Chapter 618 Countdown
When the referee blew the first whistle, almost everyone on the scene had not yet reacted.
The Shanhaimen players pointed to the corner flag area, indicating that Sui Huiming hit the ball, and the Mariners should have another corner kick.
The Hedong Thunder player pointed to the front court, indicating that the ball was scored by Zhou Zijing.
The two parties involved in this dispute were holding their heads and falling to the ground at this moment, before they had time to make any excuses or appeals.
Mariners fans in the stands were shouting: "Corner kick!!"
It wasn't until the second whistle sounded immediately after the first whistle that anyone came to their senses - this didn't seem to be a corner kick or a goal kick...
Then the referee raised his hand and blew the third whistle.
Even the most obtuse person can figure it out - the game is over!
Three whistles sound, which signals the end of the game!
"The whole game is over... The game is over... The Mariners ultimately failed to win the Thunder at home... Although Zhou Zijing helped the Mariners break the deadlock in the 80th minute, Luo Kai scored with his own goal in the 86th minute. He tried his best to help the Thunder equalize the score...Although both sides had some chances, no one could score again..."
The commentator of Shanhai TV Sports Channel summarized the game with some frustration.
Based on this fixed score, no matter how the Jincheng game goes, Shanhai Mariners will have no chance of winning the league championship.
The goal they had been striving for all season came to naught at the last moment.
Some Mariners players who couldn't bear the blow fell to the ground on the spot and covered their faces with their hands.
Zhou Zijing, who had just recovered from the dizziness caused by the collision with someone, seemed to have been knocked to pieces. He didn't hear the whistle, and he still wanted to win a corner kick - it was obviously him who hit the top, he was 100% sure, but he still wanted to I want to get a corner kick.
Captain Jiang Wanqing grabbed him: "It's OK, Xiao Zhou! Xiao Zhou..."
"Captain Jiang, why are you pulling me? Believe me, the opponent really hit the football. This should be our corner kick. We still have one chance to attack..." Zhou Zijing anxiously tried to break away from Jiang Wanqing.
"The game is over, Zhou Zijing!" This kid was so strong that Jiang Wanqing had to use all his strength and scolded him in a stern tone. "We have no chance!"
Zhou Zijing stopped as if he had lost his motivation. He stared at Jiang Wanqing with wide eyes.
"You're doing very well, Xiao Zhou." Seeing him like this, Jiang Wanqing sighed and consoled him. "It's not your fault..."
Zhou Zijing looked over the captain's shoulder, and then he realized that his teammates were lying on the ground in a mess.
He realized that Team Jiang had not lied to him and that the game was really over.
And what he squandered might be the sailor's chance to finally defeat Thunder...
He was extremely disappointed with himself and blamed himself. He lay directly on Jiang Wanqing's shoulder and cried loudly: "I'm sorry, Captain Jiang! I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Jiang Wanqing didn't say anything, he just held the young man in his arms, raised his hand and patted his generous back gently.
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Luo Kai stood alone at the front, close to the midline.
This was the place he had chosen for himself to launch his counterattack.
As long as his teammates can prevent the Mariners' attack and pass the football directly, he will face an empty Mariners backfield and an unguarded goal.
He will definitely kill the sailors and also Hu Lai!
But this scene only existed in his imagination and did not really happen.
He just stood there, hands on his hips, looking at the fallen players from both sides in his backcourt.
The Shanhaimen players could not accept this result.
How many people from Hedong Thunder are willing to draw with their opponents?
Luo Kai really wanted to say that he tried his best, and he did, but he couldn't say the second half of this sentence - "no regrets."
No regrets for seeing the damn devil!
I want to win!
I want to win!
My game...shouldn't end like this!
Luo Kai buried his head deeply amid the angry roar in his heart.
His fists were clenched tightly, and his body was shaking slightly due to excessive exertion.
Yan Li sighed and withdrew his gaze.
He told assistant coach Jiang Yufeng: "You continue to pay attention to the results over there."
After saying that, he went on the court to comfort his players.
Although Hedong Thunder did not win the game, they still have hope of finishing in the top three in the league - as long as there is no news of a flash star goal from Jincheng.
With both Flash Stars and Thunderbolts scoring only one point, the two teams have the same points. Thunderbolts will eventually overtake Flash Stars and become third in the league, qualifying for next season's AFC Champions League.
So you still need to continue to pay attention to your opponent's movements.
It's just that as a head coach, he has a more important thing to do, which is to comfort the players and thank them for their efforts.
The first person he walked towards was Luo Kai, who finally helped the team equalize the score.
Until he walked up to Luo Kai, the latter didn't even raise his head.
Yan Li's eyes fell on Luo Kai's clenched fists and he said: "I understand your reluctance, Luo Kai. I don't want to advise you to be more liberal. If you are not satisfied with the result... continue to train and improve. Go ahead and turn this unwillingness and anger into the motivation to move forward. Almost all successful people come out of failure. I hope you are the same one."
After speaking, he patted Luo Kai on the shoulder, and without waiting for Luo Kai to respond, he turned and walked towards the other Thunder players in the backcourt.
Behind him, Luo Kai slowly raised his head.
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"The game is over!" Xie Lan screamed excitedly, "It's a tie over there! As long as we can win..."
Before she finished speaking, before her husband poured cold water on her as usual, she realized that it would be quite difficult to win here...
The stoppage time in the game between Flash Star and South China Tigers was one minute longer than that of Shanhai, but it was only one minute.
Half of the minute has passed now, and there is not much time left for Flashing Star.
Perhaps for this reason, although everyone knew that the match between Shanhai Mariners and Hedong Thunderbolts was over, and the two sides were tied, meeting one of the two conditions for Flash Star to win the championship, the cheers in the stands were not as loud as expected.
After all, what's the point of cheering our opponents for a draw if we can't win?
It would just make him look like a clown, doing things that harm others and not benefit himself.
The commentators only briefly mentioned the situation there and then focused on this game.
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Although there was not much movement in the stands, the players on both sides of the field still knew the result of the game between the Mariners and Thunder.
This news is great news for South China tigers.
This means that they no longer need to continuously attack the Stars' defense. As long as they can hold on to the current 2:2 score in the remaining half minute, they can win the league championship.
This subtle change in mentality was reflected in the fact that Lou Jiarong, who took the ball in the midfield during the game, hesitated slightly when faced with Morikawa Junpei's personal entanglement.
It was this hesitation that caused the football at his feet to be cut off by Junpei Morikawa.
He himself staggered to the side.
The referee's whistle didn't sound, and Junpei Morikawa made a very clean steal this time!
Qin Lin had been shaking his head left and right to observe the situation before the ball changed hands, so when Morikawa Junpei grabbed the ball, Qin Lin reacted - he quickly pressed forward and put his hands together in front of him , made a gesture to Morikawa Junpei and asked the latter to pass the ball to him.
After Junpei Morikawa stole the ball and saw Qin Lin doing this, he didn't hesitate and stabbed the football directly.
Qin Lin, who received the ball, had just crossed the center line, adjusted the football to his right foot, and passed it with a flick of his foot!
A long overhead pass went straight to the South China Tigers penalty area!
On the big screen in the stadium, the last digit of the number representing the game time jumped.
93:51
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"Junpei Morikawa made a beautiful steal, no foul! He handed the football to Qin Lin... After Qin Lin received the ball, he made a long pass to find... Hu Lai!!"
Amidst the shouts of the commentator and the switching of the TV broadcast cameras, everyone saw that at the front, the red figure with the number fourteen was accelerating towards the South China Tiger's restricted area!
Almost directly behind him is Yao Huasheng, the captain of the South China Tigers.
Hu Lai's sudden start could not escape his attention. He quickly followed Hu Lai at the same time as he started.
The other South China Tigers players had just turned around and were about to run back.
These two people stood out from the South China Tigers' defense line and seemed very abrupt.
In fact, Hu Lai's performance has not been very active since the beginning of the second half. Most of the time, his performance can only be said to be quite satisfactory, and he did not get a few close-ups in the TV broadcast.
But Yao Huasheng, as an experienced central defender, certainly knows that to deal with Hu Lai, it does not matter how many times he plays in close-ups, but that he cannot relax his vigilance from beginning to end.
Otherwise, he would have been thrown away by Hu Lai by several meters this time!
When Hu Lai and Yao Huasheng stepped into the penalty area one after another, goalkeeper Lin Zhiyuan also decisively abandoned the goal and attacked.
He wanted to shorten the distance between himself and Hu Lai as much as possible, compress his shooting angle, and at the same time, under the attack from the front and back of Team Yao, completely ruin the final blow of Flashing Star!
He even refrained from yelling in a pretentious manner, but quietly pressed forward, preparing to catch Hu Lai off guard - at this time, Hu Lai was looking back to observe the football, completely unaware of the latest situation in front of him!
93:53
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The South China Tigers players who were far away had given up chasing. It was obvious that they could not play any role in this defense and could only place their hope on Team Yao and Lin Zhiyuan.
Also giving up the pursuit were most of the Flash Star players. The attack turned into Hu Lai's solo attack on Longtan. They didn't need their help, and they couldn't help much. You can only put your eyes and hopes on that person.
The Stars fans and the few South China Tigers fans in the stands opened their mouths wide, and sounds came out of their mouths. It was just due to inertia. In fact, they had all forgotten to continue making sounds and just stared blankly. On the court, my mind went blank.
The benches and coaching benches of the two teams were crowded on the sidelines. From substitute players to coaches to staff, everyone was crowded on the sidelines, moving in unison and turning to look in the same direction.
The commentators in the commentary box had already stood up and leaned down, with headphones covering their ears, blocking out most of the sounds at the scene. The microphone extends from the earphones to their mouths. Their mouths are opening and deforming, but the sound has not yet come out from deep in their throats.
Everyone in this stadium is like a statue frozen in time and space.
It was as if the football in the air was the only object that could move normally in this space and time. It crossed nearly half of the field, then lowered its height and fell towards the penalty area.
Precise as a guided missile.
93:54
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Lin Zhiyuan was almost about to rush in front of Hu Lai, but he did not rush forward recklessly - he did not want to give Hu Lai a chance to fall in the penalty area and cheat for a penalty - but lowered his center of gravity, as if Lying on the ground like a civet cat, he opened his arms to expand the defensive area.
At the same time, Yao Huasheng, who was on the left side of Hu Lai, leaned towards Hu Lai and raised his arms at the same time, telling the referee that he had no action on his hands.
He squeezed Hu Lai with only his body strength.
At this moment, the football flew from behind the right side of Hu Lai's body and passed through him at about waist height.
Hu Lai turned a blind eye to everything around him. His head swayed with the football and his eyes were always focused on the ball.
As he ran forward, he raised his right leg and swung it forward.
The last digit on the big screen continued to beat.
93:55
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It's hard to tell whether the football landed directly on the instep of Hu Lai's right foot, or whether the instep of Hu Lai's right foot caught the falling ball. Anyway, Hu Lai just stopped the ball.
He and Lin Zhiyuan are already close at hand.
The football in contact with Hu Lai's instep did not bounce or fly out...or maybe it flew out, but the speed at which Hu Lai's right foot swings forward is exactly the same as the speed at which the football flies, so visually it looks like The football stopped motionless on Hu Lai's instep and was carried forward by him.
Was sent to the right side of Lin Zhiyuan's body!
Lin Zhiyuan originally planned to take advantage of Hu Lai's stop to control the football. Because this kind of long ball is difficult to stop while running at high speed, the football will definitely escape Hu Lai's control, and that's when he will save it.
But his body was pressed to the limit like a spring, and the football did not leave Hu Lai's feet. Not only that, but Hu Lai was sent out of his control...
Seeing this, Lin Zhiyuan hurriedly fell to the ground and jumped sideways, reaching for the ball.
He couldn't touch the ball!
He couldn't even touch Hu Lai's feet!
After Hu Lai sent the football away, he accelerated and rushed past him!
Although Yao Huasheng bumped into him sideways, causing him to stumble a little. But Yao Huasheng also collided with Lin Zhiyuan because of this, and the two completely lost their control over Hu Lai!
Next...
93:57
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"Hu Lai! Hu Lai!! Hu Lai!!!"
The commentator of Anton TV Sports Channel could not suppress his inner excitement. He could not say anything except shouting Hu Lai's name loudly.
At this time, he was almost no different from the ordinary fans in the stands.
He Feng, who was slightly calmer, could still say a complete sentence: "Hu Lai... has passed!!"
Hu Lai, who rushed over, used both hands and feet. This man, who was often ridiculed by rival fans as the "Prince of Diving," was stubbornly and awkwardly trying to maintain his balance at this moment, unwilling to just fall on the turf of the penalty area.
Staggering, he finally caught up with the football. Although the angle was no longer large, he still used the outside instep of his right foot to flick the football toward the goal!
The rapidly rotating football pressed through the grass, leaving a shallow mark on the turf. Then he hit the slightly raised soil in front of the white goal line, bounced up, and jumped over the line.
Like a carp jumping over a dragon's gate.
The butterfly finally flew across the sea.
94:00
The numbers on the big screen jumped again, and this time it wasn't just the time.
Anton Flash Star 2:2 Lingnan South China Tiger
Anton Flash Star 3:2 Lingnan South China Tiger
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(End of chapter)