Chapter 789: As Long as We Unite, There Is No Nation Japan Cannot Defeat

Wei Wei Shihao was bold; after a slight adjustment, he charged straight at Hiroki Sakai.

"Fall back!"

Hajime Moriyasu's voice came from the sidelines as Hiroki Sakai prepared to defend against Wei Wei Shihao.

A minor adjustment in stance.

Wei Wei Shihao!

Slap!

A pass sent the ball to the center, targeting Wu Xi who was moving to receive it.

"Zhang Zhang Yuning!"

The call came from Tang Ye; before Wu Xi could fully adjust, he hurriedly passed the ball to Zhang Zhang Yuning.

Standing ahead, Zhang Zhang Yuning noticed the direction Tang Ye's index finger was pointing before receiving the ball, and following Tang Ye's instruction, he passed it back to Wei Wei Shihao.

Wei Wei Shihao didn't waste words; he charged directly toward the penalty area.

"Don't rush!"

While shouting, Tang Ye quickly moved behind Wei Wei Shihao and received the back-pass from his teammate.

Boom!

A through-ball from Tang Ye!

The ball skimmed the grass, slipping perfectly under Wei Wei Shihao's legs before rolling to the Chinese striker.

"Wow!!!"

Slap!

The shot was taken, but the ball struck Shuichi Gonda.

"Damn it!"

Wei Wei Shihao shouted in frustration, while Tang Ye, standing behind him, clutched his own head in his hands.

"Oh crap..."

"Beep beep beep beep!!!"

"Wei Wei Shihao! A super, super, super massive mistake!"

"Ah, yes!"

"It's really painful if they fail to seize an opportunity like this!"

"... Hmm, actually I feel Wei Wei Shihao should have controlled the ball first before shooting?"

"Yes, but the situation was urgent; Wei Wei Shihao probably wanted to catch them off guard with a quick shot."

Shuichi Gonda came out, gathered the rebound, and ran forward with the ball, leaving the Chinese strikers no choice but to retreat helplessly.

"It's okay, it's okay!"

Tang Ye gave Wei Wei Shihao a thumbs-up: "As long as you can make the play, that's enough!"

As captain, Tang Ye was quite skilled at encouraging his teammates.

But as the one being encouraged, whether Wei Wei Shihao actually took Tang Ye's words to heart remained unknown.

Because the chance he had just missed was indeed a very, very good one!

"Hiss... really shouldn't have happened; the Chinese team might not find such a good opportunity again later in the match."

Zhan Jun sighed.

At this moment, many fans online had already started venting their anger.

"We should have started with a 1:0 lead."

Escrivá lowered his head; Martí was sitting right beside him.

Facing the Spanish coach's complaint, Martí remained silent for the moment.

"Chinese team!"

"Let's go!"

"Chinese team!"

"Let's go!"

"Get up, get up! Don't be timid, King Wu Ball! Crush them!"

The stands were filled with red jerseys and cheering scarves; the passion of the fans on-site formed a sharp contrast with the calmness of the players on the field.

Both sides were playing quite steadily today.

However, they weren't merely passing the ball around in their own half, so you couldn't yet judge whether this match was a collusive game (where both sides, having already qualified, give up fighting for ranking and aim for a draw).

Swish!

Ao Tanaka showed off his skills, using a Marseille turn in the attacking third to get past Jiang Guangtai.

!

Helpless, Jiang Guangtai could only trip Ao Tanaka with his foot.

Good news: the referee did not show a yellow card.

Bad news: a direct free kick was awarded.

Japan's ability to take direct free kicks wasn't particularly strong across all of Asia.

But this was not good news for the Chinese national team.

Because the Chinese team's ability to defend against direct free kicks was among the weakest in all of Asia!

"Endo, take a deep breath!"

Hajime Moriyasu shouted instructions to the players on the field, raising both hands to demonstrate deep breathing to Wataru Endo: "Deep breath, like this, inhale, exhale!"

"Okay, okay, must stay calm!"

"No rush, find the best angle!"

Having said that, Moriyasu once again gave a thumbs-up.

The emergence of a wave of introspection within Japan has placed unprecedented pressure on this Japanese head coach; if it weren't impossible to rush onto the pitch and whisper to his players, this fellow would absolutely be helping Endo Wataru find the angle for the free kick directly.

The Chinese team was preparing; Tang Ye paced back and forth inside the penalty area, observing the situation with the Japanese players.

He ended up discovering that Yan Yan Junling was also looking at him, leaving Tang Ye slightly bewildered: "Are you okay, Brother Ling?"

Tang Ye had thought Yan Yan Junling was having issues with his form and was just about to ask whether the latter needed to be substituted, when Yan Yan Junling finally spoke: "Which side will they aim for?"

"..."

Tang Ye stepped forward to get closer to Yan Yan Junling.

"Brother Ling, you're the goalkeeper!"

"Be bolder; you've lost all your confidence!"

It was one thing for a corner kick to involve asking him for direction.

But even for a direct free kick they were asking him; Yan Yan Junling had now lost virtually all confidence.

Truly terrible!

"My fault, my fault."

Yan Yan Junling and Tang Ye clapped hands: "Sorry."

"No apologies!"

Tang Ye shouted another sentence as he prepared to walk away: "Be more confident, make your own decisions; you're not bad at all."

After walking two steps farther away, Tang Ye looked at Endo Wataru at the far end, along with the positioning of the other Japanese players, then suddenly turned back: "Hmm... I don't know which side they'll aim for, but they probably won't shoot directly."

Endo Wataru was, after all, a Premier League player, so Tang Ye understood him relatively well.

"Japan's direct free kick..."

"Endo Wataru!"

"He's taking his run-up!"

The commentators' and Chinese fans' hearts hung in the air.

Slap!

Endo Wataru struck a low, driven pass straight through, attempting to find Ito Junya inside the penalty area, but it hit Jiang Guangtai's foot instead.

"Oh!"

This was extremely comfortable; Jiang Guangtai hadn't even steadied his footing before hurriedly clearing the ball upfield.

At the instant Jiang Guangtai touched the ball, at least three players inside the Chinese national team's penalty area fell down together, including Tang Ye; Feng Feng Xiaoting directly pinned his own captain beneath his body.

"Damn!"

Poor ggbond; at this moment, the Chinese team's attack had already been launched!

"Hey!"

Feng Feng Xiaoting came to his senses and hastily scrambled up from the ground.

"..."

A little over ten seconds later, the Chinese national team successfully launched an attack off Jiang Guangtai's clearance.

Wu Lei, out on the wing, executed a highly inspired change of direction to shake off Nagatomo Yuto.

Although he didn't complete the dribble outright, it was pretty much as good as one.

A cutback pass straight to the top of the arc!

Slap!

The pass was swept into the center; Tang Ye surged forward fiercely, intending to execute a very stylish sliding shot.

Bang!

It smashed heavily onto the ground, yet Tang Ye failed to reach the ball.

"Ah!"

"Damn!"

【Damn, another missed chance】

【Feels like Japan isn't that strong; China has had two chances, Japan none; Japan is bound to lose today】

【Japan has no chances? You're all too naive; Japan just hasn't fully unleashed their attack yet】

【I saw this play; this one is on Feng Feng Xiaoting—if he hadn't pinned Tang Ye, that ball would have gone in】

【China's luck isn't great, but they seem to be playing quite well; there's still a good chance today. Looking forward to it, brothers. If we win, I'll immediately buy one share of ppbond stock; those 7 pounds will count as a donation to ggbond】

In the 27th minute, Wei Wei Shihao was injured during an attacking play upfield; the Chinese team's medical staff entered the pitch to treat him, while players from both sides drifted to the touchline to rehydrate and listen to their coaches' tactical instructions.

From the broadcast angle, one couldn't hear what Escrivá and Moriyasu were saying, but one could actually discern quite a lot from Escrivá's body language.

The Spanish head coach seemed to feel that the Chinese players were playing somewhat too aggressively.

At this moment, the score was 0:0, and China's possession rate had reached 40%.

Although it was only 40%, considering their opponent was Japan, who excelled at possession, Escrivá felt this was still a bit high.