Gao Zheng flew directly from Madrid to Shenzhen. As soon as he came out of the cabin and stepped onto the pier, he was covered in a mess by the oncoming heat waves.

In just one second, he felt that his whole body was wrapped in a layer of water membrane, even in his nostrils and alveoli.

He walked a few more steps forward and finally felt the chill from the air conditioner, and the sticky feeling on his body faded.

In fact, he is not unfamiliar with this feeling, because the place he was staying before was similar to Shenzhen’s climate and the air humidity was very high.

But being familiar with it doesn't mean you like it.

He still doesn't get used to this feeling every time he comes.

It feels like taking three baths a day is not enough.

When he knew that the Chinese team arranged their home court with the Hong Kong team in Shenzhen, he was very curious. He didn't know if the brains of relevant leaders of the Football Association were also covered with a layer of water film...

Shenzhen!

It is only a river away from Hong Kong, and it is not much different from Hong Kong in terms of climate and diet.

So is this the home court of the Chinese team or the home court of Hong Kong?

He thinks that the players on the Hong Kong team may be more adapted to the climate in Shenzhen than they do...

At the beginning, because I wanted to play the Maldives away, I arranged my home court in Shenzhen to shorten the itinerary. The problem is that now the Maldives have no home court, and we will go north to Shenyang to play against the Maldives. Then why not adjust the host location of this game against Hong Kong?

Gao Zheng heard that the reason why the Football Association did not change the home court of the Hong Kong team was because considering that the tickets for this game had been sold long ago, if the venue was temporarily changed, they would have to compensate the fans for their economic losses. The Football Association was unwilling to pay for the money, and felt that with the strength of the Hong Kong team, even if they were more adapted to the climate here, they might not be the opponent of the Chinese team.

So they decided to continue playing this game in Shenzhen.

To put it bluntly, I just look down on the Hong Kong team.

I feel that even in Shenzhen, I can defeat my opponent.

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But when the game started, everyone realized that they were too optimistic.

The Hong Kong team in China, who is taking a bus to play away games, is indeed more adaptable to the stuffy and humid weather in Shenzhen than the Chinese team.

Facing the Chinese team, the Hong Kong team set up a bus in front of the goal.

This is easy to understand. For them who play away, a draw is completely acceptable. Even if they give up the offense in this game, it is reasonable.

So at the beginning of the game, the Chinese team, who had full strength to attack, hit the wall built by the Hong Kong team in China.

Although the Chinese team's offensive is strong, their chances are not very good in the face of Chen Cheng, the defence of the Hong Kong team of China.

In addition, the Chinese team's luck seemed to be too bad - ten minutes into the game, after Gao Zheng returned, Zheng Zhi's right-footed long shot outside the penalty area hit the left post. Just one minute later, Zheng Zhi made a straight pass from the front of the penalty area. Wu Lei passed the goalkeeper in the penalty area and pushed the empty goal with his right foot. Hong Kong defender Ji Shili rushed out from the diagonal stab and stretched his legs to block. After the football hit his leg, it changed a little, and then hit the goal post on the right bounced out...

"Ahhhhh! Two consecutive goal posts! The Chinese team's offense was blocked by the goal post!" commentator Liu Hong shouted in annoyance.

He had a premonition in his mind, but he didn't dare to say it out loud - he was blocked by the post for two consecutive shots. Is this a bad sign?

You know, this is our home court, but our home goal was not on our side...

The development of the next game seems to gradually confirm Liu Hong's bad idea.

In the 36th minute, the Chinese team intercepted the ball and counterattacked. Wu Xi made an accurate over-top pass in the frontcourt. Gao Zheng, who was inserted, fell to the ground and shot directly in front of the ball. As a result, the football hit the left post again!

In the 44th minute, as the first half was about to end, the Chinese team's continuous offense created chaos in the penalty area of ​​Hong Kong team. The Hong Kong team players did not play far away. The football fell to the top of the penalty area free throw arc and was received by Zheng Zhi there, and then another long shot with his right foot.

But this kick hit the crossbar!

"Ah—! The fourth time! The fourth goal post! The Chinese team's home goal blocked our goal four times in a row!!" Liu Hong asked a soul-touching question: "Is this our home court?"

This question suddenly sounds like a nonsensical one, but in fact it may have accidentally told the truth - although the schedule is the home court of the Chinese team, judging from the performance of the players, this may be more like the home court of Hong Kong, China.

After all, Shenzhen and Hong Kong are only separated by a river, and the climate is the same. The distance between Hong Kong players in China and Hong Kong is much closer than that of the Chinese national team. The Hong Kong players in China may not feel that they are playing away games.

So they seem very confident when defending and maintain their tactical discipline quite well.

It seems that the goal post helped Hong Kong, China and Hong Kong four times in the first half, but in addition, their defense was also well organized.

Especially in the first half, they did not give Gao Zheng too many opportunities.

From their defense against Gao Zheng, we can see that Hong Kong, China, really did a lot of homework before this game, and its defense was very tight, completely isolated Gao Zheng from other Chinese players.

No matter where Gao Zheng got the ball, he would have three players from the Hong Kong team around him, using both hands and feet to stop him in every way.

Gao Zheng's best chance in the first half was that he volleyed and hit the door frame.

In this way, when the first half ended, the Chinese team and Hong Kong, China were still 0:0.

This score naturally made Chinese fans very dissatisfied.

After all, with the strength of the Chinese team, the victory should be secured in the first half. As a result, the Chinese team still has the possibility of losing to the Hong Kong team.

After the halftime break, the Chinese team still had a tide of offense, and this time it was Hong Kong's goalkeeper Ye Honghui who came out to steal the limelight.

In the 54th minute, Gao Zheng pulled a long shot near the top of the penalty area's free throw arc, and the ball was pushed out of the crossbar by Ye Honghui with one palm.

Then Ye Honghui began to delay time. In response to the booing of Chinese fans, he put the football again and again until the referee showed him a yellow card.

A minute later, Gao Zheng passed by a cross from the right side of the penalty area, and Wu Lei, who followed in the middle, pushed the ball with his right foot and shot over the crossbar.

Then Zhang Linpeng made a cross from the right, and Gao Zheng jumped up and headed the ball to the goal, Ye Honghui held out the crossbar with one hand.

Three minutes later, the free kick taken by Gao Zheng was also punched out by Ye Honghui. Zheng Zhi stopped the football with his chest outside the penalty area and shot it directly, hitting it high.

The Chinese team's offense then slowed down because there were problems with the players' physical fitness.

The stuffy and humid weather is obviously more adaptable to Hong Kong players. They seem to be at ease, while the Chinese players' speed has dropped significantly when they have some balls that need to be fought.

Hong Kong even had a chance to counterattack. In a counterattack in the 70th minute, forward McGee hit the football high. Although he didn't score a goal and was ridiculously high, it shocked the Chinese fans in a cold sweat - this was just the beginning, there was a second time when there was the first time. This time we were lucky and they played high. What about next time?

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Just when the Chinese fans in front of the TV and on the scene began to feel anxious, the deadlock was finally broken.

In the 73rd minute, Gao Zheng stopped his teammate's cross in the penalty area and turned around and shot.

This time, the outstanding performance of China's Hong Kong goalkeeper Ye Honghui was powerless. Although he made a save, he failed to encounter football.

Gao Zheng turned around and shot a bit unreasonable. At that time, four Hong Kong players in China were surrounded by him. Gao Zheng ignored them at all. First, he stopped the flying ball with his right foot, and then turned around and shot with his left foot.

Because his vision was completely blocked, Ye Honghui's save action was obviously slow.

"Gao Zheng!! Gao Zheng! Beautiful!!! This is the key goal!!" Liu Hong raised his arms and shouted in the commentary seat. His emotions that had been suppressed before could finally be vented.

Not only him, but all the Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV jumped up and cheered.

Gao Zheng's ball was like opening the pressure relief valve.

Although this goal came a little late, it is better to be late than not - this is what everyone feels right now.

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Ye Honghui lay on the ground, and like him there were several other Hong Kong players in China. Although the game has not ended yet, looking at their performance at this moment, it is like the referee has blew the final whistle.

In fact, their performance in this game has been very good. They can be said to be very successful in defense against Gao Zheng. Considering their strength, it is even more commendable to be able to do this.

But unfortunately, there is still a gap in strength, otherwise their defense line would not have been penetrated by Gao Zheng.

Even Liu Hong is praising the fighting spirit shown by Hong Kong players.

Of course, he had the leisure to praise his opponent because Gao Zheng scored a goal and helped the Chinese team take the lead. Otherwise, Liu Hong would not have been so graceful.

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In the end, with Gao Zheng's goal, the Chinese team defeated Hong Kong, China 1-0 at home, and won two consecutive victories in the top 40 games, but this did not help the Chinese team become the first in the group.

The first group is Qatar.

Although Qatar only beat Maldives 1:0 away in the first group match, in this group match, they defeated Bhutan 15:0 at home, and saved enough goal difference. With the same six points as the Chinese team, they became the first in the group.
Chapter completed!