If it was the previous Chinese national team, then the victory of the Japanese team in this game was no suspense. The Japanese media can even say that they could only send third-tier teams to get the Chinese team.

But now it’s different. Before the game, the Japanese media was filled with Chu Zhongtian’s name. This Chinese national team’s biggest star and one of the most famous players in Asia have long been regarded as the most threatening enemy by the Japanese.

In the East Asian Final Four at the beginning of last year, the reason why Japanese media dared to laugh at the Chinese team was because Chu Zhongtian did not participate.

Now the Japanese media have almost completely analyzed Chu Zhongtian. From his debut experience, he talked about his technical characteristics and his recent status.

Judging from the reports of Japanese media, they seem to know Chu Zhongtian as well as the Chinese media.

Japan has the habit of advocating the strong, so Chu Zhongtian also has many fans in Japan, and the same is true in the media. Several Japanese media praised Chu Zhongtian as "the pride of Asian football" before the game.

Chu Zhongtian didn't read Japanese media, nor could he understand Japanese, so he didn't know.

However, judging from the daily interviews, the Japanese media is most concerned about him. He is always surrounded by reporters, including Chinese journalists and Japanese journalists.

Chu Zhongtian did not care about the national hatred and family hatred in history. Football is football. If there are too many things outside of football, they will only bear too much psychological pressure when they come on the court. This is very dangerous for the Chinese team with insufficient psychological qualities.

But Chu Zhongtian does want to take revenge. What he wants to get is the revenge on the football field, the revenge in the 2004 Asian Cup final. If it weren't for Koji Nakata's handball, it's hard to say what the final result would be. Although his strength is like the Japanese team, the Chinese team took advantage of the home court that time, and with the cheering of tens of thousands of Chinese fans in Gongti, there was no chance to defeat Japan.

Chu Zhongtian watched that game in front of the TV. When he saw Hiro Nakata scored a second-hand ball, the Kuwait referee was extremely angry when the penalty was valid. Just as he didn't like to pretend to fall and get injured on the court, he didn't like this kind of unsports-oriented practice of scoring goals with his hands.

In addition, this handball deprived the Chinese team of the Asian Cup dream, which made him even more unhappy.

However, at that time he was just an unknown man who had just joined Metz on loan and had never played a professional league game. The Chinese national team was particularly far away for him. He did not expect that six years later, he would have the opportunity to revenge Japan in the Chinese national team jersey.

Japanese football has always been known for its abundant midfield players and has made no achievements in forwards. In the past, they have always envied many excellent forwards in Chinese football for a short time - Gao Feng, Gao Hongbo, Li Bing, Su Maozhen, Fan Zhiyi, Yang Chen, Hao Haidong, Li Jinyu... However, Japanese football has also had excellent scorers, and has proved itself in the European League. For example, although playing for Dortmund, although he is a midfielder, he has scored eight goals this season.

This game has a great test for the Chinese team's defense line, but Gao Hongbo did not intend to strictly guard against the dead. He decided to give full play to Chu Zhongtian's characteristics and use offense to curb Japan. To put it bluntly, it is to attack Japan.

The Japanese team's attack power is very strong, which is recognized in Asia. Their offensive style is different from that of the same powerful South Korea. South Korea's offense is straightforward, while Japan's offense is carefully planned and organized, and the midfielder must play a great role in the offense.

Gao Hongbo plans to compete with Japan in the midfield and curb Japan's midfield. There are many outstanding players in Japan's midfield, including Makoto Hasegawa who plays for Wolfsburg, Keiyuki Honda of CSKA Moscow, Yu Nakanatoto of Czech Republic, and Shinji Kagawa, who is incredible with Dortmund this season, and Shunsuke Nakamura, the leader of Japanese football. Who can Gao Hongbo rely on? In addition to Deng Zhuoxiang, who was awarded the best newcomer in the Chinese Super League, is Chu Zhongtian.

In terms of individual quality, Chu Zhongtian is higher than Japanese midfielders, but Japan has more high-level players and has an advantage in terms of quantity. It is hard to say who has the upper hand in this game.

By then, Chu Zhongtian will definitely be closely guarded by the opponent or even blocked by fouls. Japanese football can do anything to win on the court, which can be seen from the 2004 Asian Cup. In the penalty shootout before advancing to the final, they lost two consecutive penalty shots at one goal, and they actually asked the referee to replace the penalty shot. This was no precedent in international games and the rules did not support it. However, under the pressure of the Japanese team, the referee actually agreed to this request. As a result, Jordan was greatly affected and lost his level in the subsequent penalty shootout and was eventually eliminated.

In the final, the situation was stalemate, and the score was always 1:1. Koji Nakada stepped forward and reached out to knock the football into the Chinese team's goal, and finally won the Asian Cup championship.

Gao Hongbo has no doubt that the Japanese team will use any extra-set moves when the game is unfavorable. For this reason, he strengthened the confrontation training in training, just to beware of the Japanese team's small movements at that time. He asked his players to still be able to control the ball when facing these physical interferences.

This is a bit difficult for the Chinese team. After all, the personal skills of the Chinese team's players are not as good as those of Japanese players and their cooperation level is not high. So football is actually given most of the time to Chu Zhongtian. His ball control level is the best in the Chinese team, thanks to his basic training over the years, especially the solid foundation in the Ligue 1. In the high-level European Champions League, he can control the ball under the clamping of two or three people, so Chu Zhongtian should be fine with Japanese players.

In short, Chu Zhongtian is the key to the Chinese team's game and the top priority.

※※The match with Japan kicked off on time on the evening of January 21st.

The Chinese team and the Japanese team met in the second quarterfinals of the Asian Cup, which attracted the most widespread attention in China. The match between China and Japan can always attract attention. After all, the two countries have historical grudges, so every time they play against Japan, the Chinese people look forward to being angry. However, most of the time, they are even more frustrated and even more unhappy after watching it.

This time it is different. With Chu Zhongtian, the Chinese people have stronger confidence in the Chinese team. In addition, no matter how they scold them, everyone is still lucky at this critical moment. They hope to see a miracle. They hope that the Chinese team can perform inspiringly in the game and eventually defeat Japan.

Just like the Asian Games, the match between the Chinese team and the Japanese team has attracted a lot of attention, and the scene is almost full. It can be seen that no matter how bad the national football team's performance is, there are still many people supporting and paying attention to it at the critical game. Chinese fans are really good, so Chu Zhongtian has this idea, and he has to let the Chinese fans who have been waiting for decades taste real happiness in this Asian Cup.

What can bring happiness?

Win, win and win.

"Do you remember what I said before the Asian Cup, brothers?" In the locker room, Chu Zhongtian told everyone. Gao Hongbo had finished his advice. This period belonged to the players. Since the first game, this tradition has been formed in the Chinese team. After the head coach finished what he should say before each game, he would leave time to let Chu Zhongtian say something to boost morale or comfort him. In short, this is a fixed program. In the previous national team, there was never such an arrangement. This was brought back by Chu Zhongtian from Europe. In Europe, many teams will mobilize themselves before the game starts. They may not be captains, but non-captain players with good popularity and prestige in the team can also be.

Players studying abroad bring some positive things to Chinese football. This sentence has been shouted by the Chinese media for many years, but everyone has never seen it. All they see is the disagreement between players studying abroad and local players, or they are simply dyed back by the dyeing tank of Chinese football. The positive role has never been played out. Oh no, I played some of it in the top ten World Cup in 2001, but it was very limited.

Now Chu Zhongtian brought back some of the excellent things in European football for the first time, and relied on his strong personal influence and status to influence the Chinese national team.

Before, someone thought that what the captain said before the game was pretentious and artificial, and was unacceptable. Now that this feeling is gone, everyone is happy to hear Chu Zhongtian say something before the game. He has such infectiousness, which can make everyone shout and do it together with him.

"I said we want our fans to truly enjoy happiness. This is paying back the debt we owe. Qualifying in the group is nothing, because this is our lowest goal. Now the opportunity is here, the first opportunity to make the fans happy. If we can defeat Japan, can you imagine what the domestic reaction will be like? After you beat South Korea 3-0 in the East Asian semi-finals, has anyone among you seen the domestic reaction online? How do you feel? Are you happy?"

After that game, players of the national team did watch domestic reactions online, and that feeling was really hard to describe in words - they have been a negative example for a long time. They were scolded and vented by Chinese people like rats crossing the street, and suddenly became heroes. The contrast was very strong. Even the Spring Festival Gala that used to scold them and mock them, and that year also praised them for the first time. When Feng Gong said, "The national football team has won Korea! 3:0!", there was a burst of praise in the audience. Although he knew that he had a responsibilities, he was still very happy.

"What are we playing football? Brothers? To make money? I believe that those who can be selected into the national team have made a lot of money with football. What else can we pursue in this regard? Don't you want to win the championship? Don't you envy those European players, and fans cheer everywhere they go. The fans do not scold, but praise and praise us. They cheer for us during the game, instead of shouting 'So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So-So

When he said this, some players from the north couldn't help laughing.

This sentence is often heard in Beijing. "Beijing scolding" is also a scene on the court, but it is not a beautiful scenery. Many players who visit Beijing have received such treatment.

"I think, brothers, making money at one level is just a number, and it doesn't make much sense. No matter how much money you have, you won't spend enough money, just to make money, you won't make enough for the rest of your life. But we should have some pursuits in other aspects. We can't just play football. I believe that when we first started to get involved in football, we were definitely not thinking about me who could become a millionaire by relying on this, right? We won, and the fans were happy, and they supported us and cheered for us. What a win-win thing. Why not do it?"

"I won't talk about football betting. I believe that no one in our team will joke about the best chance of reaching the top in their career, right?" Chu Zhongtian looked around the audience.

His bold words made many people feel very stressed. They didn't expect Chu Zhongtian to say this in public. There were many rumors about players gambling in the past, and everyone also discussed it privately, but no one would say it publicly in front of the whole team.

Chu Zhongtian said that.

"To be honest, I bet on football, but it is called gambling in Europe, which is legal and open. And if I want to buy, I only buy my own team to win - in order to win, I always work very hard on the court, ha!" Chu Zhongtian laughed. However, no one cooperated with him, and no one had reacted from this explosive topic.

"I started playing professional football at first, and the money factor accounted for a large part, but at the same time, I also considered the enjoyment that victory brought me. I played football not to lose, but to win. Even if our opponents forced us to be a hundred times stronger, I thought so. When Wimbledon was playing, we were an amateur team, and our opponent was a powerful Chelsea. What was the result? We eliminated them. I was very happy. When I listened to everyone calling you alone on the court, it felt indescribable. I think the pursuit of playing football should be like this."

Chu Zhongtian pointed outside: "In this game, many Chinese fans will come to cheer us up. I read the newspaper. Many of them are because we flew from China to Qatar after qualifying in the group. Obviously, they have recovered their confidence in us. They hope to see a game they want to see. If you hear the overwhelming "Come on China" on the field later, what do you feel? Are you numb? Anyway, I don't." Chu Zhongtian patted the five-star red flag on his chest.

"In the past, the chest of our national team was marked by the Football Association, but now it is a five-star red flag. This can explain something. We do not represent the Football Association, but a country, brothers. It is a country. No matter what the Football Association is, no matter who the leaders who entered are, we are not playing football for them, we are not playing football on behalf of them, we are for China, and our own motherland!"

Chu Zhongtian's words made Gao Hongbo start to sweat again. This is really... He had to be glad again that the Football Association did not send someone to squat in the locker room, otherwise they would have heard a lot of things they didn't like to hear. Although Chu Zhongtian's words were right, the truth was often unacceptable.

"Barcelona and Real Madrid have so many grievances at the club level, and everyone has seen how intense the national derby between the two sides is. But in the national team, they can temporarily abandon the grievances of the club, work together to win the World Cup and European Cup championships. Because they understand that they represent Spain. We are the same, brothers."

"I hope we can win the game against the Japanese team. The media from both countries are also paying attention to this game, but everyone is talking about me before the game, as if I can decide the outcome of the game alone. I don't think so. We are a group, brothers. We are twenty-three people. No matter how powerful I am, I can't complete all of you at the same time. Without Yang Zhi and Zeng Cheng guarding the goal for us, we wouldn't even win the first game. Without Dewey, Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng... the defense of the defenders, I wouldn't dare to push forward and attack.

With my partner Yang Hao running around me constantly, I am only a engineer at most. If it weren't for Deng Zhuoxiang, Gao Lin, you guys to pick me up and score points, we wouldn't win a game. If I were the only one, I would be watched by the opponent. But because of you, we have hope of winning, brothers. What I am telling the truth is that we must compete with the Japanese team with a team, not against Japan alone. I am not a Superman, without teammates, I am nothing, whether in the national team or in the club."

Chu Zhongtian reported all the names of all teammates one by one.

"The Japanese media once said that if they sent a second team, they could defeat us without me. Do you agree with this? I don't agree. I think we must let them see how powerful we are! Let them see if they can defeat us even if they sent the strongest lineup!"

Then he waved his hand to everyone to stand up, center him, and form a circle. This is the last part before the end of the speech. He wants to inspire everyone's morale. The enemy is facing, and a high morale is really important.

"Win! Brothers! Win! Win by any means! Be a winner, not a loser!"

※※※The players of the Japanese team can feel that the opponent in front of them is a little different from before. When the Chinese team played against them in the past, they looked full of fighting spirit and even went too far. But in fact, it was just an illusion that was disguised because they were actually weak, so they had to try to pretend that they were very strong and confident. Once they encountered setbacks in the game, they would become headless flies and would not be able to do anything except scare away and play around.

The Chinese team today is different. Of course, they also look very confident. But they are not overly excited, and there is also a calm expression under the confident appearance.

They are not sure whether this was disguised by the Chinese team, because they played well in the group stage and Chu Zhongtian's outstanding performance may make the Chinese team players mistakenly think that they are very strong.

Then this game will bring them back to their original form!

Let them know that the gap between Chinese and Japanese football is far more than twenty years, thirty years, but one hundred years!
Chapter completed!