As the night wore on, the second round of the 9th East Asian Cup was lit in Japan, where the Chinese men's soccer team faced a tough challenge, but managed to save a point by staging a 0-0 battle with Japan at a disadvantage. In another match in the same round, South Korea easily defeated Hong Kong, China with a score of 3-0.
In the match against South Korea, China made minor changes to their starting lineup, with Chen Guoxi, He Yupeng and Wu Shaochong donning their uniforms for tonight's match, while Japan also made a major change to their starting lineup, with a completely different lineup making an appearance.
However, the performance of the Chinese team was the same as the previous game, it was difficult to get rid of the high-pressure press of the Japanese team, and there were very few chances for short and medium passes to advance through the center of the field, and most of the time, they were in a passive situation. In the first half, the ball possession was only 37% to 63%, the number of shots on goal was 1 to 13, and the percentage of shots on goal was 1 to 6, which put the Chinese team at an absolute disadvantage. Luckily, the defense performed well, and Japan failed to create a must-score opportunity despite their offensive attack.
Comparatively speaking, the Chinese team is more bold in the offensive end, after losing the ball still adhere to the high press, rather than directly retreat to the 30-meter area defense, making the back line pressure has eased, the field slightly improved compared to the previous game.
At the break, Japan continued to dominate possession and created more chances to score, but striker Makoto Hosoya missed two one-on-one chances with the goalkeeper and a quasi-single goal, failing to convert the advantage into a goal.
From the 70th minute onwards, Japan brought on Machino Shudo, Takuma Nishimura and Yuki Soma, three strikers who had each scored two goals in their first match against Hong Kong, China. However, the Chinese team still relied on the tenacious defense to withstand the opponent's attack.
