Chapter 22 Twenty-Second Minute!

"Twenty-second minute! Li Jie scores a goal! China leads 1-0!" The stadium announcer broadcasted the goal just scored, and the Helong Sports Center erupted in another huge cheer.

Cao Bingju threw the torn piece of clothing in his hand to the ground in frustration, unsure of what to say. Jin Rongguang also looked innocently at the crowd in front of the goal, he trusted his captain, but he didn't expect the number 9 on the opposing team to be so strong.

Jin Hao Kun, however, sat calmly on the coach's bench. He had anticipated falling behind in China's home stadium. The lost goal was simply due to him overlooking number 9. He had previously only considered Zhang Jun to be China's number one scorer, forgetting that before Zhang Jun joined the Chinese Olympic team, number 9 Li Jie was the top scorer.

He had to admit that the current Chinese Olympic team was very different from the one on March 3rd. They were more confident and had better teamwork. It seemed that Korea needed to take this neighbor seriously.

However, this did not mean that Jin Hao Kun had admitted defeat. China had its trump card, and so did Korea. This time, Jin Hao Kun and Qiu Suhui treated Zhang Jun in the same way, placing Li Tianxiu, who had returned from Real Sociedad in La Liga, on the bench. As a talented teenager in Korea, Li Tianxiu's landing in La Liga last year and joining Real Sociedad had caused a great sensation in Korea. The Chinese media also paid some attention, after all, he was the first Asian player to land in La Liga.

When the Korean team challenged Iran away, they defeated the Persian Iron Cavalry with a direct free kick from Li Tianxiu in the terrifying Azadi Stadium. After the "accidental" loss to the Chinese team at home, everyone expressed concern about the Korean team's chances of qualifying, and Li Tianxiu stood up at this time to tell all Koreans that the Korean team was not dead yet.

Because of his outstanding performance, Jin Hao Kun once again recruited Li Tianxiu from Spain before the game against the Chinese team. This game was a must-win for the Korean team. Everyone hoped that when Park Ji-sung was in a slump, Li Tianxiu could stand up again and tell people that Korea still had hope.

"The Korean team requests a substitution. In the thirty-fourth minute, number 12, Cui Yuanquan, is replaced by number 8, Li Tianxiu."

Chinese fans used boos to "welcome" any Korean player off the field, while suppressing the nearly thousand-strong Korean cheerleading squad.

"Chinese fans are so unfriendly!" A Korean reporter next to Li Yan muttered in English.

Li Yan retorted in English, "There's no such thing as being friendly in this kind of game."

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"The Korean team has made its first adjustment. They are replacing a defensive midfielder with a forward. It seems that Jin Hao Kun has played his trump card. He is going all in."

Yang Pan looked at Li Tianxiu, who was running onto the field. He was a little younger than him, a substitute at Real Sociedad, and had scored a goal in the game against Iran. That was all the information he knew about Li Tianxiu.

He had only watched a few tapes of his games in La Liga, which Qiu Suhui had obtained through connections from over there. The Chinese Football Association's intelligence gathering work was really poor.

However, no matter how strong the opponent was, Yang Pan would only play his own way. The stronger side would naturally dictate the rhythm of the game. And he would definitely defeat Korea. Don't mention one Li Tianxiu, even if ten came up, it would be useless. Yang Pan had that kind of confidence.

After Li Tianxiu came on the field, his position was further back than the striker, actually equivalent to an attacking midfielder, a shadow striker. Park Ji-sung and Li Tianxiu threatened the Chinese team's penalty area on the left and right, and Qiu Suhui accordingly asked Li Yongle and Wang Yu to each be responsible for one. Wang Yu dealt with Park Ji-sung, and Li Yongle marked Li Tianxiu, who was in good form.

By the end of the first half, Li Tianxiu had a total of ten touches, including four passes and three breakthroughs, but only two successful passes and one successful breakthrough. For the rest of the time, Li Yongle very successfully defended Li Tianxiu, preventing him from posing any major threat to the Chinese team.

However, this also sacrificed Li Yongle's offensive ability. Since Li Tianxiu was very active for a while after coming on the field, Li Yongle was afraid of making mistakes and basically did not participate in the Chinese team's attack anymore.

This problem had to be solved by Qiu Suhui during the halftime break. Li Yongle was the starting point of the Chinese team's attack. If he became cautious because of defense, then the effectiveness of the Chinese team's attack would not be good either.

There was no doubt that Li Yongle had to be liberated, but the defense against Li Tianxiu could not be relaxed at the same time. His two successful passes and one successful breakthrough still showed his talent.

During the halftime break, Chinese fans, under the command of Lao Niu, sang "Ode to the Motherland"—since Shenyang's Wu Lihe, this song seemed to have become a must-sing for Chinese fans. They also set off a "Mexican wave," which could be regarded as an entertainment performance. The Chinese team played well, so they were in this mood. And from the first half, it could be seen that the Chinese fans were indeed a bit more international, at least those "advertisements" that were everywhere before were much less, and their actions were much more unified, which depressed the nearly thousand-strong Korean cheerleading squad for forty-five minutes.

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Chinese team's locker room.

Qiu Suhui did not make any demands regarding the Korean team's "double attacking midfielder" style of play. He only asked Li Yongle to actively participate in the attack in the second half.

"What about the other team's Li Tianxiu?" Li Yongle raised a question.

"Don't pay too much attention to him." Qiu Suhui waved his hand, "You can't give up attacking just because of one person on the other team, right? However, I have a requirement for the player with the ball, that is, no matter where the ball is lost, they must counter-press on the spot. If they can't win it back, fouling is also okay, to slow down the Korean's attack."

Everyone nodded, indicating they understood. Qiu Suhui turned to Yang Pan and said, "Yang Pan, your shots in the first half were still too few. This won't do... Let me ask you a question, do you know why Zhang Jun can make many defenders feel afraid? He just swings his leg, and the other side will think he is going to shoot. Do you know why?"

Yang Pan shook his head in confusion. He didn't know what the coach meant by asking him this now.

"That's because Zhang Jun is always thinking about shooting and scoring, whether in the backfield, midfield, or front field, whether on the right, in the middle, or on the left. He only has one goal in his mind, which is to shoot and score. Therefore, he can shoot in any situation. This is what makes the opponent feel very terrified. Football is about scoring and being scored upon. No matter how good your passing is, it's useless if you can't score. And the fact that you pass too much and shoot too little has almost become a set pattern, which will only make it easier for your opponents to defend you. Because you will definitely pass, they only need to pay attention to your passing route. But, in this case, what if you choose to shoot?"

Yang Pan suddenly realized that he had a beautiful long-range shot but rarely used it. It was such a waste.

"So, Li Jie, you have to run more in the second half and create shooting opportunities for Yang Pan, and Yang Pan..." Qiu Suhui looked at the captain and said, "As long as you think it's appropriate, shoot."

"As long as you think it's appropriate, shoot." These words were also what Yang Pan's enlightenment coach had said to him. He suddenly felt that excellent coaches always had some similarities.

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"The second half will start soon. The coaches of both sides have not made any adjustments in personnel, which shows that they are very satisfied with the team's performance. The Korean team is now one goal behind, but they are not in a hurry, as if it is not them who are behind. On the contrary, the Chinese team is performing quite actively, especially Li Yongle. As a defensive midfielder, he has already rushed into the Korean team's penalty area twice in the first ten minutes of the second half."

"Well, Li Yongle's growth is amazing. From the restraint when he first came on the field to the demeanor of a general now, it's only been four games. No wonder he was able to compete with Zhang Jun and Yang Pan for four years in high school and university."

"Yes, yes. Another rising star. As long as he develops well in the future, he is likely to be the main defensive midfielder for the Chinese team in the future."

Just as the two commentators were praising Li Yongle, he once again stepped up to assist in the attack. This time, he successfully intercepted Li Tianxiu's dribbling. This was already the seventh time Li Tianxiu had been blocked by Li Yongle.

Unexpectedly, Li Tianxiu, who had experience playing in the European Champions League, could not gain any advantage over Li Yongle, who did not even have any professional league experience!

Li Yongle dribbled the ball, and two Korean players immediately pressed forward, but Li Yongle poked the ball with his toes and passed it to Lin Feng. He didn't hold the ball for too long, and he never hesitated to pass when he should. This was his style, concise and practical, never dragging his feet.

But while everyone's attention was focused on this midfield rookie, please don't ignore captain Yang Pan.

As soon as Lin Feng received the ball, he passed it horizontally, and Yang Pan moved from the right to the center. He received the ball.

"Watch number 9!" Jin Rongguang shouted in front of the goal, because Li Jie was running, but he saw Yang Pan shoot when the Korean team didn't press forward!

"Yang Pan shoots from long range!"

The ball was a bit straight and was blocked by Jin Rongguang with his elbows! Because Yang Pan didn't swing his right leg completely in order to seize the time difference, the power was a little small and didn't cause any damage to Jin Rongguang's body, but it made his heart beat wildly.

Yang Pan actually shot at the first opportunity!

The football was blocked by Jin Rongguang and then flew to the right sideline. Wang Liang had also rushed up and received the ball. Jin Rongguang quickly jumped up to continue directing the defense.

"Be careful of his cross! Mark number 9! And number 15!"

He still ignored number 7, Yang Pan.

Yang Pan ran to Wang Liang and reached out for the ball. Wang Liang passed the ball over.

"Now Yang Pan has the ball, he is moving to the right, he is looking up to find someone, he is crossing!"

The football flew high, drawing an arc, but it didn't fly to the crowd in front of the goal, but directly lobbed towards the far corner of the goal!

Jin Rongguang was preparing to intercept the cross, but suddenly found that the football was falling towards the goal behind him! He was shocked and quickly retreated, jumping up and barely pushing the football over the crossbar with one palm. He almost hit the back post, looking extremely embarrassed.

Yang Pan waved his hand in annoyance. He thought the ball would go in. It seemed that this goalkeeper wasn't Seaman yet. Eighteen more years, and he should be able to lob it into the goal.

"This wasn't a cross gone wrong! Look at Yang Pan's expression, he did it on purpose, what a pity!"

"Yang Pan seems to have consciously increased the number of shots, I wonder if this is coach Qiu Suhui's arrangement."

"Could it be that Qiu Suhui plans to use Yang Pan as a forward? But I remember that Qiu Suhui didn't allow Yang Pan to be a forward before!"

Looking at Yang Pan's two performances in just one minute, Qiu Suhui smiled in his heart: "You are indeed not suitable to be a forward like Zhang Jun, but that's only because it's much easier for you to score outside the penalty area than inside the penalty area, which doesn't mean you can't shoot and score. Yang Pan, remember today's game, it will be very helpful for you in Serie A."

The corner kick was taken by Yang Pan, but he didn't directly lob it inside, but passed it to Li Yongle who came up to meet him, and then quickly ran to the middle of the field.

"Be careful of his cross!" This had almost become Jin Rongguang's mantra. After all, there were three tall guys in front of the goal, Li Jie, Li Suisheng, and Liu Peng, all of whom were over 1.87 meters tall. What else would they do if they didn't cross? Moreover, Li Yongle's passing skills were not bad either.

However, Li Yongle made a feint and passed the ball to his diagonal rear - the arc of the penalty area. This was an over-the-top pass that passed through the Korean defense.

And the one who appeared at the landing point of the ball was Yang Pan, who had run over!

"Li Jie, bend over!" Yang Pan roared, then completely swung his right leg, followed by a volley!

The football seemed to pause in the air, and then suddenly accelerated! It roared towards the goal!

After hearing Yang Pan's roar, Li Jie lunged forward on the spot, falling to the ground, afraid of being hit by the ball if he was too late. The football flew over him as expected, and then slammed into the net, lifting it up!

"goooooAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Yang Pan roared, then he waved his hands upwards towards the stands, inciting the audience: Cheer loudly! For my goal, shout louder!!!

Sure enough, the Helong Sports Center followed Yang Pan's cheers, and the cheers grew louder every time he raised his arm!

"Long live! Long live!! Long live!!!"

"The Chinese team scores another goal! Yang Pan, Captain Yang Pan! He used his best long-range shot to open the door to victory for the Chinese team! The speed of this shot reached 170 kilometers per hour! This is also Yang Pan's highest record! Amazing...170 kilometers per hour!" Wang Jianxiang shouted loudly. Such a satisfying long-range shot should naturally be matched with a passionate voice!

When he saw the football hit the net, Qiu Suhui stood up from his seat, raised his hands and turned 360 degrees, with his head held high, as if he was the one who scored the goal. In fact, he relied on his amazing speed of 11.3 seconds per 100 meters and his powerful shot after cutting inside to shine in the 1983 World Youth Championship, and was named the best player of that World Youth Championship. It can be said that the current Yang Pan has his shadow from back then. When Yang Pan swung his foot to shoot, he seemed to really see his young self.

That lost dream, which started from the World Youth Championship, went through the Netherlands, but died in China... Now fate has allowed him to discover Yang Pan and Zhang Jun in the Netherlands, and the dream has been continued.

"...This is Yang Pan's first goal in the national team, a world-class goal!" Wang Jianxiang was still excitedly saying, and the big screen was replaying the goal over and over again. Such a satisfying goal for the Chinese people should of course be played several times, and anything that could make the Koreans feel unhappy would be done without reservation.

Jin Hao Kun jumped up from his chair, but he sat back down, covering his face with one hand, not wanting to see the Chinese celebrating wildly. Yang Pan's shot was a huge blow to him. He had always thought that Yang Pan would rarely shoot, and in fact, judging from the previous games, his analysis was not unreasonable, but he would not have thought that Qiu Suhui also realized this, and would ask Yang Pan to shoot more during the halftime break.

In terms of coaching, Qiu Suhui was undoubtedly excellent, while Jin Hao Kun was just an ordinary coach, at most considered passable. There were many things he couldn't think of, or he would think in the wrong direction, and he couldn't see the problem at a glance, and then adjust it in the on-the-spot command. Every step he took was following the things he learned in the coaching training class, which was the difference between him and the experienced Qiu Suhui.

After being frustrated for a while, Jin Hao Kun stood up abruptly, walked to the command area, and shouted the names of Li Tianxiu and Park Ji-sung loudly, telling them to cooperate more and not to fight alone. The Chinese defensive midfielder with strong physique was not to be trifled with. As long as they used passing and cross-running, they should be able to disrupt the positions of the two.

You have Yang Pan, but we also have Park Ji-sung and Li Tianxiu! After Jin Hao Kun finished arranging everything, he sat back on the coach's bench, but he still didn't realize that Li Tianxiu and Park Ji-sung were completely on a different level from Yang Pan.

The outstanding performance of Chinese players abroad is not as well known throughout Asia as the Chinese think. In fact, Korea and Japan pay more attention to their own overseas players, and only occasionally mention the football of neighboring countries. It was precisely this situation that made Jin Hao Kun think that Yang Pan and Zhang Jun were about the same as Park Ji-sung, Li Tianxiu, and Cha Duli.

This misunderstanding was a disaster for the Korean team.

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After the restart, the Korean team changed its slow pace and launched a full-scale attack. They had to hurry up, otherwise a score of 0:2 would be enough to defeat them.

Park Ji-sung and Li Tianxiu did follow the coach's instructions, interchanging positions in the frontcourt to attract the opponent's defenders and create opportunities for other players.

At first, Li Yongle and Wang Yu would follow each other, which did disrupt the defensive positions. But after realizing this problem, they stopped doing that. They discussed it briefly, and then man-to-man defense became zonal defense. One person guarded one side, no matter how you ran.

Hu Li noticed this change and asked Qiu Suhui, who was next to him, strangely: "You didn't issue any instructions!"

Qiu Suhui nodded: "That was their own judgment."

"But in this way, your arrangements..."

"It doesn't matter, what's important is that these kids have learned to think for themselves. Most of the time, you don't have to teach them how to walk step by step, but you have to tell them what to do. Now do you understand why I let Li Yongle be the core?" Qiu Suhui turned to Hu Li and smiled, "He is a person who really uses his brain to play football." He pointed to his head.

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Li Tianxiu made another cross switch with Park Ji-sung and found that the one defending him was not the troublesome Li Yongle, but the Chinese team's number 14. He was relieved. To be honest, number 15 was too difficult to deal with. He was tall and had long legs, a wide defensive range, and a strong body. Whether he wanted to break through or pass, he would be interfered with.

But what about this number 14 now?

Li Tianxiu decided to break through, use his skills to shake off his opponent, and then attract one or two defenders to pass the ball to the open space.

It was a good idea, but Wang Yu was no longer the Wang Yu who was embarrassed by a Park Ji-sung in the first game. Although he was not as good as Li Yongle in attack, his height of 1.86 meters allowed him to focus on defense, which would also cause great trouble for the enemy, not to mention that his physical strength was also one of the best in the team.

Li Tianxiu underestimated Wang Yu too much, so after shaking off his opponent, he did not rush to pass the ball. He was still waiting for Liu Peng and Wang Liang to rush up, so he could pass the open space. But at this time, Wang Yu had already pounced back and snatched the ball back with both hands and feet. Li Tianxiu fell to the ground in the scramble. He wanted a free kick, but the referee ignored him and just followed Wang Yu forward.

Li Tianxiu waved his hand in annoyance, and then he heard the coach shouting loudly to him from the sidelines: "Get up quickly, go back and defend!" Only then did he realize that the Chinese team had launched a quick attack again.

Wang Yu took two steps and passed the ball to Li Yongle again. Li Yongle looked up to find someone. He found that there was an open space on Yang Pan's side, so he raised his foot and made a long pass!

The football seemed to have eyes and flew to the right side. Because of the position of the TV camera, many viewers thought that there was no one there and that Li Yongle had made a passing mistake. But when the camera followed the football there, everyone realized that Yang Pan had just arrived, neither waiting for the ball to fall in place, nor failing to catch up with the ball, the timing was just right. This was very beneficial to Yang Pan's actions after receiving the ball. For a speed-type player like him, this kind of pass was the most comfortable.

"Li Yongle makes a long pass! A very beautiful and precise pass! Yang Pan receives the ball, and he unloads the ball with his right foot!"

Yang Pan stretched out his right foot to unload the ball while running. The football did not stop obediently at his feet, but bounced forward. It may not seem like it was stopped well, but for Yang Pan, this was the best stop, and he could immediately make the following action and get rid of the defender who was rushing over.

Sure enough, the defender was not as fast as Yang Pan and was easily left behind by Yang Pan. Then Yang Pan knocked the ball inward, and his body quickly cut across, just blocking the defender.

"He broke into the penalty area!"

"Be careful of his shot!" Jin Rongguang changed his instructions this time. It seemed that he was frightened by Yang Pan's series of heavy cannons just now. If a person with such foot strength shoots in the penalty area, the consequences would be unimaginable, so he had to be stopped no matter what.

Yang Pan was adjusting his head, but his peripheral vision was always paying attention to his surroundings.

One, two, three!

Three Korean defenders surrounded him, and the goalkeeper's position completely blocked his shooting angle. But this was exactly the result he wanted.

Li Jie ran up to meet him, but he was surrounded by another defender, while Zhao Pengyu was not marked.

As long as he could pass the ball over, scoring should not be a problem.

Yang Pan put his hand on the nearest defender, then pretended to shoot. When the person in front stretched out his foot to block, he leaned his body against the third person and used his right foot to flick the ball high, just over the head of goalkeeper Jin Rongguang!

As for whether Zhao Pengyu could grab the ball, it all depended on whether he realized his intention.

Li Jie wanted to fight for the ball, but he was pressed down by the opponent's defender and couldn't rush up.

Jin Rongguang was obviously very aware that the open space behind him was dangerous, so he hurriedly turned around and rushed towards the ball.

But Zhao Pengyu was clearly faster, and no one noticed him at that moment. He appeared at the back post of the goal, understanding his intentions.

"Diving header!"

Jin Rongguang almost threw his entire body towards Zhao Pengyu, but he was still half a beat slower. The football was headed by the opponent first, and flew into the goal before him!

Zhao Pengyu pushed away Jin Rongguang, who was pressing on him, and ran to the corner flag. He wanted to celebrate his first Olympic goal, but he was tripped to the ground by Yang Pan halfway, and then the teammates who swarmed in pressed the two of them under them.

Another 3:0! Another victory!

"The ball... is in! The ball is in again! This is already the third goal of the Chinese team! Zhao Pengyu from Beijing scored his first Olympic goal!"

"These kids..." Li Bing shook his head and smiled in the studio, "This is the first time I've watched a Chinese team game and felt so relaxed. I used to be worried all the time. If we scored first, I was afraid that the opponent would overtake us, and if we lost the ball first, I was afraid that we wouldn't be able to catch up. But I don't have any such worries about this Olympic team. Even without Zhang Jun, they are performing just as well, which makes me admire Qiu Suhui's level."

Even though it was already the third goal, Qiu Suhui still stood up excitedly and high-fived Hu Li and others.

Nearly 70,000 fans on the scene used cheers to spread everything that happened here throughout Changsha. The Chinese team was leading the Korean team 3:0 at home!

Old Marshal He Long should really rest in peace now. He once said, "If the three major sports don't rush out of Asia, I won't rest in peace." But the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea did rush out, but that performance really couldn't make Old He rest in peace, right? But now it's different, they really have the strength, they rushed out, and most importantly, they are not going out to be embarrassing, they are going out to win glory for the country.

On May 1st, the Chinese Olympic team defeated the Korean Olympic team in Changsha, and also qualified for the Athens Olympics one round in advance!

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While everyone else was cheering, Lao Niu could no longer shout loudly, because his throat was already hoarse from overuse. He just looked at those young and energetic players on the field and murmured: "A great relief, a great relief..."

This was indeed a day for Chinese fans to feel proud. Winning against their arch-rival Korea twice in a row also declared that the more than 20 years of "Korea-phobia" had completely become history.

And what made everyone so sure of this view was that they saw the football hope of China for the next 20 years from these players. They will be the main force of Chinese football, they shoulder the important task of making Chinese football stand in the world football arena, and they shoulder the mission of making hundreds of millions of Chinese fans feel proud and cheer.

They will very likely be called the "Golden Generation" of Chinese football in the future.