Chapter 288

Amid the excited cheers of Chinese fans, the Chinese team's defense became more and more solid, and it became increasingly difficult for Italy's offense to reach the penalty area.

Not to mention the penalty area, it became increasingly difficult to score within 30 meters of the goal.

Even if someone could break through the goal within 30 meters through personal skills, they would generally be immediately robbed by two or three Chinese players and lose the ball soon.

The overall state and cooperation of the Chinese players were so outstanding that people thought that this Chinese team was the Italy that was truly famous for its defense.

However, on the football field, sometimes the situation is really unpredictable, and you can't predict what will happen in the next second.

Just when many Chinese fans were expecting the Chinese team to stabilize its defense and Jiang Xiaolin to suddenly sneak in and score a goal, a controversial scene occurred on the field in the 16th minute.

This was also another Italian attack, and it was also unable to enter the Chinese team's penalty area. In the end, striker Rossi made a powerful long shot from the right outside the penalty area.

The quality of this long shot was good, with speed and power. It was not intercepted by anyone in the middle and avoided the goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong's ten fingers.

But in the end, it hit the crossbar and bounced back to the ground, and then was held in the arms of goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong.

The controversial part appeared at the moment when the ball hit the crossbar and hit the ground.

All the Italian players and fans subconsciously thought that the ball had gone in and celebrated wildly.

The Chinese players naturally thought that the ball had not gone in, and they argued with the referee that the ball did not cross the goal line as a whole when it hit the ground, so it must not be counted as a goal.

Both sides insisted on their own opinions, and the referee was also embarrassed.

At this time, there was no goal line technology, and it was entirely up to the referee to make his own judgment on the spot.

Tens of thousands of Chinese fans in the stands shouted "NO...NO...NO..." in unison to indicate to the referee that the ball had not gone in.

But there were also thousands of Italian fans who shouted "Goal...Goal..." frantically, indicating that the ball must have gone in, without a doubt.

The Italian players also realized that the ball was controversial and might be ruled a miss, so they quickly ended their celebration and rushed to the referee, arguing with the Chinese players, telling the referee that the ball had definitely gone in, without a doubt.

The audience in front of the TV was better than the audience at the scene, and the live camera cut to the replay camera at the right time.

However, due to the camera angle, even if it was slowed down, everyone still couldn't tell whether the ball had crossed the goal line as a whole when it hit the ground, and whether it was a goal.

The referee felt that the ball had gone in, but he didn't dare to make a 100% judgment.

Facing the pressure from tens of thousands of Chinese fans of the host country, the referee was also under great pressure and didn't dare to make a decision easily.

He pushed away the fans of the two teams in front of him and ran to the side to whisper with the linesman.

In fact, the linesman couldn't see clearly either, because there was no special goal line referee, the linesman didn't follow the goal line all the time, and was too far away from the goal, so he couldn't see clearly either.

However, after the two discussed for a while, they felt that the ball should still be counted as an Italian goal.

So, the referee returned to the field, pointed at the middle circle, and blew the whistle to signal a goal was scored.

This penalty immediately made the Italian players and fans ecstatic and celebrated wildly.

The Chinese team was like a hornet's nest that had been poked apart. The fans booed and cursed loudly, and the curses of "black whistle" and "idiot" came one after another in the stands.

On the field, Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng, Qiu Shengjiong and others also excitedly surrounded the referee, questioning his penalty and wanting the referee to take back his decision.

But the referee's majesty cannot be offended. How could the penalty that had been made be taken back?

The referee not only insisted on the penalty that the goal was valid, but also showed a yellow card to the goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong who was so excited that he pointed his fingers and cursed at the referee.

Jiang Xiaolin, Wang Yongbai and other players quickly pulled Qiu Shengjiong and others away. Jiang Xiaolin persuaded his teammates to leave the referee and shouted: "Don't get excited, let's lose the ball, don't be afraid, it's still early. We are in such a good state today. If everyone plays well like in the first game of the group stage, we will definitely be able to come back and finally eliminate Italy." Hao Junmin also echoed from the side: "Yes! Don't get excited, the referee has already made a penalty and it is impossible to change it. It is not worthwhile to argue with the referee and actively apply for a yellow card. We are in such a good state today, it is not that there is no hope of winning. Everyone calm down and play well. Don't ruin the good situation by actively applying for a yellow card." Under the persuasion of his teammates, goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong finally returned to his defense area, Zheng Zhi, Li Weifeng and othersPeople calmed down and prepared to resume the game.

As Jiang Xiaolin and others said, it was still early, and the Chinese team was not completely dead. There was still time and opportunity to equalize or even reverse the score.

Moreover, the Chinese team was in very good condition today. Just like the first game of the group stage, there was still hope of winning.

The penalty had been decided. No matter how they attacked the referee, it was impossible for the other party to change the penalty. Instead, it might make the referee angry and show the Chinese players a yellow card warning.

The only way was to try to defend well, then counterattack and use a hard score to complete the miracle of reversal and promotion.

However, no matter what, the players of the Chinese team were still psychologically affected.

After the game resumed, the performance and cooperation of the Chinese team players were a little chaotic.

Fortunately, Italy failed to seize this opportunity. Although there were two shots in more than ten minutes, one missed the post and the other long shot was not threatening and was confiscated by Qiu Shengjiong.

As the game progressed, the players put their full energy into the game, gradually forgot the negative impact of the last goal, and began to recover to the on-the-spot state that Jiang Xiaolin had raised to the full value for them.

But after the Chinese team's on-the-spot performance returned to normal, Italy's offense became increasingly difficult to enter the frontcourt.

Although Italy is also a top team in the world, and even the 2006 World Cup champion, their team is only the U23 Olympic team after all, and there is no superstar of Ronaldinho's level, so there are not many ways to deal with the Chinese team's defense.

At the same time, while the Chinese team gradually stabilized its defense, it was also trying to find opportunities for Jiang Xiaolin to complete the counterattack and score.

After all, the Chinese team is now the lagging side. If they don't score, they will have no chance to eliminate Italy.

As long as they score a goal, the situation will be very different.

However, although Italy has few offensive methods, it is right that it is much better than Brazil, Belgium, and New Zealand in defense.

In terms of defense on the football field, no country in the world can compare with Italy.

Although Jiang Xiaolin is extremely strong, even no Italian player on the field can keep a close eye on him one-on-one.

But Italian defense is not a simple one-on-one defense. They are a group-style chain defense, using collective strength to block the opponent's super striker.

Jiang Xiaolin may be able to break through one or two defenders with his skills and speed, but he has never successfully broken through three defenders in a row.

For the Chinese team, which only has one striker to counterattack, this seems a bit lonely.

So, after being double-teamed by the opponent in another counterattack, Jiang Xiaolin found Wang Yongbai and asked him to follow up in time during the counterattack next time, attract the attention of the opponent's back line, and then pass the ball to Wang Yongbai, who will complete the final blow.

Wang Yongbai nodded to show that he understood.

Of course, this requires the right time, and he cannot follow Jiang Xiaolin whenever there is a chance.

On the one hand, Wang Yongbai's physical fitness is not as good as Jiang Xiaolin, and he cannot sprint back and forth like Jiang Xiaolin.

On the other hand, it was because the tactical tone of the Chinese team was defensive counterattack. Although Wang Yongbai was a front midfielder, he still had to bear a large part of the defense responsibility.

The pressure Italy put on the Chinese team's defense line was much greater than that of New Zealand and Belgium.

Of course, this also prevented Jiang Xiaolin and Wang Yongbai from exposing their intentions too early.

Without getting a great counterattack opportunity, Jiang Xiaolin had been fighting alone and would not expose his intention to pass the ball and give Wang Yongbai a shot from the back row.

In the 33rd minute, Jiang Xiaolin once completed a very threatening shot, but unfortunately it failed because the distance was too far.

That was when Italy's continuous attack caused goalkeeper Viviano to be careless and stand forward. Jiang Xiaolin got the ball cleared by his teammates, looked at Viviano's position near the center line, and suddenly kicked a lob shot.

This ultra-long-range lob went straight to the goal, igniting the hopes of countless Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV, and also making Italian fans nervous.

Unfortunately, because the ball flew in the air for too long, and although Viviano was standing forward, he was not too far away. In the end, he returned to defense in time, lifted the ball and hit it on the crossbar and bounced back into the penalty area, and was hugged by him again, leaving no corner kick for the Chinese team.

This time, Jiang Xiaolin's ultra-long-range lob caused a great shock to the Italian team, making the backcourt players dare not press too much to assist for a while, and they have been paying attention to Jiang Xiaolin's counterattack.

It also allowed the Chinese team's defense to withstand Italy's attack.Attack, and did not lose the ball until the end of the first half.

However, just when the time had entered the stoppage time and everyone thought that the two sides would end the first half with a score of 0-1, the Chinese team got a chance to counterattack in the last minute of the first half.

This was an opportunity that suddenly appeared when the Italian attacking player made a mistake in passing the ball.

Originally, the Italian winger Zigalini, who was holding the ball, was preparing to pass the ball to the striker Acquafresca with a long diagonal pass to form a threat, but his passing intention was keenly perceived by the Chinese team's midfielder Zheng Zhi, who suddenly fell to the ground and intercepted the ball in time.

The ball was shoveled by Zheng Zhi to the vicinity of another midfielder Zhou Haibing. Zhou Haibing touched the ball before the opponent's player counterattacked and kicked it to the forward Hao Junmin.

When Zheng Zhi flew to shovel, Jiang Xiaolin had already turned around near the midline and rushed to the Italian penalty area.

Suddenly, three defenders including Bocchetti, Criscito and De Ceri retreated and formed a chain defense network. They checked the passes of the Chinese team's backcourt players while defending Jiang Xiaolin's running position, vowing to stop Jiang Xiaolin's counterattack.

Except for the full-back Motta who assisted, the other three defenders focused their attention on Jiang Xiaolin alone and watched his counterattack.

Wang Yongbai, who ran forward with the Italian players who returned to defense in the middle, did not attract everyone's attention at all.

Everyone's attention was on Jiang Xiaolin who rushed to the Italian penalty area and Hao Junmin who held the ball.

Sure enough, it was not unexpected.

Of course, the routine was still the same.

After receiving Zhou Haibing's pass, Hao Junmin dribbled forward a few steps, adjusted his pace, and then passed the ball to Jiang Xiaolin before the opponent's midfielder rushed to grab the ball.

The pass was not passed well, so Jiang Xiaolin could not catch the ball while running and then rush forward. Jiang Xiaolin could only slow down to catch the long pass from Hao Junmin, which was slightly smaller.

Otherwise, the ball would have run behind Jiang Xiaolin.

In order to slow down to catch the ball, Jiang Xiaolin was naturally closely guarded by one of the defenders, Criscito.

However, Jiang Xiaolin's full dribbling allowed him to control the ball very accurately and freely.

Even under Criscito's pull, Jiang Xiaolin still successfully received Hao Junmin's pass, and used a sudden fried meatball to shake Criscito to one side while slowly moving forward, and then Jiang Xiaolin dribbled the ball from the other side.

This place is still far from the penalty area, and Criscito made a quick decision, turned around and grabbed Jiang Xiaolin's clothes, trying to pull Jiang Xiaolin to the ground.

Even if it is a foul, it is just an ordinary foul, and maybe he won't even get a yellow card, but it can block the Chinese team's counterattack.

But Jiang Xiaolin's starting speed was faster than Criscito expected, and he only pulled a corner of Jiang Xiaolin's clothes.

Although Jiang Xiaolin's shirt was pulled straight, it still failed to stop Jiang Xiaolin.

Jiang Xiaolin threw back with one hand, and broke free from Criscito's pull, and ran away with the ball.

Criscito, who lost his center of gravity, fell to the ground, looking embarrassed.

However, he was not too worried.

Because Jiang Xiaolin often used his speed and skills to break through the first person's defense in today's game, this scene was not surprising.

Jiang Xiaolin's speed and skills are indeed excellent. Even Italian Serie A-level defensive players find it difficult to defend Jiang Xiaolin's breakthrough one-on-one.

But Italy's defense is not a tactic of adding fuel, and it is not to let Jiang Xiaolin break through one by one.

When Jiang Xiaolin broke through Criscito, the other two defenders, Bocchetti and De Cegli, who were retreating and blocking the opponent, had already stopped retreating. After Jiang Xiaolin broke through Criscito, they immediately joined forces to block Jiang Xiaolin's way forward.