Fox in the Penalty Area

Chapter 1746 Shield and Sword

"Sugiyama! Sugiyama! Sugiyama Tatsuya! Shutuo!"

As Sugiyama Tatsuya dunked two Australian defensive players in a row at the front of the penalty area, the Japanese commentator became excited.

His "Shu Tuo" is almost in sync with Sugiyama Tatsuya's shooting action.

In the roar of his prolonged voice, Tatsuya Sugiyama shot decisively just after entering the penalty area, and the football rushed straight to the goal.

Australia's goalkeeper Joshua Barres jumped into the air, stretching his body in the air, extending his arms as far as possible, hoping to block the ball.

But he didn't touch it!

He didn't touch it!

"Tatsuya Sugiyama—! YATTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The Japanese commentator on the commentary stand stood up from his seat, raised his arms and shouted.

"Onboard! Neon Onboard!"

"This is a lore! Tatsuya Sugiyama's goal helped the Japanese team beat Australia in the away game! We eliminated them! Now we have a chance to play against Canada! The World Cup is still short of the last opponent! Although the process is a bit difficult, But Japan will not miss the World Cup! No!"

"Tatsuya Sugiyama is in surprisingly good condition! It was because of his goals and assists in this game that we finally defeated Australia 2:1 in the away game! And eliminated them with a total score of 3:2!"

While the Japanese commentators and guest commentators shouted excitedly, there were huge boos in the stadium.

The boos were all from Australian fans.

They did not expect that at their doorstep, they could witness Australia's failure to qualify for next year's World Cup in Spain and Portugal...

Just four days ago, in the first round of the playoffs between the two sides, Australia drew 1:1 with Japan away. Australian fans are very excited, thinking that this time Australia will definitely be able to go to the World Cup.

Because they were able to draw with Japan in the away game, can they still be overturned by the Japanese team when they return home?

Judging from the first half of today's game, Australia did give full play to their home court advantage and suppressed the Japanese team, making the Japanese team unable to hold their heads up.

In the 30th minute striker Benjamin Torrio scored a goal and the aggregate score led 2:1.

The Japanese team was cornered.

Then in the second half, Sugiyama Tatsuya broke out.

The core midfielder of the Japanese national team first pierced Australia's defense with a scalpel-like through ball and assisted Ito Nuo, who is currently playing for London Bridge, to equalize the score.

Then he led the Japanese team to regain control of the initiative, making full use of the Japanese players' good ball-handling skills and the advantages of tacit teamwork to play the Australian players around.

In the end, he scored the lore goal for Australia in the 93rd minute and 48 seconds, the last ten seconds of stoppage time.

After he scored, the players on the Australian field collapsed on the turf, covering their faces with their hands and holding their heads as if they were struck by lightning collectively—they all knew that they were helpless...

Australia is over!

Tatsuya Sugiyama, who scored the goal, ran past the lying Australian players. He excitedly rushed to the corner flag area and shook his fist at the Japanese fans who were accompanying the team in the stands.

More Japanese players ran over and quickly overwhelmed him.

Not only the players on the court, but even the Japanese players on the bench rushed over.

On the territory of Australia, they celebrated their hard-won victory to their heart's content.

This feeling is unfamiliar to many Japanese fans.

Because they have not experienced such a thrilling World Cup qualifying experience for a long time...

Since reaching the World Cup finals for the first time, the Japanese team once again directly qualified for the finals as the host.

The remaining six World Cups were all won directly in the qualifying stage.

Only this time, they even had to play the play-offs.

Don't look at how exaggerated they are celebrating now, in fact they have not yet won the tickets for the World Cup finals.

Because the elimination of Australia is nothing more than finishing the play-offs in the Asian region.

To qualify for the World Cup, they will have to fight Canada, which is fourth in CONCACAF, in November.

That is the key battle that will determine whether they can participate in the World Cup.

Just like the Chinese team four years ago.

However, the Chinese team at that time was weaker than the Japanese team, but their opponents were stronger than Canada today.

The Japanese fans and commentators are so excited because they feel that with the strength of the Japanese team, it should not be a big problem to eliminate Canada.

The biggest difficulty is Australia.

So as long as Australia can be eliminated, the Japanese team is equivalent to stepping into the World Cup finals with one foot.

And the Japanese team was able to complete the Jedi counterattack and participate in the World Cup. Their midfielder Tatsuya Sugiyama is definitely the number one contributor.

"Tatsuya Sugiyama is in a good state today, I hope he can continue this good state to the match against Canada next month!"

The Japanese narrator said excitedly, full of expectations.

※※※

After celebrating in front of their own fans, the Japanese players returned to their half in twos and threes.

The game isn't actually over yet.

Coupled with the time they spent celebrating wildly, the referee is likely to give Australia another minute or so of stoppage time.

So in theory, Australia still has a chance of survival.

Sugiyama Tatsuya ran back with Morikawa Junpei in his arms: "It's up to you, Junpei!"

"No problem, you can rest assured to leave me with you, Sugiyama-kun!" Morikawa Junpei replied very smugly.

Sugiyama Tatsuya doesn't care about Morikawa Junpei's middle school temperament at this time, he even has to thank Morikawa Junpei.

Because his ball just now was exactly the scoring opportunity created by Morikawa Junpei's successful steal in Australia's backcourt.

"Thank you for the ball just now..."

Junpei Morikawa shook his head: "That's what I should do, Sugiyama-kun."

Seeing what Morikawa Junpei said, Sugiyama Tatsuya laughed: "That's true, you are a 'shield'...ha!"

"Shield" is the nickname given to Junpei Morikawa by the Japanese media. It describes Junpei Morikawa's running and interception in the midfield, as if erecting a shield in front of the Japanese back line.

In contrast, Sugiyama Tatsuya's nickname is "sword".

The midfield combination of the two of them in the Japanese national team is also known as "Shield and Sword".

This is actually a nickname that has gradually spread in the last two years.

Because both of them have only occupied a core position in the Japanese national team in the last two years.

In the past, Tatsuya Sugiyama was still attracting attention, but Junpei Morikawa was relatively unnoticed, and few people realized his importance to the Japanese national team.

After the current Japanese national team coach Carlisle fixed the combination of Sugiyama Tatsuya and Morikawa Junpei in the national team, the media and fans gradually created such a statement.

In addition, the two of them have been midfield partners since the Olympic team, and they also have a sense of CP.

Sugiyama Tatsuya is responsible for organizing the offense and helping the Japanese team score goals. He is the core midfielder, brain and commander of the Japanese team.

Morikawa Junping protects him wholeheartedly.

※※※

The referee's whistle blew as Junpei Morikawa shoveled Australian striker Benjamin Torrio to the ground.

But he didn't call Junpei Morikawa for a foul—the latter tackled the ball first and then brought him down, very clean—he blew the whistle to end the game!

Benjamin Torrio still wanted to find the referee to argue, but no teammates came up to help him besiege the referee.

They all lay down on the ground, covering their faces with their hands!

Everyone knows very well that even if Australia is given an extra free kick, it will not help. After all, this is a free kick from the backcourt... I am afraid that if the free kick is taken, the game will be over.

It's just that there is more time for free kicks, but nothing can be changed.

Why bother?

The Australians were lying on the ground like corpses, and the Australians were walking corpses in the stands. Many home fans were stunned and silent in the face of this result.

In fact, since Tatsuya Sugiyama's lore goal, many Australian fans knew the result~www.novelmt.com~ Some even left the field early, unwilling to see the Japanese team celebrating under their noses.

Those Australian fans who did not leave early were still lucky and hoped that a miracle would happen.

As a matter of course, no miracle happened.

The Japanese players on the sidelines rushed to the field, ran and hugged.

Tatsuya Sugiyama pounced on his partner Junpei Morikawa in midfield, pulled the latter up from the ground, and hugged him hard.

Then the two of them were quickly surrounded by other Japanese players.

All the Japanese players were wildly cheering and celebrating as if they had reached the World Cup finals.

That's right, after passing Australia's hurdle, they are indeed infinitely close to the World Cup finals...

Seeing this scene, the Japanese commentator said happily: "This is the 'shield and sword' of our Japanese football! Sugiyama Tatsuya and Morikawa Junpei contributed to the elimination of Australia in this game! Please go to the World Cup, because that This is the stage for you to play to your heart's content! What a shame!"

(end of this chapter)