Chapter 740: The Blue Samurai's Midfield Slaughter

Shaking off Endo Wataru, Tang Ye moved closer toward the opponent's goal.

A counterattack following a forward-field steal; this was clearly a good attacking opportunity for the Chinese team.

Now it all depended on how they seized the chance!

Wu Lei accelerated toward the byline, while on the other side, Wang Wang Shenchao and Zhang Zhang Yuning were coordinating their movements.

The Chinese players on the field were trying every possible way to create more passing options for Tang Ye.

This was indeed Escrivá's requirement.

But very soon, the players discovered a problem.

Every Chinese player making a forward run was being marked!

Damn!

Tang Ye cursed, not expecting Japan's defense to be so effective even during a counterattack.

According to conventional thinking, the Chinese forward line must execute complex crossing runs at this moment to ensure Tang Ye had multiple passing lanes.

However, Tang Ye obviously could not demand the same from his national team teammates as he did from his club companions.

Let me try something myself first!

Having made his decision, Tang Ye moved toward Yoshida Maya.

Zhang Zhang Yuning came over to help, but it produced no obvious effect.

Slap!

Find Ai Ai Kesen first.

Waiting for Ai Ai Kesen to pass back, Tang Ye accelerated.

He poked the ball with his toe, hitting Yoshida Maya.

The plan was to nutmeg him, but it failed!

!

Regaining possession, Tang Ye changed his approach, slowing down near the edge of the penalty arc.

Yoshida Maya was very clever; instead of rushing back into the box, he chose to engage Tang Ye in a physical duel.

"Pass it!"

Escrivá was getting a bit anxious.

Zhang Zhang Xizhe and Wu Xi!

Tang Ye passed back to Wu Xi.

At this moment, Itō Junya, who had been quiet until now, sprinted quickly toward Wu Xi.

Wu Xi prepared to pass backward to Jiang Guangtai, while Osako Okazaki Yuya simultaneously pushed off the ground and launched forward.

The Japanese striker was incredibly fast; just as Jiang Guangtai was about to release the ball, he arrived right in the Chinese defender's face.

"Oh!!!!"

The situation was critical; Jiang Guangtai could only pass back to Yan Yan Junling.

"Oh!"

In the stands, Japanese fans shouted in regret, while the supporters cheering for China were thoroughly frightened.

Looking at Escrivá's current state.

The Chinese head coach first shouted several instructions from the sideline, then returned to the bench to confer with Martí.

It was evident that Escrivá was extremely troubled, as he could not immediately find a suitable countermeasure.

This style of play by Japan had appeared in earlier rounds of the Asian qualifiers, but back then, Japan had only used it as an auxiliary tactic.

Moriyasu Hajime was very clever; when playing against China, he suddenly promoted the so-called "auxiliary tactic" to a "core tactic," catching the Chinese team completely off guard!

"Midfield slaughter..."

Martí shook his head and sighed: "You said they wouldn't play like this..."

"No! So what can I do!?"

Escrivá was somewhat angry.

He had originally thought that with Tang Ye present, Japan would not attempt a midfield slaughter.

As a result, Moriyasu Hajime simply deployed a variant of the midfield slaughter.

Abandoning any attempt to target Tang Ye, that statistical monster, they focused solely on pressing Wu Xi and Zhang Zhang Xizhe, the two defensive midfielders.

In that case, describing Japan's tactic as "midfield slaughter" was actually no longer appropriate.

Defensive-third slaughter!

Hmm, this is actually quite interesting!

"We can switch to a 4-4-2."

Escrivá said suddenly, his eyes fixed on the laptop on Martí's thigh, where red and green dots were constantly shifting.

"But we haven't really practiced the 4-4-2..."

Martí turned the laptop slightly toward Escrivá so the head coach could see what he wanted more clearly.

"..."

Escrivá remained silent at first.

He decided to wait and observe for a while.

Time passed quickly, reaching the 18th minute of the first half.

0:0, that was the current score on the field.

"Actually, we can say this scoreline is acceptable for the Chinese team."

"Yes, but the problem is, as we can see now, Japan currently holds a significantly greater advantage. Whether we can maintain this scoreline is actually the question."

"Tomiyasu… suddenly surged forward!"

"Ai Ai Kesen's reaction was too slow!"

"Counterattack!"

The Japanese team completed a steal in their own half, and the hearts of the Chinese fans in the livestream chat instantly clenched tight.

Tomiyasu passed the ball to Shibasaki, who started from the spot and carried it forward for less than 20 meters.

*Slap! *

The instant Shibasaki played the pass, Tang Ye leapt up trying to intercept it in the air.

No luck!

The long ball was lofted very high, sailing over the center circle and past Zhang Zhang Xizhe and Feng Feng Xiaoting below.

*Slap! *

Ito Junya made a mistake — his first touch failed to bring the ball under control.

But there was still space.

After settling himself, Ito Junya began accelerating toward the byline.

"Get up, get up!"

Tang Ye urged on the pitch.

Wang Wang Shenchao closed in quickly, matching Ito Junya in a straight footrace.

Though the Japanese players were generally small in stature, their speed was genuinely no slouch.

Ito Junya still managed to reach the byline before the defense could get set.

"Front post!"

Tang Ye shouted again as he ran.

At the same moment, Ito Junya delivered his cross.

*Slap! *

At the front post, Furuhashi Kyogo stepped in to meet it, planted his standing foot, and let fly a volley.

"ゴールです！！！！！（It's a goal! ）"

"ゴールです！"

"kyogofuruhashi！！！！（Furuhashi Kyogo）"

"1:0！！！"

As the announcer called out the scorer's name, Saitama Stadium erupted into the loudest moment since kickoff.

Furuhashi Kyogo and Osako Okazaki Yuya ran toward the stands together, drawing cheers from the Japanese fans.

"Ah!!!"

Several Japanese players piled into a hug, with captain Yoshida Maya yanking hard on Furuhashi Kyogo's hair.

Then, under the focus of the live cameras, Furuhashi Kyogo struck a Shadow Clone hand-seal pose.

"wow!!!!!"

"……"

Tang Ye stood on the grass, staring blankly at Wu Lei.

He no longer knew what to say.

What Tang Ye felt right now was this: he knew how Japan would attack, even knew which specific Japanese player would get the chance.

Yet the Chinese defenders in the back couldn't adjust in time.

Tang Ye would call out reminders.

But his reminders weren't always perfectly timely.

*Slap slap slap slap! *

"Arigato!!!"

Several Japanese players bowed toward the fans in the stands to thank them.

"Hiss…"

Eskrivewa was furious, but at the same time he showed understanding for his players on the pitch.

"You need to pick yourselves up — haven't you noticed your concentration is slipping?"

"You have to react in time. A half-beat late is handing the opponent a chance, understand? Our opponents today are no pushover — they're our biggest rivals!"

*Beep!!! *

The match continued.

The Japanese fans were now thoroughly enjoying themselves; even some who had been low-key before turned cocky after the goal.

【Tang-kun is not invincible】

【The King of Asia is just one man, not a whole team!】

【Avenge the Asian Cup!】

Baidu Trending Searches.

No. 1: China vs. Japan.

……

No. 16 (fastest rising): China trail by 1.

"Tang Ye's choice on this free kick…"

"Straight shot!"

*Bang! *

Kicking the ball into the stands with one foot, Tang Ye violently whipped out his right hand: "Fuck!!!!"

"Beep beep beep beep!!!"

From the stands came the mocking voices of Japanese fans.

"Tang Ye, this... seems a bit too rushed..."

The commentator had already noticed something was wrong.

You can see a very calm Tang Ye in Champions League matches.

But now this is a national team match.

For Tang Ye personally, national team competitions are actually more difficult than the Champions League; this is also the reason he is becoming increasingly rushed.