Chapter 1 The Start

"The Chinese team has won a free kick in the attacking zone, about... twenty-four meters out. Zhang Jun and Yang Pan are standing in front of the ball. Who will take it?"

Yang Pan stopped Zhang Jun, who was about to take the free kick. "Don't rush, I have an idea." He whispered his plan to Zhang Jun.

The more Zhang Jun listened, the wider his mouth opened. He looked at Yang Pan incredulously. "You really want to do that?"

Yang Pan nodded.

"What's the success rate? We've never practiced it."

Yang Pan shook his head again. "I don't know. Let's take a gamble."

"But we're still behind..."

"The greater the risk, the greater the reward." Yang Pan stared at the Ukrainian wall, which was slowly forming.

"You're crazy!"

Despite the insult, Zhang Jun accepted Yang Pan's suggestion. Yang Pan's idea was indeed crazy, but they had known each other for over a decade and he knew that Yang Pan wouldn't suggest it if he wasn't confident. Despite saying "let's take a gamble," he was already sure of himself.

"Do we need someone to squeeze into the wall?" Zhang Jun added.

Yang Pan shook his head. "No need. I've observed their wall several times. There's always a gap in the middle somewhere. Two of them always habitually turn in different directions. We'll go through that spot."

Zhang Jun said nothing more. When he was at AC Milan, he and Pirlo were the main free-kick takers, but he would still see Yang Pan practicing free kicks after training. Ancelotti had never considered using Yang Pan to take free kicks, but he still practiced on his own, almost without fail.

What was his motive? He practiced even though he never had a chance to show it.

But now, Yang Pan's chance had come.

The commentator initially thought Yang Pan was there to screen for Zhang Jun, but he quickly realized something was wrong. "Huh? Yang's run-up is very short. If he's screening for Zhang, he should at least take a few steps back to make it look convincing. If he's not screening for Zhang and is taking it himself... that's even weirder! He's standing so close that he can't take advantage of a long run-up! What is he trying to do?" The commentator confused himself.

To the Ukrainians, it was simple: Zhang Jun was going to take it, so Yang Pan was pretending to screen for him.

The wall was finally set, and the referee signaled that Zhang Jun could take it.

Zhang Jun glanced at Yang Pan again. He was observing the wall.

"It's starting, I'll count to three. One, two, three!"

On three, Zhang Jun gently chipped the ball to the side. He had passed the ball!

Just as people were surprised by his action, Yang Pan rushed up, his left foot supporting his body diagonally to the left, swinging his right leg, meeting the ball Zhang Jun had chipped up, and firing a shot!

The football flew straight towards the wall. The wall had jumped when Zhang Jun chipped the ball, and as Yang Pan had said, there were two people in the middle turning in opposite directions, creating a path for Yang Pan's shot.

The football went through the gap, as fast as a shooting star, as quick as lightning.

The Ukrainian goalkeeper completely did not expect the Chinese team to choose such a free-kick combination. When he saw the football whistling out of the wall, he was completely stunned, and couldn't react at all.

The football hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the goal. When the camera filmed from behind the goal, people could clearly see the crossbar trembling slightly!

"Oh my God! An unbelievable... free-kick combination! More importantly: they actually scored!! The Chinese team has leveled the score! Yang Pan has also scored two goals! The score is tied 2:2! There is no doubt that this is an exciting game!"

When Yang Pan scored, Zhang Jun was right next to him, hugging him tightly and lifting him up. "You really did it?! Awesome!!"

Ecstatic teammates rushed towards the two of them. No one had placed too much hope on this free kick, but Yang Pan had kicked it in with one shot. Are they even human?

Xiang Tao grabbed Yang Pan and shook him hard, shouting, "You guessed? Right? You must have guessed! Right?"

Many people had the same thought. Only Zhang Jun knew how much effort Yang Pan had put into practicing to "guess" this goal.

Shevchenko was more depressed than anyone else. He had scored two goals, helping the team equalize and then take the lead, and was already the most dazzling player in the game, completely suppressing Zhang Jun in their duel. But he didn't expect his Milan teammate Yang Pan to come out and disrupt things. Two goals also eliminated Ukraine's advantage.

He really wasn't giving him any face...

After celebrating and returning to their positions, Yang Pan stopped Zhang Jun. "I've scored two goals, but you haven't scored yet. Logically, you should be the real protagonist of this game. Keep it up!"

Zhang Jun smiled, not revealing his true emotions. His heart was already on fire, with magma surging inside, hoping to find an outlet.

"The Chinese team is performing very evenly. There is a best player in each game, and these three players are completely different. In the first game it was goalkeeper An Ke, in the second game it was Zhang Jun, so in this game I think it should undoubtedly be Yang Pan. Qiu Suhui's training has been very successful. Although Zhang Jun is the team's number one scorer, they are not completely dependent on him. Such a Chinese team will not be affected by the absence of any one player."

The commentator's evaluation was very professional and fair, but for the protagonist, this was not a good thing.

※※※

With a dozen minutes left in the game, the two sides were tied 2:2. If this score was maintained until the end, the Chinese team would qualify as the second in the group.

Ukraine certainly wouldn't let the game end in a draw, but for now they could only retreat a bit, because there were too many loopholes in the defense. If it wasn't for the problems in the defense, how could the Chinese team have scored one goal after another?

The enemy retreated and we advanced. When Ukraine retreated, the Chinese team naturally attacked. Although a draw was enough to qualify, after Qiu Suhui took over this team, he instilled in them that they must never be conservative when a draw was enough to qualify. Hadn't the Chinese team suffered enough losses on this point in the past?

At this time, Qiu Suhui made his first substitution, replacing Li Yi with Zhao Pengyu, a left midfielder replacing a defensive midfielder, the meaning of which was obvious: attack, attack, and attack.

In this way, Zhao Pengyu was the left winger, Ke Lu Li was promoted to the attacking midfielder position, and Yang Pan also returned to his favorite right winger position. Although they had one less workhorse, Qiu Suhui believed that Li Yongle could handle it, plus Zhao Pengyu and Yang Pan could also retreat to defend.

Now was not the time to overthink the defense. When Zhao Pengyu came on, Qiu Suhui told him: "Go on and tell them that there are no other instructions except to attack. You must score, you must win!"

Must score, must win, that was the instruction.

Li Yongle rarely took the initiative to move forward and participate in the attack. He needed to guard against Shevchenko and Voronin's raids, and he mostly distributed the ball to the sides or handed it over to Ke Lu, allowing this attacking midfielder to truly take on the responsibility of organizing the attack. In Qiu Suhui's tactics, Ke Lu used to be more like a left winger than an attacking midfielder.

Ke Lu received the ball, stepped on it with his left foot, and turned around, facing the goal. He raised his leg as if to shoot, and the Ukrainian defensive midfielder came up to block him. Then, he hooked the football back and pushed it outwards, neatly shaking him off.

He looked up to find someone. Was he going to pass the ball?

Ke Lu did not stop the ball and then look up to find someone, but rather looked while dribbling. This was similar to Kaka, but only a little. Kaka almost always dribbled with his head up, while Ke Lu only looked up when he needed to find someone, mostly using only the corner of his eye.

A Ukrainian defender saw Ke Lu facing sideways to him, but his head was turned in the opposite direction, and thought there was an opportunity to take advantage of, wanting to slide tackle. But he didn't expect that although Ke Lu was looking up for teammates, his peripheral vision was paying attention to his opponent's movements.

Seeing someone pouncing, he did a Marseille turn with his foot on the ball, separating the opponent from the football, then dribbled the football away, wiping past him.

After this turn, he also happened to accelerate and dribble forward, straight towards the opponent's penalty area.

Not expecting Ke Lu to easily pass two people in a row, there was some panic in the Ukrainian defense, and two people pounced over at once. This was what Ke Lu was waiting for. He poked the ball forward to the right with his right foot, and the football passed between the two people, rolling towards the unoccupied rear.

"Beautiful pass!"

There has always been a very subtle zone between the defense line and the goalkeeper, a vacuum zone. This zone can be large or small, and the attacking side's task is to find this zone and utilize it to the maximum extent. The defending side is the opposite.

In fact, it is simply offside and anti-offside. No matter how much the opponent contracts the defense, there is offside space. Almost all teams use the offside trap tactic, although the risk is great, the benefits are equally significant.

Just now, Ke Lu took advantage of Ukraine's push up to create an offside trap, passing a through ball, and he saw Wu Shangshan over there. With his starting speed, he should be able to catch up.

In order to avoid being intercepted midway, Ke Lu deliberately passed the ball a little too far, a little too close to the goalkeeper.

Wu Shangshan started, like a racehorse rushing out of the starting gate, leaping out of the parallel line with the defenders. Someone raised his hand to signal offside, but the linesman just followed, without any indication.

Anti-offside success!

In this case, whether offside or not, the goalkeeper had to come out. The two rushed towards the same goal, depending on who was faster.

The football was closer to the goalkeeper. Seeing this situation, Wu Shangshan knew that at best he would arrive at the same time as the opponent, and there was no way to make the next shooting action. He decided to shoot with an unconventional action, that is, a sliding tackle.

He fell to the ground and slid towards the football, and the goalkeeper also fell to the ground and pounced towards the football. The two arrived almost at the same time, and the football bounced out from between the two, and the referee's whistle sounded.

Charge on the goalkeeper!

The referee gave Wu Shangshan a verbal warning. At this time, the Ukrainian goalkeeper was still lying on the ground, covering his face and rolling around.

The Ukrainian team doctor treated him for a full three minutes before the goalkeeper could return to the game. It seemed true that Wu Shangshan's kick was not light.

Then the goalkeeper kicked off, and the game continued.

After this ball was kicked out, it did not fall at the feet of a Ukrainian player. Zhang Jun rarely returned to the center circle to compete for the header, and he also got it. He headed the ball back to Li Yongle.

Li Yongle stopped the ball, aimed at the person, and passed it to Ke Lu in the diagonal front. At this time, the ball was still in the center circle, and the Ukrainian defenders had just followed the football and pressed to the midfield.

Zhang Jun had just straightened up from the ground, and he shouted to Ke Lu: "Through pass! Ahead!" He pointed to the Ukrainian goal.

This time, Ke Lu didn't even raise his head, and sent the football out with a direct pass with force.

There was at least twenty meters between the defense line and the goalkeeper, and he passed the ball directly to the empty space.

"Direct pass! But this kind of... Zhang Jun! He's really fast!"

Zhang Jun was not standing parallel to the defenders. Ke Lu passed quickly, and he didn't have time to adjust his position. He was closer to the midline than the defensive line. After shouting to Ke Lu, he sprinted out.

He ran diagonally towards the football, and in an instant had surpassed the entire defensive line. The slow-reacting defenders were still raising their hands to signal to the referee that he was offside, and someone was already scolding: "Idiot! Defend! Defend!"

The goalkeeper hesitated before deciding to attack, hoping to control the ball - provided that the football was inside the penalty area, or to minimize the distance between him and Zhang Jun, and reduce his shooting angle.

Two nimble defenders came from different directions, hoping to flank Zhang Jun from the left and right. And in front was the football that was still rolling forward, and the goalkeeper who abandoned the goal and attacked.

What was he going to do? What would he do?

Comparing speed with the defenders and the goalkeeper, Zhang Jun was definitely number one. When he approached the football, the defender closest to the football had just arrived. Without saying a word, that person tackled him, making it clear that he wanted to foul. Zhang Jun didn't fall for that, he accelerated, took a big step, pretended to take the ball with his right foot, but didn't touch the football at all, but let the football roll out like that, and he jumped over the opponent's leg.

The first defender tackled into the air, and what about Zhang Jun? After passing the opponent, he immediately made a sharp stop and turn, chased the football, and at the same time pushed it outwards, shrinking his body, just enough to block the second defender who was chasing up behind him, forcing him to trip and brake sharply, but with this deceleration, it would not be easy to catch up with Zhang Jun again.

After Zhang Jun shook off two followers in one breath, now there was only the goalkeeper in front of him.

"Zhang Jun beautifully shook off two defenders! Now he only has the goalkeeper in front of him, a one-on-one! A great opportunity for the Chinese team!"

"Damn it! How could this happen? Stop him!" The Ukrainian coach roared loudly.

Zhang Jun regained control of the football, and the goalkeeper rushed to the front. The only regret was that he hadn't left the penalty area yet, and most goalkeepers can't use their hands after they become useless.

Was he going to dribble past or shoot?

This was the question in the audience's mind, and Zhang Jun's choice was very simple: dribble past the goalkeeper.

In fact, for high-level forwards, dribbling past the goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation was not as difficult as people imagined, and it was even easier for forwards who were good at speed.

Zhang Jun swung his left foot, pretending to hit. The goalkeeper didn't dare not believe it, and quickly jumped to the bottom to pounce. Zhang Jun just hooked with his left foot, and then pushed with his right foot, completely shaking off the Ukrainian goalkeeper, and his hands that were lying on the ground and stretched out to grab the air looked very helpless.

Facing an empty goal!

All the Chinese fans in the stadium and all the Chinese in front of the TV cheered.

Zhang Jun took another step, then swung his right leg and fired a powerful shot with the instep of his foot!

The football slammed into the net.

"Goal! goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooAL!!!!"

The Allianz Arena, which was not full, erupted with cheers beyond human imagination.

It was the seventy-seventh minute of the game, and the Chinese team had turned the score around to lead!

"This is truly a remarkable achievement! The Chinese team can still score after playing to this point! They have sent the Ukrainian team straight to hell..."

The German commentators could still remain calm. This was a job in itself. They were used to seeing how wonderful and crucial the goals were.

But on the Chinese commentator's side, it was a different situation.

"Zhang Jun! It's Zhang Jun again! China leads Ukraine 3:2, there are ten minutes left in the game..." Afterwards, Wang Jianxiang couldn't say anything more. He was choking, trying to control his emotions, but in the end, he admitted his failure. "I'm sorry... dear viewers, please... please allow me to rest for a while. Because, because now... I can't speak coherently anymore..."

After saying that, he really turned off the microphone and sat on the live broadcast seat, embarrassingly wiping away tears. The director in the back was a little at a loss and asked for instructions from above, and the answer from above was: "Let him be, he's been suppressed for too long."

Zhang Jun roared and rushed towards the bench, of course he didn't forget to bow his head and kiss the national flag on his chest again.

A string of ecstatic teammates followed behind like a train.

They were leading, and there were only fifteen minutes left before they qualified for the group stage! A bright future was waiting for them at the exit of this stadium, and they were about to become heroes who made history!

At this moment, the first to calm down was the head coach, Qiu Suhui. He took the opportunity of the celebration to pull the players one by one and exhort them.

"Remember! You must remember firmly!" In an environment full of screams, Qiu Suhui was almost roaring, he forcefully held back the excited and jumping players, "These last ten minutes are the most difficult! You must concentrate all your attention! Got it?!" He shook the players, "Concentrate all your attention on the game! Now! Immediately! Forget about the goal just now!!"

※※※

Qiu Suhui's reminder was very important. If it wasn't for his almost scolding method, the Chinese team might have really been in trouble.

Including stoppage time, Ukraine did have time to pull back a goal, eighteen minutes.

And Qiu Suhui held on to the remaining two substitution spots in his hand. He would not make substitutions now, as that would only add another minute to stoppage time. He would make substitutions in stoppage time to grind away the last bit of time.

Ukraine really attacked fiercely. Blokhin replaced Rebrov, changing to a more aggressive three-forward formation. They replaced a defender, going all out.

Seeing that the defense was tight, Zhang Jun ran back to the center circle to participate in the defense several times, but was quickly roared back by Qiu Suhui: "Zhang Jun! You go to the front for me! Don't you dare come back! You hear me!"

After being scolded like this, Zhang Jun had to stay at the front obediently.

The Ukrainians were really anxious. They had one of the best forwards in the world right now, and their first World Cup performance was also very mature. They didn't want to be eliminated in the group stage. When they were assigned to this group, the Ukrainian domestic media was still saying that they had drawn a good lottery. Because they only needed to lose to Brazil, and then defeat the other two opponents, to qualify as the second in the group.

But now?

Shevchenko didn't care about team friendship anymore. In a one-on-one with Yang Pan, he tried his best but couldn't get rid of Yang Pan's entanglement. He had no sure way to win in a speed contest, and delaying time would be detrimental to him. In desperation, he reached out and pushed Yang Pan, and Yang Pan also took the opportunity to exaggerate and fall to the ground, and the referee's whistle sounded, Shevchenko fouled by pushing!

The Ukrainian captain was very innocent, but also very angry. He only pushed lightly, not enough to push someone down, and Yang Pan fell so fakely, it was obvious that he was faking - in fact, this was just what Shevchenko thought, and in the referee's eyes he was a clear foul.

Shevchenko glared at Yang Pan, his eyes extremely fierce, and Yang Pan was not to be outdone, looking at his teammate at AC Milan with a ferocious expression. Neither of them would back down, until their respective teammates came up to pull them apart.

"As the game draws to a close, both sides are getting more heated and their actions are getting bigger and bigger. There has been friction between Yang and Shevchenko, these teammates."

In less than a minute, Ukraine returned, and this time Rebrov carried the ball. Many people believed that Rebrov was old and no longer had the courage of the "Kiev Gemini" of that year, but it seemed that Blokhin insisted on recruiting him into the team, which stimulated him. His condition clearly rebounded. Although he started as a substitute in the World Cup, he still had a goal, showing that his strength was not to be underestimated.

In a physical contact with Li Yongle, Rebrov fell to the ground, and this time the referee blew the whistle for a foul by the Chinese team. Li Yongle was very innocent, he just put his hand between the two sides, and he became the perpetrator.

Yang Pan knew very well that Ukraine was using "the way of the other, to give back to the other."

Shevchenko personally took the free kick, and this powerful curling ball bypassed the wall, but was punched out of the baseline by An Ke's diving fists.

In these three games, the most stable player for the Chinese team was goalkeeper An Ke. Although they conceded goals in every game, it was not his responsibility. The Chinese team's defense was too poor. In front of such a poor defense, he was still able to ensure that the Chinese team only lost one game, which was really a skill.

Domestic media has always believed that in terms of stability, An Ke is not as good as Sima Hongxin. Qiu Suhui chose An Ke only because he liked European goalkeepers. But he didn't expect that An Ke's stability in the World Cup would reach the point where he didn't make a single initiative mistake!

This made many people dare not believe: Is this really his first World Cup? Is he really only twenty-four years old?

In fact, An Ke was going crazy, he belonged to the competition type player, and once his condition came up, he couldn't stop it, and his condition happened to come in this World Cup.

Ukraine's corner kick was taken, and Shevchenko once again gained the upper hand in this confrontation with Zheng Jun. He jumped up high, and just as people thought he was going to head the ball, An Ke was born out of nowhere, intercepting the ball with both hands in front of Shevchenko!

Shevchenko only saw a black shadow appear in front of him, blocking the light and blocking the football. In an instant, he only saw a jersey number: 1. Then he fell to the ground.

An Ke hugged the football, and he was not in a hurry to serve the ball. He waited for all the Ukrainian players to push out of the penalty area, and he looked around, unhurriedly, which made many Ukrainian fans gnash their teeth.

※※※

Time passed minute by minute, and everyone was constantly paying attention to the time.

There were ten minutes left, the score was 3:2, and Ukraine was attacking strongly.

There were nine minutes left, the score was 3:2, and Ukraine won a corner kick.

There were eight minutes left, the score was 3:2, still a corner kick.

There were seven minutes left, the score was 3:2, the third corner kick.

The continuous three corner kicks made everyone's breathing stagnate. Now was the most critical moment. Everyone was very tired, and if the defending side couldn't hold on at this time, it would be all over.

The corner kick was taken again. This time, Ukraine's positioning was very good, and the flight path of the ball was also very good. If An Ke wanted to attack and get the ball, there were two people in the middle, and the risk was too great.

But what was An Ke afraid of? He still rushed out, going through two people, and still diving outwards, almost resting his body on other people's heads, he waved his fists!

The football was cleared out of the penalty area, but it didn't fall too far, and more importantly, the ball fell at the feet of a Ukrainian player.

At this time, An Ke had just landed and hadn't gotten up yet, which was almost an empty goal! The opponent swung a shot, directly a long shot, a smart choice, and the football drilled into the penalty area!

If this ball went in, this person would definitely be a national hero of Ukraine, but the commentator, in his tension and excitement, even forgot the other person's name, and directly shouted: "Number 2 long shot!"

The football shot by Number 2 really found an unobstructed channel in the penalty area and went straight to the goal!

The Ukrainian commentator was already cheering for the goal, as were the Ukrainian fans at the scene.

But on the goal line, a foot kicked the ball back hard!

"Xiang Tao!" Wang Jianxiang shouted in surprise. The second before, he was still on the verge of despair. Xiang Tao's kick not only pulled him, but also his teammates, and all the Chinese fans back from the edge. In just one second, he became a hero. If Ukraine equalized the score, there would still be six minutes left, and anything could happen, and Ukraine's morale would also come up. Now the safest way was to ensure that the Chinese team led the opponent, rather than pursuing that draw to qualify.

That's right, it was Xiang Tao. When the opponent's number 2 shot, he rushed back, just in time to kick the ball back before it crossed the line.

The Ukrainians suddenly lost their energy, and the blow was a bit big. The Ukrainian commentator kept repeating whether the ball had crossed the line: "The referee misjudged! The ball clearly crossed the line as a whole..." At this time, the replay of the scene just now was playing, and it was obvious on the TV screen that it had not crossed the line, "... as long as two-thirds of it crosses the line, it counts as a goal! This goal is valid! This goal should be valid!" He wished he was the referee, jumping into the field to declare, "Let's take another look at the video..."

The director really didn't give him face, and directly switched to the game scene. The Chinese team launched a counterattack with this clearance.

And Ukraine also cooperated tacitly, with two people desperately holding back Li Yongle in the midfield, and the others quickly returning to defense.

Seeing that he couldn't pass the ball directly to Zhang Jun in front, Li Yongle had to pass it to Xiang Tao who was coming up later. In this way, Ukraine's delaying tactic was basically completed, and they had enough time to return to defense.

Ke Lu was waving to Xiang Tao for the ball. Seeing that a raid was impossible, he only hoped to control the ball and grind away Ukraine's time, just like the last game against Senegal.

But what almost made his eyeballs pop out was that Xiang Tao didn't pay attention to him at all, but directly a long pass to find Zhang Jun at the very front!

"Idiot!" Ke Lu cursed in English in a moment of desperation.

Zhang Jun looked back at the ball, and then turned his head to look at the surrounding situation. He had to determine what to do next. The football was still in the air. There was a person following him on his left, and in front of him, in addition to the goalkeeper, there was also a center back, and there were two people catching up behind him. Basically, it could be said that he was caught in the Ukrainian encirclement.

In this case, if the first stop of the ball was not done well, this attack would be over.

Zhang Jun looked back at the ball again, and the ball arrived. But not only did he not slow down, but he accelerated, and rushed to the front at once. The Ukrainian defenders who were following him didn't know what was going on, but he suddenly stopped abruptly, and used his chest to unload the football.

This stop of the ball was slightly unexpected by the Ukrainians, but the result was beneficial to them. Zhang Jun was now facing away from the goal, and it would not be easy to shoot again. They only needed to hold him back and not let him turn around, and things would be simple.

Two people were holding on behind Zhang Jun, and another person rushed forward to try to intercept Zhang Jun's ball. Zhang Jun seemed to have eyes in the back of his head, and hooked the football that had just landed, and turned around again, with the person defending him as the axis!

"Zhang Jun! Zhang Jun! Zhang Jun!! He broke through! He entered the penalty area!!"

Zhang Jun unloaded the football again, and rushed into the penalty area, and the four defenders were still firmly clamping him, not giving him a chance to shoot.

"Shoot! Shoot!" The Chinese fans in the stands shouted.

Zhang Jun really did this.

But when he swung his foot, he suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"Foul! This is a foul! Penalty!" This time it was Wang Jianxiang's turn to shout.

Zhang Jun was lying on the ground, raising his hands to the referee, indicating that the other party had pushed him, but the referee just asked him to get up and continue the game, and Zhang Jun slammed the ground angrily.

"At this time, it is too sensitive, and the referee will not award a penalty." The neutral German commentator commented.

The replay about everything that happened in the penalty area had not had time to be played, and Ukraine launched a counterattack like lightning.

Ukraine's soul figure got the ball, and he was facing Zheng Jun, the Chinese defender who had always failed to gain an advantage in front of him, but this time he was unusually tenacious. Using both hands and feet, he was almost inseparable!

Because Zheng Jun knew very well that he was the last line of defense besides the goalkeeper. He could not lose his position, which was equivalent to letting a wolf into the house. In any case, he could not let this guy into the penalty area.

But the gap between Zheng Jun and Shevchenko was a microcosm of the gap between Chinese football and world football today. No matter how hard Zheng Jun tried, it was almost impossible for him to stop Shevchenko, who was determined to get it.

With a feint, Zheng Jun lost his balance, and then a strong breakthrough!

"He broke through!"

It was still early! Zheng Jun shouted in his heart, and he turned around, like a judo player, and hugged Shevchenko, who had just started, around the waist, and then pressed his whole body on him. Shevchenko only felt like he was running with a big stone on his back, and he couldn't move his feet, so he could only fall to the ground.

The referee's whistle sounded, just an obvious, deliberate foul.

"Oh... Zheng Jun already has a yellow card, now he is in danger... Yellow card! The referee showed him a yellow card, and then a red card! Zheng Jun was sent off! The Chinese team had to fight with ten men!"

This time it was Yang Pan who stood up for Zheng Jun, and he always stood in front of the referee, explaining to the referee in English: "The game is almost over, there is no need to send off another one, right?"

He knew very well that even if he argued again, the referee would not change the penalty. Zheng Jun getting a red card was already a fact. He just wanted to use this opportunity to waste time.

But the Ukrainian team was very unhappy, they were eager to kick off, but Zheng Jun refused to leave the field, and they couldn't quickly take the free kick. This was different from the situation where only a foul was called and the player was not sent off, they had to wait for the player who fouled to leave the field before they could kick off.

The impatient Rebrov even reached out to push Zheng Jun, who was refusing to leave the field, which caused a small commotion again, until Shevchenko reminded them: "What are you doing?! Pass the ball! Go back to your positions!"

Wang Liang patted Zheng Jun on the shoulder and asked him to leave the field. He didn't have to worry about the rest. Zheng Jun reluctantly removed the captain's armband and, as usual, he was going to give it to Wang Liang, but at this time Qiu Suhui spoke: "Give it to Yang Pan!" The three were stunned, and Yang Pan finally took the captain's armband, so he became the youngest captain of the Chinese team in the World Cup.

After handing over the captain's armband, Zheng Jun also took off his jersey and walked into the locker room with his head down. Only then did things come to an end.

Zheng Jun's foul in the eighty-seventh minute was too critical. Maybe he himself didn't realize that it not only didn't give Ukraine a chance to score, but also bought the Chinese team time to breathe.

Shevchenko's free kick flew directly, and with this attack, Zheng Jun exchanged a red card for the Chinese team's temporary safety. As for how long this safety could last, it would depend on the ten Chinese team members who remained on the field and how Qiu Suhui would perform.

As soon as the free kick was over there, the assistant referee raised the sign indicating stoppage time: five minutes! Five minutes of stoppage time!

This was simply torture for the Chinese team, and in the eyes of the Ukrainians, it was the last straw to save their lives.

Just one minute into stoppage time, the Chinese team made a substitution, and Qiu Suhui used up the last two substitution spots in one go. Center back Liu Peng replaced forward Wu Shangshan, and defensive midfielder Wang Yu replaced attacking midfielder Ke Lu Li.

Both players who came on were making their World Cup debuts. Qiu Suhui's substitution was also a big gamble. If these two players made any mistakes when they went up, their own future and the future of the Chinese team would be ruined.

But Qiu Suhui had no choice, and these were the only people he had available. At the very least, they performed well in the national Olympic team, and it was worth a try.

Liu Peng's first touch of the ball was to intercept Voronin's dribbling, which was eye-catching. Despite his tall and strong physique, he was quite flexible, with a fast step frequency and good explosiveness. It was surprising that there was such an outstanding center back on the Chinese team's bench.

Wang Yu's performance was also satisfactory. Since it was Ukraine who were attacking, they had many opportunities to show up.

However, the most close-up shots were still of the last barrier, An Ke, who repeatedly resolved Ukraine's attacks, constantly roaring.

"Defend! Don't let them shoot!"

"Foul! Yes! Foul!"

"Damn it! Use more force, you haven't eaten!"

"Damn it! Fight him head-on!"

There were almost all people in the thirty-meter area, and even Zhang Jun had to retreat behind the midline, because even the Ukrainian goalkeeper had pressed to the center circle.

Everyone was watching the clock. The Chinese hoped that "time flies," while the Ukrainians hoped that time would stop there.

Shevchenko rushed left and right like a madman, and the captain's armband on his arm fell to his wrist, but he didn't have time to pay attention to it.

A teammate crossed the ball, Shevchenko suddenly cut forward, Liu Peng was slightly careless and didn't watch him, he dived and headed the ball! The ball was too fast, An Ke just had a jumping action, but he couldn't save the ball!

"Bang!" But the football slammed into the crossbar!

"Oh--!! Crossbar! Crossbar!! God stopped Shevchenko! God stopped Ukraine!!"

The football did not bounce out of bounds, but bounced to the vicinity of the other goal post. This time, Li Suisheng grabbed the ball and headed it out of the baseline before Voronin.

"Ukraine is too unlucky! Maybe this is their best opportunity! Look at the time, look at the time, this will be Ukraine's last attacking opportunity! They have even rushed up with their goalkeeper!"

On the Chinese team's bench, everyone stood shoulder to shoulder, ready to rush into the field as soon as the final whistle sounded. Zheng Jun, who had been sent off, also returned to the sidelines, standing in the crowd, praying for the ten people on the field together.

"This is the last moment! Brothers! We have to hold on! If we hold on, we will be heroes!" An Ke was doing the final mobilization, "Watch the people! Don't let anyone go! Push them all out! The front of the goal is my territory!"

All the Chinese in front of the TV, either put their hands together to pray for the team, or turned around