Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Seeing that headers were not effective, Lin Feng and his teammates began to try long-range shots from outside the box.

Long-range shots are less efficient, but the Chinese team had possession of the ball and plenty of opportunities to try.

In the 32nd minute of the first half, the Chinese team played a combination play in the attacking third. Lin Feng moved laterally to draw away the defender and then passed the ball to Gao Lin, who had dropped back to receive it.

Gao Lin received the ball with his back to goal and passed it back to Zheng Zhi, who was making a forward run. Zheng Zhi then unleashed a powerful long-range shot that struck the crossbar.

The buzzing sound from the vibrating crossbeam felt like a hammer blow to the hearts of the Uzbek team members, making them extremely uneasy.

We can't let them keep shooting from long range so recklessly. If they try a few more times, they might actually score.

Forced to retreat, Uzbekistan extended their defensive formation outwards in an attempt to stop China's long-range shots.

However, the expansion of the formation has the effect of reducing the density of defensive personnel in some areas, giving the attacking side more space!

Although the space given wasn't very large, most teams would likely miss such an opportunity, but they were unlucky enough to encounter the Chinese team.

Near the end of the first half, Lin Feng dribbled the ball to the left and combined with Chen Tao on the left wing.

Chen Tao and Lin Feng have a very good relationship and a great understanding between them. Chen Tao can guess Lin Feng's intentions with just a glance.

Seeing Lin Feng pass the ball to him, Chen Tao deliberately dribbled towards the inside, leaving the outside to Lin Feng.

The opposing midfielder instinctively followed Chen Tao, failing to defend against Lin Feng.

The full-back tried to block the passing lane between the two players, but in his blind spot, Lin Feng had already made a run and circled around to his side and behind.

Seeing this, Chen Tao pushed the ball to Lin Feng, completing a one-two pass.

After receiving the ball, Lin Feng continued to cut inside and began to look up to observe the goalkeeper's position, seemingly preparing to shoot.

This location is within Lin Feng's firing range, and he has already attempted long-range shots multiple times before.

So the defending players had no doubts, and one of the center-backs immediately stepped forward to try to block Lin Feng's shot.

However, Lin Feng had no intention of shooting at all. Seeing the opposing center-back head the ball out, he feinted and changed his shot to a pass, delivering a precise nutmeg and sending the ball into the penalty area through the opponent's legs.

Gao Lin has a very keen sense of smell. He spotted an opportunity here and immediately ran towards it, just in time to catch Lin Feng's pass.

Unfortunately, Gao Lin was running sideways to the goal, so he couldn't shoot immediately.

But he wasn't the only striker in the penalty area; Han Peng was also there!

Seeing that the opposing goalkeeper and defenders were almost entirely focused on him, Gao Lin selflessly passed the ball to Han Peng, who was in an open position.
The latter easily tapped the ball into the empty net, making the score 1-0.
The Chinese team, playing away from home, took the lead with a goal just before the end of the first half.

With that goal, everyone, including Zhu Guanghu on the sidelines and countless Chinese fans watching the game live on TV at home, felt a huge weight lifted off their shoulders.

The hardest part of dealing with a team that parks the bus like this is scoring the first goal.

Once a goal is scored, the rest of the game becomes much easier.

The Uzbek players were very frustrated; they only had a few more minutes left before the first half ended.

Unfortunately, they were just a step too short and couldn't hold on until the end.

0:0 and 0:1 represent completely different situations for them.

When the score is 0-0, all they need to do is focus on defense.

But after going down 0-1, they not only had to consider the defensive issues, but also rack their brains to figure out the offensive challenges.

It's not particularly difficult for a weak team to block a strong team's attack by parking the bus, but it's almost impossible for a weak team to balance defense and offense when facing a strong team.

If they were truly that strong, they wouldn't have ended up last in their group.

During halftime, Zhu Guanghu didn't ramble on, only giving brief tactical instructions, leaving the rest of the time for the players.

Han Peng's goal near the end of the first half gave the Chinese team complete control of the game.

Unless the Chinese national football team makes a serious mistake, this victory is practically guaranteed.

His concern wasn't how to win, but whether or not to send the new players he brought along to experience the atmosphere of the game.
He glanced at the young players in the locker room and found that they were all staring at him expectantly, practically wearing "Coach, I want to play" on their faces.

"Score another goal in the second half, and once you have some room for error, I'll let you play."

Old Zhu shifted the blame onto the starting players.

Upon hearing his words, the young players cheered:
"Thank you for your mercy, Coach!"

"With you guys like Lin here, how could we possibly fail to score a goal?"

"Please give us some extra effort, guys, so we can get down and rest as soon as possible!"

Lin Feng and the other key players exchanged glances, all somewhat speechless.

These young guys are really optimistic!
However, it turns out that their optimism was not wrong.

After halftime, Uzbekistan's tactics underwent a complete 180-degree change.

They went from an extreme defensive strategy in the first half to a frenzied offensive one.

As a result, their attack failed to break through the Chinese team's defense, but their own goal was breached by the Chinese team first.

In the 51st minute, Zheng Zhi intercepted the ball in the backfield and made a long pass to Gao Lin. Gao Lin headed the ball to Lin Feng, who sprinted with the ball, leaving all the pursuers behind and even getting past two defenders who tried to block him. He then went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and scored!
The score became 2-0, and the Chinese team extended their lead.

Seeing Lin Feng score, Zhu Guanghu waved his hand and said to the young players on the bench:

"Those who want to go on stage, go warm up!"

In a flash, almost all the substitutes rushed out.

Zhu Guanghu glared at Zhao Xuri, who had taken off his coat and was also preparing to warm up:

"Why are you getting involved? I'm just letting the young people warm up, what's it to you?"

Zhao Xuri protested: "Coach, you're looking down on me! I'm only 23 this year, I'm a young man too, why can't I play!"

Three years old would have been considered young in the national team in the past, but not in this national team, because many players on the field are younger than Zhao Xuri.

With four years of experience as a national team player, he can already be considered a veteran of the national team!
Seeing substitutes like Zhang Linpeng and Wu Lei warming up on the sidelines, fans couldn't help but feel excited.

Who do you think Old Zhu will send out first?

[Yu Dabao, right? Changing the striker would have the least impact on the team. I've watched him play in the Portuguese league; although he's young, he seems like a very talented and intelligent player. If he's properly nurtured, he might become a star striker for the national team!]

It has to be said that these veteran fans who watch games regularly are really something.

They had just predicted that Zhu Guanghu would send Yu Dabao onto the field first, and sure enough, the latter was the first to be substituted in.

In the 65th minute, Yu Dabao came on as a substitute, replacing Han Peng, who had opened the scoring for the team.

Han Peng, who was substituted, smiled and gave his fellow villager a high-five, offering him words of encouragement:
"Keep it up, play well!"

"Thank you, Brother Han!" Yu Dabao was somewhat flattered. Although the two were both from Shandong, they had never interacted before.

Moreover, Jinan and Qingdao have never gotten along, which makes him hesitant to approach Han Peng, who was born in Jinan, within the team.

Looking back now, it seems I was worrying unnecessarily.

Regional disputes on Tieba have no impact on real life. Looks like I should spend less time on Tieba in the future!

Yu Dabao is not the same type of player as Gao Lin and Dong Fangzhuo. He is only a little over 1.8 meters tall, which is shorter than the others.

But being short has its advantages. Compared to the previous players, his center of gravity is lower, his body is more agile, and his footwork is also very delicate.

So as soon as he entered the game, Yu Dabao took advantage of the opponents' underestimation of him and put on a solo show on the wing, blowing past several defenders in succession, leaving the audience stunned.

"Who is this person?"

"I've never heard of such a person in the Chinese team?"

"dabaoyu, that name sounds unfamiliar, is he a new substitute?"

"Even the new substitutes are this strong? Chinese football is terrifying!"

Not only were the fans at the scene surprised, but many Chinese fans also found it hard to believe when they saw Yu Dabao's performance.

Holy crap, is this guy that strong?

[He looks a bit like Cristiano Ronaldo!]

[Absolutely! They're both wearing red jerseys, both like to break through on the wings, and even their stepover moves are similar. I declare this to be China's Cristiano Ronaldo!]

Yu Dabao would be very happy if he knew that fans were praising him like this.

He really likes Cristiano Ronaldo and is learning from and imitating Ronaldo's techniques.

In fact, it's not just him doing this; almost all the young players in the Portuguese league who play as forwards are learning from Ronaldo and regard him as their idol.

Seeing how daring Yu Dabao was in his first appearance, Lin Feng couldn't help but think more highly of him.

Previously, I only knew that this guy was a lucky charm for the Chinese team, and that his amazing performance helped the Chinese team win many key matches, but I didn't know much about his early playing style.

Seeing only his appalling performance as a guard, Lin Feng didn't have high expectations for Da Bao.

But now it seems I underestimated him.

Seeing how actively Yu Dabao was playing, Lin Feng was happy to pass him the ball and see what kind of performance he could deliver.

In the 77th minute, the Chinese national team played a combination play in the attacking third. Lin Feng made a through pass into the penalty area, but Gao Lin's shot was blocked by a defender and went out of bounds.

The corner kick was taken, and Gao Lin attracted the attention of most of the defenders at the near post, creating a wide-open space in front of the goal.

Despite his shorter stature, Yu Dabao relied on his excellent sense of smell in front of the goal to keenly seize the opportunity and rush towards it without hesitation.

Lin Feng saw Yu Dabao's positioning and mentally gave him a thumbs up.

But he didn't pass the ball here because of the goalkeeper; if he passed it directly here, the goalkeeper would get it.

The ball flew straight towards Gao Lin's head. Gao Lin was also clever. He noticed Yu Dabao's running position out of the corner of his eye, and with a strong flick of his head, he passed the ball to Yu Dabao.

The Uzbek goalkeeper was interfered with and failed to control the ball immediately; by the time he tried to recover, it was too late.

Yu Dabao, with his head propped up, slammed the ball into the goal with a motion reminiscent of a monk striking a bell.

Although the goal-scoring action wasn't very elegant, let's not worry about whether it looks good or not, just tell me if it was effective.

"Great job! You seized that opportunity!"
"This young striker seems to have really learned something abroad; his future is promising!"

Even Zhang Lu, the most knowledgeable commentator, gave him this evaluation, which further raised fans' opinion of Da Bao.

There aren't many domestic players that Zhang Lu would choose, let alone a young man who is only 21 years old.

"It seems we still need to encourage more players, especially young players, to go abroad to play. The level of football abroad is indeed higher than that in China. Even in leagues like the Portuguese league, which are not among the top five leagues, the training effect on young players is far greater than that in domestic leagues."

Although the atmosphere in the Chinese Super League has improved a lot compared to the period of match-fixing and gambling, the strength of major clubs has increased, and the level of the league is gradually improving.

However, there is still a significant gap compared to the international advanced levels in Europe.

At least at this stage, ambitious and driven young players are better suited to developing their careers abroad.

Firstly, it allows one to hone and improve their skills through high-level competitions, thus raising their potential.

Secondly, the salaries abroad are higher. Once you establish yourself abroad, the financial rewards are better than those in the domestic league.

However, from a long-term development perspective, if Chinese football wants to break through its limits, it still needs to be rooted in the domestic league.

If the level of the Chinese Super League can be raised in the future, it will significantly increase the minimum level of local players. Furthermore, by using the league to support youth training and cultivate more outstanding talents, Chinese football can get back on track.

Of course, this is not something that can be done overnight; it will take a long time and consume a lot of resources.

It does seem to be moving in that direction, but it's still at least 30 or 40 years away from achieving the goal!

Seeing Yu Dabao's excellent performance as a substitute, Old Zhu was overjoyed and prepared to continue making substitutions, giving more young players the opportunity to play and gain experience.

Because he led a group of young players to the East Asian Cup that year, Zhu was praised by the domestic media and fans, who almost wanted to make him the Chinese Wenger.

Perhaps it was because of the excessive hype from the outside world that he developed a burden regarding his reputation.

To avoid being unworthy of his reputation, Old Zhu treated the young players exceptionally well and was very willing to give them opportunities.

Otherwise, Wu Lei, who is not yet eighteen, would not have been called back from La Masia youth academy.

The second player to be substituted on was none other than Wu Lei.

In the 81st minute, Wu Lei came on as a substitute, replacing Hao Junmin.

Wu Lei appeared even more excited than Yu Dabao, but unfortunately, his performance was not as good as his opponent's.

At seventeen, his body hadn't fully developed yet, and he was rather thin. Although his footwork was excellent, he suffered from poor physical strength, which often prevented him from fully utilizing his technical advantages.

Moreover, the tactical awareness of La Masia youth academy is a bit too advanced. Even his teammates in the national team can't keep up with his pace, which leads to several coordination errors in the backfield when he comes on the field.

Fans who were just thrilled by Yu Dabao's outstanding performance were dampened by Wu Lei's performance.

But Wu Lei was not discouraged by this. He quickly recognized the problem and began to adjust himself.

Unfortunately, he had very little time to perform.

Ultimately, thanks to goals from Han Peng, Lin Feng, and Yu Dabao, the Chinese team secured a resounding 3-0 victory over their opponents away from home.

After securing two consecutive victories, the Chinese team's total points reached 13, maintaining their lead in Group A. (End of Chapter)