Chapter 870: No Dark Horses in the Eyes of the Orange Army

Live match report: Dumfries commits a violent tackle, flipping Tang Ye over and receiving a yellow card; China's attack is broken up.

Bang!

Tang Ye pounded the grass hard with his fist, utterly helpless, but aside from standing up, there was nothing else he could do.

"Can you just play football properly?"

Tang Ye hoped Dumfries would calm down, but the latter ran off immediately after the foul.

Dumfries' action made Tang Ye realize one thing: the Dutch players today would stop at nothing against him.

He turned his head to glance at Van Gaal on the sideline.

This must all be that guy's doing!

"The Chinese coaching staff seems somewhat dissatisfied; they are complaining to the fourth official. Indeed, Dumfries' tackle does appear somewhat dangerous..."

"Corner kick for China; Tang Ye and Zhang Zhang Xizhe are preparing."

Beep!

As soon as the whistle sounded, Tang Ye sprinted out first, launching a long pass directly toward Wu Lei at the far post.

Control the ball!

"Beautiful! Look at Wu Lei here!"

"It looks like it's going out of bounds!"

"Wu Lei!"

The national team winger fully displayed his speed, successfully delivering a cross before the ball crossed the baseline.

Slap!

The one controlling the ball is Ai Ai Kesen, arriving in the center to support!

"Ah!"

Bang!

Ai Ai Kesen and Fan Daike jumped at nearly the same time, but Fan Daike held a clear advantage in physical confrontation, causing Ai Ai Kesen to be unable to reach Wu Lei's cross at all.

The cross fell to the left; Li Lei rushed over to challenge for the ball but was blocked from behind by Timber.

"Push up! Push up!"

Zhang Zhang Xizhe's voice came from behind, but Li Lei's pressure at this moment seemed a bit too late.

Timber dribbled the ball himself, breaking through the double-team of Li Lei and Fei Nando, then immediately launched a long pass straight to the center circle.

"Boo!!!!"

"Hol-!"

"land! (Netherlands)"

"Hol-!!"

"land!"

The sound of Dutch fans celebrating came through the television speakers, while the three CCTV commentators remained unusually quiet.

Currently, China's situation looks very grim; although their attacks seemed to last for a while, careful analysis reveals that the national team has hardly threatened the Dutch goal yet.

The camera cut to Escrivá in front of the substitutes' bench.

Chinese fans now only want to ask one question.

Saint Es, do you have any other tactics!

The opponent's strength is slightly off the charts; we need to bring out some fancy tricks to have any chance of winning!

"Careful! Careful!"

Van Gaal seemed even more anxious than Escrivá, shouting from the sidelines every now and then at Dumfries or Aké, emphasizing that these two players must not easily pick up cards.

Tang Ye noticed this situation and shot Van Gaal an unfriendly glare.

Good heavens, today every player's yellow card quota is reserved specifically for me!

"Let us synchronize a piece of information for our viewers: according to FIFA regulations, all teams participating in the semi-finals will have all their previous yellow card records cleared."

"In other words, even if Dutch players received many yellow cards in the Round of 16 and Quarter-finals, those cards will not carry over into the semi-final."

"Right... this rule is actually not very favorable for China, because as we said, Tang Ye himself faces severe targeting; without the protection of the accumulated yellow card rule, the targeting Tang Ye is facing now is even more exaggerated..."

"..."

【Feels like Netherlands isn't playing well either; they're just relying purely on physique, right?】

【Trash Netherlands, trash! Stop pushing my GGBond, okay? Damn it, who's the pig here?】

【Hasn't Fan Daike ever beaten Tang Ye while at Liwupu? I feel this counts as a buff for the national team; Tang Ye remains undefeated against Fan Daike throughout his career!】

【6666, stop pushing already!】

【What's going on? Avoid the left flank! Stop attacking down Dumfries' side!】

!

Seizing the opportunity, Tang Ye accelerated, darting past Gakpo to receive the back-pass from Zhang Zhang Xizhe.

The next second, Gakpo's hand landed on Tang Ye's shoulder.

"Damn it!"

Tang Ye violently swung his left arm, using the moment Gakpo was shaken off to accelerate forward.

Of course, it wasn't over yet; Tang Ye was soon marked by De Jong again.

Dribbling forward with the outside of his foot.

This is a 1v1 between Manchester United midfielders!

"Come on!"

Just as Tang Ye prepared to take on De Jong one-on-one, De Jongen leaned in from the side.

De Jong plus Frimpong-De Jong, now there are fully two De Jongs!

Hiss!

"Huff, huff!"

Making a forward run to the left-front, he plays a through pass to Fernandinho, then lets Fernandinho and Li Lei link up.

The Chinese team has reached the byline!

The containment by Dumfries and Timber makes Li Lei extremely uncomfortable; seeing Berghuis's defensive recovery about to arrive, Tang Ye helplessly urges his teammates to pass.

Slap!

Li Lei forces out a long pass.

The original plan was to find Zhang Zhang Linpeng surging up the right flank, but the kick was truly too wide; in the end, possession was secured by Gao Gao Zhunyi.

"Get it in, get it in."

Jiang Guangtai said.

Hearing this, Gao Gao Zhunyi plays a through pass to Jiang Guangtai.

With no time to ponder why a teammate would do such a thing, Jiang Guangtai pushes the ball forward.

Slap!

The long ball is whipped out directly to the attacking third.

A scramble between Timber and Fernandinho!

"Hey!"

Tang Ye doesn't know why he appeared here; Fernandinho quickly makes the pass.

As Dumfries closes in, Tang Ye immediately cuts inside with a feint.

"Oh, Tang Ye, the change of direction is very fast."

"Dumfries seems a bit caught off guard!"

"Can he catch up?"

Cutting inside, Tang Ye can actually feel the pressure coming from behind, so his peripheral vision keeps tracking Dumfries's position.

Just as Dumfries nears his mark, Tang Ye stomps on the ball for an emergency stop.

Right foot to left foot.

"Get in!"

Boom!

The through pass is pushed out; Ai Ai Kesen and Fan Daike both charge toward the six-yard box.

"Wow!!!!"

Ai Ai Kesen!

Boom!

Ai Ai Kesen's shot goes wide of the post!

"Fuck!"

"..."

Shaking his head, Tang Ye gives Ai Ai Kesen a thumbs-up.

"That shot by Ai Ai Kesen... actually, if we look at the slow motion, Ai Ai Kesen's shot wasn't faulty, but Fan Daike's choice of blocking angle was simply too perfect."

"Right..."

The situation is dire.

Having played nearly 20 minutes, everyone can already roughly figure out what tactics the Netherlands are using.

A three-defender formation; when defending, Dumfries and Blind drop deep, instantly transforming into a five-defender setup.

As everyone knows, the tactic the Chinese national team favors most in this World Cup is swaying left and right, while the Netherlands' defensive formation is extremely wide (because they have a full five defenders), which results in Tang Ye constantly failing to find a suitable passing outlet, often leaving him no choice but to run around everywhere himself.

"..."

Live match report: Netherlands corner kick; Depay's header is saved by Wang Wang Dalei.

Live match report: De Jongen plays a precise diagonal through ball to Gakpo, whose shot is blocked by Jiang Guangtai.

"Hiss!"

Having completed the block, Jiang Guangtai bites his jersey; it appears he is already drenched in sweat.

"Come on!"

Tang Ye helps Jiang Guangtai up, waving both hands upward: "Pull yourself together! Stop sleepwalking!"

"Can you guys react any faster!?"

He feels his teammates' performance in today's match isn't as good as when they played Spain; he doesn't know if it's just his illusion.

Anyway, it just feels terrible.

A corner kick for the Netherlands; this one is taken by De Jong.

Tang Ye watches De Jong jog toward the corner flag; Van Gaal seems to have noticed this situation and decisively decides to change the corner taker.

"..."

Tang Ye gives a thumbs-up to Van Gaal in the distance.

Brother, you're awesome.

"Is the Netherlands team... haha, are they afraid Tang Ye will read De Jong's corner kick intentions?"

"Unnecessary, right? Van Gaal is being very cautious today!"

Slap!

The corner kick is delivered, aimed at the near post again.

Bang!

Duang!

Depay headed the post, and the ball rebounded.