Ten minutes passed, and the Chinese team completed two shots, while Chelsea completed one.

For most of the time, the soccer ball shuttled back and forth in the midfield, with the Chinese team in control more often. This was just a youth team match, so there weren't many high-tech devices on the sidelines to analyze the players' techniques. Otherwise, one would definitely see that the Chinese team surpassed the Chelsea youth team in the possession rate statistic!

This was a pleasing statistic.

But Zhou Yi wouldn't be happy about it.

Because he cared more about scoring goals, after all, he was a striker. He even thought about the importance of scoring – weren't all those passes and runs for that final shot?

If you can't shoot and score, what's the point of just passing it around?

Just like in the first half against the Arsenal youth team, he led the whole team in passing the ball around. It looked good on the surface, and they didn't lose the ball, ending the half with a 0-0 score. But it was all useless. In the end, Arsenal scored seven goals in one go in the second half, a bloodbath.

From that match on, Zhou Yi understood very well that an advantage on the field is meaningless if it can't be converted into goals.

The ultimate purpose of lateral and backward passes is to move forward.

There must be goals, there must be forward movement!

But how to move forward?

Forward, we must move forward.

This is just one sentence, easy to say. Even fans will shout at players who only know how to pass the ball back and forth in the midfield: "Don't always pass it in the back, go forward, pass the ball forward!"

They waved their arms, yelling and shouting, just like the head coach on the sidelines, very stylish.

But how to pass forward?

Kicking the ball forward with a big foot is also passing the ball forward, but the efficiency is too low and it's not very useful. For those who really want to pursue goals, they won't rashly choose this method.

Pushing forward layer by layer through ground passes?

Good, the idea is almost right, but how to push forward layer by layer? This isn't an onion that you can peel layer by layer to see the core.

This is the test of a player's, or a team's, ability.

But for Zhou Yi, this didn't seem to be a big problem.

He had played against this Chelsea youth team more than twenty times, almost thirty times, in the virtual system. He was very familiar with this team.

At the same time, he had cooperated with his teammates hundreds of times in the virtual system and was even more familiar with his teammates.

He knew how to get the ball up there.

The difficult part was the final pass. How to tear apart Chelsea's defense with a single blow?

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Through back-and-forth passes and runs with his teammates, Zhou Yi led the whole team to advance to the Chelsea youth team's thirty-meter area, where they encountered the Chelsea youth team's resistance.

Now was the time to test the ability of the final pass.

But it wasn't just testing Zhou Yi's passing ability, but also the abilities of his teammates who cooperated with him.

If everyone stood in their positions and didn't move, then Zhou Yi would have to force it himself.

They had to run to create gaps and opportunities.

The opponents naturally hoped that the Chinese team players would stand still, so that their defense would be too easy.

Zhou Yi received and passed the ball in midfield. At the same time, while the ball was not at his feet, he kept turning his head to observe the situation. Through the scanning of his eyes, he generated a plane diagram of the positional relationship between the two teams' players.

Through this plane diagram, he could see that Zhang Tao and He Ying, the two forwards of the Chinese team, each had a Chelsea center back following them, standing behind them, not allowing them to turn around.

At the same time, on the wings, the two Chelsea youth team full-backs were also stuck in key positions, not allowing the Chinese team's wingers to arbitrarily cut in and go to ground.

Usually, at this time, the players organizing the attack would focus their attention on the wings. If they went to the wings, there would be a chance to cross.

But Zhou Yi didn't do this, because he understood the two forwards in his team.

Zhang Tao's height was good, and his header should be good in theory, but his sense of position was too poor. Once he couldn't get an advantage in physical fitness, he basically couldn't get a point in front of the goal.

He Ying's awareness was good, but... his heading ability was average. Although it wasn't bad, it wasn't his strength anyway. Whether in the virtual system or in reality, Zhou Yi rarely saw He Ying heading the ball on the field, whether it was attacking or passing. Although he was 1.8 meters tall, He Ying was not an aerial threat.

So, crossing from the wings was basically the same as giving the ball to the opponent.

Zhou Yi still chose the middle, although there were fewer opportunities in the middle, but once an opportunity appeared, it could be fatal.

In the middle were the two forwards, Zhang Tao and He Ying.

For Zhang Tao and He Ying, Zhou Yi didn't even need to observe to know what they were like when they played, because they had cooperated too many times in the fifAoL3 world.

Zhang Tao's thinking was rigid, he didn't run much, especially during positional battles. Once he stood in his position, he wouldn't move. He only knew how to lean against the opponent's defender and raise his hand to ask for the ball. Even if he got the ball, he couldn't turn around, either he would be intercepted by the opponent, or he would pass the ball back.

This was completely meaningless and inefficient passing, a waste of time.

He Ying was better at running, and his positioning was more flexible. He rarely stayed in one place, just like the three-second zone in basketball, he rarely stayed still in a fixed place for more than three seconds.

Zhou Yi liked to cooperate with people like He Ying, because that's how he could create opportunities, and he felt comfortable playing.

So without thinking, Zhou Yi made He Ying his passing target.

But it wouldn't work to just pass it over so simply.

Passing in this position had to be cautious, because once it was lost, the attack would end.

Similarly, passing in this position also had to be daring to take risks, because opportunities would not appear in bland, aimless passes. It needed some... imagination.

It also needed tacit understanding.

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When Zhou Yi received the ball passed back by his teammate again, He Ying, who was originally standing on the edge of the penalty area, facing away from the goal, suddenly turned around and wanted to cut in towards the goal.

The Chelsea youth team defender behind him also turned around and followed him, not giving him a chance to get the ball.

Seeing He Ying turn around and run into the penalty area, taking the defender guarding him away as well, there was a small gap where the two of them had been standing.

Zhou Yi suddenly had an inspiration in his mind. He swung his foot and passed the ball out, just like in golf when the ball was almost to the hole, a putter, and the ball steadily rolled forward on the grass according to the pre-set trajectory.

But it wasn't passed to He Ying, or rather, it wasn't passed directly to He Ying's feet, but to the back of He Ying – on the side completely opposite to the direction He Ying was turning!

It was exactly in that small gap!

Passing the ball to the gap was correct, but if no one could see or run to this gap, then this ball would be considered a passing error.

When Zhou Yi passed the ball, Zhang Tao stood still. When he saw the ball rolling towards that gap, he realized that it was a gap, but it was too late to run.

At this moment, He Ying, who was originally turning to cut into the penalty area, suddenly made an emergency stop and turned around at the same time!

He turned back!

Just brushed past the center back defending him, one going left and the other going right.

In fact, when he first turned around, he had made up his mind to turn back. He was just doing a fake run to take the defender away, only in this way could he create a gap.

But the gap was created, he didn't know if anyone could see it and make use of it.

So, He Ying, who turned back, looked at Zhou Yi, he saw the ball...

He Ying, who turned back, didn't stop, but ran straight to the gap that he had pulled out. At the same time, Zhou Yi's pass arrived right on time!

The timing was just right!

After receiving Zhou Yi's pass, He Ying didn't stop, but took advantage of the momentum to cut into the penalty area – he was going to go there anyway, but this time he changed his direction.

But just this change allowed him to get rid of the Chelsea youth team's defender. By the time this defender turned back, he had been blocked behind by He Ying.

Then, facing the goalkeeper, He Ying calmly chose a finesse shot. The ball went around the goalkeeper who was attacking and hit the net behind him!

Goal!

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"Good shot!!" Cheers erupted from the Chinese team's coaching staff and bench at the same time.

This time, they were not as surprised as when the Chinese team scored their first goal against the Dortmund youth team.

Breaking through the goals of these European giants' youth teams... we can do it too, there's nothing unbelievable about it.

They were now happy not because the team scored a goal against a giant's youth team, but because they were leading!

After scoring, He Ying waved his fist and ran towards the coaching staff. The other players also ran over together. A group of people gathered in front of the coaching staff from all directions and hugged each other.

Zhou Yi was also among them. He was being hugged by Yang Muge and Sun Pan, laughing and shouting, very happy.

This is the charm of football, completing a task together with partners.

This is also the charm of team sports, the sense of accomplishment of coordinating different people to work together to complete a task is overflowing!

Each person is an independent individual with their own thoughts. These thoughts collide together, are not the same, and may cause conflict. If the conflict is intense, it may lead to the disintegration of the team.

How can we unite these people with different personalities and different ideas, twist them into a rope, and work hard to complete a task?

It's not just the coach's job, it's also the players' job.

At the moment when the cooperation was successful, although Zhou Yi was not the one who scored the goal, Zhou Yi had a sense of satisfaction that was no less than scoring a goal.

That feeling of having everything under control made Zhou Yi think that it was good to change from being a striker to playing midfield.

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ps, two things.

The first thing is that the soccer diary I wrote during my time in Madrid has been updated on the public platform of Qidian Chinese Website. It is the text of what I saw, heard, and thought in Madrid, and there are many photos. If you are interested in soccer in Madrid and what I did in Madrid, you can follow the public account of Qidian Chinese Website on WeChat, where there is a serialization. The other thing is that our book is on Sanjiang, and we are voting. I hope everyone doesn't forget to vote for Sanjiang. You can receive one vote a day. Although we don't necessarily have to get first place, it's really not good-looking if we don't even get into the top five now... I think the quality of this new book is still very good, so I am very confident in the book, please everyone!