Fox in the Penalty Area

Hu Lixin turned over and felt a cloud of light around him in a daze. He opened his sleepy eyes and saw his wife lying next to him looking at the phone.

The bright light is emitted by the phone screen in the dark.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“Two thirty.”

Hu Lixin complained: “Then you still asleep?”

“Can’t sleep. Don’t want to sleep.”

“Tsk…” Hu Lixin stood up slightly and saw clearly the content on the screen of his wife’s mobile phone-she was using the vibrato.

“Don’t look at Douyin, it’s all scolding the National Football Team.” Hu Lixin reminded his wife.

“I’m watching funny jokes, make me feel better.”

“Then are you in a better mood now? Can you sleep?”

Xie Lan put her phone aside, turned around and looked at her husband, her eyes widened in the dark: “You can actually sleep?”

“What else? I have to go to work tomorrow…”

“You didn’t go to school until lunch, what to pretend to be? No one said anything when I was going to work tomorrow morning!”

“Yeah, will you not go to work tomorrow morning?”

“I asked the director for leave. I said that the national team was in a bad mood after losing and didn’t want to work. I asked for a day off.”

Hu Lixin grinned, the word “good guy” reached his throat, and he didn’t dare to say it.

He knew that his wife had been in a very bad mood since watching the Chinese game at night. If he said something wrong at this time, he would never sleep until dawn.

“I’m surprised, Lao Hu, why can you fall asleep after watching such a game?” Xie Lan propped her head with one hand and stared at her husband in the dark.

“Because I am mentally prepared. Since Lin Zhiyuan retired from injury, I have no hope for this Asian Cup.” Hu Lixin explained.

“I am upset not because we lost the game today, but because we played too badly. What does this have to do with Lin Zhiyuan’s presence? Didn’t you see the performance of the Chinese team today? The frontcourt attack was restricted by Iraq and there was no solution. The way, the backcourt couldn’t prevent the opponent’s counterattack, and was beaten by the opponent…”

When Hu Lixin heard the series of problems with his wife, his sleepiness disappeared and he couldn’t fall asleep for a while.

So he sighed:

“I think you have too high expectations for the team’s performance before the Asian Cup. Although it is the Asian Cup, all you think about is their performance in the World Cup. There are also people on the Internet, such as your Douyin. Those marketing accounts that were flashed out, open your mouth and shut your mouth, saying, “The National Football Team is the only undefeated team in the World Cup”, as if we can draw Brazil in the World Cup and we can sweep Asia…Football is not an upgraded game, with a high level. It must be able to beat a low-level team-being able to beat or draw a world championship in one game does not mean that you can beat a weaker team in another game.”

At 2:30 in the middle of the night, the couple lay on the bed and talked about football seriously.

“Don’t compare me with those on Douyin who don’t understand the ball! The problem now is that compared with the one on the World Cup, both the personnel and the tactics of this national team are basically the same. The same staffing. With the same tactics, the opponent’s strength is not as good as that, so why did they play poorly? I’m not saying that the result of the game was unexpected. After all, football is round. But from the scene, it’s a bit unreasonable. Right?”

Xie Lan refuted her husband.

When Hu Lixin heard what his wife said, he could not immediately refute it for a while.

Because he thought about it, his wife made sense.

The result is accidental. He tied the former world champion half a year ago, but it does not mean that he will be able to win an Asian-level opponent in half a year.

But the scene of the game can really explain the problem.

You can lose, but you can’t lose in a way that everyone can see is terrible.

In the game last night, unfortunately, the Chinese team lost their first Asian Cup in such a way.

In this game, the head coach Dong Jianhai did his best to bring out the strongest lineup that Chinese football can currently come up with.

Formation 433, starting goalkeeper Hao De, starting center defenders Yao Huasheng and Wang Guangwei, left defender Qu Lu, right defender Bai Di. The three midfielders are Xia Xiaoyu, Zhang Qinghuan and Jiang Wanqing. Hu Lai is centered on the striker, Chen Xingyi is on the left and Luo Kai is on the right.

Except for the goalkeeper position, the other ten people cannot be said to be indistinguishable from those in the World Cup, they can only be said to be exactly the same.

With such a mature lineup and style of play, it stands to reason that even if Iraq is the second-tier team in this group, there should be no suspense for the Chinese team to win them.

Even if it is more pessimistic, considering that this is the first game of the Asian Cup, the players have not entered the rhythm of the competition and found their state so quickly, and their performance has been a bit ups and downs. A draw with Iraq is not unacceptable.

After all, the remaining two opponents, whether it is the Philippines or Palestine, are not opponents of this Chinese team.

So the team qualifying is not a problem. The important thing is to get the first place in the group and to make it easier in the knockout rounds.

If you accidentally drew Iraq, you just need to get more goal difference in Palestine and the Philippines.

The official goal set for this Asian Cup is to reach the semi-finals, but fans and media public opinion believes that the Chinese team has the ability to compete for the championship.

Qualifying as the number one in the group and encountering a good opponent in the knockout round will help the Chinese team go further in the Asian Cup and realize everyone’s high expectations for them.

As a result, the Chinese team, which played with the strongest lineup and the most familiar tactics, was unable to use Iraq’s intensive defense in the game.

Although Hu Lai scored a goal in the game, the goal was invalid because Zhang Qinghuan fouled the ball first.

After being unable to attack for a long time, the Chinese team succeeded in a surprise attack on Iraq in the 31st minute and took the lead in conceding the ball.

The mentality of the players has changed.

The more you kick, the more anxious you get.

Even after the adjustment after the intermission, there was no improvement.

In the 77th minute, Iraq again used a quick counterattack and scored.

Although Dong Jianhai replaced Zhou Zijing after losing the ball, strengthening the Chinese team’s offensive fulcrum in the penalty area is of no avail.

Two goals behind with only ten minutes left, with the state shown by the Chinese team in this game…the general trend is over.

In this game, Iraq obviously made very thorough and detailed preparations, and they almost studied the Chinese team thoroughly.

Defensively, by tightening fences in the penalty area, Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai’s breakthroughs are restricted, and against Hulai, he always ensures that he has at least two Iraqi players around him. All the possible spaces in the restricted area were blocked and filled, and Hu Lai, who was good at finding spaces, faced the embarrassing situation that there was no space to use.

As for Zhang Qinghuan and Xia Xiaoyu, they didn’t try to push too much and let them pass the ball outside the penalty area. This seems a bit negative, it is to let the ball go to the Chinese team. But in fact, it can ensure that there will be no breaches in the fence they tighten in the restricted area.

As long as there is no room in the penalty area, Zhang Qinghuan and Xia Xiaoyu’s pass will not be able to play well.

At the same time, on the offensive, Iraq chose two fast and impactful young forwards, specifically aimed at Qu Lu, the left back of the Chinese team.

It is possible that Dong Jianhai wanted to win Iraq, so he chose Qulu with stronger offensive attributes when he started this game.

Qu Lu did in accordance with the head coach’s tactical arrangements, repeatedly intervened in the offense.

And Iraq just took advantage of this point to violently attack the space before and after Qu Road was inserted.

Qu Lu has repeatedly failed to come back on offense in the game. Iraq has it in a fight, and it has it in a fight. The Chinese fans who watched were thrilled.

Iraq’s first ball was a counterattack launched from Qu Lu.

Dong Jianhai also saw the problem on Qu Lu’s side.

So he made substitutions during the intermission and replaced Qu Lu with Jiao Qirui, who was more stable in defense.

However, at this time the Chinese team had fallen behind by one goal, and they still had to continue their offense in the second half.

Therefore, changing to a Qulu Road has no effect.

After they pressed on, the entire backcourt was empty, not just a problem on the left side.

Generally speaking, after watching this game, even a person who doesn’t understand the ball will feel aggrieved and unhappy.

Our strongest lineup surrounded the young Iraqi national team and bombed and failed to score a goal, but was taken away by two surprise attacks by the other side.

In the World Cup, there is not a single bit of passionate football, and it seems that the spirit is not as good as the World Cup.

Could it be that the Asian Cup is not as exciting as the World Cup?

The game just ended…No, it was because the game hadn’t ended, and there were criticisms against the Chinese team on the Internet.

Some words are still ugly.

For the same group of players, their evaluations in the World Cup are completely different from those in the Asian Cup. In an instant, many people found the feeling of watching the national football game in previous years.

I have to say that this is football.

If you were able to draw against Brazil half a year ago, it does not mean that you can beat Iraq in half a year. Half a year ago, you were praised by public opinion, and half a year later, you could be stepped into the mud by public opinion.

Hu Lixin doesn’t know how to evaluate this game. Is it because the players have a problem? Or is there a problem with the coaching tactics? Or is there something wrong with the preparations of the Football Association?

From the perspective of a football coach, he can’t just vent his emotions like those fans on the Internet.

In the end, he can only say to his wife: “You make sense. But the game has been lost. The next step is to see if the Chinese team can learn from it and play the remaining two group matches.”

Shift the topic from the game that has been lost to the two games that have not yet been played, and help his wife to withdraw his emotions so as not to keep getting angry.

Sure enough, Xie Lan’s attention immediately turned to the future: “Huh, do you think we won’t even be out of the group stage this time?”

Hu Lixin shook his head, his hair rubbed on the pillow and made a sound.

“No, it’s okay to qualify in the group. Losing this game is not always a bad thing for the Chinese team~www.wuxiax.com~ Anyway, it can make them pay more attention to the next opponent, and not…in the gutter. Capsize.”

“That’s good. If you can’t even get out of the group, that would be really shameful…” Xie Lan said.

“Go to sleep, it’s almost three o’clock.” Hu Lixin once again persuaded his wife to sleep.

This time Xie Lan didn’t quarrel with him again, but hummed softly.

Next, neither of the two spoke, and the bedroom was quiet again.

After another, I don’t know how long, long and steady breathing sounded in the room.

The first match day of the Asian Cup Chinese team is over.

This night I don’t know how many people will be unable to sleep for a long time because of this game.

But the reason is completely different from the night after the first World Cup match six months ago.

(End of this chapter)