Chapter 1047 Drought will kill you, and waterlogging will kill you
Junpei Morikawa and his agent Takahiro Mitsui stood in front of a small British-style building.
"Is this here, Mr. Mitsui?" Morikawa Junpei asked, looking at the house in front of him.
Mitsui Takahiro took out his mobile phone, turned to the address he had recorded in advance, checked the house number, and then nodded: "Yes, this is it. This is the house Hu Lai rented in Leeds City."
Then he raised his head and looked at it: "Although there are much fewer rooms than the big villa you have in China, it is definitely more than enough for the two of you..."
After Hu Lai knew that Morikawa Junpei would transfer to Leeds City, he directly stated in the group that Morikawa Junpei would not look for a house or stay in a hotel when he came to Leeds, but would go directly to the house he rented in Leeds.
The two of them live together so they can take care of each other.
Of course, the main reason is to facilitate him to integrate Morikawa Junpei into the team and life in the UK.
Morikawa Junpei did not refuse Hu Lai's kindness.
So he and his agent, Mr. Mitsui, now appeared in front of this house.
"Open the door, Junpei."
Mitsui Takahiro reminded Morikawa Junpei who was standing still.
The latter put the suitcase aside and found the key from the backpack.
Even this key was specially given by Hu Lai to his agent Yong Jun to fly to Jincheng and hand-delivered to Morikawa Junpei.
For Morikawa Junpei, this was not just a key given to him, it represented Hu Lai's trust and expectations for him, and he naturally had to take it seriously.
So he bowed slightly and took the key from Yong Jun with both hands.
Opening the door and going in, the air in the room that had been closed for almost a month was a little turbid, making people want to hold their breath.
The uncomfortable feeling didn't disappear until they opened all the windows on the first floor and let in fresh air.
They did not go to the second floor, but stood on the first floor and looked at the place where Morikawa Junpei would spend who knows how long.
Very ordinary furnishings, very ordinary layout.
It’s not the various styles of mansions owned by Premier League stars that are often seen in the news.
One thing can be proved - this house doesn't even have a swimming pool in the backyard...it's just a small garden.
Hu Lai did not make any modifications to the house after renting it.
For Junpei Morikawa, who lived in the large villa in Jincheng, it was described as "shabby".
But Morikawa Junpei didn't care about this either.
Mitsui Takahiro was a little surprised: "Hu Lai's life is really ordinary..."
"Hulesan doesn't have high requirements for life." Morikawa Junpei said, "He is a very pure person who just wants to play good football."
Mitsui Takahiro smiled and said: "Looking at the size of this backyard, there is no way to build a football field."
Their eyes looked out through the window to the small garden lawn.
"Hulesan said that training in the Premier League is very intense. Even if there is a football field, we will not have the strength to play football again after returning from team training."
Mitsui Takahiro turned around and looked at other places, and then he found a wine cabinet with many bottles of wine in it. This discovery made his eyes light up: "I didn't expect Hu Lai to be a wine lover... eh."
When he walked up to it, he realized with embarrassment that the wine cabinet contained wine, but it was different from what he thought.
These "wines" are actually the "Best of the Match" trophies won by Hu Lai.
When Mitsui Takahiro was looking at these "trophies", Morikawa Junpei also joined in: "These are all won by Hulesan in the Premier League. He told us that when he has saved enough, he will send them back to China and send them to He keeps it at home.”
"Hu Lai...what a terrible person!" Mitsui Takahiro sighed with emotion. "I remember when you participated in the East Asian Cup for the first time. At that time, Hu Lai was just an unknown player among the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea. As a result... the identity of the number one player in Asia has now been changed from Park Suntae to him."< br>
"Mr. Mitsui. Someone who can think of building a football field in the backyard of his house and playing football after training should be so powerful." Junpei Morikawa said seriously.
Mitsui Takahiro laughed: "That's right. If you love football so much, success is inevitable. You are also lucky, Junpei, to meet him in your career."
Morikawa Junpei smiled slightly.
Mitsui Takahiro added: "Don't worry Junpei, although you did not participate in this Asian Cup. As long as you can play at your normal level in Leeds City, I think Director Motegi will definitely call you back to the national team. This transfer It’s very important for your career. Don’t think about anything and just play like you did in Flash Star. With Hu Lai by your side, I believe you will adapt to everything here quickly.”
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"Well, I will try my best, Mr. Mitsui."
After receiving the answer, Mitsui Takahiro turned his attention to the wine cabinet again and said half-jokingly: "How about we add a wine cabinet here, and then set a goal - strive to fill the cabinet with the 'best' champagne" ! ”
He was teasing, but unexpectedly Morikawa Junpei nodded: "Okay."
This surprised Mitsui Takahiro and glanced at Morikawa Junpei.
Junpei Morikawa didn't say anything, he just looked at the cabinet of "best of the match" in trance.
※※※
The Japanese team without Junpei Morikawa did not encounter any resistance in the first game of the Asian Cup. The powerful defending champion defeated Thailand, the second-tier team in the group, with a score of 3:0.
The head coach of this team, Hiroto Motegi, does have the confidence not to recruit Junpei Morikawa.
In fact, the Japanese media was only in the first two games after the World Cup. They were surprised and surprised that Junpei Morikawa was not selected for the national team. Then the topic quickly died down.
As for the fact that Junpei Morikawa didn't even participate in the Asian Cup...it's not even news in Japanese football.
There are too many talents in Japanese football. Now the Japanese national team's starting midfielders all come from the main players in the five major European leagues. Talents among his peers like Tatsuya Sugiyama can only play as a substitute in this national team.
As the champion of the last Asian Cup, the Japanese team has one and only one purpose in participating in the Asian Cup this time, and that is to defend the title.
In history, they have successfully defended the title once, that time in the 2004 Asian Cup in China. In the final, the Japanese team defeated the host China team with a controversial goal.
What they have to do now is to defend their title undisputedly.
And based on this, we will strive for an unprecedented three consecutive Asian Cup championships - no national team has been able to achieve this before.
In the 71-year history of the Asian Cup, a total of four national teams have successfully defended the title.
South Korea won the Asian Cup in 1956 and 1960.
Next is Iran, who won consecutive Asian Cups from 1968 to 1972.
Saudi Arabia "scored twice" in 1984 and 1988.
The youngest team to win two consecutive championships is the Japanese team, which won the championship twice in 2000 and 2004.
But no team has been able to win three consecutive Asian Cups.
The Japanese team now first wants to become the first team in the history of the Asian Cup to successfully defend the title twice.
Judging from this first game alone, they are indeed champions.
Therefore, it is no big deal that Junpei Morikawa is not in the Japanese national team.
※※※
The Asian Cup lost to Iraq 0:2 in the first game, which put the Chinese team under tremendous pressure.
Fortunately, in the second group match four days later, the Chinese team defeated Palestine, the weakest team in the group, 4:1 in what was considered a last-ditch battle.
Hu Lai scored twice in this game, finally venting all his frustrations about not scoring a goal in the previous game.
The remaining two goals were scored by Wang Guangwei with a header from a corner kick, and the other was scored by Luo Kai from a long shot.
This victory allowed the Chinese team to avoid the embarrassing result of being eliminated early.
Although they won the game, there was still a steady stream of criticism in the public opinion after the game.
Because the Chinese team lost the ball.
When facing Palestine, the weakest team in this group, they still conceded goals. Naturally, this performance cannot satisfy the Chinese fans who have high hopes for the national team.
To them, defeating Palestine was not worth mentioning. Because if the Chinese team can't even win against Palestine, it can be disbanded.
What makes them dissatisfied is that facing such a weak Palestine, the Chinese team's defense can lose the ball.
So when facing a more powerful opponent, with this kind of defensive performance, how can we ensure that our goal will not be beaten into a sieve?
If the attack fails to penetrate the opponent's defense like it did against Iraq, and our own goal allows the opponent to score, how can we still play the game?
Compared with the picturesque frontcourt, the level of China's midfield and backcourt is a bit...hard to describe.
This has also been a problem since the last top 12 competition, and even Shi Wuyin has not solved this problem.
After the World Cup, more than one Chinese fan lamented on the Internet: If the Chinese team's defense could be better, with our offensive firepower, would we be able to achieve a historic victory in the World Cup? Or even... can he still advance to the knockout rounds of the World Cup?
It seems that the defensive problem is still unresolved - in all the games played by the Chinese team so far, whether it is a major competition such as the World Cup or the Asian Cup, or a friendly match, there is no goal that has not been conceded.
The last time they kept a clean sheet in an official game was back in the second round of the playoffs on November 19, 2025, which will go down in history.
The Chinese team defeated Paraguay 2-0 at home and reached the World Cup finals for the first time in history.
Lin Zhiyuan saved the opponent's penalty kick during the game. The entire Chinese team's defense seemed to be hanging up, allowing the Paraguayans not to score a single goal in the 90 minutes.
Since then, the Chinese team's defense has never had such a highlight moment.
Goals are conceded in every game, at least one and at most four.
Nowadays, even against a weak team like Palestine, they can concede goals, which really makes Chinese fans a little upset.
The problem starts with the defensive midfield. In the midfield barrier, after Gao Ruimin was injured, the Chinese team could only rely on veteran Jiang Wanqing, who is about to turn 34 years old.
Although Jiang Wanqing performed very tenaciously in the World Cup, both his ability and physical condition have indeed declined too much compared to his peak period.
Precisely because of the inability to intercept in the midfield, there are frequent situations where the opponent's offense directly faces the back line. As a result, the pressure on the back line will be very high.
As for the position of defensive midfielder, whether it is the new generation or the Mesozoic generation, currently, it is not too reassuring.
How much Chinese football is short of players at this position may be evident from one thing:
Junpei Morikawa did not participate in the Asian Cup this time, which did not cause any disturbance in Japan. However, in China, some fans lamented: It would be great if Junpei Morikawa had not participated in the game on behalf of the Japanese national team. Chinese football can completely consider naturalization. he.
After all, Japanese football has a lot of talents in the midfield and they don't look down on Junpei Morikawa, but Chinese football does! Shining Stars successfully avoided relegation last season, and Junpei Morikawa made great contributions. He was also selected as the best foreign aid team of the Chinese Super League after the game.
Now they have gone a step further and gone to Leeds City.
He suddenly became a Premier League-level player.
Isn't such an excellent defensive midfielder exactly what Chinese football needs?
This post actually received support from many people on the Internet, which shows how desperate Chinese fans are about the strength of Chinese football in the position of defensive midfielder. Of course, most of the people who came to like and express support were fans of Anton Shining Star. Everyone has a good impression of this Japanese player who is diligent on the field and low-key and humble off the field. I am no longer as resistant as I was when I first heard that Flash Star Club was going to introduce a "little Japanese kid".
It is a pity that Junpei Morikawa has already played for the Japanese team. According to FIFA regulations, it is absolutely impossible to transfer to China and represent the Chinese team in the game.
Moreover, the Chinese Football Association's attitude towards naturalized players also makes this matter destined to be nothing more than fanboying on the Internet, and then drooling while watching Japanese football.
It’s simply like “drought leads to death from drought, waterlogging leads to death from waterlogging”...(End of Chapter)