After China eliminated hosts Australia 4-2, the other three quarter-final matches were followed separately.

South Korea defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 after 120 minutes of fierce battle, and the two sides played to a 0-0 draw in 90 minutes of game time, and Son Heung-min, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, scored twice in extra time, and South Korea reached the semi-finals for the fourth time in the last five Asian Cups.

After the game, the South Korean media were cheered up, chanting that the Asian Cup champion was waving at them.

As an Asian powerhouse, South Korea have reached the semi-finals of the World Cup held on home soil, and are regular visitors to the recent World Cup, but they are obviously difficult to be proud of in the Asian Cup, South Korea have won the championship twice, but that was the first two Asian Cups, 55 years ago, when only four teams participated in the entire Asian Cup finals, and they have not been able to win the championship since, and the last time they reached the final was 27 years ago.

After beating hosts Australia in the group stage, the confidence of the South Korean media and fans in the South Korean team has swelled like never before, and now they have beaten Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals, and the domestic media are excitedly chanting that they will step on the corpse of Iraq to advance to the final, and then win the Asian Cup again after 55 years!

Yes, South Korea's opponent in the semi-finals was Iraq, Iraq played against Iran in the quarter-finals, the two sides played a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes, and then in extra time both sides scored two goals each, and the battle was 3-3 in 120 minutes, and then in the penalty shootout, the two sides went until the eighth round of penalties, the Iranian team missed the penalty, the Iraqi took the penalty, and finally Iraq eliminated the Iranian team through a penalty shootout and reached the semi-finals.

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China's opponent in the semi-finals was the winner between Japan and the United Arab Emirates, which was also the latest quarter-final to be played.

The Chinese team players, including Jiang Chenxi, generally believe that their opponent in the semi-finals will be the old rival Japan, in fact, Jiang Chenxi also hopes to meet the Japanese team, he wants to avenge the 2004 Asian Cup final, Jiang Chenxi was only eight years old at that time, he watched the Japanese win the championship on China's turf in front of the TV, and the eight-year-old Jiang Chenxi cried a lot.

However, the process of the match between the Japanese team and the United Arab Emirates surprised the Chinese team, and the Japanese team shot 35:3 and 18:0 corner kicks in the 120-minute game time, which can be said to have a terrible huge advantage, but they only drew 1:1 with the United Arab Emirates; Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa missed penalties in the shoot-out, and the Emiratis eliminated defending champions Japan on penalties to reach the semi-finals.

In this case, the Chinese team's opponent in the semi-finals is the UAE team from West Asia.

After it was confirmed that the opponent in the semi-finals was the United Arab Emirates, except for Jiang Chenxi and a few other players who were bent on seeking revenge on the Japanese, most of them were happy to meet the United Arab Emirates. Some even think that this is the best opponent.

It is no wonder that the players of the Chinese team have such a mentality, in fact, although the West Asian team is the bitter master of the Chinese team in many cases, such as the black three minutes given to the Chinese team by the Qataris, but this does not include the United Arab Emirates.

The last time the Chinese team and the Emiratis met was a friendly match 3 years ago, China defeated the opponent 2:1, the Chinese team has played with the UAE eleven times before, the record is 5 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses, the record occupies a large advantage, the largest score between the two sides is the first meeting in 1984, China beat the United Arab Emirates 5:0. The last time China lost to the UAE was in a friendly match in 1993, 12 years ago.

In fact, excluding friendly matches, the Chinese team and the Emiratis have played the UAE 6 times in official matches, with a record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss.

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"The UAE is nothing, we have never been afraid of them, they are afraid of us." Li Ting, a member of the Chinese coaching staff of the national team, said when chatting with the players, he had the confidence to say this, in the 2001 South Korea-Japan World Cup Asian Top 10 match, the Chinese team 1-0 away and 3-0 at home, and beat the United Arab Emirates in two legs.

The players surrounded Li Ting, and everyone liked to listen to Li Ting tell about these glorious historical achievements.

In the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, the Chinese team swallowed nine eggs in the World Cup, which also made the Chinese media feel humiliated and in an uproar.

However, now, twelve years have passed, and when I think back to that World Cup trip, I am also embarrassed, if that time was to go out to be 'embarrassed', twelve years later, even going out again is almost gone.

Li Ting will tell you the story of qualifying for the top 10 tournament, but he rarely tells you the story of the World Cup.

Jiang Chenxi once chatted with Li Ting privately and asked him why?

Li Ting was a little silent: We qualified, we entered the World Cup, the whole country was very happy, everyone said that we were heroes, but after the World Cup, we became bears, and everyone blamed us for going out and being embarrassed......

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"What about Jiang Chenxi?" The national team leader asked the captain Zheng Zhen.

"Here we are." As soon as Zheng Zhen looked up, he saw Jiang Chenxi, seeing that he was sweating profusely, Zheng Zhen couldn't help but speak, "Went to train again?" ”

"Yes!" Jiang Chenxi nodded.

Zheng Zhen gave a thumbs up, this Asian Cup also made the players of the national team know Jiang Chenxi at a close distance, he is the most valuable star in the Premier League, he is the new world footballer, and he is also the one who trains the hardest.

In addition to normal training, Jiang Chenxi will practice every day, he doesn't go shopping, he doesn't go shopping, he doesn't play games, except for talking on the phone with his wife, it's training, training, training!

They kind of knew where Jiang Chenxi's nickname 'Training Maniac' came from.

And Jiang Chenxi trained so hard and demanded himself so strictly, which also drove the players of the Chinese team to be more serious in training, and the world footballer was so desperate, they were embarrassed to be lazy, although they couldn't do it as hard as Jiang Chenxi, but at least on the training ground, their attitude was unprecedentedly correct.

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The leader of the national team looked for Jiang Chenxi and called the whole team to watch the game together.

On January 26, at 8 o'clock in the evening local time in Australia, the whole Chinese team watched the live broadcast of the semifinals between the South Korean team and Iraq in the conference room of the hotel where they stayed.

In the 20th minute of the game, in the free kick offensive of the South Korean team, Lee Ting-hyeong scored with a header, and the Koreans led Iraq 1-0 in the first half.

In the 50th minute, Kim Young-kwon scored with a broken line from the periphery.

In the end, the South Korean team defeated Iraq 2-0 and advanced to the final first.

The match was played at the Sydney Stadium in Australia, where the Chinese team eliminated Australia 4-2, which was also the final venue of the Asian Cup.

Before the game, the South Korean media confidently said that they would play two more games at the Sydney Stadium, implying that they would eliminate Iraq at the stadium and then continue to play the Asian Cup final in this team.

Watching the TV as South Korean players and fans cheered wildly and celebrated the South Korean team's first Asian Cup final in 27 years, Jiang Chenxi's eyes were full of fighting spirit, and he said to his teammates, "The Koreans are waiting for us!" ”

A day later, at eight o'clock local time in Sydney, Australia, with the whistle of referee Fagani from Iran, the semi-final match of the Asian Cup between the Chinese team and the United Arab Emirates officially kicked off at the Canberra Stadium in Canberra, Australia.

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