In the fifth round of the competition, Genk played against Gent at home. Nagi still started the game. The head coach Aimee Antonis had fully believed that he has no problem.
Gent's defense against Nagi was in place, and the strategy of focusing on marking and flanking prevented him from breaking through sharply, but because Nagi involved a lot of defensive attention, it was easy for others to run out of space.
Soon Gareth Barry assisted Jason Aldridge to score a goal, and Genk took the lead. Gent, who were behind, seemed a little at a loss and wanted to continue to pinch Nagi, but other Genk players made it time and time again. At the end of the game, Nagi seized a quick counterattack and scored another goal for Genk to seal the victory.
After the game, Nagi's performance was unanimously recognized. He was not discouraged when he was closely defended. He attracted the defense by constantly interspersing and running, making the offense of other players more threatening. In the end, he was able to seize a chance and convert it into a goal efficiently.
Both Anderlecht and Bruges have won this round of matches, holding on to Genk tightly, while Standard Liege fought Brussels 0:0, widening the gap with the top echelon.
A week later, in the 6th round of the Ligue 1, Genk challenged Sültwarechem away. Just ten minutes into the game, Beth and Nagi staged a wonderful two-for-one cooperation. Genk opened the scoring.
Five minutes later, Nagi made a counter successfully got the ball from the right side offside. Facing the defender who was keeping up with him, he calmly stepped on his bicycle and made a fake move, and then slanted into the penalty area.
At this time, the Genk players in the middle hadn't caught up, so Nagi had no choice but to hit the goal. The opponent's goalkeeper made a fatal mistake and stood too far to the left. Nagi volleyed to the far corner. The goalkeeper tried his best to stretch and save, but it was still in vain .
After changing sides in the second half, Barry flew the header in the penalty area and sent a wonderful assist to Nagi. Nagi volleyed and scored a hat-trick.
In the end, Genk won 3-0 in an away game against Sültwarechem. Nagi also scored a hat-trick in the first game of the season. He scored 10 goals in 6 rounds and ranked first in the scorer list. Call him an goal machine.
After this round, Genk still occupies the top of the standings with an unbeaten record.
In the 7th round of the Ligue 1, Genk sits at home and ushered in La Louvière. Affected by the national team's match day, some of the main players, including Barry and Chivu, were absent, and only the substitute lineup could be used.
The visiting team, which was deep in the relegation zone, showed extraordinary stamina, which made Genk unable to find effective means of attack for a long time, and Nagi was also unable to support himself in the front field.
After resisting Genk's attack, La Louvière also relied on a defensive counterattack, causing the Genk defender to handball in the penalty area, yellow card + penalty kick!
The captain of the visiting team was also unambiguous, and he did it overnight, opening the scoring for La Louvière. After that, they played more conservatively, and the whole team concentrated within 30 meters from the front of the penalty area.
At the 50th, 60th, 70th minute, and even at the 80th minute, Genk still failed to find a good solution. Nagi was very unwilling, and he kept running, waiting for an opportunity.
When the game entered stoppage time, Nagi received a pass from the right, knocked back to Beth in the midfield, and immediately crossed into the penalty area from the right. At Nagi's feet.
In the penalty area, Nagi used a croquette technique to dart past a La Louvière defender, and then shot angrily.
"Mina took the ball in the penalty area, faked past the defense, and hit the goal directly, beautiful, goooooooooooooooooooal, the ball scored!"
"Mina, it was Nagi Mina who stood up at a critical moment and saved Genk." After scoring the goal, Nagi did not celebrate, but quickly fished the ball out of the visiting team's goal, and then ran to the midfield to put it down.
It's a pity that there was still not enough time. Shortly after La Louvière kicked off, the referee blew the whistle for the whole game.
In the end, Genk had a 1:1 upset at home and was tied by the bottom-ranked La Louvière. After this round, Anderlecht took all three points and reversed Genk to reach the top of the standings, while Genk fell to second place, and Brugge behind him was also eyeing.
Genk was underestimated by many media after the game. "Sports" stated that Genk's lineup is very poor in thickness. In the absence of many main players, its strength has dropped significantly. This season Genk still needs to fight in the league, cup and Europa League, and it will definitely be difficult to achieve good results.
Most of the media still gave positive comments on Nagi's savior's goal. "Latest News" believed that Nagi's fighting spirit is worth learning from. "Until the last second, he did not give up the victory."
In the 8th round of the League, Genk challenged Segrabrugge away, and Genk still had to fight against the enemy.
After the start of the game, Nagi made a rush. He forced a breakthrough on the right side and caused a corner kick, and decided to take the corner kick. A curve ball accurately found the young player John Wilson who came on as a substitute for Barry. He immediately made it overnight and opened the scoring for Genk.
After scoring the goal, Wilson was still standing there, unable to react. Nagi looked at him little funny. Isn't this exactly what he did when he scored the first goal? So he stepped forward and pulled Wilson, and ran around the field together to celebrate.
Segla Brugge couldn't shrink back, so they could only pull out to play, which gave Genk more room to attack. In the 33rd minute, Nagi suddenly ran to the left to catch the ball, broke into the penalty area, brushed lightly against the defense, and then directly hit the goal, making another victory for Genk.
In the end, the score of 2:0 was also maintained until the end. Genk scored a valuable three points, and continued to cling to Anderlecht, the leader of the standings, while Bruges and Standard Liege were successively defeated. The draw opened up the gap with the top two.
The draw for the group stage of the European Cup was also held this weekend. Nagi, the coaching staff, and teammates gathered in the conference room to watch the live broadcast of the draw.
Genk was drawn into Group B, the same group with Petah Tikva Maccabi of the Israel Football Super League, Brondby of the Danish Football Super League, Espanyol in La Liga and Lokomotiv Moscow in the Russian Super League.
This draw is relatively powerful for Genk. The Europa League system adopts a single round-robin system in the group stage, and the top three can advance to the top 32. Both Maccabi Petah Tikva and Brondby are weak teams. Even if the Espanyol and Lokomotiv Moscow are strong, Genk can guarantee at least the third place in the group.
However, in order not to encounter strong teams from the five major leagues in advance in the top 32, it is best to compete for rankings. Genk fell to the top 32 last season, and this season must make a breakthrough.
In the 9th round of the League, Genk played against Bill Short at home. The players who were transferred to the national team returned one after another, but their state has obviously not fully recovered.
The whole game was rather dull, only in the 31st minute of the second half, after Nagi took the ball from the right, he passed two defensive players in a row and made a cross. Barry in the middle followed up and scored the ball, which guaranteed the victory of Genk.
Although Nagi did not score a goal in this game, he created all of Genk's threatening offenses, so he was well received by the media.
After this game, Genk will go to Israel to challenge Petah Tikva Maccabi.
After more than ten hours of running around, Genk finally arrived in Israel. The players were all sluggish, but the rest time was very short, and the game will be played tomorrow.
It was also the first time for Nagi to experience this kind of experience. He felt that he was very tired, so he even canceled the extra training, and recovered his physical strength by getting more sleep.
On the second day, at the Hamoshawa Stadium, the Israeli football market was not very good, and there were only sporadic spectators in the stands. The game was scheduled for the afternoon, and the weather in Israel in October was still very hot, and the players in Genk looked listless.
Maccabi Petah Tikva took advantage of this opportunity and launched a rush attack at the beginning. Genk made a mistake in the backfield, and the home team forward intercepted the ball and sent it into the goal.
The sudden conceded goal was like a blow to the head, and instantly woke up the Genk players on the field. This game was a game they had to win to advance, so they quickly made adjustments to gradually stabilize the situation.
In the 11th minute, Nagi made a breakthrough cross after receiving the ball from the right. Gareth Barry headed the ball in the middle. Maccabi Tatikwa's keeper did a great job saving the ball over the line.
The subsequent corner kick was also taken by Nagi. He accurately found Christian Chivu in the penalty area. Chivu jumped high and headed the goal, but it missed the crossbar slightly.
With two consecutive threatening attacks, Genk played more calmly. Their overall strength is already stronger than the opponent, and many players are full of confidence. The goal conceded under carelessness should be recovered quickly, because there was Nagi, the best shooter in the game.
In the 31st minute, After Barry passed the pass to Nagi at the front of the penalty area, he blocked the follow-up player, resulting in a gap. Nagi was keenly aware of this and directly hit the goal with his right foot.
"Mina took the ball, let's see how he handles it, and hit the goal! Goooooooooooooooal, the goal is scored! In the 31st minute, Genk equalized the score."
"Let's take a look at the slow-motion replay. Mina's ground ball seemed harmless, but it was actually very powerful. The ball bounced slightly up and down on the lawn."
"The goalkeeper of Petah Tikwa Maccabi was careless. He wanted to save the ball with one hand, but he was already in the state of being bounced. After hitting his hand, the castration continued and it bounced directly into the net."
After scoring the goal, Nagi didn't celebrate either. Instead, he took out the ball and planned to continue attacking. He didn't want to get a draw.
The second goal came quickly, just five minutes later, Genk made a steal from the backfield, Chivu passed to Beth in the midfield, Beth dribbled the ball forward, saw Nagi standing near the top of the arc, and rolled with one kick The ball passed the ball.
Nagi received the ball with his back. At this time, the defensive players in the penalty area rushed forward to press the ball. Immediately, he flicked the ball back with his right toe. The ball jumped high and passed the defensive players behind him.
At the same time, Nagi also quickly turned around and passed the defender. Maccabi Petah Tikva's defenders had no time to stop him, and wanted to reach out to grab Nagi, but thought that he had already entered the penalty area, so he hesitated.
The moment the defensive player hesitated, Nagi had already caught up with the ball and formed a single goal. Facing the goalkeeper who wanted to pounce, he easily pushed the corner and succeeded.
2:1! Genk reversed the score!
Nagi, who scored twice, ran out of the field excitedly, and ran around the stands with his hands pointing at the sky. Now he can finally celebrate his goal without thinking about it. The other team members followed closely behind. They stopped Nagi and hugged each other to celebrate.
The goal was so wonderful that even some home team fans in the stands applauded him.
In the second half of the game, Genk did not give the home team another chance. In the 73rd minute, Barry assisted Aldridge to make another victory. The score of 3:1 was also maintained until the end. Genk won the Europa League for the first time!
On the plane back to Belgium, everyone was talking and laughing about the just-concluded game. Being able to win as expected was the first step towards success.
Nagi didn't participate, he was really not used to such a long trip, so he fell asleep.
It was already late at night when they returned to Genk. On the second day, Nagi resisted the feeling of fatigue and came to the training ground early in the morning to do restorative training. He needs to adapt to this long-distance running situation as soon as possible, so as not to affect his state.
In the 10th round of the League, Genk challenged Standard Liege away. After discussion with the coaching staff, they finally decided to give up the game, so most of the main players were not brought, including Nagi. The team used a large number of newcomers and substitutes to go away.
Nagi watched the whole game in the dormitory. At the beginning, Genk and Standard Liege played back and forth, but due to the lack of experience of the rookies, they soon fell behind.
In the 33rd and 57th minutes of the game, Standard Liege scored goals from striker Devon Lischi and defender Moran Alfonso respectively. Genk suffered their first defeat of the season.
At the same time, Anderlecht beat Westeros 5:1, expanding their lead over Genk, but this was also expected by the coaching staff. unknown.
As the first Japanese player to appear in the UEFA Cup, "Sports Weekly" a reporter approached Nagi and wanted to do another interview on Nagi, and Nagi readily agreed.
"You scored two goals in the Europa League for the first time, and helped the team win. How do you feel?" He asked.
"The Petah Tikva Maccabi we were facing were actually a weaker team. The overall strength was much worse than Genk, so the team's victory is a matter of course." Nagi replied: "It's just In the group stage of the Europa League, for us, Espanyol and Lokomotiv Moscow in the same group are the real test."
Then He asked again: "You have scored 12 goals in 10 rounds in the league, ranking first in the scorer list. What makes you have such a terrifying attack power?"
Nagi laughed: "Actually, it's not a big deal. This season Genk has completely used me as the point of attack for tactical deployment, so I have a lot of opportunities, and I have grasped a large part of them, which will lead to progress." There are more balls."
"My teammates cooperated well with me, and I will practice some basic skills myself,"Nagi added.
He nodded, and then they had an exchange on the issue of Japanese players studying abroad. Nagi believed that there were still many benefits to studying abroad. He could get in touch with many advanced training methods, techniques and tactics, and his ability to read games will also improve.
"I think you need to use your mind to play football, not just rely on your physical strength." Nagi concluded: "And this is exactly what studying abroad can bring to the Japanese team."
Finally, the 2000 Asian Cup is also in full swing in Lebanon, and the Japanese team has successfully qualified in the group stage. He wanted Nagi to predict how far the Japanese team could go.
"I also paid attention to the group stage of the Japanese team. Several overseas players performed well, but I don't know the level of Asian teams, so I don't know how far the Japanese team can go." Nagi answered honestly road.