Chapter 792 The opponent in the last level
"As the focus of this round of league, Manchester Athletic's home game against Leeds City did not disappoint us. The two teams held high the offensive banner and fought against each other in the game, scoring a total of six goals. And the game The process also had ups and downs... The home team took the lead three times during the game, but the visiting team Leeds City tenaciously equalized three times... The last goals of both teams were very exciting... Kabangka used him The signature high-speed running of the cow's tail knocked down Ben Grist, and the commentator Cox called it "cruel". Hu Lai's "perfect" goal before the end was fully reflected. As the current top scorer in the Premier League, he has a sense of smell and quick reactions in front of the goal... He unexpectedly lifted the football over Correa's head, turned around and got rid of the opponent at the same time, and successfully hit the empty goal...
"Excluding Leeds City's game against Woldhampton - when Hulay was not in the squad - Hulay has scored in four consecutive games in which he has played. In the past In October, he only made two appearances but scored three goals, and his goal in the first ten seconds against Widgerstown also created the highest score in the Premier League so far this season. Fast goal record... There is news that Hulay may win the Premier League Player of the Month in October. If he can really win the award, then he may be the player who has played the fewest games... but if he does not win, it will be. It's no big deal. With Hu Lai's condition, I believe it will be a matter of time before he wins the Premier League Player of the Month again...
"Hulay is no stranger to the honor of Premier League Player of the Month. He won the Premier League Player of the Month for the first time in August when he scored five goals in the four league rounds in August. This His performance helped him win the title of Best of the Month... Perhaps we Chinese fans have to start getting used to Hu Lai being the representative of Chinese football and constantly creating new history of Chinese football on the world's top football stage..."
After the match between Leeds City and Manchester Athletic, various Chinese domestic media reported the match in great detail.
In an era when short videos on the Internet are popular, his last goal, in which he picked out Correa and then turned around and shot into an empty net, was singled out and went viral on short video platforms.
Various self-media companies used his wonderful performance to gain a large number of fans on various platforms.
During the competition, Yan Kang was worried that self-media marketing accounts' pursuit of Hu Lai would turn into flattery, and wanted to cool down the current slightly fanatical atmosphere.
But now it seems that his idea is destined to be difficult to realize in a short period of time...
Considering that there are still two World Cup qualifying play-offs with Paraguay, Yan Kang is even more worried.
There are self-media marketing accounts that have begun to chase the hot spots of these two games, and the titles are more popular than the last:
"Paraguay, get ready for the wind!" 》
"Chinese football is only one step away from the World Cup!" 》
……
"How did Paraguay go from being a regular fixture in South American football's World Cup to being a failure?" 》
Look at this title, although Paraguay is indeed far inferior to its former glory days and has missed four consecutive World Cup finals. But this does not mean that people are "broken down"...
The reason why they failed to participate in the World Cup is because the South American preliminaries are notoriously "copies of hell."
There are many strong players in South America including Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Chile, Bolivia, Venezuela and other countries, but there are only four and a half participating places.
Brazil and Argentina have never missed the World Cup and are the leaders in South American football. This will first reduce the number of two places, and the remaining teams will compete for the remaining two and a half places.
Venezuela has a plateau advantage. Even if Brazil and Argentina play Venezuela away from home, it will be difficult to gain any benefits.
Teams such as Chile, Peru and Bolivia can also stir up trouble in South American football if one or two strong players emerge.
Not to mention traditional football powers like Uruguay and Colombia.
Which of these teams is easier to deal with?
If an Asian team came to South America to participate in the qualifying rounds, they might all be wiped out. Maybe the Japanese team would be slightly better, but it would only be limited. This can be seen from the results of Asian teams in previous World Cup finals. A spot.
Paraguay has not participated in four consecutive World Cups. It is not because their level is too poor - although there is indeed a reason for their own decline in strength - it is mainly because their opponents are too strong.
In this World Cup qualifier, Paraguay finally finished fifth in the South American qualifiers with strong opponents. Being qualified to compete with Asian teams for half of the spots shows that they are definitely not easy to mess with.
After all, Paraguay is ranked ahead of Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay, four established strong teams that have always performed stably.
But in the articles or videos of these self-media marketing accounts, Paraguay is just like a subpar team, as if the Chinese team will definitely be able to step on the opponent's corpse and stand on the World Cup stage...
It’s true that we have Hulay, who currently ranks first in the Premier League scorer list, but Paraguay also has players who play in Europe!
There are as many as twelve players in this Paraguay national team playing in European leagues at all levels. This alone makes the Chinese team really unqualified to stand up to Paraguay.
Two of these twelve players are representatives of Paraguayan football. One of them is Souza Espinola, the main forward of Blue and White Munich. He has played for this Bundesliga giant for five seasons, with a total of Scored 133 goals with a cool style and exquisite technique. His failure to participate in the World Cup has always been considered a big pity by many fans and media.
The other person is Paul Arce, the main center back of the Serie A giants Turin Bulls. He is not strong in stature, but has excellent defensive skills and first-class awareness. Otherwise, it would be impossible to become the third captain of the Turin Bulls in Serie A, which emphasizes defense. .
These two people are exactly the same as each other.
The Chinese team must withstand the Paraguayan attacking lineup led by Sosa Espinola when defending, and must rack their brains to break through the Paraguayan defense line led by Paul Arce when attacking.
This is definitely much more difficult than facing Uzbekistan in the Asian play-offs.
For this reason, Yan Kang wrote a long article on the Internet to analyze Paraguayan football. The purpose is to pour cold water on everyone and warn them to guard against arrogance and impetuosity. As spectators, we should not have any sense of expectation of "finishing all our efforts in one battle". We should see the progress of Chinese football from this qualifier. This is the most long-term benefit to Chinese football...
However, when he put what he wrote so painstakingly on the Internet, the most responses he received were:
Too long to watch.
After reading it, some people criticized Yan Kang for making a "capitulationist mistake" and surrendering before fighting. This is the "remnant of defeatism" accumulated by Chinese football over the years...
It was only in places where professional fans gathered that it resonated with many people. Because Yan Kang is indeed right.
These people's concerns are entirely warranted.
The World Cup has set off an unprecedented football craze in this country. Naturally, many people who did not pay attention to football before and did not understand football will come to watch the national team's games. They are full of enthusiasm for the Chinese team and have high hopes.
But they don't actually understand the rules of the football world, and naturally they don't understand the strength of Paraguay, the fifth-placed team in the South American qualifiers.
This kind of attention and enthusiasm is a good thing for Chinese football, but it also symbolizes huge pressure.
Among those who follow the trend to pay attention to the Chinese team's bid for the World Cup, some may turn around and curse Chinese football after the Chinese team fails to bid for the World Cup, just as they have done many times before.
They don't care how strong Paraguay is, or how difficult it is for the Chinese team to get to this point...
Anyway, they are happy when they win and scolded when they lose. This is the unbreakable "truth" in their hearts, and they have never made a mistake.
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"Wait a minute, Sugiyama."
When Sugiyama Tatsuya changed his clothes and was about to leave the locker room, he was stopped by someone.
He looked back at his tall and handsome teammate Sousa Espinola and asked in German: "Excuse me, what can I do, senior?"
Sosa was already accustomed to the special Japanese name of the young Japanese player, so he didn't care about what he called himself, but asked: "That's it...are you free tonight? I want you to have a meal."< br>
When Sugiyama Tatsuya heard this, although he was a little confused, he still nodded and said: "Of course, I'm free..."
A gentle smile appeared on Sosa's face: "If you don't mind, how about treating you to your country's cuisine?"
"Then thank you so much, senior." Sugiyama Tatsuya quickly bowed slightly.
"You're welcome, actually I need your help with something..." Sousa waved his hand quickly.
"Looking for my help?" Sugiyama Tatsuya showed a mixture of surprise and confusion on his face.
※※※
In a very typical Japanese restaurant, Sosa Espinola changed his position and sat on the tatami seat - this was the third sitting position he had changed in half an hour.
At first, he strictly followed Japanese dining etiquette and learned to sit upright and kneel like Tatsuya Sugiyama.
But it wasn't long before he felt a soreness and numbness from his legs to his heels.
Just looking at Tatsuya Sugiyama who looked as if nothing had happened, Sousa was too embarrassed to change his posture, as if he was afraid that doing so would give Tatsuya Sugiyama the illusion that he disliked their Japanese etiquette.
But after holding on for a few minutes, he couldn't help but adjust his sitting posture to sit cross-legged.
This time he persisted a little longer, and finally changed his position for the third time just now...
To be honest, Sosa now regrets that he should not have invited Sugiyama Tatsuya to eat this Japanese food with "authentic taste" as its biggest selling point. Even the sitting posture is so authentic...
While changing positions, Sosa revealed his purpose of inviting Tatsuya Sugiyama.
This purpose made Tatsuya Sugiyama's eyes widen: "Huh? Senior, you want to know about Hu Lai?"
Sosa nodded very solemnly: "Yes. Although I know that he is now the top scorer in the Premier League and I know that he just scored a beautiful goal against Manchester United... But I have never talked with him. Having fought against each other, all we know about him is limited to these data. That’s all. But you have met him in a game, so I want to know what your impression is of him as someone who has played against him... You also know, Sugiyama, we are going to compete with him in a few days. The Chinese team is competing for the last ticket to the World Cup.”
Sugiyama Tatsuya was still surprised: "I didn't expect you, senior, to attach so much importance to the Chinese team. Logically speaking, with your strength, as long as you don't underestimate the enemy, there should be no suspense about defeating the Chinese team, right?"
"This is theoretically true. But football is round and there are many unknowns. I'm worried that Hu is the biggest unpredictable..."
Seeing Sousa being so serious, Sugiyama Tatsuya also frowned and began to seriously think about the impression Hu Lai left on him.
Sosa didn't bother him when he saw this, and the small private room became quiet.
After a while, Sugiyama Tatsuya shook his head and said: "I don't know how to introduce him to you, senior. I just thought about it carefully and found that he has many different... sides. When I want to use one or two sentences It's completely impossible to describe him in words. You are right, senior, Hu Lai is indeed the most unpredictable. There is one thing that may be used as proof..."
Then Tatsuya Sugiyama told Sosa the whole process of the goal Hu Lai scored in the U23 Asian Cup final.
When he heard Tatsuya Sugiyama say that Hu Lai accidentally slipped to the ground when facing the Japanese Olympic goalkeeper alone, but still unexpectedly scored the football into the goal, Sosa's eyes widened: "Can it still be like this? ? God, I can’t imagine how he should do it..."
Sugiyama Tatsuya smiled and shook his head: "Before I saw that ball with my own eyes, I couldn't imagine that anyone could score a goal like this... So I can only say that Hu is an unpredictable person. You never know where he is. What is he thinking, and what he will do next? This is why defenders feel very tired when playing against him, because their attention must always be on him 100%, without any distraction... But how? Possible? ”
After listening to Sugiyama Tatsuya's words, Sosa frowned and fell into deep thought. (End of chapter)