Chapter 85: Battle Axe Long Pass

Chen Huafeng turned and looked at the time on the big screen. As the game entered the fifteenth minute, there was no sign of Shu Guang making a recovery. The team parried but there was no payback.

Li Yongle’s defense against Kaka was very successful. So far, Kaka still had no way to provide support for the strikers. He could only return a pass, pass and return the pass again. Wang Ning, who caught the ball poorly, was an engineer type of player. It was not a problem for him to execute destruction, but it was difficult for him to organize the offense itself. Moreover, if the ball was passed out, what could he do? Yang Pan was stopped by Zhang Yang and Lu Qing, while Zhang Jun did not seem like he had a way to shake Luo Bin off. Ren Yu De on the other hand, always seemed to have an issue when he was faced with Liu Chao.

Wang Ning did not seem to have a better solution either. He could only pass the ball back to Lin Xiaofang. Lin Xiaofang was also facing the same problem, and thus could only pass it back to Chen Bo. So, Shu Guang retreated to the defense line, which never happened before in previous matches.

There were quite a few boos coming from the Shu Guang fans.

One of Chen Huafeng’s fans appeared next to him and spat on the ground. “Damn it! The Chinese national team would have been able to do it! Have the stupid kids of this generation learned anything yet?

Chen Huafeng was speechless, but what he said was true. Now he could only look at what the coach, Liang Ke instructs them to do. In the past few games, many people thought that Shu Guang’s coach was just a name for display and it was the players who made the decisions. He didn’t know if he had heard such rumors.

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Chen Huafeng has been staring at Shu Guang’s coach and was looking forward to see what happens next.

Sure enough, Liang Ke stood up and walked to the sidelines. Yang Pan noticed his coach’s move and set his sights on him.

Liang Ke rushed to wave his hands and Yang Pan instantly nodded in respond. Liang Ke then turned back to the coach’s seat.

Everything was silent and they communicated with gestures and their eyes.

Chen Huafeng didn’t understand what was going on. In his position, he could only look at the back of Liang Ke but he couldn’t see what was Liang Ke doing in front of his chest. However, Liang Ke couldn’t sit any longer and that was a good sign.

Chen Huafeng’s doubts were only temporary. Soon, he would see what Liang Ke was going to do.

Yang Pan turned and shouted loudly to Ren Yu De’s name, then he waved his hand and Ren Yu Den quickly retreated. Yang Pan also withdrew and the two of them retreated to a position slightly behind the line.

This is…

“Shu Guang changed their formation! After going through the first fifteen minute of disappointment, Shu Guang’s coach, Liang Ke couldn’t sit still any longer. So, he stood up and motioned the change of the players! Yang Pan and Ren Yu De retreated to the front defender’s position, leaving Zhang Jun as the front striker. Shu Guang changed their formation from 433 to 451! Mr Zhou, what do you think of Shu Guang’s change of formation?”

“Well, this change can be very timely, clever and beautiful. The reason being so it’s because on the surface, Zhang Jun is left as the only striker where there will be some isolation. In fact, after adding two attackers on the front defense line, Zhang Jun’s support behind him is even powerful. Sun Laihong allowed Li Yongle to defend against Kaka to cut off the contact between Shu Guang’s midfielder and striker. From the first fifteen minutes, he was very successful. However, Liang Ke saw it now, so the source of offense was suddenly increased from one to three. Hence, Zhongyuan is having some difficulties since the three of them have different skills. One tactic restricts to one individual but it does not necessarily restrict the other two. In the past, Shu Guang always had three on the midfield but now they have four on the front field, making them really strong. So, the lack of midfielders has been recovered. However, Zhongyuan is a powerful team, if there’s no addition in strength on the midfield, Shu Guang would fall sooner or later, so now that two of them are added to the front line, the midfield has five people. It is enough for Zhongyuan to be short of the midfielder.”

This change of formation showed it’s power soon.

Wang Ning passed the ball to Kaka again and Li Yongle was forced to come up.

“Kaka could only helplessly return the pass!”

The stands booed again.

Wang Ning received the ball but he didn’t return the pass again, instead he instantly moved the ball to Yang Pan’s right side of his feet!

The booing stopped because the fans saw the number 7 who was as fast as the wind. As Yang Pan retreated, Lu Qing and him and also Zhang Yang’s distance was pulled apart and this distance was just enough for him to rush up!

Zhang Yang was almost thrown off in an instant. Although he was ready, he was still slower than Yang Pan’s sprinting.

Lu Qing desperately gave chase, due to his fast speed, the distance between him and Yang Pan shrunk.

“Yang Pan and Lu Qing are almost at the same speed! Lu Qing quickly caught up but Yang Pan didn’t have the intention to pass! He’s rushing to the bottom line!”

With the two of them high speed movements, everything around them changed into a colorful line, the stands, spectators, the green field, the players and even the fans were all cheering loudly.

Zhang Jun, who had been closely watched by Luo Bin, turned into a circle and suddenly bypassed Luo Bin and rushed to the penalty zone. Although Yang Pan wasn’t likely to be interrupted by Lu Qing’s speed, there wasn’t a possibility that he would pass with full strength but Luo Bin didn’t dare to be careless and followed him.

“Yang Pan has no intentions of slowing down! Does he think of breakthrough like this? If that’s the case, he’s underestimating Zhongyuan’s defense… Ah! That isn’t right! Behind his heel! In Yang Pan’s high speed movement, he used his heel to hit the ball to Chen Bo who was behind him!”

Chen Bo took the chance when Zhang Yuchao had yet to catch up in time, and moved the ball to the left for Kaka to receive the ball.

Li Yongle scurried back and guarded him from turning around. But at this moment, Wang Ning came running to them, looking at the situation, he wanted Kaka to pass the ball to him.

“Wang Ning came forward!”

Just as Wang Ning ran past Kaka, Li Yongle felt Kaka’s center body has changed, as if he was going to pass the ball. He hesitated, he didn’t know if he should defend against Wang Ning or Kaka. During this time, Kaka suddenly turned to the opposite direction and swept past Li Yongle!

“Kaka pretended to pass the ball but he turned away from Li Yongle! Li Yongle was tricked by him!”

Yang Pan, who passed the ball, didn’t continue running towards the penalty area and instead, he returned to meet Kaka. His move seemed to be sending a terrifying message to people: He was going for the long-ranged shoot.

Sure enough, Zhang Yang, Lu Qing and the retrenched Zhang Yuchao surrounded towards Yang Pan. Even Deng Rui began to consciously rely on Yang Pan’s shooting line- although his shot was terrible, but as a defender, shouldn’t he stop each offense and reduce the pressure and burden for the goalkeeper?

Just when everyone had their eyes and attention on Yang Pan, Zhang Jun quietly reverted back to Luo Bin’s side. Luo Bin has been attracted to Yang Pan’s move and he hasn’t noticed that he lost control of his goal.

Kaka didn’t follow the script of everyone’s heart but suddenly made a pass!

“Zhang Jun!” The commentator called out in shock.

The soccer ball rolled over the grass and it happened to be on the right side of the goal. He took the chance of Luo Bin no responding yet and ferociously turned to shoot directly!

“A turn to shoot the goal!”

Zhang Lintao who seemed to be pressured tackled forward but there was helplessly a distance, in addition of Zhang Jun’s sudden shot, he couldn’t tackle the ball. The soccer ball then swung from the outside of the post, which was dangerous!

“Too bad! That was a beautiful offense! Shu Guang’s offense is finally taking place!”

“Honestly, Shu Guang’s formation received an effect.”

“That was close! He might not have a chance again next time. Luo Bin, he’s a dangerous person.”

Zhang Lintao placed the ball on the line of the restricted area and said to Luo Bin who was about to kick the ball off. As a goalkeeper, Zhang Lintao could not be flattered of his skills and that was his only drawback.

Luo Bin nodded. “I was just careless, he wouldn’t have a second chance again!”

“Hehe! How are you so confident?”

“You think that Li Yongle’s the only one that has the ability to mark people?” Luo Bin ran three steps ahead and made a big kick towards the field and there was Zhang Yulin who’s 180 cm tall at the front field—an excellent header. After the opening, he turned to Zhang Lintao and said. “I’m the same.” His expression was serious and it was definitely not a joke.

“The game has been going on for twenty minutes. The score is still a tie 0: 0! During the last fifteenth minute, Shu Guang was in a dangerous situation and after their coach, Liang Ke timely adjusted them, Shu Guang gradually regained their lost initiative! Dear viewers, good afternoon! You are now watching the finals of the 15th National High School Soccer Championships of the Luoyang Qualifiers! Having the teams of Zhongyuan High School and Shu Guang High School!”

Sun Laihong already saw the purpose of Liang Ke’s change of formation but he sat still without moving. He believed that that the current situation on the field, the players can completely manage on their own. The team that has gone through two national tournaments doesn’t need to be disorganized because of a change in their opponents.

Moreover, because of the opponent’s change in the game, they could also follow the adjustment but rather by the opponent leading away and finally losing their initiatives, excessive adjustments would be overwhelming.

This was indeed the case, Zhang Jun has stepped up his “care” after shooting the goal. He also found it hard to win by any chance. Shu Guang’s offense was occasionally threatening too. The main reason was that the three strikers were indeed extraordinary, but those occasional threats were all resolved by Zhang Lintao, who was in good condition.

The only thing that made Sun Laihong somewhat worried was that Yang Pan seemed to have been obsessed with assist and refused to explosive long-ranged shots, he didn’t know what was he going tod do. If this thing was put into use when the physical strength of the last member is dropped, Zhang Lintao’s situation would be very dangerous. Moreover, with other clipping onto defense, he could only pass but his passes are equal to his defensive forces attracting to him alone and the other’s defensive pressure would be reduced. Seriously, their positions are reversed!

Yang Pan transferred the ball to the left side of the court. Ren Yu De stopped the ball and from Ren Yu De’s position, in between Zhongyuan’s Liu Chao and Zhang Yulin, although he couldn’t go against any of them, but at any moment, he could attack from the back of them.

Ren Yu De began to dribble and it got the fans excited. During the match, both Fan Cunjie and him put up a good performance and both of them were looking forward for today.

Liu Chao waved behind him, despite the fact that there was no one behind him—this was his habitual movement, it meant that “You can rest assured that I can deal with this alone!”—he leaned back to Ren Yu De.

Everyone was looking forward to a wonderful showdown between Ren Yu De the dribble expert and “one-on-one expert” Liu Chao. However, when Ren Yu De saw Liu Chao rushing up, he passed the ball and this move surprised Liu Chao.

To his knowledge of understanding Ren Yu De, no matter where, when and what the circumstances are, his “hardcore” dribbles could make a break through, even when he’s faced with him. But what’s wrong with him today, why did he quickly pass the ball out?

Some of the rushed passes from Ren Yu De were snatched by Li Yongle, he broke through Shu Guang’s attempt. At the moment where Shu Guang was pressured, there was a huge gap between the back defense line and the goalkeeper. Li Yongle looked up and saw He Jialin at the front line and it was in parallel with the opposing mid defender, there wasn’t any hesitation and he made a long pass!

Sun Laihong saw Li Yongle’s long pass and he subconsciously sat up straight in his seat and stared at the flying soccer ball.

“Zhongyuan counterattacks with a long pass!”

The soccer ball drew an arc and it fell from a high point, the ball arrived and the people came too! He Jialin stretched his foot to beautifully unloaded Li Yongle’s long pass and then he was faced An Ke, a single knife!

“An accurate long pass! The single knife He Jialin, this is the best chance for Zhongyuan High School!”

An Ke attacked!

As He Jialin dribbled the ball, he saw An Ke running out then he ferociously shoved the brakes and with a sharp kick, the ball flew into the empty goal.

“He Jialin made the shot! It seems like Zhongyuan is the first to take the lead!”

An Ke felt some sadness as he turned to look at the ball flying straight into the goal, he believed that the other members of Shu Guang and the cheerleaders shared the same feelings as him too at this moment- they’re going to lose a point!

He Jialin was getting ready to celebrate his goal. But…

“Dang!” The soccer ball slammed into the post and bounced out of the bottom line!

“Such a pity! Shu Guang got away this time!”

“Um, judging from the situation earlier, I think Li Yongle’s accuracy and long pass played a very important role. In the high school world of soccer, there are only a few that can transmit an acurrate long-distanced pass. Not only that it’s easy to make a big kick but it also adds an arc of spin to allow the ball to be more directional and purposeful.”

“So in this case, there’s no doubt that Li Yongle is the best player in the previous national competition!”

When Yang Pan saw Li Yongle’s long pass to find He Jialin in front of him, he gave up on defensing because he knew that this kind of pass couldn’t be caught up even if his own speed was within 10 or 15 seconds per 100 meters.”

It was both a fast and accurate long pass…

“Tomahawk missiles! This long pass reminds me of the infamous accurate attacks of the tomahawk missiles! It’s quite suitable to call it a battle axe long pass!”

Not bad, it really was a suitable name.

He Jialin was frustrated but was then reassured by Li Yongle: “There’s still a chance, don’t rush it!”

“Seriously, that long pass of yours was… good that I’m left speechless!” He Jialin raised his thumb up to Li Yongle.

Zhao Defeng stood at the side and watched the both of them.

….

“After Li Qiang left, I’m planning to reserve his No. 10 to Li Yongle, does everyone have any objections?” After the training ended, he asked everyone.

Li Yongle had his eyes wide open and he didn’t dare to believe what he just heard: “Coach, this…”

Before he could finish his words, he was replaced with his team mate loud screams: “No objections!”

Zhao Defeng was speechless because he felt a faint loss inside his heart as he thought that he would be the one who would be wearing the No. 10 jersey. As the soccer team’s captain, offensive organizer and the soul of the team, how could there be any one that is more suitable than him?

…

And today, Zhao Defeng accepted defeated in his heart, that the No. 10 jersey, was more suitable for the guy in front of him, a lot more suitable.