God of Green

At 19:00 on the evening of June 7, 2008, Beijing time, amid the cheers of the fans, the referee blew the whistle, and the fourth round of the Group A of the top 20 of the Asian qualifiers for the South Africa World Cup China vs. Qatar officially began.

Compared with the previous game, the Chinese team changed a central defender and a defensive midfielder in this game.

The starting lineup of the Chinese team was No. 12 goalkeeper Song Zhenyu, No. 16 right back Sun Jihai, No. 5 central defender Li Weifeng, No. 2 central defender Wang Xiao, No. 3 left back Sun Xiang, No. 10 defensive midfielder Zheng Zhi, No. 21 defensive midfielder Liu Jian, No. 8 right midfielder Du Zhenyu, No. 15 attacking midfielder Huang Bowen, No. 18 left midfielder Hao Junmin, No. 9 forward Jiang Xiaolin.

After the game started, the Chinese team won the right to kick off, and used the right to kick off to launch an offensive amid the cheers of the fans, and once passed the ball to the front of Qatar's penalty area, and Jiang Xiaolin had already rushed into the penalty area and ran out of a short gap.

If the ball-holding player was good enough to pass a wonderful pass, Jiang Xiaolin might have shot the ball in the first attack of the Chinese team, and might even have scored a goal.

But perhaps because it was just the beginning of the game, or perhaps it was really affected by the Dui scandal, Du Zhenyu, who was holding the ball, passed the ball crookedly and sent it directly to the feet of the Qatari player, making Jiang Xiaolin's running position useless.

Du Zhenyu also expressed his apology to Jiang Xiaolin in annoyance, and then began to counter-grab.

Of course, it was difficult to grab the ball in the backcourt. Qatar passed the ball to the midfield after three passes and two falls, and launched a counterattack.

Fortunately, the midfielders Zheng Zhi and Liu Jian did not rush up, and cooperated with the four defenders to intercept Qatar's attack well, and did not threaten the Chinese team's goal.

However, Qatar soon launched a second wave of offensive.

The Chinese team retreated and began to defend and counterattack.

Although it was a home game, the media and fans also clamored for a big win over Qatar before the game, and Dui also wanted to use a big win to divert everyone's attention from his scandal.

But the scandal that Dui broke out yesterday made the team's overall state sluggish. The coaching staff was very worried that playing against Qatar would turn their defense into a sieve, and even the team leader rejected Dui's idea of ​​playing a head-on battle.

In the Chinese national football team, the head coach himself does not have much authority. Dui's main focus is still on the National Olympic Team, and his control over the national football team is not enough.

After yesterday's scandal, although the Football Committee has not yet held him accountable, in fact, the team leader and other coaches have deprived Dujkovic of most of his power, leaving him without the right to choose tactics for the game.

This is also the reason why Dui sat on the bench after the opening: because the tactical formations on the field are not what he wants to play, so he is too lazy to stand up and direct the game.

And the facts have proved that the collective wisdom of the coaching staff is more reliable than Dui's selfish ideas.

The Chinese team was indeed in a sluggish state after the opening. If the Chinese team was allowed to attack, the backcourt might really be beaten into a sieve.

Even if they took the initiative to retreat and counterattack, they were still embarrassed by Qatar's attack.

In the 6th minute, Qatar used a free kick on the right to create a threat. Fortunately, striker Majid's header was higher than the crossbar.

Just 3 minutes later, in the 9th minute, Qatar played another wave of exquisite passes and finally passed the ball into the penalty area, and striker Sebastian completed the shot in the penalty area.

Song Zhenyu finally tried his best to poke the ball out of the bottom line with his fingertips, which shocked tens of thousands of Chinese fans in the stands.

Fortunately, the subsequent corner kick did not pose a threat and was headed out of the penalty area by Chinese team's central defender Li Weifeng.

It can be said that Qatar's performance in the opening stage was much better than that of the Chinese team at home.

Probably because Qatar itself ranked behind in the group standings, this game can be called a do-or-die battle.

On the other hand, the scandal of the head coach of the Chinese team caused the Chinese team to decline, while Qatar felt that they saw an opportunity and the players were more motivated.

Therefore, in this game, the Chinese team, which played at home, was suppressed by Qatar, which played away, except for the opening attack. The defense was also very embarrassing and was often threatened by the opponent.

Some fans who were still cheering for the Chinese team loudly in the first few minutes of the game began to get angry. They not only shouted that Dui should be fired, but also began to boo their own players.

Jiang Xiaolin began to retreat and retreated to the vicinity of the center circle, wanting to get the ball for a counterattack.

As a result, before he got the ball to counterattack, the Chinese team lost the ball in the 13th minute.

This was another free kick from the wing by Qatar.

Originally, this ball was not very powerful.The pass was too close to the goal and was directly confiscated by goalkeeper Song Zhenyu.

However, before Song Zhenyu confiscated the ball, during the movement of the players of both sides in the penalty area, Hao Junmin pulled down a striker of the opponent in the penalty area and was seen by the referee.

Although the free kick was confiscated by Song Zhenyu, the referee awarded Qatar a penalty kick.

Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, and Jiang Xiaolin all surrounded them to defend their teammates, but the referee who had already made the penalty insisted on his position and firmly gave Hao Junmin a yellow card and a penalty kick.

Jiang Xiaolin and others could only leave the penalty area depressed and angry, and let Qatar take the penalty kick.

Qatar's penalty kick was taken by striker Sebastian. He made no mistakes and scored directly, breaking the deadlock and rewriting the score to 0-1. Qatar, playing away, led by 1 goal.

The fans in the stands booed even louder.

Everyone seemed to see the possibility of the Chinese team losing at home.

The Chinese team, which had lost the ball, took the initiative to attack and launched a wave of offensives. In a few minutes, they created two free kicks in a row, but they were resolved by Qatar's defense.

In the 18th minute, the Chinese team created a threat to hit the goal frame through a cross from Du Zhenyu.

Of course, it was Jiang Xiaolin who shot the ball.

He headed the ball in the penalty area, but the Qatari defender did not head the ball, but pulled him from below.

Although he was not pulled down, it affected the quality of his header, so that the ball could not be headed to the angle that Jiang Xiaolin wanted, and the force was a little weak. In the end, it was held in the arms of goalkeeper Saker and failed to score.

After attacking for several minutes without scoring, the Chinese team seemed to be discouraged and was pressed back by Qatar's attack. They began to defend passively again and it was difficult to attack to provide support to Jiang Xiaolin.