Chapter 65 Change of Pace

After the second half began, the Chelsea youth team didn't take the Chinese team seriously. They continued their tactics from the first half, still pressing and besieging the Chinese team in the mid and front fields.

Relying on physical advantages to seize possession.

Just as Zhou Yi received the ball, a Chelsea player crashed into him from behind. Zhou Yi was knocked off balance and lost the ball, while he himself fell to the ground.

Physical confrontation was Zhou Yi's biggest weakness, and the Chelsea youth team players had figured this out in the first half.

So defending Zhou Yi was very simple: just put pressure on him and bump into him. As long as there was physical contact, it was difficult for Zhou Yi to control the ball well.

Just like this time.

"Zhou Yi's physique is still too weak..." Xu Yang shook his head and sighed.

Hao Dong didn't speak. He agreed with Xu Yang's opinion that Zhou Yi's physical confrontation ability was seriously insufficient.

But should they give up because of this?

Should they accept this result because of poor physical confrontation ability?

Hao Dong didn't think so. There were always other ways to cope with the situation.

If this road doesn't work, then take another.

He wanted to see if Zhou Yi thought the same way, and he wanted to see which path Zhou Yi would ultimately choose.

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Zhou Yi fell to the ground, but he didn't hear the whistle.

He was no stranger to this situation; it had happened several times in the first half.

He also didn't raise his arms to appeal to the referee, knowing it was useless to look for the referee.

He grabbed a clump of grass and got up from the ground.

He needed to be faster!

He had to prepare all the passing routes before receiving the ball, and passing the ball at the moment he received it.

Zhou Yi thought this as he turned his head to observe the surroundings.

However, he turned his head faster than before, and the frequency of turning his head also increased.

He needed to figure out the situation on the field faster.

When the ball was passed to Zhou Yi again, Zhou Yi didn't wait in place. He knew that if he waited in place, he would most likely be marked closely, and he might lose the ball again.

He went to meet the ball.

Even as he ran toward the ball, he didn't forget to observe the surroundings.

Then, just as he received the ball, he swept the ball horizontally with one foot, passing it into the open space on the wing. Left back Li Liang inserted himself and appeared in the open space, receiving the ball.

The Chelsea youth team player who had intended to pounce on Zhou Yi rushed behind Zhou Yi, but Zhou Yi had already passed the ball away, and he missed his target.

Then Zhou Yi turned around and walked forward, bypassing the defender.

The person he bypassed didn't turn around and retreat in time, and an opening appeared behind him.

Li Liang passed the ball back, and this time Zhou Yi didn't even stop the ball. He used the outside of his right foot to flick the ball to the center, and this time Yang Muge, who was following up, received the ball.

Seeing that there was another Chelsea player next to Zhou Yi, Yang Muge didn't pass the ball back to Zhou Yi. Instead, he passed it to the other side, giving it to right back Li Linyuan.

At this time, Zhou Yi was not idle either. He didn't stop after passing the ball, and kept running, running towards the right wing.

When Li Linyuan encountered trouble on the wing, Zhou Yi appeared in his field of vision.

Li Linyuan didn't hesitate and quickly passed the ball to Zhou Yi.

Another Chelsea player rushed up, intending to steal the ball from Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi ran to meet the ball, and then tapped it horizontally with his right foot, directly passing the ball to Yang Hua in front.

Yang Hua was the Chinese team's right winger. Because of the insertion of right back Li Linyuan, he went forward to a position near the ribs of the Chelsea penalty area.

Passing it back and forth like this, the ball went from the original left side to the right side, and from the original backcourt to the Chelsea youth team's thirty-meter area.

And all of this was created with Zhou Yi as the core.

Zhou Yi participated in the entire passing and transferring process.

Moreover, in this transfer process, he didn't let the Chelsea youth team players touch the ball once! He also didn't lose possession because he was knocked to the ground.

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"Great!" Xu Yang also saw Zhou Yi's series of performances and couldn't help but exclaim.

"Yeah," Hao Dong said with a smile.

It seemed that Zhou Yi had already given the answer.

Since his physique was a disadvantage, and there was no way to improve his physical confrontation ability in a short period of time, he would avoid being entangled by the opponent's defensive players through faster passing.

Moreover, although his passing speed had increased, the accuracy of his passes was not affected, and his thinking was very clear, as if he had already thought about where to pass the ball before receiving it.

It was not surprising for this kind of thing to appear on experienced veteran players, but it could only be called "talent" when it appeared on Zhou Yi, who was only seventeen years old.

Hao Dong had been immersed in Chinese football for many years. From player to retirement, he had cooperated with many domestic players.

But Zhou Yi, a player who relied purely on his brain to play football, was really rare.

Even in today's domestic football scene, such people probably wouldn't have much development...

Fortunately, he was a student player. If he was really in the training team, his talent would probably have been wiped out long ago, and what he was seeing now would definitely not be such a Zhou Yi.

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Although the Chinese team's passing speed increased, allowing them to advance smoothly to the frontcourt, they encountered great resistance when they arrived in front of the Chelsea youth team's penalty area.

The reason for this was still due to the requirements of fast passing and cutting.

After all, the basic skills of the Chinese team players were here. Continuous and fast passing was a great test of each person's ability to receive and pass the ball.

The closer they got to the Chelsea goal, the more this was the case, because the Chelsea youth team players put more pressure on the Chinese team players, and the space and room for the Chinese players to perform became smaller and smaller.

With a little physical contact, the Chinese teenagers' passes were likely to be mistaken.

This was also the reason why the Chinese team had not scored since the second half started, even though they had sped up—they could do well in passing the ball in the midfield and backcourt, but once they reached the opponent's thirty-meter area, the error rate of passing increased sharply.

In this situation, the Chinese team's defense was also facing great pressure.

Because the opponent could use the Chinese team's passing errors to launch counterattacks...

If this continued, the Chinese team's goal would be lost sooner or later.

A tense atmosphere enveloped everyone's heads. Hao Dong and Xu Yang on the sidelines didn't communicate anymore, they just watched the field, not saying a word.

When Zhou Yi got the ball again in the frontcourt, he quickly transferred the ball out.

The ball was transferred to the right, and right back Li Linyuan inserted to respond.

After receiving the ball, Li Linyuan was a little anxious and chose to pass the ball directly into the penalty area.

The ball drew an arc in the air, flying towards Zhang Tao, who was inserting into the penalty area.

But this kick was not passed well. The ball flew a little low, and it dropped at the edge of the penalty area, and it was passed behind Zhang Tao...

He turned back to look at the ball and knew that he couldn't catch it. Moreover, behind him, there was a Chelsea youth team defender who raised his foot, preparing to clear the ball.

This attack, without any suspense... ended.

Although the Chelsea youth team's center back didn't kick the ball, but the ball hit his raised calf, what was the difference?

Anyway, it didn't fall into the hands of the Chinese team players...

"This ball, he was too hasty..." Xu Yang clicked his tongue.

But then he widened his eyes.

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The ball that hit the Chelsea youth team's center back's leg bounced back, falling into an unmanned area.

And when almost everyone hadn't reacted, someone shot over like an arrow!

It was Zhou Yi!

With a stride, he leaped into the air!

Whether it was the Chelsea youth team players or the Chinese team players, at this time, they could only stare blankly at Zhou Yi jumping in the air, and then raising his foot...

They never expected that Zhou Yi would appear here!

Zhou Yi, who raised his foot in the air, directly tapped the ball lightly with the inside of his right foot!

The ball that had just bounced back was kicked out again by Zhou Yi. He passed the ball between two Chelsea youth team players, passing it behind them.

That was a gap, not big or small.

Just as Zhou Yi passed the ball, He Ying rushed out diagonally, and also appeared behind the Chelsea youth team's defense line!

Everyone on the sidelines who saw this scene widened their eyes—no way?

He Ying received the ball passed by Zhou Yi, but was not offside. He was already directly facing the Chelsea youth team's goalkeeper!

For a striker like He Ying, the next thing was too simple.

Facing the unprepared Chelsea youth team goalkeeper, He Ying chose a low shot.

The ball rolled along the turf towards the near corner of the goal, and the Chelsea youth team's goalkeeper obviously didn't expect that he would choose a low shot to pursue the angle. It was too late to dive to save the ball, so he could only watch helplessly as the ball... brushed the inside of the goalpost and rolled into the goal!

2:2!

The Chinese teenagers equalized the score!

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"Beautiful—!!!" Huge cheers erupted from the Chinese team's coaching bench and substitute bench.

Everyone was roaring loudly, which excited them even more than if they had scored three goals against the Dortmund youth team.

Because of what happened in the first half, they were all holding a belly full of fire in their hearts.

They wanted to send the ball into the Chelsea youth team's goal more than ever!

This was a self-proving.

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After scoring this goal, He Ying didn't run towards the coaching bench again, but directly turned around and ran towards Zhou Yi, hugging Zhou Yi tightly.

He didn't speak, but this action spoke louder than a thousand words.

Teammates ran over from all directions, shouting excitedly, surrounding the two of them.

Whether it was intentional or a coincidence, they didn't go anywhere, and just started celebrating wildly in the Chelsea youth team's penalty area.

Even Sun Pan ran over from the goal, and pounced on them with a loud laugh.

Of course, he didn't forget to cast the same provocative and mocking gaze at the Chelsea youth team players who had provoked and mocked him during the halftime break.

It was a pity that those people all lowered their heads, as if they were hit by the loss of the ball, and they didn't see Sun Pan's smug eyes at all. Sun Pan was casting flirtatious glances at blind men...