Chapter 1054: Semi-finals
Originally, Liverpool's Club World Cup was still very important, they came to Japan two days early, but because Boca Juniors' core ace Riquelme could not play, this made the Liverpool players feel relaxed, although he is adjusting to the jet lag every day, adapting to the climate, training and preparation, but in fact, their time is more divided by the business. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Liverpool, with their big names and the new Ballon d'Or, are adored by their fans every day, spending more time than they can do in training, filming commercials, meeting fan organisations and signing autographs, taking photos and receiving gifts.
In addition to Chen Yu, other Red Army players are very curious about the mysterious oriental civilization, and even head coach Benitez wants to know about it. Over the two days, Liverpool players collectively watched the K-1 Combat Competition, which combines boxing, Muay Thai, taekwondo, sanshou, tai chi and some went to nightclubs at night. In contrast, it was the coach's cultural taste that was more sophisticated, and Benitez and the coaching staff visited Sankeien, Yokohama's famous Japanese garden, and went out of their way to have a physical examination of the authentic tea ceremony, which looked more like an "old people's sightseeing group".
Chen Yu as the Golden Globe winner, he also has countless fans in Japan, after he came to Japan, there are countless businesses hope to be able to cooperate with Chen Yu, let Chen Yu be their advertising spokesperson, but Chen Yu refused, Chen Yu's reason to the outside is that he wants to prepare for the Club World Cup with peace of mind, he must win the Club World Cup, in the club, he lacks this championship, in fact, Chen Yu does not want to speak for Japanese companies, even Zhang Shubin is a little incomprehensible to this, Because the endorsement fee given by Japanese merchants is higher than that of European and American merchants, but because of Chen Yu's insistence, Zhang Shubin can only do what Chen Yu wants.
Although Chen Yu did not make money from advertising in Japan like Gerrard, Alonso and others, he also earned a lot, his signed jersey sold almost three million pieces during his time in Japan, and if Liverpool can win the championship, Chen Yu's jersey will also sell well, so Chen Yu has a 15% commission on jersey sales, so Chen Yu's income is not less than one million euros, in addition, Liverpool has received a lot of commercial advertisements in Japan, Chen Yu has a commission for portrait rights, and this income is also a lot.
Liverpool is obviously a little too relaxed, they say that Urawa Red Diamonds are very strong, in fact, they don't take Urawa Red Diamonds to heart at all, even the day before Boca Juniors' difficult one-goal victory over African champion Sahel Stars did not arouse Liverpool's alarm, they think this is the reason for Boca Juniors' decline in strength after not having Riquelme, and do not think that this is the level of the weak team is improving.
Such a mentality will definitely affect Liverpool's combat effectiveness, which Liverpool's coaching staff knows very well, but they only warn a few words of painlessness, telling the players to pay attention to the game and not underestimate the opponent, but this does not play a role in waking up the Liverpool players at all, and the Liverpool coaching staff also thinks that even if they take out a third of the level, they can beat Urawa Red Diamonds, and it is not too late to get nervous after entering the final, so they do not pay too much attention to this phenomenon.
Although Urawa Red Diamonds do not dare to expect them to overturn Liverpool and reach the final, this does not mean that Urawa Red Diamonds do not attach importance to this game, in fact, Urawa Red Diamonds attach second only to Boca Juniors to this game.
Urawa Red Diamonds attach so much importance to the game with Liverpool, in addition to proving to the world the strength of Japanese football and the J League, there is also a very important reason, due to Chen Yu's return to the Chinese team, the Chinese team will definitely become an important opponent of the Japanese team in the future, the Japanese Football Association hopes to see Chen Yu's strength through this game, to see if the Japanese defenders can prevent Chen Yu. Japan's "Yomiuri Shimbun" mentioned this, hoping that the players of Urawa Red Diamonds can give Chen Yu a little bitterness, so that he knows that Asian games are not easy to play.
In the eyes of the Chinese media, this game is the first head-to-head battle between the ******** core striker and the Japanese defender, if Chen Yu can abuse the Japanese defender in the game, the Chinese team can basically compete with all the strong teams in Asia, if the team like Liverpool is added, Chen Yu still can't score easily, and Chen Yu's return to the Chinese team does not dare to say that he can easily qualify in Asia.
On the day of the game, the 73,000-seat Yokohama International Stadium was almost full, half of which were in favor of Liverpool, nearly half were in favor of Urawa Ruby, and a very small number were neutral fans who came to see the excitement.
Before the start of the game, the two sides shook hands very friendly, the Japanese players nodded when they shook hands, looking humble and supple and humbly asking for advice, Osijek and Benitez on the sidelines shook hands and even said to learn from Liverpool, but after the game started, Liverpool's players found that Urawa Red Diamonds played very tough, very aggressive, almost every player was running desperately, as if the game was not 90 minutes but 45 minutes.
Liverpool were ill-prepared for this and were robbed by Urawa Red Diamonds and made a series of mistakes, but fortunately, Liverpool's two central defenders, Carragher and Ager, performed relatively well, and faced the Urawa Red Diamonds' forwards with great confidence, and defused the Urawa Red Diamonds' two counterattacks in front.
The fans in the stands originally thought that the opening would be a one-sided situation, Urawa Red Diamonds would definitely be pressed to defend in the half, and they didn't expect Liverpool to be pressed and beaten by Urawa Red Diamonds, the game played for ten minutes, and Liverpool didn't have a chance to shoot on goal, Chen Yu, Kuyt and Crouch ran in front of the air, but there was no way to get the support of teammates behind, and occasionally a ball was also destroyed by Urawa Red Diamonds with foul actions.
The Japanese commentator at the scene looked at the eyebrows and said excitedly: "Urawa Red Diamonds played too beautifully, they were actually pressing the superstar Liverpool to play, Mr. Golden Ball Chen Yu had no way to face the defense of Urawa Red Diamonds, this is really exciting, if Urawa can prevent Chen Yu for 90 minutes, then we dare to say that even if Chen Yu returns, the Chinese team is not afraid." ”
Duan Xuan, the Chinese commentator on the sidelines, was a little anxious, "Chen Yu basically didn't touch any ball in such ten minutes, what's wrong with Liverpool's midfield, can't he control the situation against Japanese players?" Those 10 minutes really make people wonder how they got the double, Liverpool have to change, and it would be a joke if the European double didn't reach the Club World Cup final. ”
Liverpool was stunned by Urawa Red Diamonds, they didn't pay attention to this Japanese team before the game, and they were absent-minded when they studied, and they didn't expect this weak Asian team to be so bold after the game started, and it was completely pressing Liverpool to play, these factors combined, and it was strange that Liverpool was not stunned.
However, Liverpool is Liverpool in the end, and the double title is not won by luck, they were careless and light at the beginning, and were dominated by Urawa Red Diamonds, but soon Liverpool calmed down and launched a fierce counterattack against Urawa Red Diamonds under the leadership of Chen Yu and Gerrard.
Chen Yu began to lack the support of his teammates, and he himself wanted to see how strong Urawa Red Diamonds were, so Chen Yu did not play well in the first ten minutes of the game, and after ten minutes, the team launched a counterattack, and Chen Yu was immediately active, and his breakthrough and inward cutting on the side became Liverpool's sharpest weapon.
In the 15th minute of the game, Chen Yu, who retreated from the side to near his penalty area, grabbed the opportunity, and he successfully brought the ball from the back to the front of Urawa Red Diamonds under the pursuit and interception of three Puhe Red Diamonds.
Chen Yu was observing the running position of his teammates when he was dribbling the ball, and he saw that Kuyt's position was better, and he had attracted a lot of Barcelona's rear Chen Yu made a decisive pass, and directly distributed the ball in front of Kuyt.
Kuyt didn't expect Chen Yu to pass the ball to himself, because there was still Crouch in the middle, but Kuyt didn't panic, he **** stopped the ball and slashed into the penalty area.
Against Asian teams, Kuyt's confidence is almost the same as Chen's.
Just now, Chen Yu took the ball past Soma Takahito, Makoto Hasebe and Yuki Abe, which brought great pressure to Urawa Red Diamonds, and their defenders almost ran to Chen Yu, Kuyt was empty, until Chen Yu passed the ball to Kuyt, and Urawa Red Diamonds' defenders went over to make up for Kuyt.
When Kuyt slipped the ball into the corner of the penalty area, Japanese defender Tanaka arrived at him, and Kuyt flicked sideways to try to get rid of Tanaka Douka, but Tanaka is also a Japanese international, and he also knows Kuyt very well, and when he saw Kuyt cut inside, he immediately fell sideways to the ground and slid the tackle.
Tanaka's purpose is not to intercept Kuyt, nor to foul him, his purpose is only to prevent Kuyt from shooting in the shortest possible time, so that Urawa Red Diamonds' players will not be able to come and intercept.
Kuyt was ready to shoot after cutting inside, but Kuyt saw Tanaka's sliding tackle blocking the possibility of a boccia, and while the other Urawa Red Diamonds players were still making up for it quickly, Kuyt curled a curling ball into the far corner of the goal.
This shot is tricky, hit the back corner, if the goalkeeper Du Zhulong can't intercept the ball in advance in the air, there will be an empty goal behind.
However, Kuyt is not a delicate player like Chen Yu, Pennant, and Gerrard, he belongs to the kind of hard horse and hard bridge, and the action of curling the ball into the far corner is a bit high-end for Kuyt, and without defense and interference, Kuyt was not able to shoot the ball into the range of the goal frame.
Seeing the ball fly out of the bottom line, the Japanese players breathed a sigh of relief, high-fived each other, and encouraged each other.
The Japanese commentator at the scene also said: "Liverpool is really Liverpool, even if they are suppressed by Urawa Red Diamonds, they can also create scoring opportunities, Chen Yu is now going to gradually enter the state, Urawa's defenders must limit him, continue to maintain the defensive and offensive intensity in front, otherwise once Liverpool rises, it will be difficult to do it in the back." ”