Fox in the Penalty Area

Guo Junfu is staring at his mobile phone. He is browsing the East Asian Cup album on Goal.com.

Here is a summary of all the news of the East Asian Cup, as well as various statistics of the East Asian Cup.

Among the four teams, the Chinese team currently ranks first with two consecutive victories and six points.

The Japanese team ranked second with one win and one tie with four points. The South Korean team has one loss and one tie, ranking second to last with one point.

The North Korean team, which has not won a game, ranks last.

Looking at it this way, the Chinese team has the hope of winning the East Asian Cup.

Seeing this result, Guo Junfu couldn't help but want to cover his face.

He still remembered that when the training camp just started, he ran to talk to Hu Lai because of his "big talk".

At that time, the conversation between the two people can be said to be unhappy.

When he finally left, he said: "Let's not mention the World Cup, even this East Asian Cup, the championship is not so easy to win!"

Thinking about it now, his current results are like a slap in the face.

They actually...have hope of winning the East Asian Cup?

Of course, there is still no horoscope.

But the situation is already very good. In the last East Asian Cup match, as long as the Chinese team draws with the Japanese team, they can win the championship.

Yes, there is no need to beat the Japanese Olympic team, just draw with them.

A tie wins the championship.

Thinking of this, Guo Junfu frowned.

No matter how it sounds like a curse...

It has happened many times in the history of Chinese football to qualify for a tie and fail to qualify.

"Whatever the draw is" is really a curse.

And with the strength of the Japanese team, it is not easy to tie them.

The South Korean team tried their best to draw with them...

Speaking of the Korean team,

Guo Junfu suddenly thought of it, we beat the South Korean team 3:0!

South Korea and Japan drew a draw, so why can't we also draw with Japan?

Thinking of this, Guo Junfu suddenly gained confidence.

Thinking about it again, who gave him this confidence...

Holly.

When it comes to Hu Lai, Guo Junfu really has mixed feelings.

At first, he thought it was an arrogant, or grandstanding clown.

Later, he discovered that Hu Lai had real materials in the training and warm-up matches, and his opinion of him changed. He felt that although this person talked a little crazy, he was not just a person with a false name, and he was still qualified to play in the Olympic team. won a place here.

And now, he overturned all his previous views on Hu Lai. What is "qualified to win a place in the Olympic team"? It's no problem to go directly to the real national team with this performance, okay?

Even after the game against the South Korean team, he uttered wild words in front of reporters, calling winning the East Asian Cup and being the top scorer of the East Asian Cup as "small goals". No one called him "arrogant" or "grandstanding" anymore.

Even Guo Junfu himself didn't think there was anything inappropriate about Hu Lai's words, and even felt that what he said was good in his heart.

Didn't Park Guihyun call out these two goals in advance before the game?

We have now won the South Korean team 3:0. Besides, this goal is considered very low-key and pragmatic.

Now that I think about it, it’s not because we are low-key and pragmatic... It’s all because Hu Lai who said this has just completed a hat-trick in the game, and he has done something that Chinese players have not been able to do for 41 years.

raving?

When he has this ability, he naturally has the qualifications to speak wildly.

Because what he said was not necessarily "kyogen".

Now think back to what he said when he first entered the training team.

World Cup...

Guo Junfu still dare not think about winning the World Cup, but he suddenly has more expectations than usual for the Chinese team to enter the World Cup finals...

Maybe, maybe, just in case, if, if possible... did he really go in?

In the second game, when the Chinese team played against North Korea, Hu Lai also scored a goal in his first game, which fully demonstrated that his performance was not a flash in the pan.

Guo Junfu has been observing Hu Lai's performance.

In the game against North Korea, because Hu Lai had already worn a hat in the game against the South Korean team, the opponent must have taken precautions against him.

Therefore, in fact, the game against North Korea can best reflect Hu Lai's true level.

North Korea is also a strong team on the football field, and their nationwide system also has their advantages in cultivating talents.

Hu Lai was indeed heavily marked by his opponent during the game.

Most of the time, he even struggled to get a shot.

In the whole first half, he only had one shot, which was not within the range of the goal frame.

Guo Junfu thought at the time—it's over, the Internet doesn't know how to scold Hu Lai for his performance in the first half...

As a result, until he was replaced in the 76th minute, he only had three shots in total, one in the first half, and twice as many shots in the second half as in the first half, reaching two!

And then...a goal.

Three shots and one goal in the game helped the Chinese team beat North Korea 2:1 and won two consecutive victories in the East Asian Cup.

Guo Junfu found that Hu Lai is really a very efficient shooter. He doesn't need himself or other teammates to pass the ball to him constantly in the game to create shooting opportunities for him.

On the contrary, he can always seize those few shooting opportunities and convert them into goals.

As a midfield organizer, Guo Junfu simply likes this type of shooter.

After all, sometimes you feed the cake into the forward's mouth, and the forward can spit out the cake and say: "Bah! A man doesn't eat cheap food!" That really made Guo Junfu, who fed the cake, very helpless and angry—what the hell? If you don’t eat bread, tell me earlier, I won’t feed you. Isn’t it a waste of food to spit it out if you don’t eat it? ! Now the country is calling for saving food, and you still waste it like this, it's simply reckless!

But he can only complain in his heart, he can't stab someone's stomach with a wooden stick after feeding the cake, right?

This game also made Guo Junfu realize that Hu Lai is probably the kind of forward who is difficult to be marked to death. Unless you don't give him a chance in the whole game, he may seize the only chance and turn it into a goal. ball.

How do you say something?

"He was invisible for 89 minutes, you couldn't see him. But when you saw him, he scored goals."

Hu Lai is such a striker.

Not to mention that such a striker who is good at seizing opportunities and finding space is always moving in your defense line during the game, how much psychological pressure it will bring to you...

No one can guarantee that they will not make a single mistake in a 90-minute game. It is not a big deal to make a mistake at ordinary times, but when playing against Hu Lai, it will kill you if you make a mistake!

So even if the North Korean team played very tenaciously in this game and scored a goal, they still lost the game.

Their defense was pretty good, and they only gave Hu Lai a chance to shoot three shots in the whole game, but they still conceded the ball in the end... Who do you ask the North Korean players to reason with?

※※※

"We must pay attention to their number 14." In the conference room of the hotel where the Japanese Olympic team stayed, the head coach of the Japanese team Koichi Sato was holding a meeting for the whole team.

They only drew with South Korea yesterday, which left Japan behind China in the East Asian Cup.

If they still want to win the championship, there is no other way but to beat the Chinese team in the last game.

If you tie, you can only go for the runner-up.

"I just watched the video of the match between China and North Korea. What do you think of No. 14?" Koichi Sato asked, pointing to the close-up of Hu Lai on the big screen.

Sugiyama Tatsuya raised his hand: "I feel like a striker who is very good at catching fighters. His skills are not too outstanding, and his physical confrontation is also average, but his ability to run without the ball and find space is very good. Coach."

Sato Hikaru nodded very satisfied with Sugiyama Tatsuya's answer: "Observed very carefully, Sugiyama. What else did you see?"

Sugiyama Tatsuya frowned. He felt that there must be something that the head coach asked that he didn't see, but what it was... He felt that he had observed it very carefully. What the Chinese striker of "Lai" is best at is his greatest strength.

When he was watching the video of the game, he even came up with such an idea - if our Japanese Olympic team has such a striker, plus my passing, I believe we can win many goals in every game!

Koichi Sato noticed Sugiyama Tatsuya frowned and was lost in thought, but decided to give his favorite general a hint: "Have you noticed how many goals he shot in this game?"

Hearing this, Tatsuya Sugiyama raised his head abruptly, then shook his head and said, "Sorry, coach, I didn't pay attention to this data, I didn't count it..."

Sato Koichi raised three fingers: "Three shots. Played 76 minutes, three shots, one goal, what does that mean?"

"He's very efficient!" Sugiyama Tatsuya almost blurted out.

"Yes, he is very efficient in front of goal!" Sato Koichi finished speaking and turned to the whole team, "Don't just stare at players who like to play football well, and don't always think that only those who can dribble the ball can beat several players in a row. The most threatening player is the player who enters a world wave. I will tell you now, the most threatening player is like him!"

He pointed back to the frozen portrait of Hulet on the projection screen.

"Score the most goals with the least number of shots! A high-efficiency striker is the dream of every football team today! Why did the South Korean team stumble on the Chinese team? It's because Li Anren, an idiot, didn't realize it His mind is full of Xinyan, Guan Xinyan... What's so good about Guan Xinyan? It's just that he runs faster. This talent is amazing! Five shots against South Korea, three goals; three shots against North Korea, one goal Ball, what a horrible efficiency? So we must completely freeze him in the next game! Make sure he can't even shoot a goal!"

※※※

"We didn't use a full-court press against the Japanese team, because it was useless and would give the Japanese team a chance instead."

Shi Wuyin said at the tactical meeting for the players of the team.

"The Japanese team is good at controlling the ball. They use midfielder Tatsuya Sugiyama as the core to pass and cut forward. Our pressing is in their hands. In this game, we mainly focus on defensive counterattack tactics. The first line of defense. After retreating to the center line, start from the forward line, blocking them layer by layer, compressing their passing space, especially those around Sugiyama Tatsuya..."

Combined with the PPT, Shi Wuyin explained the specific tactics to the players.

Because a tie can win the championship, Shi Wuyin's tactics this time are a little conservative.

But no one can be wrong. After all, facing an opponent like the Japanese team, you can only be conservative if you are not conservative. With the current strength of the Olympic team, pressing out to attack the Japanese team can only be a dead end.

Guo Junfu is also an offensive organizer, but in terms of strength, he is still inferior to Sugiyama Tatsuya.

Even if there is a striker like Hu Lai, after these two games, is the head coach of the Japanese team Koichi Sato an idiot who still can't see the importance of Hu Lai?

So in the third game, it is entirely conceivable how much defensive resistance Hu Lai will encounter in the game.

Shi Wuyin's strategy is to strengthen the defense, so that while the Japanese team's offense is frustrated, it also dampens their spirit.

Then make adjustments according to the situation on the field.

If the Japanese team wants to win the championship, they must attack with all their strength, and then it will be the opportunity for the Chinese team to fight back.

Of course, if the Japanese team was worried about the Chinese team's counterattack and did not dare to attack, then Shi Wuqian would not mind dealing with the Japanese team slowly, and with a score of 0:0 in the end, he could still win the championship.

※※※

After the tactical meeting was over, the players returned to their rooms one after another.

However, Hu Lai was repeatedly chewing on the name of the head coach of the Japanese Olympic team he heard at the tactical meeting.

"Kōichi Sato...does this name sound familiar?"

His soliloquy was heard by Wang Guangwei: "Of course it is familiar. He is the Japanese defender who scored the Chinese team goal with his hand in the final of the 2004 Asian Cup, which caused the Chinese team to collapse."

"I'll go? Doesn't that mean that enemies are extremely jealous when they meet?"

"It's been a long time since I became popular. Eighteen years have passed..." Wang Guangwei sighed, "No matter how much hatred and resentment you have, if you can't repay it, don't bring it up again. You can only embarrass yourself."

The huge gap in strength between Chinese football and Japanese football made the hatred accumulate. At the beginning, everyone was filled with righteous indignation and clamored for revenge.

As a result, I found out that I couldn't take revenge at all, and gradually no one talked about it anymore, because I repeatedly used my own wounds to talk about things, and it was me who was embarrassed, not my enemy.

Hu Lai also understood this helplessness, he sighed: "This East Asian Cup is actually a cup for repaying old debts, right?"

"Don't think too much about it. It has nothing to do with us, Hu Lai. Don't carry the burden of history."

Hu Lai snorted, "My ability to shake my burden is at the historical level."

Hearing this, Wang Guangwei laughed, he believed it.