"Whoa"

The air above Newcastle Stadium was filled with a frenzied atmosphere of the game, with fans from both sides and Chinese fans creating a huge chant like a tsunami.

In this frenetic atmosphere, players on both sides of the game are extraordinarily engaged, fighting high, and fighting for every ball.

Since both sides of the game emphasize the control of football in the midfield, the other side will always make targeted defensive deployments when the opponent attacks, thus affecting the opponent's forward progress.

The Chinese team's double back combination is Tang Zheng and the rising star Li Kui, the Japanese team head coach Aguirre thought that the nineteen-year-old Li Kui would become their breakthrough when he got the starting lineup of the Chinese team before the game, but in fact, the young Li Kui was not timid in the Asian Cup semi-finals at all, but performed very well, and with the assistance of Tang Zheng, he completed the defensive tasks assigned by head coach Lippi before the game.

Coupled with the two ribs of Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi to assist in the defense, the Japanese team's advance in the midfield was not smooth.

However, the Chinese team's offense also encountered this situation, because Tang Zheng's position was too far behind, and he could only play a transitional and transfer role when the team attacked.

It's not that he can't take the ball forward and directly participate in the offensive organization in the front court, but he is worried that the young Li Kui will have problems in this kind of game.

Although he had a remarkable start to the game, who can guarantee that he won't be complacent at a young age?

Even if you don't get complacent, you may lose concentration at some point during the game.

Tang Zheng also had a young time, knowing that young players would have a time to pay tuition.

But paying tuition depends on the nature of the game, the Asian Cup has come to the semi-finals, and no one can afford to lose!

In Tang Zheng's heart, he doesn't want to miss any glory, he is twenty-six this year, and it will be four years before he misses this Asian Cup, and he will be thirty years old by then, and his career should be almost downhill, so the last ticket to advance to the Asian Cup final must be obtained.

Several players of the Japanese team have a record of playing against Tang Zheng and basically won the game, but the Japanese team that is kneaded into a whole is difficult to deal with, the running pass has a strong Brazilian element, and the Japanese players are skilled at their feet, and it is difficult to break the football from their feet.

In order to avoid problems in the back line in pressing, Lippi's defensive task before the game was to focus on zone defense.

A large part of this is due to the lack of wide attackers with the Japanese team, who rely more on the overall forward movement and then tear apart the opponent's defense with tacit passing and cutting runs.

Once the opponent sets up a bucket formation, it is difficult to break the deadlock, which is why the Japanese team will go into extra time and penalty shoot-out with the United Arab Emirates.

As the team with the most goals in this Asian Cup, the Chinese team also has excellent defensive ability, and has not conceded a goal from the first round of the group stage against Saudi Arabia to the semifinals, and is the best defensive team in this Asian Cup.

Offense wins fans, defense wins championships, which is one of the reasons why many foreign media are optimistic about the Chinese team winning the championship.

The defense will not win the game, but the Chinese team will attack and score goals under Tang Zheng's leadership when they finish their defensive work.

It is precisely because of this possibility that Japanese head coach Aguirre did not assign detailed offensive tasks before the game, and more about the defensive level.

This Chinese team is no longer a mobile ATM for the Japanese team, but a 'Big Mac' with both defense!

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Tang Zheng, who wore the captain's armband in this game, ran very actively, worked the defensive end, and his shadow could often be seen on the offensive end.

Although he has not yet reached the heart of the attack, his vision and passing are often able to send the ball to the most dangerous places.

Lu Liang was in good form, and his breakthrough on the left side of the attack almost paralyzed Japan's defense on the right side.

Wu Sanshi's right side seems to be a little quiet, and **, who is good at assisting, has not been able to participate in the attack significantly.

Of course, this rigorous tactics arranged by Lippi before the game have a direct relationship.

In other words, the first ten minutes of the game were all tentative attacks on both sides, paving the way for the acceleration of the next game.

It was not until the twentieth minute that both sides contributed their first shot that hit the range of the goal.

Tang Zheng made a continuous pass with Artemisia Junmin in the 40-meter area of the attack, and then suddenly kicked the ball to the right side of the attack with the outside of his right foot.

Lu Liang, who appeared in the passing route, did not need to make any adjustments, all he had to do was to complete a shot.

The shot was of very high quality and flew towards the top right corner of the goal with a whistling sound.

Japan's goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was very focused, flying to the side and dragging the ball off the crossbar with one palm.

"Whoa"

At the same time, a subconscious exclamation from Japanese fans rang out over Newcastle Stadium.

If it weren't for goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima's concentration, the goal of the national team they supported would likely have been broken by Lu Liang.

Immediately, the Japanese head coach Aguirre stood up from the coach's box, walked to the sideline excitedly and pointed to his temples towards the sideline, and then said loudly: "Focus on the game, concentrate on the game!"

As soon as the words fell, he looked at the captain Hasebe Makoto again, pointed to Tang Zheng, who was running towards the penalty area, and explained loudly: "The corner kick defense must give me a good look at Tang, don't give him any chance to scramble for the header!"

Not far away, Chinese coach Lippi stood in the coaching area of the visiting team with his hands raised above his head, clapping his hands to encourage his team to keep up the good work.

Lu Liang, who did not score, first pulled his hair, and then turned to face ** and gave a thumbs up to his right hand, indicating that the pass was beautiful.

Hao Junmin took a corner kick from the right side, and the ball flew near the penalty spot with a clear inside arc.

There, there are Tang Zheng, Feng Xiaoting, Maya Yoshida, Makoto Hasebe and Shinji Okazaki, but no one is as tall as Tang Zheng, and Tang Zheng has an absolute advantage in judging the landing point of football.

Therefore, in the corner kick defense, the Japanese team had close to three defenders placed Tang Zheng here, but despite this, Tang Zheng still grabbed the football landing point in the three-man bag of Maya Yoshida, Makoto Hasebe and Shinji Okazaki.

However, their efforts paid off, as Tang Zheng failed to adjust the crosshairs in the Japanese player's three-man package, and the ball went wide of the post.

Watching the football deviate from the goal post, Maya Yoshida, Makoto Hasebe and Shinji Okazaki let out a sigh of relief, and then looked at Tang Zheng tacitly.

They thought that Tang Zheng would feel sorry, but Tang Zheng jogged towards their own half without looking back, seemingly indifferent to this confrontation.

Suddenly, a trace of frustration sprouted in the hearts of the three of them.

thought that Tang Zheng would feel pressure in his defense and vent, but Tang Zheng didn't, it looked more like a confrontation.

In fact, this is indeed the case in Tang Zheng's mind.

The individual strength of Japanese players is not strong, what is strong is integrity, Tang Zheng also has his own sense of superiority, especially in this kind of competition that emphasizes physical confrontation, he wants to maintain a high image and let Japanese players look up.

Want to make it to the finals?

Inexistent!

With China getting two shots on goal, Japan also tried to make the attack a little more direct.

However, striker Shinji Okazaki seemed to feel very bad in front of goal, and under the interference of Feng Xiaoting, he missed the ball and did not even get a corner kick.

Two minutes later, Shinji Okazaki had another chance to shoot in the box, and Maya Yoshida played a long pass directly to Shinji Okazaki from the backfield, who very cleverly used his chest to cushion the ball to the right rib of the box, and then completed a volley before Feng Xiaoting had time to block.

The Japanese fans in the stands subconsciously raised their arms and opened their mouths, ready to create a huge chant that was deafening.

Half a second later, the passionate and indignant Japanese fans seemed to be choked by the throat and couldn't make any sound.

Because...... The football flew straight to the second-floor stands.

The Chinese fans, who had been nervous before, let out a loud laugh as they let out a long breath and laughed at Shinji Okazaki's wave shot.

Despite this, the head coach of the Chinese team, Lippi, still shouted to Tang Zheng, who was looking at the coach's seat: "Hey~ Tang, position a little further back and protect the central defender." ”

In the next game, Tang Zheng consciously positioned further back, very close to the two central defenders, so as to play the role of intercepting the direct attack of the Japanese team in the air.

The j-sports-1 commentator didn't understand the Japanese team's attack, frowned and said: "We shouldn't have trouble attacking in the middle and choose a direct long pass rushing tactic, because that is not the offensive routine we are familiar with, unless the pass and receive the ball is particularly tacit, it is difficult to get results, so sticking to our usual tactical play is the closest way to scoring a goal......

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In the blink of an eye, the game came to thirty minutes, and the scoreboard showed that the score had not changed, and it was still 0:0.

Red like fire, blue like water, the Chinese team and the Japanese team on the field are fighting hard for the Asian Cup final, and the shouts of the red fan area and the blue fan area in the stands are also continuous, making the atmosphere of this Sino-Japanese war particularly fanatical.

In this context, the players on both sides of the game were also particularly engaged.

But the score did not change, as time slowly passed, the impatience of the players gradually reflected, especially the Japanese players who did not play their own attack, and Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda, who were basically invisible since the beginning of the game, were particularly obvious.

Kagawa Shinji looked very impatient after being broken off with the ball, and he didn't close his feet when he counter-robbed, and kicked down Wu Sanshi directly behind his back, which immediately caused strong dissatisfaction from the young and vigorous Li Kui, who was tall and big, because he was too excited and sprayed Kagawa Shinji's whole face saliva.

Shinji Kagawa, who committed the foul, immediately raised his arms to show his unintention, and he was stunned when he was questioned by Li Kui.

Keisuke Honda and Hohito Endo, who were next to them, reacted quickly and surrounded Li Kui one after another, asking for an explanation.

The experienced captain of the team, Makoto Hasebe, and Shinji Okazaki, who played honestly, looked at the referee on duty, Hassan, and said that Li Kui's actions violated the spirit of sportsmanship.

The Chinese players naturally can't tolerate the little brother Li Kui being 'bullied' by the Japanese players, even if Li Kui's reaction is too intense, and the captain Tang Zheng bears the brunt, but his maintenance is fully justified, he first consciously pushed Li Kui away, and then put his hands behind his back, and used his developed chest muscles to 'push' Keisuke Honda and Endo Hohito.

"Beep~~"

At this time, the whistle of the Emirati referee Hassan was belated.

Tang Zheng is 1.94 meters tall and weighs 83 kilograms, and he looks at Endo Hohito and Keisuke Honda condescendingly, so that the two of them are a lot weaker in momentum.

By the time they reacted, the referee Hassan's whistle also sounded, and it was too late to think about the attack, which was equivalent to saying that he had suffered a loss.

Hassan, who came to the scene of the incident, first separated the players from both sides, and then settled the score.

Shinji Kagawa, who had too much anti-robbery action, was the first to be shown a yellow card by Hassan, and Li Kui, who almost caused a conflict between the two sides of the game, also received a yellow card.

Neither Tang Zheng, Makoto Hasebe nor Keisuke Honda received yellow cards, and referee Hassan only gave a verbal warning.

In these two yellow cards, it is obvious that the Chinese team suffers more, because Li Kui is a defensive midfielder and Shinji Kagawa is an attacking midfielder.

In terms of card percentage, it is clear that the defensive midfielder is higher.

In this regard, Yang 5 commentator He Wei said: "According to this detail, it is not difficult to see that Li Kui is still too young, very impulsive, Tang Zheng, who served as the captain of the Chinese team in this game, is very smart, he maintains Li Kui while having an obvious action with both hands behind his back, while suppressing the arrogance of Japanese players, he also does not meet the standard of eating cards, it can be said that Endo Hohito and Keisuke Honda suffered a loss in this 'confrontation'. ”

Commentator Xu Yang then added: "However, Li Kui, who has received a yellow card, should be more careful in the next game, and captain Tang Zheng should pay more attention to the defensive pressure on Li Kui's side, once Li Kui's defensive action is too big, it is likely to cause him to eat the second yellow card of the game, and the UAE referee Hassan is extremely ......strict with our players in the AFC Champions League."

The Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV suddenly remembered that in the past few AFC Champions League games, the UAE referee did not give the Chinese player a red card......

The current Porto players** and Gao Lin, who once played for Guangzhou Evergrande in the AFC Champions League, both suffered losses from Hassan and were sent off respectively. 、

Of course, the fans' worries are only temporary, as their focus is back on the Sino-Japanese battle for a place in the final of this Asian Cup.

There was a skirmish in the game, and the smell of gunpowder showed signs of escalation, and the Japanese players consciously targeted the young and vigorous Li Kui.

As the captain, Tang Zheng was very worried that Li Kui would not be able to control his emotions and was ready to remind him, but Li Kui's calmness was unexpected, he was deliberately violated by the Japanese players in the process of passing the transition and was indifferent, just like a very honest schoolboy, extremely well-behaved.

On the contrary, it was a big foul by Endo Baoren who received a yellow card, so that Yang 5 commentator He Wei was impressed by Li Kui: "I really can't see that the young Li Kui has this kind of forbearance, and over time, it will inevitably grow into a moving Great Wall of the Chinese team's midfield defense." ”

Indeed, Li Kui's defensive skills are solid, and he can often take the lead with his quick reactions, and his running coverage ability is super strong, which can be called the Great Wall of Movement.