Chapter 1 Using Control to Defend

Zhou Yi's use of control tactics in defense forced Australia to abandon their all-out offensive approach, leading to a back-and-forth game.

However, overall, Australia still held a slight advantage, as their overall strength was undoubtedly greater than that of the Chinese team.

It was only natural for Australia to reach the semi-finals, while the Chinese team's presence in the semi-finals surprised many.

The first half ended in this ebb and flow.

Australia failed to score again, and the Chinese team failed to equalize. Of course, many people probably thought it was good enough that the Chinese team hadn't conceded any more goals; equalizing was too much to hope for.

Judging from the performance of the two teams in the first half, that seemed to be the case.

But Zhou Yi didn't think so. He felt it was a pity that they hadn't been able to equalize in the first half.

They had to score as soon as possible in the second half...

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During halftime, Gao Hongbo praised the team's performance, especially in the period immediately after conceding the goal. Everyone had remained calm and composed.

Regarding the attack in the second half, he asked the players to play it simpler.

Because the Australian players had a physical advantage, playing too complex would easily lead to them getting entangled. As soon as there was physical contact, Chinese players would almost certainly lose. This was very clear in the first half, and even if the Chinese players lost in these confrontations, the referee wouldn't necessarily blow the whistle to call a foul on the Australian players, because it was... a legitimate challenge!

In response to this situation, Gao Hongbo made such a request to everyone during halftime, reducing the time each player held the ball, using passes and runs as much as possible to replace dribbling, and not giving the Australian players a chance to stick to them.

Compared to the Australian players, the Chinese players weren't as physically strong, but they were relatively agile, so they could capitalize on their agility.

He asked the players to run faster and more aggressively than usual, and to pass the ball faster and more accurately, especially in the thirty-meter area in front of the opponent's goal. Because once they got bogged down in positional warfare, the Australian players' physical advantages could be fully exploited.

The key figure in this approach was Zhou Yi.

It all depended on Zhou Yi's performance.

Zhou Yi ran non-stop in the first half, hardly stopping for a minute. With his frantic running, the Chinese team's passing was very smooth. Gao Hongbo clearly hoped that Zhou Yi could perform like this in the second half as well, driving the Chinese team to launch beautiful and deadly attacks while running.

Zhou Yi had no objections. Being the core meant having the awareness of a core player, and it was natural for him to step up and take responsibility at this time.

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The two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half.

As soon as the game started, Australia launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal. Their style of play was much simpler and more direct than in the first half, focusing on the two flanks and then crossing the ball.

Relying on their physical and height advantages to impact the Chinese team's goal.

Australia had also made adjustments during halftime. In the first half, they had tried to play a more technical game, but the Chinese team's passing combinations were better than they had imagined, leaving them with nowhere to start.

So, during halftime, the Australian side made adjustments, abandoning any attempts at a technical game with the Chinese team, and instead using their greatest advantage to overwhelm the Chinese team.

Although the success rate of each attack was relatively low, it was easy to increase the number of attacks. Once the number went up, the chances of scoring naturally increased.

Besides... attacking your opponent's weaknesses with your own strengths, the success rate might not be so low.

This was Australia's thinking at halftime, but after the second half started, they gradually realized that the situation was not quite what they had envisioned during halftime...

Why?

Because crossing from the flanks and then heading the ball didn't necessarily mean that they could get to the ball every time, or that the ball would be headed directly towards the goal. Most of the time, the ball would be headed out by the Chinese team's defenders, or punched out by the goalkeeper.

In that case, the ball would fly in the completely opposite direction from the goal...

At this time, controlling the second ball became very important.

But Australia couldn't control the second ball...

The second ball was almost always taken by the Chinese team, or rather, by Zhou Yi.

With Zhou Yi's height of one meter seventy-eight and his slender physique, it was too difficult for him to go into the penalty area and fight for headers. His headers in attack were more about exploiting gaps, which was different from defense.

But that didn't mean he was useless in defense.

He could focus on controlling the second ball.

Whether in defense or attack, the second ball was very important, just like rebounds in basketball. Whoever could control the second ball could greatly improve the situation. The defending side controlling the second ball could increase the success rate of the defense, while the attacking side controlling the second ball could form a second attack, which naturally increased the success rate of the attack.

Zhou Yi had a lot of experience in controlling the second ball, because he had experienced hundreds of matches in the virtual world.

After getting the second ball, what to do?

Of course, launch an attack immediately.

Now he had an accurate long pass, and he no longer needed a series of passes from the back to the front to launch an attack from the backfield. He only needed one pass!

He didn't even need to observe, because it was all in his head...

In the fifty-fifth minute, Australia crossed from the flank again. This time, the ball was headed out by the Chinese team's captain, center back Du Wei.

It "just happened" to fall at Zhou Yi's feet again.

After Zhou Yi lifted his foot to stop the ball, he turned around and waited for the ball to land and bounce up before kicking it!

Long pass!

Before the Australian players could react, the ball had already flown to the frontcourt!

And there, in addition to their three defenders, there was also a Chinese team forward – Gao Lin!

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"Good ball, Zhou Yi's beautiful long pass! Gao Lin!!" commentator Liu Hong shouted excitedly.

This shout invigorated many Chinese fans who had been feeling depressed because Australia was pressing them.

The ball was still flying in the air, but everyone's eyes were on the players on the ground.

Gao Lin pulled to the flank to receive the ball, and next to him, an Australian player had rushed up to prevent him from receiving the ball.

But Gao Lin wasn't alone. There was also a person running forward at high speed to meet him, that was Hao Junmin who played for Schalke 04. Although he couldn't get into games at Schalke 04, training together had greatly improved Hao Junmin's ability to seize opportunities.

Especially at Schalke 04, he could often see Zhou Yi's games, so he understood Zhou Yi's football thinking very well.

At this time, if Gao Lin was left alone in front, then this counterattack would end with Gao Lin, so someone had to rush up to meet him.

Gao Lin steadily received Zhou Yi's pass. At this time, the Australian player also blocked him in front, preventing him from dribbling forward.

Then Gao Lin saw Hao Junmin.

He passed the ball horizontally.

Then he rushed forward without the ball, taking away the Australian player who came up to defend him.

After taking two steps, Hao Junmin was also immediately faced with a siege by Australian players.

At this moment, he caught a glimpse of a player wearing a Chinese white jersey out of the corner of his eye. Although he hadn't seen who it was yet, he had to pass the ball immediately, so Hao Junmin used a sliding tackle to send the ball over.

After passing the ball, he was surprised to find that the person who came up to meet him was actually... Zhou Yi!

Wasn't he just in front of our penalty area? When did he run up? Is his stamina and speed... really okay?

"Zhou Yi! He's up!" commentator Liu Hong seemed very excited.

While Hao Junmin was still shocked, Zhou Yi had already passed the ball out.

A through ball, the ball rolled towards Gao Lin, who was running without the ball!

But it was passed in the opposite direction from where Gao Lin was running...

Did he pass it wrong?

No!

Gao Lin suddenly turned around and ran back, shaking off the Australian player who was following him, and at the same time receiving the ball passed by Zhou Yi, then breaking into the penalty area!

Now he was unmarked!

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Gao Lin. As a forward, his ability to shoot wasn't exactly commendable. Many people even felt a little anxious when they realized that Gao Lin had gotten such an opportunity – what if he missed again?

But Zhou Yi didn't think so. He knew that for an excellent forward, technique was important, but confidence was more important. He had already seen this in Mark, how much the improvement of confidence could change a person...

So he knew very well that the current Gao Lin was no longer the same Gao Lin as before the Asian Cup.

Because he was the Chinese team's top scorer, and also one of the top scorers in this Asian Cup.

His successive goals had greatly increased his confidence!

Now, driven by confidence, how could he possibly miss such an easy opportunity?

He watched Gao Lin cut into the penalty area, and then, facing the onrushing Australian goalkeeper Schwarzer, swung his right foot and kicked a ground ball that sped quickly along the grass!

An absolutely correct choice!

Because it was more difficult for a goalkeeper to save a ground ball than a half-high ball...

Sure enough, Schwarzer didn't even have time to use his hands to save the ball during his rush, he could only use his foot to block it, but he didn't block it!

The ball... went in!

"Gao Lin! Good ball! He equalized the score for the Chinese team! In a very difficult situation, the Chinese team pulled Australia back to the same starting line!" Liu Hong didn't shout "Goal" repeatedly this time, but perhaps that better illustrated his excited mood – he was so excited that he had forgotten his formulaic commentary style...

When the ball rolled into the goal, not only was Liu Hong extremely excited, but in the stands at the scene, red quickly surged up, and they shouted to the sky!

And in front of the TV, countless arms were raised high.

"Long live the Chinese team!!"

In the early hours of the morning, such cheers spread from many places, floating in the night sky, awakening countless people...