Would You Mind If I Play?

Chen Huafeng turned and looked at the time on the big screen. As the game entered the fifteenth minute, there was no sign of Shu Guang making a recovery. The team parried but there was no payback.

Li Yongle's defense against Kaka was very successful. So far, Kaka still had no way to provide support for the strikers. He could only return a pass, pass and return the pass again. Wang Ning, who caught the ball poorly, was an engineer type of player. It was not a problem for him to execute destruction, but it was difficult for him to organize the offense itself. Moreover, if the ball was passed out, what could he do? Yang Pan was stopped by Zhang Yang and Lu Qing, while Zhang Jun did not seem like he had a way to shake Luo Bin off. Ren Yu De on the other hand, always seemed to have an issue when he was faced with Liu Chao.

Wang Ning did not seem to have a better solution either. He could only pass the ball back to Lin Xiaofang. Lin Xiaofang was also facing the same problem, and thus could only pass it back to Chen Bo. So, Shu Guang retreated to the defense line, which never happened before in previous matches.

There were quite a few boos coming from the Shu Guang fans.

One of Chen Huafeng's fans appeared next to him and spat on the ground. "Damn it! The Chinese national team would have been able to do it! Have the stupid kids of this generation learned anything yet?

Chen Huafeng was speechless, but what he said was true. Now he could only look at what the coach, Liang Ke instructed them to do. In the past few games, many people thought that Shu Guang's coach was just a name for display, and it was the players who made the decisions. He did not know if the coach had heard such rumors.

Chen Huafeng had been staring at Shu Guang's coach and he was looking forward to see what was going to happen next.

Sure enough, Liang Ke stood up and walked to the sidelines. Yang Pan noticed his coach's move and set his sights upon him.

Liang Ke rushed to wave his hands and Yang Pan instantly nodded in response. Liang Ke then returned to the coach's seat.

Everything was silent. They communicated with gestures and their eyes.

Chen Huafeng did not understand what was going on. In his position, he could only look at Liang Ke's back. He could not see what Liang Ke was doing in front of his c.h.e.s.t. However, Liang Ke could not sit still any longer and that was a good sign.

Chen Huafeng's doubts were only temporary. Soon, he would see the results of Liang Ke's actions.

Yang Pan turned and shouted Ren Yu De's name. He waved his hand and Ren Yu Den quickly retreated. Yang Pan also withdrew and the two of them retreated to a position slightly behind the line.

This…

"Shu Guang changed their formation! After going through the first 15 minutes with disappointment, Shu Guang's coach, Liang Ke can't sit still any longer. He stood up and motioned the change of the players! Yang Pan and Ren Yu De have retreated to the front defender's position, leaving Zhang Jun as the front striker. Shu Guang has changed their formation from a 4-3-3 to 4-5-1! Mr. Zhou, what do you think of Shu Guang's change of formation?"

"Well, this change can be very timely, clever and beautiful. The reason being so is because, on the surface, leaving Zhang Jun as the only striker would create some isolation. After adding two attackers on the front defense line, Zhang Jun's support became even more powerful. Sun Laihong allowed Li Yongle to defend against Kaka to cut off the contact between Shu Guang's midfielder and striker and for the first 15 minutes, he was very successful. However, Liang Ke saw this, so the source of offense was suddenly increased from one to three. Hence, Zhongyuan had some difficulties since the three of them have different skills. One tactic may restrict one individual, but it does not necessarily restrict the other two. In the past, Shu Guang always had three on the midfield, but earlier in this match, they had four on the front field, making them really strong. Hence, the lack of midfielders was recovered. However, Zhongyuan is a powerful team; if there's no additional strength on the midfield, Shu Guang will fall sooner or later. So, now that two of them are added to the front line, the midfield has five people. It is now enough to compete with Zhongyuan's midfielders."

This change of formation soon showed its power.

Wang Ning passed the ball to Kaka again and Li Yongle was forced to come up.

"Kaka can only helplessly return the pass!"

The stands booed again.

Wang Ning received the ball, but he did not return the pass, instead he instantly moved the ball to the right side of Yang Pan's feet!

The booing stopped because the fans saw the No. 7 player, who was as fast as the wind. As Yang Pan retreated, the distance between Lu Qing, him and also Zhang Yang was pulled apart. This distance was just enough for him to rush up!

Zhang Yang was almost thrown off in an instant. Although he was ready, he was still slower than Yang Pan's sprinting.

Lu Qing desperately gave chase! Due to his fast speed, the distance between him and Yang Pan shrunk.

"Yang Pan and Lu Qing are almost at the same speed! Lu Qing quickly catches up but Yang Pan has no intention to pass! He's rushing to the bottom line!"

With the two of them moving at high speeds, everything around them changed into a colorful line: the stands, spectators, the green field, the players and even the fans, who were all cheering loudly.

Zhang Jun, who was being watched closely by Luo Bin, turned in a circle. He suddenly bypassed Luo Bin and rushed into the penalty zone. Although it was unlikely for Yang Pan to be interrupted by Lu Qing's speed, it was not really possible for him to pass with full strength either. Nonetheless, Luo Bin did not dare to be careless and he decided to follow him.

"Yang Pan has no intentions of slowing down! Is he thinking of making a breakthrough like this? If that's the case, he's underestimating Zhongyuan's defense… Ah! That's not it! Behind his heel! Amid his high speed movement, Yang Pan has used his heel to hit the ball to Chen Bo who was behind him!"

Chen Bo took the chance when Zhang Yuchao did not catch up to him in time. He moved the ball to the left for Kaka to receive it.

Li Yongle scurried back and guarded him from turning around. But at this moment, Wang Ning came running to them. Looking at the situation, he wanted Kaka to pass the ball to him.

"Wang Ning has come forward!"

Just as Wang Ning ran past Kaka, Li Yongle felt the center of Kaka's body changed, as if he was going to pass the ball. He hesitated, but he did not know if he should defend against Wang Ning or Kaka. During this time, Kaka suddenly turned to the opposite direction and swept past Li Yongle!

"Kaka pretended to pass the ball, but he turned away from Li Yongle! Li Yongle was tricked!"

Yang Pan, who passed the ball did not continue running towards the penalty area, instead he returned to meet Kaka. His move seemed to send a terrifying message to people: he was going for a long-ranged shot.

Sure enough, Zhang Yang, Lu Qing and the retreating Zhang Yuchao moved in on Yang Pan. Even Deng Rui began to consciously rely on Yang Pan's shooting line—although his shot was terrible, as a defender, was it not his duty to stop each offense and reduce the pressure as well as burden of the goalkeeper?

While everyone had their eyes and attention on Yang Pan, Zhang Jun quietly reverted back to Luo Bin's side. Luo Bin had been attracted to Yang Pan's move and he had not noticed that he lost control of his goal.

Kaka did not follow the script in everyone's heart, opting to suddenly make a pass!

"Zhang Jun!" the commentator called out in shock.

The soccer ball rolled over the grass and happened to be on the right side of the goal. He took the chance of Luo Bin's negligence and ferociously turned to make a direct shoot!

"A turn to shoot a goal!"

Zhang Lintao, who seemed to be pressured moved forward to tackle the ball. However, there was an unfortunate distance, in addition to Zhang Jun's sudden shot, thus he could not tackle the ball. The soccer ball then swung outside the post, which was a dangerous close call!

"Too bad! That was a beautiful offense! Shu Guang's offense is finally taking place!"

"Honestly, Shu Guang's formation received an effect."

"That was close! He may not have a chance again next time. Luo Bin is a dangerous person."

Zhang Lintao placed the ball on the line of the restricted area and spoke to Luo Bin, who was about to kick the ball off. As a goalkeeper, Zhang Lintao's ability to send the ball of was not very flattering, and that was his only drawback.

Luo Bin nodded. "I was just careless, he won't have a second chance!"

"Hehe! How are you so confident?"

"You think that Li Yongle's the only one with the ability to mark people?" Luo Bin ran three steps ahead and made a big kick towards the front of the field. Standing there was the 180-cm Zhang Yulin—it was an excellent header. After the opening, he turned to Zhang Lintao and said, "I'm the same." His expression was serious and it was definitely not a joke.

"The game has been going on for 20 minutes and the score is still a tie, 0: 0! During the last 15 minutes, Shu Guang was in a dangerous situation. But after their coach, Liang Ke's timely adjustment, Shu Guang gradually regained their lost initiative! Dear viewers, good afternoon! You are now watching the finals of the Luoyang Qualifiers of the 15th National High School Soccer Championsh.i.p.s! We are having Zhongyuan High School and Shu Guang High School today!"

Sun Laihong already saw the purpose of Liang Ke's formation change, but he sat still without moving. He believed that with the current situation on the field, the players could completely manage on their own. A team that had gone through two national tournaments did not need to be disorganized because of a change in their opponents' team.

Moreover, because of the opponent's change in the game, they could also follow with their own adjustments. But rather than allowing the opponent to lead the way and finally losing their initiatives, he decided against it as excessive adjustments would be overwhelming.

This was indeed the case. Luo Bin had stepped up his "care" after Zhang Jun's attempt to score a goal and he could hardly find any chance. Despite that, Shu Guang's offense was occasionally threatening too. Mainly because, the three strikers were indeed extraordinary. However, those occasional threats were all resolved by Zhang Lintao, who was in good condition.

The only thing that made Sun Laihong somewhat worried was Yang Pan's apparent obsession with assists and his refusal to use explosive long-range shots. He did not know what he was going to do. If his long-range efforts were put into use when the physical strength of the last member dropped, Zhang Lintao's situation would be very dangerous. Not to mention, whenever the others clipped on to defend, he would only pass. It was equivalent to attracting Zhongyuan's defensive forces to him alone, after which the defensive pressure on the others would be reduced. Seriously, their positions were being reversed!

Yang Pan transferred the ball to the left side of the court. Ren Yu De stopped the ball and from his position—in between Zhongyuan's Liu Chao and Zhang Yulin—although he could not go against any of them, he could attack from the back at any moment.

Ren Yu De began to dribble and it got the fans excited. During the match with Dingding, Fan Cunjie as well as Ren Yu De put up a good performance, and both of them were looking forward to this day.

Liu Chao waved to the back despite the fact that there was no one behind him—this was a habitual movement of his. It meant that, "You can rest assured. I settle this alone!". He then leaned in Ren Yu De's direction.

Everyone was looking forward to a wonderful showdown between Ren Yu De, the dribbling expert and Liu Chao, the one-on-one expert. However, when Ren Yu De saw Liu Chao rushing up, he passed the ball and this move surprised Liu Chao.

To his understanding of Ren Yu De, no matter where, when and what the circ.u.mstances were, his "hardcore" dribbles could make a breakthrough, even when he was faced with him. But, what was wrong with him today, why did he quickly pass the ball out?

Ren Yu De's rushed pass was snatched by Li Yongle, breaking through Shu Guang's attempt. At the moment where Shu Guang was pressured, there was a huge gap between the back defense line and the goalkeeper. Li Yongle looked up and saw He Jialin at the front line, who was in parallel with the opposing middle defender. There was no hesitation and he made a long pass!

Sun Laihong saw Li Yongle's long pass and he subconsciously sat up straight in his seat, staring at the flying soccer ball.

"Zhongyuan counter-attacks with a long pass!"

The soccer ball drew an arc and it fell from a high point. The ball arrived and the person came as well! He Jialin stretched his foot to beautifully unload Li Yongle's long pass. The single knife was then faced with An Ke!

"What an accurate long pass! The single knife, He Jialin! This is the best chance for Zhongyuan High School!"

An Ke proceeded to attack!

As He Jialin dribbled the ball, he saw An Ke running out. He ferociously hit the brakes and with a sharp kick, the ball flew towards the empty goal.

"He Jialin shoots! It looks like Zhongyuan will be the first to take the lead!"

An Ke felt some sadness as he turned to look at the ball flying straight into the goal. He believed that at this very moment, the other members of Shu Guang and the cheerleaders shared the same feelings as him too—they were about to lose a point!

He Jialin was getting ready to celebrate his goal, but…

"Dang!" The soccer ball slammed into the post and bounced away, out of the bottom line!

"Such a pity! Shu Guang got away this time!"

"Hmm, judging from the situation earlier, I think Li Yongle's accuracy and long pass played a very important role. In the high school world of soccer, there are only a few that can transmit an acurrate long-distance pass. Not only does he make a big kick look easy, but there is also an added arc of spin that allows the ball to be more directional and purposeful."

"So in this case, there's no doubt that Li Yongle is the best player in the last national championship!"

When Yang Pan saw how Li Yongle's long pass found He Jialin in front of him, he gave up on defending, because he knew that he could not catch up to such a pass even if his own speed was within 10 or 15 seconds per 100 m."

It was both a fast and accurate long pass…

"Tomahawk missiles! This long pass reminds me of the infamous accurate attacks of the tomahawk missiles! It'd be quite suitable to call it a Battle Axe Long Pass!"

Not bad, it really was a suitable name.

He Jialin was frustrated, but he was then reassured by Li Yongle, "There's still a chance, don't rush it!"

"Seriously, that long pass of yours was... good. I'm left speechless!" He Jialin gave Li Yongle a thumbs up.

Zhao Defeng stood at the side and watched the both of them.

…

"After Li Qiang leaves, I'm planning to reserve his No. 10 for Li Yongle. Does anyone have any objection?" Sun Laihong asked everyone after the training ended.

Li Yongle had his eyes wide open and he could not believe what he just heard. "Coach, this…"

Before he could finish his words, he was drowned out by his teammates' loud screams, "No objections!"

Zhao Defeng was speechless, because he felt a faint loss inside his heart. He thought that he would be the one to wear the No. 10 jersey. As the soccer team's captain, offensive organizer and the soul of the team, how could there be anyone more suitable than him?

…

And today, Zhao Defeng accepted defeated in his heart, that the No. 10 jersey was more suitable for the guy in front of him, a lot more suitable.