Chapter 873: The Second Red Card, The Third Red Card

"Awesome!"

4:30 AM Beijing time, Mianyang Nanshan Middle School dormitory building.

"Tang Ye is awesome!!!"

At this hour, the dormitory building shouldn't be this lively.

"..."

The dormitory matron auntie stepped out of her room, looking somewhat at a loss as she watched the male students running wildly along the first-floor corridor.

She glanced at the clock hanging on the wall; it should still be an hour before the morning bell rang.

Was the clock broken?

"Student, what time is it?"

The dormitory matron auntie approached a boy from the dormitory opposite.

"4:31."

"Is there any special school activity today?"

"Tang Ye has gone godlike, Auntie."

"Who is Tang Ye?"

"He is a god!"

The male students in Room 102 spoke in unison.

Since students throughout the entire dormitory building were making noise, these boys weren't afraid at all of the "point deduction" the matron mentioned.

"The Chinese team is awesome!!!"

The dormitory matron auntie was somewhat at a loss: "Quiet down a bit; wake-up time is in an hour. If school leaders arrive and see you like this..."

"Quiet!"

"Tang Ye is awesome!!"

"..."

The auntie truly had no more tricks up her sleeve, and fearing that leaders from the school's Academic Affairs Office would come to hold her accountable, she could only wake up the teacher on duty.

After learning the specific situation from the auntie, the teacher took out the megaphone from his room.

"Everyone must return to their own dormitory and lie down on their own beds within three minutes; otherwise, if caught, it will be reported to the school as a disciplinary offense, and you won't get to stay in the dorms anymore—you'll have to go home tonight and let your parents pick you up. You're all in high school; don't you know you need to be quiet at night? We are a key middle school!"

The teacher on duty possessed the bearing of a leader, and everyone finally quieted down somewhat.

"And another thing!"

"That student named Tang Ye, come out now and find me at the entrance of Room 102 on the first floor. Tell me personally what you did; if you don't come, it's fine too—I'll check the surveillance footage."

"If I have to find out via the surveillance footage, then don't blame me for being rude; by then, even probation would be a light punishment..."

"Tang Ye is awesome!"

Someone from an unknown dormitory on the first floor shouted again, and this truly enraged the teacher on duty.

"Student named Tang Ye, I give you three minutes to appear at the entrance of Room 102! I don't know what you're doing, but you must come before me immediately!"

The teacher gritted his teeth, then took out his phone, preparing to call someone from the Political Education Office.

"Teacher, could you not make the call?"

The dormitory matron auntie seemed somewhat afraid of being held accountable.

"The problem is very serious."

The teacher on duty wore a serious expression, showing no intention of stopping; and just as he was dialing, another shout of "Tang Ye is awesome" came from some unknown dormitory upstairs.

"..."

"Hey, Teacher Gong. Yes, sorry to disturb you, but we've encountered a slight issue here in the boys' dormitory; could you please help me look up this student named Tang Ye—yes, which class he's in, and what his dormitory room number is."

"Yes, yes, yes, as quickly as possible; he might be organizing some kind of cult on campus, and now students in the entire dormitory building are shouting his name—the situation is getting out of control."

【Awesome, awesome; it really feels like there's something to it. If the Netherlands are playing with one man down, aren't our chances of winning quite high?】

【It's not easy to handle, but my view is... the national football team is awesome! The Chinese team is number one under heaven!】

【Tang Ye: All my life I've walked on thin ice, always in danger of falling into the water, but what others don't know is that I can fly.】

【Why did Escrivá kneel? Stand up, rise up!】

【Don't mock my Saint É; it's normal under pressure; I knelt too. Let's wait for extra time; first, find a video to watch, rest a bit, then keep cheering!】

"Huff..."

Escrivá held Tang Ye's head with both hands, their foreheads pressed tightly together, so close they could even hear each other's panting.

"Let me talk about extra time; we are currently at a disadvantage, and you need to know this."

"But the opponent is playing with one man down, and Dumfries has a yellow card; that is our breakthrough point."

The players all gathered around as Escrivá synchronized the team's ultimate goal for extra time: drag the match into a penalty shootout, or seek more opportunities for direct free kicks.

Although the Netherlands were playing with one man down, for the Chinese team, whose stamina was now depleted, relying on open-play goals was actually unrealistic; the best approach was to play defensively.

Dumfries' sending-off had severely weakened the Netherlands' attacking end, so it shouldn't be a big problem for the national football team to hold out for 30 minutes.

Most crucially!

"They only have two substitution slots left!"

Escrivá glanced toward the Netherlands' substitute bench: "Moreover, many of the players they still have on the field lack penalty-taking ability; you understand what I mean, right? Our penalty takers might be better than theirs, so we must leverage this advantage of ours!"

The national football team still had quite a few penalty experts on the field: Tang Ye, Wu Lei, and Fernandinho; additionally, if it truly came down to a penalty shootout, Escrivá could still bring Zhang Zhang Yuning on.

The Chinese team had no reason not to play a penalty shootout!

"Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

"Go for it!"

……

"China Media Group! This is the live broadcast coming to you..."

"Extra time has begun!"

"Tang Ye has won the coin toss again."

"Yes, haha, from the Round of 16 to the quarter-finals, Tang Ye has now won two coin tosses in a row. However, unlike the last match, the Chinese team chose the goal this time; frankly speaking, this choice surprised us. Because with the opponent playing with one man down, choosing possession to attack might have been the better decision."

The commentators made an incorrect prediction because they failed to understand the Chinese team's main tactic for extra time.

Escrivá was extremely cunning; among numerous tactics, he picked the safest one—dragging the match into a penalty shootout!

95'.

At this moment, the camera cut to Van Gaal; the Dutchman's face had turned completely dark.

He had spotted the Chinese team's little scheme and felt worried because of it.

Even with only ten players on the field, the Netherlands did not want to drag the match into a penalty shootout, so their objective was very clear: to score a killing goal in extra time!

"Luuk de Jong, pass to Weghorst making a run up front."

"He's charging!"

"Weghorst's speed is quite impressive."

"Tang Ye is watching!"

While dribbling forward, Weghorst paid special attention to Tang Ye's position, and the Dutch striker ultimately managed to release the ball just before Tang Ye could close in on him.

Aké!

Looking for Berghuis!

Passing it again to Koopmeiners!

The Netherlands' passing was orderly, but the Chinese team was simply disgusting; Feng Feng Xiaoting, who had come on as a substitute, stayed right inside the penalty area and refused to come out, while the national team's entire defensive line had contracted terrifyingly tight.

The Netherlands' attack lasted for over ten minutes, creating a total of three shots, all of which were neutralized by the Chinese team.

Just as the Dutch players were preparing to regroup, the national team launched their own attack.

Wei Wei Shihao cut inside with the ball, aiming for the top of the arc.

Seeking a direct free kick or a penalty—this was one of the national team's key tactics for extra time!

Wei Wei Shihao tried his best to get close to the top of the arc, as this was the position where Tang Ye had the highest success rate for free kicks.

Slap!

To Wu Lei!

Wu Lei gained control of the ball, but having started the match and played until now, he was already feeling somewhat out of energy; a mistake allowed Aké to steal the ball right in front of him.

"Wow!!!"

"Go, go, go!"

Teammates and the coach were all urging him on; even several Dutch substitutes were standing by the sideline!

Aké immediately accelerated to evade Wu Lei.

"Pass! Pass!"

Slap!

A long pass flew out, precisely finding Weghorst up front.

Controlling the ball!

The control wasn't very good, but precisely because of this uncontrolled touch, Weghorst successfully dribbled past Feng Feng Xiaoting, who was dropping back to protect.

This was a bluffing dribble!

"Oh!!!"

"Weghorst!"

"This could be a one-on-one!"

"Wang Wang Shenchao probably won't make it in time; Zhang Zhang Linpeng! Zhang Zhang Linpeng is chasing!"

Zhang Zhang Linpeng, rushing back to defend, first reached out to touch Weghorst, attempting to place his hand on the Dutch striker's shoulder, but failed.

!!!

At this moment, the one-on-one opportunity had not fully formed; Zhang Zhang Linpeng could have waited for Weghorst to enter the penalty area before coordinating with Wang Wang Dalei to block the shot.

But in Zhang Zhang Linpeng's view, that kind of action might have been too risky.