Fox in the Penalty Area

Morikawa Junpei and his agent Takachi Mitsui stood in front of a small English building.

“Is it here, Mr. Mitsui?” Junpei Morikawa asked, looking at the house in front of him.

Takashi Mitsui took out his mobile phone, turned to the address he had recorded in advance, checked the house number, and nodded: “Yes, it is here. This is the house that Hu Lai rented in Leeds.”

Then he raised his head and looked at it: “Although there are a lot fewer rooms compared to your big villa in China, it is definitely more than enough to live with the two of you…”

After Hu Lai knew that Junpei Morikawa would transfer to Leeds, he directly stated in the group that Junpei Morikawa came to Leeds without looking for a house or staying in a hotel. He went directly to the house he rented in Leeds.

The two of them live together, so they can take care of each other.

Of course, it is mainly for him to bring Junpei Morikawa into the team and life in the UK.

Morikawa Junpei did not reject Hu Lai’s kindness.

So he and his agent, Mr. Mitsui, appeared in front of the house now.

“Open the door, Junpei.”

Takashi Mitsui reminded Morikawa Junpei who was standing still.

The latter put the suitcase aside and found the key from the backpack.

Even this key was given by Hu Lai to let his agent Yong Jun fly to Jincheng and hand it to Junpei Morikawa.

For Morikawa Junpei, this is more than just handing him a key, it represents Hu Lai’s trust and expectations for him, and he naturally has to treat it seriously.

So he bowed slightly and took the key from Yong Jun with both hands.

Open the door and go in. The air in the room where the door has been closed for almost a month is a bit turbid, and people can’t help but want to take a breath.

It wasn’t until they opened all the windows on the first floor and fresh air poured in that the discomfort disappeared.

They didn’t go to the second floor, but first stood on the first floor and looked at this place where Junpei Morikawa didn’t know how long they would spend next.

Very ordinary furnishings, very ordinary layout.

It’s not the various styles of mansions commonly owned by Premier League stars in the news.

One thing can be proved-this house doesn’t even have a swimming pool in the backyard… it’s just a small garden.

After Hulai rented it, he did not make any renovations to the house.

For Morikawa Junpei, who lived in the big villa in Jincheng, it was “shabby”.

But Morikawa Junpei didn’t care about this either.

However, Mitsui Xiaozhi was a little surprised: “Hu Lai’s life is really ordinary…”

“Hu Lai Sang doesn’t have high requirements for life.” Morikawa Junpei said, “He is a very pure person, just wants to play football well.”

Mitsui Xiaozhi smiled and said, “Looking at the size of this backyard, there is no way to make another football field out.”

They looked through the window to the small garden lawn outside.

“Hulaisan said that the training intensity of the Premier League is very strong. Even if there is a football field, we will not have the strength to play again after the team’s training.”

Mitsui Takachi turned around and looked at other places, and then he found a wine cabinet with many bottles of wine in it. This discovery made him shine: “Unexpectedly, Hu Lai is also a wine lover…Uh.”

When he walked to the front, he was embarrassed to find that the wine cabinet was indeed containing wine, but it was different from the kind of wine he was supposed to do.

These “wine” are actually the “best of the field” trophy won by Hu Lai.

When Mitsui Takashi was looking at these “trophies”, Junpei Morikawa also leaned forward: “These are all won by Hu Lai Sang in the Premier League. He told us that he will send it back to China when he saves enough. It’s in his house.”

“Hu Lai…what a terrible person!” Mitsui Xiaozhi said with emotion. “I remember when you participated in the East Asian Cup for the first time. In the three teams of China, Japan and South Korea, Hu Lai was just an unknown person. As a result… Now the identity of the number one in Asia has been changed from Park Chuntae to him.”

“Mr. Mitsui. People who can think of building a football field in the backyard of the house and playing football after training should be so strong.” Junpei Morikawa said seriously.

Mitsui Takachi laughed and said, “Yes. Love football to this level, success is inevitable. You are also very lucky, Junpei. I can meet him in my career.”

Morikawa Junpei smiled slightly.

Mitsui Takachi added: “You can rest assured Junpei, although you did not participate in this Asian Cup. As long as you can play your normal level in Leeds City, I think Supervisor Motegi will definitely recall you to the national team. This transfer It’s very important to your career. Don’t think about anything, and just play like you did in Flash. With Hu Lai by your side, I believe you will adapt to everything here soon.”

“Well, I will work hard, Mr. Mitsui.”

After receiving the answer, Takashi Mitsui turned his attention to the alcoholic and said half-jokingly: “We will also add a wine cabinet here, and then set a goal-try to fill the cabinet with the’best in the audience’ champagne!” ”

He was joking, but he didn’t expect Morikawa Junpei to nod his head: “Okay.”

This surprised Mitsui Takachi and glanced at Morikawa Junpei.

Morikawa Junpei didn’t speak, just staring at the “best in the audience” in that cabinet.

※※※

The Japanese team without Morikawa Junpei did not encounter any resistance in the first game of the Asian Cup. The powerful defending champion defeated the second-tier team Thailand in the group with a score of 3:0.

The head coach of this team, Hiroto Mogi, is indeed confident not to recruit Junpei Morikawa.

In fact, the Japanese media were only in the first two games after the World Cup, and they were surprised and surprised that Junpei Morikawa was not selected for the national team. Then the popularity of this topic quickly went down.

As for Morikawa Junpei didn’t even participate in the Asian Cup…it’s not even news in Japanese football.

Japanese football has too many talents. Now the Japanese national team’s midfield starters all come from the main players of the five major European leagues. A genius among his peers like Tatsuya Sugiyama can only play as a substitute for this national team.

As the Asian Cup champion of last season, the Japanese team has only one purpose for participating in the Asian Cup this time, and that is to defend the title.

They have successfully defended their title once in history, and that time was in the 2004 China Asian Cup. In the final, the Japanese team defeated the host Chinese team with a controversial goal.

What they have to do now is an undisputed success in defending their title.

And on this basis, hit the unprecedented Asian Cup three consecutive championships-before this, no national team could do it.

In the 71-year history of the Asian Cup, a total of four national teams have successfully defended their titles.

The South Korean team won the Asian Cup in 1956 and 1960.

Next came Iran, who won consecutive Asian Cups from 1968 to 1972.

Saudi Arabia scored twice in 1984 and 1988.

The youngest team to win two consecutive championships is the Japanese team, who won the championship twice in 2000 and 2004.

But no team can win the Asian Cup three times in a row.

The Japanese team is now first to become the first team in the history of the Asian Cup to successfully defend twice.

Judging from this first game alone, they are indeed full of champions.

So Morikawa Junpei is not in the Japanese national team, so it’s not a problem at all.

※※※

The first match of the Asian Cup was lost to Iraq 0:2, putting the Chinese team under tremendous pressure.

Fortunately, in the second group match four days later, the Chinese team defeated Palestine, the weakest in the group, 4:1.

Hu Lai scored twice in this game, and finally vented all his depression of not scoring a goal in the last game.

One of the remaining two goals was scored by Wang Guangwei with a header from a corner kick, and the other was scored by Luo Kai from a long shot.

This victory allowed the Chinese team to avoid the embarrassing result of being eliminated early.

Although he won the game, criticism continued in the public opinion after the game.

Because the Chinese team lost the ball.

In the face of the weakest Palestine in this group, they even lost the ball. Such a performance naturally cannot satisfy the Chinese fans who have high hopes for the national team.

In their view, defeating Palestine is not worth mentioning. Because if the Chinese team can’t even win Palestine, it can be disbanded.

What makes them dissatisfied is that in the face of such a weak Palestine, the Chinese team’s defense can concede the ball.

So when faced with a stronger opponent, how can we ensure that our goal is not smashed into a sieve based on this defensive performance?

At that time, if the offense can’t penetrate the opponent’s defense like in the game against Iraq, our own goal will let the opponent score the goal. How can we play this game?

Compared with the picturesque frontcourt, China’s midfield and backcourt level is somewhat… hard to say.

This is also a problem that has existed since the last twelve finals, even Shi Wuyin did not solve this problem.

After the World Cup, more than one Chinese fan regretted on the Internet: If the Chinese team’s defense can be better, with our offensive firepower, will it be possible to achieve a historic victory in the World Cup? Even… can you still qualify for the World Cup knockouts?

The defensive problem now seems to have not been resolved-the Chinese team has not lost the ball in all the matches so far, whether it is the World Cup, the Asian Cup, or the friendly matches.

The last time they closed their opponents in an official game was back to the second round of the time-honored play-off on November 19, 2025.

The Chinese team defeated Paraguay 2-0 at their home court, reaching the World Cup finals for the first time in history.

Lin Zhiyuan saved the opponent’s penalty in the game, and the Chinese team’s back line just opened up, letting the Paraguayan not score a goal in ninety minutes.

Since then, the Chinese team’s defense has never had such a bright moment.

Every game has to concede the ball, at least one goal conceded, and at most four goals conceded.

Nowadays, even playing a team like Palestine can lose the ball, which really makes the Chinese fans a little bit unreasonable.

The problem starts with the midfield defense. In the midfield barrier, after Gao Ruimin was injured, the Chinese team can only rely on the veteran Jiang Wanqing who is about to turn 34.

Although Jiang Wanqing was tenacious in the World Cup, both his ability and physical condition did fall too much compared to his peak that year.

It is precisely because of the inability to intercept in the midfield that there will be frequent situations where the opponent’s offense directly faces the back line. In this way, the pressure on the back line will be very high.

The position of the defensive midfielder, whether it is the new generation or the Mesozoic, is currently not very reassuring.

The lack of people in Chinese football in this position may be evident from one thing:

This time, Morikawa Junpei did not participate in the Asian Cup, which did not cause any disturbance in Japan, but in China, some fans lamented: If Morikawa Junpei did not participate in the game on behalf of the Japanese national team, it would be great. Chinese football can be considered naturalized. he.

After all, Japanese football has a lot of talents in the midfield, and I can’t look down on Morikawa Junpei, but Chinese football can look down on it! The Shining Star was successfully relegated last season, and Junpei Morikawa made great contributions. He was also selected as the best foreign aid team in the Super League after the game.

Now they went further and went to Leeds.

He suddenly became a player with Premier League level~www.wuxiax.com~ Isn’t such an excellent defensive midfielder exactly what Chinese football needs?

This post was supported by many people on the Internet, showing how desperate Chinese football fans are at the position of a defensive midfielder. Of course, most of the fans who came to like and expressed their support were Anton Shining Star fans. Everyone had a good impression of the diligent, low-key and humble Japanese players on the court. It’s no longer as rebellious as I heard that the Flash Star Club was going to introduce a “little Japan”.

It is a pity that Junpei Morikawa has already played on behalf of the Japanese team. According to FIFA’s regulations, it is absolutely impossible to transfer to China and represent the Chinese team.

Moreover, the attitude of the Chinese Football Association towards naturalized players also makes this matter destined to be only the YY of the fans on the Internet, and then drooling while watching Japanese football.

It is simply “death due to drought and death due to waterlogging”…

(End of this chapter)