Chapter 276 Taking a Souvenir Photo (Part 1)

It was five minutes later when people realized the rain was getting heavier and heavier. In those five minutes, they were still shocked by the repeated replays of the highlights on the big screen.

Zhang Jun's Dragon Soar was incredible from any angle. Adriano kept muttering to the TV, "How did he do that? How is that possible?" For someone of Adriano's build, Zhang Jun's light movements were indeed unbelievable.

It wasn't the first time Zhang Jun had made such a move, but doing it in the Eredivisie and doing it on the World Cup stage were completely different in significance and impact.

Just like in 2002 when Turkey's İlhan Mansız famously nutmegged Roberto Carlos with a backheel flick. The backheel flick wasn't difficult, but because it was on the World Cup stage and against the famous defender Roberto Carlos, the feeling was immediately different.

Now, Zhang Jun's name was known all over the world with this amazing move. All the fans remembered the name of the man who dared to dribble past three defenders and humiliate Buffon in front of the Italian defense.

Zhang Jun achieved global fame with the Dragon Soar.

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As the saying goes, old ginger is spicier. After the initial panic caused by China's equalizing goal, Italy regained their composure. They began to organize a counterattack, striving to regain the lead.

At this time, Lippi also replaced Cassano with Vieri.

Cassano was a little unhappy when he was substituted. He believed that Italy's equalizer was precisely the time for him to play a role, and he was preparing to roll up his sleeves and do a big job when he received the order to leave the field.

He ignored Lippi and sat alone on the bench, sulking.

Vieri ran quickly onto the field. Due to his condition and injuries, he could no longer secure a starting position in the Italian national team. But Lippi used him at this time, instead of Inzaghi or Gilardino, because he believed in his ability and hoped to use his tank-like impact to blast open the Chinese team's goal.

Naturally, he didn't want to disappoint the coach. Of course, he himself also hoped to regain a starting position through his performance.

After Vieri came on, Italy reduced their ground passing and obviously increased their aerial balls, especially crosses from both wings. Vieri's strong body and six-foot-one height were a very big threat to the Chinese defenders.

During this time, except for Zhang Jun, everyone else on the Chinese team retreated to defend. They believed that as long as they survived the first ten minutes, Italy's momentum would wane, and the game would return to their control.

Pirlo crossed from the left, and Wang Liang failed to block it. The ball flew towards the goal. Liu Peng jumped in front of Vieri, preparing to clear the ball, but he quickly felt a huge pressure behind him, making it almost impossible for him to shake his head. In a hurry, he had to head the ball out of the baseline. The pressure disappeared only when he landed.

The creator of this pressure was Vieri.

With Vieri on the field, Italy's corner kicks also became extremely threatening. In the Korea-Japan World Cup, in the match between Italy and South Korea, the South Korean players almost tore Vieri's jersey with their hands during a corner kick, but they couldn't stop him from jumping up and heading the ball into the goal, which everyone watched in dismay.

With the lessons learned from South Korea, the Chinese team did not dare to be negligent. Liu Peng jumped up to compete for the ball, while Yang Pan inserted a leg between Vieri's legs below, preventing him from jumping with all his strength.

Without the pressure, Liu Peng easily headed the ball out, while the frustrated Vieri glared at Yang Pan, who ran out as if nothing had happened. The Chinese team created an offside trap.

Totti chipped the ball back to Vieri, and the linesman raised his flag: offside.

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During this time, Italy changed their usual defensive style and pressed forward, giving An Ke a lot of opportunities to show his face in close-ups.

Every time An Ke saved an Italian shot, a deafening cheer erupted from the stands. Sometimes, the previous cheer hadn't stopped before the second one came.

An Ke had the illusion that he wasn't on the World Cup stage, but in a Bundesliga match. The stands were full of yellow and black Borussia Dortmund fans. Bayern Munich launched an attack, Ballack passed to Zé Roberto, Zé Roberto passed back to Ballack, the two completed a one-two, and then Ballack passed straight to Makaay, Makaay shook off Wörns and fired a powerful shot!

He leaped up and pressed the ball firmly to the ground, then stood up and looked triumphantly at the disappointed Dutchman.

Cheers rang out again from the stands...

"Vieri! Shot! An Ke! An Ke! A shot from close range was once again saved by him! Buffon is performing very well, and An Ke is not willing to be left behind. His excellent saves have made Italy's attacks fail again and again. The cheers throughout the Westfalenstadion are all dedicated to him alone!"

An Ke got up from the ground, and while waiting for everyone to retreat, he shouted loudly: "Don't let Italy easily enter the penalty area! Harden the defense line, collide with Vieri! Fight him head-on! Haven't you eaten?!"

"Damn! Easy for you to say, you try fighting him..." Li Suisheng spat on the ground. He had been fighting with Vieri all the time. Although he was taller than the opponent, he was too thin. It was very disadvantageous to fight against Vieri, who was like a heavy tank. Several times he was forced in by Vieri's physical strength. "This guy is just a tank, not a human!"

In the blink of an eye, Vieri charged again. This time, he forced a shot in the double-team of Li Suisheng and Liu Peng, hitting the post and scaring An Ke into a cold sweat.

Li Suisheng lay on the ground, looking at An Ke innocently. Neither he nor Liu Peng could hold him. What else could An Ke say? He had to spit hard at Vieri's back. "Damn it, why don't you play football if you're so strong?!"

Qiu Suhui had a very bad premonition that the Chinese team was going to concede a goal if this continued. Vieri alone had turned the Chinese team's defense upside down. The others, Totti, Piero, hadn't even made their moves yet. There were too many loopholes in the Chinese team's defense. Qiu Suhui himself was frightened watching from below. Even one of these loopholes being seized would be fatal.

But what could he do? Substitute someone? The eleven players on the field were the strongest lineup. The Chinese team didn't have enough depth on the bench, and the depth on the defense was even weaker. Change the formation? Four defenders couldn't defend, would five defenders work?

He looked down at his watch. Twenty-five minutes had passed in the second half.

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Klu's pass was intercepted by Gattuso. Pirlo received the ball, and he immediately made a long pass to Piero in front.

Faced with Wang Liang's defense, Piero seemed to be at ease. He easily stopped Pirlo's long pass and began to consider breaking through the Chinese defender.

"Wang Liang! Hold him up!" Yang Pan shouted loudly while quickly chasing back. As long as Wang Liang could successfully hold up Piero, and wait for him to come back and attack from both sides, Italy would have no chance.

Vieri raised his hand in the penalty area. He was very conspicuous like a lighthouse.

Wang Liang didn't make a move, but kept his center of gravity low, staring at the football under Piero's feet. He was waiting for Yang Pan to come back.

Piero didn't want to wait. He swayed his feet, pretending to break through. Wang Liang quickly shifted his center of gravity back, preparing to intercept. But Piero was just a feint. He pulled the ball back with his left foot, took a step back, and suddenly crossed!

Wang Liang didn't expect it, and couldn't defend anymore. He could only watch the football pass by him and fly towards the penalty area behind him.

An Ke originally planned to attack, but he took a step and then retreated, because Piero's ball was very cunning. The football was an out-swinging cross, flying towards the far corner of the goal. He couldn't guarantee that he could catch the ball if he attacked, so it was better to retreat and defend the goal.

He retreated while following the ball towards the far post.

Vieri was behind him, but as long as he blocked his shooting angle, the ball wouldn't pose much of a threat.

Vieri jumped up, and it was still Li Suisheng defending him, but this time he even lost to Vieri in the jump. He was squeezed behind him. Helpless, he had to pull Vieri with his hand, hoping to make him lose his balance and not be able to head the ball.

At first, he didn't dare to use too much force, for fear of committing a foul. But soon he realized that if he didn't use force, he couldn't pull the big man at all. He had to pull hard, and this pull moved him.

Vieri only felt empty behind him in the air, and was about to fall down. But at this time, the ball also came. If he fell down dramatically, he could completely get a penalty kick, but he wouldn't be the one to take the penalty... He needed to score himself now. Determined, he didn't want to miss this opportunity. A strong desire to score supported his body, straightened his back in the air, and used only the strength of his neck to head the ball towards the goal.

But he didn't put much power on the ball, and it would be more appropriate to say he "grazed" it.

An Ke jumped up, preparing to catch the weak header. He stretched out his hands, but suddenly found that his hands couldn't reach the ball!

Vieri grazed the football, but instead grazed the football into an arc, bypassing An Ke's defense and falling straight into the far corner of the goal!

This was the scene An Ke didn't want to see the most.

Man proposes, God disposes. Li Suisheng tried his best but instead did Vieri a big favor!

The football fell into the empty goal.

"Damn it!!!" An Ke roared unwillingly.

"Goal!! Goal!! Vieri! Christian Vieri! Italy takes the lead again! They lead China 2-1! Vieri scores his second goal in this World Cup!"

Italian fans cheered like crazy. If there weren't wire fences, they would have rushed into the stadium. This game was much more difficult than they had expected. Being able to take the lead again was worth celebrating like this.

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When Wu Shangshan saw the ball falling into the empty goal, his legs weakened and he sat down on the ground. Zhang Jun's goal had greatly boosted everyone's morale, and he also wanted to perform well, but now Italy had taken the lead again, and they did so under siege, giving him a sudden feeling: Italy had never been behind, or even tied. They were always in front. No matter how hard you tried, they were still in front of you. You could see their backs, but you could never catch up.

He was discouraged and didn't want to chase anymore.

Even Yang Pan stood in front of the penalty area in a daze. He knew how strong Italy was. With less than twenty minutes left, it was almost impossible to tie the score again. Buffon and Nesta would never be fooled a second time after being tricked by Zhang Jun once.

Could it be that the Chinese team's World Cup journey had come to an end?

An Ke knelt on the ground, muttering to himself: "Damn it! Damn it! God damn it! God damn it..."

Suddenly, someone ran silently in front of him, bent down to pick up the football from the goal, and then turned around and ran towards the center circle. He bypassed the celebrating Italian players, his steps still a little unsteady, as if he had tripped over something. An Ke stared at that back, his mouth open, but he forgot the endless cursing.

He didn't curse like An Ke, nor did he use his voice to boost morale. He was silent from beginning to end, put the football on the kick-off point in the center circle, and panted there, waiting for the kick-off.

He was Zhang Jun, who had almost disappeared in Italy's bombardment of the Chinese team's penalty area.

He shouldn't have run back, or rather, he didn't need to run back. Because running from the Italian half to his own goal would consume a lot of his energy. He just needed to stand in the center circle, rest, and wait for his teammates to kick the football over for the kick-off, but his teammates seemed to have forgotten that the game had more than ten minutes left, and they hadn't finished yet.

It wasn't that he didn't want to remind everyone loudly, but he didn't have the strength to speak loudly. Difficulty breathing caused him to consume energy faster than usual. He could only go and pick up the ball himself. It wasn't that he didn't want to rest, but that he, they, didn't have time to stand still and catch their breath.

Su Fei filmed Zhang Jun's run with the football all the way to the center circle. In the camera, she found that Zhang Jun's face was expressionless. Unlike the other players who looked depressed or even desperate, he looked calm.

What are you thinking, Zhang Jun?

It's nothing to lose a goal, we'll tie it back. With your complex feelings for Italy, you must be thinking that. But do you know? Your opponents are Italy, are Buffon! Even you have to use Dragon Soar to break his goal, so how can you do it in the remaining time? Your stamina doesn't allow you to do Dragon Soar again, right?

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Yang Pan was awakened like a dream when he saw Zhang Jun's performance. He clapped his hands hard and shouted loudly: "Don't be stunned! We have more than ten minutes left, the game is not over yet! Stand up, all of you stand up!"

In fact, it wasn't just him who was touched. Zhang Jun's silent back was like a role model standing in front of them, silently telling them what to do.

An Ke stood up from the ground, took off his gloves, wiped the sweat from his palms, and put them back on. "Okay, okay. I swear, I really swear, I won't let you score another goal. Damn it, this is my home turf!" He muttered while wearing his gloves.

Xiang Tao said to Li Suisheng and Liu Peng: "I'll defend Vieri, who of you will fill my position?"

The two looked at him in surprise: "But you're a left back..."

"I can play center back too. At Anderlecht, I played both center back and full back. I can play all positions on the defense line. Who of you can play on the wing?"

"How are you going to defend Vieri?" Liu Peng asked.

"How to defend? Hey, doesn't he like to use his body? I'll grant his wish."

Liu Peng then remembered that in the national team, if you were to say who had the most developed muscles and the least fat, then it must be Xiang Tao, who was only five-foot-ten. Don't look at his small size, but he was all muscle, with almost no fat. He tensed his muscles, and they were hard when knocked, even the strong Yang Pan wasn't his opponent. Maybe, he really could.

Liu Peng raised his hand: "I'll go, I think I have no problem being a full back who only defends." He wasn't talking nonsense. Liu Peng, who had excellent explosive power, was fast and quick to turn around. He could really be a full back, and his height wasn't a problem at all. Germany's full back, Metzelder, was six-foot-three, and he did very well.

Li Suisheng had no objection either, and the three immediately switched positions.

Wu Shangshan didn't want to lose to Zhang Jun, so he gritted his teeth and stood up, came to the center circle, and stood face to face with Zhang Jun, preparing to kick off. Although from the perspective of age and qualifications, Zhang Jun could be regarded as Wu Shangshan's "senior," Wu Shangshan had always regarded Zhang Jun as a competitor. From the time when Qiu Suhui was training in the national Olympic team, Qiu Suhui held the newspaper with Zhang Jun's hat-trick in the Netherlands and asked him how he could do compared to Zhang Jun, he established Zhang Jun as the goal to surpass and listed him as the number one competitor.

Zhang Jun was a genius, and he was also called a genius. Zhang Jun's physical fitness was good, and the reason he was seen by Manchester United was because of his body. Then he must be able to do what Zhang Jun can do.

He was afraid of Yang Pan, because Yang Pan always had a stern face towards him, and he was still the captain. But he was not afraid of Zhang Jun, the "good guy" in the team at all.

Klu also stood silently outside the center circle, waiting for the kick-off. He was trapped in Italy's defensive quagmire in this game, and his performance could only be described as average. Moreover, the goal that the Chinese team had just conceded came from his mistake, but no apology or guilt could be seen on his face at all. He was always expressionless, and it was even rumored that Klu came to the Chinese team for money, because the Chinese Football Association gave him a large "transfer fee." He didn't care which country's jersey he wore, as long as they gave him money, it was okay for him to represent Qatar.

Some teammates had asked him this question, but he never answered. Zhang Jun, who was often with him, seemed very angry. "The Chinese sports media is shameless, don't believe it!" he told the person who came to verify.

After Li Yongle stood in position, he said to Li Yi beside him: "You go and help Wang Liang defend Piero and Totti, I'll be fine alone."

Li Yi looked at him, then nodded. He didn't know where Li Yongle got the confidence and strength to defend Totti alone, but anyway, the game was about to end, so let him go alone, maybe this was his wish.

Qiu Suhui originally planned to shout a few words to the team, reminding the players. But when he saw Zhang Jun's series of performances, he sat back down.

Maybe these kids can learn a lot from it themselves? Italy is indeed a very good teacher.

Su Fei found that her eyes were blurred. She wiped her face with her hand, wiping away the rain, and realized that the rain was really heavy, turning into a medium rain.