Starting with playing defensive midfield for Evergrande

Chapter 26: The Resilient Asian Red Devils! (Please add to your favorites!)

Saitama World Cup Stadium!
More than 56,000 Urawa Red Diamonds fans just stared blankly at the glaring 0-3 score on the big screen!

They've seen their own team suffer defeats before, just as they've seen their own team get thrashed by a large margin.

But
But it's only 15 minutes!
The game has only been going for 15 minutes!
They truly never imagined that their J-League powerhouse, boasting four Japanese national team players and known as the "Asian Red Devils," would be so thoroughly thrashed by an unknown Chinese Super League team.

Confusion, disappointment, even despair!
Countless negative emotions were swirling in the hearts of these 50,000-plus fans at that moment.

"Just the eighth generation!!!"

However, it was like a ray of light in the darkest hour!
Suddenly, someone shouted a hysterical cheer, causing the more than 50,000 Japanese soldiers to raise their heads.

"Gang 8th generation!!!!"

"Gang 8th generation!!!!!"

From the initial sporadic bursts to the final roar of over 50,000 people.

The home stands, which had just been silenced by Guangzhou Evergrande, have come alive again.

It was amidst the cheers of over 50,000 Japanese fans that this happened.

Inspired by their fans, Urawa Red Diamonds' players have launched a counterattack!

On the field!
Seeing that the Urawa Red Diamonds players, who had just been beaten badly, had adjusted their mentality so quickly and attacked again.

The Evergrande players quickly switched to defense.

After all, they are top clubs in the J-League. When they went all out and made a desperate move, they did cause a lot of trouble for Guangzhou Evergrande's defense!
19th minute of the match!

Marcio Richards, along with Yuki Abe and Genki Haraguchi who had dropped back to receive the pass, used their skillful short-range passing to break through Guangzhou Evergrande's right flank defense.

Urawa Red Diamonds full-back Yuya Ugajin, who had surged forward from the backfield, delivered an extremely precise long pass from the byline.

Inside the penalty area, Urawa Red Diamonds' center forward Shinzo Koroki leaped high and headed the rapidly approaching ball together with Kim Young-gwon.

Although Shinzo Koroki was in a better position and reached the ball earlier, his header was weak and easily caught by Zeng Cheng due to interference from Kim Young-gwon.

Zeng Cheng, who had received the ball, glanced at Muriqui, who was already starting his run near the center circle.

Without hesitation, he sent the ball over with a long kick.

However, Urawa Red Diamonds were already intimidated by Muriqui's two goals.

Even as Muriqui strolled around the center circle, Urawa Red Diamonds center-back Ryota Moriwaki remained inseparable from him.

Under Ryota Moriwaki's close marking, Guangzhou Evergrande's counterattacks were ineffective!
26th minute of the match!

It remains an attacking opportunity for Urawa Red Diamonds.

"Urawa Rika, がんばれ! がんばれ! がんばれ!"

"Urawa Ryuzu, Urawa! Urawa! Urawa!!"

"Urawa Rino, がんばれ! がんばれ! がんばれ!!!"

Seeing their team's attack begin to improve, the Japanese fans in the stands once again resumed their unified Japanese-style chants from the start of the game.

As for the Urawa Red Diamonds players on the field!
Following their manager's instructions, Urawa Red Diamonds, unable to gain any advantage in midfield, continued to focus their efforts on the flanks.

This time, Urawa Red Diamonds opted for Guangzhou Evergrande's right flank.

Although Elkeson tried his best to participate in the defense, the offensively strong but defensively weak Elkeson was still easily bypassed by Suzuki Keita.

Immediately afterwards, Urawa Red Diamonds once again mobilized their entire force.

The center, the right, and even the two full-backs.

Having already reached the edge of a precipice, Urawa Red Diamonds completely abandoned their defense and pressed forward against Guangzhou Evergrande.

The advantage of numbers, coupled with their already skilled teamwork.

Urawa Red Diamonds easily advanced the ball into Guangzhou Evergrande's midfield, as always.

“Here we go again!”

"Evergrande has been somewhat on the defensive lately due to Urawa Red Diamonds' relentless attacks!"

"However, our formation is still quite good, especially in the middle lane."

"Su Hao and Zheng Zhi are both pressing very steadily on the left and right!" "Yuki Abe!"

"Catch the ball!"

"Conca goes up to interfere, uh... Conca."

"It's over now, let's face Su Hao!"

"They didn't choose to confront them head-on!"

"Send the ball diagonally to the wing again!"

"Nasu Daisuke makes a run from the backfield!!!"

"Evergrande's positioning is correct!"

"Su Hao, retreat!"

"With no particularly good opportunities, Nasu Daisuke chose to cross the ball directly!"

"This ball is aimed at Genki Haraguchi at the far post!"

Inside Evergrande's penalty area.

Just after pushing Urawa Red Diamonds' attack to the wing, Su Hao looked around and spotted Genki Haraguchi, who was about to move back.

To be honest, from the start of the match until now, Su Hao doesn't know why, but he always seems to be able to anticipate many of Urawa Red Diamonds' attacking strategies.

experience?

Or perhaps it's because my natural football IQ is much higher than others?

And it's also my own question mark template. Even if his stats were locked at eighteen, they would still be much better than those of the Asian-level players on the field today.

No surprises.

Although Urawa Red Diamonds seem to be using a lot of passing and small combinations.

As expected, the final point of attack was Genki Haraguchi, whom I had guessed.

1.91 meters tall vs. 1.78 meters tall!
Just looking at their height data, you can imagine the outcome of this head-on collision.

Poor Genki Haraguchi didn't even see the ball before Su Hao slammed into him and sent him sprawling to the ground.

Su Hao easily headed the ball towards Conca, who had retreated to the edge of the penalty area.

This one!
Guangzhou Evergrande's classic deadly counterattack has occurred once again!

With a turn and a pull, Conca easily dodged Yosuke Kashiwagi, who was standing beside him.

However, just as Conca was about to launch a long ball towards the already-moving cheetah...

"Beep!!!"

The referee suddenly blew his whistle, immediately halting Evergrande's counterattack.

Conca was completely bewildered!
His dribbling skills are fine, aren't they?
Not only Conca, but all the Guangzhou Evergrande players on the field, and even Lippi and the coaching staff on the sidelines, were puzzled as to why the referee was blowing the whistle at this moment.

result!

What happened next was something no one at Evergrande expected!

The referee, Iranian Mohammadokki, pulled a yellow gem God of War card from his pocket and quickly walked into the penalty area.

Moreover, after showing a yellow card to a completely bewildered Su Hao, he pointed his right hand to the penalty spot!
28 minutes into the match!

Urawa Red Diamonds miraculously won a penalty kick!!!
"Does this mean Su Hao committed a foul while contesting for a header in the penalty area?"

"Let's watch the replay!"

In the commentary booth, Lao Huang, seeing the inexplicable yellow card and penalty kick, turned his head in confusion to look at the live replay of the match beside him.

In the shot, Su Hao naturally gained position and then jumped to head the ball away before it fell.
Meanwhile, the Urawa Red Diamonds striker Genki Haraguchi next to Su Hao was a bit slow to jump, and because of his height and weight, he fell down immediately after hitting Su Hao's armpit!
"There's nothing wrong with this shot!"

"Su Hao didn't make any unnecessary movements!"

"This Genki Haraguchi practically moved right up to Su Hao and then collapsed on top of him!"

(End of this chapter)