Because of the poor performance on the offensive end, the Chinese team could only defend passively.

However, the Chinese team's defense wasn't very solid either. Although veteran Li Fengwei was in charge of the defense line, he was already thirty-four years old. His physical condition had declined severely, and he looked a bit embarrassed when facing the attacks of Japanese players Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa.

In fact, Li Fengwei still occupied a place in the history of Sino-Japanese football confrontations. There is a very famous photo in the Sino-Japanese football grievances, which is a picture of Chinese national team captain Li Fengwei pinching Japanese national team captain Keita Suzuki with a smile on his face. It was at the East Asian Cup at the beginning of 2008. Although the Chinese team lost the game 0:1, Li Fengwei's pinch was full of domineering, and it became a popular topic after the game. At that time, Japanese media and commentators were very angry about this scene, and Japanese media even believed that it was a humiliating scene for Japanese football.

But in fact, from the perspective of football itself, this is nothing glorious. After all, the game is lost, so what if you pinch someone's neck? You are still a loser on the football field.

Now, thirty-four-year-old Li Fengwei is gradually feeling overwhelmed by the fierce attack of the new generation of the Japanese team.

In the twenty-fifth minute, Keisuke Honda passed the ball to Shinji Kagawa. After receiving the ball, Kagawa faced the defense of Chinese national team captain Li Fengwei. After a feint, he suddenly accelerated. Although Li Fengwei saw it, his body could not react, and he was half a beat slower. He could only watch Kagawa break into the penalty area from his other side, and then shot angrily. The football flew into the goal guarded by Zeng Cheng.

"Beautiful—!!" the Japanese commentator shouted, raising his arms. "Shinji Kagawa! Shinji Kagawa! He scored the first goal for the Japanese team!!"

The cheers that rang out at the Tokyo National Stadium at that moment were like a volcanic eruption. After the Olympic team lost to the Chinese team and lost the gold medal, Japanese fans also had a fire in their hearts.

Now this fire can finally be vented.

"Dangerous! Oh no!" Liu Hong exclaimed after Kagawa broke into the penalty area, but in the end, he was unable to prevent the Japanese team from scoring. "The Chinese team is behind on the road! The Chinese team's defense has been under pressure before, with dangers emerging one after another, as if they were going to lose the ball at any time. This is really too dangerous, but in the end, the national team failed to hold on... Li Fengwei was easily broken through by Shinji Kagawa when defending head-on... There's no way, thirty-four-year-old Li Fengwei is already a veteran. Even if he performs well in the Tianjin team, the domestic league and the Top Ten are not at the same level..."

Li Fengwei's performance has indeed been outstanding in the past two years. At the beginning of this year, Li Fengwei was selected in the selection of Asia's best artists on the British professional football website. As the best center back, the website's evaluation of Li Fengwei is: Since leaving the Korean K-League and joining the Chinese Super League Tianjin team, Li Fengwei's experiences and changes over the years have provided some inspiration for the entire Chinese football world. This experienced veteran plays a very important role in the Tianjin team's locker room and also helped the Tianjin team win the Chinese Football Association Cup.

Because of his outstanding performance last year, domestic public opinion has been calling on Gao Hongbo to give the veteran a chance and let them do their best for the Chinese team to reach the World Cup again. These veterans include Li Fengwei and Zheng Zhi.

So after the start of the Top Ten, Gao Hongbo followed "public opinion" and recruited Li Fengwei, but Zheng Zhi was not recruited because his role completely conflicted with Zhou Yi's.

After Li Fengwei entered the national team, he became the captain with his qualifications. It must be said that Li Fengwei is still very dedicated in the national team, and he also plays a leading role, helping the coaching staff to stabilize the locker room. In the past, there were many negative evaluations about Li Fengwei, thinking that he was a football bully who led players to fight against coaches and clubs, and he often lost control of his temper on the court and received cards, causing controversy.

However, with the increase of age and experience, his temper has gradually converged, and he is no longer the unruly football bully he once was.

Gao Hongbo's recruitment of Li Fengwei into the team was not only due to pressure from domestic public opinion, but also because he saw Li Fengwei's changes.

But to be fair, Li Fengwei's importance in the locker room is not the same as his importance on the field. The intensity of the Chinese Super League and the FA Cup cannot be compared with the Top Ten matches. This is a competition that determines who can go to the World Cup. In terms of the importance of each team and the gold content of the competition, it even exceeds the Asian Cup.

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After scoring the goal, Shinji Kagawa ran excitedly to Keisuke Honda, who assisted him. The two Japanese players playing in Europe hugged each other, and other Japanese players rushed up to celebrate the goal excitedly.

In the penalty area, Li Fengwei raised his head and closed his eyes in pain. He knew that this goal was his responsibility, and he could not argue or blame others. He could only blame himself, which made him very aggrieved.

The once-powerful "Big Head" is now unable to withstand the erosion of time...

On the Chinese Internet, some fans who don't have a good opinion of Li Fengwei are scolding his defense as "defending with his eyes," and some people are questioning why Gao Hongbo wants to recruit such an old player into the national team and give him a starting opportunity.

"Why not use Guo Nu as the starter? Guo Nu is a bit short, but the Japs are not tall either!"

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After losing the ball, Gao Hongbo finally got up from his seat. He walked to the sidelines and clapped his hands to encourage the team, telling them not to be discouraged by the loss.

The substitute national players sitting on the bench were also very annoyed by the loss. Yang Muge and Guo Nu sat together. Guo Nu put his hands on his head and leaned back on the chair. Although Yang Muge didn't have such an exaggerated movement, he also sighed.

For them, the Chinese team's defensive problems actually greatly increased their chances of playing. For example, some people on the Internet are calling for Gao Hongbo to replace them and hold off the Japanese team's attack.

But the two of them on the sidelines didn't think so much at this moment. They were just breathing and sharing the same fate with the eleven national team teammates on the field. They felt sorry and regretful for the Chinese team's loss, and didn't think about whether they would get a chance to play because of it.

Zhou Yi turned his head and looked at the old captain Li Fengwei. When he was still a fan, he watched Li Fengwei wearing the national team jersey and wearing the captain's armband, playing against players from Asian countries. He had many controversies on and off the field, but it was undeniable that he was the best center back in Chinese football at that time. His two headers against Uzbekistan and Qatar in the 2001 Top Ten matches made Xiao Zhou Yi, who was still watching the game in front of the TV, jump up from his seat excitedly.

Li Fengwei also contributed to the Chinese team's entry into the World Cup finals.

A hero of Chinese football has now become the culprit for the loss.

All kinds of experiences in the middle made him sigh.

Saying sympathy is very pretentious.

Unable to bear to watch the scene of a hero's twilight years, Zhou Yi turned his head away, and happened to meet Shinji Kagawa's eyes.

Just after finishing the celebration, Shinji Kagawa turned his attention to Zhou Yi.

The eyes of the two people met in the air. Although they didn't speak, Zhou Yi understood what Shinji Kagawa meant - he used this goal to issue a challenge to himself.

However, Zhou Yi did not respond in any way, and calmly moved his eyes away.

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After the game restarted, the Japanese team took advantage of their newly gained lead and continued to launch a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal. Among them, Shinji Kagawa performed very actively.

His every reception, pass, and shot can immediately win the praise of the Japanese TV commentator.

Chinese commentator Liu Hong also repeatedly mentioned Shinji Kagawa's threat to the Chinese team's defense.

Li Fengwei obviously became the main target of the Japanese team's attack after losing the ball. Fortunately, he was not affected by the loss and was still defending very actively and hard. Although his frontal defense ability has declined, he still has a high level of heading ability. When the Japanese team occasionally made a cross from the wing, Li Fengwei directly headed it out.

But the Japanese team still completely suppressed the Chinese team.

The Chinese team played very embarrassed after losing the ball. For a period of time, they couldn't even pass the halfway line. He Ying was roaming in the front, and couldn't receive the ball at all.

The Chinese team's defense was in constant emergency, and the alarm was ringing continuously in front of the goal.

"This ball is dangerous!"

"Dangerous!"

"What a close call!"

Commentator Liu Hong kept popping out such words.

The Chinese fans in front of the TV were also watching nervously, and they were about to have a heart attack.

Fortunately, after losing the ball, the Chinese team's contraction defense still worked. Zhou Yi also actively participated in the defense, using his judgment of the Japanese team's ball path to interfere with the Japanese team's offensive organization. He also had a direct dialogue with Shinji Kagawa once. At that time, he stood in front of Shinji Kagawa. Shinji Kagawa did not choose to break through, but passed the ball horizontally, which was regarded as avoiding Zhou Yi.

In the end, through the efforts of the entire Chinese team, the Japanese team was unable to extend the score until the end of the first half.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, the score was 1:0, and the home team Japan led.

Liu Hong praised the Chinese team's performance after losing the ball, and looked forward to Gao Hongbo's adjustments during the halftime break.

The Japanese commentator was a little disappointed that the Japanese team did not extend the score in the first half.

But at the same time, in his simple outlook for the second half, he also optimistically said that if they continue to play like this, it shouldn't be a problem for the Japanese team to win the Chinese team at home.