Brazil's first shot of the entire match came in the thirteenth minute.

Neymar was dribbling down the wing when he was tripped by Zhang Linpeng, and the referee called a foul on Zhang Linpeng, awarding Brazil a free kick on the wing.

Neymar's free kick was headed by Thiago Silva from four meters in front of the goal.

But Thiago Silva headed the ball too high.

As the soccer ball flew high over the crossbar, Sun Pan whistled in front of the goal.

Thiago Silva glared at Sun Pan after landing, but Sun Pan ignored him.

Since the Brazilians were getting anxious, he might as well add fuel to the fire. That was Sun Pan's thought.

"Brazil finally has its first shot, but this shot is ridiculously high!" He Ping seized the opportunity to ridicule Brazil. Although the Brazilian team has a large number of fans in China, He Ping was not worried that he would offend those Brazilian fans because of this. At this time, all Chinese people are of course fans of the national Olympic team, and they all hope that the winner will be the Chinese team.

※※※

Thiago Silva's header was not on target, but Brazil did not give up. They continued to attack China fiercely.

Of course, their attacking method has not changed. As long as they reach the vicinity of the thirty-meter zone, they will rely more on their individual abilities rather than patient passing.

This was in stark contrast to China's team, which relied on passing to launch counterattacks.

Because Brazil's offensive was very fierce during this period, China was mostly compressed in its own half. Even if there were opportunities for counterattacks, they often couldn't invest too many troops, and they had to reach the opponent's penalty area with three or two passes. The success rate of playing like this was certainly not high.

But China was already leading by one goal, so they didn't need to rush.

The Brazilians did.

Faced with Brazil's fierce attack, China played a defensive counterattack, which was also their main tactic in this Olympic Games. They relied on defensive counterattacks to fight their way out of the group stage and into the knockout stage.

However, China's defensive counterattack was not the kind that huddled in front of its own goal and allowed the opponent to control the ball outside at will.

China's defensive counterattack was relatively more active. Their players would rely on numerical superiority in their own half to besiege and intercept Brazilian players, dividing and surrounding them so that they could not connect with each other.

This trick was very suitable for dealing with the Brazilian team.

Faced with China's divide-and-conquer strategy, the Brazilian players, relying on their outstanding individual abilities, all seemed to be possessed by Garrincha, dribbling wildly and creating opportunities with their personal skills.

In the eighteenth minute, Damião dribbled the ball into China's frontcourt. Facing the double-team of Yang Muge and Zhang Jiadong, he did not pass the ball in time, but chose to continue dribbling. After being forced to a standstill by Zhang Jiadong and Yang Muge, he tried to get rid of the defense with his personal skills, but Yang Muge stretched out his foot and poked the ball away...

The soccer ball poked down by Yang Muge fell to Zhou Yi's feet, and Zhou Yi directly turned around and sent the ball forward. This time, Thiago Silva headed the soccer ball out of bounds before He Ying could receive it.

Since He Ying scored a goal, Thiago Silva has been marking him more closely.

When China took a throw-in, not everyone came up to participate. In the end, He Ying gave the soccer ball to Zhou Yi.

Under the defense of Brazilian midfielder Romero, Zhou Yi did not choose to control the ball. He directly used his foot to pass the soccer ball thrown by He Ying back to He Ying, and He Ying passed the soccer ball back to Zhang Jiadong.

At this time, Zhou Yi had already turned around and cut into space, shaking off Romero.

Zhang Jiadong then passed the soccer ball back to him, and He Ying had also completed his run. Zhou Yi then passed the soccer ball to He Ying, letting He Ying finish this attack, no matter what the result, it didn't matter.

In the end, He Ying shot the soccer ball wide under Thiago Silva's close marking.

Although it was not on target, it was still counted as a shot. In terms of shots, China was also ahead of Brazil 2:1.

In this attack, China only invested a total of three people, and it formed the final shot. It can be seen that China's counterattack efficiency is actually higher than Brazil's.

Most people may only see that China's shot did not form a goal, nor was it on target, but in fact, the things behind it can better illustrate the problem.

※※※

Two minutes later, Brazil tied China in terms of shots.

In the twentieth minute, Damião broke through China's defense on the wing and formed a cross.

Chelsea midfielder Oscar followed up in the middle and shot with his left foot from eight meters away from the goal.

However, this shot was relatively straight, and Sun Pan, who was waiting in front of the goal, caught the soccer ball in his arms without any effort.

After catching the ball, he did not forget to ridicule the Brazilian players: "You shoot so weakly, is that all you've got?"

Although Oscar is also a Chelsea player, Sun Pan didn't mean to take care of his teammates at all.

The only pity is that others can't understand what he's saying. If he could master multiple languages, he could implement his trash-talking offensive on the court...

※※※

Just as Brazil had tied the number of shots, China quickly launched two consecutive attacks, and Zhou Yi and Wu Lei's long shots both went high one after another. In terms of shots, China once again took the lead and widened the gap, 4:2.

Comparing the number of shots seems to be a very boring thing, but in fact, through this simple number comparison, you can more or less guess how the two teams are performing.

In terms of shots, China has more shots than Brazil. Then, it is absolutely impossible to say that China is being suppressed by Brazil. Although it is a defensive counterattack, China is not embarrassed on the field.

From the perspective of watching the game, Brazil does have an advantage on the field. They also attack China's thirty-meter area more often. Judging from the past twenty minutes of the game, Brazil has attacked China's thirty-meter area more often than China. There is a data statistic, although it will not appear on TV broadcasts, but it does exist.

As of the twentieth minute of the game, China has attacked Brazil's thirty-meter area four times, while Brazil has attacked China's thirty-meter area eight times, which is exactly twice as many as China. However, in terms of shots, China has four shots and Brazil has two shots. China has become twice as many as Brazil.

What does this set of data show?

It shows that although Brazil has attacked China's thirty-meter area, their advantage in this thirty-meter area is not great. Their average ball possession time in this thirty-meter area is only twenty-four seconds.

What does this mean?

To give an example, in the recently concluded 2012 European Cup, Spain won the championship. The Spanish team averaged thirty-one attacks into the opponent's thirty-meter area per game, and the average ball possession time in this area was one minute and twenty-eight seconds. The Spanish team's continuous ball possession in the frontcourt is four times that of Brazil! Long-term continuous ball control fully guarantees Spain's advantage in attack, and they can therefore create more shooting opportunities. Brazil's short continuous ball control time in this area also confirms their fewer shots than China, indicating that their offensive efficiency in the frontcourt is low and the effect is not good.

※※※

Seeing that the game had been going on for more than twenty minutes, although Brazil's offensive was very fierce, it did not pose a substantial threat to China's goal. Brazil's coach Menezes made adjustments in advance.

He replaced midfielder Alex Sandro with Hulk in the twenty-sixth minute.

"Brazil used up a substitution spot early. This is a forced substitution! Losing the ball too early disrupted Brazil's pre-match arrangements..." He Ping said. "After losing the ball, everyone thought Brazil would quickly enter the rhythm of the game, but now it seems that they haven't found the feeling of the game yet... Menezes hopes that Hulk's appearance can change this situation. Hulk is indeed a very capable player. The key is that his physical fitness is very good, and the national Olympic team players must be careful of him using his physical advantages..."

After Hulk came on the field, he did change Brazil's offensive effect to a certain extent.

In the thirty-eighth minute, Brazil organized an attack in the frontcourt. Oscar passed the soccer ball to Hulk. After Hulk got the ball, he suddenly exerted his strength and took a long shot from thirty-five meters away from the goal!

The soccer ball flew towards China's goal like a bullet!

This shot was not only sudden, but also of high quality.

The soccer ball was coming towards China's goal!

"Be careful!" Commentator He Ping exclaimed.

The Chinese fans in the stands also let out a horrified gasp.

Hulk's shot was Brazil's third shot of the game, but it also gave them the greatest sense of crisis. Although it was far from the goal, the momentum could be clearly felt in the stands!

No one could stop the soccer ball flying in the air, except for the goalkeeper Sun Pan.

When Hulk shot the soccer ball towards the goal, Sun Pan had already quickly moved his feet, and then leaped into the air, pouncing in the direction the ball was coming from!

It's just that everyone's attention was attracted by the soccer ball flying in the air at the time, and they didn't see Sun Pan at all.

It wasn't until the soccer ball was about to fly in front of the goal that everyone realized that Zhou Yi's hand was about to touch the soccer ball!

Hulk's shot was dragged upward by Sun Pan's palm and hit the lower edge of the crossbar!

Then it fell down, but fortunately it did not fall inside the goal line, but it did not get out of the dangerous area. After the soccer ball landed, it bounced up, still in China's penalty area, even in the small penalty area!

This situation caused chaos in China's penalty area. In the chaos, Damião broke out from the crowd, rushed towards the soccer ball, and volleyed a shot!

And Sun Pan, who had just landed, struggled to jump up from the ground again, reaching out to block.

The soccer ball hit his palm and was blocked out of the baseline... The alarm was lifted!

"Beautiful! Sun Pan! Amazing consecutive saves! He saved China's goal!" He Ping roared excitedly, almost jumping up from his commentator's seat...

On the other side, the commentator of Brazilian TV held his head in his hands: "Ahhhh! Unbelievable! Chinese goalkeeper Sun Pan made a very difficult save. He stopped Hulk and Damião's shots one after another! Brazil lost a great opportunity to equalize the score! But Menezes's adjustment to replace Hulk has shown its effect. If we continue to play like this, Brazil will equalize the score sooner or later!"