World Cup of Great Powers

"Horton asked Ma Mingyu to take this free kick."

"I know." Chi Shangbin bit his nails nervously and stared at the Danish frontcourt intently.

"Coach Chi, you can understand again."

“No matter how illiterate I am, I can still understand ‘Seven’, ‘Lai Qian’ and so on!”

Listening to such authentic English, Zeng Zheng burst into laughter.

Behind Ma Mingyu, there is a big "Seven" printed on it.

"The Chinese team's free kick..."

"No. 7 Ma Mingyu stood in front of the ball."

"This position is about 25-6 meters away from the Danish goal."

"At this position, you can already fight directly."

"Let's see how Ma Mingyu chooses."

"approach..."

"Choose long shot!"

Ma Mingyu rushed to the door in just three steps, raised his right leg and kicked him hard.

The ball was like a fired cannonball. With the help of "cannon fighting", it bypassed the wall and flew directly to the Danish team's goal.

Schmeichel, who was guarding the goal line, was the writer of the Danish fairy tale of the 1992 European Cup.

Facing Ma Mingyu's powerful shot, Schmeichel dived laterally.

A standard fall to the ground and pushed Ma Mingyu's shot past the baseline with one palm.

"Oh my God!"

"Just a little bit!"

"Ma Mingyu's long shot made Schmeichel make an embarrassing save!"

Huang Jianxiang's sighing voice came from the TV, and a pair of wine glasses were crushed in front of a barbecue stall in Northeast China.

"Damn it! Can you save this ball?"

“It’s really amazing!”

"Damn it, is this goalkeeper on drugs?"

Unlike the bold and unrestrained people in the Northeast, in Ma Mingyu's hometown in Chongqing, a group of elderly men also swore at their beards.

"Oh! This Danish baby is so irritating when he throws himself on his back!"

"It's our pony who plays so carelessly!"

"Rise up, pony!!!"

Ma Mingyu's heavy artillery made the Danes frown.

While the Chinese team was taking a corner kick, Danish coach Johnson called a player to the sidelines. After a few words of instruction, the "messenger" rushed back to the court to convey Johnson's instructions.

"Xiao Ma kicked two long-range shots of good quality in a row. It seems they are going to be wary of us!" Jin Zhiyang looked worried.

"Yeah, in the future when the pony gets the ball, he probably won't have a good chance to kick." Chi Shangbin also nodded.

Zeng Zheng on the side had a different idea.

The "stadium bug" is too expensive, costing 1,000 redemption points per minute.

I'm not the head coach, so I didn't redeem it.

Judging from his experience, the Danes may not be as simple as Jin and Chi thought.

But this is just his own conjecture, and Zeng Zheng has no plans to say anything.

The first half of the game is about to end, it depends on how Horton arranges the second half.

With the help of Ma Mingyu's powerful shot, the Chinese team launched a strong attack for several minutes, and Schmeichel had to become nervous.

In the stoppage time of the first half, taking advantage of the Chinese team's aggressive attack, Sander received a pass from his teammate from the midfield and rushed into the penalty area.

Under the double-team of General Fan and Zhang Minghua, he volleyed with his left foot, but was blocked by Jiang Jin and sent to the other side of the court.

Wu Chengying got the ball and kicked it forward, and the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

...

"0 to 0."

"Both sides ended up with a goalless draw in the first 45 minutes."

"In general, the performance of the Chinese team is not worse than that of Denmark."

"Especially the several attacks from the right in the final stages..."

"Yes, that's it this time."

"If Schmeichel hadn't struck in time, Sun Jihai would have made a pass with his next kick."

Although most of the time, the Chinese team was beaten by Denmark.

In terms of the number of shots, they were also crushed 6 to 2.

But that didn't stop the fans from applauding and cheering for the wonderful final minutes.

Before Huang Jianxiang handed over the signal back to the studio, Holden walked back to the dressing room in a hurry.

Upon seeing this, Jin and Chi immediately followed, while Zeng Zheng curled his lips and took the initiative to bring several substitutes to the court to warm up.

The players pass the ball to each other on the court.

Since the Chinese team did not have a professional goalkeeper coach, Zeng Zheng and Ou Chuliang were paired up for training.

"Brother Ou, how do you feel about the World Cup?"

"Xiao Zheng, you are just laughing at your brother Ou!"

Ou Chuliang took advantage of Zeng Zheng's ground ball with one knee and threw the ball back with one arm.

"But no matter whether it's one or two, I'm satisfied just to be able to come to the World Cup."

"With my age, I'm not sure if there will be another one!"

Ou Chuliang said, and hugged the ground ball kicked by Zeng Zheng in his arms.

"Brother Ou, you are only 30 years old this year, right?" Zeng Zheng said with his fingers, "You will only be 34 years old in the next tournament. For a goalkeeper, it is the golden age! Maybe in the next World Cup, brother Ou, you will be the main player!

"

"Xiao Zheng, you are really good at being obedient." Ou Chuliang smiled and shook his head, "I know what level I am at."

"When I was young, I could still use my energy to fight and grab."

"I'm 30 now! As I get older, my reactions are not as good as when I was young!"

“It won’t be possible after 4 years!”

Zeng Zheng did not refute Ou Chuliang's self-deprecating remarks.

He has seen Ou Chuliang's talent.

Talent, golf intelligence, agility, reaction, and jumping are all SS level.

But the problem is that these three physical talents are particularly dependent on age.

Some team members are fine at the age of 29, but as soon as they turn 30, their whole body parts suddenly fail, and their competitive status and abilities plummet.

Although Ou Chuliang is extremely self-disciplined on weekdays, he just postponed this time for a few years.

With this opportunity to chat alone, the relationship between the two has become much closer.

Ou Chuliang counted the time and asked curiously: "Xiao Zheng, you are so capable, why don't you go back and help Holden with his staff?"

"Brother Ou, you don't understand this!"

Zeng Zheng shook his head, "One monk has water to eat, but two monks have no water to eat."

“If I make some suggestions, even if they are right, will Holden be happy?”

"Instead of having a conflict with him, I'd rather be like this."

"Anyway, we'll go home after playing three games. Whether he succeeds or resigns is up to him. I still have my own things to do!"

Ou Chuliang was stunned when he heard this, and then asked with a hesitant expression: "Xiao Zheng, you can't say that, right? After all, the competition has just begun, we can't destroy our prestige by ourselves!"

Hearing what Ou Chuliang said, Zeng Zheng smiled and said nothing more.

This is what I was talking about when I was drinking with my friends.

Saying this to your team members at the World Cup is just disturbing the morale of the military!

In ancient times, it would have been necessary to behead someone in public!

I looked at the time and saw that the second half was about to start.

I still don’t believe it until now. It seems that Horton is not planning to make a midfield substitution.

"Okay, brother Ou, he's in good shape! Try to have a good time in the next game!"

Zeng Zheng put away the ball and stepped forward to pull Ou Chuliang up from the ground.

Ou Chuliang smiled bitterly and shook his head.

Just like what he said before when he was laughing at himself.

He is currently at the peak of his career.

From now on, body functions will go downhill.

Now that he's in such good shape, Holden doesn't need him yet.

Why?

Isn’t it because of height?

Jiang Jin and Ou Chuliang are the same age, but they are 1.98 meters tall.

Even his older brother, who has been called up to the national team many times but has never played the main role, is still 1.89 meters tall.

A small goalkeeper like Ou Chuliang, who is officially 1.8 meters tall, is the most disadvantaged by his age.

If Horton can let him play in such a heavyweight match against the French team, he will have to hold on to the goal no matter how hard he fights.

But is this possible?

Seeing Ou Chuliang's loneliness, Zeng Zheng couldn't help but pat Ou Chuliang's shoulder and joked: "Brother Ou, don't lose heart!"

"If I could be the head coach, I would definitely let you!"