Would You Mind If I Play?

"The game resumes again and Zhongyuan is now in the lead by 2: 0. This goal by Li Yongle can almost be said to have sealed their victory!" 

"True, the two goals are now in the hands of the defensive Zhongyuan. The game's initiative naturally falls into their hands. Shu Guang won't have an easy time trying to score two goals in the remaining 30 minutes. Moreover, Sun Laihong's tactical arrangement against Shu Guang has been very successful. Zhang Jun has no chance under Luo Bin's defense and Kaka has been supressed by Li Yongle to the point where he can't pass the ball out properly. Ren Yu De seems to lack confidence when facing Liu Chao, while Yang Pan has only been forced to shoot from a distance. On top of that, Zhang Lintao's bravery today has gotten his long shots killed. Shu Guang may have no other way to score a goal." 

Despite that, the game was not over yet, so it was still too early to say anything.

Right after that, Zhang Jun suddenly became very active. He continued to run in the forward line; from left to right and front to back. He ran through a very large area, which made Luo Bin a little loss as he defended against him. There were a few times where he actually lost his positioning.

Yang Pan then took the ball again. He was the captain and everyone often chose to pass the ball to him. Even though his misjudgment before the end of the first half led to a goal for the opposition, his teammates still trusted him as always.

Perhaps it was the two goals in their grasp that made Lu Qing pretty lax. This time, it was real and not a trick to fool anyone into believing that Zhongyuan was in a relaxed mode.

His slacking demeanor allowed Yang Pan to break through easily. As Yang Pan ran past him like the wind, he could not even stretch out his feet in time.

"What the hell is he doing?" Sun Laihong could not help but raise an eyebrow. Since the team scored two goals, he had been feeling more psychological pressure. It was even more so during this period of time when Shu Guang fought back wildly. The stones in his heart were becoming increasingly heavy as time passed.

"Yang Pan takes another shot in front of the penalty area!" 

Zhang Lintao leaped and attacked the ball with both fists!

"It didn't go in!"

But the crisis in Zhongyuan's penalty area had not been lifted. Zhang Jun rushed to the ball as Luo Bin lost his positioning due to Zhang Jun's constant running. Zhang Jun then kicked the ball towards the goal!

Now, it was Zhang Yang's turn! Zhang Yang used his body to block the ball out!

And Deng Rui quickly kicked the ball off to the side.

Once the ball was out, Zhang Lintao roared, "Grr—"

"Zhang Lintao has always been relatively calm on the pitch, but even he's expressing some agression. That was a fierce one indeed. Shu Guang's frantic counter-attacks are making Zhonyuan a little bit more active, with Zhang Lintao displaying extraordinary strength to make sure that they don't lose any goals. His blocking of Yang Pan's big shot was for him and Zhongyuan; you can practically sense his ominous aura!"

Actually, there was a huge amount of strength in Yang Pan's shot and it was executed from a pretty near distance as well. Although Zhang Lintao tackled it out bravely, it did not ease the pain in his hands. To lessen his pain, he let out a roar to feel some relief. However, before he roared, was his hands in a tight fist?

Whatever it was, Zhang Lintao's loud roar excited the stands and everyone roared along. The game gradually became more intense with this enthusiasm.

Li Yongle could see that it was beginning to get more strenuous for Luo Bin. Such strain would take a toll on one's physical strength sooner or later. With Zhang Jun's constant running, he became Shu Guang's arrow, and combined with Shu Guang's indefinite front field play, it was perfectly fine for him to run around that way. Luo Bin on the other hand, was the core of Zhongyuan's defense line. If he ran around like that, the entire line of defense would be out of order. Therefore, Luo Bin was very hesitant most of the time. If he followed Zhang Jun, the defense line at the back would become chaotic; if he did not, the others would not be able to deal with Zhang Jun. No matter which choice he made, it would still be difficult.

At this time, Li Yongle began to consciously withdraw a little to help with Luo Bin's concerns.

However, Sun Laihong saw this and waved at him to get back to his original position and mark Kaka. Helpless, he could only follow his coach's instructions.

As a result, Luo Bin continued to be hesitant with his decision to follow, or not to follow.

Zhang Lintao was in a great state as he managed to pounce on Yang Pan's big shots three times in row. Zhang Jun's Rising Dragon could have had an unexpected advantage, but the Zhongyuan players had probably seen it during the semi-finals. As such, they would have already figured out a way to deal with it. He could not turn without being seen, let alone bring the ball into the penalty zone. How would he bring out his Rising Dragon then? Besides that move, Zhang Jun could not think of other good ways to break through the goalkeepers's fingers.

One, just one chance would be enough for him, Zhang Jun thought.

"Shu Guang hasn't been offensive for quite a while and Zhongyuan seizes the opportunity to get back at them! Li Yongle passes the ball to Zhao Defeng and he dribbles it forward! Wang Ning and Li Hao are doing their best to stop him from advancing! Beautiful! After breaking through, Zhao Defeng quickly assigns the ball to Zhang Yulin from the side. Zhang Yulin slants into the penaltyzone in a 45 ° angle! But An Ke gets the ball out. An Ke's getting involved in a large range of activities. You can see him moving about the entire penalty area!"

Zhongyuan went back to their offense and Shu Guang naturally had to defend. Between advancing and retreating, Zhongyuan's tight defense line had an insignificant amount of space behind them.

After An Ke received the ball, he immediately sent it off with a big kick. The ball flew to Kaka and it seemed like they were bullying Li Yongle, who was bad at headers.

Kaka had already observed the space behind Zhongyuan's defense line ahead of time. He believed that as a striker, Zhang Jun would have seen it clearly as well, so he waited to pass the ball to him.

Kaka used his c.h.e.s.t to stop the ball by his side, then he suddenly turned and picked the ball up with his right leg. Although Li Yongle quickly stuck himself close to him, there was still no way of stopping Kaka from making a pass.

Amid the flurry of movements, the pass allowed the ball to move in a graceful arc behind Deng Rui. In the blink of an eye, it fell into the space behind Zhongyuan's defense line! There was no doubt that Kaka was truly immersed in samba soccer. 

Zhang Jun had begun moving the moment Kaka was in the midst of passing the ball. He got past all the back defenders and ran towards the ball's landing point.

While other players raised their hands to the referee to indicate that Zhang Jun was offside, Li Yongle left Kaka and ran towards the goal. 

The assistant referee did not raise his flag and the main referee ignored the whole thing too.

Zhang Lintao and An Ke were two different types of goalkeepers, An Ke was good in offensive maneuvers and he had a wide range of control. Zhang Lintao was the exact opposite; he was calm, and stuck to his goalpost as well as the penalty area. He rarely attacked the ball, and this ball was no exception. When Kaka got the ball past Deng Rui, Zhang Lintao wanted to go out and save it. However, he noticed that it was moving in an arc, thus it was going to be out of bounds. He took to steps before he retreated again. 

Now that he was in a one-on-one situation with Zhang Jun in the penalty zone, he still had no intentions of attacking. It was only when Zhang Jun stopped the ball and sealed its angle, that he showed some movement. Even then, he still had the confidence to throw out the first striker's shot. Unless...

A name suddenly flashed across his mind and he could not help but shudder.

"Zhang Jun takes the ball into the penalty zone without an offside! He is now face-to-face with Zhang Lintao! This is the best of opportunity for Shu Guang to score a point! However, Zhang Jun doesn't immediately shoot, instead he is taking the ball forward and dribbling it towards Zhang Lintao! Looking at his stance, can it be..."

The Rising Dragon!

The name flashed across Zhang Lintao's mind and he saw Zhang Jun raising his left foot to shoot!

Zhang Lintao's body slammed to the right, but he immediately remembered the nature of the move. He quickly stopped and as expected, he did not see the ball... He immediately flew in the opposite direction with his super motor skills, ready to take on the tail of Zhang Jun's Rising Dragon! But when he pounced, he did not see the ball flying across.

"Ah! Beautiful! A heel pass!" the commentator loudly shouted.

A heel pass?  After Zhang Lintao had completely pounced to the side, he finally saw the soccer ball leaving the goal. And in its direction, a figure was fast approaching. 

"Yang Pan!"

Without having to dribble the ball, Yang Pan's speed was at its peak, and he arrived earlier than anyone else! He took a step forward and raised his right leg, swaying it back and forth. As his entire body leaned to the left, Luo Bin, who had been following him gave up defending. It was too late once he saw it.

"Yang Pan vigorously takes a shot!"

The soccer ball flew towards the far corner of the goal with breathtaking strength! No one seemed to be able to stop it.

However, as Li Yongle ran to the front of the goalpost, the ball was still some distance away. He was now Zhongyuan's only hope. He threw himself forward and stretched out one of his long legs, thinking of blocking the ball out.

Instead, the soccer ball hit his left knee and bounced up. It slammed into the goalpost before bouncing into the net! 

*Beep* 

The referee sounded the whistle.

"It's a goal! Shu Guang wins a point!"

Yang Pan, who scored a goal, jumped up from the ground and rushed out of the field. As he ran, he tore his jersey off and strode before the 23,000 people. That fatal mistake in the first half and the three shots that were all caught in the second half; all these grievances and embarrassment he had been carrying were vented out during his run. It was no wonder that he was so excited.

"That was a a fabulous performance! Zhang Jun's Rising Dragon has evolved into such a shot! He changed his footing at the of his Rising Dragon. He could've used his left foot to pretend that he was making his last shot, yet no one ever thought he would change it to his right foot. He swept the ball up in the opposite direction of the goal, then Yang Pan rushed forward to meet the ball with a big kick! Such a goal is definitely unstoppable! Despite Li Yongle's efforts to hit the ball, it still entered! The strength of the shot was so huge that the rebounding ball shook the goalpost! What a scary shot!"

Watching the goal, Liang Ke jumped and rushed to the sidelines to cheer for his team. At this very moment, he did not have the image of a steady coach. The pressure of the finals was too great, and even he needed to vent a little.

The substitutes were cheering too.

Su Fei did not cheer in excitement like the rest of them, instead she wrote the score down in a single stroke.

The big screen began to replay the historic goal. Whenever Yang Pan was seen scoring a goal, Shu Guang's supporters would always burst into cheers.

Even the two commentators could not help but cheer.

"I have no words to express about this goal! Zhang Jun's personal skills and Yang Pan's great shots were combined with the tacit understanding they had for each other to produce such power! Zhongyuan's proud defense line has been dealt with a blow!"

"Kaka, who launched the attack played an important role as well. Despite being strictly guarded by Li Yongle, he still manages to execute high-quality passings that are truly priceless! It is indeed very commendable."

"We all honestly thought it was going to be the Rising Dragon. Who would have thought of seeing sudden changes, where a single person's performance became a tacit understanding of two. I think I've found a name for it: Double Dragon!"

"Very appropriate!"

Soccer was a really wonderful thing. The effects of a goal could not be measured in terms of 1+1=2. Yang Pan's powerful shot not only provided a point for the team, it boosted the team's morale. But for the opposing team, it brought them a wounded teammate.

Li Yongle's knee was hit by the shot and he was unable to stand for a while. During Shu Guang's jubilant moment, he was taken off the field on a stretcher by medical staff. Nobody noticed it in the frenzied scene of jubilation and frustration, excitement and helplessness. Zhongyuan only realized that they were missing someone when they stood in their formation to prepare for the kick-off. It was already after the celebration ended. 

"Li Yongle is injured. It could be due to blocking Yang Pan's shot earlier."

"That shot hit him on the left knee. Judging from Yang Pan's strength, it probably wasn't a light hit. Li Yongle's ability to continue playing is definitely going to pose a problem."

"Now that Shu Guang has regained a point, and their status as the main force, Li Yongle will likely be replaced due to his injury. Looks like Zhongyuan's lost isn't only a difference in goals! It appears that Shu Guang will most likely seize this opportunity to continue their full-scale attack. As Zhongyuan has lost Li Yongle's long pass counter-attack ability, they can only defend to the death. Let's see if Shu Guang can even out the scores or if Zhongyuan will hold this difference in score! The battle between the sharpest spear and the strongest shield will soon be decided!"