Chapter 1 After the Match Against Singapore

After the match against Singapore, the Chinese team had a day of rest and training before flying to Jordan to prepare for their second World Cup qualifier group match there.

This match was actually a very crucial one, ten times more crucial than the match against Singapore.

In the first round of the group stage, Jordan defeated Iraq 2-0 on the road, tying with China with three points. China ranked first due to goal difference.

But if the Chinese team lost to Jordan on the road, they would be overtaken by Jordan, and possibly even by Iraq, as Iraq's second-round opponent was Singapore.

At the same time, looking at the overall qualifying situation, it was best not to lose on the road against a direct competitor. Even if they couldn't win, they couldn't lose.

Analyzing it this way, you could see how important the match against Jordan was.

Challenging Jordan on their home turf, Gao Hongbo's tactics were still based on passing and control.

Now that they had Zhou Yi, the Chinese team's passing ability in the face of pressure had improved a lot, and Gao Hongbo was confident in doing so on the road.

He had substituted Zhou Yi in the seventieth minute of the previous match also because they were going to play Jordan next.

He hoped that Zhou Yi could get more rest, because the Chinese team might have to fight Jordan for ninety minutes on the road. If Zhou Yi's stamina became a problem, it would be terrible.

This match was highly anticipated, so even though it was midnight Beijing time, Chinese fans were crowded in front of their TVs.

Zhou Jianliang was among them.

In the first half, the two sides played very tightly, and Chinese midfielder Huang Bowen and Jordanian midfielder Abdul-Fattah each received a yellow card.

But no goals were scored.

If this trend continued, it would naturally be advantageous to the Chinese team. From the beginning, the Chinese team had hoped to get a draw on the road.

However, after the two sides changed sides in the second half, Jordan took the lead!

In the forty-ninth minute, their midfielder Suleiman was the first to break through the Chinese team's goal!

While the Jordanian players were celebrating the goal, the atmosphere in front of the TV became tense.

Fortunately, in the fifty-sixth minute, Hao Junmin used a direct free kick to equalize the score for the Chinese team!

"Good job! Hao Junmin! Good job! Now the two sides are back to the same starting line!"

But just as the Chinese fans and commentators breathed a sigh of relief, Jordan kicked off and used a quick attack to pierce the Chinese team's goal again!

The breath of relief from the Chinese fans and commentators was not even finished...

"This..." Commentator Liu Hong was stunned. He never thought that the opponent would score a goal just after kicking off, instantly making the Chinese team's goal meaningless and turning the dream of a draw into nothing!

"What the hell!" Zhou Jianliang couldn't help but curse in front of the TV. "Did they get carried away just because they scored a goal? It's obvious that they weren't concentrating, letting them get the ball into our penalty area like that! Damn it!"

Li Cuiyun was silent next to him. Her husband was fine watching Dortmund matches, but as soon as he watched the national team match, he became a different person, swearing and completely lacking in quality. She had asked him before that since watching the national team match made him so anxious and angry, why didn't he just not watch it.

As a result, Zhou Jianliang replied to her, "Can you abandon your son just because he made a mistake and you beat him up?"

"Of course not."

"So I can't not watch the national team match!"

Li Cuiyun was speechless.

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Jordan's goal could be described as a "devastating" blow to the Chinese team's morale.

Because they had just equalized the score and hadn't even finished being happy, they were overtaken by the opponent again. That feeling was like winning a five million lottery ticket, dancing excitedly with it in your hand, but being blown by the wind into the sea, which was despairing...

Subsequently, Jordan took advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal, hoping to take the opportunity to score another goal and completely lock in the victory.

The Chinese team could only passively defend, all shrinking back to their own thirty-meter area.

For a time, the Chinese team's goal was in turmoil, and it seemed like they could lose the ball at any time.

Jordan's fans cheered excitedly in the stands, cheering for their team.

The time of the match passed minute by minute amidst Jordan's bombardment, reaching the eightieth minute.

"The eightieth minute of the match, there's not much time left for the Chinese team..." Liu Hong threw out his classic saying again.

Seeing that they had not been able to score a goal after so much bombardment, the Jordanian team simply switched to defensive mode, in case they were hit by a counterattack, then everything would be over.

With so little time left, it was the last thing Jordan wanted to see the Chinese team equalize the score.

After they switched to defensive mode, the Chinese team was finally able to press up and attack.

Gao Hongbo also made some adjustments, replacing Yu Hai with Feng Renliang, who had stronger breakthrough ability.

In addition, he replaced defender Liu Jianye with defensive midfielder Wu Xi, further enhancing control and interception in the midfield. This was mainly to prevent Jordan from launching a counterattack when the Chinese team pressed up to attack. After Wu Xi came on, he could intercept the opponent's counterattack in the midfield, and then pass the ball to Zhou Yi to launch a second attack.

The situation now became that Jordan was defending with all their might, while the Chinese team was besieging, fighting the most difficult positional battle.

This was also a time to fully test the Chinese team's attacking and organizing ability.

Zhou Yi repeatedly received and passed the ball, sorting out the situation of the match.

Five minutes passed, and the Chinese team still had not been able to score a goal. Most of the time, they could only rely on simple methods such as long shots from outside the penalty area and crosses from the flanks to threaten Jordan's goal.

But such offensive means were too monotonous and easy to defend.

Zhou Yi was still constantly receiving and passing the ball, but it seemed that most of it was useless work... because most of them were horizontal passes, passing from the left to the right, and then from the right to the left, unable to move forward a step. The ultimate result of such horizontal passes was often a cross from the flank, and then the rest was left to God. God bless, if you're lucky, you can score a goal, if God doesn't bless you, if you're unlucky, you won't be able to score a goal.

Jordan's defensive system was very complete, and it was difficult to find a breakthrough point by relying on passing alone.

"It's the eighty-sixth minute, the score is still 1:2, Jordan is leading! There's really not much time left for the Chinese team!" Liu Hong shouted.

Zhou Jianliang cursed violently in front of the TV: "Damn it! Can't you say something nice! You always say the same sentence over and over again, aren't you annoying!"

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The defense in the middle was too dense, so Zhou Yi came to the left flank. His teammates passed the ball to him, and Zhou Yi advanced along the flank, receiving the ball.

Jordanian defender Khalil also pressed up.

Facing the approaching Khalil, Zhou Yi made a move to send the ball out directly with his right foot - his body leaned slightly to the left, pretending to lift his right foot.

Khalil immediately lunged forward with a sliding tackle, attempting to block his pass.

As a result, Zhou Yi's right leg only lifted a little, but he didn't really lift it up. The ball rolled past in front of him, and then was blocked by his left foot.

Khalil slid directly out of the sideline...

Zhou Yi stopped in place, watching him go out. Then he flicked the ball forward with his left foot and broke into the penalty area!

"Zhou Yi, good job!" Liu Hong shouted excitedly.

However, Zhou Yi soon encountered a blockade from Jordanian players.

Facing the blockade of two players, Zhou Yi did not force a breakthrough, but used the outside of his right foot to push the ball to Hao Junmin nearby.

Then, while the defensive players in front of him shifted their attention to Hao Junmin, he passed between the two and continued to run forward, running into the penalty area.

After receiving the ball, Hao Junmin saw Zhou Yi breaking into the penalty area. He didn't have time to adjust, leaned back, and swung his leg in place, sending the ball out. Then he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

But before he fell, he saw Zhou Yi receive his ball!

"Hao Junmin's wonderful pass! Good ball! Zhou Yi received the ball in the penalty area!!"

After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi used the outside of his left foot to lightly tap the ball towards the baseline. The opponent's defender Usman rushed up aggressively, intending to clear the ball.

But as he rushed up, Zhou Yi's left foot hooked the ball back again!

So Usman also swept past Zhou Yi, then lost his balance and fell to the ground...

This time, Zhou Yi didn't have time to watch the opponent slide out. After hooking the ball back with his left foot, the outside of his right foot immediately lightly tapped the ball to the right, while his whole body lightly jumped up in place.

Just as he had just finished doing all this, another Jordanian defender Yassin's sweeping leg had already arrived!

But unfortunately, he was a little late, he didn't kick the ball and didn't sweep Zhou Yi down.

In fact, Zhou Yi didn't need to jump, he could have taken advantage of the situation to be swept down in the penalty area, but this was Jordan's home field. Who knew what off-the-field tricks the West Asians would use, so Zhou Yi didn't dare to entrust his fate to the referee.

He always had to keep his fate in his own hands!

After dodging Yassin's attack, Zhou Yi landed, and his right foot regained control of the ball.

At this time, on his left, two Jordanian defenders, Usman and Yassin, had already fallen in a mess. And in front of him was the goalkeeper Shafi blocking the near corner, as well as several other Jordanian players, who formed an impenetrable wall in front of Zhou Yi, not allowing him to move forward half a step, nor allowing him to shoot!

But they seemed to have forgotten that Zhou Yi's more powerful weapon was... passing!

Zhou Yi turned his right ankle outwards, and flicked the ball up, the ball crossed the Jordanian wall in front and flew to the back point.

There, Chinese center forward Yang Xu didn't even need to jump, just leaned back and swung forward, a simple header!

Before Jordanian goalkeeper Shafi could turn around and pounce, the ball flew into the almost unguarded goal...

"2:2!!! Yang Xu! Yang Xu! Yang Xu——!!" Liu Hong shouted in the studio, raising his arms. "The Chinese team did it! They did it! They equalized the score at the last moment! Ooooh!! But ninety-five percent of the credit for this goal should be given to... Zhou Yi! It was he who single-handedly broke into the dragon's pool and tiger's den, creating such a good opportunity for Yang Xu!"

"Damn!!!" Zhou Jianliang roared with his mouth wide open at the TV screen in front of the TV.

Li Cuiyun watched the veins on his neck bulging out, his face flushed red.

Although she had been watching soccer with her husband for the past year or two, she still couldn't figure out these fans.

Why would they swear when they were unhappy, and swear even more fiercely when they were happy?