Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"Breaking the host curse, the Chinese national football team got off to a great start!"

"Two hat-trick players and double-digit goals, the Chinese national football team broke many records in the Asian Cup in one match!"

"After overcoming many difficulties, Lin Feng shocked Asia with a goal!"

"Coming off the bench and completing a hat trick, the Chinese national football striker is incredibly efficient!"

……

After the first leg of the Chinese national football team's match, all major media reported the match as soon as possible and praised the Chinese national football team highly in their reports.

Before the game, everyone was worried about whether the host curse of this Asian Cup would affect the Chinese national team. Some pessimistic people even worried whether the Chinese national team would lose unexpectedly or be tied.

But the performance of the Chinese national football team gave them reassurance and made them completely believe in the strength of the Chinese national football team.

[The Chinese national football team is in really hot form. It seems that the previous training camp in the United States and the sparring with Bayern were very valuable. ]

[Indeed, it was obvious that the Chinese national football team played more calmly in this game. Not only was their mentality much more stable than before, but the players on the field were also more confident and dared to take action.]

[It’s a pity that the Malaysian team is still too weak to serve as a touchstone for the Chinese national football team and cannot test the true strength of the Chinese national football team! ]

[It doesn't matter, the Malaysian team is not good enough, but the next Iranian team is definitely qualified to be the touchstone. If the Chinese national football team can beat the Iranian team, then this Asian Cup will really have a good chance of winning! ]

Shortly after the match between the Chinese national team and the Malaysian team ended, the match between the Iranian team also ended.

Facing the Central Asian powerhouse Uzbekistan, the Iranian team defeated the opponent with difficulty 2:1.

Both sides fought fiercely in this game, and Iran's top star Madavikia even had one of his front teeth knocked out by the opponent's player.

Their head coach was also sent off with a red card in the second half because he was dissatisfied with the referee's decision.

This resulted in him being unable to direct the team on the spot in the next game against China.

This is a small benefit for the Chinese team.

On July 7, with the end of the last match of Group D, the first round of the group stage matches were all over.

All four teams in Group A drew and each scored only one goal, so four teams tied for first place.

In Group B, host Vietnam is currently leading with 3 points, while Japan and Qatar have only 1 point each and are currently ranked second in the group.

The UAE, which unexpectedly lost to Vietnam, is at the bottom of the group and the situation for qualifying is already very bad.

In Group C, the Chinese national team topped the list with a huge goal difference advantage. The Iranian team, which suffered a draw with Uzbekistan, could only rank second in the group because it had 10 fewer goals than the Chinese national team.

The two teams will face off directly in the next game, and this match is very likely to determine the first place in the group in advance.

The situation in Group D is similar to that in Group B. Host Indonesia unexpectedly defeated the West Asian team Bahrain and is temporarily leading with 3 points. South Korea and Saudi Arabia fought to a draw, each getting only 1 point and ranking second.

Due to the strong rise of the three hosts of this Asian Cup, there were many upsets in the first round of the group stage.

Of the five teams most likely to win the championship selected by the media and bookmakers before the game, only China and Iran have won so far.

Japan, South Korea and Australia all managed just one draw and exposed their weaknesses in their respective games.

Therefore, after the first round of matches, the odds of China and Iran winning the championship soared rapidly, especially for China.

The current odds have surpassed those of the South Korean team and are ranked below those of the Japanese team and the Iranian team, making it the third favorite to win the Asian Cup.

However, only one round of group matches has been played so the championship odds are of little reference value. Just take a look at them and don't take them seriously.

The Chinese national football team was not too affected by the outside world, nor did they become complacent with their victory in the first game.

On the contrary, the Chinese national football team is seizing the time to prepare for the next game before it even starts.

"Iran plays very tough and likes to use their physical strength. They fought very hard against Uzbekistan in the last match, so we should take advantage of this and practice more set-piece tactics!"

Lao Zhu is still very thoughtful. He knows that he cannot beat the Iranians in a physical fight, so he simply does the opposite.

Don’t you like physical training?
Don't you like fouls?

Then I will use the free kick you gave me to teach you a lesson!
There are quite a few free kick experts in this national football team. Sun Xiang, Chen Tao and Shao Jiayi all have very good free kicks.

Lin Feng currently holds the record for free kick goals in a single season in the top five leagues and is the only player to have scored two free kicks in the Champions League knockout rounds.

In the last game, Lin Feng had already proved his strength with a free kick. His current state is very hot.

Therefore, Zhu Guanghu's choice to strengthen the practice of set-pieces was a very wise one.

However, Zhu Guanghu was troubled about who to choose as the free throw shooter.

Logically speaking, Lin Feng has the best free kick skills, so he is the most appropriate choice.

But Lin Feng is too young after all, and there are a lot of veteran players in the team. If he is directly designated as the free throw shooter, these veteran players may not accept it.

The current atmosphere within the Chinese national football team is very harmonious, and Zhu Guanghu does not want to destroy the atmosphere of unity in the locker room because of such a trivial matter.

So for the sake of fairness, Zhu Guanghu decided to let the team members sign up and try it themselves.

The players off the field will judge who is better.

"I think it's unnecessary. We all know that Lin Feng is good at free kicks. If we compete with him, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"

"That's right, I think we should let Lin Feng be the free throw shooter. Everyone respects him!"

But as soon as Zhu Guanghu proposed this idea, he was immediately opposed by everyone.

Deputy captain Zhao Junzhe even stood directly on Lin Feng's side and publicly expressed his support for him.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Guanghu glanced at the expressions of Sun Xiang and Shao Jiayi. Sun Xiang nodded to him, obviously supporting Lin Feng to be the free throw shooter.

But Shao Jiayi did not express his opinion. Obviously, he wanted to compete for this position.

"I think we should have a competition, to prevent you bastards from saying weird things about me behind my back!"

Usually, the party that loses a competition will take out its anger on its competitors.

But Lao Zhu took the initiative to take the blame on himself, setting the tone for the matter and preventing Lin Feng from being implicated.

Lao Zhu’s coaching skills may not be very advanced, but he is really good at handling relationships with team members and winning their hearts.

"Let me do it!"

As expected, Shao Jiayi wanted to give it a try, and Zhu Guanghu did not object. He even cheered him on with an encouraging look.

Shao Jiayi's free kicks are really something. He scored three of the free kicks in the four positions in front of the penalty area through the human wall.

For Shao Jiayi himself, this is an extraordinary performance, so even he himself is very satisfied with this result.

The other players of the Chinese national football team looked at goalkeeper Li Leilei with suspicion, thinking that this guy was letting the team win.

Of course, no one would say such offensive words.

After Shao Jiayi had taken the penalty, it was Lin Feng's turn. He went on the court with a nonchalant look on his face, and after positioning himself for the free kick, he used four different methods in a row to send the ball into the goal.

Goalkeeper Li Leilei was dumbfounded. The opponent's ball was either at a tricky angle or he couldn't save it.

Either the ball was going too fast and he couldn't react.

Either it is so tricky and fast that he doesn't even have a chance to save the ball.

"This is too awesome, Lin Feng, are you still human?" "All four goals were scored, and each one used a different move. Is this the strength of a top free kick master?"

"There's an expert next to me. Brother Lin, you must teach me when you have time. I think my free kick can still be saved!"

After seeing Lin Feng perform his free kick skills, all his teammates were shocked.

Although they knew that Lin Feng was good at free kicks, they didn't expect him to be this good.

I thought Shao Jiayi's three out of four was already amazing, but I didn't expect that someone could score all four goals, and with different scoring methods.

The difference in their skills was immediately apparent, and even Shao Jiayi had no choice but to admit defeat upon seeing this.

Although his seniority is indeed longer than Lin Feng's, no amount of seniority can make up for the gap in strength.

……

Just as the Chinese national football team was making great efforts to prepare for the match, the second round of the group stage had already begun.

The Australian team, which was the favorite to win the championship before the game, suffered another upset in this round, and it was an even bigger upset than the previous round.

They actually lost to the Singapore team 1:3!
This result was unexpected not only to the outside world but even to Singaporeans themselves.

But that's what happened!
If the outside world was just speculating in the last game that the high temperature would affect the Australian team's condition, then this speculation was perfectly confirmed in this game.

Under the scorching heat of 35 degrees in Bangkok, the Australian team was in a sluggish state and received a red card early on, putting themselves at a numerical disadvantage.

The opponents, the Singapore team, were clearly more adapted to the tropical climate of Southeast Asia, and they were also very lucky.

First the opponent conceded an own goal, then a penalty kick, and finally they scored another goal in a melee. These three blows directly knocked the Australian team unconscious.

After this match, Singapore team's points directly came to the first place in the group.

The Thai team also moved up to second place in the group by defeating Oman 2:0, only one goal behind the first-placed Singapore team.

As for the favorite to win the championship, the Australian team, after two rounds, they only had 1 point and were on the verge of elimination.

Who could have imagined this situation in Group A before the game!

Especially Australian fans, they thought that by joining the AFC they could dominate Asia.

I didn't expect such a situation to happen when I participated in the Asian Cup for the first time.

For them, the Asian Cup is even more difficult to play than the World Cup, because they at least advanced to the group stage in last year's World Cup, but in this year's Asian Cup, whether Australia can advance depends on whether they can win the next game against the host.

The Australian team's upset was a reminder to the Chinese team and other favorites to win the championship:

There are many hidden talents in the Asian Cup. Don't look down on your opponents just because they are weaker than you on paper.

If you lose, it will be very ugly.

The Australian team has been ridiculed by media in various Asian countries in recent days.

They said they came to Asia to help alleviate poverty through technology, but in the end they got beaten to a pulp.

They can’t even beat the tiny Singapore team, and yet they are the favorite to win the championship. Aren’t you ashamed?

Perhaps inspired by the Australian team, Japan's performance in the second round was much better than in the first round.

In this round of matches, the Japanese team defeated the West Asian powerhouse UAE 3:1, surpassing the host Vietnam team with a goal advantage and temporarily ranking first in the group.

The dark horse Vietnam team in the last round was tied by Qatar in this round and lost the top spot.

This makes their qualifying situation less optimistic, as their next opponent is the powerful Japanese team.

Facing the Japanese team, Vietnam's chances of winning are very low, and it is very likely to lose by a large margin.

At that time, as long as Qatar defeats the UAE, Vietnam will be eliminated.

After the matches of Group A and Group B ended, the outside world's attention was focused on the focus match of Group C - the match between China and Iran.

This is a direct dialogue between the two favorites to win the Asian Cup.

Whoever wins will qualify as the group leader one round in advance.

The losing side may even be eliminated.

"Iran is a very fast team with great impact. When on the field, we need to strengthen the restriction on the opponent's ball outlet and try to limit the opponent's attack speed. The wingers on both sides should not press too far forward when attacking, so as not to give the opponent a chance to attack from behind."

Before the game, Zhu Guanghu gave final instructions to the players in the locker room.

In this game, the Chinese national football team must focus on itself and not fall into the opponent's rhythm.

The Chinese team's midfield is very strong, but the Iranian team's midfield is also very strong.

In addition, the opponent's bodies are tougher and their fights are more ferocious. Once the Chinese national team falls into the opponent's rhythm, it is likely to be continuously passive and lose miserably in the end.

In view of the characteristics of the opponents, Zhu Guanghu made fine adjustments to the Chinese national team's starting lineup.

At central defender, he chose Feng Xiaoting, who has better passing ability, to start and partner with Li Weifeng.

For the left midfielder position, he chose Mao Jianqing, who is faster and more powerful.

Although Mao Jianqing has a somewhat rebellious personality, his strength on foot is still no problem.

In the left winger/midfielder position, no one in the country can do better than him.

This highlight battle attracted nearly 60,000 fans to watch, including nearly 10,000 "Chinese" fans wearing red jerseys.

It may not be accurate to say that they are Chinese fans because many of them are local Chinese in Malaysia and do not have Chinese nationality.

But in this game, they all stood on the side of the Chinese team, sharing the same hatred with the Chinese fans who came from afar and cheering for the national football team.

However, it seemed that many Malaysian Chinese came for Lin Feng, especially the young female fans. After seeing Lin Feng, they screamed wildly like star-chasers.

In fact, not only them, many of Lin Feng’s personal fans also came to the scene.

However, they wore Lin Feng's Inter Milan jerseys, held up Lin Feng's posters and cheering banners, and created quite a stir in the stands.

As the number one football player in Asia, and possibly even the number one in the world, Lin Feng has a huge fan base in Asia.

Not only does he have a large number of fans in Malaysia, but he also has a large number of fans supporting Lin Feng in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and even in Japan and South Korea in East Asia.

In the last game, because the Chinese national football team was playing against their own country’s team, they were too embarrassed to openly support Lin Feng.

But this time, local fans no longer have such concerns.

Hearing the cheers from the fans in the stands, Lin Feng smiled and waved to the stands, saying hello to the fans who supported him.

Unexpectedly, his action caused a greater reaction from fans.

"Lin Feng!"

"Lin Feng!"

"Lin Feng!
Before the game started, tens of thousands of fans at the scene were already shouting Lin Feng's name.

It was as if he was the master of this stadium! (End of this chapter)