On November 17, which is the 32nd match day of the J-League, Tokyo FC will host relegation team Vissel Kobe.

However, on the afternoon of the day before the game, the AFC announced the shortlist of candidates for this year's Asian Footballer of the Year.

The number of candidates for the Asian Footballer of the Year has varied over the years, from six in 2011 to 15 in 2010 and 30 before that.

However, the list is a preliminary list, after which a final three-person roster will be selected, and the selected three will attend the AFC's annual awards ceremony at the end of the year, where the final winners will be announced.

This year, in 2012, the shortlist was five, but to the delight of Chinese journalists, there were two Chinese on the list.

The five-man roster is: Iran's Karimi, South Korea's Lee Geun-ho, Australia's Neil, China's Ringer and Zheng Zhi.

In fact, before the list was announced, the mainstream view was that this year's Asian Footballer had long been out of suspense, Ringer relied on the AFC Champions League champion and the AFC Champions League Golden Boot honor, this year's Asian Footballer has long been him, but the appearance of two Chinese in the list is still very surprising.

Ringer's inclusion in the list is indisputable, but Zheng Zhi's inclusion is considered far-fetched.

The Japanese media think that this list is very problematic, and all the football powerhouses in Asia have been selected, but there are no Japanese, and the Japanese media have complained one after another.

The reason given by the AFC is that Japan's best performers are all in Europe and do not meet the criteria for the Asian Footballer of the Year. The reason for Zheng Zhi's shortlisting is that as the captain and main midfielder of the team, he led Evergrande to the top 16 of the AFC Champions League for the first time this season, and at the same time has a high probability of winning the double crown of the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup in China.

Then the best overseas player award was announced, and the three candidates were all Japanese players, Shinji Kagawa, Yuto Nagatomo and Keisuke Honda, and the three candidates for the Miss Asian Football award were also taken by the Japanese, which made the Japanese media stop the noise.

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The Asian Footballer of the Year award will not be awarded until the end of November, and Ringer will have to deal with the league first.

In the dressing room before the game, Bobovic was explaining the current situation: "Now we are only behind Hiroshima Three Arrows 4 goal difference, although we are facing a difficult role at home, Kobe Victory Ship wants to be relegated, will definitely do its best, but Hiroshima Three Arrows This round of opponents is not easy to play, they are going to challenge Urawa Red Diamonds away, Urawa home I believe everyone has an impression, now Urawa is ranked 4th, 4 points behind the 3rd Sendai, Urawa will also do his best to grab points with Hiroshima Three Arrows, So all we have to do is go all out to get the three points and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. ”

Vissel Kobe are currently five points clear of Gamba Osaka in the relegation zone, but with three rounds remaining, it is difficult to guarantee their safety, and FC Tokyo are ready for a tough battle at home.

Tokyo FC won the AFC Champions League, the most direct benefit is to stimulate the ball market, this game Tokyo stadium was full, and there were many slogans pulled by fans in the stands.

"Gas Team ~~~ Double Champion!"

"Lin Jun~~ Mr. Football!"

FC Tokyo fielded their strongest lineup, with Ringer and Chima Watanabe starting together to try to get three points at home.

However, at the beginning of the game, Ringer realized that the relegation team at the end of the season is the most difficult to play. As one of only three teams to concede 50 goals so far this season, Vissel Kobe defended quite tightly, and Tokyo FC's home advantage is temporarily helpless.

Tokyo FC's wild attack failed for more than 20 minutes, and then in the 28th minute, the opponent seized the opportunity to score a goal, and there was a sigh in the Tokyo stadium.

"Even though we knew the Gas' game was going to be difficult and we were down in the first half, it was a surprising result, given that they were the champions of the AFC Champions League." Former Japan international Toshishi Tsunami said.

"Maybe it's because they won the AFC Champions League, but the gas team is a little too relaxed."

At halftime, Bobovich's long-lost hair dryer was turned on again: "What the hell are you doing?" See what kind of shit you're kicking? Are you satisfied with an AFC Champions League title? It's not scary to be down by one goal, it's scary because I don't see any desire to win. ”

"Now Sanfrecce Hiroshima is trailing 0:2 away to Urawa, this is a good opportunity for us to chase points, if we can't win this game, then we will basically say goodbye to the league championship, and the opponent will not give us this good opportunity again."

Ringer felt that Bobovic was right, and the whole team was indeed a little slack after winning the championship, so he couldn't keep up his spirit in this game.

So at the start of the second half, Ringer led by example and intensified his pressing runs.

Sanfrecce Hiroshima are two goals down at home to Urawa and it's a difficult score to recover from, and the last time Tokyo FC trailed there by two goals, Ringer's desperate efforts were only barely enough to equalise.

In the 49th minute, less than five minutes into the second half, Ringer finally ran his chance.

Ringer dribbled the ball on the left flank, passed the ball to Chima Watanabe, and then slipped into the box along the baseline. Watanabe played Hasegawa in the middle of the ball and Hasegawa hoisted the ball to Ringer in the box.

"Lin Jun, enter the restricted area along the bottom line."

Ringer slipped into the penalty area along the bottom line, and in fact he could hit the goal at a very small angle, but in the face of the incoming ball, Ringer still raised his right foot to stop and immediately kicked the goal.

The angle was too small, and the ball only had one way into the goal, and Kobe Victory goalkeeper Kenta Toshige was standing on the route, but the ball came straight to his crotch, and he wanted to tie his leg but it was too late, and the ball had already passed through his crotch.

“Lin~~~goal~~~”

"The ball went in, Lin Jun's goal, he fired a low shot through the crotch from a very small angle to help the Gases equalize."

Ringer, who scored the goal, immediately rushed into the goal and went back to kick off with the ball, the equaliser was not enough, the best thing was to win the three points at home.

Ringer celebrated with his fists as he ran back with the ball, and the atmosphere at Tokyo Stadium, which had been sluggish after falling behind in the first half, was renewed.

At the same time, Ringer's goal also boosted the morale of the team, and Tokyo FC continued to strengthen the attack, and in the 71st minute, Chima Watanabe took the ball in the box and was brought down, and the referee awarded a penalty.

"Oh~~~"

"Lin Jun ~~~ Lin Jun ~~~"

There was another cheer in the stadium, and then a shout for Ringer.

Chima Watanabe complied with the will of the people and handed the ball to Ringer and asked him to take the penalty.

Ringer withstood the pressure and tricked the opposition goalkeeper into pushing the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.

“2:1~~~”

The Gases reversed the score, while Hayashi scored twice, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima still trailed Urawa 2-0 on the road. If this score is maintained until the end, the gas team will overtake Hiroshima Sanfrecce 3 points back to the top of the table, and at the same time, Lin Jun also tied Toshito Sato in the scorer list, both of them are now 21 goals, and both of them also have two penalties, but Lin Jun has fewer games, and Lin Jun occupies the first place in the scorer list for the first time. ”

The scoreline did last until the end, with Vissel Kobe currently leading the way to relegation, and despite being reversed, they played cautiously, wanting to pick up points but not conceding any more goals, and now every goal difference counts for them.

This round of matches is all over, Tokyo FC defeated Vissel Kobe 2-1 at home, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima lost 0-2 away to Urawa Red Diamonds. FC Tokyo tops the table with 62 points, while Sanfrecce Hiroshima is still 3 points behind FC Tokyo with 59 points, and FC Tokyo is only one goal behind their opponents on goal difference.

With the last two rounds of the league remaining, FC Tokyo only need to pick up the next four points to guarantee themselves the league title.

In the last two rounds, Tokyo FC's opponents are Gamba Osaka and Vega Tai Sendai, Gamba Osaka is still desperately relegated, and Vega Tai Sendai needs to keep its third place.

In this round, Sendai was forced to draw by Kashima Antlers after leading 3:1 away, which directly led to Urawa chasing back two points. At present, the third-placed Vega Tai Sendai is only two points ahead of the fourth-placed Urawa Red Diamonds, and the battle for the qualification of the AFC Champions League between the two teams has also entered the most intense stage.

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On November 23, the day before the start of the 33rd round of the league, the AFC announced the final three-person list of this year's Asian Footballer of the Year, with China's Ringer, South Korea's Lee Geun-ho, and Iran's Karimi.

This is also expected, and as long as there are no moths, Ringer will definitely win the award this year, and other national media have not paid much attention to it. However, many media in China have a pity that Zheng Zhi was not selected for the final list of three, and cannot reproduce the grand occasion of the two being selected for the top three in 2001.

Even so, Ringer's selection has still been widely reported in China, after all, this year's award is basically nine out of ten, and China is likely to have another person elected Asian Footballer of the Year after Fan Zhiyi.

Since 1984, when the Asian Footballer of the Year was selected, only three Chinese athletes have been selected for the top three, namely Gu Guangming who was selected in '84 and '85, Fan Zhiyi who was selected in '98 and '01, and Li Tie who was selected in '01.

In 01, two Chinese athletes were selected for the top three, and finally Fan Zhiyi won the Footballer of the Year, which is also the only time that a Chinese athlete has won the Asian Footballer of the Year so far.

Now Ringer is likely to be the second, and he has to brag about it.

However, the AFC awards ceremony will not be until November 30, and the match against Gamba will be the most important thing.