Would You Mind If I Play?

After that wild moment, the audience became silent. It was as though the sound of breathing from both sides could be heard.

The sunlight was dazzling. This was what Zhang Lintao felt as he could not clearly see Yang Pan's face from the time the No. 7 player bent down to put the ball on the penalty mark, straightened himself and stepped back. Throughout this process, Zhang Lintao could not see his opponent's face—the face that almost gave him a year of nightmares.

Yang Pan placed the ball on the white dot carefully. He then got up and took four steps back, counting silently in his heart. After his fourth step, he stood still. He lowered his head and saw the red captain armband on his left arm. He did not need to turn around to know the situation behind him. He also did not need to look up to know what was going on in the stands of the stadium.

There were still 14 minutes before the game ended, and the score was 1:2 against Shu Guang. Now, Shu Guang had earned a penalty kick. The one to execute it was Yang Pan, Shu Guang's captain, No. 7, whose fastest shot reached 110 km/h. Everyone knew the power of Yang Pan's right leg.

Zhang Lintao stood at the goal line, looking to the left and right in the distance. He then lowered his body and bent forward slightly with both hands ready at his sides.

Yang Pan took a deep breath, and then another deep breath.

Both of them... in fact, everyone, waited for the referee to blow the whistle.

Sun Laihong nervously looked at the field. He did not notice that his collar was soaked through with sweat. Liang Ke stood on the sidelines and looked at the Zhongyuan High School penalty area. He gripped the bottle of mineral water in his hands even tighter.

*Phreet*

Yang Pan finally took another deep breath and leaped. He started to run and on his third step, his left leg was placed onto the grass beside the ball like a pivot. He then swung his right leg at the ball.

A clump of grass was also sliced off.

The moment Yang Pan touched the ball, Zhang Lintao jumped out like a compressed spring.

He punched it away. Yes, he punched it away.

"Zhang Lintao punches the ball! He has made the correct call by punching Yang Pan's shot away! Incredible! He stops the ball, saving Zhongyuan's goal from Yang Pan's penalty kick! It's a miracle! Miracle! This is really great!" The commentator unexpectedly became hoarse from shouting.

The ball flew out of the end line. Shu Guang did not even have the opportunity to make follow up shots. Rather, it would be more appropriate to say that right from the start, they never thought they would need one.

Zhang Lintao rolled on the ground and jumped up. Punching his fist down energetically, he cheered, "Whoo!" He had worked hard for an entire year just for this moment. How could he not be excited now that he had blocked Yang Pan's shot from 12 yards away.

His roar was like a flame, igniting a storage of explosives. The supporters of Zhongyuan High School broke out in roaring cheers as though they had already won the National Championship.

Luo Bin rushed forward and embraced Zhang Lintao's head as he shouted at him. After that, Deng Rui, Zhang Yang, Liu Chao… more and more joined the shouting party. Even Sun Laihong who was at the sidelines jumped up and yelled loudly. He absolutely lost his demeanor of a "Gold Medal Instructor".

Yang Pan kicked hard at the air. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Zhang Jun.

"Sh*t! Even God's on their side!" Yang Pan said angrily. Right in front of him were the screaming Zhongyuan team members.

"No, I didn't see it!" This was Zhang Jun's reply. As he said this, his eyes were fixed on Zhongyuan's goalpost.

Liang Ke threw away the dumbbell-shaped water bottle he had in his hand and returned to the coach's seat. Su Fei endured the disappointment in her heart and recorded the missed penalty in her book.

Ah Yuan stood up and placed one leg on the row of chairs in front of him. He shouted fiercely, "That was so f*cking beautiful! F*ck! Just beautiful!"

Zhongyuan's screaming party only lasted about half a minute, because the referee reminded them that there was still a corner kick. Their excitement was understandable, but the celebration had to end.

Kaka sent the corner kick towards Lin Xiaofang again. However, Luo Bin shouted and jumped higher than Lin Xiaofang, stretching himself to head the ball out of the penalty zone.

Zhang Lintao's penalty save did not just end there!

Zhao Defeng wrested control of the ball from beneath Wang Ning's feet after Luo Bin's header. He then turned and tapped it to He Jialin. He Jialin stepped back a little, but suddenly passed an overhead shot with Zhang Yuchao speeding in from the left!

It was Zhongyuan's most proficient tactic, a high speed counter-attack.

Zhang Yuchao tapped the ball forward. He accelerated in an attempt to shake off Chen Bo. Lin Xiaofang did not have time to come back after the corner kick. This meant that the only center back remaining was Li Jieguang. On his own, how was Li Jieguang going to prevent Zhang Yuchao from breaking through?

An Ke shouted and attacked.

However, just as An Ke strode three steps forward, Zhang Yuchao suddenly lifted his leg and kicked the ball up high.

An Ke turned pale with shock and hurried back. After that, he jumped up and extended his hand. Striving very hard, he managed to just push the ball away from the crossbar.

"That was a close call! Thank goodness for An Ke's quick response! Otherwise, Shu Guang would suffer an even heavier blow after missing their penalty!"

Zhao Defeng took the corner kick. As Li Yongle was injured and instructed to mark Zhang Jun, he did not charge out but stayed behind to keep a close watch on Zhang Jun.

"The corner kick is off near the front post! This time, Lin Xiaofang doesn't let Luo Bin gain the advantage. He heads the ball away first."

"Lin Xiaofang is in his first year, but he's already playing center forward in the main team. He has truly progressed with amazing speed. In this final match with Zhongyuan, he has shown precise defense and he dares to go on the offensive. Next year, he will inevitably shoulder the heavy burden of Shu Guang's rear defense."

The ball that was headed out by Lin Xiaofang was received by Zhang Yulin, who was waiting in the outer area. Just as he was about to lob it into the penalty zone, he was intercepted by Xie Wei.

Xie Wei quickly sent the ball to Wang Ning. Wang Ning then took the ball and ran quickly. When he first entered the team, he was a defending midfielder. On the field, his job was to intercept the balls, and then some more. After intercepting the ball, he would immediately pass it to his teammates. After going through the experience of numerous games, he was now brave enough to make a break with the ball. He even knew how to act according to the situation on the field, and decide on carrying the ball steadily, or passing it on quickly.

Wang Ning noticed that no one was coming up to attack him. The other Zhongyuan fullbacks were paying more attention to the other four players in front. He then decided to dash straight into Zhongyuan's penalty area.

After running about 24 m, he suddenly made a long range shot. Although Wang Ning had the right angle, it was very easy for Zhang Lintao to catch it. He could do it even with his eyes closed.

The ball flew high and Zhang Lintao positioned himself as he leaned forward. His folded his hands like a shovel and parted his legs slightly.

When the ball arrived, and smashed into Zhang Lintao's palms, he lifted his palms a smidge and curled his arms to receive the ball firmly. However, the ball spun in his arms and bounced away.

"The ball bumps off Zhang Lintao's hands! He's made a basic mistake there!"

Zhang Jun was agile like a hunting dog and he dashed towards the ball. Li Yongle did not dare to be careless. He tried very hard to cram himself outwards to make it difficult for Zhang Jun to reach the ball within a short time.

His efforts proved to be effective. Zhang Lintao's second reaction was quick. He lunged forward, grabbed the ball and held it firmly with both hands under his body.

"The crisis has been averted! However, Zhang Lintao's mistake was indeed puzzling!"

"Actually, it's understandable. He probably thought that Wang Ning's shot would not pose any threat to, coming from that distance. So, he was imperceptibly relaxed. This led to a slight change in his movements, causing the ball to slip out of his hands."

"One mustn't really relax for even a second against a team like Shu Guang!"

"Yes! Never underestimate the opponent ."

Holding the ball, Zhang Lintao stood up. Li Yongle happened to be standing in front of Zhang Jun, blocking his way, and he gave Zhang Lintao a questioning look. Zhang Lintao shook his head and smiled. He then patted Li Yongle on the c.h.e.s.t and thanked him for the timely block that saved him as well as the team.

Shortly after, he threw the ball to Luo Bin who was known for his steadiness. Luo Bin stopped the ball firmly and looked for Zhang Yuchao.

Zhongyuan had begun to attack once again and they were powerful in such moments.

When all of his teammates had their backs facing him, Zhang Lintao did not watch the battle in the frontline as he usually would. Instead, he looked down at his left hand and gently flexed his wrist.

However, the rally cries from the stands became louder, causing him to raise his head.

"Wang Ning and Chen Bo have successfully won the ball from Zhang Yuchao in a pincer attack! Shu Guang immediately turns from defense mode to attack mode!"

Wang Ning passed the ball to the swift Yang Pan. During a counter-attack, the speed of the striker was very important.

Yang Pan did not disappoint the hundreds of cheering squad members off the field. He quickly took the ball into Zhongyuan's court. Lu Qing chased him desperately from the back while Zhang Yang was came in front of him diagonally.

Yang Pan easily skipped over Zhang Yang's intercepting tackle, but Lu Qing had already caught up with him.

When he finally got rid of Lu Qing, Zhang Yang appeared before him again.

"Chain… defense!" Chen Huafeng called out. In their match last year, Yang Pan was tightly chained by Li Yongle and Zhang Yang. In most cases, it would not be effective, but what about this year?

When Yang Pan realized this, he laughed. "Last year, I was alone, however we have a very sharp knife this year!" He did not wait for Zhang Yang to pounce on him again and passed the ball across to Zhang Jun!

"Beautiful!" Chen Huafeng praised. "As long as you pass the ball, you can break this chain!"

However, Li Yongle, who had been marking Zhang Jun was not to be trifled with. He immediately tagged onto Zhang Jun, pushing the doctor's warning—that another collision may aggravate his injury—to the back of his mind.

However, Zhang Jun did not carry the ball into the penalty area as the others had expected. Alternatively, he sent it rolling to his front right with the back of his foot. There was literally nobody, neither Zhongyuan's nor Shu Guang's players in that area. So, nobody knew why he did that.

Regardless, Yang Pan immediately revealed the answer. He moved in at a high speed and went past Zhang Yang. Zhang Jun's pointless pass had just reached his feet. He made a minor adjustment, and kicked with all his might from the corner of the penalty box.

The ball headed straight for the corner of the goal's mouth.

In the midst of the shocking cries and cheers, Zhang Lintao once again leaped into the air and knocked the ball away with his fists.

"This is divine help! Zhang Lintao has received God's help yet again! Yang Pan has taken seven shots in this game and he's managed to block six times! This is an astonishing number! His outstanding performance has allowed Zhongyuan to maintain its one-point lead until now."

Zhang Lintao's hand was propped on the ground. When he tried to get up he felt an unexpected sharp pain shooting into his left wrist. His hand turned into jello and he almost collapsed on the ground.

Could it be that the pre-season training was only able to improve my defensive ability, but not the strength of my arm? Or perhap, Yang Pan's shots are just really unstoppable?

Unstoppable shots? What a joke! There is no such thing in this world!

Zhang Lintao suddenly jumped up from the ground. He immediately waved his fist and roared.

"Ah! Zhang Lintao seems to be very spirited today! He is bursting with confidence from continuously blocking Yang Pan's shots! His loud roars seem to be shattering Shu Guang's remaining hope."

"There isn't much time left till the end of the game. There's only less than 10 minutes left. Shu Guang's most destructive shots were unexpectedly, all completely blocked. Zhang Jun's also being closely marked by Li Yongle. Looks like Shu Guang is in danger!"