Chapter 69 - Lead (2/2)

“Looks like Dingding’s going to open the scoring!”

In that exact moment, a shadow dashed in and cleared the ball off the line!

“That was close! Shu Guang dodges a bullet!”

“Even Kaka has retreated to the front of the posts. There’s no telling if Shu Guang will have the same luck next time,” Zhou Jian Sheng said.

Liu Qi turned to the loudspeaker and said what every Shu Guang fan had in their minds. “This commentator is so despicable!”

As Shu Guang kept getting knocked around, many forgot about their strongest weapon.

Cao Po missed his header, but Kaka controlled the ball and passed it with agility!

Facing Zhang Jun for the first time, Yao Wang was a little flustered. He was acting like he was not fully prepared. Without a pause, Zhang Jun squeezed a shot out from a tight angle!

Xia Bo dived. He pushed the ball off the crossbar and out of bounds, drawing cold sweat from the Dingding supporters.

“Al-almost! A Shu Guang lead was so close. As expected of Zhang Jun, his first attempt was already such a menace.”

“Dingding’s back line seems to be loose. Yao Wang wouldn’t usually let the other team’s striker shoot so comfortably.”

“Still, Mr. Zhou, Shu Guang’s offensive prowess is the best in Luoyang!”

“With regard to that, it’s just a conclusion made from their games before this one. Shu Guang’s previous opponents weren’t competent. Now, they face a genuine match against a real team.”

Zhang Jun sighed; it was a shame that it did no go in.

Kaka sent the corner into the box. Zhang Jun had no advantage over Yao Wang in headers, and it was easily cleared by the defender.”Heh! Brat, now we’re even!” Yao Wang called out to him after his feet touched the ground.

Pincered by Wang Ning and Li Hao, Fan Cunjie did not make any exquisite dribbles to break through. Instead, he made a precise pass.

Shi Yan crossed, a bit farther back this time. Shi Lei stole it in front of Li Jieguang and headed towards Bin Fei, who whirled his feet, preparing to shoot—only to find that An Ke had already dived in front of him and gathered the ball into his arms.

“Kaka! Zhang Jun! Ren Yu De! What are you doing! Don’t let them encircle us! Attack!” An Ke yelled as he drop-kicked the ball far up front.

Kaka vied for the ball against Cao Po. He pressed his opponent down forcefully and headed the ball to Ren Yu De.

With his back to the goal, Ren Yu De moved; but instead of turning to face his opponent’s post, he dragged the ball towards the flank. Tang Liang closed their distance, slightly fearful about facing a player whose skill was just second to his captain’s.

Ren Yu De feinted once and sent the ball to Kaka once more—his selfless passing had increased a lot since his first year of high school.

Cao Po instantly went towards him. Kaka was essentially Shu Guang’s mind; they had to cut the connection between the mind and body to sever the source of their prided attack.

However, was Kaka such a shrimp?

The Brazilian returned the ball to Ren Yu De before bypassing Cao Po and dashing towards the box.

Tang Liang did not dare to stretch his leg out recklessly. Ren Yu De used that opportunity to do a backheel pass to Xie Yu, who had been running up behind him. After that, he ran ahead too.

Caught between chasing after Ren Yu De or closing down on Xie Yu, Tang Liang hesitated—this gave Xie Yu enough time to make a lob into the box.

The ball curved outwardly towards the goalpost—a pain for keepers since they could easily make a mistake if they chose to charge out.

As such, Xia Bo decided to stay put, leaving it to Yao Wang’s aerial affinity.

Yao Wang cried out before jumping in front of the ball to clear it away. But, he was one step slower. Dashing towards him, Kaka leaped and hung in the air for a few moments as he headed the ball towards the goal in Yao Wang’s face!

Xia Bo never thought that the 190-cm giant could lose at headers, but despite being unprepared, the keeper reflexively knocked the ball off to the far corner with his knee.

He turned to find a horrifying scene.

Zhang Jun was darting towards it! With his right foot outstretched, he prepared to fire in the rebound!

Yao Wang had just gotten his feet on the ground, while Cao Po was left far behind by Kaka. The closest to Zhang Jun was Ya Dong! He tried to pull the opposing captain’s jersey only to find that the temporary captain was not budging.

Such an ordinary body, yet such immense strength!

Kicking out, Zhang Jun stabbed the ball into the empty net with a toe jab!

It went in!

Silence filled the place. No one would have thought that after being encircled and bombarded by Dingding for so long, the one to score first would be Shu Guang.

Additionally, it was just their third attempt.

Even the long, rambling voices behind the loudspeakers were silenced. Perhaps they could not think of what to say in the face of such a comeback.

After scoring, Zhang Jun huddled with Kaka before quickly being encircled by their jovial teammates. Shu Guang’s cheerleaders also joined in the merrymaking; they had imagined many scenarios, but never one in which their team led so early.

Fan Cunjie glanced blankly at the gigantic LCD screen, which replayed the goal.

When Kaka headed, Zhang Jun was already moving towards the far corner. And when Xia Bo knocked it towards him, all he needed to do was stretch his foot out for the ball to go in.

Everything looked so simple, but the No.11’s instincts in front of the goal sent chills into Fan Cunjie’s heart. If Bin Fei’s positional awareness was a result of extensive training and experience from matches, Zhang Jun’s instinct in front of the goal was pure intuition.

An intuition like that of a tiger on the hunt; a terrifying one.

Shu Guang led with a score of 1: 0, 17 minutes into the first-half.