Would You Mind If I Play?

Yang Pan retreated to get the ball, then made a long pass to Zhang Jun. But unfortunately, Zhang Jun was helplessly defeated by Luo Bin's gigantic size, so the ball was headed away by Luo Bin.

"Zhang Jun is being closely guarded by Luo Bin. Speaking of which, Luo Bin's an excellent marksman and middle defender."

"That's right, in his second year, he played a major role in the defense line. Whether it is air defense or marksmanship, his overall abilities are excellent. That year, there were two middle defenders in Zhongyuan High School; one of them was at the back, while the marksman defender was him. Therefore, it's reasonable for Sun Laihong to utilise him in marking Zhang Jun. From the current point of view, besides the turnings and shootings, it's going to be difficult for Zhang Jun to gain another chance. As the '1' in '4-5-1', once the opponent is frozen, their offense will likely reach a dead end. The coach's task for Luo Bin has been executed brilliantly."

"However, it seems that everyone's long awaited "Zhang Li showdown" will not happen anymore."

"There's no other way to it. This is the finals and it concerns who will get the right to participate in the National Championship in Shanghai next February. No coach would do anything against his tactical arrangements in order to fulfill the audience's wishes. Even goal-medal coach, Sun Laihong is no exception."

"There are some regrets about it though!"

"Indeed. The audience always wants to watch a passionate game with beautiful goals, however coaches must first consider the benefits to their teams. A beautiful kick doesn't matter if they can't score. In fact, when Zhongyuan High School chose defense-based tactics in the beginning, they kinda killed some of the entertainment in the game, yet they have continued to dominate throughout the country, and deservedly become the current high school soccer hegemony. In last year's French World Cup, which I believe everyone has watched, the German team's coach said something very sensible: We don't kick attractively, but those who do are the ones who've gone home earlier than us."

"His speech sure is sensible; appearance and function can never be united!"

As the two commentators discussed eloquently, they seemingly forgot that in 1998, Germany had the most offensive play and their game was full of passion. A newly born cattle was not afraid of the ferocious tiger that was Croatia. The experience of the Shu Guang of today was similar to Croatia!

In the end, it was anyone's game. It was still too early to conclude anything.

After seeing the accuracy of Li Yongle's long pass, the defenders of Shu Guang did not dare to pressure them anymore. On top of that, Zhang Jun's sharp knife was put in a scabbard by Luo Bin, so he could not reveal his edge. The game had entered a stalemate stage.

"The game is a bit uneventful. Perhaps, it's because it's the finals. Both teams are playing cautiously in this period of time."

Kaka took the ball and Li Yongle followed him closely like a shadow. He passed since there was no other better way to break though the opponent's defense. He could only make a short-range shot to try his luck, and the result was just as expected. Under Li Yongle's interruption, the soccer ball was hit like an airplane.

Ten minutes had passed in the absence of any threatening shots and passing errors. There was only 10 minutes left until the end of the first half and the score was still even 0: 0.

"This is so boring!"

"It's not as good as Dingding and Shu Guang's semi-final game!" Another dissatisfied fan cried out.

"It's the finals; both sides are making sure that they don't lose a point, otherwise there won't be anything to discuss about champions, right?"

"As the saying goes, didn't we come here to watch a wonderful performance of the game?"

"How can this world have the best of both!"

Chen Huafeng listened to the conversation between the two people beside him and he agreed in his heart. The demands of fans and coaches were sometimes inevitably conflicted. If the coach changed his style at the request of the fans, it would however be idiotic! Back in the final 10 game in 1997, the fans shouted, "Change Li Tie!" and the coach actually substituted Li Tie out of the game. As such, the consequences were astonishing.

However, Chen Huafeng still felt some regret. The finals had been really dull and would it not be shocking if it ended just like that? Could the energetic spirit of Shu Guang avoid this? He smiled wryly and shook his head.

The first half of the match was about to end and they were moving into injury time. The dullness of this moment allowed the fans from the stands to reduce their passionate cheers. Their screams were lessening by a lot too.

Wang Ning passed the ball to Li Hao's foot and Zhao Defeng did not come up to snatch it. Instead, he retreated. The entire Zhongyuan team was beginning to move backwards.

"The entire team of Zhongyuan is withdrawing their defense. Perhaps the reason for this is the quickly-approaching midfielder. They are thinking of maintaining this draw over the break time! However, will Shu Guang allow them to get what they want?"

When Li Hao saw this, he quickly passed the ball to Yang Pan. Yang Pan retreated to get the ball, but Lu Qing did not come up to him. It was not only Lu Qing, all of Zhongyuan's defense did not seem to be as compact and effective as it was before.

Not knowing why, Yang Pan thought of it as a good opportunity. When the midfielder was liberated, the Shu Guang's dazzling offensive power could be revealed.

Liang Ke saw Sun Laihong rising from his seat as well. Looking at how relaxed the Zhongyuan High School team was, and seeing the members of Shu Guang sharpening their hearts, he suddenly remembered something. He hurriedly stood up and he rushed to the sidelines to shout out Yang Pan's name.

However, he was one step behind.

"Yang Pan dribbles the ball and Shu Guang takes advantage of Zhongyuan's relaxed defenses to launch an attack!"

Lu Qing used his speed to follow, but there were no hand movements, and his body was not affixed to Yang Pan. Yang Pan, who was relieved by the pressure dashed towards the bottom line. Besides Zhongyuan's constant contraction and recontraction, there was no one to stop his breakthrough.

At this time, it seemed like Yang Pan was receiving their ecstatic encouragement, with Shu Guang's two back defenders unexpectedly pressuring the middle line. Chen Bo rushed forward, thinking that Yang Pan would pass with his heel like the last time

But Yang Pan did not plan on kicking the ball back, because he already reached the bottom line.

A pass was made! Lu Qing still slowed down, but he did not stop Yang Pan's pass.

"Kaka appears, ready to receive the pass!"

However, Yang Pan's pass was headed away by the gigantic Deng Rui! Kaka did not receive the ball, and when he turned around to see who got the ball, he realized Li Yongle adjusting the ball at his feet…

"It's coming! Li Yongle's Battle Axe Long Pass!"

"This is a d-disaster!" Yang Pan was in shock. He knew that it was too late for him to recover. He was careless. He forgot how overwhelming his opponents could be. Would the poisonous snake that was Zhongyuan give up its chance? He could only pray for An Ke to be brave or be able to cross the goalpost to help Shu Guang through this robbery.

He Jialin had been cruising around the front of the pitch from the very beginning, waiting for this opportunity. He pierced through the space between the middle defenders and rushed forward, hitting the soccer ball forward with his head.

An Ke roared and attacked. At this moment, he refused to call any of the back defenders back. The earlier the attack, the better the chances to break the ball away from He Jialin, who was controlling it and hoping to score.

The soccer ball fell into the penalty area and from an angle, it seemed like He Jialin was getting closer. An Ke desperately jumped up and got ready to hit the ball out of the air. However, He Jialin's footwork was faster than his. So as he was running, he used an unconventional move to grab the ball between the two players!

However, the ball crossed over An Ke's stretched hands and parachuted to the empty goal behind him. Everyone, including the players from both sides watched as the soccer ball fell into the empty goal. This time, the goalpost did not show any compassion and Shu Guang's goal was broken.

"In the forty-first minute of the first half, Zhongyuan used a classic long pass to counter-attack. He Jialin has made a shot to break An Ke's 10 fingers off! 1: 0! Zhongyuan is in the lead! Li Yongle's accurate long pass creates a wonderful goal!"

When the ball crossed over An Ke's hands, the Zhongyuan's cheerleaders had already begun to celebrate in advance. Due to his previous experience, He Jialin, who scored the goal waited until the ball went into the goal, and the referee sounded his whistle. Only then did he raise both hands, and run towards the center. There, Li Yongle opened his arms and embraced him.

At the forty-first minute of the game, Zhongyuan finally took the lead over Shu Guang. The score was 1: 0. This goal completely wiped the dullness off the field and struck the tie that had been maintained for 41 minutes; it was now broken…

As soon as Shu Guang kicked the ball off, the referee blew the whistle, ending the first half.

Watching the players as they proceeded to return to the lounge room, Chen Huafeng said to himself, "The venomous snake finally spat, huh. I don't know how Shu Guang will be after getting bitten once. It makes us all look forward to the second half of the match…"

"Dear viewers, the first half of the match has ended. The game will resume in 15 minutes. Zhongyuan had a clear advantage,but after five minutes, Shu Guang changed their formation and gradually regained their initiative. However, perhaps due to the psychological burdens of the finals, both sides played more cautiously in the following 20 minutes, and it became dull with fewer brilliant shots. When we all thought of ending the gloomy first half of the match, a drastic change occurred on the court out of nowhere. Zhongyuan took advantage of Shu Guang's mistakes and attacked the city of Shu Guang with a very beautiful, long-distance counter-attack, leading the end of the first half!"

"Hehe! This is making us all look forward to the second half of the match!"

"Yes, 120,000 points to look forward to it!"

Wang Bo turned to Su Li, who had a bitter expression on his face, then he patted him on the shoulder. "Are you worried about them?"

Su Li glanced at him. "Nonsense! I'm not worried about them. Who would I be worried about?"

"Hehe! You're worried! Don't worry! It's only one goal! There's still 40 minutes left!"

"Tsk tsk! Look, look! It's only half of the match and you're already saying that they can't win! When did you lose your confidence?"

"Confidence…"

"When Shu Guang came out, did youstop trusting in them?"

"Captain, Ah Gui's right. We can't do anything here, but we can still trust them!" Li Xiaopeng said.

"Right! You're not wrong! Captain, isn't trusting one another Shu Guang's specialty?" the others excitedly replied.

"Trust…" Su Li thought for a while. "Exactly. We don't simply play soccer together, we're friends!"

Liang Ke did not blame Yang Pan for his misjudgment although it was his misunderstanding that pushed the team into the abyss.

Liang Ke thought that once a mistake was committed, excessive reproaches would be ineffective and it would be better to think of ways to make up for it.

The conceded goal made everyone a bit frustrated, and all their efforts in the first 40 minutes had vanished. They all had their heads hung low and did not speak a word. Liang Ke realized that this was not a good sign. In the past, when they were in a game with Guan Lin High School, they almost scored their own goal when the first half was nearly over. Their situation was not very dominant, but at the time of intermission, there was laugher and some even started joking around, because at that time, they were convinced that they could achieve the final victory. Were they quiet because of how scary Zhongyuan High School was at the finals that day?

The current priority was to restore the fighting spirit and confidence in these children.

As Liang Ke got ready to talk, Kaka stood up. "Hey! Hey! Why aren't you guys talking? An Ke, aren't you usually the most talkative one?"

An Ke murmured a sentence, "Let's see how you'd be like if you lose a goal like this. Let's see if you'd still have the heart to—"

Kaka smiled. "It's only one goal right? It's not a big deal!"

An Ke huffed another sentence, "It's not a big deal? Didn't you all do anything during the first half?"

"Hehe! The second half will be different!" Kaka smiled.

"How do you know?" Not only An Ke, but the rest of his teammates raised their heads to look at him.

"Intuition, it's intuition! Intuition told me that we'll score in the second half!" Kaka pointed to his head.

"Pfft—" The others waved in disdain.

Su Fei did not go into the lounge as usual. In the eyes of those who were familiar with her, what she did that day was out of character. She sat in her seat to collate her records of the first half.

In the first half of their match against Zhongyuan High school, six shots were taken, four directs shots were made, two wide kicks and also three corner kicks. Shu Guang had four shots to the goal, but only one was a straight shot, the rest were all missed corners.

From a statistical point of view, Shu Guang was not dominant and from the looks of it on the field, it was the same. However, Su Fei arranged her records with a calm attitude, as calm as she was when doing her homework. Since when did she have such confidence in Zhang Jun? This was the finals! They already lost a goal in the first half, and Zhang Jun only shot one goal. Why, why did you believe that Shu Guang would win from the beginning?

Su Fei finally wrote the last word. She sighed before she closed the book and placed it on her l.a.p, looking up to the clear blue sky.

In the middle of intermission, audience members were also resting their vocal chords and their voices were a lot softer to the point where nothing could be heard. Su Fei looked back on the players' exit. There were only five minutes left to halftime and she did not know what had happened to them. When she saw them off, they were all emotionless.

On the other side, Sun Laihong clapped in satisfaction, allowing the lively lounge room to quiet down. Everyone listened as they looked at their smiling coach.

"Very good! Very good! You were all fantastic! Although the other side tried to counter-attack by changing their arrangement, all of you suppressed them beautifully!" Sun Laihong praised the players without hesitation. Even though he now that he had a goal in hand, he was not disillusioned to think that the overall situation was set. This was the finals and anything could happen. It was necessary to further arouse the confidence of the players and improve them, letting them firmly grasp the hope of winning with their own hands during the second half of the game.

"Liu Chao, since Ren Yu De has withdrawn, you don't need to mark him and change areas. I noticed that he wasn't confident when he faced you as he remembered his failure last year. His physical ability hasn't been very good for some reason ever since middle school. Even after two years of training, the effects aren't very obvious. His body is already letting off steam. I think it's safe to say that in the second half, his threats will diminish over time. In such high-intensity confrontation, he is also likely to be replaced at the last minute because of his fatigue, so don't waste your time on him. When you're defending, pay attention on assisting others and be prepared to help."

"No problem." Liu Chao was confused by Ren Yu De's abnormal renunciation during the first half. After listening to his coach's explanation, he now understood why.

"As for Yang Pan, no matter where he withdraws to, Lu Qing will stick to him, so don't be afraid of mistakes. You won't lose out in terms of speed against him. Besides, there are Zhang Yang and Deng Rui too, so don't be afraid to just go for it!"

Lu Qing found some confidence from the first half and competing against Yang Pan in several matches. The person who is said to be god is no more than that. He would never successfully make a break through and that was his current idea.

"Also, Li Yongle's long pass! Although I know that you've been performing well during trainings, I didn't expect it to have such great power in the game for the first time. He Jialin's goal proved that our arrangements are correct. The second half insists on this sneak attack!" Before the match, Sun Laihong made plans for it by using his contraction tactics and active errors to attract light pressure from Shu Guang. Then, Li Yongle's long pass and He Jialin's skilled control of the ball would be utilized to attack. The first time was already a success and it was only because of an accident that the goal time was delayed to the forty-first minute. However, Yang Pan was so easily fooled that even Sun Laihong did not expect it. Was he being too persistent for victory?

The insistence on this style of play in the second half meant that Zhongyuan's midfielder would mainly be responsible for defending and enticing the enemy. This would inevitably weaken Zhao Defeng's organizational capabilities. However, Zhao Defeng was a person with great general knowledge. Being united in a team, he did not compete with Li Yongle for No. 10 and for the team's victory, he would rather sacrifice himself.

"Remember this forever! Zhongyuan's soccer is soccer that's forever unbeaten!"

Looking at the players in a now slightly more active atmosphere, Liang Ke decided to play it more passionately.

"Actually, your performance in the first half was very good! Kaka's right. There's only one gap in the score and there's still 40 minutes in time. We don't know who the winner will be for the finals. So as long as the final whistle isn't blown, you have to do your best to win. It is still too early to talk about failure now! You must have confidence: Our offensive power is invincible! The second half is about to begin soon, so use your strength and overcome them with the power of victory!"

Liang Ke looked at the clock, and he was just in time. It was time to play. He yanked open the door to the lounge and the tsunami of cries in the stadium flooded in. Standing amid this flood, Liang Ke pointed at the door and shouted, "Shu Guang's soccer is soccer that will win! Go! Beat them with your faith!"