Chapter 1 He Ying's Goal

He Ying's goal not only gave China a lead in the score against Australia, but more importantly, it made Australia suddenly realize that in China's frontcourt, Zhou Yi wasn't the only threat; there was also He Ying!

Now their attempt to surround Zhou Yi wouldn't work—when He Ying was in poor form and posed no threat, they could certainly use as many as five players to contain Zhou Yi. But with He Ying's resurgence, Australia couldn't afford to devote so many defensive resources to Zhou Yi, because He Ying would be left unmarked. The terrible consequences of this state had just been demonstrated with his goal.

After the goal, the TV broadcast showed close-ups of the head coaches of both China and Australia.

Gao Hongbo, of course, was elated, cheering and jumping with joy, the smile on his face almost squeezing his small eyes shut.

Australian coach Osieck, on the other hand, frowned, his expression serious. He clearly understood how unfavorable the current situation was for Australia.

This was China's home ground, and if they went wild, it would be difficult for Australia to control the situation.

So, with a frown, he pondered in his mind what the team should do next.

Some teams might choose to launch a fierce attack after conceding a goal, hoping to equalize as soon as possible. But Osieck believed that if he did the same, there was a high probability that they would concede another goal in a short period of time.

Therefore, for Australia, who were now behind, the most important thing was not to equalize as soon as possible, but to ensure that they didn't concede another goal in a short period of time.

If they fell behind 0-2, it could basically be declared that they had lost the game.

China's morale would definitely be high after scoring, and they would inevitably launch continuous attacks in the following game, hoping to score again in a short period of time and expand their lead.

Based on this judgment, Osieck believed that Australia should solidify its defense in the following game, withstand China's offensive, and then weaken China's momentum. After their momentum subsided, they could then talk about equalizing the score.

After the game restarted, he quickly made adjustments, and Australia began to retreat.

As expected, China strengthened its attack. Amidst the shouts of Xi'an fans in the Zhuque Stadium, China's attacks came wave after wave.

He Ying was in excellent form and very active after scoring. He constantly moved in the frontcourt, acting as Zhou Yi's support point, which made the Australian players particularly uncomfortable. He Ying was like a dagger stuck in their hearts, and he wasn't being cooperative, twisting it from time to time, stirring the flesh in the wound into a pulp.

Who could stand it?

At this time, He Ying once again showed the style of the top scorer at the London Olympics, decisive and resolute, with swift and agile movements.

When the Australian defenders had to devote more energy to defending He Ying, the defensive pressure around Zhou Yi was greatly reduced.

With Zhou Yi becoming active, China's offense was revitalized, not only He Ying, but also Gao Lin, Hao Junmin, and others seemed to be activated.

Zhou Yi constantly used his passes to create opportunities and point the way for his teammates.

When he got the ball in midfield, facing Tim Cahill's tackle, he used the sole of his left foot to pull the ball to the right, avoiding Cahill's sliding foot, and then accelerated forward with the ball.

Immediately, two Australian players approached him. As he was about to be surrounded, he turned his head to his left, seemingly to pass the ball to He Ying, who was supporting him on the left. But the next second, he used the outside of his right foot to flick the ball to the right, and the ball landed at Hao Junmin's feet.

"Oh oh oh! Beautiful! No-look pass!" Liu Hong exclaimed.

The cheers in the Zhuque Stadium suddenly grew louder. The Xi'an fans were knowledgeable and understood the difficulty and technical content of Zhou Yi's pass. This was the signature move of Ronaldinho, the former Barcelona and Brazil superstar!

And the two Australian defenders who rushed up to double-team Zhou Yi were clearly deceived by Zhou Yi's feint. They both shifted their center of gravity in the direction Zhou Yi turned his head, but Zhou Yi passed the ball in the opposite direction, completely deceiving the Australian defenders and catching them off guard.

Similar situations were not uncommon in the game during this period. In addition to this "no_Look_pass," Zhou Yi had many other ways to orchestrate China's attack. Under his impetus, China's offensive was greatly improved, and they threatened Australia's goal several times. If it weren't for the excellent performance of veteran goalkeeper Schwarzer, they might have conceded two goals in a short period of time.

This period of time was simply torment for Australian fans. The Australian fans in front of the TV were sweating in their palms. They had never imagined that the Chinese football team would have such strength, forcing them into such an embarrassing situation.

Fortunately, they finally persevered. After China launched a fierce attack for ten minutes without scoring, they took the initiative to slow down the pace, and the Australians could breathe a sigh of relief.

Chinese fans were a little disappointed. They hadn't scored despite the intense attack before, which was naturally disappointing. They even hoped that the Chinese team could maintain this offensive momentum until the end of the game, which might be a massacre...

But that was impossible. There wasn't a single team on this planet that could adopt an aggressive, fast-paced offensive for the entire game. If they did, they would probably collapse after only half a game.

The physical fitness of Chinese players was inherently inferior to that of European teams, as well as Australia, so slowing down after ten minutes of fierce attack was both a helpless move and a necessary one.

However, under Zhou Yi's leadership, even a slower-paced China didn't mean that Australia could fully attack and press forward.

They would continue to use passing to control the ball, allowing the ball to stay on their side for as long as possible. The most important thing to do this was the ability of the whole team to pass and receive the ball. In this regard, since the 2011 Asian Cup, the Chinese team had already done a lot of specific targeted training, so now the passing and receiving ability of this group of national team players could meet the basic requirements. Perhaps they couldn't turn passing and receiving the ball into an instinct like Barcelona, but in Asian football, it was already quite distinctive.

This was quite reminiscent of Japanese football, but Japanese players had higher individual qualities. After all, they had been exposed to this style of football since they were young, while Chinese players had gradually developed it in recent years due to Gao Hongbo's deliberate guidance.

Although there were still many shortcomings, the current Chinese team was technically superior to the Australian roughnecks.

Under the continuous passing centered on Zhou Yi, it was not easy for Australian players to intercept the ball, unless they fouled. But this was China's home ground, no matter what, Hassan, the West Asian referee, wouldn't blatantly favor the opponent in the Chinese's home ground, right?

So when the Chinese team concentrated on controlling the ball, the Australian players basically could only run around behind them blindly. Apart from relying on some rough defenses that were close to fouls to grab the ball, they hoped to interfere with the Chinese players' psychology by relying on their tireless running and pressing, making them make mistakes on their own. This was the most likely approach.

And once Australia gained possession of the ball and launched an attack on China's goal, they would encounter heavy resistance starting from Zhou Yi.

Yes, that's right, starting from Zhou Yi.

Although Zhou Yi's position in the national team was a central midfielder who organized the attack, biased towards the attacking midfielder, and defense was definitely not his job, in actual games, Zhou Yi's contribution to defense was also quite significant. He could always accurately appear in key positions by predicting the opponent's passing route, forcing the opponent to change their original passing plan and go around in a circle, which provided more time for China's defensive formation.

After they bypassed Zhou Yi, they would then encounter Yang Muge. As an inconspicuous midfielder defensive player, his importance was often seriously underestimated. He had the stamina to run almost the entire field without being exhausted. This advantage gave him the ability to cover the entire field. In addition, he also had excellent judgment of the ball's path and tactical awareness, which allowed him to always intercept the ball by suddenly appearing on the opponent's passing route. Finally, his calm and composed mental quality would make him like a tenacious hound, no matter what opponent he encountered or how unfavorable the situation was. No matter how the sprinting rabbit made sudden stops, changes direction, and turns, the hound behind him could always lock onto it and seize the opportunity to bite the rabbit's neck.

In fact, after Zhou Yi and Yang Muge's layers of filtering, many of Australia's low-quality attacks basically came to an end. The attacks that could continue to advance were often of a higher level, but at this time, they would encounter the defense line led by Guo Nu.

Guo Nu was not tall, started as a defensive midfielder, and was once considered completely impossible to be a central defender. But relying on his excellent and perverted physical fitness, he stubbornly developed a set of his own defensive methods. On the one hand, he used his amazing explosive power and "foolish courage" mental quality to swiftly defend in front, arriving before the opponent, catching the attacker who was facing away from the direction of the attack off guard. On the other hand, in head-on defense, because he was not tall, his base was stable and he was not easily shaken down by feints. Also, because he was not tall, his turning speed was fast, and it was difficult for general forwards to directly pass him with speed, so his head-on defensive ability was very good. Thirdly, his defensive style was slightly rough, but full of aggressiveness. When facing some forwards with not very good mental qualities, his aggressive and decisive tackle was enough to make those forwards doubt whether they could still pass him. Fourthly, in header contention, although height was a shortcoming, his excellent explosive power made his jumping very outstanding, and his judgment of the landing point of the ball was also very accurate, making his aerial defense ability also very impressive.

Having so many advantages also explains why Guo Nu can be a starter in a Serie A team and perform well in the last round against Juventus.

Finally, even if Australia's attack was really well-organized and broke through Guo Nu's defense line, there was still a "mobile Great Wall" blocking them—Sun Pan. This nickname was given to him by the Spanish media after Sun Pan helped Atletico Madrid win the UEFA Cup.

From this nickname alone, you should be able to see how powerful Sun Pan is.

Many times, when the opponent's attack reached Sun Pan, what they could feel was the despair of trying their best but still being unable to break through his fingertips. In addition, Sun Pan's mouth was particularly chatty. After your shot was saved by him, you would be ridiculed by him. It was really hard for anyone to remain calm. As an attacking player, once you lost your composure in front of the goal, the goal would be further and further away from him.

Australia's few attacks were filtered through layer by layer and finally came to Sun Pan, and then were slapped out by Sun Pan.

Until the end of the first half, Australia was unable to score, and the score remained 1:0.