Chapter 234: Passing and controlling the ball to break the single core? (Chinese National Football Team)
Because of the tight schedule, Fu Bo did not give the players a holiday after defeating Iran. They started training at the training ground the day after the game.

However, although there was no holiday, Jiang Yuan was not seen on the training ground today.

On the 9th floor of Doha ORYX Garden Hotel, Jiang Yuan paced anxiously in front of the bed.

"Jiang, I hope you can come back now. You know, our next opponent is Arsenal."

Mourinho's voice was on the phone. Jiang Yuan looked a little bad after hearing it: "Jose, we agreed that if I score more than 1 goals in the league, I can participate in the national team competition in January. I have completed my task, so you should fulfill your promise. We had already agreed on it at that time."

Mourinho obviously wanted Jiang Yuan to go back now, because they would have a key match against Arsenal in 4 days, and this match would determine Chelsea's recent league ranking.

Center forward Diego Costa completed the transfer procedures to Atletico Madrid a week ago. The team's winger Falcao has a hamstring injury. Now the only wingers in Chelsea who can play in major competitions are Hazard and Jiang Yuan.

Kennedy? Mourinho would not let the substitutes play in a game of this level.

"Huh... Jiang, I remember I told you at the time that you should participate in the club's games as much as possible, especially the key games. If we were playing against other teams, I wouldn't say anything, but our next opponent is Arsenal."

"I know it's not right for me to let you come back now, but I need you to understand that Chelsea needs you very much right now."

shit!

Jiang Yuan sat down on the bed: "Jose, the purpose of my playing this game is to allow our country's football team to participate in the Olympics. If I leave in the middle of the game, then the previous games will be in vain, right? Jose, we have a promise between us, and you need to stick to your promise. Of course, if I lose tomorrow, I will immediately take a plane back to London."

"What if you win?"

Mourinho asked the key question at once.

Jiang Yuan was determined: "The two games are 45 hours apart, and the flight time is 6 hours and 45 minutes."

Jiang Yuan's meaning was very clear when he said this, he wanted to participate in both the national team and club competitions.

"No no no!"

Mourinho refused again and again: "This will harm your body. You are still young and there is no need to make such a sacrifice. Anyway, I will not agree to you playing two games anyway. You have a high talent, but you can't use it like that."

Instead of letting Jiang Yuan play two games, Mourinho would rather just lose to Arsenal directly.

What Chelsea lost was game points, and what Jiang Yuan lost was his future.

"Then let's talk about it tomorrow."

Jiang Yuan said briefly and was about to hang up when Mourinho stopped him.

"Will you give your all in tomorrow's game?"

"Of course, I want to go to the Olympics"

"..."

That night, Fu Bo knocked on Jiang Yuan's door: "Jiang Yuan, can I come in?"

"Coach Fu? Please come in!"

Jiang Yuan, who was lying on the bed watching the game and returning to defense, immediately recognized Fu Bo's voice. Jiang Yuan didn't have the habit of locking the door before going to bed, so the door was open.

"Still watching the game tape? Any thoughts?"

Fu Bo was slightly surprised when he saw the match between Japan U23 and Saudi Arabia U23 being broadcast on the TV in Jiang Yuan's room.

Jiang Yuan picked up the remote control, turned the TV volume down to the lowest, and then threw the remote control on the bedside table: "This Japanese youth team is not easy to deal with. I'm afraid the situation is not good when we meet Japan now."

"Can I sit here?"

Fu Bo pointed to the sofa next to Jiang Yuan's bed and sat down after getting Jiang Yuan's permission: "Let's not talk about this for now. You received a call from the club this afternoon. How was the conversation?"

Hearing this, Jiang Yuan showed a bitter look on his face: "The club wanted me to go back, but I refused. Now that I'm here, what will the foreign media say if I go back now? Am I afraid of Japan?"

"Huh... I've discovered that the more top athletes are, the stronger their ability to handle pressure is. If Yuning were in this situation, he would probably leave."

“I don’t think so.”

Jiang Yuan shrugged: "You underestimate that guy. He looks honest, but I feel that he is holding back a lot of anger. If this happens, no one in the team will leave."

"I'm not the only one playing in Europe. They also have games in their clubs. They all stay, so why should I leave? Anyway, it's the right choice for me to stay. Coach Fu, don't worry about me. Mourinho and I have an agreement. I have the support of the club to play for the national team."

Jiang Yuan's voice became softer and softer as he spoke. Mourinho did support him at the beginning, but who could have thought that Falcao would get injured during the winter transfer window, who could have thought that the club's match with Arsenal would collide with the Chinese U23 match, and who could have thought that Costa would be forced to leave by Mourinho?

Objectively speaking, Jiang Yuan is now in a dilemma. It is true that Mourinho has difficulties, but he also has difficulties as a player.

Fu Bo took a deep breath and said slowly: "It's okay, we will play well in the next game against Japan, and we will talk about the rest later. If we beat Japan, we can enter the semi-finals. Even if you don't play in the semi-finals and we lose in the end, there will still be a third place match. As long as we win the third place match, we can rush into the Olympics!"

That is true, but Jiang Yuan knows in his heart that all 24 people in the team, no matter who they are, hope to win.

If you can make it to the finals, who would be willing to pin the team's fate on a third-place match?

……

北京时间1月22日下午6点半，距离正式比赛开始还有3个小时整，国足U23的大巴车缓缓驶入哈里发球场。

Since it is still a knockout match, there are obviously more fans outside the stadium today.

Moreover, in addition to fans from China and Japan, Jiang Yuan also saw reporters from the UK.

"Jiang, will you attend the match between Chelsea and Arsenal?"

"Jiang, if you win the game today, will you still go to London?"

Answering these questions directly would put himself in an awkward situation, so Jiang Yuan simply pretended not to hear them and waved to the fans.

……

"China Media Group, China Media Group, we are broadcasting live the 2016 U23 Asian Cup quarter-finals between China U23 and Japan U23. I am commentator Zhan Jun, and I am commentator Dong Lu."

"It's still a familiar stadium. The same stadium is used for the knockout and group stages, but there will be live commentary for the knockout stages, and more on-site security."

"We can see that the stands on both sides of the stadium are already full of fans of the two teams. Those wearing red clothes are fans of the Chinese team, and those wearing blue clothes are fans of the Japanese team."

"Okay, the players from both teams are ready on the field, and the referee is already looking at his watch!"

"The game begins! Now let me introduce the starting lineups of both teams, starting with our Chinese U23!"

China U23 (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Zhang Yinuo

Defenders: Wang Tong, Mi Haolun, Shi Ke, Yang Kuo

Midfielders: Xie Pengfei, Chang Feiya, Liao Lisheng
Forwards: Jiang Yuan, Liu Binbin, Wei Shihao
"Then it's the Japanese U23 team wearing blue jerseys and white shorts!"

Japan U23 (4-5-1)

Goalkeeper: Masatoshi Kushibiki

Defenders: Roshi Kamekawa, Shige Muroya, Naomichi Ueda, Takuya Iwanami

Midfielders: Harakawa Tsuyoshi, Yajima Shinya, Nakajima Shoya, Kubo Yuya, Endo Wataru
Forward: Takuma Asano

The game has already started. On the field, Japan U23 coach Moriyasu Kazuo and China U23 coach Fu Bo are standing on both sides. Both of them are wearing suits and look very serious.

At this time, Moriyasu was holding a sticky note and taking notes seriously. Several Japanese fans in the stands leaned their heads out to see what Moriyasu wrote, but saw nothing.

Zhan Jun and Dong Lu began to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the Chinese U23 and Japanese U23. Generally speaking, the Japanese U23 is better than the Chinese U23 in passing, ball protection, counterattack, etc. But the Chinese U23 also has advantages, their total value is high!

Snapped!
Shinya Yajima made a low pass and found Takuma Asano in the front, who quickly ran forward after receiving the ball.

"Fuck! Go back!"

Liao Lisheng cursed loudly and signaled Mi Haolun and Shi Ke in the backcourt to be careful not to give Asano Takuma the chance to shoot.

Mi Haolun reacted quickly, standing with one foot in front and one behind, retreating and defending at the same time.

Realizing that he had no chance to shoot, Takuma Asano passed the ball to the left, and Endo Wataru ran to the position to get the ball. Although he is a right-footed player, his inverse foot ability is not bad.

"Snapped!"

Endo Wataru made a cross with his left foot, the ball drew an arc, passed behind Mi Haolun, and rolled to the feet of Asano Takuma, whose shot was saved by Zhang Yinuo.

"Beautiful! A very good save, Zhang Yinuo hit the ball out, and the Japanese team got a corner kick, which was the first corner kick of the game"

"The corner kick is given to Endo Wataru. The players from both teams are concentrated in the Chinese team's penalty area. Just like what Coach He said before, the Japanese team is not a team that likes to play high-altitude ball tactics. Compared with high-altitude attacks, the main theme of the Japanese team's offense is still ground balls. This has something to do with the height of the players, because we all know that Japanese players are generally not tall."

"So the Chinese team needs to pay special attention to the perimeter. Endo Wataru is likely to pass an inverted triangle...

Snapped!
Endo Wataru took a corner kick, but it was not passed to Kubo Yuya at the top of the arc as everyone thought, but was sent directly to the middle.

This was a half-high ball. Takuma Asano rushed out from the right side of Mi Haolun, stretched out his thigh, and then used his knee to head the ball.

“GOOOOO—AAAAAAAAA—LLLLLLLLLL!!!”

"Takuma Asano!"

The position where he tried to score was too close to the goal line, and Zhang Yinuo had no time to react at all.

"Well... in the 15th minute of the game, Japan U23 scored the first goal thanks to Takuma Asano's shot in front of the goal."

"To be honest, this ball is a bit of a pity. As a central defender, Mi Haolun should have blocked Asano Takuma's position just now. It must be a pity for the Chinese U23 players to be ahead of Japan..."

Zhan Jun's tone was a little gloomy, and of course so were the fans at the scene.

"Go China!"

"China! Come on! Come on!"

"Don't be scared, don't be scared!"

"..."

Fu Bo is under a lot of pressure now. While Japan is celebrating, he quickly directs the players on the field to adjust their status.

"come on! Come on!"

Jiang Yuan, Liu Binbin and Liao Lisheng high-fived each other and encouraged each other.

If we talk about being able to withstand pressure, it has to be the national team. Jiang Yuan was not as nervous as he is now when he came on as a substitute for Porto against Bayern.

Japan+ fell behind 0:1 at the start, and the BUFF was fully stacked!

Liu Binbin passed the ball to Xie Pengfei behind him, and Jiang Yuan shook his feet.

Damn it, we have to increase our strength on the opponent.

"..."

"Liu Binbin! Liu Binbin, walk back and come over to support. Great! Liu Binbin and Chang Feiya played a one-two combination in the middle, helping Chang Feiya break through the Japanese team's pressing."

"Chang Feiya passed the ball to the right, Wei Shihao took the ball and rushed directly to the baseline!"

"Let's see if Wei Shihao has any performance. He started today because he replaced Zhang Yuning. Wei Shihao cuts inside!"

"Inverted triangle pass!"

"Liu Binbin! Liu Binbin, just kick me!"

"Ouch, Liu Binbin's shot was a little off... Wait, Kamekawa Ryoshi didn't clear the ball, and Jiang Yuan got it."

"Lift your legs and hit... Ugh! Jiang Yuan was knocked down by Kamekawa Ryoshi in the penalty area. Let's see what the referee says?"

"Penalty! It's a penalty!"

"Oh my God, in the 28th minute of the game, China U1, who were one goal behind, got a penalty kick!"

Seeing the referee pointing to the penalty spot, Endo Wataru and Kamekawa Ryoshi immediately ran towards the referee and tried to explain to him.

"Sir, I didn't touch him, I really didn't touch him!"

Ryoshi Kamekawa clasped his hands together and prayed continuously. It was obvious that he was really scared.

At this moment, Wei Shihao rushed over and pushed Kamekawa Ryoshi away with one hand: "Fuck you! If this isn't a penalty, what is it?"

Endo Hang then pushed Wei Shihao. Wei Shihao got hot-headed and rushed over to butt Endo Hang with his head, as if he was going to fight with him.

Because of his height, Endo Hang needs to raise his head when looking at Wei Shihao, who also has a bad temper. The two of them butt heads with each other, neither of them willing to give in.

"Beep!"

In order to stop the chaos, the referee gave Wei Shihao and Endo Kou a yellow card each.

Then it was penalty kick time for the Chinese team, and standing on the penalty spot was Jiang Yuan!

"come on! Come on!"

"Come on Jiang Yuan! Awesome! Jiang Yuan is awesome!"

"..."

The fans' cheers and shouts could be heard from the stadium. Jiang Yuan walked to the penalty spot with the ball in his arms. He held the ball with both hands and gently turned it twice, then placed the ball on the penalty spot and began to retreat.

call……

In the camera, Jiang Yuan stared at the Japanese goalkeeper with his eyes, which made Chibi Masatoshi feel pressured.

"Beep!"

"The referee blew the whistle, Jiang Yuan took a run-up... and shot! The ball went in!"

"The Chinese team tied the score!"

When Zhan Jun saw Jiang Yuan score a goal, he almost shouted. There was no other way. You need this kind of passion to play against Japan.

"Brother Yuan is awesome!"

Liu Binbin wanted to hug Jiang Yuan, but Jiang Yuan ran straight to the goal, bypassed the goalkeeper and took the ball out.

There were cheers from Chinese fans on both sides of the stands, and everyone was very excited after the score was equalized.

However, according to Jiang Yuan, today's game has just begun.

……

(End of this chapter)