Chapter 70: Goal difference
"In the first leg of the AFC Champions League semifinals last night, the J-League represented the Gas team in the case of the first goal away from home by the opponent to score three goals in a row, but when the situation was extremely dangerous, the gas star Ringer once again saved the team, he shot before the arrival of injury time, forcing the opponent to make his own own, although the Gas team finally lost 2:3 away, but the two away goals greatly increased the probability of the Gas team advancing to the final~~~"
This is the sports news of Nippon TV early the next morning.
After the game, the whole team of Tokyo FC returned to Tokyo immediately, and they did not want to stay in Korea for a moment.
However, at the press conference after the game, Bobovic directly confronted the opposing head coach Kim Ho-kun, and a serious verbal conflict broke out.
Bobovic accused the other party of using the next three indiscriminate tricks to frame Tokyo FC, the means are despicable, morally turpitable, outrageous, and all of them are cursed. Fortunately, this guy has a clear mind and saves these curses until the end of the game, if he scolds like this before the game, it is likely to affect the state of Tokyo FC.
The old Korean man on the opposite side put himself on his own at the last moment when the team was in a good situation, and now the situation is quite bad, and he is also angry, so he will naturally scold back.
Kim Ho-kun blamed FC for not having the last goal for the game, and Ringer pushed Kwok Tae-hui for a foul before he turned to hit the goal, which was an own goal that didn't exist.
In fact, when the goal occurred on the field, Guo Taihui protested to the referee, but the referee ignored it.
An own goal, the score changed from 3:1 to 3:2, and the situation faced in the second leg was completely different.
The first leg home team led 3:1, and the probability of promotion was more than eighty percent, and the first leg home team was 3:2 ahead, and the probability of promotion was less than one percent, which is still overall.
Falling behind 2:3 in the first leg is really not a big deal, and it only takes a small 1:0 or 2:1 win to get back to Tokyo FC at home, and it is very likely that Tokyo FC, which has the home advantage, will do it.
Take the Champions League as an example, in the history of the Champions League, there have been more than ten times when the first leg was 3:2 at home, and in the end, only one team successfully advanced, and the others were all overturned, and the team that successfully advanced still lost 2:3 away, and finally advanced to the penalty shootout.
So the 3:1 lead and the 3:2 lead in the first leg are really worlds apart.
Of course, Asia is not Europe, and the level of football in Asia is not mature enough, no matter how strange things have been.
In the 2004 AFC Champions League, South Korea's Seongnam Ilhe as the first East Asian team to reach the AFC Champions League final, they defeated Jeddah Ittihad 3:1 in the first leg of the two-legged final, everyone thought that Seongnam Ilhe won the championship, but in the second leg, the South Korean team that returned to home lost 0:5, and the championship was snatched away by Ittihad.
No one knows how the South Korean team managed to accomplish this difficult task, winning 3:1 on the road and losing 0:5 at home.
This may be the pure football of South Korea, and probably it may have nothing to do with the manipulation behind the betting.
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The return of the gas team to Tokyo was welcomed by a large number of fans, and the first leg was 2:3, which is really a good score, and Tokyo FC is likely to become the third J-League team to reach the AFC Champions League final after Urawa Red Diamonds in 07 and Gamba Osaka in 08.
Moreover, Tokyo FC is more legendary than the previous two teams, and it is a dark horse team that does not take the lead, and Ringer is a well-deserved leader.
Ringer did not score away from home in Ulsan, his first time without scoring in the AFC Champions League knockout game, but he was still the highest rated, with an assist and an own goal, and he was the highest-rated player after the game.
Back in Tokyo, soon the J-League arrived.
There is only a week between the two legs of the AFC Champions League semi-finals, and Tokyo FC have a league game in between, but this time Bobovic does not want to give up this league, at least not completely.
FC Tokyo are currently top of the J-League standings, but are only one point ahead of second-placed Sanfrecce Hiroshima and four points behind their opponents on goal difference.
Originally, it was 5 points behind, but in the last round, Sanfrecce Hiroshima lost 1:2 to Kashiwa Suns, and Tokyo FC drew 1:1 with Osaka Sakura, chasing back a goal difference.
Tokyo FC has a good chance of winning the league, Bobovic naturally does not want to give up easily, and more importantly, in this game between the two rounds of the AFC Champions League, Tokyo FC plays Sapporo Consadole at home, a team with grave grass more than two meters high.
Consadole Sapporo was relegated seven games early this season, setting a record for the number of early relegation rounds in the J-League, and now that the league is not over, many media are waiting to see what more records Sapporo will set at the end of the season.
In the face of such a team that has long since died, although Bobovic can still only sit in the stands, he wants to win, and he also wants to earn more goal difference, recover the goal difference with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, and be able to have an advantage when it is necessary to compare goal difference in the end.
On October 27, in the 30th round of the J League, Tokyo FC hosted Hokkaido Sapporo Consadole, and Ringer and Chima Watanabe started together.
Such a team that has been relegated early is indeed very easy to play, and most of the players in the opposing team are probably thinking about the way out after the season, and few can play with peace of mind.
In the 17th minute, Ringer headed home from a cross from Kusato Tanabe for his 19th league goal of the season.
"Lin Jun's goal, his 19th league goal, he is close to Toshito Sato in the scorer list, Sato is currently 20 goals, but one round less."
In the 35th minute, Chima Watanabe scored a goal on a personal breakaway, and Tokyo FC led 2:0 at halftime.
At the beginning of the second half, Bobovic replaced Ringer and Chima Watanabe, although he wanted to chase the goal difference, but it was the second leg of the AFC Champions League semi-finals, and he couldn't afford to lose too much.
In the second half, Sapporo Consadole was even more demoralized, Zhang Xiuxian, Ishikawa Naohiro, Tokunaga Yuhei scored one after another, and finally Tokyo FC defeated Sapporo Consadole 5:0 at home, and brushed up to 5 goal difference in one game.
Soon, the results of the rivals' matches also came out, Sanfrecce Hiroshima was held to a 1-1 draw away from home against Gamba Osaka, who needed to be relegated, and FC Tokyo led Sanfrecce Hiroshima with 56 points with 59 points in the standings, and also surpassed the opponent by one goal difference in one fell swoop.
I have to say that the current Gamba Osaka is still clamoring, we not only want to succeed in relegation, but also win the Emperor's Cup and qualify for the AFC Champions League next season.
Gamba has a very clear idea, and he also passed all the way to the quarterfinals in the Emperor's Cup, and drew the same city opponent Osaka Sakura, which is quite powerful.
Toshito Sato failed to score in this round, and Ringer still trailed the opponent by one goal in the scorer charts.
With four rounds left in the league, Tokyo FC is temporarily three points ahead of Sanfrecce Hiroshima, with a goal difference of one more than the opponent, but the league championship is indeed unpredictable.
In the remaining four rounds, Tokyo FC's opponents are: Nagoya Whales away, Kobe Victory Boat at home, Gamba Osaka away, and Vegaltec Sendai at home.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima's opponents are: Consadole Sapporo at home, Urawa Red Diamonds at home, Sakura Osaka at home, and Vissel Kobe away.
As far as the opponents of the final four rounds are concerned, FC Tokyo is in a disadvantageous position. The four opponents, Nagoya Whales and Sendai Vegalta, are all tough opponents, they are all fighting for the third place in the league, Gamba Osaka and Vissel Kobe need to be relegated to get points, it can be said that all four teams will fight to the death with Tokyo FC, Tokyo FC is the last four rounds of a four-game losing streak is possible.
As for the opponents of Hiroshima Three Arrows, Sapporo Consadole has long been relegated, and Osaka Sakura has basically succeeded in relegation, these two opponents should be able to win easily, and even brush a few more goal difference on Sapporo Consadole.
Hiroshima Three Arrows is only Urawa Red Diamonds and Kobe Victory Ship are more difficult to play, so although they are 3 points behind Tokyo FC, the Japanese media are still more optimistic about Hiroshima Three Arrows, especially when Tokyo FC still has the AFC Champions League to play.
Judging from the current situation, it is very likely that Tokyo FC will reach the AFC Champions League final, and it is a high probability event that the league will lose points in preparation for the AFC Champions League final.