Fox in the Penalty Area

Chapter 2032 Under heavy pressure

When Hulay stood in the center circle for the third time, with the football under his feet ready to kick off, he heard Tonini calling him.

"Pass the ball to me, Hu!"

Tonini gestured to him.

In fact, Hulay knew exactly what would happen after he passed the ball - Vesuvius' players would definitely catch up like a hound chasing a rabbit.

He believed that Toni himself knew this very well.

But Hulay still nodded to Toni.

Seeing Hu Lai nodding, Toni had a smile on his face and thanked him with a thumbs up.

After the crisp whistle, accompanied by the cheers of the Vesuvius fans, Hulay turned around and passed the football hard to Tonini who was standing in the midfielder position.

As he expected, after the football was played, Vesuvius forward Merlin Ulrich quickly passed by him and rushed straight towards Toni.

After Toni received the ball, he did not pass the football immediately.

Instead, when Ulrich rushed in front of him and stretched out his foot to steal the ball, he used his right foot to gently push the football to the left, then knocked the ball forward with his left foot, and at the same time, he sidestepped away. Ulrich rushes.

“Beautiful fried meatballs!”

After passing Ulrich with a fried ball, Tonini passed the football to Vukovich who stepped forward to meet him.

At the same time, he also reached out and made a "steady" gesture to the Serbian midfielder.

Be steady, don't rush to attack after conceding two goals in a row, control the rhythm first, slow down, and don't let the game fall into the rhythm that Vesuvius wants.

There is no need for the head coach to remind them. As veteran players who have experienced many battles, they themselves know exactly what to do.

Vukovich passed the ball directly back to the feet of center back Danny Drew.

Drew then passed the ball to left back Ion Martinez while pointing to the far right side.

Ion made a long diagonal pass with his big foot and passed the ball in the direction Drew pointed to right back Ettore Navarro.

As soon as Navarro received the ball, Vesuvius' players rushed up to press him.

But before receiving the ball, Navarro had already seen Joaquin Vela who came to meet him, so he passed the football directly back to Joaquin Vela in the center.

Vela received the ball and passed it back to goalkeeper Hewel.

The Madrid Pirates just moved back and forth in the midfield.

In response to the Pirates' ball-control behavior,

Vesuvius' countermeasure was to press high.

Their players seem to be tireless.

This kind of pressing did create some trouble for the Madrid Pirates' goal.

As the number of consecutive passes increases, mistakes will always occur. Vesuvius seized one of the opportunities and launched an attack in the frontcourt.

They passed a low ball from the right rib of the penalty area to the middle.

Merlin Ulrich, who was outflanking in the middle, failed to get a chance to shoot due to the personal interference of Toni Joaquín Vela. He could only watch the football pass by in front of his eyes and roll back!

The Vesuvius fans in the stands became excited - because although Ulrich failed to get a chance to kick, he deceived goalkeeper Hewel into the middle. Now the goal is empty!

Another forward of Vesuvius, Valerio Betra, rushed to the back point and stabbed with his foot!

At the same time, the center back Riva Moreno, who was supposed to guard him, slipped and fell to the ground at the critical moment!

The Madrid Pirates fans in front of the TV were so shocked that they broke into a cold sweat!

Fortunately, Toni arrived in time and put down a shovel to intercept!

The football was blocked by him in front of the goal line!

Betra also wanted to make a follow-up shot. This time he and Vukovich exchanged a kick. The football rebounded and flew outside the penalty area, and was completely cleared by Hu Lai.

"Wow! It's so dangerous! It's so dangerous!"

Spanish commentator Sanchez let out a sigh of relief.

The Italian commentator put his head in his hands: "Vesuvius missed an opportunity to extend the score to 3:0! Betra's two consecutive shots were blocked by Madrid Pirates players in front of the goal line twice! "

But he quickly changed the subject: "However, the dangers in front of Madrid Pirates' goal show that their defense can no longer withstand the pressure. Moreno's sudden slip is strong evidence! Under Vesuvius' high pressure, The pressure on the Madrid Pirates players will increase... That's it! Keep applying pressure, and under heavy pressure, the Pirates will inevitably collapse!"

The Italian commentator was right, and so did the Vesuvius fans.

Moreno suddenly slipped in front of the goal, which was simply a microcosm of the busy situation of the Madrid Pirates.

However, the next scene that appeared on the live TV screen made many people frown.

After Riva Moreno got up from the ground after making a mistake, he actually smiled at Tonini.

Toni, who wiped his butt for him, did not complain to Moreno who made the mistake. Instead, he waved his hands with a smile on his face, as if he did not take the danger in front of the door to heart at all...

This is very puzzling.

You almost lost the ball just now!

And this was clearly Moreno's own mistake.

Don’t you all criticize and self-criticize?

Even if you don’t criticize yourself, you still have a playful smile!

Especially Moreno, he made a mistake and the team almost conceded a goal, but he still had a smile!

What's so funny?

what's so funny? !

It’s simply baffling!

We Vesuvius fans can't stand it any longer and we are complaining for the Madrid Pirates fans!

Such a shameless, irresponsible and shameless group of players, no wonder Madrid Pirates have performed so poorly this season!

In fact, it's not just Vesuvius fans who find it incredible.

Farias on the court was also a bit incredible.

He saw with his own eyes Toni and Moreno smiling at each other.

Then he also became messy:

Why laugh?

One just made a mistake and almost caused the team to concede a goal, while the other had already caused the team to concede a goal due to his own negligence.

There were dangers in front of the Pirates of Madrid, and Farias's heart was beating wildly. The two people who should be afraid the most actually laughed at each other...

Farias looked at the other teammates and found that most of them turned a blind eye to this. They were not surprised like him, and no one criticized them.

Goalkeeper Hewel is directing the players to position themselves for defense.

On the field, captain Joaquin Vela was clapping his hands to encourage everyone.

He looked at Hulay, who not only did not criticize Tonini and Moreno, but gave them a thumbs up!

Noticing Farias's doubtful eyes, Hu Lai turned around, smiled at him as well, and then told him with gestures and mouth movements:

Stay still and don't panic, it's no big deal.

Farias suddenly realized that this might be the old guys' "not alarmed by changes"?

In the past six or seven seasons, these people have experienced many "famous scenes" together. Especially during the three consecutive Champions League championships, every championship was hard-won and was won through stumbling.

There are many situations like this where one is forced into a desperate situation by the opponent.

Not to mention, in the recent second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, didn't the team fall behind by three goals in the game?

So maybe in their eyes, the "danger" in front of the door just now is really not that big of a deal...

Thinking about it this way, Farias felt that it was really not a big deal.

We can come back from being behind by three goals, but what does it mean to be behind by two goals?

※※※

Farias saw calmness and hope in the smiles between Moreno and Tonini.

The fans of Vesuvius also saw hope - the hope that Vesuvius would score more goals and end the two-round suspense in one round.

After the game resumed, Vesuvius stepped up its offensive and applied further pressure.

However, the panic they hoped to see from the Madrid Pirates players did not appear.

The Madrid Pirates players not only withstood Vesuvius' offensive, but were also able to launch threatening counterattacks.

In the 20th minute of the game, Hu Lai got a chance to kick outside the penalty area.

He first pretended to pass the football to Farias, then suddenly moved the football forward, opened up enough space for his feet, and quickly shot with his legs!

Even though he was a bit hasty, his kick was still of high quality.

The ball bounced off the ground in front of the goal and bypassed the hands of the Vesuvian goalkeeper Jakobs Persson, who was diving sideways. Then it hit the outside of the goal post and missed the goal!

"Pillar! Ahhh!" He Feng looked up to the sky and yelled regretfully. "It's such a pity that the goal didn't go in! This is the best chance for the Madrid Pirates since the start of this game! What a pity!"

Hu Lai felt the same way himself. When he saw the football hitting the goalpost and then deflecting off the baseline, he raised his hands and held his head, grinning in pain.

Looking at Hu Lai's expression and movements, Spanish commentator Sanchez said: "What a pity! Hu Lai's shot was very sudden. It is very rare to be able to produce such quality in such a hasty situation. If we had given him more preparations, In a moment, maybe the ball can hit the inside of the goal post and bounce into the net?"

Wang Guangwei retracted his gaze towards the bottom line, then pointed at Hu Lai and shouted to Giuseppe Giordano, his center back partner who had just defended him: "Slow, slow! Go up faster!"

In fact, Giordano went up quickly enough, otherwise Hu Lai wouldn't have been able to get up in a hurry.

But in Wang Guangwei's view, this is not enough.

Giordano was not dissatisfied after being criticized, but nodded excitedly.

He also knows that he has done a good job, but... defending Hu Lai means going all out and doing the best!

Sure enough, this is the strongest forward in world football today!

Wang Guangwei noticed Giordano's expression, and he could guess what the boy was thinking.

He did not stop Giordano from having bold ideas. After all, as a talented central defender who has attracted much attention, he has to play against Hu Lai to test his quality...

※※※

Soon when Hulay got the ball in the Vesuvius penalty area, Giordano almost connected with him before he could catch the ball.

And he pushed back hard to show Hu Lai his determination.

So Hulay failed to shoot this time. He didn't even turn around and passed the football directly to Vukovich.

The latter completed the shot.

The latter's shot was blocked by Wang Guangwei's foot.

"Wang Guangwei! Good shot! He blocked Vukovic's long shot!"

Wang Guangwei pointed at the corner flag area and shouted: "Defend the corner kick!"

Then in the corner kick attack of the Madrid Pirates, he jumped up with Danny Drew to compete for the top. Since he was stuck in the position first, he cleared the ball with his head before Drew.

"Wang Guangwei! Another successful defense!"

When Wang Guangwei performed well, the Chinese commentators He Feng and Yan Kang were very excited and spoke several decibels louder.

"As of now, twenty-three minutes into the game, Vesuvius still leads the Madrid Pirates 2:0 at home. The Pirates' offensive improved slightly, but they still failed to break Vesuvius' goal. Although Vesuvius is not like The Turin Bulls attach great importance to defense, but as an Italian team, how can they easily have problems on defense?" Spanish commentator Sanchez also sighed.

※※※

Hu Lai knew that he was being closely watched by Vesuvius.

Although his team has encountered many problems this season, his scoring efficiency still ranks first among the others.

The coaches and players of Vesuvius know exactly who is the most threatening player for Madrid Pirates...

Even though Farias scored a very beautiful goal in the last Champions League game, it did not help him attract much defensive firepower.

It seems you still have to rely on yourself.

When Wang Guangwei stood next to Hu Lai again, Hu Lai covered his mouth and said to him: "Why are you guarding me, Lao Wang? They have said that the most threatening person in our team is Farias."

"Haha." Wang Guangwei was already immune to Hu Lai's nonsense. He sneered in return, "It's okay for you to lie to others, Hu Lai. Who is complaining about this naughty boy Farias in the group? Dribbling the ball by himself, not caring about his teammates at all, and having no sense of teamwork? What threat can such a player pose? If he has the ability, he can score five goals in a row again?"

Hu Lai curled his lips and said: "We will treat each other with admiration after three days of separation. Old Wang, think about it carefully, how long has it been since I complained about Farias in the group?"

Hearing this, Wang Guangwei was stunned for a moment, because indeed... Hu Lai seems to have not complained about Farias in the group for several days. Is it true...

As a result, just when he was thinking this, Hu Lai suddenly ran out!

And caught the ball!

Then before Wang Guangwei could pounce on him, he took a shot!

The football made an arc, bypassed the fingers of Vesuvius goalkeeper Jacobs Persson, then circled the far post... and flew out of the baseline!

"Ah!" He Feng looked up to the sky and shouted regretfully, "This shot was a beautiful shot! It's a pity that it missed a little!"

The Italian commentator exclaimed: "Oh! What a risk! Hu's shot almost scored! He used his clever movement to get rid of Wang briefly!"

Seeing Hu Lai holding his head in his hands, Wang Guangwei wanted to slap himself - why did I almost get in trouble with this kid again! ?

In his only previous experience with Hu Lai, wasn't it just like this when Hu Lai suddenly ran out while chatting with him?

Sure enough, it’s been too long since we’ve fought each other, so have I forgotten this lesson? He was actually fooled by Hu Lai using the same trick...

He shook his head mockingly, and even wanted to give Hu Lai a thumbs up: Sure, Hu Lai, after so many years, you still "do not forget your original intention"?

But I am no longer the high school student that you easily teased to the point of becoming impatient!

※※※

Ion Martinez actively moved forward and participated in the attack.

He started to pass from the left wing, looking for Hu Lai in front of the goal.

However, Hu Lai was not able to grab the spot this time.

Because the landing point has been occupied by Wang Guangwei in advance.

He blocked Hulay from completing a header clearance and pushed the football away, ending the Madrid Pirates' attack.

The Vesuvius fans in the stands gave Wang Guangwei applause without hesitation.

Since joining Vesuvius from Eldrea four years ago, he has completely established himself as the main force in this team in just half a season.

Wang Guangwei, who is not too tall at only 1.85 meters, has become an indispensable part of Vesuvius' defense thanks to his precise judgment of where the football will land, his tireless running, and his brave confrontation. of iron gates.

Although he received praise from the fans, Wang Guangwei's face did not show any happiness or relaxation.

Instead, he pointed to the wing and loudly reminded his teammates not to easily give the Madrid Pirates a chance to cross.

In fact, it is not difficult to guard Hu Lai in one-on-one situations, because he is not the kind of player who has a particularly strong individual combat ability.

So why has Hulay still become a "nightmare" for all defenders?

Because as a defender, it is impossible to defend Hu Lai only once in the game. Within ninety minutes of a game, defensive players must remain focused at all times and cannot be distracted or careless.

But humans are not machines, so how can they not be distracted and make mistakes?

The scariest thing about Hu Lai is that he can very efficiently seize the opportunity for you to make mistakes and get distracted.

This requires defensive players to remain vigilant and alert at all times when defending Hu Lai.

Being in a state of mental stress for a long time increases the chance that players will make mistakes and become distracted.

The more you tighten up, the more you make mistakes, and the more you make mistakes, the more you tighten up...it becomes a vicious cycle.

As a defender who knows Hu Lai very well, it is absolutely impossible for Wang Guangwei to be complacent and think that he can guard Hu Lai just because of a successful defense.

But his centre-back partner Giuseppe Giordano doesn't seem to think so.

After Wang Guangwei successfully defended Hu Lai, he gave Wang Guangwei a thumbs up and said loudly: "Well done, Wang! That's it, we can definitely defend him!"

Wang Guangwei ignored Giordano. He seemed a little too excited today...

He wondered if he should remind Giordano to stop being so excited while waiting for halftime.

※※※

Facing the increasingly fierce offensive of the Madrid Pirates, Vesuvius chose to recycle the formation.

Anyway, they have a two-goal lead, and they can completely launch a defensive counterattack.

How deep does their formation go?

Even the two forwards retreated to the center circle, and all eleven people on the field were in their own half.

When Madrid Pirates' center back Danny Drew got the ball, he was even already in the center circle of the opponent's half, and the two Vesuvius forwards were not far from him.

In front of him is an advanced line of four Vesuvian midfielders, about ten meters ahead of him.

About ten meters behind the forward line are four defenders.

The four forwards closely follow the Madrid Pirates midfielder.

The four defenders pressed in front of the top of the penalty arc in unison - they even knew how to cause offside.

Under their pressure, it was impossible for the Madrid Pirates' forwards to reach Vesuvius' penalty area, and they could only retreat outward.

Ion Martinez is a left back, but he is pressed into the left winger position.

Not far near him was Farias.

The two left players are concentrated in one place, making the left wing a little crowded.

But this is also the key direction of Madrid Pirates' attack.

After failing to find a suitable passing point closest to him, Drew decided to pass the football directly there.

So he started and made a long pass.

Because Vesuvius is currently implementing a strategy of shrinking defense, when Drew passed the ball, Vesuvius forward Valerio Betra, who was only three meters away from him, did not interfere.

The football flew towards Farias and Ion.

Because the positions of the two people are now highly overlapping, it is difficult to tell who the ball was passed to.

Farias stood in front of Ion, faced the flying football and jumped up unceremoniously to remove the ball with his chest.

Just as the football flew to the left wing, Wang Guangwei noticed that Hu Lai in front of him suddenly ran towards the area where the football landed.

Is he going to meet Farias?

However, Wang Guangwei was unmoved. He continued to stay at his position and just pointed at Hu Lai to remind his teammates nearby to take extra care.

Farias didn't pass the football to Hulay.

After taking off the football, he dribbled the ball laterally inside, just like he had done countless times before, seemingly ignoring the teammates around him.

Maybe he didn't pay attention to the defensive players who were swarming around him - his cut inside immediately attracted two Vesuvian players, one was forward Merlin Ulrich who returned to defend in front of the penalty area, and the other was It's the team's captain and midfielder Victor Montero.

Two people were stuck in front of Farias, one on the left and one on the right.

Also when Drew passed the ball to the left, Vukovich, who was originally in the midfield, suddenly accelerated towards Vesuvius' penalty area.

Wang Guangwei noticed Vukovich's advance, so he leaned over slightly, but his eyes were still locked on Farias who was holding the ball, and the corner of his eye was focused on Hulay's position.

After Vesuvius midfielder Montero got close to Farias, he tried to put pressure on the Argentine "lone wolf". Farias saw this and tried to shoot the far corner directly from outside the penalty area, deceiving Montero. After stretching his foot to block, he used the inside of his right foot to knock the football from behind the left foot supporting his body to the other side, and turned around at the same time!

Although Montero was stunned by him, Vesuvius still had someone guarding him.

So just as Farias turned around, Merlin Ulrich on the other side stretched out his foot to stab the football.

Seeing this, Farias could only take the first step and stab the football to Hulay, the player closest to him.

At this time, Hulay was a little outside the corner of the penalty area. In front of him was Farias who passed the ball to him, and behind him was Ion Martinez who had been waiting on the sideline for a long time.

Faced with this situation, Hu Lai did not choose to pass the football directly to Ion behind him. After adjusting, he first attracted Merlin Ulrich, and then used the outside instep of his right foot to pass the football back to Ion. Farias inserted into the penalty area.

After passing the ball to Farias, Hulay did not continue to run forward, nor did he choose to cross into the penalty area. Instead, he did the opposite - he ran back and pulled away from behind Merlin Ulrich. It circled back to the corner of the penalty area, and then cut across along the line of the penalty area.

Wang Guangwei, who has been paying attention to Hu Lai, saw Hu Lai's movement and immediately thought of a possibility - Hu Lai was going to receive Farias' pass! After Farias attracted Vesuvius's defensive power, he ran into the space to catch the ball and shoot...

Originally, he did not believe that Farias would pass the football to Hulay when the person had already entered the penalty area.

But for some reason, Hu Lai's words suddenly rang out in his mind:

"We will see each other with admiration after three days of separation!"

Will the former "lone wolf" Farias learn to work as a team during this period? After all, the pressure he faced was indeed great...

At the same time, Wang Guangwei also saw Hu Lai, who was outside the penalty area, making a very hidden gesture to Farias, which meant asking for the ball!

Seeing this scene, and combined with what Hu Lai said to him before, Wang Guangwei no longer hesitated, quickly rushed out of the restricted area and killed Hu Lai!

At the same time, Vukovich also pulled outwards, as if to respond. So Montero also took a step back in the direction of Vukovich. The circle that originally surrounded Farias suddenly lost two people, and the space was torn open!

Farias did not pass the ball to Hulay, nor to Vukovic.

He chose to shoot directly!

Just after entering the penalty area, near the corner of the penalty area, facing the blockade of three people in front of him, about 20 meters away from the goal, and with a small angle, Farias took a shot!

When they saw him waving his feet, many Chinese fans in front of the TV couldn't help but tutted:

Another stupid kick!

But then, they saw Vesuvius goalkeeper Jacobs Persson leaping sideways, opening his arms, and missed the ball...

Until this time, many people thought that Farias missed the kick.

But then they saw the football lift the net!

"Ball... eh! What a good ball! What a good ball!" He Feng was stunned for a moment, then realized what this scene meant and shouted loudly. "Farias! He pulled a goal back for Madrid Pirates! In the 28th minute, Madrid Pirates pulled a goal back! 1:2!"

The noise above Vesuvius’ home stadium, the Southern Stadium, was silenced!

Everyone was worried about Hulay scoring, but they didn't expect that the first goal scored by the Madrid Pirates was the "lone wolf" Farias who had been scolded bloody in the previous three league games!