Fox in the Penalty Area

"We lost 0-2 in the first leg, so we were cornered." In the home locker room, Uzbekistan captain Faruk Namozov was addressing his own players.

Even head coach Rasulov stepped aside, giving center stage to the national hero of Uzbek football.

Namozov once led the Uzbekistan national team to win the Asian Cup runner-up, which is also the best result of the Uzbekistan national team in international competitions.

It was also by virtue of this performance that Namozov was elected the Asian Footballer of the year.

That was the most glorious time of Namozov's career, and now that his career has come to an end, he hopes to fulfill his dream in the final stage-leading Uzbekistan to a historic World Cup appearance.

It's just that looking at it now, the hope is a little slim.

After losing two goals in the first leg, the national team returned to Uzbekistan and was scolded miserably by the local media and fans.

Among them, head coach Rasulov is under tremendous pressure.

Both the Uzbek media and fans believed that Rasulov's choice was too conservative when he fell behind by two goals. He should not choose to stick to it, but should actively attack and try to score an away goal.

If you can return to the home court with a score of 1:2, this second round will be much easier to play.

The current score really makes many Uzbekistan fans feel desperate.

"That's good, guys. We don't have to think about what's going on, and we're going to put our all into this game and try to win. Stay focused..." Namozov put his hands on his temples, " It is very important to stay focused in the game. Because concentration can make us fight stronger!"

Namozov shook his fist and gave a powerful speech.

In the last round, he also failed to perform at his own level, and he was also under tremendous pressure.

He has no complaints about this. When he returned to Tashkent, facing the reporters at the airport, he took the initiative to take all the responsibility for the loss on himself.

At the same time, he also made a promise to fans across the country: "I will definitely score in the second round! We will definitely go to the World Cup!"

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"Although we beat Uzbekistan 2-0 in the first leg,

But to be honest, a two-goal lead is not a very safe score. As long as Uzbekistan can score from the start, the wind will immediately fall in their favor. So the lads of the national team must not be proud and underestimate the enemy just because they are leading by two goals, and relax their vigilance..."

When He Feng said this, the second round of the match between the two sides had already begun.

Uzbekistan, who played at home, changed the tactics of shrinking defense in the first round, and took the initiative to attack and be aggressive.

Amidst the cheers of nearly 70,000 fans in the audience, a stormy offensive was launched towards the goal of the Chinese team.

Every Chinese fan I watched was terrified.

Will the Chinese team relax after 2:0 in the first round, thus losing a good game?

There are many such precedents in the past history of Chinese football, which is one of the important reasons why Chinese football has such a bad reputation-others know that you can't trip over the same stone twice, but Chinese football is always wrong. Stumbling over the same rock, it's simply addictive.

How many people can stand the fire with such a Chinese football stand?

Although in recent years, as the reform of Chinese football has deepened, many inherent impressions have been gradually reversed.

But there are some things that go deep into the bone marrow, that is, Chinese fans' distrust of Chinese football.

At some critical moments, the "tragedies" in history can always awaken everyone's memory, allowing them to combine the game in front of them with those painful memories.

To put it bluntly, those tragedies in the past made Chinese fans have a very strong "pessimistic mood". Anyone who wanted to lose in advance did not dare to think about winning.

Even those who were a little bolder in the past will be beaten in the face by the cruel reality in the end, and never dare to be arrogant.

This is the same as that paragraph:

I buy and lose every time the Chinese team plays. If the Chinese team wins, I will be happy even though I lost money. If the Chinese team loses, I will be as happy as winning money. In the end, I bought a new house with the money I earned from betting on the Chinese team to lose...

To change this deep-rooted impression of Chinese football cannot be achieved overnight.

But change must have a beginning, otherwise change will never happen.

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"The Chinese team withstood Uzbekistan's offensive and tried to counterattack..."

When He Feng said these words, he felt a little relieved.

Uzbekistan's torrential offensive just now really made him very nervous, and he couldn't help being surprised when he was explaining the game.

Anyway, we stuck with it. Now you can take a breather and prepare for the next wave of offensive...

On the court, the Chinese team launched an attack through the left flank.

Unlike the first round, this time Uzbekistan did not retreat cleanly into its own penalty area to defend firmly when the Chinese team attacked, but launched a press attack in the midfield, hoping to counterattack directly and launch it on the spot fight back.

This is of course because their tactical goals are different from those in the first round.

However, this also led to more space in their defense.

Luo Kai took the ball forward after receiving a diagonal pass from the backcourt on the right.

Uzbekistan full-back Edol Otagulov came up to defend him. He glanced at the space behind the opponent, without any fancy extra moves, directly pushed the football forward, and then overtook forcibly at his own speed !

"Rocky...beautiful!! He ate Ota Guluf raw with his speed!"

Luo Kai, who succeeded in overtaking, did not continue to dribble, but kicked a cross after catching up with the football.

The football drew an arc and flew into the penalty area.

Hu Lai rushed over, and shot without stopping the ball!

Uzbekistan goalkeeper Hassan Abramoff came forward and blocked the shot with his body.

The football hit his leg and bounced back, and Hu Lai, who had already shot the goal, immediately made a second reaction when he saw this. At that time, his body was rushing forward, and it was too late to make other adjustments, so he simply took advantage of the situation and jumped forward to jump to the top!

Before Hamlayev made a clearance, he pushed the football into Uzbekistan's goal!

The manic storm over the Tashkent Stadium suddenly stagnated.

None of the Uzbekistan fans expected that the goal would come without warning, and the goal was... the Chinese team!

"Hu Lai!! Ah ha ha ha ha!!" He Feng laughed loudly, and he relaxed all of a sudden. "Beautiful! Beautiful! A clean attack, Hu Lai scored a goal! The Chinese team not only led Uzbekistan 3:0 on the total score, but also scored an away goal! Good job Hu Lai! Good job Rocky!"

After the goal, Hu Lai ran to do his signature celebration. Luo Kai didn't go up to join in the fun, but just shook his fist vigorously at the place where he completed the cross, celebrating alone.

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Looking at the Chinese players running towards Hu Lai to celebrate the goal, Namozov kept taking deep breaths to force himself to calm down.

Just now, when he saw Hu Lai shoot the football into the goal, his heart seemed to be tightly held by some terrible force, and he couldn't beat at all.

At that moment he seemed to be knocked down.

But in the end he still stood on the court.

He knew he couldn't fall.

Uzbekistan football has reached the most dangerous time, and he cannot fall down.

"Pass the ball to me more." Namozov calmed down and said to his teammates.

Everyone looked at him with bewildered eyes at first, and then realized what their captain meant by saying this, so their fighting spirit was restored on their faces.

A true leader doesn't need long speeches to boost morale, he just needs to tell those around him to pass him the ball.

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After the game restarted, Uzbekistan, which was cornered, exploded with enormous energy.

Whether it is the head coach Rasulov on the sidelines or the players on the field, there is no need to hesitate like the first round.

Everyone knew what to do next - there was nothing they could do but attack, attack with all their might!

The Uzbekistan fans in the stands of the Tashkent Stadium cheered for the team with the loudest decibels, and made a final effort for Uzbekistan football's road to the World Cup.

Amidst their cheering, Uzbekistan's offensive became more and more fierce.

The Chinese team players on the court have been beaten for a long time and couldn't pass halftime.

Hu Lai has changed from a center forward to a defensive midfielder-returning to the front of the penalty area to assist in the defense. Although there's not much he can do...

Even though Uzbekistan's defense is all empty behind the defense, the Chinese team has no way to pass the football up. Neither Chen Xingyi nor Luo Kai had the chance to bring football out with speed.

Uzbekistan's continuous offensive is really like a dark cloud. It brought tremendous psychological pressure to the players of the Chinese team in the storm.

In the first round, the Chinese team won relatively easily. Because of Uzbekistan coach Rasulov's conservative tactics, it can be said that Uzbekistan was subdued without much resistance.

Many people may have forgotten that in history, the Chinese team played against Uzbekistan many times. In fact, they lost more and won less.

Finally, before the end of the first half, Uzbekistan used rounds of bombing to force the Chinese team's defense to make a fatal mistake-when Namozov took the ball at the front of the Chinese team's penalty area, there was no Chinese team player Go up and restrain him.

Namozov kicked a long shot unceremoniously!

The football roared into the penalty area of ​​the Chinese team like a fired shell, and went straight to the dead corner of the goal!

Although the goalkeeper Hao De tried his best to make a save, he was still beyond his reach, and could only look at the ball and sigh...

"Oops!" He Feng in the studio behind put his head in his hands and yelled in regret and pain. "The quality of Namozov's shot is very high! But why didn't any of us defend him before he shot? You know, Namozov's long-range shots are notoriously good!"

Yan Kang comforted him by the side, and also comforted the Chinese fans in front of the TV: "Although we conceded a goal, don't panic or panic. We still lead by two goals in the total score, and we still have an away goal advantage... So as long as we don't mess around, we can still win!"

After scoring the goal, Namozov did not celebrate, but only greeted the forward teammates in the penalty area, signaling them to go to the goal to catch the ball, and then seized the time to put it in the middle circle, let the Chinese team kick off quickly, and the game continued as soon as possible .

Uzbekistan is still two goals behind in the total score, because the Chinese team already has an away goal advantage, so even if Uzbekistan scores two more goals, it will still be eliminated.

But this is not the reason for Namozov to give up. He will not give up himself, nor will he allow his teammates to give up.