Chapter 255

Afterwards, the Iraqi goalkeeper kicked the ball and Iraq launched a counterattack.

The two sides fought an offensive battle.

The Chinese team wanted to win and advance to the next round, and Iraq was unwilling to lose.

Iraq is now ranked third in the group, 2 points behind the Chinese team. If they beat the Chinese team in this game, Iraq can surpass the Chinese team in points, rank second in the group, and gain the initiative to advance.

Therefore, even in the away game, even with the threat of Jiang Xiaolin, Iraq played more actively and did not retreat.

After all, they were the ones who were behind, and it was meaningless to shrink and defend. They had to attack and strive for victory.

So, the two sides fought an offensive battle at the Tianjin Olympic Sports Center, which was very exciting.

In the 4th minute, the winger Xiao Zhanbo made a cross from the bottom of the wing, and Jiang Xiaolin followed up in the middle and took the lead in the penalty area, grabbed the first point and headed the goal, and headed a ground rebound ball.

Unfortunately, Iraqi goalkeeper Noel reacted quickly this time and subconsciously blocked the ball with a deep-sea dunk. Then, the Iraqi defender kicked the ball out of the penalty area, causing the Chinese fans in the stands to wail.

Everyone thought that a goal would be scored in the first 4 minutes, but they didn't expect that the Iraqi goalkeeper played so well this time and even blocked Jiang Xiaolin's ground rebound ball.

Then, Iraq launched a counterattack.

Just 2 minutes later, Iraq returned the favor. Midfielder Imad passed the ball behind the Chinese team's defense line, and No. 10 Younis successfully countered the offside and formed a single shot.

Younis's single shot made Chinese fans worried, fearing that the Iraqi player would score the ball and take the lead.

Fortunately, goalkeeper Song Zhenyu did not defend the goal, and attacked in time when Younis just countered the offside and had not received the ball.

In addition, the defenders Li Weifeng and Zhang Yaokun who were chasing closely behind him, left Younis with no space and time to respond calmly, and he could only choose to shoot when he just entered the penalty area.

Younis aimed at the far corner.

The Chinese team was lucky that Song Zhenyu judged Younis's intention correctly and rushed to the far end at the moment Younis shot, just touching the ball and saving it from the bottom line.

Younis's shot was saved, and the Chinese team escaped. Li Weifeng and Zhang Yaokun were both in shock and pulled Song Zhenyu up and patted him on the shoulder to express their gratitude.

The Chinese fans in the stands also applauded and praised Song Zhenyu for his wonderful save against the single-handed ball.

Then, Iraq took a corner kick, and Jiang Xiaolin, who retreated to the penalty area to participate in the corner kick defense, headed out to clear the siege.

Jiang Xiaolin's height and jumping, point grabbing, and heading abilities, whether in offense or defense, can play a very important role in the corner kick battle.

The game continued, and the two sides' open and close offensive battle did not end.

In the 8th minute, the Chinese team attacked. Sun Jihai made a breakthrough on the seaside and passed the ball diagonally to Huang Bowen in the middle of the frontcourt near the center line.

After receiving the ball, Huang Bowen faced the defense of an Iraqi midfielder and tried to break through the opponent, but was tripped by the opponent.

Huang Bowen forced the opponent to commit a foul with his breakthrough and won a free kick in the frontcourt for the Chinese team.

This free kick was in a good position and distance, and Jiang Xiaolin took the penalty.

Although Jiang Xiaolin has not scored a free kick in an official match, the free kick he scored in the friendly match against Jordan has made the coaching staff and teammates trust Jiang Xiaolin, and it has been determined that Jiang Xiaolin will take the threatening free kick.

Jiang Xiaolin did not refuse.

On the one hand, his strong body brings enough power and speed to his shot, and his shooting skills are full, so the chance of hitting the goal frame is higher than other players.

On the other hand, Jiang Xiaolin's current "arc" skill has reached 14 points. Not 100%, but it can guarantee that the arc ball can be successfully hit in most cases.

However, the control of the arc is not accurate, but it is already quite threatening.

Therefore, this free kick was taken by Jiang Xiaolin.

Jiang Xiaolin hit the ball at a near corner, and his intention was to use the arc to bypass the wall and hit the ball into the near corner of the goal.

As a result, Jiang Xiaolin did hit the arc and successfully bypassed the wall, but Jiang Xiaolin used too much force and the arc was too large. After bypassing the wall, he did not fly to the dead corner of the goal, but made a big arc to the middle of the goal. It happened to be hugged by the goalkeeper Noel who rushed to the near end, and there was no chance for the Chinese team to make up the shot.

Although it did not go in, the arc of the ball was very large, it looked pleasing to the eye, and the threat was not small, so the fans in the stands still gave applause and encouragement.

The game continued.

In the 10th minute, an accident occurred on the field. Iraqi striker Younis was unmanned in a quick counterattack with the ball on the side.He suddenly fell to the ground when in contact, with a muscle strain, unable to continue the game, and was replaced by Mahdi.

The two sides continued to attack fiercely, but no one scored, and the score was still 0-0.

In the 13th minute, Iraq made another pass from the middle, trying to hit the back of the Chinese defense line, so that the newly-played Mahdi could attack the Chinese team's goal alone.

But this time Song Zhenyu was prepared, and he did not stand too close to the goal, and then he immediately attacked the moment the opponent passed the ball, and seized the ball before Mahdi got the ball.

In the 15th minute, the players of both sides fought in the midfield, and Iraq got the ball and wanted to attack in a big way.

As a result, after hitting the front court, the attack was interrupted by the Chinese team's midfielder Zhou Haibing, who kicked the ball to Zheng Zhi not far away.

According to the previous style of play, the two sides will fight in the midfield again.

But this time Zheng Zhi did not pass the ball to his teammates around him. Instead, he looked up at the front court, then suddenly kicked a long pass in the air and kicked the ball to the Iraqi backcourt.

It turned out that at the moment when Zhou Haibing intercepted the ball, Jiang Xiaolin had already turned and rushed to the Iraqi backcourt.

When Zheng Zhi got the ball, Jiang Xiaolin was about to complete the offside.

So, Zheng Zhi did not pass the ball to his teammates nearby to advance layer by layer, but passed it out with a long pass, hoping to successfully make an offside attack.

But because there were too many people in the midfield, Zheng Zhi could not pass the ground ball, so he could only pass a long pass in the air with a big foot, hoping that Jiang Xiaolin's superb ball-stopping skills could stop the ball and successfully form a single knife.

Sure enough, at the moment Zheng Zhi passed the ball, Jiang Xiaolin completed the counter-offside of the Iraqi defense line: the offside was successful.

However, because the Iraqis focused on Jiang Xiaolin, the two defenders kept an eye on Jiang Xiaolin's movements.

Although Jiang Xiaolin succeeded in countering offside, they were not thrown off by Jiang Xiaolin.

Because they had also completed the turn and were chasing Jiang Xiaolin.

Although Jiang Xiaolin's acceleration and speed were full, after looking back at the ball in the air, Jiang Xiaolin had to be forced to slow down, because if he sprinted at full speed, the ball would fall behind him.

Therefore, Jiang Xiaolin failed to shake off the Iraqi defender behind him. The two sides were about half a body away from each other and ran towards the Iraqi penalty area. The two Iraqi defenders stretched out their hands to pull Jiang Xiaolin from time to time, trying to stop him or even pull him to the ground.

But Jiang Xiaolin's physique and balance were too good. No matter how the opponent pulled him, he just didn't fall, and he could continue to run forward and never let the two people overtake him.

At the front of the penalty area, Jiang Xiaolin, who controlled his speed, let Zheng Zhi's pass fall just in front of him. The full-value stop technique allowed him to easily unload the ball even under the interference of the two defenders of the opponent, and perfectly stepped forward, and then rushed forward himself, not letting the two Iraqi defenders overtake him.

The subsequent things were simple.

Jiang Xiaolin opened his arms, stuck in position, and rushed into the penalty area with the ball despite the interference of two Iraqi defenders. Facing the attacking goalkeeper Noel, he aimed at the far corner and shot the ball out.

The ball flew past Noel's feet, and Noel fell to the ground subconsciously, but still failed to touch the ball.

Then, under the expectant eyes of Chinese players and fans and the desperate gaze of Iraqi players and coaches, the ball flew into the Iraqi goal along the far post.

In the 15th minute, the Chinese team counterattacked with a long pass, and Zheng Zhi assisted Jiang Xiaolin to score a goal, taking a 1-0 lead.

Suddenly, all the Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV were boiling.

Everyone cheered and excitedly celebrated the first goal of the Chinese team.

This was much smoother than the last game.

If the Chinese team can successfully defeat Iraq and Australia defeats Qatar, the Chinese team will advance to the next round together with Australia, and the last round of the game will lose its meaning.

Therefore, the first goal scored by the Chinese team, both players and fans were very excited and celebrated fiercely.

Jiang Xiaolin was even pressed down by his teammates and celebrated for a long time.

With Jiang Xiaolin's goal, the Chinese team's morale was greatly boosted, and they completely walked out of the haze of the previous game. The overall competitive state was improved compared to the opening.

Just a few minutes after Jiang Xiaolin's goal, in the 22nd minute, the winger Cao Yang successfully broke through the wing and then made a cross from the bottom.

The ball was passed a little low, and the Iraqi defender who was guarding the front point headed it out of the bottom line, and the Chinese team won a corner kick.

The Iraqis were immediately nervous, and the goalkeeper and defenders stared at them.Jiang Xiaolin, guard against Jiang Xiaolin's header.

Jiang Xiaolin's height, jumping ability, header skills, etc., are too threatening for the opponent to ignore.

However, Cao Yang's previous cross was low, and this corner kick was a little high. Although Jiang Xiaolin in the middle tried his best to jump, he still failed to head the ball.

However, although he failed to head the ball, Jiang Xiaolin's header in the middle still attracted the attention of almost all Iraqis, leaving Zheng Zhi at the back point unguarded.