Fox in the Penalty Area

Hu Lai stood in the middle circle, with a football under his feet. There was no one around him, just himself—now there is no need for two players to stand in the middle circle when a football match kicks off, just one person is fine.

He looked left and right, and Chen Xingyi was standing on his left, close to the junction of the center line and the center circle.

Luo Kai was on his right, much farther away, almost approaching the right sideline.

Directly behind him, Guo Junfu stood outside the center circle, and behind him were the forward line and the back line.

He looked all the way over and could see Lin Zhiyuan standing in front of the goal, lowering his head and fiddling with his gloves.

These are the last moments before the game against Oman.

He is waiting for the referee's whistle.

The fans in the stands gradually quieted down, and he didn't have to worry about not hearing the referee's whistle.

Just as Coach Li said, today is very cold, minus five degrees, and his breath turns into frost—when he opens his mouth now, a puff of white smoke comes out.

Even though I was wearing a long-sleeved jersey with a tights and gloves, I still felt cold.

But on such a cold night, more than half of the stands of the Ocean Stadium were still occupied.

They are all Chinese fans wearing red jerseys.

This is a U23 Asian Cup game, not an adult Asian Cup, nor a World Cup qualifier, but the fans of Dashun still gave this game a very high courtesy.

Because it is related to whether the Olympic team can participate in the Olympic Games this summer.

Hu Lai thought of the previous link where players from both sides stood on the field and played the national anthem.

The scene where all the fans sang "March of the Volunteers" in unison was spectacular and exciting.

Looking from a distance from his perspective, a vast white mist rose up wherever there were people in the stands, and it rose and fell with the rhythm of the national anthem.

The last time he wore this jersey to participate in the East Asian Cup, because it was a game in South Korea, which was his territory, and it was considered polite for Korean fans not to boo them during the national anthem. There was no such scene at all.

In the previous warm-up matches for the Olympic team, due to the different nature of the games,

There is no such spectacular scene at all.

The white mist was steaming on the red-bottomed stands, as if a flame was burning in the vast snow field. Looking at such a scene, Hu Lai deeply realized the weight of the words "to win glory for the country".

That's definitely not the slogan painted on the walls of the gymnasium.

Just then, he heard a crisp whistle.

"CCTV, CCTV! Good evening, viewers and friends, what you are watching now is the opening match of the 2024 U23 Asian Cup. The host Chinese Olympic team will face the Oman Olympic team... accompanied by a whistle from the referee from Japan Ring, the game begins!"

Li Qingqing in front of the TV straightened her body and sat on the sofa.

Beside her, Li Ziqiang put down the mobile phone in his hand and focused his gaze on the TV screen.

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Because of the cold weather, both sides did not immediately enter the game state at the beginning of the game.

However, at this point, the performance of the Chinese team is still better. On the one hand, it is natural that they warmed up well.

On the other hand, the players of the Oman Olympic team seemed very uncomfortable with such cold weather.

After all, countries from the subtropical and tropical regions of the Middle East may not have such a low temperature in a year...

Before the start of this U23 Asian Cup, some Chinese fans uploaded on the Internet, saying that the Chinese Football Association specially arranged this U23 Asian Cup to be held in the northeast with a colder climate.

Because there are two Middle Eastern teams in the same group as the Chinese team, they are obviously not used to such cold weather.

But this is a rumor. Because the decision on where to hold the U23 Asian Cup has been made long ago. At that time, the U23 Asian Cup had not yet been drawn into groups. How did the Football Association know that the Olympic team would be grouped with those teams?

It can only be said that the current situation is wrong.

In the cold weather, the players of the Chinese team adapted faster, and they began to attack Oman's goal according to the tactics arranged by Shi's guidance.

And Oman knew his own disadvantages, so he used intensive defense to deal with it.

In this regard, the Chinese team frequently used Oman's intensive defense to launch attacks on the two flanks, playing proactively.

In the twelfth minute of the opening, the Chinese team almost scored.

At that time, the Oman players didn't know if they hadn't recovered from being frozen. When they passed the ball back, they had too little strength and were interrupted by Luo Kai.

After Luo Kai, who broke the ball, made a move to pass the football to Hu Lai in the middle, he tricked Oman's defense to quickly adjust to that side, but he suddenly changed direction and dribbled the ball into the penalty area.

This hit the defender of the Oman team by surprise. At that time, Oman's players were ready to prevent him from passing the ball, but he suddenly cut inside and let him go...

The first wave of cheers erupted in the stands.

Luo Kai, who entered the penalty area, did not continue to dribble, but after adjusting, he directly kicked and shot!

It's a pity that the football he shot was blocked by the Oman central defender who rushed over in time...

"Ah! Luo Kai! What a pity!" The commentator He Feng shouted in the studio behind him.

"It's okay, He Feng, it's okay. At present, the players of the Olympic team are obviously more adapted to the weather and venue than their opponents... This should have something to do with their previous training in Hongfengling. The morale of the players is high, It doesn't matter if the attack doesn't score, I believe if we continue to play like this, we will definitely score goals!" Yan Kang comforted He Feng by the side, also reassuring the audience friends in front of the TV.

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"Ah, this ball... Wouldn't it be better for Luo Kai to cut in and pass the football across to Hu Lai?" Li Qingqing pointed to the TV screen and said to his father.

Just after Luo Kai cut inside, Hu Lai also quickly turned around and drove into the penalty area, while the central defender who was originally stuck on his side was forced to defend Luo Kai. Luo Kai made a pass gesture.

But Luo Kai didn't even lift his head and shot directly.

Li Ziqiang said with a straight face: "Luo Kai's handling is no problem. As a striker, he has basically faced the goalkeeper alone. It is reasonable to choose to shoot directly. It can only be said that Oman's central defender reacted quickly enough. If he was a little later, Luo Kai's ball went to the far corner of the goal. Although Hu Lai is the core of the Olympic team, it does not mean that every ball must be passed to Hu Lai. Otherwise, as long as the opponent defends against Hu Lai, the Olympic team will Can't score a goal?"

"Well, Dad, what you said makes sense." Li Qingqing obediently nodded in agreement.

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Luo Kai, who failed to shoot, looked up and saw Hu Lai in the middle. He made a gesture to Hu Lai, indicating that he didn't miss the pass on purpose, but he really didn't see it.

Hu Lai didn't care about that either.

As both forwards, of course we all know that when an opportunity arises, there must be only one thought in mind, and that is to shoot.

This is not independence, but the instinct of a striker.

It has nothing to do with personal relationships.

It is true that he and Luo Kai are not good friends, but there is no reason not to deliberately pass the ball to each other during the game.

On the sidelines, the head coach of the Olympic team, Shi Wuyin, came out of the coach's bench and applauded the team's attack.

As the head coach, this is what he does to protect his players—he doesn't think it's a big deal that Luo Kai didn't pass the ball to Hu Lai, so he stood up and applauded Luo Kai's attack, and blocked some people's The mouth is also the heart of the player.

Although Luo Kai missed the goal, it still greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese Olympic team.

Facing the recognized weakest team in this group, the Olympic team continued to attack. And they made a high-position press on the densely defending Oman players, and directly surrounded their ball-handling players at the front of their penalty area, forcing them to make mistakes like just now.

The fans of the Chinese team in the stands created a huge momentum to put psychological pressure on the Oman players who were not used to the weather.

Under the offensive of the Trinity, Oman can only be exhausted, and there is a tendency to be overwhelmed...

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In the 20th minute, after Chen Xingyi got the ball from the left side, he played a two-pass and one-hit the wall with Guo Junfu who came up to meet him.

Guo Junfu passed the football from behind the right back of Oman who was defending against Chen Xingyi. When the latter turned around, Chen Xingyi used his speed to get behind him. After catching up with the football, he took a step and kicked a cross!

He didn't pass the football directly, but rolled towards the goal against the turf.

When Luo Kai saw Chen Xingyi's biography, he immediately accelerated and sprinted in a diagonal line, rushing from Hu Lai's side to the front point.

Hu Lai didn't go with him, but dragged behind and took a step to the outside.

As a result, when Luo Kai rushed to the front point, he found that Chen Xingyi's pass was an inverted triangle, rolling past his feet.

He was going to step out and try to hook the football back and shoot.

But when he was about to do this, he thought that Hu Lai should be behind him, so he stopped his feet and let the football roll past his feet without trying to reach the ball.

Sure enough, after he missed the football, Hu Lai ran to the penalty spot, first put up his left foot, and made a gesture to shoot directly. After the Omani defender who tricked up to defend the defense turned around and tried to block the shot with his body, he feinted. , Let the rolling football to the right foot, and then shoot with your foot!

"Hu Lai——!"

Amid He Feng's protracted shouts, the football was shot towards the back corner of the goal by Hu Lai.

The Oman goalkeeper, who turned back from the front point, was powerless against such a kick. Although he made a save, it looked more like a routine...

"The goal is scored!!! The goal is scored!! The Olympic team played a wonderful frontcourt cooperation, and finally Chen Xingyi assisted Hu Lai to complete their first goal in this U23 Asian Cup!! "

"Aha! This is the tacit understanding between the two young people belonging to Xing Xing!" Yan Kang laughed beside him. "The two of them had such wonderful cooperation many times in the Chinese League One last season, and now they have moved their connection in the club to the Olympic team!"

"Yeah!!" Sitting on the sofa, Li Qingqing raised her arms high and cheered. "Pretty!!"

The deafening cheers of the fans at the scene came from the TV. This kind of momentum stirred up the white mist floating on the stands, churning and turbulent, as if the sound waves materialized.

Hu Lai, who scored the goal, turned around and ran to the corner flag area on the other side. In that empty space, under the focus of everyone's attention, he jumped up and waved his arms, then turned and landed.

"Hu Lai made his signature celebration! We hope to see more of his celebrations in this U23 Asian Cup, just like last season's Chinese League One and the FA Cup!"

Yan Kang added with a smile: "It's okay like the East Asian Cup!"

In the East Asian Cup last year, Hu Lai scored five goals and won the top scorer of that East Asian Cup.

But most importantly, in that East Asian Cup, the Chinese Olympic team won the championship!