Chapter 17 The Half-Time Lead

After Hulk came on, Brazil's offense did pick up. Just after that attack failed to score, in the forty-first minute, Brazil launched another offensive. Oscar made a straight pass on the left, and Damião received the ball on the left side of the penalty area, leaned against Guo Nu, and then passed the ball out. Marcelo, the left back who had inserted from behind, blasted a shot at the ball.

Sun Pan made a save, but couldn't touch the ball because it went wide of the post and flew straight out of the baseline...

"Marcelo! What a pity! But I think Brazil has finally found the right direction for their attack. Their offensive is becoming more and more threatening!" said BBC commentator Mark Lawrenson. "Menezes made a very important and crucial substitution. He brought on Hulk, which gave Brazil more confidence when attacking into China's thirty-meter area!"

The Brazilian commentators were even more excited, saying that Brazil was getting closer and closer to scoring.

Brazilian fans in front of the TV were also very excited and optimistic.

Although they had conceded a goal early in the game, Brazil had finally been awakened by that goal, which could be considered a blessing in disguise.

Chinese fans at home began to worry about their team. After taking an early lead, the current situation was exactly what everyone was most concerned about—how long could China maintain its one-goal lead under Brazil's full-scale counterattack?

Taking a one-goal lead early on was like being in the lead from the very beginning of a marathon. Throughout the long race, they were constantly thinking about maintaining the lead. This was enormous pressure, and it would constantly accompany the leading athlete, eventually causing him to be overtaken midway due to excessive physical exertion. And once overtaken, he would have no strength left to counterattack, and could only watch helplessly as the opponents passed him one after another, running forward.

Therefore, smart and experienced long-distance runners would never rush to the front at the beginning of a marathon, but would always stay in the second group, closely following the leaders in the crowd, constantly applying invisible pressure to them.

Now the relationship between China and Brazil was like that of a leader and a follower.

And the weakest thing about Chinese football was their mental fortitude. They always faltered at the most crucial moments.

Now, facing Brazil's fierce attack, were they mentally strong enough?

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Unlike the worried Chinese fans in front of the TV, Sun Pan, the Chinese team's goalkeeper, was very excited. He kept roaring and gesticulating in front of the goal. You couldn't see any signs of "being under pressure" from him.

He was excited because Brazil's offensive was finally threatening his goal, and he could finally play to his full potential and show off.

In the forty-fourth minute, Brazil launched another attack. Marcelo once again crossed from the left, Neymar broke into the left side of the penalty area, received the ball, Guo Nu came up to press him, and he passed it in time. The ball hit Guo Nu and changed direction, but it accidentally fell into Hulk's area. He jumped high and headed the ball!

"Hulk!!" Mark Lawrenson shouted.

"Watch out for the header!" He Ping exclaimed anxiously.

Hulk almost headed the ball from the small penalty area line, directing it towards the goal. Such a short distance, coupled with the change of direction during the cross, was quite unexpected.

But this shot still didn't escape Sun Pan's grasp.

He jumped high and plucked the ball from the air with both hands, holding it firmly in his chest, not giving the opponent a chance to make a follow-up shot.

After catching the ball, Sun Pan landed and grinned at Hulk, but it wasn't a friendly smile.

Then he threw the ball out. Zhou Yi retreated and used his chest to control the ball. Just as he was about to turn around and pass the ball out, Marcelo, who was returning to defend, rushed up from the side and tackled him. The ball was lost, and the whistle blew.

"Ouch!" He Ping gasped, as if the tackle had been on his leg. But he really wished he could take the hit for Zhou Yi, because he was worried that Marcelo's tackle would injure Zhou Yi's foot. "Marcelo has to get a card for this! This is a tackle from behind! According to FIFA's rules, a tackle from behind, whether it hits the ball or not, should be penalized with a card!"

Sure enough, the referee showed Marcelo a yellow card.

Zhou Yi sat on the ground clutching his calf until his teammate Yang Muge came up to pull him up: "Are you okay?"

Zhou Yi shook his head: "Luckily I dodged quickly, otherwise it wouldn't have been my calf, but my ankle."

"Be careful, South American players play dirty." He Ying reminded Zhou Yi. "That set of ball control you used against the South Korean team might not work against Brazil. They really dare to kick at your ankles and knees."

"Don't worry, Lao He, I was almost scouted by La Masia (Barcelona's youth academy), I still have a little bit of acting talent!"

"Damn it!" He Ying was speechless. At this time, Zhou Yi was still joking and mocking Barcelona.

Yang Muge laughed. The fact that Zhou Yi could joke meant that he was fine.

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After Zhou Yi got up from the ground, the regular time of the first half ended. At this time, the fourth official raised the sign for three minutes of added time in the first half.

As soon as this sign was raised, a chorus of boos came from the stands—of course, these boos came from Chinese fans.

It was rare to see three minutes of added time in the first half, unless there were really many interruptions in the first half. But this first half was quite smooth. Only the Chinese team's goal celebration was the longest interruption.

You have to know that Marcelo's tackle on Zhou Yi was only the first yellow card of the first half, which shows how smooth this first half was.

Such a smooth first half actually had as many as three minutes of added time, which was really surprising.

"This added time...are there really three minutes of added time in the first half?" He Ping also asked tactfully.

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The players on the field also noticed the added time in the first half.

"Damn it!" Zhang Jiadong spat. "Does this first half need three minutes of added time?"

"They must want to give Brazil more time," Wu Lei said.

Zhou Yi also noticed the three minutes of added time. He turned to everyone and said, "It's okay, let's try to keep the ball on our side as much as possible. If we really can't hold it, then try to kick the ball into their half, as far as we can."

Originally, Zhou Yi was planning to kick the ball forward and let He Ying complete an attack single-handedly. Whether it succeeded or not, it would be good to harass Brazil's defense.

But he changed his mind now.

The possibility of scoring on a counterattack was very low, and possession would soon fall into Brazil's hands. Looking at the added time, three minutes was enough for Brazil to launch two attacks.

So now it was better to try to control the ball on their side as much as possible, and get through the three minutes of added time first.

So he let He Ying continue to stay in the frontcourt, at the very front, while everyone else returned to the midfield, and he also asked Yang Muge to stay by his side, so that he could pass the ball easily.

After He Ying ran to the frontcourt, he raised his hand to ask for the ball. His action attracted Thiago Silva's close marking.

The Brazilian players also believed that the Chinese team would definitely pass the ball to He Ying, and then let He Ying attack their defense single-handedly. They paid a little attention to He Ying when defending.

But when Clattenburg blew the whistle to start the game, Zhou Yi passed the ball back to the defensive midfielder Yang Muge.

Yang Muge didn't kick the ball directly to the frontcourt either, but continued to pass the ball back, while Zhou Yi also ran back to meet his teammates.

In this way, the Chinese team started passing the ball in the backcourt.

Now it was Brazil's turn to press the Chinese team...

After a round of passing, the ball was kicked to the frontcourt by Zhang Jiadong with a big kick, and intercepted by Gabriel, the Brazilian goalkeeper who ran out of the penalty area, and then launched an attack.

But at this time, half of the three minutes of added time had passed, and only one and a half minutes were left.

Neymar crossed diagonally from the left, and Romero headed the ball from ten meters in front of the goal. The ball was dragged out of the crossbar by Sun Pan who leaned back and jumped up. Brazil won a corner kick.

After the corner kick was taken, the ball was headed out by Guo Nu and fell outside the penalty area. Brazil grabbed possession of the ball, and the game continued. The first half was still not over. The boos from the Chinese fans in the stands were getting louder and louder, but they were quickly suppressed by the cheers of the Brazilian fans.

Neymar received the ball again. This time, facing the Chinese team's defense, he chose to break through himself.

After he broke into the penalty area, facing Guo Nu's frontal interception, and Cao Yun's help in the side, Neymar did not choose to continue breaking through, but directly shot.

Sun Pan lunged to the side, but when he was about to pounce on the ball, he raised his hand and let the ball pass by. The ball flew straight out of the baseline—he was sure that the ball would definitely not be shot within the range of the goal frame, and he didn't want to give Brazil another chance for a corner kick, otherwise he didn't know when the first half would end.

He was right. After the ball flew out of the baseline, the referee Clattenburg finally blew the whistle to end the first half of the game.

The Chinese team finished the first half with a score of 1:0. This result was really surprising. No one thought that after forty-five minutes, the leading team would be the Chinese team!

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Back in the locker room, Blazevic praised the players' performance. He didn't seem to be worried that praising the team during the halftime break would make the team complacent. After all, they were facing Brazil, so there was no need to worry about the Chinese team getting complacent at all.

Then Blazevic asked the team to continue playing like this in the second half, counterattacking while consolidating their defense. He emphasized "patience".

"Be patient and wait for opportunities. As the game progresses, if the score cannot be changed, their pressure will increase, and their performance will naturally become more and more anxious. That will be our opportunity. Before that, you must be calm and patient!"

At the same time, in the Brazilian team's locker room, coach Menezes was also cheering up the players: "Believe in yourselves, the flag on your jerseys is Brazil! The Chinese are invincible in table tennis, but in football, the invincible is us! Don't be afraid of their lead, play to your full potential, and you will definitely be able to change the score!"

In addition to saying some encouraging words, he did not make any adjustments to the tactics. Because there was really nothing to adjust. Did he want Brazil to switch to defensive counterattacks? He believed that the only thing that could be changed was the players' mentality. There was no problem with tactics and strength, but if there was a problem with mentality, they would not be able to perform.

And in order to adjust the players' mentality, he certainly had to encourage them. In his opinion, the mentality of these talented Brazilian players was more or less problematic. When playing with the wind, they were all "Pele II", but once they encountered difficulties and setbacks, they were easily mentally unbalanced and lacked resilience.

Before this game, Menezes had thought that the Chinese team would play defensive counterattacks, because that was what they mainly played in this Olympic Games, so it was conceivable what tactics they would adopt when facing the powerful Brazil.

But Menezes felt that even if the Chinese team used defensive counterattacks, as long as Brazil could firmly control the situation, there was nothing to worry about. But he really didn't expect the Chinese team to score in the first twenty-five seconds... This goal completely disrupted Brazil's rhythm. Before he brought on Hulk, Brazil's attack was completely headless, without any clue, playing wherever they could. He really couldn't stand it anymore. After he brought on Hulk, Brazil's attack suddenly found its direction, and then they were able to threaten the Chinese team's goal many times.

Now the Brazilian team was finally back on track. What they needed was encouragement, to let them believe that they could do anything in the second half.

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As the second half was about to begin, Zhou Yi was also encouraging his teammates in the locker room: "Come on, there are forty-five minutes left. In the second half, Brazil will definitely counterattack desperately. As long as we can withstand their attack, we will get a lot of counterattack opportunities. Remember, Brazil is just..."

"Paper tiger!"

His teammates answered him in unison, and then laughed together.

Amid the laughter, they opened the door of the locker room and walked towards the stage of the Dream Theater.

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ps, sorry, I forgot to upload the update yesterday...