Commentator Liu Hong praised the head referee Hassan for giving the Australian players a card, believing that this would help the head referee control the situation on the field and let the Australian players know whose home this was.

But the actual situation was not what he imagined.

Although they received a yellow card, this did not change Australia's tactics.

Zhou Yi was the key target of their defense, the key to their victory on the road. How could they be intimidated by a yellow card?

Some Australian players would use their excellent physical fitness to put pressure on Zhou Yi. As long as the intensity of the movement was controlled properly, even if it didn't constitute a foul, it could have an effect similar to a foul. Anyway, they just wouldn't let Zhou Yi comfortably receive the ball.

They divided, surrounded, and closely pressed Zhou Yi, using this two-pronged tactic to try to prevent the Chinese team from operating normally.

It can be said that this strategy was quite successful and targeted.

Surrounding Zhou Yi not only cut off Zhou Yi's passing routes to the outside, but also cut off the external passing routes to Zhou Yi. In addition, with a "personal bodyguard," it was difficult for other players on the Chinese team to pass the ball to Zhou Yi, let alone for Zhou Yi to pass the ball to others.

So at the beginning of the game, Australia's tactics made the Chinese team a little embarrassed. Zhou Yi's requests were repeatedly unsuccessful, but Australia was very active in the attack. With their physical advantages, they had the upper hand in the collisions. Sometimes, they even managed to grab the ball by virtue of their physical strength, which didn't even count as a foul.

On this basis, they repeatedly launched attacks on the Chinese team's goal.

At this moment, Sun Pan became the protagonist of the Chinese team. He made many high saves in front of the goal, resolving crises for the Chinese team.

Of course, Guo Nu and Yang Muge were also very important in the defense. Without their layers of filtering, Australia's offensive to the Chinese team's goal would have been even more fierce.

But even if they could hold on without losing the ball, this was not the result Gao Hongbo wanted, nor was it what the Chinese media and fans wanted. Since they were playing at home, they naturally hoped to win all three points. This way, when facing Australia again on the road, the Chinese team would be able to appear more calm.

So just defending was not enough, they still had to attack. Moreover, if the attack could not threaten Australia's goal, the pressure on the defense would only increase, not decrease.

But how to improve the attack?

Yang Muge could come up to meet Zhou Yi, but he didn't dare to do so, because if he came up, but the Australian players used their physical advantage to grab the ball from Zhou Yi's feet, then they could directly attack the defensive line, because he, the midfield barrier, was not in position. As a defensive midfielder, he could not easily insert himself into the attack. The defensive position was more important than anything else. He could accept the reality that the team's attack was weak, but he could never rush up to participate in the attack because of the unfavorable attack, leading to a defensive lapse.

So he could only stay behind. When Zhou Yi was in trouble, he would let Zhou Yi pass the ball back to him, and he would transfer it, or simply organize the attack himself.

It's just that his attacking organization ability was far worse than Zhou Yi's...

However, his presence did provide an extra passing point. So after Zhou Yi was marked by the opponent, if it didn't work, he would decisively pass the ball back to Yang Muge.

But this kind of back pass didn't help the attack.

They couldn't just keep passing back or passing sideways in a game, right?

The key was still to pass the ball forward.

But Australia was particularly strict in defending against Zhou Yi's forward passes. It was simply a strict defense.

This strict defense hindered the Chinese team's attack.

※※※

When Zhou Yi was trapped in the encirclement of the Australian players and could only pass back, He Ying thought of what Zhou Yi had said to him this morning.

They had just gotten up, and after Zhou Yi finished washing, he came out and suddenly said to He Ying, "He Ying, in tonight's game, if I am closely marked by them, you have to fall back to meet me."

He Ying was quite surprised at the time, and didn't understand why Zhou Yi suddenly said that.

So Zhou Yi explained to him that because Australia would definitely focus on defending him, they would definitely prevent him from passing the ball forward. At this time, He Ying needed to fall back to meet him. When Zhou Yi was deeply trapped in the encirclement, He Ying had to be his reinforcements.

"...And there is also a very important point, He Ying. Your performance against the Japanese team in the last game must have been seen by the Australian coach. They must also know about your situation at the club. What conclusion do you think they will come to?"

"My... condition is not good," He Ying said.

"Yes," Zhou Yi said. "Will they put too much attention on you, who is in poor condition? I don't think it's likely. So in fact, you have a high degree of freedom on the field. You can do some things without being noticed by Australia. Your sudden retreat and turn forward will greatly exceed their expectations."

"But my condition..."

"Don't think so much, the condition will come."

He Ying finally agreed to Zhou Yi's request. He admired the tactical literacy shown by Zhou Yi, but he didn't know that this was verified by Zhou Yi in the virtual space.

In the vast majority of the virtual games he had already played, Australia would implement an encirclement strategy against him. In the virtual world, such a high probability meant that this was a tactic that Australia was very likely to adopt in reality. In order to deal with this tactic, Zhou Yi thought of many ways at the beginning. Later, he found that the key to dealing with this defensive strategy was to make He Ying active.

If He Ying was estranged due to lack of confidence or something else, then this game would be very difficult to play.

※※※

He Ying remembered what Zhou Yi had said to him before the game. He still didn't quite understand why Zhou Yi knew Australia so well, but he knew that this was not the time to figure out this question. Anyway, he had already seen Zhou Yi's "miracles" many times, and he just had to cooperate with Zhou Yi.

He looked around. As Zhou Yi had "predicted," the Australian players were not very strict in their defense against him. When Zhou Yi had the ball, everyone's eyes naturally turned to Zhou Yi, and they didn't notice at all that he was still active beside them.

He was really being underestimated.

If it had been in the past, He Ying would have been angry. Although he would not have shown it on his face, he would have been angry, and there would have been a fire burning in his heart. In essence, he was a proud person. He was different from his friends like Zhou Yi, Sun Pan, Yang Muge, and Guo Nu. They used to be *diaosi*-like characters. Zhou Yi was a student, an amateur player; Sun Pan was a hoodlum who was kicked out of the basketball team for fighting; Yang Muge and Guo Nu were both marginalized figures who were not valued in their respective club youth teams.

Only He Ying had been a highly watched player since his youth player era. He had never been absent from the national youth team and the national youth team at all levels as long as he was not injured. In the original reality show, he was the well-deserved star.

With such a glorious past and outstanding talent, he would of course be more proud.

But now, He Ying's heart was much calmer. Since Zhou Yi's strong rise, his star brilliance had been taken away a lot. Everything he encountered in Barcelona also made his heart more peaceful, which would help him understand some problems that he couldn't understand before, such as "I have so much talent, why am I not as successful as Sun Pan now?"

Because he was too ambitious and thought that since he had outstanding talent, he should take the path of a genius. Joining La Masia and finally choosing to stay in Barcelona were all based on this mentality. He always felt that only Barcelona was worthy of his talent.

In this regard, Sun Pan's choice was much more rational. The reason for choosing to go to Chelsea's youth training camp was because Chelsea was most interested in him, the most sincere, and had been following and observing him for many games, and only observing him, and not interested in anyone else.

After arriving at Chelsea and playing games in the youth team, because there was a goalkeeper like Cech guarding the goal in the first team, even if he went to the first team, it would be difficult for him to play games, so it was better to be loaned out. And in order to be able to play games, he was even willing to go to the German third-tier league team. If it were He Ying, without Zhou Yi's persuasion, he would have felt ashamed to even go to the Spanish second division league.

But Sun Pan made his own world in the German third division league, and with his excellent performance, he attracted the favor of Atletico Madrid, and Sun Pan himself also felt that although he performed well in the German third division team, it would still be difficult to push Cech down in the Chelsea first team, so he chose to continue to be loaned out and went to Atletico Madrid, who favored him and had been observing him for a long time.

In this way, he would be able to play games smoothly in Atletico Madrid.

In Atletico Madrid, because he had plenty of opportunities to play games, his talent had room to play, and his status naturally rose.

To put it bluntly, if you don't have the opportunity to perform, even if you have the highest talent, if you don't show it, it's just a "concept."

And now there was an opportunity in front of He Ying. At the club, he didn't have the opportunity to show his talent, but in the national team, the head coach trusted him and continued to let him start the game, staring at the huge public opinion pressure of the people across the country.

This was a lot of pressure, but it was also an opportunity.

As Zhou Yi said - when the opportunity appears in front of you, you must seize it to be qualified to talk about the future.

Seeing Zhou Yi, who was deeply besieged, retreating would cause He Ying to lose the opportunity to charge forward, but it gave him an opportunity that might change his career.

He ran back.