Chapter 29 The Long-Awaited Opportunity

The Chinese team's 19-year-old defensive midfielder Li Kui received a yellow card when he stood up for his teammates. The Japanese players thought that the young Li Kui would be a major hidden danger for the Chinese team's midfield defense in the future. It can be said that he was exhausted. Various means.

Additional action and verbal irony.

No one expected that the young Li Kui could control his emotions even better than most of the players on both sides. He was not fooled at all. He was like a completely honest person, never fighting back or scolding him.

The head coach of the Japanese team, Aguirre, couldn't help but roll his eyes when he saw Li Kui, who was as cunning as a little fox. It would be understandable if he was a top star like Tang Zheng who was used to seeing big scenes, but why did Li Kui have such a problem when he was only nineteen years old? Such a mature mind.

It’s unscientific!

With such a mature mind, why did he vent his emotions in a previous conflict and almost cause a conflict?

In fact, it's very simple. Li Kui is young enough, and with a clean net worth, he doesn't have enough control over his emotions. He didn't realize the dangerous situation he was in until he got a yellow card, but he knew that he couldn't show timidity at this time, otherwise he would have to let others do it. fish meat.

Only those who are brave can take on great responsibilities.

Not only did Li Kui fail to become the Japanese team's breakthrough point, but it became the end point of their offense, allowing the Chinese team to obtain continuous opportunities for rapid counterattacks.

It is a pity that Gao Lin and Wu Sanshi were a bit restrained in their quick counterattacks and failed to perform at their best.

However, the Chinese team's offense did not run smoothly enough. Hao Junmin's offensive organization ability was limited. As an attacking midfielder, it was difficult for him to send threatening passes to the three teammates in front under the defense of Hasebe Makoto and Inui Takashi.

Therefore, the offensive end can only rely on Lu Liang's personal ability to find opportunities on the offensive left for the time being. However, after the Japanese players became familiar with Lu Liang's breakthrough rhythm, they can defend with twice the result with half the effort. Coupled with the help of the central midfielder, Lu Liang was unable to Finding space in the gap threatened Kawashima Nagaji to guard the goal.

It goes without saying how critical the Asian Cup semi-finals are. Tang Zheng, who has rich experience in competitions, chose to focus on stability.

But once the opportunity arises, he will not hesitate to step forward and participate in the attack, giving the Japanese team a fatal blow!

However, there was no such opportunity until the end of the first half. The Japanese team, which chose to play steadily, also failed to find space. Therefore, the first half of the last semi-final of the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia ended with 0:0.

The fanatical atmosphere above the Newcastle Stadium has declined to a certain extent. It's not that the fans are no longer passionate, but that they also need breathing time after shouting for half the game.

Thus maintaining a better mental outlook into the crucial second half.

If the game is too close, it may even go into overtime.

Players from both sides of the match entered their respective locker rooms one after another through the player tunnel. The commentators in the on-site commentary box also got a short break and handed over the commentary rights to the live broadcast room of the domestic TV station.

The large LCD screen in the Beijing studio of CCTV 5 showed the highlights of the first half. The host Liu Jianhong stood nearby and said: "In the past forty-five minutes, the Chinese team and the Japanese team were inseparable, and no one could Breaking the opponent's goal, but our offensive method is more unique than the Japanese team's offensive method, and it also continuously threatens Kawashima Eiji to guard the goal. Unfortunately, we are not lucky, otherwise the current score will not be 0:0..."

At the same time, a host in the Tokyo live broadcast room of Japan's J-Sports-1 TV station also talked about the end of the first half. Compared with Liu Jianhong's performance, the Japanese commentator seemed more like criticizing head coach Aguirre: "Our The traditional tactical style of play is to pass the ball without stopping, but Aguirre actually played a long pass without any technical content during a certain period of the game. This is contrary to the style of play we are familiar with in the past. There is no shortcut to success. So stick to tradition.”

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The fifteen minutes of halftime passed quickly. Both sides returned to the stadium one after another, and the empty seats in the stands were slowly filled. The fanatical atmosphere of the game once again filled the Newcastle Stadium, and the cheers became louder and louder.

Before the start of the second half, neither the Chinese team nor the Japanese team made any personnel adjustments.

After changing sides and fighting again, the rhythm of the game was exactly the same as at the beginning of the first half. Instead of going all-out attack, some troops were invested in a tentative attack.

I don’t know if the Japanese team’s head coach Aguirre is unwilling to give up. The Japanese team’s offense at the beginning of the second half was consciously directed towards Li Kui. Obviously, he did not believe that the young Li Kui could maintain 100% under long-term pressure. concentration.

The characteristics of the Japanese team's offense emphasize the completion of reasonable passes and responses in a dynamic manner, emphasizing teamwork, and are very targeted. Therefore, Tang Zheng felt worried, but... soon, he realized that this was likely to be an opportunity for the Chinese team. .

Kagawa Shinji, Endo Yasuhito, and Honda Keisuke continuously moved the football to the left rib of the Chinese team's defense through running passes, which is the area guarded by Li Kui.

Shinji Okazaki, who was at the forefront of the striker, also slowly retreated, ready to respond at any time.

In addition, captain Hasebe Makoto and Inui Takashi also consciously ran forward as the connection point for the football transmission part.

The two full-backs, Sakai Gautori and Nagatomo Yu, both pressed past the center line, and as the passing time of the football increased, their positions also increased.

Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team, who was standing in the visiting team's command area, raised his eyebrows. Judging from the progress of the game, the Japanese team's offense in the second half seemed to be consciously trying to open a gap from Li Kui.

Li Kui's stable performance after receiving a yellow card in the first half was surprising, but who can guarantee that a young player will continue to perform stably under constant pressure?

In the 2000 European Cup final, wasn't Cannavaro the strongest link in Italy's defense?

Trezeguet's final goal was scored by Cannavaro...

Why was Trezeguet able to overpower Cannavaro in the end? Wasn't it because the French team's main offense was concentrated on Cannavaro's side?

So much so that Cannavaro was too tired in overtime, which caused undue problems.

Thinking of this, Lippi looked up at the huge LCD screen hanging on the court. In addition to most of the footage shown by the live director, it also showed the score of 0:0 and the time at 52’56”.

In other words, the second half of the game is about to enter the eighth minute. Lippi is wondering if he can make adjustments to prevent Li Kui from turning two yellows into one red?

At this moment, there was a loud shout above the Newcastle Stadium: "Ouch, ouch, ouch -"

Lippi, who was lost in thought, subconsciously looked up at the court and saw Tang Zheng sweep the football to Wu Sanshi, who returned to the defensive right rib while falling to the ground.

Back to five seconds ago, several players from the Japanese team made continuous passes in Li Kui's defensive area. In order to temporarily divert other Chinese players from supporting Li Kui, they also accelerated the speed and number of passes.

As the number of passes increased, Li Kui felt more and more pressure and unknowingly left his defense zone.

Just when he realized there was a problem, it was already too late. Shinji Kagawa passed the ball to Li Kui's original position without hesitation. Li Kui turned his head and saw Endo Yasuhito running towards the landing point of the football.

"Oops!"

The next moment, the frightened Li Kui's eyes lit up and he was extremely surprised.

Tang Zheng fell to the ground with a quick and accurate shovel to stop the ball passed by Kagawa Shinji to Endo Yasuhito. Then he poked the ball with his right toe and rolled the football towards Takesanseki.

※※※

"Ouch-ouch——"

There was a burst of cheers above Newcastle Stadium.

Tang Zheng got up immediately after completing the interception, and then ran forward very decisively.

Wu Sanshi, who received the pass, did not take the ball and move forward to organize the attack. Instead, he quickly handed it to Hao Junmin and accelerated forward along the right side of the attack.

Hao Junmin did not make too many adjustments when receiving the football, nor did he move forward with the ball. Because his speed was slow and he was not suitable for dribbling the ball, so as a transfer station for the football, he directly handed it over to Lu who came in at high speed from the left. good.

The Japanese team's right back Gaotori Sakai had previously participated in the attack with a great pressure and came to the offensive 30-meter area. This means that when the Chinese team switched from defense to offense, Sakai Gaotoku was not in his defensive position!

"foul--"

Aguirre, the head coach of the Japanese team, subconsciously took a step forward. His upper body reached the sideline without even noticing it, and he shouted excitedly.

However, the sky above the Newcastle Stadium was filled with huge chants from Chinese fans, and the players on the field focused all their attention on the game, with no extra thoughts on the sidelines. Therefore, Aguirre's tactical instructions could not be passed on to the players on the field.

Of course, the players on the field are not like football games that require players to use remote controls. They have rich experience in the game and know what to do in this situation.

Lu Liang is very fast and full of physical fitness. He uses the inside of the instep of his left foot to directly kick the football across the center line while running at high speed.

Shinji Kagawa and Lu Liang had a record of confrontation in the Bundesliga, and he knew that Lu Liang could not be allowed to rush, so he actively sought physical confrontation and tried to interfere with Lu Liang's acceleration, even if he committed a foul.

However, Lu Liang had strong explosive power and accelerated extremely fast. Shinji Kagawa, who was relatively slow, only hit the slightly flying shirt behind Lu Liang.

Kagawa Shinji also lost his center of gravity after a hard collision and fell to the ground.

Captain Hasebe Makoto originally ran back with Tang Zheng, but when he saw Shinji Kagawa falling to the ground, he decisively gave up on Tang Zheng and instead helped defend Lu Liang.

Lu Liang, running at high speed, was like a red lightning flashing across the green grass, stimulating the visual nerves of Chinese fans in the stands and in front of the TV.

Before the game, Japanese head coach Aguirre explained Lu Liang's technical characteristics to the players. Therefore, center back Yoshida Ma did not dare to step forward and actively defend. Instead, he fought and retreated while maintaining a safe distance from Lu Liang.

Gao Lin's forward thrust attracted the defensive attention of Morinaka Masato, and Sakai Takatori was not in a defensive position. This meant that Yoshida Asa had no helper, and there was no one behind him to defend. He had to wait for captain Makoto Hasebe to help defend.

Lu Liang obviously knew what Maya Yoshida was thinking. After passing the halfway line, he dribbled the ball straight towards Maya Yoshida.

Lu Liang, who came to the 40-meter attack area, was only two to three meters away from Yoshida Asaya, so he had to slow down.

Taking into account Lu Liang's quick footwork and strong explosive power, Yoshida Ma still adopts a defensive strategy of fighting and retreating.

Seeing that Hasebe Makoto was about to run, Lu Liang suddenly crossed the ball with his right foot. Yoshida Maya subconsciously thought that Lu Liang was going to accelerate a breakthrough from the right, and his body's center of gravity changed to tilt to the left.

In the end, Lu Liang just made a feint and his right foot did not touch the football.

Cycling!

Lu Liang's foot connection speed was very fast. While pushing the sole of his right foot to the ground, he suddenly pushed the ball to the left with the outer instep of his left foot.

Yoshida Maya's explosive power was not strong, but he was not weak either. The moment he realized that Lu Liang was breaking through from the opposite direction, he kicked his left foot hard to the ground, and the huge reaction force made his body stagnate.

The distance he had maintained with Lu Liang before also showed its effect at this time. Even if his explosive power was slightly weaker, Yoshida Ma was sure to follow Lu Liang.

If there is physical contact, Yoshida Maya is even confident that he can complete this defense.

However, what Yoshida Maya didn't expect was that Lu Liang did not accelerate from the outside of his ribs, but quickly used the inside of the instep of his left foot to dunk the ball horizontally to the left.

Maya Yoshida's eyes followed the direction of the football, and she saw a tall red figure appear in her eyes from the corner of her eye.

That's... Tang Zheng!

Tang Zheng, who had already accelerated completely, was like a super sports car pedaling to the bottom. He was left behind by Inui Guishi who was following him, and then he passed Makoto Hasebe who was preparing to help defend Lu Liang at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ma Yoshida panicked, Aguirre panicked, and the Japanese fans in the stands and in front of the TV also panicked...

Because Lu Liang dunked the football to the right and Tang Zheng was running in exactly the same direction!

Tang Zheng's two long legs swung rapidly, and the fans in the stands could not even see clearly the swing of his calves. Moreover, he had already adjusted his steps while running at high speed. All he had to do was to use the outside instep of his right foot to move the ball towards the ball. The previous trip.

Gao Lin's diagonal attack on the right rib took away Morishige's defensive attention, which meant that there was a huge vacuum between Morishige and Maya Yoshida.

Hasebe Makoto saw Tang Zheng overtaking from behind from the corner of his eye, and subconsciously stretched out his right hand to pull Tang Zheng's jersey that was raised while running at high speed. However, Tang Zheng accelerated too fast, and he didn't have time to pull on the jersey before he could pull it. Tang Zheng broke away.

Tang Zheng moved the ball forward with the outside instep of his right foot and rushed forward without losing speed.

Maya Yoshida realized what was going to happen next, so she tried to trip Tang Zheng with her foot, but he only kicked a ball of air.

Goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima saw Tang Zheng heading the ball towards the top of the penalty area. He had no choice but to abandon the goal and attack.

"Tang Zheng——"

On-site commentator He Wei, the commentator of Xi Yang 5, suddenly stood up with his hands on the commentator's seat, and his voice rose an octave: "Single sword!!"

Tang Zheng had superb footwork and a moderate distance for the ball. When he saw Eiji Kawashima abandoning the goal while running, the corner of his mouth slightly raised, and he used the outside instep of his right foot to gently move the ball to the right at the top of the penalty area, adjusting his steps. Click, then raise your right foot as if to hit the door.

Kawashima Eiji stopped on the spot, lowered his center of gravity, and was ready to make a save at any time.

Tang Zheng kicked the football with his right foot. Kawashima Eiji's body weight was lowered to the left side. As soon as he reacted, he regretted it. Tang Zheng's right foot that kicked the football did not kick the ball solidly, but made a false shot.

Facing Kawashima Eiji who had already made a save, what Tang Zheng had to do next was very simple...