Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Controlling the tempo of the game and using changes in tempo to decide whether to defend or attack is a necessary skill for every midfielder.

Originally, Zheng Zhi was the metronome on the Chinese team.

But since Lin Feng entered the starting lineup of the national football team, this task fell on his head.

In the 67th minute, when the Iranian team was about to slow down the pace of attack, Lin Feng suddenly sped up, changed the previous back pass and side pass, and sent a straight pass forward.

This pass accurately found Shao Jiayi who was in an open position. Shao Jiayi was experienced and when he received the pass from Lin Feng, he knew that he was going to speed up.

So he immediately dribbled the ball towards the middle, took away the opponent's full-back, and then passed the ball to the left side and handed it to Sun Xiang who came up to assist.

Sun Xiang rushed forward after receiving the ball, looking up at the penalty area as he ran, preparing to pass the ball.

The opponent's defender did not dare to slack off at all and stuck closely to Han Peng, not giving him any chance to compete for the header.

However, Han Peng was just a cover in the front. Just when the Iranian defensive players focused their attention on Han Peng, their back line followed Han Peng and left a large space behind the back line.

Sun Xiang aimed at this position and suddenly kicked the ball.

The Iranian midfielder who was returning to defense was still wondering why the opponent passed the ball to this deserted place. Then he felt like a gust of wind blowing by him, and a red figure passed him in the blink of an eye and appeared in this position.

The person who rushed over was none other than Lin Feng, who sprinted forward with all his strength after completing the pass.

Facing Sun Xiang's pass, Lin Feng did not choose to stop the ball, but aimed at the lower left corner of the goal and shot decisively.

Fortunately, the ball did not touch the legs of the players on both sides, and bounced on the ground in the small penalty area, which greatly affected the Iranian goalkeeper's prediction.

With a swish, the ball brushed the inside of the post and rolled into the net.

Although the Iranian goalkeeper's fingers touched the ball, it was too late. He only managed to slightly change the direction of the ball, but still failed to prevent the ball from entering the net.

"The ball is in!"

"4:1!"

"The Chinese team once again expanded the lead in the 67th minute. The goal was scored by China's attacking midfielder Lin Feng. This was his second goal in this game!"

In the studio, the two commentators were very excited after seeing this goal.

When Iran scored a goal in the second half, the two players, like many fans, were so nervous that their throats were at their throats, fearing that the tragedy of ten years ago would happen again.

But under the calm command and coordination of players such as Lin Feng and Zheng Zhi, although the Chinese national football team was once passive, it never gave the opponent too many good opportunities and did not allow the opponent to further narrow the score gap.

Now, Lin Feng took advantage of the opponent's empty backcourt defense to help the team score another goal. At the 70th minute mark, the Chinese team regained a three-goal lead, which finally put their minds at ease.

With a three-goal lead, the opponent only had more than twenty minutes left.

And given the composure and sophistication that the Chinese national team just showed, it would be impossible for them to allow their opponents to score three goals in such a short period of time.

This also means that the Chinese national football team has already firmly won the decisive battle in Group C!
Winning this game means that the Chinese national team has secured first place in the group!

……

On the court, Lin Feng, who scored the goal, was also very excited. He ran to the sidelines again and performed his signature celebration move.

This time, the "siu" sounds made by the fans in the stands were louder, as if the entire stands were resonating with him.

The Chinese fans who came to the scene were extremely excited because they witnessed with their own eyes that the Chinese national football team achieved a big victory, and the team they defeated was their nemesis, Iran, a top Asian team!

The Malaysian fans who came to the scene were also very excited because they saw an ultimate performance by Lin Feng.

So far, all four goals of the Chinese national football team were scored by Lin Feng. Not only did he score twice, he also provided two assists.

This made the Malaysian fans who came all the way for Lin Feng feel that their trip was worthwhile. The opponent was indeed the best player in Asia, and his strength completely crushed everyone else on the field.

Being able to see the performance of a star of this level up close is totally worth the price of the ticket!
Looking at Lin Feng who was celebrating with his teammates, Shao Jiayi felt a little sad.

When Sun Xiang paused just now, he actually discovered the empty space near the penalty area line.

However, he made a wrong move and failed to coordinate with Han Peng when he was pressing forward. Instead, he followed the opponent into the penalty area. As a result, although he saw the opportunity, he was completely unable to seize it.

Instead, Lin Feng, who was farther away, took advantage of the opportunity!
Is this the gap between him and me?

The opponent could see the opportunity in the front court from a long distance, but he was very close, but he realized it too late and failed to seize the opportunity.

The consciousness of the two people is completely on not the same level. If Lin Feng is a genius, then he is just an ordinary person.

This was a heavy blow to Shao Jiayi.

As one of the earliest national team players to go abroad and who has played in the Bundesliga for a long time, Shao Jiayi still has a sense of pride in his heart.

He felt that even if he was not a genius, he was still one of the best among this group of national team players.

But compared with Lin Feng, he felt that he was nothing.

He couldn't beat his opponent in passing or shooting, and even his free kicks, which he was so proud of, seemed a little mediocre in front of the opponent.

This is just the offensive attribute. In addition to being stronger in offensive ability than him, Lin Feng is also better than him in interception, defense, running, and physical fitness.

Shao Jiayi suddenly laughed at himself: Why should I compare myself with Lin Feng?

He is a real genius and is about to become the world's best midfielder. Who am I?

It is normal that he cannot compare with him, because there are only a few midfielders on this planet who can compare with him.

The reason why I started to compare was all because of the free kick!
This is totally unnecessary. The opponent's free kick is just better than yours. There is nothing to be dissatisfied about!
Shao Jiayi, who had figured it out, also trotted over and high-fived Lin Feng to celebrate:

"Good shot, Kobayashi!"

"It's mainly because Brother Jiayi and Brother Peng pulled well together, otherwise I wouldn't have the space to shoot!"

Lin Feng actually also felt the vague hostility from Shao Jiayi before, so he was very happy to see the other party's hostility disappear.

We are all teammates. If we don’t get along with each other, we won’t be able to lead the team.

……

Lin Feng's goal dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Iranian team. They were excited before because of the goal, but now their morale has completely cooled down after Lin Feng's goal.

A deep feeling of despair began to spread among the Iranian players.

Can you not despair?
They had just besieged the Chinese team for such a long time but were unable to score the second goal.

The opponent just launched a counterattack and scored a goal.

The contrast was so great that they couldn't accept it.

So in the next ten minutes, the Iranian team played in a daze, like sleepwalking. Seeing that the opponent seemed to have lost the fighting spirit, the Chinese team had already won.

Zhu Guanghu chose to replace Lin Feng with Hao Junmin in the 76th minute of the game.

When Lin Feng left the field, tens of thousands of Chinese fans and a large number of neutral fans who had come to the scene stood up and applauded and cheered for him.

Lin Feng also waved to the stands frequently, walked slowly to the sidelines, and after high-fiving Hao Junmin, he applauded the stands on all sides to thank the fans for their enthusiastic support.

Although the host city is not in the country, the Chinese national football team felt like they were back home during this game. The fans at the scene were extremely enthusiastic, turning this place into half a home field.

"You've worked hard, go down and take a rest!"

Old Zhu patted Lin Feng on the back and personally handed him a towel and a drink. He didn't look like the head coach of the team at all, but more like a hotel waiter.

This scene made the players on the bench almost pop their eyes out. No, when did Zhu Ganglie become so gentle?

Lao Zhu's humble image is hard to match with the old man who is always roaring at them on the training ground!

On the other side, Hao Junmin, who had just stepped onto the lawn, was extremely excited.

This was Hao Junmin's first appearance for the Chinese team in the Asian Cup. Although he only came on as a substitute, it still had extremely important significance for Hao, who just turned 20 this year.

However, maybe he was too excited, but as soon as Hao Junmin came on the court, he received a yellow card for his excessive action, which made Lao Zhu so angry that he started cursing on the sidelines, almost making the kid autistic.

"It tastes just right, it tastes just right!"

"This is the old Zhu we know!"

"Sure enough, everything that happened just now was just Lao Zhu's disguise!"

The people on the bench said that Lao Zhu was not paying attention and started to make fun of him.

Lin Feng was listening with great joy. He glanced at Gao Lin, who was the first to make a scene:
"Big Head, you don't want to play? Aren't you afraid that the coach will hear you?"

Gao Lin didn't care at all: "Hey, it's okay. Old Zhu's mind is on the court. How can he pay attention to these losers on our bench?"

After that, he nudged Lin Feng with his elbow and whispered, "Do you know why we call Lao Zhu Zhu Ganglie?"

Lin Feng was really curious. Isn’t Zhu Ganglie the name of Zhu Bajie?

Is it because Lao Zhu is fat that he is given this nickname?

"Not at all. Being fat is one reason, but it's not entirely because of that!"

Gao Lin shook his head and said, "Old Zhu's previous team performance was not very good, but since he suddenly realized and recruited our group of young national youth players, especially you, into the team, the results have soared. That's why we gave him the nickname Zhu Wuneng, but this nickname is not domineering enough, so at my suggestion, it was changed to Zhu Ganglie!"

Gao Lin was still feeling smug here, but he didn't notice that the faces of the substitutes next to him had changed!

Zhu Guanghu had come behind Gao Lin without knowing when, staring at him with eyes wide open.

"Cough cough!"

Lin Feng coughed lightly, fulfilling his friend's duty of reminding him, and at the same time moved his butt to the side, as if to say, "Gao Lin, don't let your blood splash on me!"

Maybe Zhu was in a good mood and did not punish Gao Lin much. He just asked him to run laps around the court in the name of warming up.

Poor Gao Lin, he ran for almost 20 minutes before being replaced by Zhu during injury time.

Revenge, this is naked revenge!
Gao Lin was extremely sad and angry. Although Lao Zhu fulfilled his promise and let him play, what was the difference between playing and not playing at this time?
There are only a few minutes left in the game!

"This guy deserves it!"

"Who told him to be so rude!"

"Damn it, it's fine that he was punished, but he dragged us into this too!"

Several other substitutes on the bench were also punished by Lao Zhu, and they all cursed at Gao Lin.

I don’t know whether they were cursing because they were implicated by Gao Lin, or because they were jealous that Gao Lin played while they didn’t.

Lin Feng didn't care about these. He took a few bags of ice cubes, put them on the back of the seat, and lay down comfortably to watch the game.

After he left the field, the Chinese national football team's tactics began to turn conservative and they were no longer aggressive in attacking.

The Iranian team, whose pressure suddenly dropped, also became much more active.

In the 78th minute, Iran sent a high ball into the penalty area from the right, and Hashemian's header slightly went over the crossbar.

Five minutes later, Iran won a free kick in the frontcourt. Mahdavikia tried to shoot directly again, but unfortunately he failed to score.

In the 89th minute of the game, Iran finally scored again.

Iran took advantage of a corner kick, with Nekonen successfully competing for the ball in the penalty area and scoring with a header.

The score became 4:2, and Iran narrowed the gap to 2 goals.

But this goal came too late, and the game was about to enter injury time.

The injury time of this game was only 4 minutes, which was not enough for them to score two more goals.

In the second half of the game, the Chinese national football team committed many fouls on the field.

Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, Shao Jiayi, Zhou Haibin and others were successively given yellow cards for fouls.

However, some of these were tactical fouls, while others were voluntary yellow cards.

The suspension rule of the Asian Cup is that a team will be suspended if two yellow cards are accumulated, and yellow cards from the group stage will be carried over into the knockout stage.

Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, Shao Jiayi and others all had a yellow card before. They applied for a yellow card in this game and will be automatically suspended for the next game against Uzbekistan. By the time of the knockout stage, they will have no cards on them and will not have to worry too much about suspension.

Seeing his teammates scrambling to apply for yellow cards, Lin Feng couldn't help but sigh:

They really are a bunch of old foxes, they really know how to exploit loopholes in the rules!
In the end, at the end of the game, the Chinese team defeated the strong opponent Iran with a score of 4:2 in this focus battle of Group C.

This is the first time in three years that the Chinese national football team has defeated Iran in an international competition.

If the Chinese national football team's victory three years ago relied on the home advantage and the help of the referee, then this time, the victory of the Chinese national football team really depends entirely on its own strength.

After defeating the Iranian team, the morale of the Chinese national football team was greatly boosted, and even the fans excitedly shouted slogans for winning the championship!

The fans who were originally skeptical about Zhu Guanghu’s slogan of winning the Asian Cup a month ago, now completely believe that the Chinese national football team really has the strength to compete for the top spot in Asia!
Even the Iranian team was nearly defeated by the Chinese team. The Asian Cup championship does not seem so far away anymore!

Since the first participation in the Asian Cup in 1976, the Chinese team seems to be getting closer and closer to its first Asian Cup trophy! (End of this chapter)