Champion’s Heart

The first appearance of the knockout stage was the Japanese team, who played against their opponent Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals.

Kagawa Kaji performed very well in this game, scored twice and helped Japan beat Uzbekistan 3:2.

This is the first time he has scored in the Asian Cup.

Not long after the Japanese team's game ended, the Chinese team debuted.

Their opponent is Jordan.

The final score was 2:1. The Chinese team defeated Jordan and reached the semifinals!

The person who scored for the Chinese team was Gao Lin. He also scored twice in this game, and it was Zhou Yi who assisted him twice.

After the game, the Chinese network was a celebration, celebrating the Chinese team once again entered the Asian Cup semi-finals after seven years, some netizens ridiculed Gao Lin said that after Zhou Yi, Gao Linsman really became Gao Linsman, not high The plane is gone.

The two assists Zhou Yi sent to Gao Lin can almost be called "nanny assists", that is, the forward responders need no technical skills to score the football...

In four games, Gao Lin scored four goals and is already the first scorer in the Chinese team.

Before Zhou Yilai, Gao Lin spent more time on this team than actually scoring tasks, but tactical tasks. As a fulcrum of the Chinese team's offense in the frontcourt, he has the body and skill, can hold the ball, and can also play the ball. And although he is a center, he has a wide range of activities in the frontcourt. He can be seen from left to right. He has a harder attitude in playing football, and runs aggressively, which is quite a model.

His characteristics match Gao Hongbo's tactics of how much the national team needs to cooperate with the ground. Therefore, although Gao Lin has been criticized for poor shooting, he is still a favorite player of Gao Hongbo in the national team. Gao Hongbo will always take priority. Choose him to start.

No one expected that after Zhou Yi came, Gao Lin suddenly became the best shooter!

And not only in the team, in this Asian Cup. Gao Lin now scores with four goals. Ranked first in the shooter list with South Korean player Zu Zhe.

On the assist list, Zhou Yi topped the list with five assists, and no one can threaten his position... This performance at least shows that Zhou Yi is now Asia's top midfielder, although he is only 19 years old...

I won't be 20 years old until February this year

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The Chinese team that reached the semifinals is only one step away from the finals.

As long as they can beat their semifinal opponents...Australia.

Although Chinese fans and the media are as happy as the Chinese New Year, Klopp is certain that he does not want to hear the news at all.

Except Zhou Yi. Kagawa Shinji's Japanese team also reached the semifinals.

This means that the two important players under his team must play the Asian Cup to return to the team...

Even the Chinese team and Japan both lost in the semifinals. They have to play a three or four finals!

The only thing that can make Klopp feel a little comforting is that... The finals of the third and fourth places are played one day earlier than the finals. If the two teams are in the finals, they can return to the team one day earlier...

But that time was also January 28. This is the end of January.

When the Asian Cup was in full swing, the second half of the Bundesliga began. Dortmund is still the first to play. In the eighteenth round of the league, Dortmund, who lacked Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji, was defeated 3-1 by Leverkusen on the road.

No influence of Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji appeared.

From the scene, Dortmund without Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji did not run as smoothly as in the first half of the season.

Zhou Yi is the core of Dortmund. The impact of his absence on Dortmund is not one point, but a very big one. Kagawa Shinji is similar to a lubricant in the frontcourt. A machine can't do without lubricant, so Kagawa Kaji is also important for Dortmund.

The absence of these two important personalities made them a bit confused about the aggressive third place Leverkusen in the guest scene.

After the decline of midfield control. Leverkusen easily grasped the initiative. Finally lost 1:3.

The defeat of this game reduced Dortmund's lead in the standings from a very short to seven points.

This is not over yet. In the next nineteenth round of the league, Dortmund was tied 1:1 by Stuttgart at home.

Counting the last round before the winter break, Dortmund lost to Frankfurt, this is Dortmund's three consecutive league wins. This has never happened to Dortmund in the first half of the season.

No wonder Klopp hopes that the Chinese team and the Japanese team will all go home after the group stage...

Originally, the Chinese team had hoped to be eliminated in the group stage, but unfortunately they have Zhou Yi, the situation is different.

Next in the twentieth round of the league, Dortmund challenged Wolfsburg away. This game took place on the afternoon of January 29. Zhou Yi and Kagawa Shinji certainly couldn't keep up.

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At 9:15 pm on January 25th, Beijing time, the semifinals between Japan and South Korea began.

After ninety minutes of fierce battle, the Japanese team and the South Korean team made a 1:1 draw. In the overtime, the two sides also scored a goal. In the final 120 minutes, the score was 2:2.

In the penalty shootout, the top three players of the South Korean team all lost the penalty, while in the Japanese team, only Nagato Yudo kicked off. In the final penalty shootout, the Japanese team eliminated Korea with a score of 3:0 and took the lead in the final.

Later, the Chinese team debuted, and their opponent in the semifinals was Australia.

Since joining the AFC in 2006, although Australia is geographically a country in Oceania, his football association is affiliated with the AFC and can participate in the Asian Cup.

For Australia, joining the AFC naturally has their own interests. That is to increase their chances of participating in the World Cup. Because before the Oceania Football Association, only Australia and New Zealand were two professional teams, the others were those island countries in the Pacific, and their football level was very backward. Only half of FIFA’s World Cup quotas are allocated to Oceania.

In this way, if Australia wants to participate in the World Cup, it must first win the first place in the Oceania qualifier, and then compete for the half of the place with the fifth place in South America. Sometimes they will also compete with Asia.

It is okay to compete with Asia, and it is too difficult for Australia to compete with South America for qualifying.

After all, the level of South American football is much higher than Australia.

So Australia has always wanted to leave the Oceania Football Association and join the AFC.

Accepting Australia's AFC also has its own interests.

All along, the level of Asian football is not very high, just a large number of members. So in the World Cup can be divided into four to four and a half places. However, because Asian teams generally do not perform well in the World Cup, so if the AFC wants to win more places in the World Cup, they need to improve their strength. If Australia is not bad, if it can join the AFC, it will help to improve the overall strength of the AFC and win more resources.

So this is something that is beneficial to both parties, naturally it is a snap.

Australia's effect after joining the AFC is remarkable. Before joining the AFC, Australia has only participated in two World Cups for so many years, both in 1974 and 2006.

After joining the AFC, they immediately qualified for the finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Now, the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil are about to start, and Australia is also very hopeful to reach the finals of the World Cup again...

As for the interest appeal of the AFC...the benefits after Australia's accession have not yet been seen.

But other teams in Asia have become victims.

For Asian teams, Australia is like a tiger that breaks into the flock.

Although their technology is rough, they can rely on a strong body to deal with Asian teams with delicate skills.

This is probably one of the important reasons why they can finally stand out from the 2010 World Cup South Africa Asian Qualifiers.

Although the physical qualities of Chinese players are better than those of Japanese and Southeast Asian teams, they still have a slight advantage compared with teams such as Iran and Uzbekistan. Not to mention compared with Australia.

In the fight against Uzbekistan, the Chinese team was miserable physically. It was entirely up to Zhou Yi to lead the team to play and cooperate in order to compete with the opponent.

This game will definitely provide a reference for Australia.

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In an interview before the game ~ www.wuxiaspot.com ~ Zhou Yi said that although Australia is a strong team, but since they have reached the semi-finals, how can they easily concede?

"We have a saying in China called "I have come here"." Zhou Yi smiled and said to the reporter of the AFC official website who interviewed him. "Since all come here, and only one step away from the finals, how can it be satisfied to stop in the semifinals? So we will definitely reach the finals."

A reporter from the AFC official website was a little surprised. She asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Zhou Yi nodded and confirmed again.

And Zhou Yi's opponent in this game, Australia's leading star Cahill also expressed confidence in reaching the final in an interview.

"Zhou Yi is a very good player, but football is a team sport, not a single individual sport." Cahill shrugged. What he meant was that the overall level of the Chinese team was too poor, and it was useless to perform well alone. "We will enter the final because we are stronger!" (To be continued.) Activate the new website