Fox in the Penalty Area

Chapter 1746 Shield and Sword

"Sugiyama! Sugiyama! Sugiyama Tatsuya!! Shutaku——!!"

As Tatsuya Sugiyama dunked two Australian defensive players in succession at the front of the penalty area, the Japanese commentator became excited.

His "Shuto" is almost synchronized with Sugiyama Tatsuya's shooting action.

Amid his long-drawn roar, Sugiyama Tatsuya decisively took a shot just after entering the penalty area, and the football rushed straight towards the goal.

Australian goalkeeper Joshua Barres jumped into the air, stretched his body in the air, stretched his arms to the longest, hoping to block the ball.

But he didn't touch it!

He didn't touch it!

"Tatsuya Sugiyama——!!YATTAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Japanese commentator in the commentary box stood up from his seat, raised his arms and shouted.

"Onboard! Neon onboard!"

"This is a buzzer-beater! Sugiyama Tatsuya's goal helped the Japanese team defeat Australia in the away game! We eliminated them! Now we have a chance to play against Canada! There is still one last opponent left before the World Cup! Although the process is a bit difficult, But Japan will not miss the World Cup! No!"

"Tatsuya Sugiyama is in surprisingly good condition! It was with his goals and assists in this game that we finally defeated Australia 2:1 away from home! And eliminated them with a total score of 3:2!! "

While the Japanese commentators and commentators shouted excitedly, there were huge boos in the stadium.

The boos were all coming from Australian fans.

They didn't expect that they would witness Australia's failure to qualify for next year's World Cup in Spain and Portugal at their doorstep...

Just four days ago, in the first round of the play-offs between the two sides, Australia drew 1:1 away from Japan. Australian fans are very excited and think that Australia will definitely be able to go to the World Cup this time.

Because they were able to draw with Japan in the away game, can they still be overturned by the Japanese team when they return to home?

Judging from the first half of today's game, Australia did take full advantage of their home court and suppressed the Japanese team, making the Japanese team unable to hold their head high.

In the 30th minute, forward Benjamin Torrio scored a goal, leading the team with a total score of 2:1.

The Japanese team was cornered.

Then in the second half, Sugiyama Tatsuya broke out.

The core midfielder of the Japanese national team first penetrated Australia's defense with a scalpel-like through ball and assisted Itonu, who is currently playing at London Bridge, to equalize the score.

Then he led the Japanese team to regain control of the initiative, making full use of the Japanese players' good ball-handling skills and tacit team cooperation to fool the Australian players around.

In the end, he scored the winning goal against Australia at 93 minutes and 48 seconds, in the last dozen seconds of injury time.

After he scored, the Australian players on the field seemed to have been struck by lightning collectively. They collapsed on the turf, covering their faces and heads with their hands - they all knew that there was nothing they could do to save themselves...

Australia is finished!

Tatsuya Sugiyama, who scored the goal, ran past the Australian players who were lying on the ground. He excitedly rushed to the corner flag area and waved his fist to the Japanese fans in the stands who were traveling with the team.

More Japanese players came over and quickly swamped him.

Not only the players on the court, but also the Japanese players on the bench rushed over.

They were celebrating their hard-won victory on Australian soil.

This feeling is unfamiliar to many Japanese fans.

Because they haven’t had such a thrilling experience of qualifying for the World Cup for a long time...

Since reaching the World Cup finals for the first time, the Japanese team has directly qualified for the finals as the host nation.

The remaining six World Cups have all been directly won in the qualifying stage.

Only this time, they actually had to play in the play-offs.

Although they are celebrating so exaggeratedly now, in fact they have not yet won the ticket to the World Cup finals.

Because eliminating Australia is just completing the Asian play-offs.

To qualify for the World Cup, they still have to fight Canada, the fourth-place finisher in CONCACAF, in November.

That is the key battle that determines whether they can participate in the World Cup.

Just like the Chinese team four years ago.

However, the Chinese team at that time was weaker than the Japanese team, but their opponents were stronger than Canada today.

Japanese fans and commentators are so excited because they feel that with the strength of the Japanese team, it should not be a big problem to eliminate Canada.

The biggest difficulty is Australia.

So as long as they can eliminate Australia, the Japanese team will have one foot in the World Cup finals.

As for the Japanese team's ability to complete a desperate counterattack and participate in the World Cup, their midfielder Tatsuya Sugiyama is definitely the number one contributor.

"Sugiyama Tatsuya is in good condition today. I hope he can continue this good condition into the game against Canada next month!"

The Japanese commentator said with great anticipation and excitement.

※※※

After celebrating in front of their fans, Japan's players returned to their own half in twos and threes.

The game is actually not over yet.

Coupled with their crazy celebration time, the referee is likely to give Australia another minute or so of injury time.

So in theory, Australia still has a chance of survival.

Sugiyama Tatsuya hugged Morikawa Junpei and ran back: "The next step is up to you, Junpei!"

"No problem, you can trust me and leave your side to me, Sugiyama-kun!" Morikawa Junpei replied in a matter-of-fact manner.

At this time, Sugiyama Tatsuya no longer cares about Morikawa Junpei's chuunippi temperament. He even has to thank Morikawa Junpei.

Because the ball he just scored was the scoring opportunity created by Junpei Morikawa's successful steal in Australia's backcourt.

"Thank you for that ball just now..."

Morikawa Junpei shook his head: "That's what I should do, Sugiyama-kun."

Seeing what Morikawa Junpei said, Sugiyama Tatsuya laughed: "That's true, you are a 'shield'... Ha!"

"Shield" is the nickname given to Junpei Morikawa by the Japanese media. It describes Junpei Morikawa's running and interception in the midfield as if he erected a shield in front of the Japanese back line.

In contrast, Sugiyama Tatsuya's nickname is "Sword".

The midfield combination of the two of them in the Japanese national team is also known as the "Shield and Sword".

This is actually a nickname that has only gradually spread in the past two years.

Because both of them have only occupied core positions in the Japanese national team in the past two years.

In the past, Tatsuya Sugiyama attracted much attention, but Junpei Morikawa was relatively unnoticed, and few people realized his importance to the Japanese national team.

After Carlisle, the current head coach of the Japanese national team, fixed the combination of Tatsuya Sugiyama and Junpei Morikawa in the national team, the media and fans gradually created such a statement.

In addition, the two of them have been midfield partners since the Olympic team, and they also have a sense of CP.

Tatsuya Sugiyama is responsible for organizing the offense and helping the Japanese team score goals. He is the core of the Japanese team's midfield, the brains on the field, and the commander.

Morikawa Junpei devoted himself to protecting him.

※※※

When Junpei Morikawa shoveled Australian forward Benjamin Torio to the ground, the referee's whistle also sounded.

But he didn't blow the foul on Junpei Morikawa - the latter tackled the ball first and then brought down the player, very cleanly - he blew the whistle to end the game!

Benjamin Torrio also wanted to talk to the referee, but no teammates came up to help him surround the referee.

They all lay down on the ground and covered their faces with their hands!

Everyone knows that even giving Australia an extra free kick will not help. After all, this is a free kick in the backcourt... I'm afraid the game will be over if the free kick is taken.

It's just more time to take free kicks, but nothing changes.

Why bother?

There were corpse-like Australians lying on the ground, and zombie-like Australians in the stands. Many home fans were stunned and speechless when faced with this result.

In fact, many Australian fans knew the result from the moment Tatsuya Sugiyama scored the winning goal.

Some people even left the game early, not wanting to see the Japanese team celebrating under their noses.

Those Australian fans who did not leave early were still lucky and hoped for a miracle to happen.

Of course, no miracle happened.

The Japanese players on the sidelines rushed onto the court, running and hugging.

Tatsuya Sugiyama pounced on his midfield partner Junpei Morikawa, pulled him up from the ground, and hugged him hard.

Then the two of them were quickly surrounded by other Japanese players.

All the Japanese players were cheering and celebrating like crazy as if they had reached the World Cup finals.

That's right, after passing Australia, they are indeed infinitely close to the World Cup finals...

The Japanese commentator saw this scene and said happily: "This is the 'shield and sword' of our Japanese football! Tatsuya Sugiyama and Junpei Morikawa were indispensable for being able to eliminate Australia in this game! Please be sure to go to the World Cup, because that This is the stage for you to perform to your heart’s content! It’s so dry!”