Fox in the Penalty Area

1st

"The first Mr. Golden Ball in Asia is born: Hu Lai!"

"...The Chinese superstar won the European Ballon d'Or at the just-concluded UEFA awards ceremony. He also became the first player in Asia to win this award. Even South Korea's Park Soon-tae has not been able to reach this height before. .However, this result is not surprising. Last season, Julay led the Spanish giants Madrid Pirates to win the 'Triple Crown', which was the first time in the history of Spanish football...

"Hu Lai himself scored 95 goals throughout the season - the Chinese media counted 108 goals themselves, and they included Hu Lai's 13 goals in the Olympic team - 34 consecutive goals. He has scored goals in every round of the league, and scored 23 goals in the Champions League, which has greatly improved the original record of 17 goals in the Champions League in a single season set by Caesar... He has set a series of records, and it is natural to win the Ballon d'Or.

"Represented by Hu Lai, the golden generation of Chinese football is rising rapidly and has grown into the strongest enemy of our Japanese football. Compared with Hu Lai, the younger generation of Japanese football has grown too slowly... Although we have players studying abroad. In terms of quantity, it is still the first in Asia, but in terms of top combat power, it has fallen far behind China..."

Below this article are messages from Japanese fans:

"Why can Chinese players win the Ballon d'Or? Are the European Ballon d'Or judges collectively out of their minds?"

"I think UEFA should conduct a urine test on Hulay after every game! Ninety-five goals in a single season, you must have taken medicine to do this! China is the best at fraud!"

"The first few of you have just lost your mind. Can you please stop applying your dirty thoughts to others! Hulesan's performance is indisputable, and this Golden Globe Award is well-deserved! You think you are better than Europe Experts are even more powerful? Idiots!"

"Baga! Whose side are you on? As a Japanese fan, why do you want to speak for Chinese players?"

"Although Hu Lai is Chinese, he is also a yellow race. His achievements in world football are the pride of the yellow race. As a yellow race, why can't I be proud of Hu Lai?"

"Ha, stupid! You are proud of the Chinese, but the Chinese will not accept you!"

There was a quarrel in the comment area below the article, and the topic has strayed far away from football.

Sugiyama Tatsuya was not interested in these arguments and closed the article link.

This article was not written by an ordinary netizen, but by a senior Japanese football reporter.

The last paragraph of the article can be seen as the Japanese media's fierce criticism of Japan's new generation of players.

And he, Tatsuya Sugiyama, as a leader and representative of Japan's younger generation of players, must bear this fierce fire head-on.

The domestic media pointed at Tatsuya Sugiyama’s nose and asked:

Hu Lai has already won the Golden Globe Award.

Sugiyama Tatsuya, what are you doing?

I led Vesseldorf to the top 32 of the Champions League...

Seven goals and 11 assists in all competitions were Tatsuya Sugiyama's achievements in Vesseldorf last season.

not bad.

But in front of Hu Lai's ninety-five goals, it is simply not worth mentioning.

"The first Mr. Golden Ball in Asia is born: Hu Lai!"

Sugiyama Tatsuya looked at the title on his phone and smiled bitterly.

He still remembered when he first heard the name.

At the 2023 East Asian Cup.

He and South Korea's Park Kyuhyun both became famous at a young age. They fought all the way to the Olympic team in various age groups, and both believed that the other was their strong rival in their future careers.

There was also a young man in China at that time who was their representative. What was his name...

Sugiyama Tatsuya didn't think of the name at first, so he skipped it.

It’s not important, anyway, it’s far behind compared to him and Park Guixian. It was completely made up by the Chinese media just to gain popularity.

The result was that in that East Asian Cup, a Chinese player named "Hu Lai" came out of the blue. In the first game, he scored three goals for the South Korean Olympic team with Park Guixian.

He made Park Guixian look like a clown, in a miserable state.

Although Sugiyama Tatsuya soon realized that this "Hu Lai" might replace the original one and become the best or even the leader among the younger generation of Chinese football players.

But he didn't expect that Hu Lai's final achievement would be so terrifying - who would have thought at that time that this man would become the first Golden Ball player among Asian players?

It is estimated that for a long time, he will probably be the only Mr. Golden Ball...

If Tatsuya Sugiyama were six or seven years younger, he would still imagine standing on the stage where Hu Lai stood yesterday, just like the young protagonist in the football comics. Who hasn't had such a dream of being a middle school student?

But now after several seasons of struggling in European football, he has become very clear about the gap between himself and the top level of European football.

As for Park Guixian?

Being the last of the three to arrive in Europe was still struggling.

This summer, he just changed clubs and joined Getafe 132 in La Liga, a team fighting for relegation.

He is not yet guaranteed to be the main player in this team, let alone compete with Hu Lai.

So even though he and Hu Lai are both in La Liga, I believe that the Korean media will definitely not hype the encounter between Hu Lai and Park Guixian like they did in the "Asian Derby" between Park Soon Tae and Hu Lai. It's not that the Korean media is too shameless. Mainly because I don’t want to humiliate myself…

Last season's Premier League title belonged to London Bridge.

Park Soon-tae finally won a Premier League title in his last contract season at London Bridge.

So he became the second Asian player to win the Premier League championship after Hu Lai.

At that time, the Korean media hyped it up, but it was ridiculed by Chinese fans.

Park Soon Tae still has a Premier League championship after all.

What does Park Kyuhyun have?

What does he compare to Hulai?

I have nothing to compare myself to Hu Lai.

It is impossible to surpass Hu Lai in terms of club achievements.

The only thing Sugiyama Tatsuya can do is defeat Hu Lai on the national team track.

At the same time, this is also the track with the greatest hope.

After all, the overall strength of the Japanese national team is very strong...

As soon as this idea came to his mind, Sugiyama Tatsuya's eyes showed the standings of this top 12 competition:

The Chinese team ranked first with 24 points and advanced to the World Cup finals two rounds ahead of schedule.

The Japanese team ranks second with 17 points, only two points ahead of third-placed Iran. Not to mention advancing in advance, we don’t even know whether we can advance to the World Cup finals.

It seems that the track of the national team is not very easy to compare...

Sugiyama Tatsuya was a little depressed. He threw his phone aside and refused to look at the nuisances on the Internet.

Concentrate on waiting for the Champions League group draw results to be announced.

Yesterday's award ceremony was just a fun event for him to watch.

Today's Champions League group draw is closely related to him.

Although his team Vesseldorf has participated in the Champions League group stage for three consecutive seasons.

But there is bad news for them this season.

That is because they have not reached the Champions League knockout rounds in the previous two seasons, resulting in insufficient points in the European war. In this season's Champions League classification, they were divided into the fourth tier teams.

It is easy to be assigned to a "death group" with a strong team...

Last season they were in a group with Alvara, Tramed and Brussels FC. Let alone Tramed, they didn't even play Alvara, and ended up participating in the Europa League as third in the group.

As a result, they were eliminated in the first round of the Europa League knockout rounds.

This season, Sugiyama Tatsuya hopes that the team can get a good draw, and then the whole team will work hard to reach the Champions League knockout round.

He has been playing in Europe for so many years, but he has never seen the scenery of the Champions League knockout rounds, which is also a big regret.

For the Chinese players, forget about the evil Hu Lai. Why did Xia Xiaoyu, Luo Kai, and Chen Xingyi all reach the knockout rounds of the Champions League last season?

Moreover, they all reached the quarterfinals, and Chen Xingyi even reached the semifinals.

Is there any previous record of Japanese players participating in the Champions League semi-finals?

Sugiyama Tatsuya couldn't think of it.

The highest record for Japanese players in the Champions League was set by senior Akiyama Yoshikazu 17 years ago.

It was the 2011-2012 season. Japanese midfielder Yoshikazu Akiyama, who was playing for the Bundesliga giant Ruhr Rheinland, followed the team as a main player to the Champions League semi-finals, and was eliminated by the old Bundesliga enemy Blue and White Munich.

This is the best result of a Japanese player in the Champions League.

On the TV screen, teams were drawn out one after another and then placed in their positions.

Last season's Europa League champion Sevilla Navigators is the seed team in Group A, and Blue and White Munich is the seed team in Group B.

The seed team in Group C is last season's Premier League champion London Bridge - after losing Kabangka, Manchester United failed to successfully defend the league title. They were inextricably tied up with their old rival Stan Park Rangers, and in the end it was the London Bridge fisherman who benefited.

The seeded team in Group D is Madrid Pirates, last season's La Liga champion and the defending Champions League champion.

In this situation where one team only occupies two seed team places, the seed team places will be deferred to the league champion team with the highest points in UEFA.

So last season's Eredivisie champions Rotterdam Elite became the seeded team in this season's Champions League. They are in Group F. You must know that in the UEFA Champions League group stage last season, the then defending Eredivisie champions Sporting Amsterdam could only serve as a second-tier team.

The seeded team in Group E is the Serie A champion Torino Bulls, who finally regained the league title from Insubre.

The seed team in Group G belongs to Alvara, the Portuguese Super League champion last season.

The seeded team in Group H is last season's French Ligue 1 champion Paris Eger.

Sugiyama Tatsuya stared at the teams that had been drawn out, and was thinking about which group would be better for Vesseldorf as a fourth-tier team, when he heard the host's voice coming from the TV broadcast. :

"Weissedorf. Group D."

Sugiyama Tatsuya suddenly came to his senses, his eyes refocused, and he saw Vesseldorf's name appearing behind the three teams in Group D:

Madrid Pirates, Insoubre, Lyon Lions, Vesseldorf.

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Attached are the 202 crown group results:

Group A: Sevilla Navigator (Spain), Atlético Amsterdam (Netherlands), Mesidier (Turkey), Atlético Borg (Belgium);

Group B: Blue and White Munich (Germany), Stan Park Rangers (England), Piraeus (Greece), Belgrade Phantoms (Serbia);

Group C: London Bridge (England), Catalonia (Spain), Donbas Black Gold (Ukraine), Zagreb (Croatia);

Group D: Madrid Pirates (Spain), Insoubre (Italy), Lyon (France), Vesseldorf (Germany);

Group E: Turin Bulls (Italy), Tramed (England), Westphalia (Germany), FC Vosch (Belgium);

Group F: Rotterdam Elite (Netherlands), Manchester Athletic (England), Red Flag Moscow (Russia), Claude Rangers (Scotland);

Group G: Alvara (Portugal), Ruhrrhein (Germany), Vesuvius (Italy), Energia Prague (Czech Republic);

Group H: Paris Eger (France), Kings of Madrid (Spain), Portuguese (Portugal), Orobicaspor (Italy)