Chapter 177 We Won!

“The Chinese team has won a free kick in the attacking third, and it’s in a position where they can shoot directly. Colombia has set up a five-man wall to block the Chinese team’s shooting path… Zhou Yi and Zheng Zhi are discussing…”

Duan Xin said as the Chinese team was awarded the free kick.

Chinese fans in front of their TVs weren’t really expecting anything from this free kick.

Because if there was one weakness in the current national team’s starting lineup, it was scoring from direct free kicks.

It wasn’t that China didn’t have players who could score directly from free kicks, like Hao Junmin, but he was sitting on the bench.

Zhou Yi had never scored from a free kick either, and neither He Ying nor Yan Min were free kick specialists.

Looking around, only Zheng Zhi had some semblance of set-piece ability.

So Zheng Zhi naturally stood in front of the ball.

But seeing this scene, everyone naturally didn’t hold out much hope.

After Zheng Zhi placed the ball, Colombia’s wall was also set up.

Zhou Yi was originally standing behind the wall. In this position, he didn’t attract the attention of the Colombian players, because it was impossible to get the ball here and unlikely to create a threat.

Then the referee blew his whistle, and Zheng Zhi began his run-up.

At the same time as the referee blew his whistle, Zhou Yi, who was originally behind the wall, suddenly moved laterally to the left, revealing his head from behind the wall.

Immediately afterward, Zheng Zhi kicked the ball toward him.

Instead of kicking the ball over the wall, he kicked it sideways toward Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was completely unmarked!

The wall was the closest Colombian players to him, but they had just jumped up and didn’t have time to adjust. However, other Colombian players rushed toward him, and goalkeeper Ospina quickly shifted to the left to block Zhou Yi’s shooting angle.

But Zhou Yi didn’t stop the ball, nor did he intend to shoot. He ran a little in front of the ball and then used the heel of his right foot to flick the ball passed to him by Zheng Zhi behind him!

The ball changed direction and flew toward the center of the goal!

But because of Zhou Yi’s movement, the Colombian players who were originally concentrated there were all attracted by Zhou Yi, creating emptiness and chaos in that area.

The ball that Zhou Yi flicked over happened to fall at the feet of Yang Muge, who had surged into the penalty area, and he swept it in!

The ball flew toward Colombia’s goal!

In the process, no one touched the ball, and the ball plunged into Colombia’s goal!

"Goal! Goal!! What a goal!! Yang Muge!!" Duan Xin shouted excitedly. "This is the Chinese team's second goal of the match! The Chinese team is now leading Colombia 2-0! The game has reached the seventieth minute, and with a two-goal lead, we are getting closer and closer to the World Cup semi-finals!"

After scoring, Yang Muge ran directly to Zhou Yi and hugged him to celebrate the goal.

This was Zhou Yi’s fourth assist in this World Cup, and he tied Colombia’s Cuadrado for the top spot on the World Cup assist chart.

"Wonderful free kick tactical play!" Marcel Reif praised the Chinese team’s goal. "This was clearly designed, Zhou Yi’s backheel pass was very decisive and greatly surprised the Colombian players, and Yang Muge’s follow-up was very timely…"

Both the assisting and goal-scoring players played in the Bundesliga, and Marcel Reif was very familiar with them.

"Congratulations to Yang Muge for also scoring his first goal in the World Cup. Scoring goals is a luxury for him…"

While the Chinese team players were celebrating their goal in Colombia’s penalty area, the Colombian players looked up at the sky in disappointment, or lowered their heads in frustration.

This score meant that the situation was very serious for them.

With twenty minutes left in the game, they were two goals behind…

Even more frightening was that the Chinese team was clearly in great form now. How should they play the rest of the game?

"Yang Muge not only froze James Rodriguez in defense today, but now he has also scored a goal that almost locked in the victory for the Chinese team. Such a performance is simply perfect!" Duan Xin continued to praise his national team players, not worrying about "overdoing it," because these players’ performances in this World Cup were worthy of his praise.

※※※

After the Chinese team players celebrated in front of Colombia’s penalty area for a while, they returned to their own half, each with a smile on their face.

Zhou Yi, wearing the captain’s armband, didn’t forget to fulfill his responsibilities as captain, reminding his teammates not to be careless.

"A two-goal lead isn’t a guarantee of victory. In twenty minutes, the opponent could completely equalize the score. So next, we’ll shrink our defense and play on the counterattack. First, make sure we don’t concede a goal. If there’s a better opportunity for a counterattack, then we’ll launch it. If the opportunity isn’t very good, then don’t rush it. If you’re pressed by the opponent and don’t know how to handle the ball, then pass the ball to me…"

Taking this opportunity, he unified everyone’s thinking and made tactical adjustments in advance, even earlier than Lippi.

Lippi made his defensive counterattack adjustments after the game started by substituting Gao Lin for Wu Lei.

At this time, the Chinese team players on the field had already begun to shrink their defense.

Faced with the Chinese team’s shrinking defense, Colombia began to press forward.

But their pressing forward only allowed more gaps to appear behind them.

And the Chinese team’s front line was made up of three fast players, which made it even more difficult for Colombia’s defense.

After bombarding the Chinese team’s goal for a while, they had to retreat due to the pressure on their defense, which was exactly what the Chinese team wanted.

If they didn’t continue to attack, the Chinese team wouldn’t be in a hurry. Under Zhou Yi’s leadership, everyone slowly controlled the pace, dealing with Colombia in a calm and unhurried manner.

In the eightieth minute, Pekerman replaced Cuadrado with Juan Quintero, making a final gamble.

But this adjustment didn’t have much of a good effect.

When Colombia attacked, every Chinese team player was actively defending. They had only one belief in their hearts—they must hold on! They absolutely couldn’t let Colombia score, not even one goal!

Zhou Yi also participated in the defense, using his judgment of passing routes to always position himself in the most likely place to threaten the Chinese team’s defense, making it very awkward for Colombia to play.

Yang Muge continued to harass James Rodriguez relentlessly, making this Colombian genius player, who had performed so well in the previous four games, unremarkable in today’s game, failing to play at the same level as in the previous four games.

※※※

When the game entered stoppage time, some Chinese fans on the internet were already eagerly discussing the historical significance of reaching the World Cup semi-finals.

"World Cup semi-finals! Just thinking about it makes me excited! Although the South Korean team has already achieved such a result before, we are different from them. We earned this semi-final spot with our own ability, fair and square!"

"That’s right, this is an achievement that the entire Asian football community should be proud of!"

"Oh my god, my dream used to be just to see the Chinese team make it to the World Cup, but now the Chinese team has actually made it to the World Cup semi-finals… it’s like a dream…"

"Haha! I just slapped myself hard, and my face is swollen now, but I’m sure I’m not dreaming!"

"I was planning to get some sleep after watching the game… damn it, I’m too excited to sleep at all, but what am I going to do about work?"

"Then don’t sleep, just go to work. I guarantee you’ll be radiant and full of energy all day!"

"I can already hear firecrackers, I wonder who’s in such a hurry…"

"Four minutes of stoppage time, it shouldn’t be possible to lose the game now, right?"

"If it was the old Chinese team, it would be hard to say…"

"If it was the old Chinese team, how could they have made it to the World Cup quarter-finals and be leading Colombia 2-0 in the quarter-finals?"

"That’s also true…"

"Semi-finals against Germany. After watching the Chinese team’s game, I think we shouldn’t think about anything else, don’t be afraid, just go for it! We’ve already defeated the defending champion Spain and the host Brazil, what’s so scary about Germany?"

"That’s right! Zhou Yi, Yan Min, and Yang Muge all play in the Bundesliga, they must be very familiar with this German national team, which is a good thing for us…"

※※※

Just as everyone was discussing enthusiastically, on the field, in the ninety-third minute of the game, Colombia won a corner kick.

"This may be Colombia’s last chance to attack in this game. Defend this corner kick, and we will win the victory and advance to the semi-finals!" Duan Xin’s excited voice was trembling. Although the game hadn’t ended yet, he had already decided in his heart that the Chinese team had won.

James Rodriguez ran to take the corner kick. He had been heavily marked by Yang Muge in this game, and this set piece was his only chance to get rid of Yang Muge.

Because the score difference was two goals, even if this corner kick resulted in a goal, Colombia would still lose the game, so everyone’s emotions weren’t very high.

On the sidelines, the Chinese team’s substitutes and coaches were standing on the sidelines, preparing to rush onto the field again to celebrate the victory. In this World Cup, they had already done this three times. The first time was after drawing 1-1 with the Netherlands, a draw that felt like a victory for the Chinese team. The second time was in the last round of the group stage, after defeating Spain 2-0. The third time was in the previous game, when the Chinese team eliminated the host Brazil in a penalty shootout.

This time, they would take another step forward and advance to the World Cup semi-finals.

James Rodriguez’s corner kick was kicked in front of the goal. Sun Pan shouted, "Everyone get out of the way!" After that, he leaped high from the crowd, lightly extended his arms, directly plucked the ball out of the air, then landed, and fell to the ground, pressing the ball under his body without getting up.

Immediately afterward, everyone heard the referee Velasco blow three whistles—the game was over!

"We won!" Duan Xin shouted. "We won! We defeated Colombia 2-0 and advanced to the semi-finals! The Mineirão Stadium, we’re back!"