Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Goal!

"An incredible goal! Lin Feng almost single-handedly defeated the entire Italian defense!"

"The score is now 2-1!"

"The Chinese team has regained the lead in the final stages of the match!"

"This priceless goal could very well help the Chinese team secure their place in the World Cup Round of 16 with a round to spare!"

Inside the studio, the two commentators were so excited that their voices were trembling!
Meanwhile, in countless homes, fans glued to their television sets watching the live broadcast were already in a frenzy:
Lin Feng is awesome!

That goal was absolutely crucial, a true lifesaver!

[What about the Ballon d'Or winner? What about the Serie A best defensive player? They're nothing but paper in front of Lin Feng!]

[See that? This is the pride of Chinese football!]

Such goals were previously only seen in World Cup highlights, and it's incredible that they actually happened to our own national team one day. How could this not be exciting?
Lin Feng's goal was not just a goal, but a historic breakthrough for Chinese football!
This is the first time they have defeated the defending champion in an international main event!

This is also their first time reaching the World Cup knockout stage!

But it's too early to celebrate, the game isn't over yet, and the Italians could still tie the score!
"Hold on! If we can hold on for these last 10 minutes, victory will be ours!"

The commentators were shouting frantically in the studio, trying to alert the players, but unfortunately, the players on the field couldn't hear them at all.

The Italian team was caught off guard by this goal, and even the usually composed Lippi could no longer sit on the bench smoking a cigar.

He got up and went to the sidelines, frowning as he instructed his assistant to call out to the players on the field, telling them to push forward and seize the last moments to equalize the score!

If Italy loses this match, with only 1 point after two rounds, they will likely be eliminated early, creating the worst result ever for a World Cup defending champion!

If the team is eliminated in a humiliating manner, even if he is a championship-winning coach, he will not be able to bear the blame and will inevitably be criticized by countless media outlets and fans after the game.

The reputation and goodwill that have been built up in the past may be completely ruined in one day!
Coach Lippi doesn't want to be remembered as a disgrace in history, and the Italian players on the field naturally don't want to be criticized by the fans either.

After the match restarted, the Italian team mobilized almost all of its players and launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team.

In the 81st minute, Pazzini headed the ball across, and De Rossi, who had made a run into the box, fired a long-range shot from just outside the penalty area, but it went wide.

Just one minute later, Italy won a free kick in the attacking third.

De Rossi seemed to be trying to replicate his goal from the first half, but this time, before Iaquinta could jump, a tall figure rushed out from the side, leaped high, and cleared the ball first!
Iaquinta was shocked by the height of the opponent's jump, as neither of the two Chinese defenders had ever demonstrated such a strong jumping ability before.

After landing, he looked closely and realized that the person he had just contested for the header with was not a defender, but Lin Feng, the attacking midfielder of the Chinese team!

I'd heard that Lin Feng's physical abilities were amazing, but I never imagined they were this amazing!

He was 1.91 meters tall, yet he couldn't jump as high as his opponent, which greatly surprised Iaquinta.

Italy is not a team that excels at attacking. Although the team did create a few shots when they pressed forward, they also exposed their vulnerable backline to the Chinese team.

"Wu Lei, go warm up!"

Old Zhu saw a scoring opportunity and immediately called out Wu Lei's name, telling him to warm up.

"Me, me?"

Wu Lei was taken aback. Gao Lin and Dong Fangzhuo, two big names, were sitting on the bench. He thought he had no chance, but the head coach didn't call on these two big names. Instead, he called on him, the nobody!
"Just go when I tell you to, what's with all the fuss?"

Gao Lin kicked Wu Lei in the butt. He was so eager to play in such an important match that he didn't get the chance.

On the contrary, Wu Lei got incredibly lucky!

In the 84th minute, the Chinese team made a substitution, with Wu Lei, a young player under 19 years old, coming on as a substitute for Han Peng, who scored the opening goal for the team!
This substitution was very rushed. Wu Lei only had a few minutes to warm up, but time was running out, and Coach Zhu and the team couldn't wait any longer!

I don't know if Wu Lei is just blessed with good luck, or if Old Zhu has some kind of divine insight.

The Chinese national football team almost created a goal right after making a substitution!
In the 85th minute, the Italian team made a mistake during an attack, and the ball was intercepted by the Chinese team.

Before the opponent could commit a foul, Zhou Haibin passed the ball to Lin Feng, who had come over to receive it.

Knowing that his team's backline was vulnerable, Camoranesi was prepared to commit a foul.

However, Lin Feng didn't give him a chance to foul. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he anticipated the opponent's move and passed the ball across to Hao Junmin's feet on the right without stopping.

Hao Junmin was facing the direction of the attack and saw Wu Lei's run in the attacking third.

Thinking of the kid's amazing performance as a substitute in the last game, Hao Junmin made a long pass, sending the ball forward to find Wu Lei.

At the moment Hao Junmin passed the ball, Wu Lei was just inside the offside line and not offside.

Having just come on as a substitute, he accelerated with all his might, charging frantically toward the ball's landing point.

Cannavaro tried his best, but still couldn't stop the opponent from getting the ball.

The moment he received the ball, Wu Lei was one-on-one with the goalkeeper!
The Chinese fans who arrived at the scene stood up again, while countless fans sitting in front of their televisions held their breath.

With only five minutes left in regulation time, if Wu Lei scores this goal, it will be the game over!
Can he become the team's hero?

Amidst the anticipation of countless fans, Wu Lei missed a one-on-one opportunity...

"I fucking..."

Zhu Guanghu's face turned a deep shade of liver, and he was so angry that he almost died from a lump in his throat!
The scene erupted in uproar, with fans staring wide-eyed in disbelief as Wu Lei knelt in the opponent's penalty area, his head in his hands.

How could he possibly miss that one-on-one chance?
Is this even human?

The opposing defender is miles away, and the opposing goalkeeper hasn't completely blocked the shooting angle.

For a skilled marksman, isn't this a free point?

Online, some fans who had long been dissatisfied with the national team's call-up of Wu Lei finally seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

I told you this kid couldn't do it, but you wouldn't believe me. Now you do, right?

[If you ask me, if Gao Lin or Dong Fangzhuo had had that opportunity, they would have probably succeeded!]

Why did Old Zhu choose this kid instead of Gao Lin? Is it just because Gao Lin didn't score in the last game, while this guy did? [Although Gao Lin didn't score in the last game, his contribution to the team was obvious to everyone. This guy did score, but it was just luck, and his goal was completely irrelevant to the outcome of the match!]

Coach Zhu Guanghu, please don't let this guy play in the next game, I'm begging you!

Although Old Zhu couldn't hear the fans' cheers, he himself was very dissatisfied with Wu Lei's performance.

"When we get back, make that kid practice single-sword techniques more, practice them like crazy!"

He's getting old, his heart can't take it. If this guy misses a one-on-one chance in the game again, he'll be furious!
Wu Lei's missed one-on-one chance allowed the Italians to escape a close call, but the situation did not turn in their favor.

The Chinese team repeatedly used counter-attacks to threaten the Italian goal.

The Italians found themselves in an awkward situation where attacking was not an option, nor was not attacking.

With time running out, the Italian team sensed impending doom and played with increasing urgency.

In the 88th minute, Camoranesi took a shot from 35 meters out, but Wang Dalei made a diving save to push the ball away.

Italy then took a corner kick, their ninth of the match!
Judging from the number of corner kicks, the Italian team had a significant advantage in attack.

But they dominated the game but failed to score!
Although De Rossi's corner kick found Iaquinta, Iaquinta's header went wide under Lin Feng's interference.

After Li Weifeng's physical condition declined, Lin Feng took the initiative to compete with Iaquinta for the summit.

And I must say, the results were quite good.

Iaquinta played the entire game, often battling with defenders for headers, and was already exhausted.

Lin Feng was seven or eight years younger than him and had more physical strength. Although he was slightly disadvantaged in height and weight, his abundant physical strength completely made up for it.

When the two were vying for the top, Lin Feng, who had a better ability to predict the landing point, clearly had the upper hand.

Time ticked by, and before we knew it, it was the 90th minute.

The Italian fans in the stands were already nervously making the sign of the cross.

Before this match, no one could have predicted that it would end like this.

The defending champions, Italy, have been pushed to the brink by a World Cup newcomer!
If Italy ultimately fails to advance from the group stage, this match will likely be brought up repeatedly.

In the 90th minute, De Rossi made a through pass, and Zambrotta dribbled past Sun Xiang on the right side of the penalty area before taking a shot from a tight angle, which was desperately blocked by Wang Dalei.

With regular time expired, the game entered stoppage time.

The referee added four minutes of stoppage time, a length that drew unanimous dissatisfaction from both sets of fans.

Chinese fans felt the stoppage time was too long. They felt that there hadn't been any serious fouls or injuries in the game, and two or three minutes would have been enough. Giving four minutes was clearly favoring the Italian team.
Italian fans, however, felt that four minutes was too short. Other matches usually had about five minutes of added time, so why was Italy only given four minutes?
Is it possible that FIFA didn't want Italy to advance, so they deliberately made things difficult for them?
This is a bit of a sore loser. Can't Italian fans see how the Italian team performed in these two games?

The four minutes of stoppage time felt exceptionally long to the Chinese players on the field.

The opposing team launched a relentless attack, and even the goalkeeper rushed into the Chinese team's penalty area to participate in the attack when taking set pieces.

The Italian team has gone all out; they're no longer thinking about getting three points, they just want a draw and one point!
With two points in hand, they still have a glimmer of hope when they face Slovakia in their next match.

But if they lose this game, then they will only have a theoretical chance of qualifying.

The intense match had pushed the Chinese national football team to their limits, and they were all gritting their teeth and persevering.

Seeing that the team members couldn't hold on and had started to cramp, Lao Zhu quickly used his last substitution.

He substituted Hao Junmin with Du Wei, meaning the Chinese team should play with five defenders.

Even with an additional defender, they still couldn't stop the Italians' relentless attack.

In the first minute of stoppage time, De Rossi's shot after breaking through went wide.

A minute later, Pazzini's header inside the penalty area hit the crossbar.

The Italians, facing dire circumstances, unleashed a terrifying amount of energy in the final moments.

Under their relentless pressing, the Chinese team couldn't even keep possession of the ball.

Players even had to dive and block shots, using their bodies to block the opponent's shots.

Wang Dalei received a yellow card for deliberately delaying the process.

If the opponent had played like this from the beginning, the Chinese team definitely wouldn't have lasted this long.

But four minutes is ultimately limited. When Italy's last wave of attack came to nothing, the referee finally blew the whistle to end the game.

The match ended with the Chinese team, who were not favored before the game, pulling off a stunning upset – defeating the defending champions 2-1!
The moment the referee blew the whistle, almost all the Chinese players on the field collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

This match was so hard-fought!

The Italians went berserk in the final moments, completely bloodthirsty!
Italy had a possession rate of 65% in this match, and in the final stages of the game, their possession rate once reached 80%!

Italy's superior possession rate created numerous attacking opportunities for the team. Throughout the match, Italy completed a total of 23 shots, twice the number of shots taken by the Chinese team!
However, the opponent's 23 shots only resulted in one goal, while the Chinese team scored two goals with just 12 shots.

However, in terms of goal-scoring efficiency, the Chinese team completely outperformed Italy.

The result of this match drastically altered the fates of the two teams.

With two wins in two matches, the Chinese team has already qualified for the knockout stage with one round to spare!
On the other hand, the Italian team not only failed to qualify early, but also had to fight tooth and nail against Slovakia in the final round to fight for a theoretical chance of advancing.

Even if they defeat Slovakia, they may not qualify.

Paraguay has already secured 4 points. If they defeat or draw with China in their next match, they will have at least 5 points, securing the second qualifying spot in the group and eliminating the defending champions.

Therefore, Italy's chances of advancing depend on China's performance.

Italy will only have a chance if the Chinese team defeats Paraguay in the final round.

But why should the Chinese team, which has already qualified, fight to the death with Paraguay for the sake of the Italians' fate?
Let the Italians handle the complex task of calculating the odds of qualifying.

Chinese fans, at this moment, just want to celebrate this hard-won victory! (End of Chapter)