Chapter 62: FA Cup Final (Part 2)

  New book on the rise, still seeking recommendation votes, no good recommendations next week, can only rely on everyone's support T-T

  In the 27th minute of the second half, Yu Hai seized an opportunity from a free kick and scored with a header, further widening the score gap. Feng Xiaoting's weakness in aerial ability was thus exposed, and the two-goal deficit forced Sichuan Crown to take the initiative to press forward, but they still did not relax their defense against Gao Lin, showing an attitude of "we'd rather lose than let Gao Lin play well" (okay, even if Gao Lin played well, we would still lose). This left Gao Lin speechless, "Do we have some deep hatred?"

  However, after Sichuan Crown City team suffered a loss, they changed their strategy somewhat and started to block Gao Jun's passing route in the middle. But this gave Gao Jun the opportunity to drive the ball inside. In the 32nd minute of the second half, Gao Jun drove the ball down the flank and pretended to pass it into the middle, a Crown City team defender hastily lifted his leg to block, but Gao Jun unexpectedly swiped the ball to the left side with his body making a flexible turn, dodging the already off-balance Crown City defender, and rushed into the penalty area!

  Feng Xiaoting was shocked by the situation and rushed to make up for it, but Gao Jun's height is only 1.72 meters, which is 15 centimeters shorter than him. Even if Feng Xiaoting is a famous "tall but not clumsy" player, his agility can't be compared with Gao Jun. Moreover, after being continuously pressed by the Eastern team, he was psychologically affected and eventually let Gao Jun pass through the gap. However, Feng Xiaoting proved himself to be one of China's best central defenders after Jia Xiuquan. Even after being passed by Gao Jun, he didn't completely lose his position. He didn't waste his energy chasing from behind, but instead chose to move laterally to block Gao Jun's passing angle.

  "Usually the right choice." Gao Jun silently praised himself, but his feet unexpectedly chose to shoot directly at the goal. At almost a zero-degree angle, and with the goalkeeper already opening up his body to block, the football in front of Gao Jun drilled into the net along that almost only possible route...

  "What's going on? Is the ball in? Let's take a look at the replay, ah! Ah! Ah! Gao Jun's incredible zero-angle shot, passing through the goalkeeper's armpit and hitting the inside of the far post before bouncing into the net. What a wonderful goal! This is truly a world-class performance. Tao Wei, I feel like I'm about to become a brainless fan of Gao Jun. What should I do?" Huang Jianxiong exclaimed in his characteristic hoarse voice.

  "I'm already used to it, brain-dead fans, not embarrassing...", Tao Wei, who was once an excellent player, said with a tone full of surprise and admiration, although he was just joking.

  The Sichuan Crown team on the field was also thoroughly defeated by this incredible goal, and Kornei's long shot completely killed the game, fixing the final score at 5:1. Dongfang team successfully topped the 2004 Chinese Football Association Cup! But compared to this honor itself, Gao Jun is more concerned about the team getting a rare training opportunity for next year's Asian Championship...

  Although the game was intense, after the match, the national youth team members of both teams still gathered together for a meal. Although Gao Jun was present, no one dared to drink alcohol and ordering dishes was also severely restricted. However, this gathering still served its purpose in bonding emotions. Gao Jun took this opportunity to seriously tell Feng Shuo Ting, "Since you're no longer developing physically, you should focus on building strength now. For that previous ball, if you had the same level of strength as A Lin, a reasonable charge would have been enough to break through it. With your height of 1m87, even I, this 1m7 short guy, couldn't squeeze in - how can this be okay?"

  "How can you possibly be stronger than me? You're only 1.7 meters tall, and you haven't even trained to build up your strength, yet you weigh over 130 pounds, with almost no excess fat on your body, and your balance is great, your lower body is very stable... I really don't know how you grew up like this, if you were to fully develop in the future, I'm afraid that even compared to Zhao Yi, your strength wouldn't be inferior..."

  Feng Xiaoting had some reservations in his heart, but he still listened to Gao Jun's words to a certain extent. Although he never reached the level of being able to completely overpower others with his body, at least he was stronger than before, and his injury problems were also alleviated to some extent.

  However, it was precisely because Feng Xiaoting's physical strength had improved later on that Gao Jun realized that his lack of dominance in the air was not only due to his average jumping ability and strength, but also had a lot to do with his relatively "soft" personality...

  Although they unexpectedly won the FA Cup, in several matches against strong Super League teams, the young Dongfang team also exposed their weak defense. Considering that next year they will participate in the much more difficult Chinese Super League and the higher-level AFC Champions League, it is necessary for Dongfang to introduce strong reinforcements. Since at this time Chinese clubs are only allowed to introduce three foreign players, the current Dongfang team has only one foreign player quota left, so introducing domestic reinforcements is also a must.

  The current national football team is still a strong team in Asia, although it is still at the bottom of the first-class teams and has a significant gap with the top teams. However, if placed among the second-class teams, it can be ranked first, but the advantage is not great. At present, there are only a few excellent central defenders who can meet the needs of the AFC Champions League in China, and most of them are from Shenhua, which cannot afford to buy them due to financial constraints. Therefore, Gao Lin's idea is to introduce Feng Xiaoting, who has slightly inferior strength but outstanding potential, and pair him with a high-level foreign central defender to help him grow. Coach Xu Genbao also highly appreciates Feng Xiaoting's skills and awareness, and even prepared to spend 10 million yuan (although there are limits on transfer fees at that time, but there are always ways to get around it). This amount exceeds one-third of Shenhua's budget for next season, which shows the sincerity of Shanghai Shenhua in seeking talents.

  However, although Feng Xiaoting is superficially a player of Sichuan Crown, in reality he belongs to Dalian Shide Football Club, which controls Sichuan Crown. The latter has already regarded him as the defensive core for the next decade and therefore refused to let go, even pricing him at 300 million yuan or offering Gao Lin in exchange, all of which are unacceptable to Dongfang. As a result, Xu Genbao had to give up his plan to acquire Feng Xiaoting, while Gao Lin's idea of polishing the future national team's defense line with Dongfang also became an illusion, leaving him somewhat resentful towards Shide Football Club.

  However, "when the mountain is exhausted and the water is exhausted, there is no way to doubt, and the willow is dark and the flower is bright again in a village." After several games in the second half of the 2004 season, Du Wei, an excellent domestic midfielder who was suspected of being a fake ball, could not tolerate the club's suspicion of himself. He angrily proposed a transfer, which is a good opportunity for Dongfang team that cannot be missed.