Chapter 4 (41)

The striking storm didn't last long, and soon it turned into a slow summer rain that swept away the heat that had plagued the city for days and the dust that had been on the buildings. The rain had just lightened, and people who had just taken shelter from the cats came out one after another, and countless colorful umbrellas were immediately blooming on the streets. The rain-washed almost spotless road is once again filled with a torrent of cars from north to south, and the splash of the speeding wheels hardly stops. The modern metropolis is gradually coming alive in the rain.

Not everyone is uplifted by the rare coolness of this summer, at least not the people of Yafeng. The rain had been tormenting them. As the game time approached, the weather conditions remained the same, and by the time they arrived at the stadium by car, the rain was even heavier than before, and the small splashes of raindrops on the concrete floor could be clearly seen. Whether it is the players or the club officials, they can't help but glance at the sky when they walk into the corridor, and then they are all worried and anxious. The sky was still firmly occupied by a vast gray cloud cover, and there was not even the slightest sign of an imminent clearing. Alas, it looks like God is determined to fight against them, and they have to play in the rain......

But when the game began, the rain gradually subsided, and the sun, which had been missing for a long time, peeked out from behind the thick clouds and spread a ray of sunlight in the stadium.

This is certainly a good sign!

While still waiting for the appearance in the athletes' corridor, the Yafeng team members were squeezing each other's eyebrows, sweeping away the gloom on their faces just now. Although no one said anything about the weather about to clear up, there was no doubt that they believed in their hearts that it must be some kind of omen, a sign that they would defeat Guangdong Jinsui in one fell swoop and leave with three points and a victory.

What's even more incredible is that Guangdong Jinsui did not take advantage of the good opportunity given to them by God, and attacked with all their might at the first time at the beginning, on the contrary, in the more than ten minutes after the start of the game, they advanced to the front of the Yafeng penalty area only a handful of times, and the power invested each time was not large, almost no threat, Yafeng's back line did not take much effort to resolve their offensive. And Yafeng's several side bottom routines have played well, although no substantial progress has been made for the time being, but the return has made the opponent very sad, especially the left side presided over by Zhou Jian is unusually active, just now, his side breakthrough made the right side of the Golden Harvest penalty area a mess, if it weren't for Franco, who received in the middle, slipped on the lawn, maybe he could celebrate the goal.

Just kick it like that!

Since the referee blew the whistle for the opening of the game, Cheng Dexing has been standing on the side of the field and closely paying attention to the changes in the situation on the field. Guangdong Jinsui's caution made the corners of his mouth can't help but show a smile. It seems that the head coach of Jin Sui has taught him to be afraid, even with God's help, the opponent does not dare to let go of his hands and feet to attack, for fear that a mistake will bring passivity to himself. But what is the use of their hoarding of troops to defend in their own half? This is a rain-soaked field, and the slippery turf can easily distort the players' movements, as long as the Golden Harvest players are not careful, it is likely to give Yafeng a chance to take a set-piece, and in this kind of game conditions, a free kick in front of the court is likely to dominate the game.

Just thinking of the set-piece to decide this game, Yafeng's chance came!

In the fourteenth minute, the Golden Harvest player fouled Franco at the edge of the penalty area when he intercepted Franco, who was looking for an opportunity with the ball, and the referee did not hesitate to award a direct free kick in front.

Several Yafeng players immediately surrounded the referee. How can this be a direct free-kick? Franco had already stepped on the line of the penalty area with one foot when he was tackled by his opponent, and it should definitely be a penalty! Besides, the opponent was tackled by Franco from behind, so you have to give a yellow card for such a dangerous move, and a mere verbal warning is over?

The expressionless referee turned a deaf ear to the Yafeng players' non-verbal protests and hugs, and glanced at the guys around him with a stern gaze - if he didn't get out of the way and didn't kick off again, the yellow card would really be taken out!

The Yafeng team had no choice but to give up this pointless struggle and hurried back to their respective positions. Franco put the ball on the penalty spot designated by the referee, exchanged glances with Zhou Jian next to him, and then took two steps back diagonally, bent over and bent his legs in a running posture - Zhou Jian suddenly picked up his leg and shot vigorously!

The ball leaped up and down, not only over the wall of five Golden Spike players, but also high over the goal crossbar, until it flew over the billboard behind the goal before losing its momentum and hitting its head against the parapet of the stadium stands.

There was immediately a burst of cheering gongs and drums from the south stand of the stadium, mixed with several strange cries of Jinsui fans. But this thin inverted color sound had no momentum at all, neither could it hit the morale of the Yafeng players, nor could it boost the fighting spirit of the Golden Harvest players, and it didn't even cause more fans to echo. Of course, this can't be blamed on the lack of enthusiasm of the fans and spectators. Because of Jin Sui's own reasons, but also because of the weather, the attendance of this game can only be described as miserable - there are only spectators in the early 3,000 and 4,000 in the huge stadium, and almost all of them are crowded in the south stand that can shelter from the wind and rain.

The Yafeng player, who left the coach's bench for this direct free kick, also returned to his seat with a sigh and a face full of regret. What an opportunity! The penalty spot was on the edge of the penalty area, almost directly facing the goal, so why didn't it go in? Even if it hits the human wall, at least there is a chance to reorganize the attack, but the kick that Zhou Jian kicked ...... Alas, why did Zhou Jian take this free kick? Casually snap your fingers, there are several free kicks in the team that are stronger than Zhou Jian, Li Xiaolin and Wei Honglin have both scored set-pieces farther than this distance in official matches, although they can't play for one reason or another, but Coach Cheng should also let Gao Jinsong start in this game, he is a good hand at doing this job......

Of course, people can only bury this in their hearts. Cheng Dexing wants to clean up Gao Jinsong's affairs, which is now a semi-open secret in the club. And it's getting worse. It is rumored that Gao Jinsong blatantly met with his new owner the night before yesterday in disregard of the club's charter, and his new owner was Shenzhen Blue Sky, and the person who matched him with Shenzhen Blue Sky was Yao Yuan, who ran back to Guangdong under the guise of visiting relatives.

So some people looked at Gao Jinsong who was sitting at the end of the bench with disdain. This guy has just emerged in the league and started to climb the high branches, he doesn't want to think, who gave him this opportunity to show his face? Bah! What the hell! In vain, Director Cheng's hard work was wasted, and he was given so much trust and such a high evaluation at the beginning! Of course, there are also people who understand, and they know the stakes - whether from a tactical point of view or from the perspective of team management, Gao Jinsong has been abandoned by Cheng Dexing, and his days in Yafeng are coming to an end. They couldn't help but feel sorry for Ya Feng. What a good player, and he's still so young, why doesn't the club know how to keep him?

Gao Jinsong, who was paying attention to the game wholeheartedly, didn't notice the complicated eyes of his teammates.

The first half of the game has been played for almost 30 minutes, Wuhan Yafeng is still a guest on the field occupies an obvious advantage, although the side attack still has not achieved substantial results, but Guangdong Jinsui has no good countermeasures for Yafeng's frequent side breakthroughs, and can only strengthen the defense with the advantage of numbers; Fortunately, their defense in the middle has not made any major mistakes so far, and the center forward and Franco, who have just returned from injury, have not had a few good opportunities; The midfield scramble, which should have been fierce, has not appeared until now, and the slippery turf has made it impossible for the Golden Harvest players to give full play to their delicate technical advantages, so they have to give up the tacit understanding of the small range of cooperation, and pick up the long pass that they are not familiar with, but due to the natural defects of height and strength, they can't fight against the Yafeng backline at all, except for a long-range shot that makes the Yafeng goalkeeper have a false alarm, until now their offense has not improved much, and it is difficult for them to even penetrate into Yafeng's penalty area.

It seems that it is only a matter of time before Yafeng scores a goal, but Gao Jinsong has a very bad feeling. But why did he feel this way? He had no clue about it. He curled his lips and stared anxiously at his teammates running around, desperately trying to find clues in them.

Cheng Dexing has the same bad feelings. Although the breakthroughs on both sides have repeatedly worked, the center forward who receives in the middle is completely out of shape! Yes, from the beginning of the game to the present, the center has been working hard to implement the tactical intent, trying to attract the opponent's defensive strength, but his physical condition and game state do not support him to do so, and most of his efforts can only be in vain; And he's not too comfortable with the current lone striker position, often forgetting that his responsibility is to create chances for his team-mates, and when he finally gets the ball, he's always thinking about scoring goals on his own, which actually means wasting attacking opportunities - he's often playing alone in the box, so how can opponents let him shoot with his feet on goal? And then there's Franco, the shadow striker and midfielder he had high hopes for, who was completely out of temper by his opponents, who had neither a successful playmaking nor a decent shot, as if he had evaporated from the pitch......

Cheng Dexing sat in the coach's seat, holding his elbow with one hand and rubbing his chin that he had just shaved in the morning with the other, while paying attention to every subtle change on the field, while racking his brains to think about a plan to open the stalemate situation in front of him.

The first half passed imperceptibly in Yafeng's anti-away attack.

"It's about consolidating the defense. Don't get tangled with your opponent in midfield. Play more long balls, hit behind your opponents more often, and don't stick to the ball. How far to shoot ......" is something that Cheng Dexing repeatedly told in the locker room at halftime. He also specially instructed several core players to remind their teammates to pay attention to maintaining the formation at all times, pay attention to the connection between the three lines, and be vigilant against the opponent's sneak attack...... "Feed Franco the ball and let him organize the scheduling." Don't be too alone as a striker, your task is to compete for the first drop of the ball and attract the attention of the opposition. The flanks should pay attention to strategy and outflanking. The back line must concentrate and especially pay attention to the protection of each other......"

The first fifteen minutes of the second half of the game were almost a replica of the first half, Yafeng still used the wing to attack, the center still couldn't create opportunities for his teammates, Franco still occasionally showed his face, the only difference was that their back line moved forward for a long distance, and the dragging central defender Zhuang Xian has stood on the edge of the center circle arc many times. Fortunately, Guangdong Jinsui, who was besieged by Yafeng, would not be able to attack at all for a while, otherwise just with the large open space between Zhuang Xian and the goalkeeper, it was likely to ruin all Yafeng's previous efforts.

Cheng Dexing, who had just sat down, immediately couldn't sit still. This is an away game, this is a muddy field that has just passed the rain, not to mention whether the side breakthrough can achieve the goal, just the physical exertion caused by repeated impacts is likely to ruin the game! He immediately ran to the side of the field and shouted to Zhou Jian, asking him to bring a message to the others, you can't kick like this, you must not kick like this! We must implement the tactical thinking formulated by the coaching staff before the game - win in stability!

Maybe it was his words that worked, maybe it was that the players couldn't attack for a long time and inevitably slack, maybe the physical consumption was indeed a little large, in short, Wuhan Yafeng slowed down the pace after more than 20 minutes of fruitless attacks.

That's what opponents are waiting for!

Guangdong Golden Harvest poured out the nest!

And their offensive immediately bore fruit!

In the 68th minute, Zhou Jian accidentally shoveled down the opponent in a muddy defense a few meters in front of the penalty area, and the referee a few steps away immediately awarded a direct free kick.

1 to 0!

The advantage of more than 60 minutes in exchange for such a score is undoubtedly an unacceptable result for the Yafeng players. With the goal-scoring home team retreating into their own defense inside and outside the penalty area, the Yafeng players attacked the opponent like crazy, and in just seven minutes they had six shots on goal and four corners and a free-kick in front, but they did not take a single chance of such a large opportunity. In the 79th minute, their efforts finally came to an end, Zhuang Xian suddenly stepped forward from behind and smashed the ball into the net with his head, but before he could open his arms and celebrate, he heard the referee's quick whistle announcing the goal invalid - Yafeng center forward rushed into the golden sui goalkeeper in front, this goal was not counted, and the center forward also received a yellow card for it. If it weren't for the quick pulling of his teammates, Zhuang Xian, who was puffing out his eyes to find the referee's theory, would also be punished more severely - Zhuang Xian, who was about to lose his mind, actually stretched out his hand to the referee......

Cheng Dexing immediately made adjustments: Gao Jin was loose, and the yellowed center was down; Chi Yuwen is no longer physically fit under the right midfielder who is not in the rhythm of the game.

In the eighty-sixth minute, Franco, who had disappeared for a long time in this game, finally surfaced, he received a pass from Chi Yuwen in the middle, and suddenly a very imaginative straight stop-

The ball crossed between the two Golden Spike defenders, and almost at the moment of Franco's pass, Gao Jinsong also got rid of the entanglement of the defenders, and now he has left the entire defense line of the Golden Spike behind, and there is only a goalkeeper in front of him who pounces on him with a fierce face -

The Golden Harvest goalkeeper, who desperately blocked this danger, fell to the ground at the moment when Gao Jinsong swung his legs, and put on a posture of defending the goal with his hands and feet - he was desperately kicked by Gao Jinsong, and he couldn't let the goal have a mistake! Even if he is sent off with a red card, he can't teach Gao Jinsong to succeed!

Gao Jinsong hesitated before he was about to shoot......

Looking at Gao Jinsong, who jumped high to avoid the goalkeeper and the ball, Cheng Dexing's face was not shocked, and he was as calm as a pool of stagnant water, but the corners of his eyes were beating uncontrollably, and his hands couldn't help but clench into fists!

The final result of the game was 1 to 0, and Guangdong Jinsui won the game that Cheng Dexing said before the game that it should be "evenly divided" by "luck" under the ugly scene.