Chapter 886: Fernandes' Second Kneel, Burning the Boats

Everyone thought Cristiano Ronaldo would shoot directly, but unexpectedly, this guy made another heel pass instead.

The ball arrived at B. Fernandes' feet.

This position was truly too perfect.

Boom!

"Gooo——aaaa——lll!!!"

Goal!

Bruno Fernandes!

This is Bruno Fernandes' second goal!

3:2!

Portugal has regained their advantage!

"Roar!!!"

B. Fernandes clenched his fists and roared aloud.

The Portuguese midfielder's expression was ferocious; pity he was a bit too thin, otherwise he might have given people a terrifying impression.

"Beautiful, beautiful!"

"Haha!"

Cristiano Ronaldo spread his arms, pulling his teammates into an embrace, while Santos kept clapping continuously.

"Bruno!"

"Bruno!"

This goal was extremely important for Portugal; changing the score from 2:2 to 3:2, Portugal could now fully switch to defense, giving the Chinese team no more opportunities.

Through the stadium screen, one could see Escrivá scratching his hair with his hand.

The Chinese team's head coach was thinking of a solution!

But he seemed unable to come up with any good method!

"..."

"... A substitution adjustment for Portugal: Gonçalo Ramos replaces Cristiano Ronaldo. He shares the same surname as Real Madrid's Ramos, but this young player is a striker, and he was also a key contributor to Portugal advancing to the quarter-finals!"

"Yes, the only player to score a hat-trick in the knockout stage of this World Cup so far."

Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonçalo Ramos high-fived: "Good luck! Be careful, we've already won!"

Walking off the pitch to the substitutes' bench, Cristiano Ronaldo simply took a sip of water before returning to the sidelines, shouting and making constant gestures, seemingly acting as an assistant to Santos.

"Cristiano Ronaldo... haha, he really wants to win."

"Portugal indeed holds the advantage now, but I believe the Chinese team should still have some opportunities."

As soon as his colleague finished speaking, Zhan Jun immediately realized something was amiss.

Portugal had started playing defensively!

Even Leão, who loved charging forward aggressively, was no longer attacking!

【You're not giving us a single chance, Santos; you know, I've always been your fan.】

【I knew substituting Cristiano Ronaldo meant they'd play defense; we're done, brothers.】

【Don't do this... is there any way?】

【I said it, we're lacking a top-class winger right now; otherwise, there's absolutely no way. Relying solely on GGBond, once he's marked out, we're finished.】

【Saint Escrivá! Why don't you go on and substitute Wu Lei? King Wu Ball seems to be sleepwalking today; why is he being completely suppressed by Cancelo!】

Actually, Wu Lei being suppressed by Cancelo was a very normal occurrence, because the gap in strength between the two sides was extremely obvious.

But having consistently pulled off upsets to reach this third-place match, many Chinese team fans had formed a mistaken assessment of the abilities of Wu Lei and Zhang Zhang Yuning.

Performing at a 40 million level with a market value of 15 million is indeed impressive.

But to treat them as 80 million euro players based on that would be your mistake!

"Cancelo moves up."

"Pass to Otávio!"

"Pass again to Vitinha!"

"Oh, Zhang Zhang Xizhe, beautiful!"

Zhang Zhang Xizhe intercepted the pass from Otávio, lost his balance, and fell directly to the ground.

Fortunately, before falling, Zhang Zhang Xizhe had already made his pass.

It was very accurate; now holding the ball was Wu Lei.

"King Wu Ball!"

"King Wu Ball, go for it! Beat them!"

Dribbling quickly down the right flank, Wu Lei was searching for a suitable opportunity.

Just as he reached the byline, both Leão and Otávio, who had dropped back to defend, were already in position.

Hiss...

It was evident that Portugal had watched China's previous matches; they had drawn experience from their games against Spain and the Netherlands.

Continuously controlling the ball towards the byline, Wu Lei still couldn't find an opportunity to pass even as he neared the touchline.

On the left flank, Fernando and Wang Wang Shenchao were calling for the ball, but Wu Lei seemingly lacked the ability to transfer the ball over to them.

With absolutely no other option, Wu Lei had a sudden inspiration, kicking the ball straight into Leão, causing it to rebound out of bounds.

"Beep!"

A corner kick for the Chinese team.

"Good, good, nice!"

Tang Ye gave Wu Lei a thumbs-up, then called Zhang Zhang Xizhe over.

After exchanging a few quiet words, Tang Ye handed the corner kick that originally belonged to him to his teammate.

"Beep!"

"Zhang Zhang Xizhe!"

"Take a look."

Smack!

"It's delivered very high; is he looking for Tang Ye?"

"Hey, where is Tang Ye!?"

The two had chatted for ages before taking the corner, yet now Tang Ye had vanished.

Then who was Zhang Zhang Xizhe going to pass to?

The ball soared high; Jiang Guangtai and Pepe in the penalty area knew they had no chance and simply chose not to jump.

It was delivered to a position slightly behind the arc.

Just then, Tang Ye charged in from outside the camera frame.

"Hey!"

After slowing down and adjusting with small steps, Tang Ye lifted his right leg.

"Diogo! (Costa)"

Cristiano Ronaldo shouted, "He's shooting!"

Smack!

Tang Ye's right outside instep struck the center of the ball, producing a crisp sound.

!

Pepe suddenly thrust his head forward, trying to block the ball with his skull, but alas, he was just a fraction short.

Costa leaped out!

Alas, the ball's speed was a bit too fast; the Portuguese goalkeeper had just pushed off the ground to jump when the whistle on the referee's wrist sounded.

Beep!

"Gooo——aaaa——llll!!!"

"Goal!"

"Goal!"

"Oh my god!"

"Goal! Tang Ye!"

"It's Tang Ye again!!"

"An outside-instep worldie!"

"3:3! China equalizes!!"

"Oh my god... that corner kick routine!"

When Tang Ye took the shot, Vitinho was standing right beside the fellow, watching helplessly as Tang Ye executed the entire sequence.

Even when Tang Ye finally ran off to celebrate, Vitinho's gaze had not yet shifted away from the captain of the Chinese team.

No way...

Bro, is that how a corner kick routine is supposed to be played?

Boom!

The Chinese team players gathered below the stands; before a few substitutes could even hang onto Tang Ye, Escrivá immediately came over to drive everyone away.

"We need one more goal! We need one more goal!"

"No extra time!"

Escrivá grabbed Wu Lei's head: "No penalty shootout, no extra time!"

The head coach of the Chinese team felt a sense of swelling pride, but Ferran had indeed found the path with the highest probability of success among all options.

Wanting to finish off Portugal within regular time was indeed showing off.

But this was already one of the best choices available to the national football team.

The players were quickly ushered away; even Tang Ye, who was roaring at the fans in the stands, was caught by Martí.

"Go back, go back!"

"Tom!"

"Our medals!"

"Don't forget!"

With Martí tugging at him from the side, Tang Ye gave a thumbs-up to the fans in the stands before finally agreeing to leave.

Live match report: In the 78th minute, Wu Lei's long-range shot was blocked by Rúben Dias; the score remains 3:3.

"Long live China!"

"Awesome! Tang Tang Qiuwang is awesome!"

"Go Tang Ye, go Tang Ye!"

Perhaps due to an excessive secretion of adrenaline causing slight dizziness, Chinese football fans failed to reach a consensus on their chants during such a critical moment.

Boom boom!

Boom boom boom!

Can't you hear the organizer's drumbeat!

Actually, they did hear it, but the situation on the field was a bit too intense; terrifying scenes popped up every now and then, and with fans frequently letting out shocked "wow" exclamations, there was naturally no way to shout a unified chant.

"Wang Wang Shenchao!"

"Play the inverted triangle pass!"

"Hey, this shot wasn't quite right."

Wang Wang Shenchao kicked the inverted triangle pass straight into the air.

As one of the most outstanding players on the national team in this World Cup, Wang Wang Shenchao's stamina seemed to have hit rock bottom by this stage.

Fortunately, Portugal's situation was much the same.

The Fruit Legion had been battling Argentina in this very stadium just three days ago, and many key players, such as Ruben Dias, had not yet fully recovered their form.

By the 80th minute, both sides, with remarkable tacit understanding, made substitutions simultaneously.