Chapter 49: Extra Time Ends
As soon as the game resumed, the Brazilian team relaunched an attack on the Chinese team's goal, and the Brazilian fans in the stands cheered desperately for their team, hoping that they could blast the Chinese team's goal, but whether it was Neymar, or Hulk, or Ruo, or anyone else, their attack failed to break through the goal guarded by Sun Pan.
The first half of extra time ended after three minutes of stoppage, and the score was still 1-1.
"The first half of extra time was over, and the Brazilian team still failed to break through the city of the Chinese team, which defended well in the first half. Now for the Chinese team, being able to drag the game into a penalty shootout is a victory, and the mentality of the Brazilian team will definitely be greatly affected......," He Ping said.
The first and second halves of extra time are not dedicated to breaks, everyone walks directly to the opposing half, and then the game begins.
But this is a theoretical requirement, and not many players will actually follow the rules like this.
No one is going to go in a straight line, from the left half to the right half, or vice versa.
Everyone walks in a curve, they walk from the field to the sidelines, drink water, rehydrate and let the coaches get ready to adjust to them before they leave their benches and return to their own half.
Because time is running out, the coaches have not made any tactical adjustments, but have encouraged their players more, persevering, persevering, or persevering.
Back on the field, the second half of extra time began.
In the 107th minute, Brazil won a corner, Neymar sent the corner to the front post, and if the header was from close range, but it was high.
In the 108th minute, the Chinese team attacked. Zhou Yi sent a precise long pass in the backfield and passed it to Yan Min in front.
Yan Min ran wildly with the ball and hit the goal of the Brazilian team.
However, his physical fitness is not as good as before, and after a wild run, he is already at the end of his crossbow.
The last shot, the support foot did not stand, it hit high.
Yan Min ...... It's a pity!"
No one criticized Yan Min's poor handling of this shot, everyone could see that Yan Min's physical consumption was very large, he was running all the time in this game, and as a wide player, there were many straight up and down full sprints, which was very physically exhausting.
Yan Min worked so hard, even if he didn't seize this opportunity, there was nothing to blame.
In the 112th minute, Alves chose to shoot directly from outside the penalty area, and this kick also hit an anti-aircraft gun.
In the 115th minute, Zhou Yi returned the color with a long-range shot from outside the Brazilian penalty area, which was saved by Cesar, and Wu Lei, who followed up with the supplementary shot, missed the middle part, and the football was out of the goal.
With five minutes left before the end of extra time, the Brazilian team attacked all the lines and pressed the Chinese team's penalty area to bombard indiscriminately.
During this time, the Chinese team did not have no chance to counterattack, but the Chinese team was completely suppressed by the Brazilian team, and even if there was a ball, it could not counterattack.
All the players retreated to the inside and outside of the penalty area, first to ensure that they did not concede the ball.
In the 117th minute, Ramirez took a shot from the top of the penalty arc and missed it.
In the 119th minute, Hulk received a through ball from Neymar and fired a right-footed shot from the edge of the box, only to hit the crossbar.
This startled the Brazilian fans in the stands, and the entire Mineiro stadium resounded with a huge exclamation.
"Hulk! He almost finished the stunner against the Chinese team!"
After the Brazilian team's shot on goal, the Chinese team made a third substitution, Zhao Xuyang came on the field and replaced Yan Min, who was physically exhausted.
This substitution was made on the one hand to stall for time, and on the other hand, it was also to prepare for the next penalty shoot-out.
The second half of extra-time was different from the first half, and it went smoothly, with only two minutes of stoppage time.
If nothing else, Brazil may also struggle to break through Sun Pan's goal in two minutes of stoppage time.
At this time, it happened that the Brazilian team was getting the ball, and there was another huge boo in the stands.
It was all from the Brazilian fans, but it is unclear whether the boos were for two minutes of stoppage time or out of dissatisfaction with the performance of the Brazilian players......
Amid the disgruntled boos of the Brazilian fans, referee Webb blew the whistle for the end of the match.
"Extra time is over! The two sides will have the most brutal penalty shootout!" He Ping said in a loud voice. "Against the aggressive hosts, the Chinese played very tenaciously and they equalised after conceding a goal. This was followed by a number of attacks by the Brazilian team...... The fact that the game came to this point was a big surprise to the Brazilian team, and I don't think any Brazilian would have thought before the game that they would play a penalty kick with the Chinese team......"
Hepin was right, the Brazilian had never imagined an eighth-final going to a penalty shootout. In the minds of many Brazilian fans, this game, let alone a penalty shootout, can be resolved in 90 minutes.
But now......
The commentator on Brazilian television was very disappointed with the result: "After 120 minutes of play, we only scored one goal, and it was not our players who scored. Then he couldn't score again...... Now that the game has been dragged into a penalty shootout, it is a good opportunity for the Chinese team, and it was reported before the game that Lippi's team has conducted several training sessions specifically for penalty kicks......"
He was faintly worried.
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Players from both teams regrouped around the manager for a break.
At the same time, the managers of both sides are arranging the penalty take-off list and penalty sequence.
In the Chinese national team, there is no fixed penalty taker.
If a penalty is awarded in regular time, whoever is in good shape will take the penalty, and it is usually self-proven. Only those who are very confident in themselves will take the initiative to ask for a penalty, so that the penalty taker should be in a better state of mind than the one who has been pre-set.
Of course, it's not that the mentality of the players who are set to take free throws is not good. Generally, the penalty taker who can take a penalty is the best penalty taker in the team, so he will be appointed.
But the problem is that the form and mood of the players fluctuate all the time during the game. No one can guarantee that this player, who usually has a high level of penalty kicking, will not have psychological fluctuations and will not be mentally unbalanced this time.
In football, there are no examples of players who have been very consistent with penalty kicks before, and only to miss a penalty in the game.
Because the Chinese team does not have a fixed penalty taker, Lippi makes his choice based on the player's state of play.
The Chinese team specially practiced penalty kicks before the game, so Lippi basically has a score in his heart about the penalty ability of these players.
He just needs to look at the form, fitness and mood to sort it out.
He writes down the names he has in mind on the board, and then marks the numbers in the order in front of their names.
According to this list, the first person to play a penalty was the veteran Zheng Zhi, who was substituted in the second half.
Zheng Zhi is old, but because he is a substitute, he has an advantage in physical fitness. And he has a lot of experience and a record of taking penalties on a number of occasions. It was fitting that he would take the first penalty.
The second to appear was He Ying. As a striker, his shooting footwork is certainly fine, and in terms of mental quality, he is not far behind, and after the Champions League experience, he has a big heart that can withstand pressure.
The third player to play is Wu Lei, Wu Lei is the team's first penalty taker in the club, although he is young, but he has rich experience in penalty kicks. And he was also substituted in the second half, and he had a physical advantage.
The fourth penalty taker of the Chinese team was Yang Muge, as the team's midfielder, whether in the national team or in the club, the number of goals scored was pitiful. However, the important thing about penalty kicks is not the skill of shooting, but the mental quality. In this regard, Yang Muge has an advantage.
The last one to appear was Zhou Yi. He is not a penalty taker at Dortmund, but he also has a record of taking penalties and scoring goals, he has no problem with his mental quality or his footwork to take penalties, and Lippi put him last to let him make the final fatal blow for the Chinese team.
The next thing is how to arrange the penalty players after five rounds of penalties and still can't tell the winner, and the players who did not play have to play once, including the goalkeeper. This arrangement is not as elaborate as the first five.
After arranging the penalty list, Lippi announced his plan to the players, and then said to the players who were doing massages: "Don't worry about penalties, the balance of victory is already tilting in our favor." The Brazilians never expected them to play penalties against us, so I'm willing to bet they didn't train on penalties at all, it was a surprise for them, they were unprepared and had to rush on. And think about how much preparation we have made for this game? In penalty kicks, it's not that whoever is lucky will win, but whoever is well prepared enough will win, and luck comes from the preparation and effort you usually put in for it. In this respect, we are far better than Brazil, so there is nothing to worry about, don't worry about playing boldly!"