Chapter 1707 You are you, you are Zhou Zijing
When Hulay ran onto the training field in full view of everyone, he apologized to head coach Parotti with a smile on his face:
"Sorry, sorry, I'm late, I'm late... I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
The coaches looked at him, as did the youth team players training with him.
This is indeed a very strange thing.
This was the first time that Hu Lai had been late for training.
Although he is not the kind of player who often stays and takes the initiative to train, he is definitely very professional.
I am never late or absent from training, and I do everything the coach asks of me seriously.
So when Hu Lai was late for training, everyone found it incredible.
Even if he is only five minutes late...
"It's unbelievable..." Parotti shook his head in response to Hu Lai's apology, "Did you encounter a traffic jam?"
As the head coach, Parotti has already begun to find reasons for Hulay.
On the one hand, it is due to his "good guy" personality, and on the other hand, it is naturally because Hu Lai, as the team's number one star, has no bad record before, so the head coach is willing to give him a chance.
But unexpectedly Hu Lai shook his head: "There is no traffic jam, sir. I just started late because I was watching the game at home..."
"A game?" Parotti was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, "A game between you and the Japanese team?"
Hu Lai nodded.
"I see." Parotti asked him again, "Then the result of the game is..."
Hu Lai shook his head: "I don't know. I rushed to training before the game was over, but I didn't expect to be late..."
"You are only five minutes late." Parotti said, "But according to the rules of the team, you still have to contribute five hundred to the team fund. This is the rule, you know."
Hu Lai nodded.
According to the team rules, if anyone is late, he will be fined 100 euros for every minute he is late. The team has a special treasury, and all fines go into this treasury.
Then any activities the team has, such as team building, etc., will be spent through this money.
No matter what the reason is, even if you encounter a car accident on the road and act bravely to save others, you will still have to pay the fine.
Rules are rules.
Therefore, even a player like Hu Lai who has never been late before has to take the initiative to pay the fine to the team's coffers after being late.
"No problem, I accept the punishment."
Seeing Hu Lai's crispness, Parotti nodded with satisfaction: "Okay, now go warm up and try to keep up with the training rhythm."
Looking at the back of Hu Lai going to warm up, Parotti turned to assistant coach Enzo Naher and said: "Go and check online to find out what the result of this game is."
Nahel took out his mobile phone to inquire and quickly gave Parotti a reply:
"The game is not over yet, but it is almost over. The score is now 2:2 and the two sides are tied."
"Can the Chinese team without Hu still draw with the Japanese team that is fighting for the right to qualify?" Parotti was a little surprised. "The performance is pretty good."
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The stadium is buzzing with people, and if you listen carefully, you can hear majestic singing coming from the stands.
The fans of the Chinese team are singing that "old" song over and over again:
"Cut the devils on the heads with the big knife!"
"The stoppage time has reached the last two minutes, and the score is still 2:2. The Japanese team's desperate fight... was interrupted! The Chinese team's counterattack!"
The singing stopped abruptly and was replaced by deafening cheers.
"Zhou Zijing headed back... Guo Junfu caught the ball and took it forward, but no one came up..."
After Zhou Zijing headed the ball, he immediately rushed forward and took away the Japanese team's central defender. After Guo Junfu, who came on as a substitute for Zhang Qinghuan in the second half, got the ball, no Japanese player came up to guard him within ten meters in front of him.
Of course, behind him, Morikawa Junpei was desperately chasing after him.
But Guo Junfu didn't give him a chance to catch up with him. After seeing that the Japanese team players were restrained by Zhou Zijing, he took a long shot from outside the penalty area!
"Guo Junfu's long shot! Ouch! Nishiguchi Nobuo made a key save. He saved the football from the bottom line! The Chinese team won a corner kick!"
"In the last minute of injury time, the Chinese team got a corner kick. Don't be anxious at this time, take your time...Eh? Don't be anxious!"
Seeing Guo Junfu running towards the corner flag area to take a corner kick, He Feng and Yan Kang became anxious.
They felt that it was a very good result for the Chinese team to draw with the Japanese team under such circumstances.
On the contrary, the Japanese team will not be satisfied with this result, they will be anxious.
If they are anxious, why should we be anxious?
In the imagination of the two commentators, the entire Chinese team should now respond to the last minute of the game with a non-hurried attitude.
Try to delay the game and give the Japanese team a draw. As a result, the Japanese team's group ranking dropped from second to third, sending them to the play-offs!
However, none of the Chinese team players on the court seemed willing to delay the game. Except for Guo Junfu who was going to serve, everyone else also ran forward and rushed into the Japanese team's penalty area, actively trying to attack.
Logically speaking, the Chinese team's corner kick tactics at this time should focus on delaying time, arranging two players to take corner kicks, and only arranging one center in front of the goal. Everyone else, including the central defender, is in their own backfield and cannot go up.
Then after the corner kick is taken, he will wander around the opponent's corner flag area, with the receiving player protecting the football, forcing the opponent to foul, or continue to take corner kicks.
But what the Chinese team is showing now is that they treat this corner kick as a normal corner kick.
No one went up to cooperate with Guo Junfu to delay time.
Center back Wang Guangwei also rushed to the Japanese team's goal, trying to compete for the top spot.
This made the two commentators in the stands confused - a score of 2:2 was enough to push the Japanese team to a dead end, why was it necessary to press on?
If you want to defeat the Japanese team at home, you will also face the risk of being attacked by the Japanese team’s desperate counterattack. Instead, you will lose the game and give the Japanese team three points...
What a waste!
But the Chinese players on the court and on the sidelines didn't see it that way.
Chen Xingyi, who had been substituted, stood on the sidelines and shouted into the field: "Lao Wang, get up! Get to the front!"
In fact, Wang Guangwei had already gone up, but Chen Xingyi still couldn't help shouting. He was not shouting for Wang Guangwei, but for himself.
Once again they were faced with a situation where they could win but they could also lose, and if they did nothing they could draw.
But this time, most of them made different choices than last time.
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"Is the Chinese team crazy?"
Carlisle, the head coach of the Japanese team, opened his eyes wide when he saw this scene:
"Are they really not afraid of us fighting back?"
"Isn't this a good thing? We still have one last chance to fight back..." the assistant coach asked.
Carlisle stopped talking, which was indeed a good thing for the Japanese team. He was previously worried that the Chinese team was deliberately delaying time.
But looking at it now, the Chinese team did not choose to do that.
This Chinese team, which was thought to lose easily to the Japanese team before the game, seems to be unwilling to just draw with the Japanese team!
This is a good thing for the Japanese team, but Carlisle is always vaguely worried.
He is worried that the Chinese team will really use this corner kick opportunity to push the football into the Japanese team's goal...
But the situation no longer allowed Carlisle to do anything else.
The referee blew the whistle and Guo Junfu kicked the football towards the Japanese team's goal!
Wang Guangwei leaped high and headed the ball towards the goal!
Nobuo Nishiguchi was beyond his reach, but Junpei Morikawa, who was guarding the back post, jumped up and pushed the football out!
"Junpei Morikawa! Goal line rescue! The Japanese team escaped!" the Japanese commentator exclaimed again and again.
The football that was pushed out by Junpei Morikawa on the goal line did not fly out of the baseline, but flew into the penalty area.
Players from both sides are competing for football placement.
"There is still a chance to launch a counterattack..."
The Japanese commentator also shouted anxiously.
But before he finished speaking, he saw someone in the penalty area leaping high, jumping higher than anyone else!
He wears a red jersey and has the number nine on his back!
"Zhou Zi Jing!"
He jumped in the air, across the mountain, and hit the football on his head!
Then he rubbed the football towards the goal in a very awkward posture!
Nobuo Nishiguchi flew into the air and lifted it up with all his strength!
Then the ball jumped up and hit the top edge of the crossbar before bouncing out!
"Oops!! Crossbar!! Zhou Zijing missed the chance to beat the Japanese team! What a pity!!"
There were huge exclamations and sighs from the stands at the same time.
Zhou Zijing did not bother to put his head in his hands and regretted his header. After he landed, he pointed to the corner flag area to indicate that it was the Chinese team's corner kick.
The Chinese team still has one more chance to attack!
It's a pity that the Chinese team's corner kick failed to threaten the Japanese team's goal.
Guo Junfu's corner kick was headed away by Japan's center back Takehiro Nakaoka.
The Japanese team wanted to take advantage of the situation to launch a quick counterattack, and then Sugiyama Tatsuya was pulled to the ground by Gao Ruimin in the midfield.
Gao Ruimin received a yellow card, but the last hope of the Japanese team was shattered.
The referee then blew the whistle to end the game and did not even let the Japanese team take the free kick in the backcourt.
"The game is over!! The Chinese team, which lacked Hu Lai, performed very tenaciously at home, which is remarkable! In the end, it drew with the Japanese team 2:2! This result did not affect the Chinese team's qualifying results, but it made the Japanese team fall They have entered a very embarrassing situation - they are now down to third place in the group and are likely to go to the play-offs! This is the first time for Japanese football since the 1998 World Cup! "
He Feng's tone contained gloating that Zangdu couldn't hide.
Zhou Zijing missed his last chance, but no one cared.
Because their desired goal has been achieved.
That is to make the Japanese team third in the group.
You can do it if you win, and you can do it if you draw.
Now that the goal is achieved, what else is there to be dissatisfied with in this process?
Except Zhou Zijing himself.
After the game, when head coach Dillon came up to shake hands with Zhou Zijing, he was very depressed and said directly to Dillon in English: "Sorry, coach, I wasted another opportunity..."
Dillon rubbed his head vigorously and said in English: "That's not important, Zhou. Your performance is very good."
"But I still can't be like Hu Lai..."
"Oh no, no, no, no." Dillon shook his head repeatedly, "No, don't try to be like Hu. He is him and you are you. You are different types of players with different playing styles and different personalities. Why should you play with him? Hu the same? You are you, Zhou, you are our 'cannon'!"
When he said the last sentence, Dilong patted Zhou Zijing hard on the shoulder.
Zhou Zijing's mood improved slightly after receiving recognition and comfort from the head coach. He ran to the sidelines to find his father.
He was easy to find among the dense crowd in the stands.
When he waved to his father, he saw his father waving to him too.
Wave your hand and give a thumbs up.
Thumbs up from both hands.
Zhou Zijing finally grinned. (End of chapter)