Chapter 28 The Pass

Zhou Yi, with the ball on the wing, didn't pass this time. He dribbled along the sideline, pushing forward.

But he soon encountered a Blue team player blocking his path. Number Seven of the Blue team stood in his way.

Faced with the interception, Zhou Yi didn't choose to use speed or feints to break through. Instead, he passed the ball directly to a teammate inside, while he circled around Number Seven of the Blue team from the outside, shouting to his teammate who was receiving the ball, "Pass it to me!"

Whether it was Zhou Yi's firm and unquestionable tone that made his teammate unconsciously want to listen to him, or Zhou Yi's decisive performance in helping to move the ball from the backfield to the front that inspired trust in his teammates.

In short, after hearing Zhou Yi shout like that, this teammate passed the ball without hesitation.

Zhou Jianliang heard a disgruntled "tsk" nearby. Clearly, this was the passer's parent, very dissatisfied that his son had given the ball away so easily.

In this final, not only did the young players on the field want to show off, but the parents off the field also hoped their children could be a little more selfish.

After bypassing the defending player, Zhou Yi received the pass from his teammate, completing a beautiful one-two, wall-pass combination.

"Good ball!" Little Wang on the podium couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

Hao Dong, sitting next to him, wasn't as excited, but a look of gratification appeared on his face.

For the first time, he saw what he wanted to see.

Now he was even more curious, wanting to continue watching and see how this attack would ultimately end.

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Zhou Yi continued to dribble along the wing, and the Blue team shifted their defensive focus to his side.

But just when everyone thought Zhou Yi would continue to break through to the baseline and then cross, Zhou Yi hooked the ball towards the center with his right foot just as he entered the thirty-meter zone. He also took the opportunity to shake off a Blue team player who had come up to defend.

While cutting inside and dribbling horizontally, Zhou Yi glanced up for a moment, but in his mind, a bird's-eye view of the penalty area had already appeared.

He could clearly see where the gaps were, where his own teammates were, and where the Blue team players were.

He found a gap on the left side of the large penalty area. There were no Blue team players here because his breakthrough on the wing had already caused the Blue team's defenders to shift their focus to that side, and the defensive forces on the other side were naturally weakened.

Opportunities are fleeting, and as he dribbled horizontally, the opponent would quickly shift their defensive focus back.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi suddenly swung his right foot while dribbling, lofting the ball.

The ball flew over the heads of the Red and Blue players in front of him, falling toward the open area behind them!

At this moment, Huang Zhihua, the Number Nine striker of the Red team, appeared in that area, and he lifted his foot to bring down the ball passed by Zhou Yi!

As the person with the highest overall score in the national selection, his basic skills were naturally the most solid among these twenty-three people. Zhou Yi's chip pass was brought down very beautifully by him, landing steadily in front of his feet.

"Good ball!" Little Wang couldn't help but stand up from his seat in excitement.

A burst of exclamations followed from the stands, with some cheering and others screaming.

Amid the noise, Huang Zhihua swung his left foot, shooting directly from the corner of the penalty area!

But perhaps he was trying too hard to find the angle, the ball ultimately veered wide of the far post and flew out of the baseline.

"Oh, what a pity!" Little Wang clutched his head, as regretful as if he himself had missed the shot.

Hao Dong next to him didn't seem too disappointed, because his eyes were fixed on Zhou Yi.

"Little Wang, if I remember correctly, that substitute is called Zhou Yi, right?"

"Ah? Yes, yes, that's right, Zhou Yi." Little Wang was a little surprised by Hao Dong's sudden question.

"Hmm..." Hao Dong lowered his head and began to look through the information of all twenty-three people in his hand. He found Zhou Yi's name on the last page.

The information showed that Zhou Yi's previous position was forward. He had never played in the youth team of a professional club, nor had he received professional training. But he was still the main striker for the school football teams at all levels from elementary school to junior high school to high school. It was said that his goal-scoring efficiency was very high.

But in the column of shortcomings, it was written: "Average speed, not a speed-type player," "Slightly thin and weak, insufficient physical confrontation ability," "He is not a player who can run from the first minute to the last minute of a game. As a forward, his range of activity is not very large, mainly concentrated in the front half of the field, especially in front of the opponent's goal"…

These shortcomings, to put it bluntly, were that speed, stamina, and strength were not his strengths. In terms of physical fitness, he was mediocre.

But why did someone with so many shortcomings have such a high goal-scoring efficiency and number of goals, and be able to always be the team's main striker?

Hao Dong didn't look down on campus football, because many of their generation of players, and the generation after them, had also played football in school in elementary school. Schools were not necessarily able to cultivate high-level players, but they could have good seedlings.

These good seedlings, after going to the echelon of professional football clubs and receiving formal training, would have their talents discovered and cultivated, and eventually become qualified professional players.

Zhou Yi had not received professional training, but he had very good goal-scoring ability. Why?

What did he rely on to score goals?

Why was he able to score so many goals?

Hao Dong became deeply interested in this substitute.

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Just as Hao Dong was full of questions about Zhou Yi, on the field, Huang Zhihua was still regretting that he had lost a great opportunity. After calming down from the shot, he realized that he shouldn't have shot directly after stopping the ball, because the gap was very good at the time, and there were no Blue team players around. He had enough time to stop the ball, adjust, or even take it forward a little bit, and find a more suitable opportunity to shoot…

But unfortunately, in that fleeting moment, there was only one thought in his mind, and that was to shoot.

The things he was thinking about now were not in his mind at the time.

Thinking of this, he also realized who gave him this opportunity, so he turned his head to look at Zhou Yi and gave him a thumbs up.

This was the most basic etiquette on the football field. If a teammate passes you a good ball, you should express your gratitude.

Besides, in such a game, it was really not easy for someone to be willing to pass the ball to a teammate and create such a scoring opportunity, so you should be even more grateful. If you don't thank others, maybe they won't pass the ball to you next time?

Huang Zhihua was not stupid. He knew that as a striker, he was very dependent on passes from other teammates.

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Zhou Yi used his actual performance to prove his ability, and he also gained the recognition of his teammates. Especially Huang Zhihua's thumbs up, everyone saw it. Even Huang Zhihua praised Zhou Yi, so what else could others not be convinced of?

After the game restarted, more and more people tended to pass the ball to Zhou Yi whenever the Red team got the ball.

Zhou Yi no longer had to shout "Pass the ball to me!" after each pass, for fear that the ball would be gone forever once it was passed out…

And as he passed the ball time and time again in midfield, everyone gradually discovered that the Red team was faintly gaining the upper hand on the field!

Some people didn't understand why this was happening. Many of Zhou Yi's passes looked very ordinary, not like the through ball that pierced the opponent's heart just now. Why was the Red team's performance gradually improving?

But in the eyes of those who understood, every one of Zhou Yi's passes was worth studying.

Hao Dong's eyes on the podium were getting brighter and brighter – he originally thought it was just going through the motions, but he might really be able to dig up a treasure…

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After gradually gaining the upper hand, the Red team's offense increased. With Zhou Yi's passing, the Red team players had more opportunities than before when they were fighting on their own.

They were not fools either, and naturally knew the importance of teamwork. It was just that no one wanted to condescend to be the one who made the wedding dress for others before.

Now that Zhou Yi was willing to do it, they were happy to cooperate with Zhou Yi.

Later, they simply formed a siege against the Blue team.

But after the Blue team was forced to shrink their defense, it was difficult for the Red team to score again for a while, because there were basically no more good scoring opportunities.

Zhou Yi was, after all, a temporary midfielder. Although his previous performance was very good, he lacked the experience of playing in midfield. When facing a dense defense, he had no good ideas other than passing the ball back and forth.

The situation was deadlocked like this, from the first half to the second half, the score was still 0:0, and no one was able to score.

However, Hao Dong, who was sitting on the podium, didn't find the game boring because there were no goals scored. In his opinion, the game was now back to normal…

And all of this was because of that person named Zhou Yi.

Most of the time, Hao Dong's eyes were locked on Zhou Yi.

He carefully observed him, not letting go of every detail.

He noticed that Zhou Yi turned his head back and forth every time before receiving the ball. Obviously, he was observing the surrounding situation, even the blind spots behind him.

Through observation, Hao Dong understood somewhat why Zhou Yi's information said that he had a high goal-scoring efficiency and was good at scoring goals. Because he mastered the surrounding situation in this constant turning of his head to observe, he was more likely to find gaps than others, so he was able to get shooting opportunities in a relatively relaxed environment…

Therefore, in the case of suddenly being changed to play as a midfielder, he was able to quickly undertake the task of organizing the attack and connecting the team. Because he understood the situation on the field through continuous observation, he knew the positions of his teammates and opponents very well. In this case, he naturally should know where to pass the ball.

This should be his ability.

But what Hao Dong cared more about was the quality that Zhou Yi showed in this ability - teamwork spirit, he was willing to serve the team and others when everyone only wanted to show themselves; calm mind, Huang Zhihua's personal ability seemed very prominent, but it could be seen from his repeated wasted shooting opportunities that his mind was not clear enough when facing opportunities, or it was not calm enough. And Zhou Yi was able to organize a team's attack in an orderly manner, which showed that his mind was very clear, and he knew what to do and how to do it.

In Hao Dong's mind, he had already determined the final candidate, but he was not 100% sure about Zhou Yi, because he still wanted to see what Zhou Yi could do. Or rather, Zhou Yi needed something outstanding to prove himself.

Hao Dong didn't know that, unconsciously, he had raised the requirements for Zhou Yi. Before this, he thought that it was enough as long as someone could show the awareness of teamwork, but now he hoped that Zhou Yi could also come up with a better performance…

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