Chapter 7 The Game Begins

The bright yellow jersey had the number 7 on it, the vibrant red jersey was number 11. Zhang Jun stood in front of Kaka.

"I never thought we'd be opponents in the opening match, but this is interesting, Zhang Jun. I won't be polite later." Kaka said with a smile.

"No one wants you to be polite." Zhang Jun gripped Kaka's hand tightly. "Let's play the game, Kaka."

"Yeah."

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"The Allianz Arena is packed! Good evening, audience! We are now broadcasting live the opening match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, between China and Brazil!" The commentator for this match was Wang Jianxiang, the top football commentator from CCTV5, who said in his hoarse but passionate voice, "The weather is great today, not too hot... We see the players shaking hands, the game is about to begin!"

It was five o'clock in the summer afternoon and the sky was not yet dark, but the lights above the Allianz Arena were all turned on, like spotlights on a stage, focusing on the green field.

The huge white translucent ring-shaped canopy was also slowly changing, the originally pure white canopy began to change to red, due to the lights inside, from a distance, the canopy of the Allianz Arena kept flashing red in the evening sky, very eye-catching and beautiful.

The players from both sides stood in their respective formations, quietly waiting for the referee's whistle on the field.

With the contrasting snow-white lights, the twilight sky seemed even dimmer, but everyone in the stadium did not care about the changes in the outside sky, they and the players were quietly waiting for the game to begin.

A crisp whistle sounded, and Ronaldo kicked the ball to Ronaldinho. The flashes from the stands lit up like a sea of stars, almost blinding.

"With a whistle from German referee Merk, the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany has officially begun! The two sides battling in the opening match are China and Brazil! Wearing red shirts and red shorts, attacking from left to right is China! And wearing yellow shirts and blue shorts, attacking from right to left is Brazil!" Wang Jianxiang commented at a rapid pace. It had been a long time since he had commentated on a game with such passion.

Speaking of which, China and Brazil were really fated. In 2002, when China first entered the World Cup finals, they were in the same group as Brazil. This time, they were in the same group again, and there were many good friends in both teams.

Su Fei was naturally pressing the shutter non-stop, she took five photos of just the kickoff. During the opening ceremony, she was frugal with her film, but now she would not be stingy.

Ronaldinho, facing Zhang Jun who was rushing up, chose to pass the ball back to Kaka behind him. Kaka did not stop and passed it back again.

Brazil played their traditional 4-4-2 diamond formation in this game, which was also their coach Pereira's favorite formation. The two forwards were Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, the attacking midfielder was Kaka, the left midfielder was Bayern's Ze Roberto, the right midfielder was Juninho from Lyon, and the defensive midfielder was Emerson, who had performed well at Juventus and returned to the national team. The two full-backs were still veterans, Roberto Carlos and Cafu, and the center-backs were a combination from the Bundesliga: Bayern's Lucio and Leverkusen's Juan. The goalkeeper was naturally Dida, who was firmly the main player at AC Milan.

To be honest, this lineup was not as luxurious as people had imagined before the game, because many talented players were still sitting on the bench, such as Diego, Robinho, Baptista... The biggest name among them was Inter Milan's "King" Adriano.

For the opponents, this was the most terrifying thing, because Brazil had plenty of reserves, keeping a beast locked in a cage, starving him, and then releasing him at the necessary time to give the exhausted enemy a fatal blow.

Of course, this did not rule out the possibility that Pereira underestimated China.

Qiu Suhui hoped it was the latter, so he would have more opportunities.

Looking at China's formation, many people felt uneasy after getting China's starting lineup before the game, because Qiu Suhui did not have wing midfielders. He certainly would not let the two full-backs attack against Brazil, so wasn't that the same as giving up the flanks?

In modern football, everyone knows how important flank attacks are, but Qiu Suhui's trapezoidal midfield configuration with two attacking midfielders and two defensive midfielders gave up the flanks and focused on the center. Many people found it strange, playing the center against Brazil, China's current strength was probably not enough.

Qiu Suhui did not think so. He did not give up the flanks. The two attacking midfielders in this formation were closer to the flanks than traditional attacking midfielders. At any time, they could switch to playing wing midfielders.

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Kaka was dribbling the ball, facing his old opponent from AC Milan and Shuguang Middle School - Li Yongle.

Kaka's upper body swayed, but Li Yongle remained unmoved. He stepped back, lowered his center of gravity, and watched the ball. As long as the ball did not move, he would not move.

Now Li Yongle was getting more playing time at Inter Milan, his experience was growing, and he had very good talent and strength, so Kaka did not have a good way to deal with him. He chose to pass the ball, aiming for Ze Roberto on the left.

But as soon as the ball was passed out, Kaka secretly cried out in his heart, because Yang Pan had actually chased back to the right back position, and he used his excellent speed to intercept the ball in front of Ze Roberto!

China got the ball! The Chinese fans in the stands cheered loudly.

Yang Pan grabbed the ball, did not turn around, but passed it directly back to Wang Hui. Wang Hui did not stop and immediately made a diagonal long pass to Ke Lu in front of the left. He knew that this teammate, who also came from the English Premier League, was excellent at receiving the ball, especially long passes.

Sure enough, Ke Lu stretched out his foot to hook the ball, and then unloaded it, stopping the ball in front of him.

"China's counterattack!"

As the attacking midfielder on the left, Ke Lu faced the experienced Brazilian captain Cafu. Would he choose to break through or pass the ball out?

Ke Lu leaned forward and started dribbling the ball. He did not seem to be in a hurry to pass the ball out. Even against Brazil, he had the confidence to dribble past.

However, Cafu was too experienced, always keeping a distance from Ke Lu, a distance that made Ke Lu very uncomfortable. He could not make a move, because he was afraid of being taken advantage of by the agile Brazilian captain, so he had to dribble slowly.

But this was not a solution. If he dragged on, the opponent would all be back in position. China still had a chance now, but it would not work if there were more people. Ke Lu decided to break through. He flicked the ball and suddenly accelerated towards the baseline. Cafu followed closely, always blocking the inside, not letting Ke Lu cut inside.

When Ke Lu and Cafu confronted each other, many spectators were already looking forward to it. Now, when the two moved, the cheers erupted.

Ke Lu's upper body was constantly feinting, hoping to deceive Cafu, but Cafu remained unmoved, just pushing Ke Lu outwards with his hand.

Ke Lu realized that this would not work. Ordinary methods were useless against this old fox. He had to slow down, turned around, controlled the ball, and confronted Cafu again near the sideline.

But Ke Lu did not give up. He knew that in a one-on-one situation, the attacker always had the advantage. Cafu was less than a meter in front of him, and behind him was Brazil's penalty area.

Ke Lu spread his legs, lowered his waist, and stared at Cafu, who was still chewing gum, like a leopard ready to pounce.

"Ke Lu has stopped, Cafu must be more difficult to deal with than he imagined! What is he going to do now?"

Then Ke Lu controlled the ball with his right foot, pretending to push the ball to the right. The ball moved, and Cafu moved with it, wanting to block Ke Lu's advance in advance. But a scene that stunned everyone happened. The football just jumped to the right, and then Ke Lu's right ankle suddenly shook to the left, and the football followed and was buckled to the left! Throughout the process, the ball did not leave his foot by half an inch! It was as if the football was stuck to his foot!

Cafu was caught off guard, could not turn around in time, and watched Ke Lu start dribbling past him!

"Elastico!"

"Beautiful dribbling! Too beautiful!" Wang Jianxiang could not help but cheer.

After breaking through, Ke Lu chose to pass the ball. His ground ball was passed to the front of the goal, but it was kicked out of the baseline by Lucio in front of Wu Shangshan.

But people were now interested in Ke Lu's dribbling just now. The big screen was replaying it. Even the Brazilian fans were amazed that their captain was dribbled past by a kid who had just turned eighteen with Brazilian football skills!

The "Elastico" move was known to the world because of Ronaldinho's frequent use of it. Because this move was similar to a cow's tail flicking, it was called "Elastico". Many people thought that this move was invented by Ronaldinho, but the documented inventor of this move was actually the former famous Brazilian star Rivellino. Now many Brazilian players know this move, but Ronaldinho does it better, so he has become its representative. Ronaldo had also done this move at Real Madrid, but the effect in the penalty area was not as good as on the wing.

Ronaldinho had repeatedly used this trick on the wing to tease the opponent's defenders and please the audience. Now, unexpectedly, the people from the home of this move were tricked.

In fact, there are similar moves in streetball skills, but the amplitude is not as large as Ronaldinho's. Ke Lu's control of the ball is exceptionally good, and it is not difficult to achieve the "Elastico". It's just that using it against other teams and using it against Brazilian players are different in meaning and feeling.

Even Ronaldinho was watching this ball in front with some disbelief. He shrugged to Kaka next to him, his face still wearing his signature smile, but the smile was more of surprise. He would not mind someone imitating him, he even hoped that more people like this would appear, so that the game would be fun and interesting.

Ke Lu's audience-pleasing move earned him a lot of popularity and also increased the support of many neutral fans for China. Players and teams like this who dare to improvise in world competitions are always the most popular, even if they come from humble backgrounds and have no commendable history.

So when taking the corner kick, almost half of the fans in the stadium were cheering for China.

Li Yongle was the team's first corner kick taker, he could use both his left and right feet, and he was good at passing, whether it was in-swing or out-swing, he could send out good passes.

Zhang Jun became the focus of attention in front of the goal, and central defender Juan, who was excellent in aerial defense, was almost inseparable from him. And the central defenders Li Suisheng and Zheng Jun, who rushed up to head the ball, were also pushed to the outside.

Brazil did not want set pieces to become a threat, they were trying to reduce the number of Chinese players close to the goal. But Li Yongle had no intention of passing the ball to the front of the goal at all.

They had been training this set of tactics for a week, spending half an hour every afternoon practicing set piece coordination, knowing that he could pass the ball to the designated place, and the players who followed up could appear there at the right time.

He turned around and kicked away the microphone placed at his feet, and moved the advertising board, the photographers behind him also made way for him, he needed a very wide run-up space.

He raised his hand and held out his index finger, signaling to his teammates: we will use the first set piece tactic. His teammates made corresponding adjustments knowingly. Zhang Jun kept running back and forth in front of the goal, looking very active, as did his other teammates, but in fact they were just pretending, it was a feint. The real main attacker was not Zhang Jun, not Wu Shangshan, and not the two central defenders, but...

Li Yongle took the corner kick, the football did not fly to the front of the goal, but quickly passed over the penalty area and flew straight to the arc of the penalty area, where the number one heavy gunner in the Chinese team was waiting for the football - Yang Pan!

He pulled open his posture, his right leg dragging behind him, his hands open. Li Yongle's pass was really comfortable, he only needed to swing his right leg, which was said to be comparable to Carlos' left leg.

The ball arrived at his foot, directly... with a powerful... shot!

Juan, who was originally defending Zhang Jun, suddenly saw a football appear in his vision, whistling towards him, scaring him to instinctively tilt his head and lower his body. The football just brushed his raised shoulder and bounced up a little.

Many people thought that this ball would go in, even Dida himself thought so, because he flew to save it but did not touch the ball! Under his unwilling gaze, the football did not fall, and then plunged into the goal, but flew directly over the crossbar!

"Too bad! Too bad! It went over the crossbar!"

Qiu Suhui, contrary to his usual behavior, stood on the sidelines from the beginning to direct the game. He was more nervous than anyone else. "Control the ball, control the ball! Take a short corner!"

Li Yongle kicked the ball to Yang Pan, who came up, and Yang Pan passed it back to Wang Hui. Wang Hui passed the ball horizontally, giving the ball to Ke Lu, who had retreated to meet the pass. At this time, Brazil's defense as a whole moved forward, preparing to create an offside trap.

But Ke Lu directly made a lob pass, sending the ball behind Brazil's defense. The Brazilian players all raised their hands at this moment, signaling to the linesman that someone on the Chinese team was offside. There was indeed someone offside on the Chinese team, Wu Shangshan was dragged to the back, but Ke Lu's pass was not to him. Wu Shangshan was on the right, and Ke Lu's lob pass was in the direction of the left, where there was no one at the moment.

But immediately a red figure rushed out from behind at high speed! It was Zhang Jun! It had been several minutes since the start of the game, and he had not touched the ball. The television broadcast did not even give him a single shot, but now here came a close-up – an anti-offside one-on-one!

Zhang Jun used lightning speed to kill out from behind after Ke Lu passed the ball. One raid made the entire Brazilian defense's offside tactics meaningless.

He stretched out his foot to unload the ball in the air. At this time, there was no one around him. He was on the left side of the penalty area and could shoot directly!

This was China's best chance since the start of the game!

Zhang Jun glanced at the position of goalkeeper Dida. He did not choose to shoot with force to the upper corner of the goal, but instead made a finesse shot to the far corner!

The ball drew a clear arc and beautifully bypassed Dida's outstretched hand. It looked like it was definitely going in!

Wang Jianxiang, like all Chinese fans, was ready to stand up and cheer. This was China's first goal in the World Cup!

But the goalpost played the role of Brazil's savior. Zhang Jun's shot was very, very beautiful, but also very, very... unlucky.

The football hit the outside of the far goalpost, and then bounced and flew out of the baseline.

All of China sighed.

Zhang Jun looked at the football going out of bounds, and jumped up in a hurry. He felt more regret than anyone else. He didn't care that he could be the person to score the first goal in Chinese football history, he just felt that for a team like Brazil, it was always better to score first than to be scored on first.

Dida was covered in cold sweat. He had thought that Zhang Jun would adjust a little, which would give him time to come up and block the angle. But he didn't expect Zhang Jun to shoot directly after stopping the ball. The arc was perfect, but fortunately God was standing behind him at that moment.

When they were teammates at AC Milan, he didn't think he was that good. He only felt that Zhang Jun was a good shooter, but he was still far from Shevchenko and Pippo. How did he become so good after going to Serie B for a round?

"This is the best chance for the Chinese team... what a pity, the goalpost blocked the birth of China's first goal!"

Regret was regret, Zhang Jun still turned around and gave Ke Lu who passed the ball a thumbs up. This ball was passed suddenly, effectively, and beautifully. Who said Ke Lu only knew how to dribble with his head down and didn't know how to pass the ball?

Six minutes into the game, not to mention shots, Brazil didn't even have a single attack, and even let China play beautiful coordination and offense. This was really an opening that no one had expected before the game. Even taking the opening game law into account, such a situation should not have occurred.

But China did it. After watching these six minutes of the game, who would dare to say that the Chinese team came to Germany for tourism? Who would dare to say with certainty that the Chinese team's goal for this trip was to score one goal and get one point?

Brazil was indeed strong, but that was not a reason to give up. The Chinese team members had been scolded for a week for their actions, and now they needed to repay the debt themselves.

Plus, Qiu Suhui had instilled in them for more than a week the criticisms and accusations from the outside world, which made them feel quite unconvinced, very unhappy, very angry, and the consequences were very serious...

Now the Chinese team could be on par with Brazil with this momentum, but over time, Brazil's foundation was deep after all. When they showed their strength, how long could the Chinese team last? Qiu Suhui had no idea.

Now let's regret it again, why didn't Zhang Jun's ball go in!!

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After watching the first six or seven minutes of the Chinese team's game, many people even gave them the title of "dark horse" in advance.

"They will definitely be the darkest dark horse in this competition! Look at how many players in their team play in European leagues, and look at the momentum they show! Tsk tsk!"

"Actually, I really look forward to them pulling the defending champion off the horse in the opening game, like Senegal in 2002..."

These were the views of the fans, they seemed to see the hope of a big upset from the "weakness" shown by the Brazilian team.

The subsequent game gradually fell into a stalemate, but the Chinese team still relied on a surge of energy to threaten Brazil's goal from time to time, while Brazil could only play defensive counterattacks under this pressure.

Many Chinese fans were happily looking forward to how to celebrate after forcing Brazil to a draw - they still didn't dare to think about winning - they felt that being able to force Brazil to a draw was already a very good result. Now, in any case, they didn't dare to shout "beat the Brazilian dog in the water" like they did four years ago. Four years was enough for the already strong Brazilian team to become stronger, and also made the Chinese fans a little more rational than they were four years ago, just a little, because they were still dreaming of forcing the defending champion Brazil to a draw in the opening game.

Ten minutes passed, Zhang Jun got another chance, his header in the penalty area was caught by Dida, which almost made the Chinese fans cheer again.

More and more people believed that the Chinese team could create a big upset, but at this moment, Brazil exerted their strength.

China had an indirect free kick in the frontcourt. After the ball was sent out, it was intercepted by Emerson. He did not dribble the ball, but directly passed it to Kaka in front.

At this time, there were only four defenders in China's backcourt, even Li Yi had pressed to the frontcourt, while Kaka, Ze Roberto, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo were all very fast. Four against four, they had an absolute advantage.

Yang Pan was the first to chase back. He pounced on Kaka, who was dribbling and turning around. He knew that in terms of absolute speed, Kaka was no match for him. As long as he didn't pass the ball, he could definitely catch up.

Yang Pan gradually caught up with Kaka with speed. He directly tackled from behind. Even if it was a foul, he couldn't let Brazil's counterattack succeed. Who cared about brotherly feelings now?

But Kaka skillfully pushed the ball away, dodging Yang Pan's tackle from behind, and then made a through ball, the ball directly passed through Li Suisheng and Wang Hui of China.

Although Ronaldo's body was getting fatter, his starting speed was still amazingly fast. He was parallel to the Chinese team's defender, and then started, receiving Kaka's sudden through ball in just three steps.

This time it was Brazil's turn for a one-on-one. As soon as Ronaldo received the ball, An Ke rushed out, but he was still not as fast as Ronaldo. It was also a finesse shot, also bypassing An Ke's fingers. The difference was that this was a ground ball, and it neither hit the goalpost nor rolled out of the baseline, but rolled into the goal, rolled around the net, and then stopped in the goal.

Goal!?! Goal!!!

"This is only Brazil's third shot, and they scored! Kaka's wonderful pass, Ronaldo's perfect shot! After being suppressed by China for fifteen minutes, they finally exerted their strength. The poor Chinese thought that a good start would have a good end, but they did not expect that Brazil would shatter their illusions with a goal! And for the Brazilians, this goal is just the beginning!"

After scoring the goal, Ronaldo ran to the corner flag area with his arms open, accepting the congratulations and hugs of his teammates. The Chinese players looked at all this with dead faces. After attacking for fifteen minutes, they didn't score a goal, but instead let Brazil break the hard-earned balance with a defensive counterattack.

This is football!

After being scored on, Qiu Suhui sat back instead. The heart that he had been carrying was finally let go. It sounded strange and incredible, but the fact was that the opening was too bizarre, giving him a sense of unease. The smoother the Chinese team was, the stronger this sense of unease was. Now it was good, the game was on track. China could only be a pursuer in the face of Brazil, not a leader, otherwise it would be very dangerous.

He believed that this ball could sober up many people, especially the players on the field, letting them know what kind of opponent was standing in front of them. The momentum must be maintained, but never take the opponent lightly.

There were mostly ignorant and fearless young men in the Chinese team now. In their view, Brazil was not worth mentioning. Sometimes this was a good thing, sometimes it would ruin things.

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Su Fei saw Zhang Jun standing in the center circle, waiting for his teammates to kick the ball over for the kickoff. He put his hands on his hips, looking towards the Chinese team's goal, letting the jubilant Brazilians run past him without any expression. Others would not know what he was thinking, but Su Fei knew very well that Zhang Jun must be very unwilling.

Because if that ball had gone in, the situation would be different now.

Don't blame yourself, Zhang Jun, try to change the current score! I will cheer for you.

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Zhang Jun now wanted to score more urgently than in the first fifteen minutes, but the Brazilian team didn't give him any chances. The Brazilian team, having scored a goal, were high in morale. They bombarded the Chinese team's half, this was the Brazilian team!

Kaka passed the ball to Ze Roberto, Wang Hui forced up, Ze Roberto turned his back to the goal, he was looking for a chance, Wang Hui unceremoniously stuck close to him, he would not let the opponent take the ball so comfortably in front of his penalty area.

Ze Roberto did not control the ball too much, he kicked the ball with his heel, passing it to the space behind Wang Hui.

Roberto Carlos rushed in at high speed from the outside. Even at the "advanced age" of thirty-three, the sprinting speed of this small Brazilian still made all opponents tremble with fear, but this time it was not only him who was in the limelight.

Yang Pan would not miss this great opportunity to compete with Carlos in speed. The two unfolded a sprint race in a distance of less than fifteen meters. Carlos was on the outside, Yang Pan was on the inside, the two had been running side by side, not giving way to each other. It looked like anyone could get the ball, and no one could get the ball.

This kind of speed competition was always a scene that made the audience's blood boil on the football field. The fans shouted loudly. For many neutral fans, they didn't care who would get the ball in the end, they just wanted to see a wonderful duel.

In the end, Carlos's short, agile body and rich experience played a role. He cut across in front of Yang Pan, forcibly blocking in front of Yang Pan. To avoid a collision, Yang Pan had no choice but to brake suddenly, letting Carlos slip in.

Carlos crossed, a powerful sweep, the football rolled along the ground towards the goal. This time it was not the two forwards who got the point, but the attacking midfielder Kaka!

Kaka's scoring ability was not weak, he relied on his scoring ability to make his debut. Now he appeared in the most dangerous place,抢in front of Zheng Jun, and shot on the ground!

An Ke knew how powerful Kaka was. In the team training in high school, he had picked up the ball from the goal many times when facing Kaka. He did not dare to neglect - in fact, he had no time to neglect - before Kaka tackled the football, he fell to the ground and pounced to the left.

"Correct judgment! He pounced on it!"

An Ke saw his fingers flick the football, and then the football rolled out of the baseline with a spin. He successfully stopped Brazil's shot. In China's crisis, he saved the team.

This was the role of the goalkeeper. He had to stand up when everyone was almost desperate.

Brazil's corner kick, An Ke licked his lips, his heart was still beating fast, it was too thrilling just now. Damn Kaka! "Hold on to people! Push them out!" Although he was still scared, he had to shout loudly to stabilize the morale. Now his teammates were used to having such a loud voice behind them. The old players also knew that An Ke's roaring in the game was not because he hated that person, but because the game needed it. Everyone was going for the same goal, there was nothing to complain about or hate.

After Brazil's corner kick was taken, it did not pose much of a threat to China's goal. Juninho took the front point, but it was headed out by Li Yi.

The headed football was not received by the Chinese team's players, but was received by Roberto Carlos, who was lurking outside the penalty area. He stopped the ball with his right foot, and then swung his left leg to shoot!

There was a cry of surprise in the Chinese fans' stands. Everyone knew how powerful Carlos' long shot was.

Although the ball went wide of the goal in the end, it still scared the Chinese fans into a cold sweat.

The team from the first fifteen minutes was not Brazil, the current one was Brazil. Many Chinese fans, watching the frequent alarms in front of China's goal, even felt that the idea of forcing Brazil to a draw was impossible to achieve.

The players on the field also began to feel the pressure. Only twenty-eight minutes had passed in the game, and many of their jerseys were soaked, their breathing was not smooth, and their hearts were beating faster. It was not because they had consumed too much physical strength, but because of the excessive mental pressure.

The current Brazilian team attacked like flowing clouds and flowing water. Several times they couldn't even touch the other party's clothes, and the other party shot. If it weren't for An Ke's outstanding performance and Brazil's failure to seize the opportunity, the score difference would have been widened long ago.

Kaka played a very important role in every attack by Brazil. He was the attacking midfielder, and most of Brazil's attacks had to be organized by him. Zhang Jun watched his performance several times, and he had made great progress compared to half a year ago when they were in Milan.

Kaka's biggest feature in the past was vertical breakthroughs and sudden through balls, directly passing the ball to the most dangerous place. But this also had a disadvantage: not everyone could find that most dangerous place, and even if they found it, they might not be able to appear there in time.

So when he was in Milan, the partnership between Kaka and Shevchenko was completely different from his cooperation with Tomasson.

But now it was different. He also realized this problem. An excellent attacking midfielder should not let the whole team adapt to him, but he should actively adapt to the team. Now, in addition to vertical breakthroughs and through balls, he has obviously strengthened the horizontal distribution of the ball and the transfer of the ball. He was becoming more and more comprehensive and more and more powerful.

Zhang Jun could feel that his biggest enemy in the future would not be Li Yongle, but this good friend who had fought side by side and cooperated tacitly countless times. Not only in the club's struggle, but also the enemy between countries.

The word "enemy" was very hurtful and didn't sound very good, but on the court, this was the truth, especially in this game.

Zhang Jun didn't want to lose to Kaka in the opening game. Now, with Milan's success, some people were already calling for Kaka to be given this year's European Golden Ball award. He also wanted to show something in the game, for himself and for the national team.

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The numbers on the liquid crystal display next to the big screen were jumping, ten minutes left until the end of the first half.

We always have to do something, otherwise it would be too ridiculous to have an offensive wave at the beginning, but now we are being suppressed and can't lift our heads. Zhang Jun thought and waved to his teammates: "Try to pass the ball over! We also have to counterattack!"

A few minutes later, the Chinese team regained possession of the ball, and Ke Lu passed the ball to him. But because the Chinese team's midfield was pressed too far back, it led to him being very far from Brazil's goal after receiving the ball.

He looked at Wu Shangshan on the other side, not close either, and there were two Brazilian players in the middle. The possibility of a successful pass was too small. After all, he was not a long pass master like Beckham.

Without the support of teammates around him, he could only do it himself. He flicked the ball forward and started dribbling. At this time, Emerson had stuck to him. Zhang Jun had not played against Emerson in Serie A, because the match between Milan and Juventus happened to be when he returned home for mourning.

He had heard of Emerson for a long time, but it was the first time they had played against each other on the court. Professional players usually become familiar with their opponents after playing against them.

He remembered that when Emerson first became famous, some people compared him to Brazil's second Dunga, but in fact he was still not close to Dunga. He missed the Korea-Japan World Cup for a funny reason, and lost his first world championship title. He was now in high spirits at the German World Cup and wanted to make a difference. To prove that he was also a world-class defensive midfielder.

He leaned against Zhang Jun with his body, and then propped him up with one hand, pushing him out, hoping to squeeze Zhang Jun away and leave the ball behind. Zhang Jun was pushed away, but the ball was not left to him, but was pulled away by Zhang Jun with his right foot. Emerson pounced into the air, but quickly rushed up again.

Zhang Jun felt a strong pressure. He knew that if he continued to entangle with Emerson like this, there would be no result.

So he slammed on the brakes, turned around and passed the football to Ke Lu, who followed up. Ke Lu was close to Zhang Jun, so Emerson turned around and pounced on Ke Lu again, which gave Ke Lu a chance. He pushed the ball forward with his left foot, passing the ball to Zhang Jun in front, and then he ran forward around Emerson. Zhang Jun passed the ball back to him knowingly, a two-on-one!

Juninho rushed up to defend Ke Lu, Ke Lu made a feint to pass the ball. He stabbed his left foot towards the football, but suddenly stopped in front of the ball. Juninho knew that he was faking, so he remained unmoved, waiting for Ke Lu to crash into him. But he didn't expect Ke Lu's left foot, which was stopping in front of the ball, to suddenly exert force from his calf, and stabbed the ball to the front diagonally. Zhang Jun happened to rush in from behind to receive the ball.

In the end, it was still a pass! Juninho miscalculated.

After receiving the ball, Zhang Jun accelerated diagonally again, avoiding Cafu's tackle in the process. At this time, he was already on the wing, and it was impossible to shoot again, he could only cross. He crossed the ball into the penalty area before Cafu could return to defense. Like Carlos, he did not cross the ball, but powerfully drew a ground ball. Wu Shangshan and Yang Pan were waiting in front of the goal.

Because the football was very low and the ball speed was fast, none of the Brazilian defenders dared to easily clear the ball, and even the people who cleared the ball were timid, afraid of accidentally creating an own goal in the opening game. So none of them touched the ball, letting the Chinese team get the point.

But Wu Shangshan's shot from four meters in front of the goal went over the crossbar, which was really regrettable!

Wu Shangshan climbed up from the ground in frustration, and Yang Pan next to him patted his head, comforting him. In fact, he was also very sorry in his heart. How wonderful it would be to end the first half with a draw!

"Wu Shangshan wasted an excellent opportunity! His shot from five meters in front of the goal went high!" Wang Jianxiang shouted regretfully in the live broadcast booth, believing that at this moment, there were definitely many Chinese fans who were hugging their heads and shouting regrettably like him.

Niu Jianhua was in the outermost row of the stands. The seat he bought was really good. When he saw Wu Shangshan fly the ball, he was so excited that he almost threw the "golden cudgel" in his hand. Seeing that the first half was about to end, the Chinese team was still one goal behind, and two must-score chances were not scored, how could he not be anxious?

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"After scoring a goal, the Brazilian team showed a strong fighting power, but the Chinese team was not to be outdone. They showed a tenacious fighting spirit against the defending champion in the opening game. Several counterattacks were very threatening, but they were just unlucky. Otherwise, the score in the first half would definitely not be 1:0... Ah, as he was speaking, the referee Merk blew the whistle to end the first half! At the end of the first half, the Brazilian team is temporarily leading the Chinese team 1:0 with Ronaldo's goal!"

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Qiu Suhui stood at the entrance of the tunnel. Every Chinese team member who passed him, he would reach out and pat them. This was an encouragement and comfort.

He would have a lot to say during the halftime break. There were forty-five minutes in the second half, and they still had a chance. With Qiu Suhui's experience, the fifteen-minute halftime break would be a turning point. No matter how well a team played in the first half, the momentum would be gone after a halftime break, and it would be difficult to find the feeling in the second half. And the other team, no matter how badly they played in the first half, it didn't matter. They had plenty of opportunities in the second half.

The most typical example was the Champions League final in the 0405 season. Liverpool's performance in the first and second halves was like two different teams. In the end, they exerted their strength in the second half and completed