Chapter 264 This Is the Difference (Part 2)

Zhang Jun knew that the Chinese team's defense was strained, but he was a forward and couldn't run back to directly participate in the defense. All he could do was constantly attack Spain's defense, relieving pressure on the Chinese team's back line.

Salgado was good at both offense and defense, with tireless stamina, fierce defending, and the nickname "Fighting to the Death."

Although Helguera had always played as a center-back, the position that made him famous was actually as a defensive midfielder. He performed extremely well in that position, which is why he was once called the "King" of the Bernabéu. However, both the club and the national team had no shortage of defensive midfielders. Conversely, there was a severe shortage of center-backs, so he was fixed in the center-back position. However, his impetuousness didn't change much with age, and his reckless defending meant he was never truly reassuring.

The left-back position had always been Spain's biggest weakness. Before this match, Juanfran was injured, and Aragonés started Raúl Bravo. In Real Madrid, he could only be Roberto Carlos's substitute. Not only did he have few opportunities to play, but his own strength was also unremarkable. Yang Pan only needed his speed to give him a hard time.

The strongest in this defense was Puyol, the center-back from Barcelona. His one-on-one defending ability was unmatched in La Liga. His style was brave and tenacious, a truly world-class defender.

Frankly speaking, Zhang Jun wasn't confident that he could break through Puyol's defense in a one-on-one situation, especially with the field in such poor condition. It was even more difficult for him to make moves. But unfortunately, the opposing coach had specifically assigned Puyol to mark him.

Zhang Jun passed the ball out again. With Puyol's defense, he couldn't even turn around.

With Ke Lu not on the field, the Chinese midfield lacked imagination. Playing positional warfare with Spain in an orderly manner wouldn't do them any favors.

Twenty minutes were about to pass, and the Chinese team hadn't had a single threatening shot. Yang Pan was already impatient. He frequently leaned towards the center, wanting to try a long shot. At this time, Helguera and Bravo would form a pincer attack on him, preventing him from shooting calmly.

From this, it could be seen that Aragonés had really put in a lot of effort to study the Chinese team. At the very least, he had seriously studied Yang Pan. The pre-match claims by Spanish media that Aragonés looked down on the Chinese team were untrue.

Qiu Suhui, who had been sitting on the bench for twenty minutes, finally stood up. He walked to the sidelines and shouted loudly into the field, "Li Yongle! Push forward and participate more in the attack! Xavi, give it to Li Yi! Li Yi, run horizontally more, and pay attention to defending their midfield through balls! Shao Jiaying! Fall back more on defense!"

He waved his right hand to the left and his left hand to the right, making an up and down gesture.

For the first twenty minutes, he had kept Li Yongle tied to midfield defense, not allowing him to easily participate in the attack, because he was wary of the Spanish midfield. Now it seemed that this wouldn't work. Li Yongle had to be freed, using his long passes to counterattack, and using his ability to attack and defend to compete for control of the midfield.

Li Yi passed the ball to Li Yongle. He also wanted to see how capable this young teammate playing for Inter Milan was, and how he could be cultivated by Coach Qiu as a core player.

Surely it wasn't just because he could run, right?

The moment Li Yongle received the ball, he didn't turn around, but instead directly made a long pass to Yang Pan on the right.

This side-footed long pass came suddenly, and Raúl Bravo didn't expect it. When he pounced towards the wing, Yang Pan had already stopped the ball. Just as Bravo was about to lean on him to force Yang Pan to slow down, he suddenly knocked the ball forward six or seven meters!

Then he went around the sideline, avoiding Bravo's close defense, and then he accelerated from outside the boundary and circled back in to chase the ball!

Yang Pan's speed shocked the entire Bernabéu. Bravo was shaken by Yang Pan, slipped, lost his balance, and fell out of bounds!

Zhang Jun and Li Jie saw that Yang Pan had gotten the ball, and they both rushed into the penalty area. This would be a great opportunity for the Chinese team!

Helguera was forced to cover Bravo's position, Albelda covered Helguera, and Vicente was also anxious to chase back. Li Yongle's seemingly casual long pass disrupted Spain's defensive deployment. Li Yi had to admit that this young man really had potential.

Yang Pan crossed the ball without waiting for Helguera to close in!

He crossed, and Zhang Jun rushed in from the center. This was a tried and tested tactic, simple and practical. Aragonés had also specifically instructed the Spanish defenders before the game to pay attention to the tacit understanding between Zhang and Yang.

Almost all the Spanish defenders believed that Yang Pan would pass the ball to Zhang Jun, who was following up in the center. Puyol constantly harassed Zhang Jun with his hands, preventing him from jumping comfortably.

But they were all wrong. Yang Pan forcefully passed the ball directly to his diagonal rear - the arc of the penalty area!

Li Yongle suddenly appeared in the camera. Even Aragonés was a little surprised. His attention had just been completely drawn by Yang Pan's breakthrough. When he saw Yang Pan pass the ball back, he noticed that no one was guarding the front of his team's penalty area!

"Li Yongle! Does anyone know how he appeared there?!"

The football rolled over, the ball speed was moderate, Li Yongle took a big step, caught up, and then without stopping the ball, he directly swung his foot and shot hard!

Puyol, Albelda, Xavi, no one could stop Li Yongle from shooting, and no one's outstretched foot blocked the leather ball that was rolling rapidly along the grass.

The football pierced through the Spanish defense like a sharp arrow - thanks to Zhang Jun and Li Jie's pull earlier - target: the goal!

All the Chinese fans who stayed up late in front of the TV to watch this game were ready to cheer, but Casillas made an incredible save, he used his toes to block the football out of the baseline when he fell to the ground!

Saint Casillas!

The entire Bernabéu was cheering!

Yang Pan, who had slid out of bounds because of his effort to pass the ball, sat on the ground, watching Li Yongle shoot directly without anyone guarding him. The quality of that ball was very high. He also watched the football quickly penetrate the Spanish defense and head straight for the goal. Finally, he watched Casillas use his foot to block the shot, stifling their beautiful attack.

He slapped the turf hard and then jumped up from the ground. Although it was a pity that they didn't score, it also let those arrogant Spanish media know that the Chinese team didn't come here to visit the Bernabéu - he knew from his chat with Li Yan before the game what the Spanish media's attitude was towards this game. They believed that the biggest gain for the Chinese team on this trip should be the opportunity to enjoy the Bernabéu's locker room. The contempt and disdain were very obvious.

This was the most threatening attack by the Chinese team in the first half, and then they were surrounded by the Spanish team near the penalty area and frantically attacked.

Faced with Spanish players with superior individual skills, even Xiang Tao and Li Yongle struggled to cope.

Joaquín wasn't just about speed, this time he used his technique to shake Xiang Tao and then cross, Zheng Jun didn't mark Raúl, allowing the other party to jump up and calmly head the ball into the goal!

An Ke reflexively jumped up and then flicked his left hand, the football looked over the crossbar and landed on the net.

A huge sigh rang out in the Bernabéu.

"This is An Ke's fourth key save in the first half! In the case of a huge gap in overall strength, he has become the busiest person in the Chinese team!"

"Xiang Tao!" An Ke called.

Xiang Tao shook the mud off his hands: "Don't call me, it's my responsibility! Ge Laozi Turtle Son, if the field wasn't so bad, he wouldn't have been able to shake me!"

Spain took a corner kick, this time it was Helguera, he headed for the far corner, An Ke couldn't save it, and seeing the ball was about to go in, Xiang Tao, who was standing at the far post, jumped up and directly headed the ball out! The Chinese team escaped a disaster.

※※※

Just as the first half was about to end, the Chinese team organized another counterattack, but Li Yongle's through pass was intercepted by Puyol, and immediately Spain switched from defense to attack. Puyol passed the ball to Xavi, Xavi and Albelda made a wall-pass cooperation, bypassing Li Yongle's defense, and then when facing Li Yi, he passed the ball to Joaquín on that side.

Xiang Tao rushed up to defend. If it was a competition of speed, he was confident, but if it was about technique, he would foul directly, giving away a set piece was better than letting Joaquín break through.

Good kid, come on, come on, let me take revenge!

That's what Xiang Tao thought, but Joaquín didn't follow his script and passed the ball out again directly.

Passed to the inserted Xavi!

Xavi suddenly shot from twenty-four meters away from the goal! The football spun out a splash of water and flew towards the goal.

An Ke judged the correct direction and pounced towards the far corner. He knew that he couldn't catch this ball directly, he could only deflect it over the crossbar, just like the header he faced from Raúl.

But the moment his fingertip brushed the football, he felt that the ball was a little heavier than usual.

……

"The ball shot in the rain is heavier than usual, if the weather is normal, I would have saved this ball beautifully!" He explained after being scored a goal by Zhang Jun during the warm-up. This was not an excuse, he was not trying to quibble, he was telling the truth.

……

Beautifully... save it?

An Ke's heart cried out badly, and his fingers used a little more force, but the football that was wet with water was not only heavy, but also slippery on the surface.

An Ke's forceful flick instead deflected the football towards the front of the goal, instead of deflecting it over the crossbar!

This time, the quick-witted Raúl seized the opportunity again. He rushed to the front of the goal after Xavi shot, and when An Ke made a mistake, he happened to appear in front of the football, and there were no Chinese defenders around him!

Raúl, who was unmarked, easily leaped and headed the ball into the empty goal, Spain led 2-0!

Raúl jumped up and kissed his ring, and was quickly surrounded by his teammates.

In contrast to the excited Spanish players, most of the Chinese players surrounded the referee and complained that Raúl was already offside. But the replay on the big screen proved Raúl's innocence, Xavi shot first, Raúl inserted later, he was not offside, this goal was scored without any problem.

Qiu Suhui saw Raúl score, and he finally decided to sit back in the coach's seat, he had been standing in the rain for twenty minutes.

"This is the gap, from strength to experience, a comprehensive gap." Qiu Suhui spread his hands to Hu Li, who handed him a dry towel to wipe the water off his face and hair. "If I didn't bring them out to see the world, they might really think they are very good, let's save what we have to say for half-time."

※※※

The Spanish reporters around him cheered again, and Li Yan could hear them constantly shouting Raúl's name: "Raúl! Raúl!"

Damn it! It's just a two-goal lead?

"Obviously, the Chinese team did not come to the Bernabéu to visit the locker room, and the team members did not put friendship first. Both sides are working hard, but Spain's strength and experience are obviously better, leading 2-0 in the first half, letting this young Chinese team see the gap between themselves and the world's strong teams."

Li Yan gritted his teeth and wrote in his notebook. At the end, he thought about it and added a few sentences: "But we should still have a chance. Ke Lu is still sitting on the bench, Li Yongle's national team debut is still very restrained, Yang Pan is helping Wang Hui defend too much, Zhang Jun has few shots... More importantly, we still have a second half, a full forty-five minutes."