When the Chinese team players were celebrating the goal like mad, the Chinese commentator He Ping was also praising Zhou Yi like crazy: "Divine skill! He didn't even look at the direction of the pass, yet he accurately sent the football into the open space! I even think there might be a real-time satellite map of the stadium in Zhou Yi's head. He doesn't even need to look up to see what's happening in every corner of the field..."

He Ping's imagination ran wild for a moment, but he accidentally guessed the truth. Of course, he himself wouldn't think he was right; he'd just think it was his own nonsense.

"That goal just now was so beautiful! Not only was He Ying's dribbling and shooting beautiful, but even more so because Zhou Yi's pass was beautiful! Zhou Yi's pass, with his back to the direction of attack, was simply exquisite! It fully demonstrated his precise control of the situation and his extremely outstanding vision—there might really be a pair of heavenly eyes on the back of Zhou Yi's head! Haha!"

The game broadcast repeatedly replayed the Chinese team's goal just now, and Zhou Yi's pass was replayed again and again from different angles.

Everyone could see Zhou Yi's situation when he made the pass. Everyone who watched it was as excited as He Ping, because this pass was as if God had borrowed Zhou Yi's body, allowing him to make a pass that was simply impossible.

Not only He Ping, but commentators from other countries also gave Zhou Yi's pass a very high evaluation.

"This is completely a god-like pass!" The German commentator shocked everyone as soon as he opened his mouth. His evaluation of Zhou Yi's pass was even higher than that of the Chinese commentator He Ping. "No one knows how Zhou Yi saw that gap, how he saw He Ying's run, because he didn't even look up at all. At that time, all his energy was focused on dealing with the Korean players surrounding him..."

"My God! Zhou Yi's pass reminds me of Maradona's pass to Brazil in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, equally unexpected, equally lethal. But I personally think Zhou Yi's pass today is even more difficult than Maradona's back then, because he was controlling the ball on the spot, and also made this pass with his back to the direction of attack!" The Japanese commentator also gave Zhou Yi a very high evaluation.

Logically speaking, after a goal, the goalscorer is usually the protagonist, but in this goal, He Ying became the supporting role, and Zhou Yi was the protagonist everyone praised.

However, even if He Ying heard the commentators' words, he probably wouldn't have any objections. Because he himself thought that Zhou Yi's contribution in this goal was even greater than his own.

※※※

While the Chinese team was celebrating the goal, on the Korean team's side, their captain Ki Sung-yueng, after the initial frustration, was clapping his hands vigorously, encouraging his teammates.

"Don't give up! We're only one goal behind! We can definitely equalize!"

At this time, the realistic goal, of course, was to equalize the score. But even if they equalized, it might not necessarily be a good thing for the Korean team.

If the Korean team had all eleven players on the field, then equalizing the score in this situation would be a great opportunity to win. Even if it dragged into extra time, the Korean team would have an advantage in terms of physical fitness and mental will. If they still couldn't beat the Chinese team in extra time, then the Korean team, with their more outstanding willpower, would also have a greater advantage in the penalty shootout.

But now the Korean team was one player short, and their physical fitness would definitely be consumed faster than usual. Even if they could drag the game into extra time, it would probably be exhausting for the Korean team. At that time, they might be unable to do what they want, and they might collapse if the Chinese team seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

Ki Sung-yueng certainly knew this, but he had no choice. He could only take it one step at a time and equalize the score first.

In front of the coaching bench on the sidelines, Hong Myung-bo, the head coach of the Korean Olympic team, also had a solemn expression.

The Korean team was one player short, and the score was once again behind, so the situation could be described as extremely unfavorable.

But this反而反而让他没事了包袱—在这种情况下，什么都别想了，就是要进攻，争取进球！

But this in turn made Hong Mingbo feel relieved - in this case, don't think about anything, just attack and try to score!

He quickly made a decision to replace defender Hwang Seok-ho with Kim Hyun-sung, the only forward substitute in the Korean Olympic team.

This was a do-or-die stance.

This kind of substitution was very much in line with the character traits and football style of Koreans.

They have always attached great importance to willpower and believe that momentum is very important.

Hong Myung-bo hoped to use this substitution to boost the morale of the players and sound the horn for the Korean team's desperate counterattack.

After the double encouragement of captain Ki Sung-yueng and coach Hong Myung-bo, the Korean team's morale did recover somewhat.

When the game restarted, they launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal. Quickly equalizing the score was their primary goal now, and for this purpose, they disregarded everything and were willing to pay any price.

Seeing the Korean team launching an attack on the Chinese team's goal, the Korean audience in front of the TV was extremely excited. They believed that under the Korean team's surging momentum, the Chinese team's goal would definitely be breached.

But not long after the game restarted, they discovered that the situation was not as they had imagined.

In their imagination, the Korean team's attack would be like a surging tide, wave after wave, continuously impacting the Chinese team's defense, giving the Chinese team no chance to breathe at all.

But the reality was… although the Korean team's offensive was fierce, it could not last. Because when one of their attacks ended, possession would change hands and fall to the Chinese team.

And once the Chinese team controlled the ball, the originally stormy rhythm would slow down, and this slow rhythm made the Korean team very uncomfortable.

It was like a person sprinting at full speed, but there was an obstacle ahead that had to be stopped to avoid. And when he avoided the obstacle and accelerated again, he saw another obstacle in front of him. This cycle continued, preventing him from accelerating smoothly.

This feeling of not being able to exert strength was really unpleasant.

Why was there this change in rhythm?

Because the Chinese team had Zhou Yi.

After possession changed hands, the Chinese team was not in a hurry to launch an attack, but passed the ball around, maneuvering with the Korean team.

And the Korean team surrounded and pressed the Chinese team's passing in the frontcourt. At this time, Zhou Yi let the ball stay at his feet for a longer time, using his ball control to slow down the rhythm.

Even if he could keep the ball at his feet for one more second, it would delay the time for the Korean team to launch another attack by one second.

Moreover, Zhou Yi's ball control ability was still very outstanding. After the ball reached his feet, he could always control it for more than just one second. After attracting all the Korean players to his side, he would pass the ball out, fully mobilizing the Korean players and making them run around.

In this situation, the Korean team players inevitably became anxious, and their hand and foot movements became larger and larger when dealing with Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi fell to the ground frequently under their defense, the referee's whistle often sounded, and the Korean team was penalized for fouls. The game was interrupted from time to time. The Korean players, who were already anxious, were almost irritable.

They believed that Zhou Yi was deliberately faking a fall.

As long as Zhou Yi fell to the ground, the Korean players would look helpless, or protest to the referee that Zhou Yi was faking a fall, and the Korean fans in the stands would also make huge boos to put pressure on the referee.

"Zhou Yi's socks have been torn by the Korean players' cleats. Can you say this is a fake fall?" He Ping spoke up for Zhou Yi.

A close-up shot just now showed Zhou Yi's socks, with a cut at the ankle, revealing the skin inside.

While the Korean players were protesting around the referee, Zhou Yi sat on the ground slowly tidying up his socks and shoes, not in a hurry at all. Yang Mu Ge came up and asked him with concern: "How is it? Did you hurt your ankle?"

Zhou Yi shook his head: "It's not a big deal."

Yang Mu Ge stretched out his hand: "Do you want to get up?"

Zhou Yi smiled and shook his head and said, "Not for now, wait for them to finish talking to the referee before getting up. Anyway, we're not the ones who are anxious now."

※※※

Zhou Yi wasn't anxious, but Blazevic on the sidelines was a little anxious.

After this foul by the Korean team, he rushed out of the coaching bench and complained and protested to the fourth official: "Shouldn't such actions be given a card! The referee should control the situation and not let the game turn into a barbaric brawl!"

The fourth official signaled him to calm down.

Blazevic continued to mutter and turned back.

He was worried about Zhou Yi getting injured. The Korean team players were obviously playing anxiously now.

If Zhou Yi was injured, the Chinese team's Olympic journey might end in the semi-finals. Zhou Yi was not only the captain (Note: I wrote before that Zhou Yi was not the captain, but after thinking about it, I felt that it was unreasonable for Zhou Yi not to be the captain, so I revised the previous text and gave the captain's armband to Zhou Yi), but also the absolute core of this team. As long as he was on the field, his teammates would be very reassured and confident. If he was absent due to injury, it would be a fatal blow to the Chinese team.

Blazevic wanted to replace Zhou Yi, but he was very hesitant—now the Korean team's offensive was so fierce, and the Chinese team relied on Zhou Yi to maneuver with them. What if the midfield was out of control if Zhou Yi was replaced? Looking at the game time, there were still twenty minutes left before the end of the game, and this time was enough for the desperate Korean team to do something.

※※※

The Korean team players' protests finally ended. They couldn't keep pestering the referee, as that would cause them to receive a card, which would outweigh the gains.

They only needed to continuously express their attitude, as long as they kept repeating to the referee "Zhou Yi is a diving cheat," then maybe at some critical moment, it could have a miraculous effect, right?

When they finally dispersed from around the referee, Zhou Yi was pulled up from the ground by He Ying, who came over.

While pulling up Zhou Yi, He Ying said in his ear: "Zhou Yi, a one-goal lead is not a safe score. What if they keep attacking you like this and cause you to get injured?"

"You're right." Zhou Yi nodded in agreement with He Ying's concern. "We must change this situation."

"How to change it?" Yang Mu Ge asked.

"A one-goal lead is not safe, then let's make it a two-goal lead," Zhou Yi said.