Chapter 179 A Stroke of Genius

Although Zhou Yi's shot didn't go in, it frightened the Brazilian fans quite a bit. Their boos in the stands were cut short by that kick.

However, the Brazilian players didn't have the time or inclination to worry about the near miss. The more important thing now was to score a goal quickly!

In their view, the crossbar stopping Zhou Yi's shot was a good omen, indicating that God would ultimately choose Brazil today!

So, after the game restarted, the Brazilian team continued to launch a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal.

Oscar crossed from the right, and Damião jumped high in the penalty area to head the ball, but under Guo Nu's close interference, he headed it high.

Possession returned to the Chinese team.

Sun Pan kicked the goal kick, but instead of kicking the ball directly to the front court with a big foot, he passed the ball to Guo Nu.

Guo Nu then passed the ball to Yang Muge. When the Brazilian players came up to press, Yang Muge passed the ball to Zhou Yi.

In this way, the Chinese team passed the ball forward layer by layer.

As soon as Zhou Yi received the ball, Brazilian midfielder Oscar rushed up, wanting to contain him.

Zhou Yi passed the ball back to Yang Muge and made an off-ball run.

Yang Muge passed the ball to Zhang Jiadong, developing the attack in another direction.

It seemed that this Chinese team's attack had nothing to do with Zhou Yi.

But after the Chinese team's attack crossed the midfield line, Zhang Jiadong passed the ball back to Zhou Yi.

Facing Romero's interception, Zhou Yi used a feint to shake off his opponent and dribbled the ball forward.

How could Romero be so easily shaken off? He turned around and reached out to pull Zhou Yi's jersey.

Despite being interfered with, Zhou Yi still sent a through ball. The ball passed through the Brazilian team's defense line and landed behind them, where Wu Lei received the ball.

"A one-on-one!" He Ping shouted excitedly.

The Brazilian fans in the stands booed loudly.

In the midst of their boos, Wu Lei shot, the ball drew an arc, bypassed the Brazilian team's goalkeeper Gabriel, and flew into the goal!

The ease with which the goal was scored surprised the Chinese fans in front of the TV, because Gabriel hardly made any saves.

Soon the answer was revealed—why did the Chinese team score so easily? Because Wu Lei was offside...

The linesman had already raised his flag, signaling Wu Lei offside.

Slow-motion replay showed that the ball was indeed offside.

But this offside was actually a bit of a grievance. Why was it offside? Because when Zhou Yi passed the ball, Romero pulled Zhou Yi, which slowed Zhou Yi's movement a bit. He struggled for a moment, and finally passed the ball out. It was this struggle that allowed Wu Lei to run behind the Brazilian team's defensive line, and he was offside.

If Romero hadn't pulled him, Zhou Yi and Wu Lei's passing and running coordination would have been perfect. The result might have been the same: Wu Lei received the ball behind the Brazilian team's defensive line, the Brazilian defenders thought the ball was offside, but it wasn't. Wu Lei shot, bypassed goalkeeper Gabriel, and flew into the goal. The Chinese team scored, and the goal was valid.

But now all of this has become some kind of impossible-to-realize hypothesis.

The reality is that the Chinese team's goal was indeed offside, without any controversy.

"Ah, at the moment Zhou Yi passed the ball, Wu Lei was indeed offside... But this offside was caused by Brazilian player Romero pulling Zhou Yi, but the referee Clattenburg didn't make any indication of Romero's foul. The Chinese team suffered a silent loss..."

At this Olympic Games, there have been many unfavorable penalties against China, involving diving, gymnastics, cycling, badminton, and other events. This has caused many Chinese people to be quite critical. In the football event, the Chinese team was penalized with two penalty kicks within five minutes in the quarter-finals, which even caused a stir.

So you can't blame He Ping for being a bit of a conspiracy theorist, but reality forces people to look at everything with tinted glasses. Any slight disturbance will unconsciously make you think about the inside story. This can't be blamed on He Ping, nor can it be blamed on the indignant Chinese people online. Instead, we should ask about the reasons for all of this. Simply accusing the Chinese people of being fragile is a kind of heart-wrenching argument that is sitting on China's side from the beginning, and it is immoral and indecent.

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Wu Lei was still a little dissatisfied that the goal didn't count, but Zhou Yi didn't say anything and turned around and ran back. His eagle-eye skills saw everything clearly. At the moment he passed the ball, Wu Lei had just run out half a body, and it was this half a body that made him offside.

Even though he knew Wu Lei was definitely offside, he still passed the ball out.

This goal wouldn't count, but it wasn't really invalid. Including the shot that hit the crossbar before, these things happening in succession would definitely have an impact on the Brazilian players' psychology.

It was like planting a time bomb in their hearts, or like a thorn stuck in their hearts. When they attacked, they couldn't ignore everything. They would always remember that their goal had been threatened twice.

This time, the Chinese team's goal was offside, and the goal was invalid, but who could guarantee that the next time the Chinese team launched such an attack, it would still be offside?

These two attacks proved that the Chinese team still had the strength to counterattack even when they were being besieged by Brazil, and were more threatening than Brazil's bombardment. This kind of psychological deterrent is the most important.

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When the game entered the seventieth minute, the score was still 1:0, with the Chinese team leading. The Brazilian team's number of shots had risen to eighteen, but they still couldn't break through the goal.

Menezes made another substitution, replacing Sandro with Pato to further strengthen the attack.

This substitution would further weaken the Brazilian team's defense in midfield, but who cares about midfield defense now? If they can't score, what's the point of not conceding goals?

Pato was quite amazing when he first debuted at AC Milan, and even won the European Golden Boy Award, but his performance at AC Milan this season was not satisfactory, which meant he couldn't play as a main player in the Brazilian Olympic team.

But although his form is not good, his strength is still there. At a critical moment, everyone will still have high hopes for him, hoping that he will suddenly awaken at this time, explode with his best form, and complete his redemption.

Just like Hulk's substitute appearance made the Brazilian team's attack threatening, will Pato's appearance allow the Brazilian team's attack to complete a qualitative change from quantity?

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Just when everyone had high hopes for Pato's appearance, the Chinese team got an opportunity to attack in the seventy-fourth minute.

After Zhou Yi got the ball in the frontcourt, he accelerated and dribbled the ball towards the ribs of the penalty area, but Romero kept following him, not giving him a chance to get close to the penalty area.

Zhou Yi didn't have an advantage in speed, and his strength was also very average. It was almost impossible to succeed with a forced breakthrough. So he stopped after running only two steps. Romero took the opportunity to stand in front of him.

Facing Romero's defense, Zhou Yi made a bicycle kick feint, but Romero remained unmoved. Zhou Yi's bicycle kick was in vain. So Zhou Yi developed horizontally, seeking a breakthrough.

In this game, it was rare for him not to pass the ball out immediately when he encountered an interception, but to continue controlling the ball.

His move also attracted more Brazilian players' defensive attention to him.

In addition to Romero, who had been blocking him, Oscar also ran back from the frontcourt, wanting to surround Zhou Yi. In addition, Juan on the defensive line also moved his position forward, blocking Zhou Yi's cutting route. If Zhou Yi wanted to continue cutting horizontally, he and Romero would form a wall, blocking Zhou Yi.

The three people formed an implicit encirclement against Zhou Yi.

But Zhou Yi still didn't pass the ball out. He was still dribbling, although not fast.

He dribbled the ball towards the center.

Juan stepped forward to block the position. The wall formed by him and Romero finally completely blocked Zhou Yi's way forward. At this time, Zhou Yi only had one move left: stop and change direction.

So after Zhou Yi braked, he used the outside of his right foot to push the ball behind him, and at the same time turned around, using his body to block the ball, preventing Romero and Juan from intercepting the ball.

But as soon as he turned around, Oscar rushed up. Obviously, this was not a safe place either.

Facing Oscar's outstretched leg, Zhou Yi used the outside of his right foot to push the ball again, and his body turned again, almost turning three hundred and sixty degrees.

But such a turn was meaningless, because if he turned again, he would turn back to face Romero and Juan again...

But Zhou Yi was still turning. His right foot was pushing the ball again. Did he really want to complete a three hundred and sixty degree turn?

Shouldn't he pass the ball out?

Everyone who saw Zhou Yi controlling the ball had such questions in their hearts.

But just when everyone thought Zhou Yi would continue to dribble the ball and turn around, facing Romero and Juan again, even Romero and Juan thought so.

Zhou Yi's right foot kicked the ball, but unlike the previous two careful movements of controlling the strength and rotating his ankle, this time, his right ankle was swung very quickly, like the end of a whip, snapping at the ball.

The ball flew out quickly, the direction was the rib space of the Brazilian team's defensive line, between Thiago Silva and Rafael!

No one thought that Zhou Yi would pass the ball like this. The previous two consecutive dodging actions of turning and flicking made everyone fall into a stereotype, that is, Zhou Yi would continue to do so. In fact, Zhou Yi also really wanted to do so at the beginning, but the final result was very different!

He was passing the ball, not flicking the ball!

This pass had a very small range of motion and was very concealed, but the strength was unexpectedly great. The speed at which the ball flew out was very fast, and it simply didn't give the Brazilian defenders any time to react.

He used the feint of turning around to conceal his intention to pass the ball, and only revealed his true intention at the last moment!

Even Thiago Silva was unable to react. He realized what was happening only after seeing the ball flying towards the space next to him. Then he reflexively lunged forward, trying to block Zhou Yi's pass.

But he couldn't reach it. In less than a quarter of a second, the ball had already shot past before his foot arrived.

As for Rafael, he didn't even make a defensive move, and just turned around and watched the ball roll behind him. At the same time as the ball appeared behind him, so did He Ying...

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"He Ying!!! Ah ah ah ah ah!" He Ping roared excitedly, but despite being excited, he didn't forget to emphasize one point: "No offside! This ball is not offside! Zhou Yi and He Ying's passing and running are just right! He Ying is now facing Brazilian goalkeeper Gabriel alone!"

After Zhou Yi passed the ball, he looked up at the penalty area. After seeing He Ying receive his pass, he smiled.

He left the next things to his roommate. His heart was very calm, and he didn't have any uneasy worries. He believed that He Ying would not disappoint his wonderful pass.

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After He Ying received the ball, his whole person entered a very focused state. He didn't care about the surrounding situation. He didn't even look up to observe the linesman to confirm whether he was offside. His vision became very narrow, and he only saw the goal in front of him. On the waist side of the Brazilian goalkeeper Gabriel who was attacking, he saw a glowing area, which was the goal!

His body began to tilt to the left. Under the condition of not having a large angle, he swung his right foot.

In this situation, the vast majority of players would choose to shoot the ball towards the far corner. The most famous iconic shot is Henry, who always twists the ball towards the far right post with his right foot when he is close to the left goal post and facing the goal at a small angle, and then lets the ball fly into the goal while rubbing the post.

Gabriel naturally thought that He Ying would do the same, and his center of gravity moved to the far end in advance.

But at this moment, He Ying's right foot fell, and the straight instep didn't look like it was going to twist the shot at all... His instep hit the ball!

The ball was shot towards the near corner!

It just shot past Gabriel's waist!

It drilled through the hole between his elbow and thigh, plunged into the white glowing area, and then... sank into the net!

The ball went in!