Chapter 1 The Beginning

The Dutch team wasn’t intimidated by the strength the Chinese players had shown. In fact, there wasn’t a team in the world that could intimidate them. They only thought that Zhang Jun was as formidable as ever, that number 20 player had excellent footwork, Yang Pan’s speed was still fast, and their long shots should be guarded against. But in the final analysis, that was just the strength of individuals. Even if all the players on the Chinese team were powerful, that didn’t mean the team itself was powerful. The Dutch players were currently distinguishing between the Chinese team and the Chinese players like this.

This sounded like it would make a lot of Chinese fans and some players unhappy. But for a completely new team that had only been formed after the Asian qualifiers, a group of domestic players with their own agendas, plus a group of foreign-based players with different personalities, there was really no way to talk about teamwork.

Qiu Suhui said verbally that they wanted to play an attacking game against the Netherlands, but he didn't know how much of what they'd practiced in three days of training these people could put into action. A head-to-head attacking game between teams would probably be hard to see. He thought perhaps it was more likely to see several Chinese players playing an attacking game against the Dutch team.

Van der Sar kicked the ball a long way forward, and Ruud van Nistelrooy won the header against Zheng Jun, heading the ball back to Sneijder, who was moving up.

As one of the best emerging midfielders from Ajax and the Dutch national team, Sneijder was well-rounded in technique and good at dribbling and shooting. He was relatively popular with Basten in the midfield position, while Robin van Persie, who played for the powerhouse Arsenal, could only be his substitute.

Sneijder stopped the ball with his chest and brought it forward. He would be facing the joint defense of Wang Hui and Li Yi. But he didn’t dribble through, instead sending the ball to the wing, where Robben received it!

It wasn’t that right-back Wang Hui had missed someone, but that he had intentionally created an offside trap. But the linesman didn’t raise his flag, and the referee didn’t blow his whistle. Wang Hui didn’t even bother to see who was behind him, and hurriedly turned around to chase.

But comparing his speed with Robben’s, how could he catch up? It wasn’t like they hadn’t faced each other on the English Premier League stage. Wang Hui knew the gap very well, but he still chased desperately. It wasn’t a question of whether he could catch up, but whether he wanted to chase. He had this kind of spirit, and it was only natural that he was respected by the new players among the veterans.

Robben was really fast. In terms of attacking speed in the frontcourt, the two teams should be evenly matched.

Wang Hui worked hard, but he couldn't catch up with Robben. Robben dribbled quickly down the wing. At the same time, the Chinese team's defenders and the Dutch team's forwards were all chasing towards the goal. While closely watching Robben's movements, An Ke didn't forget to remind the defenders to pay attention to the Dutch forwards.

Robben didn't end up using his specialty of cutting inside to shoot, but instead crossed directly!

The football drew an arc, flying towards the goal. Van Nistelrooy was already sprinting! Zheng Jun was paying attention to the ball in front, while Li Suisheng hadn't caught up behind.

Van Nistelrooy was in a good position, and An Ke had a premonition that Zheng Jun, that reckless fool, would definitely miss the ball. If he didn't want to concede a goal, he had to attack.

The penalty area was originally the goalkeeper's territory. Any goalkeeper who hoped to have absolute dominance wouldn't allow the enemy's forwards to run wild in his territory.

Sure enough, the football leaked past Zheng Jun's head. He had mistimed his jump!

An Ke, who had attacked, had just jumped up. He was separated by Zheng Jun, so his position wasn't good. It seemed impossible to catch the ball directly. He had no choice but to swing out with one fist, striking at the football.

He hit the ball out before Van Nistelrooy's head. It was really thrilling, and the football didn't go far.

Li Yi wanted to clear the ball early, but his body hadn't adjusted yet. The consequence of kicking hastily was that the ball not only wasn't cleared, but instead fell at the feet of the Dutch player Van Bommel.

This was a man known for his long shots!

An Ke had only just landed.

Van Bommel swung his right leg, preparing to shoot. Li Yongle rushed towards him from the penalty area, intending to block his shot.

"Van Bommel shoots—!!"

An Ke saw a flash of white light through the crowd. Before he had time to think, his body's instinct had already reacted. He threw himself to his left side—towards the near corner of the goal.

The football passed through the crowd in the penalty area, and sure enough, it was heading straight for the near corner. But An Ke’s hand just happened to be there. He propped it up with both palms. The football bounced slightly, brushed against the post, and flew out of the baseline!

“This is truly a wonderful save! Van Bommel shot beautifully, and An Ke saved even more beautifully! He has made two key saves in a row, keeping the goal safe!”

"Defense! Defense! What are you doing? Clear the ball cleanly!" An Ke had just gotten up from the ground when he roared at the Chinese team members. This was exactly what Qiu Suhui wanted him to do. "The defenders need to stick to them, stick to them!" He pushed Li Suisheng, who was in front of him, telling him to stick closely to Ruud van Nistelrooy. Among the defenders, only Li Suisheng was about the same height as Van Nistelrooy, but he had just been a full person's distance away from Van Nistelrooy. What kind of defense was that if they were being so polite?

"Push them with your hands! Push them outwards! Pull on their clothes, don't let them jump easily!"

Although the tallest player on the Dutch team right now, besides Van der Sar, who couldn't come up, was Ruud van Nistelrooy, An Ke still didn't dare to be careless.

He was kidding. They were facing the Dutch team. Even if the other side was taking a goal kick, they had no reason to relax, let alone a corner kick.

The experienced Van Bommel didn’t get entangled with the Chinese team's defenders, but instead stood in front of An Ke. Having nearly two years of Bundesliga experience, An Ke of course understood what Van Bommel wanted to do. He raised both hands high, signaling loudly to the referee, hoping to get Van Bommel a yellow card. But before he could finish shouting, Van der Vaart had already taken the kick, and the area in front of the goal was immediately in chaos.

An Ke wasn’t polite with the other side. He directly pushed Van Bommel forward, and then leaped outwards, snatching the ball before Ruud van Nistelrooy! Having taken the ball away in front of Van Nistelrooy twice in a row, Van Nistelrooy must be very unhappy.

At this moment, it was Van Bommel’s turn to shout and yell, kneeling on the ground. He signaled to the referee that An Ke had just pushed him down, gaining an advantage by abnormal means, and that the Dutch team should be awarded a penalty kick. But the referee didn’t pay any attention to him at all, and ran forward with his head held high, because An Ke had kicked the ball a long way out.

Kewell headed the ball back, and Li Yongle passed a ground-hugging long pass directly, like a torpedo, to Zhang Jun’s feet.

In an instant, the Chinese team launched a counterattack against the Netherlands.

Li Yongle’s pass was even more wonderful. When Kewell passed the ball to him, he already had a clear understanding of the situation on the field, knowing that a quick counterattack was definitely the best method. Since it had to be fast, the ball couldn’t stay at his feet. Also, because he often practiced long passes, the ball was able to accurately reach Zhang Jun’s feet at a critical moment.

Zhang Jun received the ball, facing the Dutch center-back Bouma. This twenty-eight-year-old center-back, who had truly become famous at the European Championships in Portugal, was now the most reliable barrier on the Dutch defense line.

Zhang Jun planned to overtake by force, but he was bumped by Bouma from the side and found that this was unlikely to happen. Because Bouma was on the inside, he was bumped to the outside. If he accelerated, he could only run further and further off course under Bouma’s pressure.

This was very different from how it felt when they had faced each other in the Dutch league. Bouma was also growing, and quickly.

Zhang Jun gave up the idea of ​​forcing his way through. He braked suddenly, stopping the ball behind him, and then he turned around quickly, dribbling sideways. Bouma naturally followed him closely, trying to stay as close as possible. Zhang Jun still didn’t want to accelerate, as that would only force him towards the wing, and he didn’t want to play on the wing.

If he couldn’t shake off the defense, then he could only pass.

Yang Pan had already moved up at high speed. Zhang Jun knew what he should do.

He passed the ball to the wing, so Yang Pan could chase the ball at top speed, which was his favorite way.

After passing the ball, he turned back to the center. Bouma, who was closest to the ball, naturally had to pounce. He couldn’t turn around and follow Zhang Jun back, while letting Yang Pan get the ball. Zhang Jun left it to Van Bommel and Heitinga, who were returning to defend, to handle.

Bouma planned to clear the ball out of bounds before Yang Pan touched it, because now the two had equal opportunities. Anyone could touch the ball, so he could only take destructive methods, even fouling if necessary. In short, he couldn’t let anyone in. He was the last line of defense in front of Van der Sar. He had seen Yang Pan’s speed in the Dutch league, when he was still a left-back, so he had a fresh memory of the lightning-fast speed of right winger Yang Pan.

The tackle had already been made, but Yang Pan was still a step faster than Bouma. He flicked the ball to the left with his left foot, passing in front of Bouma.

At this time, Bouma tried hard to withstand the force of the tackle, kneeling on one knee with his hands supporting him, intending to get up. Yang Pan happened to pass by him at high speed. In that position, there was no way to foul. By the time he got up and intended to chase back, Yang Pan had already caught up with the ball and entered the penalty area!

Dutch fans became nervous. As long as they paid attention to the Dutch league, most of them wouldn’t forget the number 25 right winger of Volendam in the 2002-2003 season, whose speed was like the wind and whose shots were thunderous. Back then, his speed and long shots were the weapons he used to conquer the Dutch league.

Now, three years later, he was back!

Van der Sar shifted quickly, blocking Yang Pan’s possible shooting angle. Even if his shot had great power, he would have to save it.

Robben, who had been chasing Yang Pan since the front line, chased all the way back to his own penalty area. He didn’t stop, and pounced directly at Yang Pan—he only had one target anyway.

But when Yang Pan swung his right leg, Robben panicked. They had also faced each other in the Dutch league. He knew how dangerous it would be if Yang Pan swung his right leg from this distance! He had no choice. He fell to the ground and slid towards the ball, while raising his leg, hoping to block Yang Pan’s shot at the closest distance.

But Yang Pan’s shot was a feint. He used his right foot to pull the ball to the left, passing right over the sliding Robben. This move was beautiful, and could be considered a direct dialogue between AC Milan and Chelsea.

What would Yang Pan do after getting past Robben? Shoot? No, he didn’t.

Heitinga rushed over to fill the gap, and Van Bommel was obviously more concerned about his side. Zhang Jun was running, and he secretly retreated, without anyone within two meters of him!

A god-given opportunity! If he didn’t seize this opportunity, it would really be defying the heavens!

Yang Pan swept his right foot and passed the ball across to Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun didn’t stop the ball. He directly used the outside of his right foot to draw an arc. The football bypassed Heitinga, who was sliding back to tackle, bypassed Van der Sar, who was diving to save, and then brushed against the far post… hitting the net. With a whoosh, it finally landed behind the goal line.

“Goal! Goal!! Too beautiful! Only four minutes and thirty seconds into the first half, the Chinese team scored first! This is something that many people didn’t expect before the game. The Chinese team actually scored first! Zhang Jun! Zhang Jun! His direct shot left Van der Sar and Heitinga helpless! China leads the Netherlands 1-0! In their home stadium, their home stadium!”

After scoring, Zhang Jun went straight to Yang Pan, who had assisted him. He jumped up and hugged Yang Pan tightly.

Scoring a goal on the Dutch pitch, he found the feeling he and Yang Pan had when they were playing football in Volendam: Yang Pan assists, he scores. This was Volendam’s main scoring method that year. Now it seemed that for a period of time, this would also be the Chinese national team’s main scoring method.

Players rushed over one after another, surrounding the two of them in the middle, celebrating with hugs.

On the Chinese team's bench, Hu Li was still very excited, jumping up and raising his arms to cheer for the goal. He led some players to get up and cheer, applauding, but not everyone had such a good performance. Several people were still sitting in their seats, not even lifting their butts.

Qiu Suhui was one of them. He felt that it was certainly a good thing for the Chinese team to score, at least showing that their offense still had hope. But scoring so early might not be a good thing. The remaining eighty-five minutes were enough for the Dutch team to equalize or even surpass them.

This attacking battle had only just begun! Lads, cheer up!

※※※

Zhang Jun scored!

The Volendam fans showed even more excitement than the Chinese student cheering squad. Yang Pan assists, Zhang Jun scores. This had once brought them countless joys, but so far they hadn’t witnessed this scene in person for three years.

They seemed to see Zhang Jun and Yang Pan hugging each other wearing Volendam jerseys, and then they shouted: "Zhang Jun bless Volendam! Zhang Jun bless Volendam!"

※※※

Basten stood on the sidelines and watched the entire process of Zhang Jun scoring. That guy Qiu really knew a lot about Dutch football. He was familiar with the style, strengths, and weaknesses of Dutch players, and he knew exactly how to use them.

When the 4-3-3 formation defends, the wing can be a big hidden danger. As long as the opponent has fast players with strong breakthrough ability, then they will be very dangerous.

He wasn’t familiar with the left side of the Chinese team, but he couldn’t be unfamiliar with Yang Pan on the right. Speed, strength, technique, awareness, they were all there, and they were all at the quasi-European level.

With such a troublesome guy on the right side of the Chinese team, his tacit understanding with Zhang Jun was what Basten feared. This goal proved this point.

Zhang Jun hadn’t been seen for a long time, and he was more experienced in shooting, paying more attention to efficiency. It seemed that playing in the second division hadn’t had much of an impact on him...

Basten suddenly realized that now was not the time to be happy for the opponent’s progress. The Dutch team had to win this game. No matter how good the relationship was, if he lost to a team of China’s level, it would be difficult for him to explain. Every warm-up match before the World Cup was very important.

However, he wasn’t too worried about this now. There were still eighty-five minutes left in the game, which was enough time for the Dutch team to accomplish anything.

So he just signaled to Sneijder to continue to press forward, maintaining pressure on the Chinese team, without making any other extra arrangements. He turned around to get water to drink, but just happened to see Qiu Suhui looking at him.

Basten smiled at him, and he smiled back, without any other expression. They both knew that the competition was still to come.

※※※

The Dutch team organized their attack. Conceding a goal first had no effect on them, or at least it wasn’t visible at the moment.

Zhang Jun being able to score was something that many Dutch players had thought of when they heard that this game would be an attacking game.

So what if they conceded a goal? They could just equalize and then surpass them. When it came to attacking, the Dutch team had never lacked confidence.

Qiu Suhui understood the weaknesses of the Dutch team, and Basten also knew how to deal with Qiu Suhui’s Chinese team. He had studied the video of the Chinese team’s match against Spain. He felt that compared to the mid-forward line, the Chinese team’s defense lacked teamwork the most. Defense was also their big problem. In the past three days, Qiu Suhui obviously couldn’t have focused his training on defense.

Basten understood Qiu Suhui. If he didn’t have enough time, he would rather try to maximize his strengths than worry about those seemingly obvious weaknesses.

Just comparing simple strength, the Chinese team’s defenders were not as good as the Dutch forwards. Even if the Dutch team was behind, with the Chinese team’s terrible defensive coordination, scoring a goal was not difficult. He knew that the Chinese team’s goalkeeper played in the Bundesliga, but what was the use of having only one goalkeeper? That kid hadn’t reached the point where he could hold up half the team by himself, and besides, his own coordination with the defense line was also a problem.

Qiu Suhui could exploit the weaknesses in the Dutch team’s wing defense, and he could also exploit the weaknesses in the Chinese team’s defense.

The so-called attacking game was where both sides put their full strength into attacking, attacking, and attacking again. As for defense, who would want to consider that mood-killing issue?

※※※

Li Yongle planned to tackle Van der Vaart’s pass to Sneijder, but he was a little slow and didn’t succeed in intercepting it.

Sneijder had the ball on the left. This time, Yang Pan stood in front of him. He hadn’t faced Yang Pan on the Dutch pitch, but he knew how powerful this Chinese player, who played for AC Milan, was.

So he gave up the idea of ​​breaking through directly and passed the ball to Van der Vaart, who was following up in the middle.

Li Yi stepped forward to defend, but Van der Vaart passed across again. This time, he gave it to the right wing, at the feet of right winger Castelen.

This was the third time this little player had received the ball in the first half. The first two times, he had eventually passed the ball out, but this time, facing the somewhat casual Xiang Tao, he chose to break through.

Zhao Pengyu wanted to come up from behind and pull him to intercept the ball. Just as his hand stretched out, the other party’s body suddenly darted out.

Xiang Tao was indeed a little casual. Thirteen minutes into the game, he hadn’t seen how powerful that number 7 was. The first two times when he was one-on-one with him, the other party had chosen to pass. There wouldn’t be any change this time, right?

He lowered his center of gravity, didn’t sink his waist, didn’t bend his knees, and didn’t put on any posture of serious defense.

Wasn’t he just from a third-rate team in the Dutch league? I’m from a first-rate team in the Belgian league... Huh? Before Xiang Tao could finish his self-aggrandizement, he saw the other party shake off Zhao Pengyu and rush towards him.

There were originally ten meters between them, but in the blink of an eye, Castelen rushed in front of Xiang Tao!

This startled Xiang Tao. He never expected the other party to be so fast!

Castelen flicked the ball slightly outward, and then accelerated. Xiang Tao twisted to chase, but staggered under his feet, fell to the ground, and was shaken off by Castelen!

Having shaken off Xiang Tao, Castelen crossed the ball at the first opportunity. The other defenders of the Chinese team obviously hadn’t expected Xiang Tao to be shaken off so easily, and didn’t know what to do at all. As a result, Zheng Jun went to defend Ruud van Nistelrooy alone, but was squeezed behind by Ruud van Nistelrooy, and then leaped high. A beautiful lion flick of the head at the near post. The football hit Zheng Jun’s head, had a small change of direction, and flew into the upper corner of the goal along the near post!

An Ke dived in the wrong direction and was helpless with this goal!

Fifteen minutes into the first half, the Dutch team equalized the score! This was the powerful Netherlands!

"Xiang Tao's mistake led to the team conceding a goal. He must take the main responsibility! The Chinese team's defense line once again exposed the problem of not marking closely. Facing the world-class striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Chinese team's defenders are too far apart in strength. In the blink of an eye, the efforts of the forwards were completely wiped out!" The commentator’s tone was quite resentful. Since Qiu Suhui took over the national team, the Chinese team's defense had become a concern for many people. In terms of attacking talent, the Chinese team was enough to compete with any first-class Asian team, but on the defense line, besides goalkeeper An Ke, no one else was very reassuring.

After scoring, Ruud van Nistelrooy ran to Castelen, who had assisted him, and celebrated with a hug. When this little guy first arrived in the national team, he always liked to dribble the ball, dribble the ball, often making Basten very angry. Later, after being warned to either change his bad habits or leave the national team, he understood the importance of passing and cooperation, and then gradually occupied the position of the main right winger of the Dutch national team.

Qiu Suhui said to Hu Li with some annoyance: "When we get back, I must make Xiang Tao write a self-criticism!" He had clearly reminded him, but that kid didn't take it seriously.

"Xiang Tao! Look at your posture just now! How were you defending?" The most unhappy person after losing the goal was An Ke, because the goal could have been avoided. The root cause was with Xiang Tao.

Xiang Tao lowered his head, not saying a word. He was reflecting on his mistake just now. He was indeed too careless, letting a little kid easily break through him. In the end, the conclusion he came to was: "Damn it! Next time I will definitely knock him over!"

※※※

Zhang Jun knew that the national team's defense wasn't good, but he didn’t expect the Dutch team to equalize the score so easily. This disappointed him somewhat, but he wouldn’t show it like An Ke. He just put his hands on his hips, stood in the center circle, shook his head, feeling very helpless.

Kewell stood opposite him, waiting for the rear to kick the ball over.

Seeing Zhang Jun shake his head, he comforted him: "No need to worry, we'll just score another one."

Zhang Jun looked at Kewell, and then nodded: "What you said makes sense. It's an attacking game anyway, of course there has to be back and forth. To give and not to receive is impolite."

※※※

"Leaving aside my personal stance, this will be a very exciting game, but I can't possibly express happiness when the Dutch team scores, even if they score beautifully." Li Yan seemed to be talking to himself, and also to Wang Hua next to him. "The Dutch team equalized the score so quickly, their momentum is strong, the Chinese team will have trouble... Damn, what I can’t understand is why that bastard Qiu Suhui wants to play an attacking game against the Dutch team! This is obviously courting death!"

Wang Hua laughed beside him: "I remember someone was looking forward to this attacking game before the game started..."

Li Yan blushed. He realized that he had just substituted his personal likes and dislikes of Qiu Suhui into the game itself. "Leaving aside my personal stance, this is indeed an exciting game..." he muttered.

"I think Qiu Suhui certainly didn’t arrange this to please the audience. Remember, the Chinese team’s first match in the World Cup is against the Brazilian team, which has a powerful attack and an unconvincing defense." Wang Hua said.

"You... you mean, that guy Qiu Suhui is playing an attacking game against the Dutch team as a rehearsal for the opening game?"

"That's right, he may want to play an attacking game against Brazil in the opening game of the World Cup." Wang Hua nodded.

"He wants to die!" Li Yan cursed, "Playing an attacking game against Brazil, he doesn't want to live! He is already struggling against the Dutch team now, what is he thinking?"

"How would I know? Maybe he thinks the best defense is offense..."

※※※

Qiu Suhui finally stood up from his chair and walked to the sidelines. After the Chinese team was equalized by the Dutch team, they seemed to be a bit timid. If they attacked, they were afraid that the defense would be empty, but could a single-minded defense guarantee that they wouldn’t concede a goal? Had those lads forgotten what they were here to do?

"Attack! Attack! Use attack to suppress them!" Qiu Suhui stood on the sidelines and shouted into the field, "Li Yongle! Push forward! Push forward! Send the ball to their half! Don't pass the ball back! You are the commander, you know what to do!"

Li Yongle heard what Qiu Suhui said. He also felt that the Chinese team had been too passive in the ten minutes after conceding the goal. The Dutch team pressed forward as a whole, suppressing them with their attack on the one hand, and using the offside trap against Zhang Jun, who was rushing forward. Several times, he made a long pass, but Zhang Jun was offside.

Li Yi and Yang Pan worked together to steal Sneijder’s ball. Li Yi poked the ball open on the ground, and Yang Pan flicked the ball outward, completely avoiding Sneijder. But he didn’t dribble through, instead passing the ball across to Li Yongle.

Li Yongle directly passed the ball with his heel to Kewell, causing Van Bommel, who came up to steal, to miss. It also gave Kewell an excellent opportunity.

Kewell dribbled the ball, and Van Bommel hurriedly chased back. Kewell wasn’t known for his speed. Van Bommel was getting closer and closer to him, and there was also a Heitinga waiting for him in front. Surrounded on both sides, this was undoubtedly trapping a turtle in a jar.

That's what the Dutch thought, but Kewell didn’t think so. For him, this was a great opportunity to shake off two people in one go.

Van Bommel gradually overtook him, planning to let Heitinga go first, and himself waiting on the sidelines, just like Li Yi and Yang Pan had stolen the ball from Sneijder just now. He signaled to Heitinga with a "you go first" gesture.

Heitinga lunged forward, opened his stance, and stretched his foot out to intercept the ball.

Kewell stepped on the ball with his right foot, and at the same time turned his body with his right foot as the axis, then jumped down with his right foot, stepped on it with his left foot, and turned again with his right foot as the axis. His left foot then flicked the ball behind him. Turning around, he was facing the direction of the attack again. At this time, his right foot flicked the ball smoothly, completing the entire dribbling movement.

The Marseille turn!

Heitinga's outstretched foot didn't touch the ball at all. Poor him, he reached out to pull, but only grabbed a handful of sweat. Kewell slipped away from him like a loach.

Van Bommel, who had just arrived, saw that Kewell had taken the ball away from his body, knowing that this would be a great opportunity. He rushed up and slid to tackle!

But Kewell reacted more nimbly than him. He took a big step, stepped on the ball, and used the same method to get past Van Bommel, who had completely lost his balance! The football almost grazed Van Bommel’s toes. It was extremely thrilling!

Two consecutive Marseille turns!

"Beautiful dribbling! This is a technique that only Zidane used when he was still in the Cannes team!"

The Amsterdam Arena was in an uproar. Their two main players on the defense line were let through so easily!

After Kewell got past two people in a row, he couldn't continue to dribble through like Zidane. Van Bommel still tripped his foot, causing him to lose his footing. Continuing to dribble would only lead to losing the ball, turning all previous efforts into nothing.

Just as Van der Vaart, who was returning to defend, also arrived, he was unable to pass one more person even if he continued to break through. Kewell thought of a good way. He smoothly poked the ball to the left, while he couldn’t stop and collided with Van der Vaart. He single-handedly contained three Dutch players.

Zhao Pengyu, not waiting for the ball to stop, directly passed the ball across to the edge of the penalty area, where Zhang Jun was.

But Zhang Jun ran a little too far and didn’t receive the ball. Just as the commentator shouted "what a pity," Yang Pan suddenly appeared in the camera. Not waiting for the ball to land, he directly swung his right leg and shot with great force!

A twenty-five meter shot, Yang Pan's cannon!

Good Van der Sar. When Yang Pan swung his foot, he began to move to the near corner. After the football was kicked out, he had already soared into the air, diving towards the direction the ball was coming from. He could only punch Yang Pan's ball out with both fists. If he used his palms to hold it, he was afraid that his strength would not be enough and he would hold the ball into the goal. If he punched it out, whether it was the baseline or the sideline, it was the safest way to do it.

Yang Pan’s shot was punched out like that, flying straight from the front of the goal, without landing or bouncing in the middle. It could be seen how powerful his shot was just now!

But this ball still didn't go in. The Dutch fans stood up as a whole to cheer for Van der Sar.

Yang Pan stomped his feet unwillingly. He had shot this ball with full confidence just now. As a result, not only did it not go in, but there wasn't even a corner kick.

Zhang Jun shrugged at him in front, and Yang Pan shook his head helplessly and ran to the sideline to throw the ball in.

The throw-in came out, and Li Yi passed the ball back to Yang Pan again. He carried the ball on the sideline, and then accelerated past Van Bronckhorst, who was better at assisting than defending, just like Castelen passed Xiang Tao, relying on speed, absolute speed, without any fancy tricks, but very practical.

Van Bronckhorst may not have thought that Yang Pan dared to blatantly bully him for being slow and having to turn around, and was immediately shaken off.

Having gotten rid of Van Bronckhorst, Yang Pan crossed the ball directly on the sideline with great force. With his amazing foot strength, even if the cross was far away, he could guarantee that the ball would reach the goal, with undiminished speed, undiminished power, and undiminished arc. For forwards who were sprinting, this kind of ball was the most comfortable.

Zhang Jun, who was sprinting, jumped high. No one could be better than him at receiving Yang Pan’s cross. Only he knew when to jump, when the ball would arrive, and when to use his power to headbutt.

Bouma was shaken off behind in the moment Zhang Jun sprinted and jumped. When he followed up and jumped again, he was destined not to get the ball.

Zhang Jun's waist and abdomen were like compressed springs, suddenly exerting force, headbutting towards the football.

This was a rebounding ball. The football smashed to the ground and bounced up again. Van der Sar's action of diving to save was obviously half a beat late. When the football bounced upwards, he just fell to the ground, and his hand didn't touch the football at all!

Was the Chinese team going to score again?

No, the football hit the post and bounced out of the baseline! It actually didn’t go in! This was originally another great opportunity for the Chinese team to score, but the post prevented Zhang Jun’s tricky shot!

Some people on the Chinese team's bench had originally planned to stand up and cheer, but then they suddenly fell from the clouds of happiness.

The Dutch fans, on the other hand, experienced a roller coaster ride from hell to heaven.

It was a pity that the ball didn't go in, but Yang Pan found a problem with Van der Sar on the side. As a goalkeeper with a height of over 1.9 meters, Van der Sar’s diving speed was too slow. That ball just now was particularly obvious.

His volley shot was perfect because it hit the middle and upper six areas. Van der Sar could save it perfectly. When facing balls that hit the lower three areas, his reaction would be half a beat slower.

Generally, when goalkeepers are dealing with high crosses, most of them are prepared to jump upwards. Once the cross is relatively far from the goal and allows the forward to shoot, the goalkeeper’s mentality is still mainly to defend the middle and upper six areas, and will basically react to the shot at the lower three areas after seeing the other party shoot the ball.

This was very normal. An Ke was also like this. The key to the problem was that Van der Sar’s reaction speed was a bit slow. When saving the middle and upper six areas, he could save the ball by predicting in advance, but when the other party shot the lower three areas, he would often be too late to react after seeing it.

The reason why Zhang Jun scored was because the arc he kicked out was big enough. Otherwise, with Van der Sar’s height of 1.97 meters, stretching out in the air would be enough to compress the shooting angle to a minimum.

Yang Pan didn’t dare to underestimate Van der Sar’s aerial skills, but he felt that he could use his weakness of slow bending speed and insufficient reaction to score another goal for the Chinese team.

But before he had time to put his idea into practice, the Dutch team counterattacked and surpassed the score.

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At that time, the Chinese team had just built up their momentum with two consecutive attacks, wanting to continue to put pressure on the Netherlands, when the Dutch midfield organized a high-efficiency attack.

Van der Vaart distributed the ball to Sneijder, and Sneijder passed the ball to Robben. Robben didn’t go straight to the bottom, but dribbled horizontally, attracting Wang Hui away from the wing, creating an opening. He suddenly distributed the ball to the right wing. Sneijder moved up, chased the ball, and then crossed. This time, Li Suisheng stuck closely to Ruud van Nistelrooy and headed the ball out of the penalty area.

Van Bommel getting the ball made the Chinese team's defense line feel a burst of tension. Everyone was wary of his long shots. Xiang Tao always believed that An Ke was able to save the other party’s long shot purely by luck. He didn’t dare to be careless and planned to pounce at Van Bommel.

Just after starting, not running two steps, Van Bommel used a fake shot to trick him into sliding to block. In fact, the other party just flicked the ball and distributed it to Castelen, who had already pulled to the wing.

Having seen Castelen’s breakthrough ability, Xiang Tao was taken aback and quickly scrambled up from the ground, pouncing at the black little guy.

Castelen relied on his speed to rush to the baseline. Xiang Tao sneered in his heart: You still want to repeat the old trick? Even if you