Ibrahimović received a pass from Ljungberg. He dribbled forward, then distributed the ball to his midfield teammate, Linderoth, while continuing his advance into the penalty area.

But when he received the ball again, he was confronted by his most hated defender—Xiang Tao.

Ibrahimović stood at one meter ninety-two, but his heading skills weren't particularly outstanding. He prided himself on his delicate footwork. To counter this, Qiu Suhui didn't assign Liu Peng or Li Suisheng, whose heights were similar to Ibrahimović's, to defend him. Instead, he chose Xiang Tao, who was much shorter but had a more stable center of gravity, a lower base, and more agile footwork.

In fact, during his time in Florence, Sabato would always assign Xiang Tao to mark the Swede whenever they played against Juventus. Facts proved that Ibrahimović didn't have many solutions when facing a defender like Xiang Tao who stuck to him like glue. Qiu Suhui borrowed Fiorentina's tactical arrangement on this point.

The moment Ibrahimović saw Xiang Tao charging towards him, he felt a sense of weakness in his heart. He believed he wouldn't lose to anyone in terms of footwork, but when facing a defender who didn't compete with him technically and instead used both hands and feet with countless small tricks and agile movements, his skills were simply insufficient...

In terms of physique, the one meter eighty-three Xiang Tao might even be stronger than the one meter ninety-two Ibrahimović. After all, the Swede looked like a bamboo pole.

In terms of skill, Xiang Tao, who was constantly tormented in one-on-one training with Klose and Zhang Jun, was not necessarily inferior to Ibrahimović.

Therefore, throughout the entire Serie A league, the defender Ibrahimović feared the most wasn't Nesta, Chivu, or Samuel, but Xiang Tao.

The moment their bodies made contact, Xiang Tao's hand unhesitatingly grabbed onto him. Ibrahimović had also learned his lesson and immediately fell to the ground, feigning a foul. Unexpectedly, Xiang Tao reacted even faster. Seeing him suddenly lose his balance, he knew the kid had bad intentions. So, he quickly raised both hands, indicating that Ibrahimović's fall had nothing to do with him.

Ibrahimović made a beautiful fall to the ground and even rolled dramatically. However, the referee didn't call a foul on Xiang Tao, which caused dissatisfaction among the Swedish fans, who used boos to provoke the referee and Xiang Tao, the "fouler."

Xiang Tao was an old rogue and couldn't be angered by boos of this level. He shook his head and shrugged at Ibrahimović, who was lying on the ground.

Ibrahimović was indeed faking the fall. It was already good enough that the referee didn't give him a yellow card. He tried to steal a chicken but almost lost rice instead.

Seeing this scene on the sidelines, one of the Swedish team's coaches, Lagerbäck, angrily shouted at Ibrahimović from the sidelines, "Ibra! What are you doing? Why did you fall? Charge forward! Dribble past him! Do you still doubt your own skills?"

Ibrahimović also felt that he had behaved too weakly this time. Why should he fear him?

In the blink of an eye, the Chinese team launched an attack, and Zhang Jun appeared in front of the Swedish defenders with the ball. This time, the one directly defending him was his teammate from Florence—Andrés Svensson.

Watching Zhang Jun dribble straight towards him, Svensson looked somewhat flustered.

Zhang Jun didn't look up at Svensson, so naturally, he didn't know the expression on Svensson's face. As he approached Svensson, he suddenly stopped abruptly, followed by rapid shaking of his upper body. Then, before Svensson could react to which side he was going to break through, he suddenly performed a *ren qiu fen guo* (separating the man from the ball)!

After breaking through Svensson, Zhang Jun didn't continue to dribble but chose to shoot directly. His shot was caught firmly by the Swedish goalkeeper, Andreas Isaksson. Although the shot didn't go in, Zhang Jun didn't seem too frustrated. He waved his hand casually and then turned to smile at Svensson, who was still stunned, "Andrés, concentrate a little. This isn't Fiorentina's internal training."

※※※

Before the game, Qiu Suhui spoke very seriously to the Chinese players, saying that the Swedish team was very strong. Now it seemed more like a joke. The Chinese team took the lead in just ten seconds of the opening, severely hitting the Swedes' morale.

Then, judging from the first ten minutes of the exchange, Svensson should have been assigned as a defender specifically to mark Zhang Jun, but he simply couldn't handle Zhang Jun.

Now it depended on the midfield of both sides. No matter how good Zhang Jun was, he still needed the midfield to pass the ball to him. In the midfield, Yang Pan relied on his speed to bring a lot of trouble to the Swedish team, but he was always on the wing, and the attack was a bit too monotonous, easily identified by the opponent and found defensive strategies.

The most important thing was to see how Klose performed.

Li Yongle was the core of the Chinese team's midfield, which was reflected in connecting offense and defense and controlling the rhythm. The specific offensive organization still depended on Klose.

The Klose of 2006 would only use gorgeous dribbling and skills to win the cheers and screams of the audience. The Klose of 2010 could not only make the audience scream madly for him but also make opponents tremble with fear.

Yesterday, he said that Sweden was nothing special and wanted to prove it to others himself, so he was very active from the beginning of this game. It was just that Zhang Jun's goal in the first ten seconds was too shocking, so people's attention was still on Zhang Jun until now, and they had ignored Klose.

Klose was not in a hurry. He was not Wu Shangshan, and he would not compete with Zhang Jun for anything. He was quietly waiting for his own opportunity.

The Swedish team's midfield was positioned in parallel. Strictly speaking, there was no so-called defensive midfielder. If necessary, all four midfielders could be put into defense. Ljungberg, Linderoth, and Källström were all players whose attack was stronger than defense. Among these three players, the Swedish team's co-coaches arranged a very special player. He was physically strong, his movements were rough, and he could lose the ball on passes over ten meters at any time. His shots were even more terrible. You might not even see him shoot in the entire ninety minutes of the game. But this player was the most important and indispensable midfielder for the Swedish team. Midfield tough guy—Mattias Bjärsmyr. This person's playing style was not only rough, but his appearance was also frightening. The way he stared with his eyes would really make people feel scared.

Parallel midfield, three people are responsible for the attack, only Bjärsmyr doesn't have to consider the attack at all. His task is to mark Klose and not let him have a chance to perform.

By studying Klose's game videos, the Swedish team's co-coaches believed that a technical player like him would be very afraid of those rough and unreasonable defensive methods. Bjärsmyr was the best candidate to defend Klose.

During the period when the game just started, Bjärsmyr's defense did cause some trouble for Klose. He would not hesitate to use fouls to stop his defense, making him a little unaccustomed to it.

As the game time went by, after he slowly adapted to Bjärsmyr's defensive style, Klose began to show his amazing football skills.

Li Yongle passed the ball to Klose in front.

Bjärsmyr was smart enough not to rush up suddenly and let the opponent easily shake him off with a light feint. Although he looked fierce, he was not stupid at all. He was keeping his distance from Klose. Klose looked at Bjärsmyr's stance and raised his foot to pass the ball out. This not only made the fans outside the field feel unhappy, but even Bjärsmyr himself was a little surprised. He had specifically learned about Klose. This person should be a role that is silent, but has an unyielding heart and likes to compete. He initially performed so well, continuously blocking his dribbling. He thought that he would counterattack at all costs, taking advantage of all the opportunities he could use, but he didn't expect that this time Klose directly passed the ball out, making him feel that this person had no guts.

Klose was in front of him, and he muttered in English: "Gutless kid..."

This sentence was not loud, but it was enough for Klose to hear clearly. Because Bjärsmyr deliberately said it to Klose, after saying it, he secretly glanced at Klose, but he was very disappointed to find that Klose had no expression on his face, as if he had not heard what he said at all.

Feeling that he was just making a fool of himself, Bjärsmyr turned around and ran, but he didn't see Klose staring at his back with resentment.

The ball soon passed to Klose again. This time, Bjärsmyr came up a little slower, perhaps because Klose's performance just now made him feel a little contemptuous. He was just a little late. Klose shook his upper body to the left, but kicked the ball to the right with his feet. Then, his body quickly shook to the right and broke through from the right side!

"God! Haha! Let's see, this is Klose's dribbling, his movements are just like willows swaying in the wind. Bjärsmyr has no reaction and is passed like an idiot!" The commentator shouted excitedly. In the Chinese team's game, Klose's dribbling was a scene that everyone was looking forward to seeing.

Klose's dribbling action was indeed very similar to Ronaldinho's. The movements were very casual, without any rules, making it impossible for defenders to figure out. Their movements were not conditioned reflexes strictly trained, but creativity at will.

Bjärsmyr was stunned. He didn't expect Klose to shake him off so easily. He quickly turned around to chase, but just as he narrowed the distance between the two, Klose passed the ball out.

After several times, Klose used his amazing skills to shake off Bjärsmyr, and then waited for Bjärsmyr to pant and desperately chase up before passing the ball out, making him run in vain every time. He used this method to consume the opponent's physical strength and fighting spirit. This was Klose's method of revenge, which was much more clever than Xiang Tao's trick of kicking people in the crotch as soon as he came up.

This also proved once again that Xiang Tao belonged to the action faction, while Klose belonged to the conspiracy faction.

Ten minutes passed again. In the first ten minutes, Bjärsmyr felt that the coach's task of letting him defend Klose was very easy, but now it was different. He was already panting and his back was wet. You must know that it was winter. The game had only started for twenty-five minutes, and his back was wet. That could only be done with a lot of exercise.

"Damn it! I didn't run less to keep up with that kid's rhythm... How did he suddenly become so powerful? Did he save his strength from the beginning and deliberately trick me into being fooled?" Bjärsmyr muttered in his heart. Although he complained in his heart, Bjärsmyr didn't relax his body. No matter how tired or uncomfortable he was, he gritted his teeth and followed Klose's rhythm.

Bjärsmyr was at a stalemate with Klose like this. Klose could always shake off Bjärsmyr at first, but the Swede's reaction was very fast and he could chase up again immediately. Klose, who was afraid of getting injured, didn't dare to continue to show off in front of the opponent, lest he provoke him and get a vicious kick to cripple himself. His job was more to: shake off Bjärsmyr, win space for himself to pass the ball, aim at the gap, and then pass the ball out.

※※※

After taking a one-goal lead, the two sides entangled on the field, and neither side had a better way to deal with the other. The score did not move at all and was fixed at 1:0.

In the first half, everyone had offense and defense. Ibrahimović didn't grow up eating white rice for nothing. Although he was at a disadvantage in the initial contest with Xiang Tao, after all, that was a contest of tricks between the two sides, and it didn't count. Later, after Ibrahimović was stimulated by the coach, he fought Xiang Tao with real swords and guns several times, and Xiang Tao obviously felt the pressure. Ibrahimović on the Serie A field was obviously different from the one in the World Cup. It seemed that this Swede had also saved a lot of energy and wanted to achieve something in the World Cup.

Xiang Tao often played against him in the Serie A field, and he had some "friendship like opponents." He felt that Ibrahimović was a pretty good forward, but unfortunately he met monsters like Zhang Jun and Adriano, so he was suppressed and unable to emerge for a long time. If he was willing to leave Serie A and change leagues, maybe he would become the top scorer in that league, but he just stayed in Juventus and wouldn't leave no matter what.

Xiang Tao didn't know why Ibrahimović didn't leave, but he thought it was good that he didn't leave. As a defender, what he hoped most was to meet those high-level forwards and make the game more interesting.

Ibrahimović was a good opponent, and he must have wanted to achieve something in the World Cup like them. But unfortunately, he met the Chinese team with bigger ideals.

So, sorry.

※※※

Ibrahimović once again dribbled the ball into the Chinese team's penalty area. Xiang Tao also consciously went up. Although his position was on the left among the three central defenders, as long as Ibrahimović got the ball, no matter where he was, he would meet him. Only he could guarantee to contain this technically outstanding Swedish forward.

Ibrahimović's footwork was indeed outstanding. In front of the penalty area, he didn't rely on speed or body, but only relied on dribbling the ball with his feet to shake off Wang Yu and then break into the penalty area.

Watching Xiang Tao rush up, he pretended to swing his foot to hit. Xiang Tao's conditioned reflex as a defender was to fly up to block. This was the effect Ibrahimović wanted. It was fake to shoot, and it was true to continue dribbling. So, waiting for Xiang Tao's leg to stretch up, he immediately dribbled along, kicking the ball in the opposite direction from where Xiang Tao rushed past.

He thought that he had definitely shaken off Xiang Tao this time, and then raised his foot again. This time it was real, he was really going to shoot.

Unexpectedly, the ball had just been kicked out when it hit a foot. Because he used a lot of force, the ball bounced very high, lost its strength, and was steadily caught by An Ke.

And the foot that blocked his shot was exactly Xiang Tao's. When he went to block Ibrahimović's shot, he was careful and dragged his left foot behind him, extending his right foot forward, like a tackle. The Swede thought he had deceived Xiang Tao, but he didn't expect to be deceived by Xiang Tao instead.

Xiang Tao stood up from the ground, and then looked at the disappointed Ibrahimović with a smile, very satisfied with his performance just now.

At this moment, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

The Chinese team led 1:0 to end the first half.

There was a huge cheer in the stands, all from Chinese fans, who cheered for their heroes in this way. At the same time, they were also looking forward to the arrival of the second half. Could the Chinese team successfully advance?