Chapter 175: No More Regrets

Duan Xuan was right, this was indeed a much-anticipated game.

Sydney is located in the East 10th District, and there is a two-hour difference between time and Beijing.

It's 16 p.m. Beijing time, and there's still an hour to go.

At this moment, it is still daytime, and the Shanghai Oriental Pearl at this time is lit up early.

Under the red LED light, several light words slowly rotate on the Oriental Pearl Tower on the bank of the Huangpu River.

"Team China! Come on! ”

On the city's landmarks, slogans are displayed to cheer for the Chinese team.

The same happens in Beijing, in Guangzhou, in Shenzhen, in many cities in China.

Although the level of football in China is not high, football is one of the most watched sports in China. At this time, even people who don't usually watch the game are on time in front of the TV under the drive of such an atmosphere.

Although it is only an Asian Cup final, it has attracted as much attention in China as it is the World Cup.

The Chinese team reached the Asian Cup final again after many years, which naturally made domestic fans very excited.

Lao Wang is also a fan, but he is not ready to watch the game.

In addition to the fact that he is still working very hard at the moment, it is more of the promise he made that "Lao Tzu will never watch the national football team again".

However, he simply couldn't get the ball out of his mind these few hours.

No matter what web page he opens.

Asian Cup .........

Final.......

China........

These messages will always appear in his eyes, and it is difficult not to pay attention to them.

Lao Wang looked at his watch, it was four o'clock in the afternoon, and there was still an hour before the game started.

At this time, the phone vibrated a little.

It was a message from his best friend from college. Since graduating from university, everyone has gone their separate ways, and it has been a long time since they have been in touch.

Lao Wang hesitated, and finally picked up the phone.

He knew that the message from the best friend must have been about the Asian Cup final.

"Don't you watch the ball, SB."

Lao Wang immediately wanted to reply with a "SB only to see it!" ”

Just as he was about to press send, the lights on the Canton Tower outside the window lit up, just in front of their office.

"Hold on to the Chinese team!"

A few large characters appeared brilliantly on the waist of the small man of the Canton Tower, and the red light reflected the round and rough face of Lao Wang.

Lao Wang lowered his head and touched his belly, which had grown again.

It's been a long time since I've played football.......

…………

Zheng Zhi led the players out of the players' tunnel for warm-up preparations before the game.

He wasn't usually a talker, and he was the same now.

At this moment, the fans in the stands have also entered the stadium one after another, and the stadium has gradually become noisy.

But none of this affected Zheng Zhi, and he meticulously did every warm-up action.

Seriousness is the biggest trick for the veteran to keep up his good form.

Speaking of which, this is his second Asian Cup final.

For him, at the end of his career, he didn't expect to have another chance to participate in the Asian Cup final.

In the 2004 Asian Cup, the Chinese team reached the final all the way to the final at their own doorstep.

Looking back now, that game was almost the beginning of the Chinese team's dark eleven years.

In the summer of 2004, it was the closest Chinese football came to the top of Asia, but it was also a peak in the parabola of Chinese football development.

That Chinese team is regarded as a strengthened version of the 2002 World Cup, with veterans such as Hao Hai and Li Xiaopeng, who have participated in the World Cup, as well as Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, and Li Yu, who have played well in the league, and Sun Jihai and Shao Jiayi, who can play the main role in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, and the lineup composition is extremely mature.

And such a national football team really lived up to expectations. After successfully qualifying from the group, the Chinese team eliminated Iraq in the quarterfinals, and then faced the bitter Iranian team in the semifinals, and the two sides fought to a 1-1 draw in regular time, and the Chinese team eliminated the Iranian team to reach the final with the excellent performance of goalkeeper Liu Yunfen in the penalty shootout.

In the final, the opponent of the Chinese team was the Japanese team.

This is the second time in the history of the Chinese team to stand on the stage of the Asian Cup final.

This time, the Chinese team faced the Japanese team that made a historic round of 16 in the Korea-Japan World Cup, and the Japanese team at that time was led by the popular Shunsuke Nakamura, and Kawaguchi Noho, Suzuki Takayuki, Miyamoto Tsuneyasu, Santo, Nakazawa Yuji and others were also famous for a while.

The loss to this Japanese team is not a surprise, but if you have watched this game, you will not think so.

In the 66th minute, Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick created a killing chance, and Koji Nakata scored the ball with a "Hand of God" in front of the goal, but the referee ruled that the goal was valid, and the national party fell behind again in such a wronged way.

In the 78th minute, the national football team got a great opportunity to equalize again, and Li Yi, who came on as a substitute for Hao Hai, got a single knife, but he did not choose to shoot directly, but chose to try to dribble past the opponent's goalkeeper Kawaguchi Nenghu, and was finally destroyed by the latter. The national football team lost a great opportunity to equalize, and Li Yi also became the finger of a thousand people after losing this single knife.

In the final moments of the game, the national football team poured out of the nest to try to equalize, but the emptiness of the defense cost them. In stoppage time, Shunsuke Nakamura provided another assist, Keiji Tamada shook Liu Yunfei with a single knife and easily scored an empty goal, the Japanese team won 3-1, and the national football team lost the Asian Cup championship at home!

Because of a handball goal, the balance on the field was broken, but after this game, no matter how aggrieved the players and fans of the Chinese team were, they could not change the result of the game.

After this game, the Chinese team entered a long dark period, until now.

This is the third time that the Chinese team has stood on the stage of the Asian Cup final.

Zheng Zhi, who returned from England a few years ago, would never have imagined that he would rejuvenate again at the end of his career.

First of all, he won the Chinese Super League championship for four consecutive years in the domestic arena, and even won the AFC Champions League trophy with the team's history.

In terms of the national team, there is a second chance to hit the Asian Cup championship.

After the warm-up, Zheng Zhi stopped.

The Australian stadium is full at the moment, and although it is the home stadium of Australians, the Chinese fans who flock to the stadium are no less than the Australians.

The noise created by the fans of the Chinese team made the players feel that this is an away game at all.

Zheng Zhi looked around and breathed a long sigh of relief.

He is now 34 years old, and this may be his last chance to compete for the Asian title in the national team jersey. This time, he will never let regrets be written in his resume again!