Chapter 233 Knockout, here we come! (Chinese National Football Team)

"Jiang Yuan—come on!"

"Jiang Yuan, bang bang, awesome!"

"Jiang Yuan, bang bang, awesome!"

"..."

The Chinese national football fans at the scene applauded, and when the word "awesome" was said, they spread their arms, looking very powerful.

Today's audience is the same group of people as the last time we played against Syria U23. Everyone thought that since they were here, they must watch the whole game.

With the airfare fixed, it would definitely be more profitable to watch more games.

On the court, Iranian coach Queiroz looked a little unhappy. Before today's match, Qatar U23 defeated Syria U4 with a score of 2:23. As the host, Qatar U23 won all three group matches and scored 9 points, and has already qualified.

In this case, Iran U23 will compete with China U23 for the second place in Group A, which is the last qualifying spot in Group A.

Now China and Iran both have three points. Because of the advantage in goal difference, the Chinese U23 can qualify as long as they remain undefeated.

But now the score on the field is that China, which originally had the advantage, is still leading 2:0 today. How can Queiroz bear this?

"Press forward! Keep an eye on number 7!"

"Ali, Milad, your job is to keep an eye on number 7 and don't give him any chance to get the ball!
Queiroz gave tasks to the players on the field according to his own understanding.

The Chinese team's right wing is Zhang Yuning. Due to his poor form, Zhang Yuning has basically no dribbling ability, so as long as he locks the left wing where Jiang Yuan is, Iran's goal will be safe.

As for the middle, Liu Binbin looked for Jiang Yuan the first time he got the ball, and it was impossible for him to shoot on his own.

39th minute!

Xie Pengfei got the ball, and Iranian midfielder Karimi made a direct tackle and kicked the ball out from under Xie Pengfei's feet. After losing the ball, Xie Pengfei chased back to try to get the ball back, but failed to catch up with Karimi.

Karimi did not pass the ball, but dribbled forward along the middle by himself.

"Wow, Karimi is very fast. Let's see how the Chinese team will deal with this. Liao Lisheng and Xie Pengfei are both running to the back, but their positions are not advantageous."

"Karimi passes the ball to the left, Torabi gets the ball, goes down the bottom line... and passes it back in a triangle!"

"At the top of the arc, Najizadeh, just kick it!"

“Hey! Hey…”

"Nagizad's long-range shot penetrated Duja's defense and Iran scored a goal"

When Iran scored, He Wei's tone was obviously a little disappointed. Although it was the official commentary of CCTV, it was impossible to be objective when encountering a game like this involving the Chinese team.

And there is no need for him to be objective, as everyone knows He Wei's bias.

After the referee pointed to the center circle to confirm that the goal was valid, Najizadeh ran into the goal, picked up the ball with both hands, and then rushed to the midfield.

Before the game, Queiroz said that Iran can only win and not lose in this game!
"Pooh!"

Standing on the field and witnessing this scene with his own eyes, Jiang Yuan spat on the ground.

Damn it, if I had known I would have returned to defense!

"..."

“Beep, beep—!”

"At the end of the first half, China U23 temporarily leads Iran U1 by one goal. Next comes a 23-minute break. We can see that players from both teams have returned to the locker room one after another."

……

In the Iranian U23 dressing room, head coach Queiroz gave a summary of the first half of the game in front of all the players.

"Guys, I hope you can cheer up and don't be afraid of our opponents. Jiang is very strong, it's true, but you have to know that apart from Jiang, the other players on the Chinese team are of average level."

"Cheshmi, Milad, remember, don't let Jiang get the ball on our right side. It will be very dangerous."

Queiroz's face flushed red, and it was obvious that he was really anxious: "I should have said before the game that we can only win this game. If we lose, we will be eliminated!"

"Come! Come here!"

Queiroz grabbed the arms of Haidale and Daneshgal and motioned for the players to move to the middle.

"Please show the same spirit as when you scored the first goal. Premier League players have nothing to fear."

"Kill China!"

"Wow~!"

……

"At the start of the second half, neither team made any substitutions, but we could see Wei Shihao was warming up in front of the Chinese team's bench. I wonder when Coach Fu is going to bring this young player on."

"Look at the field. Xie Pengfei is walking forward with the ball in the middle. He wants to advance from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Najizadeh rushes up to grab the ball!"

"Hiss! That was close! Xie Pengfei turned around and protected the ball, then passed it to Liao Lisheng on the left. Liao Lisheng... passed it straight! Beautiful! Liao Lisheng's straight pass successfully found Jiang Yuan on the left!"

"The Iranian players realized something was wrong! Çeşmi was rushing back, and so was Haidal. Haidal was ready to defend Jiang Yuan on the wing."

"Jiang Yuan starts to cut inside and makes an arc pass with his right foot! The arc pass comes from the outside of Jiang Yuan's right foot."

"Liu Binbin! Jump up and head the ball!"

"The ball went in!!!"

“The ball is in!!!!”

"In the 52nd minute of the game, Liu Binbin scored a header and the Chinese team expanded the lead!"

"Well, although Liu Binbin's header was not very good, Jiang Yuan's outside foot pass was very deceptive. The two Iranian central defenders obviously did not expect Jiang Yuan to make a 2-degree cross from this position."

After Liu Binbin completed the shot with his head, he fell to the ground in the confrontation with Mohammodi. At the moment of falling, Liu Binbin was just about to roll on the ground twice to pretend to be injured, but in the blink of an eye he saw his header hit the Iranian goal.

What the hell!

Liu Binbin exclaimed and then jumped up from the ground.

He didn't go to the corner flagpole or the sidelines, but ran straight to Jiang Yuan. With a quick run-up and a jump, he flew over Jiang Yuan: "Awesome! Brother Yuan, you're really awesome!"

"..."

Jiang Yuan held Liu Binbin's butt with both hands. For some reason, Liu Binbin gave him a feeling of Zuma at this moment.

It’s just that Zuma is much heavier than Liu Binbin!
At this moment, in the Dongqiudi forum, the comment section exploded as Liu Binbin scored a header.

[This header was a bit crooked, but the Iranian goalkeeper was indeed a bit funny]

[It's in, it's in, Liu Binbin is awesome! Jiang Yuan is awesome! ]

[The outside of the foot cross is back! Damn, Mourinho has long said that he would move Jiang Yuan to the left. If Jiang Yuan played on the right, there would be no such wonderful cross.]

[The person above, go talk to Mourinho and ask him to push Hazard to the right]

[What the hell, another dimensionality reduction attack, this kind of pass should not appear in a league of this level]

[It’s great. The match schedule of Asian football and the excitement of European football are really a feast for the eyes for us Chinese football fans]

[To be honest, I am just playing for fun. If I am the third in the world, I am Jiang Qiuwang.]

[Don't you guys talk about this idiotic coach of Iran? He can't play for the U17 team at the age of 23. Isn't he just an idiot? ]

[Please understand, if you participate in a school sports meeting and Usain Bolt stands on the track next to you, will you be happy? ]

[Hahahahahahaha! What the AFC wants is ratings. Xiao Jiang + China U23 can at least bring 50% extra ratings to this game. Just ask the AFC and FIFA, who among them hopes that China will be eliminated?]

……

In the 61st minute of the game, Fu Bo replaced Zhang Yuning with Wei Shihao. The No. 27 Bengbu boy is currently the right winger on the field.

Fu Bo's substitution was very smart, because Wei Shihao's impact on the right can reduce Jiang Yuan's pressure.

In fact, Fu Bo really wanted to replace Jiang Yuan, but he didn't dare to do so.

There are still 30 minutes left in the game and the score of 3:1 is not stable. It would be terrible if Iran counterattacks China after Jiang Yuan leaves the court.

Queiroz wants to win, and Fu Bo wants to win even more!
In the middle, Liao Lisheng still had the ball. After getting the ball, Liao Lisheng was about to pass it to the left, but found that Jiang Yuan had been hugged by Haidale and Karimi.

There was no other way, so Liao Lisheng had to settle for the next best thing and used his instep to kick the ball to Wei Shihao who was at the front on the right.

Although Wei Shihao is young, he is not weak at all when performing actions on the court. Wei Shihao stopped the ball with his right foot, then pulled it back and forced his way to the bottom line despite the defense of the Iranian midfielder.

Sagebi was about to run in front of Wei Shihao to create some space, but was directly pushed away by Wei Shihao with his hand.

"Wei Shihao played very strongly! He went down the flank... and in front of him was Abdulrazad"

"Look at what Wei Shihao chooses. Hmm... he stops. Although our Wei Shihao is very courageous, his dribbling ability is not that strong. Stopping is a good choice at this time."

"Sagebi wanted to steal the ball, Wei Shihao passed the ball to the middle, Liu Binbin ran back and caught the ball in the middle"

"Left, Jiang Yuan is ready"

Wei Shihao was very smart. After Liu Binbin got the ball, he immediately ran into the penalty area and used his body to help Liu Binbin and Jiang Yuan attract defense.

Immediately afterwards, Liu Binbin observed and kicked a high ball to the left.

Jiang Yuan cut in from the left, raised his right leg and kicked the flying ball in the air.

"Snapped!"

The outside of his foot rubbed the lower middle part of the ball, and the ball went straight to the far corner of the goal from top to bottom.

!!!

Ahbari reacted quickly, but Jiang Yuan's shot was really unexpected. The Iranian goalkeeper fell to the ground to save the ball, but he was still a step too late.

ta!

The ball hit the grass in front of the goal, bounced and hit the inside side of the goal.

"Another goal! The Chinese team scored again! A volley from Jiang Yuan!" Zhan Jun almost shouted, he was really excited now!
"Ha ha"

Jiang Yuan ran off the field and, just like when he played against Syria before, he high-fived the fans outside the field to celebrate after his hat-trick.

On the bench, Fu Bo had already sat down on a chair. Zhang Yuning, who was standing behind him, stared at Jiang Yuan, who was celebrating with the fans in the distance: "Hiss - this is really scary..."

Fu Bo smiled and said, "Do you know why your brother Yuan can score so many goals?"

"What else can I expect? He's awesome."

Zhang Yuning pouted. From a player's perspective, he really couldn't see any shortcomings of Jiang Yuan.

"Silly, I asked you to analyze the reasons why he is so awesome, not whether he is awesome or not. Do I need to ask you this question?"

Fu Bo rolled his eyes at Zhang Yuning and said unhappily.

"Oh, sorry, sorry..."

Zhang Yuning blushed and waited for Fu Bo to explain to her.

Seeing that the Liaoning guy behind him had no intention of answering, Fu Bo began to explain: "Let's not talk about Jiang Yuan's sense of smell and shooting skills, those things are not something we can understand."

"Look, why was Jiang Yuan still able to run into open space even with two people closely marking him? It was mainly because of his positioning and his fast change of direction. Did you see that before the volley just now, Jiang Yuan ran into the penalty area from the side of Haidale? The Iranian players must have reacted, but they couldn't keep up after reacting. This is the key point."

Fu Bo's analysis made a lot of sense, and Zhang Yuning became excited after hearing it: "Coach Fu, should I work hard on my physical training? When I have that kind of speed, I can also run into open space!"

"Stop it!"

"Even if you run into an open space, can you score with that volley? His value is 2 more zeros than yours. Do you think those 0 zeros can be filled in casually? Keep your feet on the ground and don't do those unrealistic things."

Zhang Yuning: …

……

At the Khalifa Stadium, the Chinese fans were very enthusiastic, but the Iranian fans did not show weakness either. The two sides' fans stood on the left and right, just like two armies facing off. The scene was very shocking.

Even though they are 1:4 behind, Iranian fans are still hoping for victory. There is no other reason. Although China's offense is very strong, its defense is not strong.

They are waiting for an opportunity, until Jiang Yuan can no longer run. At that time, Iran's counterattack will begin!

In the 71st minute, Queiroz made a substitution, replacing the midfielder with the forward, and it seemed that he wanted to fight in the last 20 minutes.

Scoring 20 goals in 4 minutes is the only way for Iran to qualify. It seems unrealistic, but what Muslims worship most is miracles.

Just as Prophet Muhammad established the Arab Empire more than 1000 years ago, the people of Allah have a unique faith in their hearts.

But Queiroz didn't take one thing into consideration.

Most Chinese people do not believe in religion!

After leading 4:1, Fu Bo organized the players to slowly build up defense, and Iran's first goal of the second half came late in the 82nd minute.

There are still 8 minutes + extra time, and Iran still needs to score 3 goals.

For the Chinese team, the pressure was completely gone, so after Palewan scored the goal, Fu Bo replaced Jiang Yuan with Chang Feiya and began to consolidate the midfield defense.

"Clap clap clap!"

"Jiang Yuan is awesome! Awesome!"

"Grass, you are my God!"

"..."

Amid the cheers of the fans, Jiang Yuan jogged off the court.

When Jiang Yuan sat on the bench, he did not sleep today, but chatted with his teammates beside him.

"Brother Ning, you played well today!"

Jiang Yuan drank some water, and at the same time, he did not forget to praise Zhang Yuning next to him. Zhang Yuning blushed when he heard it, "It's better than yesterday, but I can't dribble past people. It's really uncomfortable. I wish I had half of your dribble-driving ability."

Liu Binbin, who was behind him, hit Zhang Yuning on the head and said, "If you have half of Yuan Ge's dribbling ability, you will definitely play in the top five leagues."

"Ha ha!"

Jiang Yuan put the water bottle at his feet and said to Zhang Yuning beside him: "You can be bolder, like our brother Hao"

Jiang Yuan was seen pointing at Wei Shihao on the field. During the corner kick confrontation, Wei Shihao and Mubayed stuck together and neither of them was willing to give in.

Zhang Yuning sighed: "I'm mainly afraid of losing the ball. In fact, it's also good to pass the ball in front. I'll pass it to Brother Bin after receiving it, and Brother Bin will give it to you. I don't need to pass past anyone..."

"Don't think like that"

Jiang Yuan interrupted Zhang Yuning and said, "Don't be afraid of losing the ball. Look at the top leagues. Those coaches are like trolls on the sidelines. As long as the players on the field make a mistake, they will scold them. But if the winger makes a mistake, will they scold him? They won't."

"You play as a winger, not a holding midfielder. If you don't break through, who will? Don't be afraid of losing the ball. If you are afraid of losing the ball, you might as well play as a defensive midfielder."

Zhang Yuning had a dull expression, as if he was thinking about something.

Jiang Yuan put a hand on Zhang Yuning's shoulder and said, "Brother Ning, be brave. At worst, we can just fight with the other team on the court. It's not like we can't beat them."

Liu Binbin laughed immediately upon seeing this: "Brother Yuan is right, Yuning, don't worry about it, there's nothing to be afraid of those foreigners."

……

“Beep, beep—!”

China's last attack ended with Liao Lisheng's free kick going wide, and Jasim blew the whistle to end the game.

In the end, China U23 defeated Iran U4 with a score of 2:23 and successfully advanced to the knockout stage of this U23 Asian Cup as the second seed of Group A.

After the game, the director's camera focused on Jiang Yuan's face for a full minute and a half.

"China! Bang Bang!"

"China! Bang Bang!"

The Dragons fans held up a banner at the top of the stands.

【Knockout round, here we come! 】

……

15 minutes after the game, the Chinese U23 team held a press conference in the press room of Khalifa Stadium as a response to the team's advancement to the knockout stage.

It was called a press conference for the entire team, but everyone knew that the main purpose of most reporters was to interview Jiang Yuan.

"Hello, this is a CCTV news reporter, congratulations to you, congratulations to the Chinese team!"

It was the same female reporter as before. Jiang Yuan estimated that as long as the Chinese U23 team had not been eliminated, this female reporter would probably stay in Qatar.

"Jiang Yuan!"

The female reporter's words woke Jiang Yuan up from his daze.

"Jiang Yuan, congratulations on your hat trick in this game. Do you have anything to say?"

amount……

"I can only say that I'm very excited. So far, I'm quite satisfied with my performance. I'm very happy that the team has advanced to the knockout stage. Well, that's it."

Jiang Yuan smiled. He was used to the rogue reporters in Britain and was not used to it in China.

Fortunately, there is no reporter from The Sun asking him whether he likes boys or girls.

"Well! Regarding the knockout stage, in the first round of the knockout stage, your opponent will be between Japan U23 and North Korea U23. Coach Fu Bo, what is your outlook for the team in the knockout stage..."

It can be seen that the female reporter had made preparations before the interview.

According to the rules set by the Asian Football Confederation, the runner-up of Group A will face the first of Group B in the first round of the knockout stage. The first place match of Group B will be held at this time tomorrow, between Japan U23 and Saudi Arabia U23. If Japan wins, they will become the opponent of the Chinese team.

Fu Bo looked embarrassed: "Whether it is North Korea U23 or Japan U23, they are both very strong opponents, but we will make sure to do our best, just like these two days"

"Well, I believe our Dragon Team fans will support you from behind."

After interviewing Fu Bo, the female reporter turned her attention back to Jiang Yuan: "The next round of the Chinese team's knockout match will start at 22:9 pm on the 25nd, but at 0: am Beijing time on the th, you have a game against Arsenal at your club. May I ask...will you participate in the first round of the knockout match?"

"Of course"

Jiang Yuan's tone was very firm: "Only the top three in the knockout rounds can qualify for the Olympics. If we don't play now, won't all our efforts be in vain?"

There will definitely be no problem in the quarter-finals, Jiang Yuanda can just go back to London after the game.

The problem is the semi-finals. If China successfully advances to the semi-finals, the time afterwards will be really tense.

According to AFC regulations, the semi-final will be played at 1:26 p.m. Beijing time on January 9, which is less than 48 hours between the match between Arsenal and Chelsea.

It will be really difficult then!
"Finally, Jiang Yuan, many of our fans left messages on the forum, saying that you scored 2 goals in 7 games and that you were hired by the U23 national football team as a coach. What do you think about this?"

what?
Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "I don't think I can be called a power player, after all, I am also within the scope of the call-up. Anyway, no matter what, I will pursue victory with my teammates and coaches."

Jiang Yuan hugged Fu Bo and Xie Pengfei. With a height of 1 meters, he was very outstanding in the U82 team.

……

Official Weibo of the Chinese National Olympic Men’s Football Team—Knockout round, here we come!
CCTV1：北京时间1月19日晚12点30分，U23亚洲杯小组赛A组第3轮的比赛在卡塔尔哈里发球场举行，我国男足U23与伊朗男足U23鏖战92分钟，最终，我国男足以4：2的比分取胜。央视记者报道，在记者发布会上，切尔西俱乐部球星江远明确表示他将参加淘汰赛首轮的比赛。

懂球帝——11脚打门、4个进球、25次传球成功23次（成功率92%）、5次过人（全场最高），赛后综合评分10.0
《(サッカーマガジンZONE)日本足球》杂志头条——帝国之龙！大日本U23男足2：1战胜沙特阿拉伯U23，小组赛三轮全胜，将在2天后对阵中国U23！

The front page headline of Tokyo Sports: 2000 million Euro winger superstar, 17-year-old European golden boy. Japan's U23 players attract unprecedented challenges!

The second headline on the front page of The Sun: Jiang is addicted to low-level competitions. Is the 17-year-old European golden boy facing his downfall?
Romano: Manchester United's 8000 million euro bid for Jiang was rejected by Chelsea club chairman Abramovich, and the club regarded the player as not for sale.

《泰晤士报》球迷调查——《泰晤士报》记者采访了伦敦当地共200名球迷，88%的切尔西球迷不希望中国U23战胜日本U23，而100%的阿森纳球迷希望中国U23赢下比赛晋级下一轮。

London Evening News front page second article - Chelsea's winter window newcomer Ibrahimovic arrived at the club at noon the next day and completed the medical examination. But because the player has not yet registered, the Swede cannot play in Chelsea's next game against Arsenal.

……

(End of this chapter)