Chapter 669 We are still alive
At the Working People's Stadium in Xingtan City, Jianshan Province, 50,000 Chinese fans were singing the national anthem.
"...The Chinese nation has arrived! The most dangerous time..."
Why should we sing the national anthem at this time?
Because the Chinese team on the field has indeed reached its most dangerous moment.
There are still five minutes left before the end of the regular 90-minute game time, but the Chinese team playing at home is trailing 1:2.
In another top-12 match in the afternoon, Qatar and Australia played away from home and tied 0:0. This is a major benefit for Saudi Arabia. As long as they can defeat the Chinese team in the away game, they will surpass Australia with 11 points and rise to second place in the group with 13 points. Have the opportunity to qualify directly for the World Cup finals.
So they played very proactively in this game, and it didn't feel like they were playing away from home at all.
Although it was the Chinese team that was the first to break the deadlock - Lou Jiarong's long-range shot from outside the penalty area hit the Saudi Arabian player's leg and refracted, making the opponent's goalkeeper unable to save.
The Chinese team took the lead.
But then Saudi Arabia chased two goals in ten minutes, rewriting the score to 2:1.
Next, Shi Wuyin made tactical adjustments and replaced Luo Kai with the more experienced forward Gao Chen.
But it still has been unable to break through Saudi Arabia's goal.
If the Chinese team loses to Saudi Arabia, not only will it be left far behind by Saudi Arabia, but it will also be unable to take advantage of the opportunity of Qatar and Australia to tie each other and continue to cling to their opponents.
So you can’t lose, you absolutely can’t lose.
In fact, before the game started, what Chinese fans wanted was to win Saudi Arabia at home.
After all, Australia has already reached a draw with Qatar. As the snipe and the clam fight, it is their turn to benefit the Chinese team.
Everyone is looking forward to the Chinese team defeating Saudi Arabia at home. In this case, the Chinese team will tie Saudi Arabia with ten points, surpassing Qatar, which is fourth in the group, and only one point away from Australia, which is second in the group.
With three rounds left in the group stage, the Chinese team may even directly advance to the World Cup finals as the top two in the group!
Dreams are full, but reality is so skinny...
Now the Chinese fans don't think about scoring all three points at all. They are satisfied if they can not lose.
The TV broadcast repeatedly showed the anxious and helpless expressions of the Chinese team players. These are close-ups of Chinese players at different times in the past.
If it is played intensively at this time, the Chinese fans watching in front of the TV will also become irritable.
In front of the bench, there were many substitute players of the Chinese team. They could no longer sit still on the bench chairs. Instead, they stood up and walked to the sidelines to stare at the court and cheer for their teammates.
Luo Kai, who had returned to the bench a long time ago, was still sitting on his chair, looking at the court with an unsightly look on his face.
After he opened the scoring for the national team in the last game, he was happy for a long time. He was full of pride and extremely confident, thinking that his opponents in the top 12 matches were nothing more than this.
Looking forward to continuing their outstanding performance against the UAE in the match against Saudi Arabia.
As a result, due to his outstanding performance in the previous game, he was closely marked by Saudi Arabian players in this game. As a player with the ball, without space to display his speed, his threat dropped by nearly half.
Therefore, he was replaced by head coach Shi Wuyin in the 62nd minute, becoming the first player to be replaced in this game.
what does that mean?
It means that his performance in this game was very poor and he failed to live up to the trust and expectations of head coach Shi.
Luo Kai could not forgive himself.
He was supposed to help the team score goals, but he became the weakest link of the Chinese team.
If I lose this game, how should I face those eyes...
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Chen Xingyi was holding his knees with his hands and breathing heavily.
He started this game and has played until now. Director Shi has used up all three substitutions, and he should not be substituted again.
Why was Luo Kai even allowed to stay on the court even though he was replaced?
Obviously Director Shi believes that he can help the Chinese team's offense and contribute to the Chinese team's goals.
But until now he has not been able to create a killing opportunity for the Chinese team.
He failed to live up to the high expectations placed on him by Director Shi.
We can't just let it go...
Thinking of this, he straightened up again and joined the game again as the Saudi Arabian players threw the throw-in.
He rushed towards the back of the Saudi Arabian player who had just received the ball.
The Saudi Arabian player caught the ball and turned around, only to see a man coming towards him, and the two of them bumped into each other.
Chen Xingyi was a step too late. Before he could press forward, he saw that the opponent's player had collided with Lou Jiarong.
The opposing player seemed to reflexively poke the ball with his foot, trying to poke it away.
As a result, the football hit Lou Jiarong's leg and bounced to the other side, towards...to Chen Xingyi!
He didn't care whether the referee would blow the whistle, so he stretched out his foot to hook the football under his feet, and then dribbled the ball forward!
"Lou Jiarong's counterattack was successful! Chen Xingyi took the ball to the center!"
Chen Xingyi did not dribble the ball along the sideline, but chose to dribble toward the center.
After all, the middle is more threatening.
It can also stir up Saudi Arabia’s defense!
Sure enough, when they saw Chen Xingyi dribbling the ball towards the middle, two Saudi Arabian players immediately stepped forward to try to defend.
Chen Xingyi did not hesitate and directly passed the football to Gao Ruimin next to him.
After passing the ball, he quickly changed direction and broke out of the encirclement between the two Saudi Arabian players.
Gao Ruimin kept passing the ball forward and handed it back to Chen Xingyi.
He was kicked from behind by a Saudi Arabian player just after passing the football.
There were boos and shouts from the stands.
The referee did not stop the game, but raised his hands flat and ran forward.
"The offense is good! Chen Xingyi caught the ball!"
The two Saudi Arabian players who had just surrounded Chen Xingyi turned around and gave chase.
One of them has quickly stuck to Chen Xingyi from the left and at the same time pulled his jersey.
Chen Xingyi's body was unable to pick up speed for a moment and was swaying a little.
But he still insisted on dribbling the ball forward, and instead of running into the empty space, he ran towards another Saudi Arabian player!
Just when the player was finally attracted to him and pounced on him, he stabbed Zhang Qinghuan behind the Saudi Arabian player with the toe of his right foot while running!
Leave it to you, Brother Huan!
After passing the ball, he finally could no longer maintain his balance and was pulled to the ground by his opponent...
But his eyes were still fixed on Brother Huan.
He saw Brother Huan take a step forward when he received the ball, attracting the Saudi Arabian center back to come out to defend him.
Just when the two people were about to collide, Zhang Qinghuan took the first step and pushed the football forward!
The direction the football was going was in the space behind the Saudi Arabian central defender who came up to defend him just now!
"Zhang Qinghuan made a direct pass...good shot!"
He Feng shouted this because he saw that while Zhang Qinghuan was passing the ball, Hu Lai, who was originally on the right rib, suddenly moved forward and squeezed into the penalty area from the Saudi Arabian defender who was closely guarding him!
The Saudi Arabian defender only had time to reflexively stretch his foot to block the football, but failed to stop it. At the same time, he opened his arms to intercept Hu Lai, but he didn't stop him!
Then he turned around and saw Hu Lai catching the ball behind him, so he did not continue to chase, but stood there and raised his arms to signal to the referee that Hu Lai was offside...
But how could the ball be offside? !
The Chinese fans in the stands burst into loud cheers when they saw this scene, like a storm approaching the Saudi Arabian penalty area!
"Hu Lai!"
"Hu Lai——!"
When Hulay, who was behind the entire Saudi Arabian defense, received the football, the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper who attacked in a hurry had just reached the line of the small penalty area...
He did not continue to dribble the ball or make any adjustments. Instead, he suddenly pushed with his right foot while running, pushing the football to the near corner of the goal!
The football touched the toes of the Saudi Arabian goalkeeper who fell to the ground and turned into the goal!
Chen Xingyi, who was lying on the ground and saw this scene, struggled to get up from the ground and accelerated towards Hu Lai.
Zhang Qinghuan jumped up, waved his fist, and followed.
A storm fell from the sky, and the entire Working People's Stadium was filled with the sound of howling wind.
"Hu Lai—beautiful!!! Beautiful!!! The winning goal! The winning goal in the 87th minute! He helped the Chinese team equalize the score! This is a goal worth thousands of dollars!" He Feng shouted hoarsely. "The Chinese team is alive again! We are still alive!!"
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Luo Kai, who was sitting on the bench watching the game, suddenly jumped up from his seat, rushed to the sidelines, and then slammed the towel around his neck to the ground!
Then he threw his head back and yelled, punching the sky.
The Chinese team players next to him also huddled together and were as excited as Luo Kai.
They roared, waved their fists, and some used the water bottles they held as water guns, splashing water everywhere, as if it was not a bottle of mineral water, but champagne...
Shi Wuyin, Li Zhifei, and Hong Renjie hugged each other, laughing and dancing.
More than 50,000 Chinese fans in the stands jumped up and fell down at the same time, making the camera lens set up high in the stadium stand shake.
It looks like the stadium is shaking!
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After scoring, Hu Lai turned and ran towards the corner flag area. This time he failed to make his signature celebration because he was hugged by Gao Chen in the middle, and then he was pulled directly to the ground and pressed up.
Then more Chinese team players swarmed in, jumped up, and pounced on him.
"Holy shit!! Oh shit!!"
"Awesome! Awesome!"
“Ahhhhhh——!”
"Hu Lai, you are so formidable!"
"Brother Huan, you are also in a bunker!"
……
Behind the Chinese team players celebrating wildly are the Saudi Arabian players.
Some of them stood with their hands on their hips, some stared blankly at the football in the goal, and some cast confused glances at the Chinese team players celebrating their goals.
Some people are now realizing that a cooked duck can fly, and the three points they got...are gone!
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PS, two updates will be resumed tomorrow! (End of chapter)