Chapter 84 - A Misplaced Start (2/2)
Zhang Yulin refused to let go of this situation and made a pass!
He Jialin ran outside, so the penalty area was now…
“Zhao Defeng! Plug from the back, attack with a header!”
An Ke was taken aback, but his instinct to counterattack was still good and he flung the ball out of the bottom line.
“I never thought that Zhao Defeng, who’s only 165 cm tall could score a header into the penalty zone. Not to mention, that header was so strong!”
“Mhm, he sprinted and jumped, then there was a gliding process in the air. He took advantage of the mistakes made by Shu Guang’s back defenders and headed the ball, so the strength he put in was great.”
“Zhao Defeng is particularly active today. He usually doesn’t snatch a header from the inside.”
“Hehe! If he loses today, it’ll become his swan song, so naturally, he would have to fight hard.”
After the corner kick, Lin Xiaofang leaned against Luo Bin to push the ball out of the penalty zone. Zhang Yuchao received the ball in front of the penalty zone and took a shot! Li Jieguang used his body to block the ball out.
Kaka received the ball and along the way, he rushed towards Zhongyuan’s half of the field.
“Kaka turns! Beautiful! But Li Yongle instantly catches up and he’s now intertwined with Kaka!”
Kaka desperately guarded the ball, but he realized it was taking up too much energy. He had no other way but to dribble it forward again and return the pass to Wang Ning.
Wang Ning kicked the oncoming ball towards Zhang Jun, but when Zhang Jun was just about to turn and run, the ball was headed back to Luo Bin. Li Yongle was against Kaka and the ball was then passed to Lu Qing.
“Looks like Li Yongle is marking Kaka, while Luo Bin is responsible for Zhang Jun.”
“Sun Laihong has made an accurate coaching decision. If Li Yongle had been used to mark Zhang Jun, he could only contain Zhang alone. There woud be no one would to defend against Kaka, whose passing makes it possible for the other two strikers to stay alive. Now that Kaka is marked by Li Yongle, they’ve lost the effectiveness in organizing their attacks, and the three front strikers won’t be able to play. Defending against Kaka alone is equivalent to keeping four people in check and deterring the entire team. Such coaching definitely deserves a gold medal.”
“From the looks of it, the game has been going on for five minutes, but Shu Guang hasn’t made any threatening attacks as they’re defending against Zhongyuan’s offense. It seems like these two teams have exchanged roles.”
Wang Ning saw Kaka being followed closely by Li Yongle, hence it would be a loss if he passed. He then shifted his target and passed the ball to Yang Pan.
After Yang Pan received the ball, there was a lot of cheering from the stands. The superior speedster with tremendous strength always brought passion to the fans. Many of them always expected him to throw off the defense with speed and make his long-range shots. Even if he did not score, it was still enjoyable to watch the goalkeeper’s reaction.
Yang Pan took the ball and turned. He then kicked the ball and sped up!
“Yang Pan is dribbling the ball very quickly! At his speed, no one can rush up to stop him!”
“Lu Qing!” As Zhang Yang called out to his teammate, he retreated slightly.
Lu Qing sped up too and he stuck himself on Yang Pan’s side.
“Smart! Once he sticks himself close, Yang Pan’s speed will decrease!”
Sure enough, Yang Pan’s speed decreased. While Lu Qing was near him, his hands were not idle. He constantly pulled on Yang Pan’s clothes.
Zhang Yang suddenly moved forward and extended his leg to break Yang Pan away from the ball.
“Yang Pan has lost the ball! Now he’s being circled by the two of them!”
Zhang Yang handed the ball over to Zhang Yuchao, who was in front of him. He found it unwise to be easily pressured by an assist. It was necessary to combine his and Lu Qing’s power to suppress Yang Pan. He did not expect himself to have such great strength in his lower body; he was like an invincible wild horse. If he went up to assist, Lu Qing would be left to deal with Yang Pan on his own. However, relying on speed alone would not be able to stop Yang Pan.
Yang Pan could not be careless as well. He had to tighten his nerves and muscles throughout the whole 90 minutes of the game.
Zhang Yuchao took the ball and hurried along the edge. Li Hao rushed from the side, but he could not catch up to his speed. Chen Bo rushed forward and prepared to advance, but he did not expect Zhang Yuchao to kick the ball to the left. This was followed by Zhang Yuchao’s left foot, which kicked the ball forward. He then accelerated!
“Zhang Yuchao crosses Chen Bo from a very small space! There is a vast space in front of him!”
Zhongyuan’s cheerleaders instantly cheered loudly.
“Back to defense! Back to defense! Li Jieguang, get into position!” An Ke moved near the corner as he commanded the back defenders loudly. “Chen Bo, return to the penalty zone!”
Liu Hui frowned from the stands. “With Zhang Yuchao’s speed and skills, it’s dangerous…” He used to be the left as well as back defender before, and he had also faced Zhang Yuchao several times in the previous year. He knew that Zhang Yuchao’s breakthroughs were like sharp daggers that could easily cut off his enemy’s throat.
“Zhang Yuchao takes the ball into the penalty zone! He is speeding up to throw off Li Jieguang, who has gone in to defend! Here’s his chance! This is Zhongyuan’s best chance to score in today’s match!”
An Ke clenched his teeth and watched Zhang Yuchao’s every movement closely. From his position, both shooting and passing were possible. An Ke recalled Zhang Yuchao’s habits of breaking into the penalty zone: he rarely passed the ball and usually chose to shoot instead. An ke decided to bet on it and he began to adjust his focus.
“Zhang Yuchao suddenly shoots from the penalty zone! Beautiful! But An Ke has made the right choice. He takes the ball and throws it out! Corner kick!”
“Zhang Yuchao took a shot all of a sudden, but he chose to shoot from the upper corner with a huge amount of strength. That was a really beautiful shot, however An Ke’s save was even more beautiful. The moment Zhang Yuchao kicked the ball, he began to launch himself into the air. It was as if he knew that Zhang Yuchao would shoot from that angle. He grabbed the ball and threw it out. A wonderful performance of offensive and defensive; this is definitely the finals!”
The corner ball was out and it was headed by Li Jieguang from the sidelines.
For the past two minutes, Zhongyuan’s excellent defense team had been pressuring Shu Guang’s offensive team into its own half. With Zhongyuan’s one three-legged shot, two straight shots and corner ball, Shu Guang had no way of making any shots; no corner balls and no threatening passes.
“From the statistics of the first seven minutes of the matcg, both sides seemed to have exchanged their positions. The other side’s offensive madness hasn’t stop while the other has since retreated into defense. This is an interesting outcome!”
“Mhm, I don’t know how the coaches from both sides arranged this. This is indeed quite unpredictable.”
“Have I put them in wrong positions?” Liang Ke said to himself. He was mentally prepared for this opening. Judging from the first few qualifiers that year, the Zhongyuan High School’s defense had reached new heights; heights where other teams found difficult to reach, and they did not have a way to break through it. To get the team up to a higher level, they could only start offensively. Therefore, in the past few matches, Zhongyuan High School attached great importance to their offense, which led to great victory. It appeared that not only did they have to think about how to penetrate each other shields, they also had to be beware of daggers that may come stabbing at any time.
Sun Laihong’s hope was his idea would give them the opportunity to actively attack and snatch the chance to score. But, he never thought things would go so smoothly; Shu Guang did not fight back! He shook his head and turned to look at his expressionless opponent, thinking that in the face of such a situation, should he laugh or should he be worried?