host must win

Chapter 378
At nine o'clock in the evening on July 2004, 7, Workers' Stadium.

In the second round of the Asian Cup quarter-finals, the Chinese team played against Iraq.

This is Yin Jun's first Asian Cup knockout match in his career!
The camera first gave a close-up of the Workers Stadium.

The stands are almost full, and the Workers Stadium, which can accommodate nearly [-] fans, has almost no empty seats left.

The camera then gave a close-up of the coach seat on the sidelines. The Chinese team coach Alihan and the Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad had a good conversation. Although Adnan spent most of his career in the Iraqi domestic league, But he had traveled to Europe to study.

Then, the camera turned and focused on Yin Jun for a long time. Obviously, everyone knew that this 19-year-old boy was the absolute protagonist of this game!
As the biggest player in this Asian Cup and also the best player in the group stage of the Asian Cup, the presence of Yin Jun is a deterrent to the opponent.Any team facing the Chinese team has to spend heavily to defend Yin Jun, which makes the Chinese team almost play one more player on the court.

………………

Entering the knockout stage, Alihan certainly has no idea of ​​staying strong, and this game is also the main force.The goalkeeper position is still Liu Yunfei, Wei Xing, Li Weifeng, Zheng Zhi and Sun Xiang form the back line, in the midfield, Shao Jiayi, Zhao Junzhe and Yan Song form the three midfielders, Yin Jun plays the midfielder, and Dong Fangzhuo strikes With Lee Jin Woo's partner.

This lineup is quite satisfactory. The Chinese team basically used this lineup for the first two big victories in the three group matches.

With such a good performance, it is reasonable for Alihan to continue to use this lineup after entering the knockout round.

伊拉克那边是343的阵型，首发门将是21号艾·阿里，三中卫是3号巴·阿巴斯、4号海·贾巴尔和14号海·阿·哈桑，中场四人分别是15号哈桑·图尔基、18号马赫迪·卡里姆、19号纳·阿吉拉姆和24号库塞·穆尼尔，前锋线上是9号拉·法尔汉、10号尤·马哈穆德、11号哈·穆罕默德的搭档。

………………

"Iraq encountered extremely tenacious resistance from the Chinese team from the beginning of the game!" CCTV commentator Huang Qiang said sarcastically.

Yes, that is sarcasm.

Although Alihan's starting lineup in this game looks quite satisfactory, the team's playing style is completely different from the performance in the previous two group matches.Instead of taking advantage of their advantages in strength and their home court, they took the initiative to attack their opponents, but instead played very conservatively.

Stronger than their opponents, the Chinese team, who played at home, turned the host into the guest. They played so conservatively at home, and even gave up the offensive dominance. This made Huang Jianqiang, the gold medal commentator, very puzzled and looked down upon—— Look down on the guy who made this tactical play.

"Maybe it's out of prudence." He Wei said cautiously.

The fans of the Chinese team in the stands also didn't understand, but the fans still had a certain amount of patience and didn't rebel at the beginning.After all, the Chinese team has achieved very good results in the group stage with a lineup similar to this one.

Regardless of what the fans and commentators think, the game is going on like this.

The Chinese team showed a tough defensive attitude in the game, actively fought, used their excellent physical fitness to run around the field, and intercepted the football at the feet of the Iraqi players from the frontcourt.

In particular, Zhao Junzhe and Shao Jiayi, two players with strong interception ability, are like building a wall in front of the Chinese team's defense.

"Zhao Junzhe's defensive ability in the middle is indeed very strong." Although he questioned the conservative tactics of the Chinese team, Huang Qiangqiang said fairly, "He has strong interception ability and sweeps a large area. Shao Jiayi and Yan Song played against him. With the help of his side to fill in the gaps, the defense of the Chinese team is indeed very stable."

………………

The two sides fought fiercely in the midfield, and the movements became more and more serious. The referee's whistle sounded frequently.

When the game was nearly 10 minutes into the first half, the referee had already shown six yellow cards, including two for the Chinese team and four for the Iraqi side.

Yes, you read that right, the fiercely fighting Chinese team only got two yellow cards, while the Iraqi side got four yellow cards.

This is not because the referee is partial to the home team, but because the Chinese players' fouls are well proportioned, there are very few fouls from behind, and the moves are not big, but they are strong enough.

For example, this time, Iraq No. 15 Hassan just got the ball, Shao Jiayi pressed forward, and Zhao Junzhe suddenly went up and successfully intercepted the ball from the side.

Hassan sat on the ground, raised his hands in protest, and signaled Zhao Junzhe to foul.The referee waved his hand and ignored it. This level of interception is within the allowable range.

As for why Iraq received more cards, it turned out that they were enraged by the Chinese team's fighting. When they got excited, they inevitably made more moves. Some players roared at the referee and received yellow cards for no reason.

Adnan watched this scene from the sidelines and shook his head.He admitted that he underestimated Ali Han. In the quarter-elimination round, he led the Chinese team with the European Golden Globe winner Yin Jun. It is unimaginable that this man is so cautious and his attitude is so low. , Judging others by oneself, Adnan felt that if he were Ali Han, he could not do this.

At the end of the first half, the score was 0:0. Neither side scored a goal. The whole first half of the game was completely upside down. Iraq kept trying to find opportunities to score goals, but soon fell into hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese team. .

As for the Chinese team, they didn't seem to think about scoring goals in the first half of the game. The main energy of Yin Jun, Mr. Golden Ball, was also consumed in the team's defense, and he did not perform well on the offensive end.

"Conservative tactics, bad first half." Huang Jianqiang said, "However, I didn't feel that time passed so fast."

Indeed, the first half of the game was very intense, and time passed without knowing it.

"If you look at the intensity of the competition, coach Ali Han can almost go to the Premier League to coach." He Wei said, but obviously, these words are not entirely good.

In the camera, Alihan stood up from the coach's bench, smiled, applauded, and high-fived the players who left the field and patted them on the shoulder.

"It's as if the Chinese team is taking the lead." Huang Jianqiang couldn't help but sarcastically said, "To be honest, I'm very disappointed in the first half of the Chinese team."

(End of this chapter)