Chapter 1 When the referee Shukralla from Bahrain blew the whistle to start the game, a burst of cheers erupted from the stands of the Arena da Baixada.

Spain intended to take advantage of their kickoff and launch an attack on the Chinese team's goal, hoping to score early.

However, their attack didn't reach the Chinese team's goal. When Cazorla received the ball on the wing, he was marked by Yang Muge. Cazorla didn't pass the ball immediately but planned to dribble past Yang Muge.

Was Yang Muge so easy to get rid of?

Seizing the opportunity, he poked his foot out, and Cazorla stumbled, losing the ball...

Yang Muge, who had poked the ball away, reacted quickly. He immediately bypassed Cazorla, controlled the ball, and then passed it to Zhou Yi.

"Zhou Yi has the ball!" commentator Liu Jianhong shouted excitedly.

In fact, it wasn't just him who was excited; the Chinese fans in front of the TV and in the stands were also thrilled.

Cheers immediately echoed from the Chinese fans in the Arena da Baixada stands.

Everyone had been waiting for this moment for two games.

In the previous two matches, the Chinese team, lacking Zhou Yi, had tried their best just to draw with their opponents.

So, what could the Chinese team with Zhou Yi do this time?

Also, had Zhou Yi, who had recovered from his injury, truly shaken off its effects? What would his condition be in this game?

These were the questions on everyone's mind.

So, when Zhou Yi got the ball, tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on him.

But Zhou Yi didn't seem to feel the pressure of this attention at all. He shook his head from side to side before receiving the ball. When the ball came to his feet, he only paused for a moment before quickly passing it out again.

He passed it to Yang Hao, the defensive midfielder on the other side.

Then he ran diagonally, maintaining an angled position with Yang Hao. This way, when Yang Hao was pressed and had to pass the ball quickly, he wouldn't have to observe, nor would he have to worry about teammates being blocked by opponents. He just needed to pass the ball to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi's position was always the best for him to receive a pass.

After Yang Hao got the ball, he was indeed pressed by Spanish players.

He immediately passed the ball to Zhou Yi.

Just as Zhou Yi received the ball, Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso rushed up, trying to prevent Zhou Yi from turning around.

But Zhou Yi seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Without turning, he flicked the ball backward with his heel. The ball went through Xabi Alonso's legs and rolled to He Ying, who was retreating to support him.

"Wow! Beautiful!" Liu Jianhong shouted excitedly. "A wonderful backheel pass, fooling Alonso!"

The Chinese fans in the stands also erupted in cheers and applause, giving it to Zhou Yi.

But Zhou Yi's performance didn't stop there. After cleverly passing the ball to He Ying, he immediately turned around, slipped past Alonso, and then moved forward.

He Ying was also receiving the ball with his back to the direction of the attack. When he saw Zhou Yi turn around and come up, he immediately passed the ball back to him.

This time, Zhou Yi didn't even stop the ball. He simply swung his foot and made a diagonal long pass, passing the ball to Wu Lei on the right wing, where there was an opening!

"Beautiful switch! Beautiful! This vision, he barely observed, and he saw the opening on the right..." In front of Zhou Yi, Liu Jianhong had almost become a human repeater, constantly repeating "beautiful."

"Wu Lei gets the ball! Good opportunity!" Liu Jianhong screamed, raising his voice.

Amid the cheers of the Chinese fans, Wu Lei dribbled the ball towards the Spanish penalty area.

Spanish left-back Alba came up to defend. Facing Alba's defense, Wu Lei planned to use his speed to force a breakthrough. He pushed the ball forward and accelerated!

But Alba was also very fast and experienced. He immediately turned inward, wedging himself between Wu Lei and the ball, preventing Wu Lei from speeding up. Wu Lei tried to bypass Alba, but Alba didn't give him the chance. In the end, Alba shielded the ball out of bounds.

The Chinese team's first attack ended without even winning a corner kick.

"Wu Lei was a little impatient, but it's okay, the game has just started, momentum is the most important!" Liu Jianhong was still quite lenient with Wu Lei's performance.

Wu Lei himself was very annoyed. He wasted the good ball from Zhou Yi, so he raised his hands to Zhou Yi to express his apologies. But Zhou Yi gave him a thumbs up in return.

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Commentators from various countries didn't pay much attention to Wu Lei's failed breakthrough. Their focus was only on Zhou Yi.

Everyone was commenting on Zhou Yi's passing performance just now.

"Still the familiar recipe, the familiar taste... This is Zhou Yi!"

"That familiar Zhou Yi is back! This is what we often saw in Dortmund's games, he seems to know everything about the entire stadium!"

"Zhou Yi's passing is still smooth and freehand, and very precise. With Zhou Yi, the Chinese team seems to be able to pose a threat to Spain..."

"Just now, there was an opening on the wing for Spain, but the opening wasn't very big, and Alba quickly filled it. But Zhou Yi still seized the opportunity and sent a precise pass... I think just from the first two minutes of the game, we can see that Zhou Yi is in very good condition. He doesn't seem to have any sense of unfamiliarity with the game because of his month-long injury..."

"It's really incredible, is this the performance of a player who has been away from the field for a month due to injury? In his first game after recovering from injury, he has had two wonderful passes in the first two minutes... Zhou Yi's performance is amazing!"

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Although the Chinese team's attack didn't succeed, it was an encouragement to the Chinese players on the field, letting them know that with Zhou Yi on the field, they could play differently from the previous two games, and they had the ability to threaten Spain's goal.

Before the game, everyone said that although Spain was the defending champion, they were just paper tigers. But that was just what others said. Whether Spain was really a paper tiger had to be experienced firsthand.

Now the Chinese players felt that they really had a chance against Spain!

So, a minute later, the Chinese team once again used their tight defense in the backfield to intercept Spain's pass and then launch an attack.

This time He Ying took a long shot from outside the penalty area, but the ball went wide.

"Wow! Four minutes into the game, the Chinese team has already completed two attacks, while Spain hasn't completed even one! Although before the game Del Bosque said that Spain would use a victory to say goodbye to the World Cup, and the whole team was ready to fight for honor. But judging from the first few minutes of the game, the Spanish players don't seem to be ready to enter the game..."

It wasn't until the eleventh minute of the game that Spain finally organized an attack that looked threatening.

But when Villa chose to force a breakthrough in front of the penalty area, he was blocked very strongly by Guo Nu.

"Guo Nu! Perfect interception!" Liu Jianhong was very excited now. Seeing the Chinese players perform well, he immediately lavished praise on them without hesitation. "Accurate positioning, agile footwork, clean and neat!"

That wasn't all. In the past month, Lippi had been constantly instilling a concept into the Chinese players, that is, in any defense, a successful defense is the beginning of an attack. So everyone has to think about how to attack after defending, and everyone has to be prepared to quickly switch between defense and attack at any time.

The Chinese team's attack after Yang Muge's interception earlier was a manifestation of this idea.

Now Guo Nu's successful interception was too.

After he intercepted Villa's ball, he immediately passed the ball forward.

Zhou Yi didn't transition through anyone in the midfield, but directly passed the ball long, giving it to He Ying who had pulled to the wing.

After receiving the ball, He Ying was already close to the thirty-meter area. He took two steps forward and saw that Yan Min had already rushed straight to the goal from the other side, so he decisively raised his foot and crossed at a forty-five-degree angle!

The ball soared over the head of Spanish defender Albiol in the penalty area and fell towards Yan Min at the far post!

"The Chinese team's counterattack, here it comes again!" Liu Jianhong shouted.

After a high-speed forward insertion, facing the ball passed by He Ying, Yan Min didn't choose to stop the ball, but took advantage of the situation and swung his left foot, intending to shoot directly!

At the same time, Sergio Ramos also quickly returned to the front of the goal. Seeing that Yan Min had a chance, he quickly jumped up, turned around, and stood in front of Yan Min.

Yan Min hit the ball, but the ball also hit Ramos's body and bounced out of the baseline, not threatening Reina's goal.

A burst of exclamations rang out from the stands, from both Chinese and Spanish fans.

Yan Min, whose shot was blocked, held his head in his hands, looking very regretful.

After landing, Ramos tightened his captain's armband and then signaled his teammates to return to participate in the corner kick defense.

"So far, the Chinese team has already had two shots, while Spain hasn't had even one. It's really worrying whether Spain can say goodbye to the World Cup with a victory..." the Spanish TV commentator said worriedly. Judging from the first ten minutes of the game, it was clear that the Chinese team's desire to survive was stronger, while the Spanish players' sense of honor was slightly weaker...