Chapter 87 - The Game Starts Now (2/2)
However, the game hasn’t end, it’s still too early to say anything now. Until the last whistle blows, we’ll see who it’s the last one laughing.
Zhang Jun saw a signal from Yang Pan’s foot and Yang Pan was gradually walking out of the shadow of his past mistakes, he began to be a front offensive planner and have the responsibility to score.
There was no way to score as Luo Bin was keeping an eye on him. He should try to create opportunities for himself instead.
Soon, Shu Guang made a comeback. In order to avoid being interfered by Lu Qing at any moment, Yang Pan shot it from an appearance of 30 meters!
Lu Qing rushed forward and the soccer ball was like a streak of white light flying across his side, he was shocked but he didn’t hesitate to follow it.
Zhang Lintao was well prepared. He was no longer passive in defense and waited for the ball to arrive. Instead, he rushed forward like a ferocious tiger and slammed the ball with both of his hands!
After a loud ring, the soccer ball was back to the midfield. Zhang Lintao used the momentum to roll forward and stand up again.
“Zhang Lintao wonderfully saved one again! Yang Pan’s shot was blocked by him! The soccer ball was slammed to the midfield. Zhao Defeng passed the ball back to Li Yongle who already caught up, Zhongyuan is about to counterattack!”
“Back to defense! Back to defense! An Ke shouted loudly, Shu Guang quickly dispersed as they knew how brilliant Li Yongle’s long pass was.
“Li Yongle now takes the ball, will he use his accurate long pass again? Oh, he’s taking the lead by himself at the front! Zhongyuan strongly counter attacked against Shu Guang in the restricted zone!”
In this situation, the dark blue uniform of Zhongyuan looked like dark stormy clouds striking down.
Yang Pan froze for a while then he gave chase to Li Yongle. The distance between him and Li Yongle was constantly shortened and the distance between Li Yongle and Shu Guang’s restricted area was also being shortened.
“Already entering the twenty five meter zone, Li Yongle still has no intention of passing the ball. He seemed to be planning to play alone!”
Yang Pan eventually was on the same level as Li Yongle, his speed was indeed fast. He took only five seconds to run for nearly forty five meters. But in this situation, it wasn’t easy for him to think or cut off the ball again, there was no chance of entering either!
Li Yongle slid the ball gently forward with his left foot and the soccer ball left from his control for a while.
“Right on time!” Yang Pan made up his mind and he didn’t hesitate until he stepped forward and stretched his leg to shovel it!
However, he didn’t expect Li Yongle’s leg to be very long, he should have been out of control for the ball but he suddenly stretched his right foot out and changed his direction.
At this time, Yang Pan was unable to brake and he firmly lunged until he kicked Li Yongle’s right heel.
Li Yongle tumbled a few times until he stopped, it was frightening but it was natural for him to protect himself- Of course, except fake slammers.
The referee sounded the whistle.
Yang Pan was silent then he quickly pulled Li Yongle up. “Are you okay?” He said with a concern.
Li Yongle certainly understood what Yang Pan meant, he froze a while then he looked at the referee who was rushing over to their side and he quickly replied, “I’m okay, it’s nothing!” He even patted Yang Pan’s head in a very sweet action to prove that their relationship between them was good to the referee and there was no foul intention.
Liang Ke stood up nervously and watched the referee took out something from his pocket.
“Yellow card! The referee showed a yellow card to Yang Pan. Maybe he thought that Yang Pan’s foul wasn’t intentional, he raised his hands and let him go. Yang Pan escaped and Shu Guang escaped from a disaster too.”
“Indeed, they’re behind by one goal, if Yang Pan is sent off, it wouldn’t be simple with a short of one person. In fact, the referee is an exalted player but it also guarantees that the excitement and intensity of the game will not be compromised.”
Li Yongle looked at the yellow card and shook his head. At this time, if he had to ignore Yang Pan, Yang Pan would have assumingly left the field. Their team was one goal ahead of the game, if the opposing team is short by one captain, they would have victory at clear glance. The coach said it was the final and the team’s interests were above anything else. Wasn’t it a good time to completely fight them off? Why did he want to respond to Yang Pan so enthusiastically?
One thing Li Yongle can be certain that he didn’t regret his decision. He just didn’t know why he did that. At that time, he naturally embraced Yang Pan and even patted his head, his closeness to him wasn’t like an opponent but more like a teammate.
Zhongyuan earned a free-kick from twenty three meters away from the goal. The crisis has not been lifted, this ball was indeed far away but to Zhao Defeng, it was completely in the range to shoot. So it made Shu Guang really nervous.
“In the match between the two teams last year, Shu Guang advanced a goal and was then hit by three goals from Zhongyuan. The first goal was a very exciting free kick scored by Zhao Defeng. Will we see his wonderful performance today?”
An Ke loudly commanded the wall of defenders to lean towards the right and lean more closely to close the corner, then he stood at the far corner to deal with this.
The members of Zhongyuan were not idle, they surrounded Shu Guang’s members in the restricted area and interfered with Shu Guang’s defense.
Zhao Defeng stood in front of the ball and Luo Bin stood beside him to estimate the amount of people. Li Yongle didn’t enter the restricted area but stood outside, he wasn’t far from Zhao Defeng and Luo Bin.
Zhang Jun looked at Li Yongle standing in front of his village, there wasn’t any place for anyone to notice him. His heart was racing but he didn’t know where would be wrong. At this moment, the referee sounded the whistle, indicating Zhongyuan could launch their free kick.
Luo Bin was only seen meeting the ball but from the top of the ball, it was falsity! Shu Guang’s defensive wall didn’t move, they were all waiting at the back of the restricted area. An Ke had all his focus set on the back of Luo Bin, which was Zhao Defeng.
Zhao Defeng moved at the moment Luo Bing crossed the ball, he only took one step forward to the ball and limped his left foot but he didn’t directly shoot, but turned instead!
The defensive wall reflexively leaped, only to realize that they were fooled. Everyone looked at the forgotten Li Yongle that was rolling the ball in front of his feet then he made a big shot with his right foot!
“Li Yongle is the real one!”
As the soccer ball flew lowly into the penalty zone, An Ke saw it coming but he was helpless as he went to catch at the wrong direction. Both Zhao Defeng and Li Yongle shot in different directions. The ball flew to the place he was standing at then it bounced back in front of Lin Xiaofang’s legs and jumped into the goal!
Curved ball!
Shu Guang was fooled!
“Goal! Goal- Zhongyuan takes the lead by 2: 0! Wonderful! A beautiful free kick! It seems like Zhongyuan can’t be overtaken!”
Looking at Li Yongle who was squashed by his teammates, Zhang Jun finally realized that there was nothing that went wrong- It was that dangerous figure that no one kept an eye on! The penalty was really fast, they’re behind by 0: 2 and there’s still thirty three minutes remaining for the game.
How did Zhang Jun suddenly felt like weather in winter got hotter, as if the sun was roasting on the earth like summer and the things from far and near became imaginary. He wiped his sweat then he turned to look at the coach’s seat. Even Liang Ke, who has always been sitting straight up had a slight hunch at this moment, is it because it’s the final? This pressure, that the coach who has always been calm can’t contain it?
“Get the national championship, alright?”
“Okay.”
“If you lose, I’m breaking up with you!”
Just when his teammates were still dejected and overwhelmed and the players of Zhongyuan were still frantically celebrating their goal, Zhang Jun ran towards the goal and picked up the ball. Then he ran towards the middle.
He solemnly placed the soccer ball on the kick-off point and stood there waiting for the kick-off, just like a fighting in waiting, waiting for the whistle to signal the kick-off.
The game, from now on has begun…