Chapter 85: Penalty Shootout
At this time, Italy's penalty area can be described as crowded, 8 people in the Chinese team, and all 11 people in the Italian team are crowded in the narrow penalty area, and both sides know the importance of this goal. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
The penalty area was crowded, and the referee dealt with it several times, and the penalty area was a little calmer, and then the referee signaled Hao Junmin to blow the whistle and then kick.
Several high points on the Chinese team's side were closely guarded, Zhou Dun was next to Nocerino, Yin Di was next to Montolivo, Gao Lin was next to Decelli, and the players on the Italian bench had already stood up, and the extreme tension made the players unable to sit down.
On the side of the Chinese team, Li Guo was already kneeling on the side of the court, perhaps only this posture could calm Li Guo's mood at this time.
Hao Junmin raised his right hand and stretched out three fingers, which means the number three tactic, which should be clear to his own players.
Run up...... Shooting, the Italian players began to move their hands and feet, all in order to seize the advantageous position.
Hao Junmin's shot is fast and flat, this kind of ball makes it difficult for defenders to do, whoever touches it is likely to own a goal, the ball is fast in the process of crossing the penalty area, but it feels very slow, and finally ...... A strange scene appeared, there were 19 people in the penalty area, and no one touched the ball, but the ball was ...... Enter...... Finish.
The moment the ball flew into the goal, the players on the bench of the Chinese team were still unaware, because from the perspective of the bench, the sight was completely blocked by the people in the penalty area, until the fans in the stadium were high, and the broadcast on the scene shouted the name of Hao Junmin, and the Chinese players knew that the ball had scored.
In ecstasy, the players on the bench rushed out and ran to the area behind the Italian goal, where the Chinese players were celebrating, and Hao Junmin was gone, probably already stacked by his excited teammates.
At this time, Li Guo prostrate on the ground and kissed the lawn, "Thank you, God," after kissing the lawn, Li Guo pointed to the sky, I don't know why, under the ecstasy, Li Guo's emotions seemed to be blocked, but he couldn't express it, and it seemed very quiet.
Instead of running to his knees like Mourinho did at Old Trafford, or pacing back and forth on the sidelines like the madman Bielsa, Li Guo sat back in the dugout, picked up a bottle of sports drink and unscrewed it, but didn't drink it, just took it.
"Li Guo, are you stupid?" Allardyce asked.
"No, Big Sam, I'm so tired, I finally understand why Ferguson ended up having heart problems, I understood why Cruyff kept smoking, this line of work is really too stressful, either ecstatic or crying."
"Li Guo, you are stronger than I thought, to be honest, when I first met you, I thought you might soon give up coaching, but it seems that I was wrong."
"Hehe, Big Sam, do you have so little faith in me?"
"Haha, I used to be not optimistic about you, but now I feel that you will definitely surpass me in the future and become the top coach."
Soon, the celebration of the Chinese team came to an end, the game continued, and after dozens of seconds, the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, 2-2, and the quarterfinals were going to enter overtime.
*****
In the second half of overtime, Dutt stood up and walked towards Li Guo, "Li Guo, prepare for a penalty shootout, the current situation is that both sides can't run, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to distinguish the winner within 120 minutes." ā
Li Guo nodded, "You can arrange the list of penalty shootouts." ā
Dutt looked a little embarrassed, "Li Guo, as usual, it's best for the players to decide this themselves." ā
Li Guo remembered that many times the coach will let the players decide whether to take a penalty or not, after all, the pressure to take a penalty is too much, if you are not willing, then it is better not to do it.
"Well, let them decide for themselves later."
When the clock reached 120 minutes, the referee blew the final whistle and the brutal penalty shoot-out was about to begin.
*****
"Zheng Zhi, you are the first to play, and I am the last to play," Li Weifeng said, showing the responsibility of a veteran at this time. Because in penalty shootouts, the pressure is the most on the first and last one.
In this way, the No. 1 penalty player and the No. 5 penalty player have been determined, and the next step is to determine the number 2, 3 and 4.
The rest of the players looked at each other, and everyone knew how stressful it was to get to the penalty spot, and that pressure would make you forget to breathe.
"I'm number two," Mr. Sun said.
"Hmm," Li Weifeng nodded.
Then there was a silence, and after the silence, someone said: "I'm No. 3," everyone saw that it was Chen Green, which was expected, as the top scorer of the Chinese team, Chen Green should come forward.
Now the most important thing is the No. 4 penalty player, the rest of the players are all young players, never on such a major occasion to take a penalty, the pressure is conceivable, the coach, the captain does not want to give everyone any pressure, unless that person stands up himself, no one will hint at anything.
"I'll come," it was Zhou Dun who said this, Li Weifeng was happy, Li Guo was also happy, but what he didn't expect was that Zhou Dun said amazingly, "Captain, I want to change with you." ā
"Change? That is, you want to be the last one to play? ā
"Yes,"
Everyone knows that the last penalty player to play must be the strongest psychological quality, the reason why Li Weifeng took it was because he was the captain, he couldn't hide, what he didn't expect was that there were still people competing with him for this "hot potato".
Li Weifeng didn't know how to answer for a while, he should have been happy, but he felt faceless, and at this moment Li Guo spoke, "Okay, it's you!" Li Guo looked at Zhou Dun, his eyes were so firm.
In the end, the order of the Chinese team's main penalties was determined, Zheng Zhi, Sun Jihai, Chen Green, Li Weifeng, Zhou Dun.
*****
After guessing the coin and picking the edge, the Chinese team took the first penalty, Zheng Zhi, who was the first to play, he slowly walked to the penalty spot, and the first kick will determine the mentality of his teammates behind, and the Italian goalkeeper Sirigu danced the "noodle dance" on the goal line, trying to interfere with Zheng Zhi's penalty.
Take a deep breath, run, shoot, Zheng Zhi shook his ankle and made a feint, Sirigu pounced in the wrong direction, and the ball went in!!
The crowd erupted in cheers and then soon fell silent due to nervousness, and the penalty shoot-out was a nerve break, especially to the crowd.
In the first three rounds, both sides hit, and the penalty shootout reached the most critical moment, the fourth player of the Chinese team was Li Weifeng, as a defender, the big head did not have gorgeous footwork, ran and shot, and the big head scored the ball with a burst shot.
The pressure came to the Italian side, Italy's fourth appearance was Montolivo, in the face of Wang Dalei, Montolivo looked and looked, looked not so confident, and ran to shoot...... The next moment the whole field was boiling, and Montolivo's penalty was flying!
At this moment, Montolivo is like Baggio who missed a penalty in 94 and Di Biagio who missed a penalty in 98, with infinite loneliness in his back.
Just when the Italians were holding their heads and regretting it, the next penalty taker of the Chinese team had already gone to the penalty spot, and as long as he scored, the Chinese team could eliminate Italy.