Chapter 263 This Is the Gap (Part 1)

A cry of surprise erupted from the stands of the Bernabéu, and many Spanish fans patted their chests in relief.

"Too bad! China had a chance right at the start, but unfortunately, Zhang Jun slipped while receiving Yang Pan's pass!"

Zhang Jun slapped the turf in frustration, only to be splashed by water. This pitch! If it hadn't been for the water under his feet, he could have hooked that ball.

Casillas ran over to the ball boy for the ball. Zhang Jun then stood up, looking at the young goalkeeper, calculating how to break through his defenses... He was known for his accurate positioning, quick reactions, and ability to save one-on-one shots. Even when Real Madrid's defense performed terribly, he would protect the goal at all costs. When Real Madrid's record was poor, even captain Raúl was heavily criticized, yet he was still called "Saint Casillas" by the demanding Real Madrid fans.

Such a formidable goalkeeper, could he defeat him on this terrible pitch in this weather?

Zhang Jun ran back a few steps to his position. He made a gesture to Yang Pan, who was a dozen meters away, a gesture only they could understand: You said we should trust the Bernabéu's drainage system.

Yang Pan spread his hands: Man proposes, Heaven disposes.

Zhang Jun rolled his eyes at Yang Pan, then looked up at the sky. Casillas had already kicked the ball out.

China's advantage in headers became apparent. Li Suisheng, at 1.87 meters, jumped up and overpowered Torres, who was 1.82 meters, heading the ball back.

Li Yi jumped up to chest the ball down, but unexpectedly, Xavi suddenly burst out, separating him and the ball as he controlled it!

Immediately afterward, Xavi passed the ball to Vicente on the left flank. Vicente accelerated to chase the ball, while Wang Hui desperately chased back. Spain's sudden interception caught China off guard. Before they could react, Torres, Raúl, and Joaquín had already launched their attacks towards the Chinese penalty area.

"Wang Hui! Push that kid to the outside!" An Ke's loud voice rang out for the first time. Wang Hui wasn't a rookie making his debut; he had much more experience than An Ke, and he knew what to do.

But knowing what to do didn't mean he could do it. Vicente was already a player known for his speed, and Xavi's pass was perfect, allowing him to fully exploit his speed advantage.

Wang Hui was slower than Vicente, not to mention he needed to turn around.

After China startled the Spanish fans at the beginning, the Spanish team immediately retaliated. Vicente broke through to the baseline with the ball, and Torres, Raúl, and Joaquín launched a three-pronged attack!

Not only Wang Hui was chasing, but Yang Pan was also chasing. In terms of speed, Yang Pan wouldn't lose to anyone, especially since Vicente was running with the ball, while he was running without it.

The distance between the two was closing.

Aragonés knew this Chinese player who played for AC Milan, he was incredibly fast and had a powerful shot. But he wasn't worried about Vicente, because he had already told Vicente what to do in this situation.

Yang Pan could already see the ventilation holes on the sides of Vicente's jersey. He felt that he only needed to take one more step to reach out and grab him.

But at that moment, Vicente crossed the ball!

A forty-five-degree cross into the box. Torres jumped high at the near post, but he didn't head the ball. Zheng Jun, who was defending him, also didn't head the ball. Raúl in the middle was a dangerous player, so Li Suisheng and Xiang Tao both surrounded him, but none of them touched the ball.

"Joaquín appears at the far post, he's unmarked! He shoots directly on the volley!"

An Ke, who had moved from the near post to the far post, lunged forward and punched the ball out of bounds with both fists!

The ball didn't go in, An Ke made a beautiful save! Joaquín looked at An Ke on the ground in disbelief, he thought the goal was guaranteed.

The starting goalkeeper for Dortmund?

"Beautiful! An Ke's save was beautiful! He has secured his position as the starting goalkeeper in Dortmund, and he has also proven his strength in the national team!"

As soon as An Ke got up from the ground, he pointed at Xiang Tao and shouted, "Damn it! Xiang Tao, you missed your mark!"

It was indeed Xiang Tao who missed his mark, and he couldn't refute it, so he had to wave his hand and stand at the far post to prepare to defend the corner kick.

Xavi took the corner kick, but Spain didn't have an advantage in headers. The ball was fiercely headed out by Li Suisheng, ending Spain's attack.

After the initial climax, the influence of the weather and the pitch gradually became apparent. Both sides made more mistakes, and the scene looked comical.

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"Ten minutes have passed, and China seems to have tied Spain. This national team under Qiu Suhui has indeed given us some hope!"

As soon as the commentator finished speaking, Spain launched an attack. It was Xavi again, who suddenly made a long pass from the backfield to the front. China's captain Zheng Jun jumped up to compete with Torres for the header, but neither of them headed the ball.

The ball leaked through!

Raúl cut in diagonally. Li Suisheng didn't anticipate Raúl's run and didn't keep up with the defense. One-on-one!

An Ke rushed out as soon as Li Suisheng missed the header, but Raúl was one step faster. He stretched his foot in the air and flicked the ball up. An Ke jumped up and reached out to block it, but it was too late. The ball fell beautifully into the empty net!

Goal!

In the twelfth minute of the first half, Spain takes the lead! Captain Raúl scores a beautiful goal!

After scoring, Raúl kissed the ring on his hand, his signature celebration. The entire Bernabéu was cheering for their prince!

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Qiu Suhui shook his head regretfully. It seemed that asking them not to concede a goal in the first thirty minutes was a bit difficult for them against Spain.

He said before the game that Spain's defense was poor, but in reality, China's defense wasn't much better. They swarmed up to the ball whenever they saw it. If it hadn't been for An Ke's quick reaction, China would have conceded a goal in the first minute of the first half.

As for this goal, Zheng Jun didn't judge the ball's landing point at all and just jumped with Torres. Li Suisheng was the same, lacking his own judgment of the situation on the field, thinking that Zheng Jun could head it out, so he only cared about watching the ball and forgot about Raúl beside him.

This Chinese team still lacked match experience.

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An Ke slammed the ground hard, then he pointed at Li Suisheng and shouted, "Missed him! You missed him again!"

Li Suisheng didn't dare to argue with An Ke's accusations, because it was indeed his mistake. He could only mutter to himself, "Why not say Zheng Jun? He was the one who missed the header first..."

As soon as he finished muttering, he saw An Ke point his finger at Zheng Jun, "Captain, missing the header was not a good idea! There was no need to compete with Torres for that ball!"

Zheng Jun didn't say anything, but his face turned red and white. He had been the captain of the national team for four years, and it was the first time he had been publicly criticized by a junior who hadn't been in the national team for long, which made him feel very uncomfortable. But now it was a game, it was a live broadcast, so he could only hold back his anger. Not only did he not get angry, but he also generously took responsibility.

But An Ke didn't spare him, muttering as he turned to pick up the ball from the goal, "Even Dortmund's old defense is better than this..."

He kicked the ball hard towards the center circle. As a goalkeeper, as long as a goal was conceded, even if it wasn't his fault, he would feel extremely unhappy. How unhappy? It was the feeling of being slapped in the face for no reason and not being able to fight back.

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Aragonés sat on the coach's bench with satisfaction. Leading by one goal after ten minutes was the difference between Spain and China. Although China had a few players with decent strength, they had too little experience in international competitions.

Maybe they will become stronger in the future, but now they can only lose.

Raúl has been in very good form this season, almost unrecognizable from the previous two seasons. As long as he can maintain this form, Spain has a good chance in this year's World Cup.

※※※

Listening to the cheers of the Spanish reporters around him, Li Yan felt very uncomfortable.

Before the game, those Spanish media wrote articles saying that the Chinese team was no good, Spain would win, and it would be a complete victory by more than three goals. At that time, he felt quite uncomfortable when he read it, wanting to refute it but unable to speak Spanish, so he could only sulk in his heart. He thought that after you see how powerful Zhang Jun and Yang Pan are, you won't be arrogant anymore.

As a result, eleven minutes into the game, the Chinese team conceded a goal to the Spanish team.

Although he knew that there was a gap between the Chinese team and the Spanish team, he still felt bad when he saw others cheering because the Chinese team lost a goal.

Maybe this is what is called "patriotism."

"Due to a collective defensive error, the Chinese team conceded a goal first. The goal scorer was Spain's captain Raúl González." Listening to the cheers around him, Li Yan gritted his teeth and wrote in his notebook.