Manchester United's heir apparent, but can't play football.

Chapter 88 is still a pre-match transition chapter (Chinese national football team storyline).
The Chinese national football team should be wary of the host country's aerial bombardment; a well-prepared defense may offer a good chance of victory.

Undeterred by the host nation, Li Luo sets his sights on the finals!

Asian Cup Semi-Final Preview: Insects May Disrupt the Match and Affect Turf Conditions and Performance.

The Sydney Morning Herald: Hopefully, the Chinese national team will launch a bold attack and cause us some trouble.

ESPN Asia: Li Luo aims for the all-time Asian Cup Golden Boot!

Media outlets are all hyping up the semi-finals.

Only some newspapers are still highlighting the long-tail effect of the last match.

The Sun: Japan's representative team has turned into an incompetent husband; details of the secret meeting between Japan's national idol and Li Luo in Manchester have been revealed, and this news is absolutely true!

Comment area.
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[Where's the translation? Hurry! Why is that Sun newspaper writing the headline in Japanese?]
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The Sun newspaper called the Japanese team an incompetent husband, saying they not only lost to Li Luo on the football field, but also to the national idol beauty.
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[Is this news absolutely true? Then were all the previous harem stories fabricated? I'm increasingly skeptical of The Sun's authority on this matter.]
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[The news is definitely fake. My Luo is so upright, he didn't even go back to Manchester last month, how could he be having a secret rendezvous with a Japanese girl?]
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"Dating is fine too. Are we supposed to interfere in Li Luo's private life? We've rarely seen an English genius as clean as him."
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[Back to the match, Australia will definitely go all out against us. They are physically strong, and their individual skills and teamwork are better than ours. This match will likely be very difficult; we can't win physically.]
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This really highlights Perrin's talent scouting advantage! Our average height is about the same as Australia's, can you believe it?
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Here's a scary story: after several matches in the Asian Cup, the Chinese national football team's average aerial duel success rate is 54.9%! Australia's is 42.6%. However, it also depends on the opponent; we passively "paddled" our aerial duel statistics a lot in our previous match against North Korea.
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Don't panic, trust Li Luo, go all in and the Chinese team will advance to the finals!

Li Luo was slightly surprised when he saw the article from The Sun sent by his Wolfsburg teammates.

First, consider the location: Manchester.

"."

I almost got ripped off by that awful little peep from The Sun, who made up a completely random answer and guessed it was the right one.

Other girls sent messages to verify the authenticity of the news.

Li Luo ignored it.

Whether the news is true or false, I don't need to explain it to them.

I don't have time to deal with these trivial matters.

The Asian Cup is just around the corner.

We must focus on preparing for the competition and not let our guard down.

A few days later.

The Asian Cup semi-finals have begun.

The Parramatta River flows quietly under the cover of night.

The Sydney Olympic Stadium, which can hold more than 80,000 spectators, is divided into red and yellow sections.

The semi-transparent canopy supported by the double arch structure is lit up with warm white lights, like two suspended bridges of light spanning the stadium.

A red ocean surged.

"Go China!"

The yellow ocean churns.

“Here we go Socceroos, here we go!”

Meaning: Kangaroo army, charge!

"Zhuangdianertai! Zhuangdianertai! Good evening, viewers."

"At this moment, night is falling in the Southern Hemisphere for a highly anticipated match."

"In the semi-final of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, the Chinese national team faced the host country, Australia."

"A crucial battle that everyone has been watching closely."

"The Sydney Olympic Stadium is like a boiling furnace. The camera pans across the stands, where a long river of red jerseys and a wall of yellow jerseys stand in confrontation!"

"We have come this far through hardships and are now launching an assault on the summit of Asia."

"Australia has a strong overall strength, enjoys the advantage of playing at home, and its regular starting lineup has eleven key players who play for top European teams." "For the Chinese team, Li Luo is the key to breaking the deadlock."

He Wei's tone was full of confidence.

Coach Zhang was a little nervous: the tough host country, Australia, is a favorite to win this Asian Cup, and it will be a tough hurdle for the Chinese national team to overcome.

Pre-match press conference.

Perrin looked confident.

"Australia is very strong, and they have a different style compared to the previous Japanese team."

"The Chinese team has made preparations accordingly."

"The tactics will revolve around Li."

"We love the weather in Australia and would love to stay here longer!"

clap clap clap!
That last sentence was a double entendre.

The applause was warm.

This made even the local Australian journalists laugh, and they stopped trying to make things difficult for him.

The other side.

Australian coach Postcooglou said in a relaxed tone: "Frankly speaking, I hadn't even studied the Chinese team before the Asian Cup started."

"For many players, this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and everyone should cherish it. The Asian Cup coming to Australia can promote the development of football in this land."

"Australia will not make any tactical changes to counter Li Luo. Every opponent has its own characteristics, but we are more focused on our own performance."

The kangaroo teaching assistant tried hard to suppress his laughter.

Player tunnel.

The atmosphere was harmonious.

At the front of the line, Ravens veteran Tim Cahill took the initiative to chat with Li Luo: "Your assistant coach Li, the one who blows his bangs, used to be my teammate at Everton, and we have a very good relationship."

“I also have an Asian face, as does Assistant Coach Li. We trained together every day back then, and he even taught me how to eat with chopsticks.”

"Back then, I asked him why his defensive moves were so clean and why he didn't talk trash. He said that he came to the Premier League as a representative of Chinese football and couldn't do anything to disgrace his country."

“He’s not the only Chinese player like this; other Chinese players in the Premier League have the same attitude.”

The British newspaper The Mirror once commented on Assistant Coach Lee: He used smart positioning to reduce unnecessary physical confrontations, resulting in a yellow card rate far lower than the average for players in the same position in the Premier League during the same period. His fouls were mostly tactical fouls such as "slight pulling from the side and rear" and "reasonable physical contact when blocking from the front," rather than high-risk actions such as "flying tackles" or "sliding tackles from behind."

David Moyes, often called "Manchester United's greatest misfortune," was described as follows when he was managing Everton: "His defense was very 'intelligent.' He rarely clashed with opponents, and even when tackled, he would just get up and keep running. We talked about it, and he said, 'When I played in the Premier League, every move I made represented what Chinese players should do,' and he truly lived up to that."

The Daily Mail commented: "A brilliant offensive and defensive duel. Facing technical players like Henry and Pires, the Chinese midfielder completed 6 successful tackles and committed 0 fouls throughout the match, without a single malicious act. Unfortunately, a knee injury ruined the bright future of this Chinese midfielder."

Sun Jihai was even better at Manchester City, receiving only 11 yellow cards in 130 appearances.

Fan Zhiyi, who is known for his "temperamental" personality, was described as a "clean, intelligent, and calm defender" when he went to the Premier League.

They said in an interview back then:
“Before coming to the Premier League, I thought, I am not representing myself, but Chinese football. I can’t let foreigners think that we only know how to ‘play dirty’.”

"We are pioneers, and we need to 'pave the way' for future Chinese players."

Li Luo suddenly realized.

He finally understood why Assistant Li was so angry when some of his teammates made overly aggressive defensive moves and acted too emotionally during the Asian Cup.

Cahill gave a thumbs up: "You're doing the same thing as them now. We've seen you play in the Bundesliga and the Europa League. You have a great playing style."

(End of this chapter)