Chapter 451 Shaping the Spirit from the Scratch
Facts have proved that Shi Wuyin’s reminder before the game was correct.
No team that can reach the knockout stage of the U23 Asian Cup is a soft persimmon that can be easily pinched.
The Palestinian national team is not a strong team in Asian football, but this does not mean that their Olympic team does not have two brushes.
After the game started, the Palestinian Olympic team focused on defensive counterattacks and defended very tenaciously.
The Chinese team did not break the deadlock until the 32nd minute when Chen Xingyi broke the deadlock in front of the Palestine penalty area with Li Chengwu, who started as substitute Guo Junfu. He broke into the Palestinian penalty area and scored a goal.
Although they lost the ball, Palestine did not give up their defensive counterattack tactics and pressed forward to attack the Chinese team.
They knew that they would die faster, so they continued to defend and counterattack, maybe there would be a chance to equalize the score.
After all, they only conceded one goal, which is not an insurmountable gap for them.
At the end of the first half, they tenaciously held on to a 0:1 score.
In the locker room during the halftime break, Shi Wuyin comforted his players and told them not to be anxious and not to be impatient just because they were only leading by one goal. After all, being able to lead by one goal was already a very good result.
Keep a calm mind, so as to avoid giving Palestine the opportunity to exploit loopholes.
In the second half, the Palestinian Olympic team continued to counterattack steadily, trying to make the Chinese players impatient.
But their strategy failed, because in the 59th minute, Hu Lai scored for the Chinese team.
After receiving a cross from Luo Kai in front of the goal, he headed the football into the goal with his head.
"Hulay! 2:0!! The Olympic team leads Palestine 2:0! This is Hulay's eighth goal in this U23 Asian Cup! He is far ahead in the scorer list and can be said to have won this U23 There is almost no suspense about being the top scorer in the Asian Cup!" He Feng said excitedly.
Currently, there are five people ranking second on the U23 Asian Cup scorer list, namely Park Guixian of the Korean Olympic team, Huang Wenhui of the Vietnamese Olympic team, and midfielder Ibrahim Ma of the Iranian Olympic team. Harvey, as well as Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai of the Chinese team, all five of them scored two goals.
But there is a huge gap between them and Hu Lai. Unless some of them can score five goals in a game, it may be difficult to pose a threat to Hu Lai.
Hu Lai's goal not only made him the top scorer, but also gave many Chinese fans reassurance.
The Chinese team, which leads by two goals, has a greatly increased probability of winning the game.
Reaching the semi-finals means that the Chinese team is only one step away from qualifying for the Olympics.
The long-cherished wish of Chinese fans for many years is finally coming true!
Huge cheers erupted from the stands of the People's Stadium in Jingyang, which welcomed the Olympic team for the first time. The fans in Jingyang used this method to express their enthusiasm and love for the Olympic team, not losing to Dashun at all. fan.
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When the first goal was conceded, the players of the Palestinian Olympic team remained calm. After all, they were only one goal behind and still had room for a comeback.
But after they conceded the second goal, many Palestinian players became overwhelmed.
Next, should we continue to defend and counterattack, or should we press out and attack?
They were confused.
When the game restarted, the chaotic Palestinian Olympic team was divided. Some players wanted to attack and get a goal back as soon as possible. There was still hope. Some players want to stabilize their defense first. After all, the Chinese team has just scored a goal and their morale has been greatly improved. They will definitely continue to attack fiercely. What if we attack the defense but lose the ball again?
The two sides are not unified in their thinking, which is reflected in the fact that they cannot attack or defend back during the game.
This chaos just gave the Chinese team a chance. They scored another goal eight minutes after Hu Lai's goal.
Wang Guangwei took advantage of the corner kick and scored with a header, scoring his first goal for the Olympic team.
The whole audience burst into cheers.
With more than 20 minutes left in the game, the Chinese team was leading by three goals, with high morale and the advantage of home court. It was basically impossible for the Palestinian players to make a comeback.
Every Chinese fan, whether at the scene or watching TV at home, can start celebrating without any worries.
Shi Wuyin also began to make substitution adjustments, allowing more substitute players to come on the field to exercise and find their match status.
In the end, the Chinese team defeated the Palestinian Olympic team with a score of 3:0 at the People's Stadium in Jingyang and reached the semi-finals of the U23 Asian Cup.
Qualifying for the Madrid Olympics is just one game, or at most two, away.
Chinese fans and media have begun to look forward to the scene when the Chinese Olympic team appears in the Olympic Games.
Although this is not the first time that the Chinese team has participated in the Olympics, it is the most anticipated one.
After all, this Olympic team is far stronger than any previous Olympic team. In four games in the U23 Asian Cup, the Olympic team scored 14 goals and only conceded one. This performance is the best among all participating teams.
If such a talented National Olympic team goes to the Olympics, what surprises can it bring to everyone?
At the very least, it shouldn't be an embarrassing record of "no win in a game, no goal scored", right?
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One day later, the other two quarter-finals were played and the semi-finals were announced.
In the end, Japan, China, South Korea and Vietnam became the semi-finalists of this U23 Asian Cup, and three Olympic qualification quotas will also be created among them.
Marked by Qatar's 1:7 defeat to the Chinese team, all West Asian teams were wiped out. So in the end, people still have no way of knowing whether the AFC is really going to send Qatar to win the U23 Asian Cup championship as rumored on the Internet...
But one thing is certain, that is Alireza Farhani, the Iranian referee who was supposed to be trained by the AFC, finally failed this time.
After the match between China and Qatar, Farhani never appeared in the U23 Asian Cup again. Later, some media saw Farhani dragging his suitcase and preparing to leave the country at the airport. It was obvious that he had been banned from officiating the next U23 Asian Cup game.
It seems that this time the AFC has fully felt the anger of the Chinese Football Association. After all, the promising generation of Chinese football was almost killed by a black whistle.
There are rumors on the Internet that the Chinese Football Association is putting pressure on the AFC. They have no evidence to prove that Farhani received black money, but they just believe that the penalty made by Farhani in that game was a black whistle, not that the penalty standards were not uniform. So simple.
The nature of this conviction is different.
In the face of the furious Chinese Football Association, the AFC had to make great concessions this time and put the "silver medal" referees they once wanted to create into the shadows.
After the Chinese media found Farhani at the airport, some reporters tried to interview him and asked him bluntly whether he had received any money from Qatar.
After hearing this question, Farhani's face became ugly.
He refused to answer the question and wanted to leave, but was discovered by more passengers and was surrounded.
There were also excited Chinese fans at the scene who tried to attack the black whistler. If the airport security had not arrived in time, the Iranian referee might not have been able to return home intact.
This matter is not a big news. The Iranian Football Association is very dissatisfied with this. China naturally arrested a few fans who participated in the riot, but it did not cause too serious personal harm to Farhani. , it’s more of a mental shock, which is hard to quantify. So in the end, most of them were given verbal warnings. Only one person actually beat Farhani and was sentenced to five days of administrative detention.
But the detained fan became a hero in the eyes of fans across the country. Not only did he open a Weibo account with real-name authentication, he also had a short video account and became an internet celebrity.
It is said that the Chinese Olympic team also gave him a jersey signed by all the players, but there is no evidence, it is just a legend.
Of course, everyone is very happy to regard this matter as true and circulate it on the Internet as a beautiful saying that "the Olympic team has not let down the fans, and the fans will also live up to the Olympic team."
Regardless of whether it is true or not, at least this has brought closer the relationship between Chinese football and fans, allowing both parties to establish a stronger bond.
After all, they are all Chinese fans. Who doesn’t want their country’s football to be good?
And when one's own country's football is truly worthy of the fans' efforts, how can fans be stingy in expressing their love?
In this way, a virtuous cycle was formed, and China's football culture was gradually established.
After all, no culture can be built on attack, abuse, and failure.
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The semi-finals of the U23 Asian Cup are China versus Vietnam and Japan versus South Korea.
As long as the Chinese team can defeat Vietnam, they can ensure their qualification for the Olympics. Otherwise they will have to face Japan or South Korea in the third or fourth place finals.
In comparison, Vietnam is obviously better.
But Vietnam has different opinions.
Vietnamese football, which has also vigorously developed youth training, has made great progress in football level in the past five or six years.
Now they need to find a milestone achievement for the reform and development of national football.
There is nothing better than competing in the Olympics.
If the Vietnamese Olympic team can participate in the Olympic Games for the first time in history, it will be a great positive stimulus for the country's football. Driven by the Olympic craze, Vietnamese football will develop by leaps and bounds.
If this continues, the World Cup will no longer be a distant pipe dream!
Therefore, for Vietnamese football, they are determined to qualify for the Olympics this time.
Before the game, Vietnam’s number one star Huang Wenhui directly challenged the Chinese team in an interview: “…We know that the Chinese team is the host, but we are not afraid of them because there are 90 million Vietnamese people behind us. Support! Each of us is preparing for this semi-final with the determination to win. No matter how strong the opponent is, we are confident of winning! ”
As the top forward of the Vietnamese team, Huang Wenhui scored all the goals of the Vietnamese team in this U23 Asian Cup.
He himself is also a beneficiary of Vietnam's football reform and is a leader in Vietnam's football youth training. Now he is playing in the Japanese J2 League. He is only 23 years old, but he is already considered the future core of the Vietnam national team.
Huang Wenhui's remarks aroused resentment and dissatisfaction among many Chinese fans, who believed that their opponents were overestimating their capabilities and were arrogant.
But Hu Lai didn't see it that way. When being interviewed by reporters, he was asked what he thought of Huang Wenhui's words. Hu Lai said: "It's normal. Don't any players participating in the game want to win? I don't say for sure. To win, do we have to lose? Vietnam wants to win, and we also want to win. They think victory belongs to them, and I think victory will definitely belong to us. In the end, we will compete in the game to see who wins. To whom.”
Some reporters are concerned about whether the Chinese team players will experience psychological fluctuations at this historical moment.
"Nervous?" Hu Lai thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I don't think everyone is nervous, nor do I think there are any other emotional ups and downs. For us, this is an ordinary U23 Asian Cup semi-final."
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When many reporters heard Hu Lai say this, they thought Hu Lai was talking about the situation. After all, he couldn't publicly admit that the team was nervous, right?
But Hu Lai really didn't lie.
There is really no tension within the Olympic team.
After experiencing the game against Qatar, many Olympic team players had a sense of calmness and calmness that "I have never seen any big winds and waves." They could only underestimate the enemy but not be nervous.
This is actually experience.
When a team accumulates enough experience, they will naturally change dramatically.
In the past, the Chinese team players had poor psychological quality. When they encountered some difficulties and setbacks, or when the development of the game did not match their expectations, they panicked and did not know how to play.
And many players on the current Olympic team will greatly improve their mental endurance after such experience.
In the long run, they will definitely be different from their predecessors.
The so-called fine traditions are accumulated bit by bit and gradually formed.
Did the "women's volleyball spirit" exist from the beginning? It was not only through winning one victory after another that established confidence, but also by sinking and rising in difficulties, which gave the women's volleyball team an extremely strong heart, and it was finally formed.
The same is true for football. Without the glorious victories of the past, and without the pride of falling into hell and fighting back, the inheritance of a group or a project would not exist.
Now, there are some good changes happening.
The Vietnamese need an Olympic qualification to firm up the pace of their football reform. Doesn't Chinese football need such a milestone?
Chinese football had no spirit before, so let’s start from their generation to shape this spirit. (End of chapter)