Chapter 27 Preparing to Slap the Faces of South Korea and Japan

South Korea and Japan were as arrogant as ever.

Mo Mo had already raised his hand high, ready to deliver a resounding slap across their faces!

A second-string squad, under-23 Olympic players—was this really the lineup sent by South Korea and Japan?

Very well! The Japanese Football Association? The South Korean Football Association? Excellent! Mo Mo had even thought of a nickname for himself! If he ever had to choose a nickname in the future, it absolutely, positively had to be "The Killer of South Korea and Japan"!

Recently, the Japan Football Association announced its 23-man squad for the inaugural East Asian Football Championship. Notable inclusions featured Yokohama F. Marinos forward Tatsuhiko Kubo, who made significant contributions to his team's league performance, and Kashima Antlers' formidable midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara. Despite this, Japan's head coach Zico stated that they would strive with all their might to capture the championship on home soil.

Additionally, players selected from the under-23 Olympic team preparing for the Athens Olympics included Gamba Osaka forward Yoshito Okubo, JEF United Ichihara midfielder Yuki Abe, and FC Tokyo's Naohiro Ishikawa.

This was nothing short of blatant contempt! Out of an expanded 30-man preliminary roster, Japan only fielded 23 players! Not a single one of their national team European-based starters returned! And yet they still had the audacity to clamor for the championship? And what about those Olympic under-23 players? What kind of standard even was that kind of team?

In the eyes of European clubs, that level of Olympic football was merely a youth team—an immature side. Not even players who secured regular starting spots in their domestic leagues were guaranteed to play in the Olympics.

Under such circumstances, where did this leave the Chinese national team, which was fully and actively preparing with essentially its World Cup starting lineup? China had registered a full 30-man roster!

Given this, Mo Mo swore a solemn oath: if he didn't thoroughly teach these Japanese a lesson, how could he ever vent the hatred burning in his heart?

The initial Japanese roster included: Yoshito Okubo, Naohiro Takahara, Atsushi Yanagisawa, Ryuki Suzuki, Koji Kuromiya, Tomonori Hirayama, Takashi Fukunishi, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata, Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono, Toshiya Fujita, Yasuhito Endo, Takuya Yamada, Atsuhiro Miura, Kazuki Teshima, Nobuhisa Yamada, Alessandro Santos, Akira Kaji, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Akinobu Moniwa, Keisuke Tsuboi, Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Seigo Narazaki, and Hitoshi Sogahata.

These were the initial selections, but! Among the selected "overseas legion," only Ryuki Suzuki and Toshiya Fujita stated they would definitely participate in the match against South Korea, while Hidetoshi Nakata's club, Parma, explicitly rejected the Japanese Football Association's call-up request!

Pay attention! It was only for the match against South Korea! The match against China was just around the corner, yet they completely turned a blind eye to it! Even that guy Shinji Ono, touted as the "Japanese Beckham," had no intention of making an appearance in the game against China.

Of course, those overseas players had basically no intention of participating in the East Asian Cup anyway! But what did it mean when the only two who claimed they would play only chose the match against South Korea? Was the Chinese national team beneath their notice?

This act was wearing thin, and Mo Mo signaled that he had already raised his palm, fully prepared to hand them a resounding slap within the minute.

Japan even released a news headline like: "Japan Faces China with Starting Lineup"—could you feel the sheer malice dripping from that?

Among them were cases like forward Okubo missing training due to lower back pain, and starting right back Nobuhisa Yamada carrying an injury on his right leg.

Their head coach was even more outrageous!

Zico accepted interviews at the training ground and shared his thoughts on the opening match against China. Regarding the new 3-5-2 formation, he said, "This is indeed the formation I have prepared to match up against China. I hope to run this experiment; playing against China is a wonderful opportunity."

As for why he did this, the man named Zico explained it this way: "This starting lineup is primarily composed of domestic players. There are quite a few teams in our domestic league that use a three-back system, and everyone is already accustomed to such an arrangement. Therefore, given how little time we have for tactical integration, this setup will save both time and energy." He also expressed satisfaction with that day's training session.

After reading this news, the first reaction was anger, the second was helplessness, and the third was an impending total explosion!

However, the roster subsequently announced by the South Korean Football Association almost made Mo Mo burst out laughing! A final 20-man roster! Several players active in Europe, such as Lee Chun-soo and Park Ji-sung, were entirely left off the list.

Compared to the squad that played Bulgaria not long ago, the South Korean team embarking on this expedition to Japan could only be described as a "South Korean B-team," because the majority of the selected players were substitutes for their respective clubs.

Among the 20 players announced this time, only 6 had participated in the previous year's World Cup: Lee Woon-jae, Kim Tae-young, Choi Jin-cheol, Yoo Sang-chul, Lee Eul-yong, and Ahn Jung-hwan. However, because Yoo Sang-chul had to participate in the J.League Championship finals, he would only play in the match against Japan on December 10.

In the midfield, Coelho called up two youngsters from the Olympic team, including Kim Dong-jin, who scored twice in the South Korea-Japan Olympic preliminary match in September, and Choi Won-kwon, who filled the vacancy left by Kim Nam-il, who was absent due to military service.

In the forward line, Kim Eun-jung, who played for Vegalta Sendai, received his first-ever call-up. With the absence of overseas players, the South Korean team's midfield was hit the hardest, particularly on the flanks, where it was nearly impossible to find players capable of both attacking and defending like Lee Young-pyo and Song Chong-gug.

Though Jeon Jae-ho, Hyun Young-min, and Kim Dong-jin had shown eye-catching performances in the league, all three lacked major tournament experience. In the central midfield and attacking areas, Ahn Jung-hwan was the only one with enough presence to steady the ship.

The South Korean squad: Goalkeepers: Lee Woon-jae, Kim Yong-dae. Defenders: Choi Jin-cheol, Kim Hyun-soo, Yoo Sang-chul, Kim Tae-young, Park Jae-hong, Park Yo-seob. Midfielders: Hyun Young-min, Jeon Jae-ho, Kim Dong-jin, Choi Won-kwon, Lee Kwan-woo, Lee Eul-yong. Forwards: Kim Do-hoon, Choi Yong-soo, Kim Eun-jung, Chung Kyung-ho, Kim Dae-ui, Ahn Jung-hwan.

Faced with Japan and South Korea's substitutes, B-teams, and Olympic squads, China's luxurious World Cup lineup looked all the more striking!

Yet, in historical reality, China had first been defeated 2-0 by Japan, and then, against a South Korean side reduced to ten men after a red card, they even conceded another goal while playing eleven against ten.

Did this mean that the main force of Chinese football was inferior to someone else's secondary detachment?

Anger was anger, but a slap to the face was still a slap that needed delivering!

The current national football team was no longer the one that failed to score a single goal. At the very least, they now had Mo Mo—a highly efficient goalscorer, Mo Mo of Inter Milan! Mo Mo, valued at 20 million euros!

Or perhaps did those opponents assume Mo Mo wouldn't return to the country for this tournament? After all, Sun Jihai and Li Tie had clearly turned down their call-ups.

Regardless of anything else, this East Asian Cup was going straight into his pocket.

Watching Japan swaggering about aiming for the championship, and South Korea clamoring about winning the title—what right did two squads patched together from substitutes and B-teams have to make such noise!

The Chinese media remained far too modest and hesitant to speak out, so why not give them a thoroughly satisfying conclusion? Mo Mo hatched a brilliant idea in his heart!