"Look at how Japan team conceded this goal!"
Inside the tactics room, Zhu Guanghu tapped the display board. Once he had the players' attention, he pressed the remote in his hand.
The television was playing footage from the first round of the East Asian Cup, Japan team versus North Korea team.
In the 25th minute, North Korea team launched an attack through the middle, only to be stopped after advancing to the edge of the penalty area.
Japan team's overall defense had been excellent. Several players rushed forward together and successfully won the ball from the North Korean player's feet.
At that point, Japan team had already neutralized North Korea team's attack with their outstanding defending. Next, they should have been launching a counterattack.
But Yuji Nakazawa, Japan team's starting center back, made an extremely basic mistake. While passing the ball forward, he accidentally passed it straight to a North Korean player.
The two teams' kit colors were quite different. No one knew what he had been thinking to make such an error.
What followed was nothing worth watching. The North Koreans produced a textbook attacking combination.
After unexpectedly winning the ball, they quickly passed it into the middle of the penalty area, then laid it back from the center. North Korea team's Captain, Kim Myung-jun, arrived late and unleashed a powerful shot, piercing the goal guarded by Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.
It was the only goal of the match, and the decisive one that directly determined the result.
The North Koreans brought Japan team down 1–0, avenging their two defeats to Japan team in the World Cup qualifiers.
Meanwhile, the Japanese, who had their sights set on the title, got off to a disastrous start and lost their opening match.
That meant if they still wanted to win the East Asian