the right goal post. Crash into the snow-white net.
At the same time, Central 5 commentator He Wei raised his arms and shouted: "World wave! Absolute world wave! Tang Zheng took advantage of a direct free kick opportunity to score twice, helping the Chinese team expand the score to 3:0! Qualifying from the group is in sight !”
The on-site director repeatedly showed slow-motion replays of Tang Zheng's direct free kick. Even British Sky commentator Eddie Gray, who was broadcasting the Asian Cup for the first time, couldn't help but exclaim: "Incredible Tang! He once again performed in the Asian Cup. Show off your power and use an impeccable direct free kick to help the Chinese team expand the score to three goals! I think this Asian edition is very likely to fall into the hands of the Chinese team!"
"What's in the bag?" Commentator Martin Taylor shook his head and said playfully: "Shouldn't it belong to the Chinese team?"
As the game continued, Uzbekistan seemed to realize that it was unrealistic to score points against the Chinese team, so it re-established its offensive ideas.
Defend first, then attack.
The Chinese team, which had a three-goal lead, was happy to relax. Lippi began to make adjustments to the lineup and give other substitute players some playing time.
In the end, the Chinese team defeated Uzbekistan 3:0 at the Brisbane Stadium and emerged from Group B ahead of schedule with two consecutive wins in the group. With a five-goal difference, it basically meant that it won the first place in the group in advance.