In the locker room at Xiling Middle School, Miller and I noticed the black veil that Ye Ruiyang was wearing on the left arm of the jersey. We know what that means.

The day before yesterday, he took a leave of absence from self-study, and I didn't feel right. Maybe it was a bit of a fluke, or maybe it was just fear, I didn't ask him, and he didn't say. It's only been a little over a month since we knew about it.

"Ye Ruiyang?" Huang Minxue suddenly walked in front of us, and his voice was very soft, like a breeze. He politely pointed to his left arm, his eyes mildly concerned. Mu Zheng also quietly followed him.

"My uncle." He smiled reluctantly, "The day before yesterday." ”

Xuexue stretched out his small right hand, firmly grasped Ye Ruiyang's left hand in the air, and pulled him up from the chair after changing clothes.

"Let's do it together." He looked at what he said. This is probably the gentlest sentence I have ever heard of the doctrine.

"Hmm."

"Come on." Brother Chuan also came and silently bumped his fists with the two. suddenly discovered that he was the only person with a black veil wrapped around his arm except Ye Ruiyang. Against the backdrop of the white jersey, this touch of black is like a fish in the throat. Miller and I didn't know what to say, so we had to pat our partner and tell him that we were all by his side.

Winter has not yet subsided, the sun is far from warm, it is as bleak as winter breath, undulating on the football field, like a frozen lake. Xiling Middle School's home stadium is the home of the devil, and Yue Yin told us on the way here that they haven't lost at home for a year and a half. Before this, Senior Yuan Yikong recalled last year's quarterfinals quite unconvinced. In the first leg, Yizhong defeated Xizhong 2-1 at home, and he and Kwong Hao scored a goal each. But a late mistake at the back led to a goal conceded. In the second leg, Yizhong paid the price for this goal conceded - Xizhong won a narrow 1-0 victory at home, and the aggregate score was a 2-2 draw. However, because of the away goals rule, Xizhong was able to advance thanks to a goal scored at home in No. 1 Middle School.

"In fact, the home field in Xizhong is nothing special, it is strong because it is too far away from the city. The away team had to travel long distances and was exhausted just by the car. It is no wonder that Xiling was still a county a few years ago, and now it is a district of Jiangyuan. We weren't prepared last year, we took an hour and a half drive and couldn't find a place to eat when we arrived. But this year is different, and our intelligence work is getting better and better, right? Yuan Yikong said, looking approvingly at Yue Yin, who was sitting across the aisle. She listened with us, seemingly attentive, but when the senior asked her, she seemed absent-minded. Xu Mu reminded her, and then she nodded hurriedly, which was regarded as accepting the compliment.

Xuexue snorted.

"Is our home stadium different, the Devil's home stadium? He didn't fall behind for a minute in the group stage, scoring 13 goals in three games, which should be the most goals scored at home of any team, right? We were tired from coming to us in the second leg, so we won the game today and when we came back to home, we were able to tear the creek to shreds. ”

"That being said, the knockout stage and the group stage are completely different. There are still opportunities to make mistakes in the group stage, and any mistake in the knockout rounds could send us home. So you still have to be careful and learn the lessons of last year. The captain spoke, "We are much stronger this year than last year, and we can take down Xizhong steadily." ”

On the school bus, everyone was still talking and laughing, full of confidence, although I didn't say anything. It's nothing more than the fear of motion sickness. The school bus is no better than my own car, everyone is on it, and if I can't hold back and vomit, I'm going to have to disgust everyone. I learned that I was going to be riding for an hour and a half, and before I could get up, a smell of gasoline rolled in my head. But when I got in the car today, I didn't feel too bad. Mile teased me a few times, and I still had the strength to fight back against him. Left on the back, I would have gotten dizzy when I moved around the car.

Did I grow up? Listening to adults, children will not get motion sickness when they grow up.

Not necessarily. Senior Zeng Shuoshi's state after getting out of the car was obviously not right, and he squatted on the side of the road for a while. The captain went up and asked him, took a few deep breaths, and then helped him into the locker room with us. Soon after, the coach told me that I was going to start this game. In this game, we changed a 331 formation, Yuan Yikong, Ye Ruiyang, and He Mingming are three defenders, Huang Minxue is on the left, Kuang Hao is on the right, Li Baichuan is in the center, and Mu Zheng is a single arrow. Tao Tao didn't come, I thought the coach would give Miller a chance to start.

Standing in front of the door, I saw Ye Ruiyang's figure further ahead, and the joy of getting the first start was quickly covered by the black veil flying in the wind. I secretly bit my lip. At this moment, there is only one thing that is abundantly clear: focus. Winning the game is the best help for my friends. The coach also found the black yarn in the locker room, and she greeted Ye Ruiyang very caringly, and I also heard her ask him if he would like to play today. Our boss gave a categorical answer: of course he does, and he will do his best.

That's right. Let's do it together. The moment the whistle blew, I hammered the school badge on the chest of my uniform with my gloves.

Perhaps knowing the fatigue of the away team from afar, the battle plan for the opening of the game in the stream was vividly displayed in the first minute of the game. The attacking players are very resolute in their advance and advancement, like a pack of wolves rushing up, and even if the ball is at our feet, the strikers in the stream will not give up. It became extremely difficult for us to get out of the ball at the back, and it was even more difficult to move from defense to attack. It stands to reason that our 331 formation will form a very resilient line, but the ferocious pressing in the stream is like a stapler, squeezing our formation, and Huang Minxue and Kwong Hao, who should have appeared in the midfield, were forced to retreat to the back line to assist in the defense, and were completely unable to organize the attack. The formation of the three defenders was once pressed into five defenders, plus Brother Chuan was responsible for the midfield defense, six of the seven players other than the goalkeeper retreated to the vicinity of the penalty area, 331 directly became 601, except for Mu Zheng, we have no other attacking player. And in the first ten minutes of the game, he couldn't even touch the ball a few times, and almost disappeared into the opponent's half alone.

It's too suffocating, even in the away face against Beichuan Middle School, it has never been suppressed so thoroughly. I lifted a long-range shot straight into the post over the crossbar and struggled to my feet amid the shouts of my teammates to "save". I really don't know who Huang Minxue was talking about when he said "torn to shreds" in the car. If we continue to kick like this, I'm afraid we'll be the ones who will be shattered.

The corner kick in the stream is taken, at the front point, very close to the goal. I subconsciously rushed out to pick the ball off or hit it out. It was so fast and a little erratic that I was halfway through the charge and the number 10 striker was already leaping high, and with a gentle flick of it, the ball flew over my head. I didn't touch it with my raised arm, but my body kept going.

"Beautiful!"

I couldn't help but shout out and hit Ye Ruiyang's arm hard with my forehead, and he also slapped me the shoulder. After the ball slipped over my head, it was he who appeared in time for the ball to fly and shook his head to push it away from our gate. Senior Kwong Hao got it at the second landing point of the ball, and without thinking about it, he kicked the ball out of the sideline. And I was just barely turning around and witnessing my teammates' remedy. Accurate, timely and resolute, Ye Ruiyang's appearance really saved my life, not to mention whether the ball will fly directly into the net, but as long as he takes a step earlier or one step slower, the players in the stream at the back point will touch the ball, and the score on the field may change immediately.

"Well kept! Shout more! The coach clapped his hands and shouted from the sidelines.

"Don't panic, just solve the siege!" Senior Yuan Yikong also shouted, "Hold on!" Be mental! ”

As soon as the words fell, the throw-in in the stream was thrown. I didn't have time to think about the mistake just now, I had to concentrate again. Ye Ruiyang gave me a chance, but people don't always have a chance. For the rest of the game, we were on the defensive. As coaches and seniors say, the knockout stage is a world away from the group stage. Every teammate in the stream is like a perpetual motion machine, with inexhaustible physical strength, and we are pinned to death in our own half. It wasn't until halfway through the first half that Mu Zheng got a chance to shoot. It was a long-range shot that flew over the crossbar and didn't give the opposing goalkeeper a chance to perform. My teammates and I were a bit exhausted. In addition to that corner, Keizaka also had a one-on-one chance when Gakuhak made a mistake on the left. We had just won the ball, we were slowly recovering and we were ready to organise the attack, but we were forced to revert to defense because of a sudden mistake. A through ball in the stream broke through our entire defence and the number 10 took the lead, shaking off three of our defenders and sprinting for the back of the net.

Anyway, I'm going to go out of the way. With a single heart, I rushed out of the net again and pounced on him. His cadence has changed, which is a signal from his body to shoot. So, I spread my limbs as far as I could, like a flying squirrel, the kind of squirrel that would stretch its body and glide through the air, in order to widen the defensive area and interfere with his shots with all my might. I guess I yelled, I really thought of everything I could think of. Seeing me rush out desperately, the number 10 seemed to be a little shaken, and instead of choosing to pass me, he hurriedly shot before I could pounce, and the ball hit my right leg and jumped off the line. Number 10 hugged his head in annoyance, and then Ming Ming rushed to the restricted area and pulled me up.

"I'm sorry, that pass was too casual." After the half-time whistle, Xuexue walked to the defensive line out of breath. After hearing Xuexue's words, the defenders just gave a few blank "um" sounds. It's not perfunctory, it's not that I'm angry with him, it's just too tired. The three of them have reached a bottleneck in their physical fitness, just like a runaway balloon, floating aimlessly on the field, which is to recover their strength and heartbeat through slow walking.

The only member of the backline who can move properly is me, and I'm going to go up and pat him. However, Xuexue was also exhausted, and leaned on me, I was startled, but I still held him. Almost everyone helped each other back to the locker room, and when they got back, they all collapsed in their chairs. When Yue Yin and Xu Mu knocked on the door, none of the people closest to the door could get up, and Mi Le ran over to open it. They each brought in a plastic bag of sports drinks, needless to say, everyone almost "burst into tears", as if the guerrillas had finally seen the villagers after a night of fighting, and clearly said that they had changed their name to "timely rain".

"The creek has also gotten stronger, and last year they weren't so crazy that they wanted to swallow us in one gulp." Xu Xiang said while helping everyone open drinks.

"It's okay, they grabbed so hard in the first half, sooner or later the fitness can't keep up. As long as we don't beat us to death, we can finish them off in the second half. Yuan Yikong gulped down a blueberry-flavored drink. After drinking, he hastily wiped his mouth and came over to me and Ye Ruiyang and said that you can be a little more excited when defending, saving a ball is equivalent to scoring a goal, and you can even celebrate, like an Italian. After defender Giorgio Chiellini finished defending, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon would always raise his arms and hug his team-mates to acknowledge his brilliant performance of stifling the goal. Defend as if it were something that requires as much coordination and passion as offense, and good defense will destroy the opponent's confidence.

The coach didn't say much and gave us a break. Then the adjustment of the second half was announced: Yan Xi was replaced by Brother Chuan, and Kuang Hao returned to the middle. He also told us that if we don't know how to handle the ball, we should try to pass it to the captain or Yan Xi, who are the best dribbling players in the team and know how to protect the ball.

"Don't panic, don't panic. One go, then decline, three and exhaustion, last year's runner-up can't win us, what about Xiling? When the coach didn't speak, Yuan Yikong was like another coach, constantly encouraging everyone, "Prevent death." As long as they don't concede a goal and go back to our home stadium, they're absolutely fine! ”

"By the way, didn't you say there's a female team member in the stream?" Miller suddenly asked, "Is she going to play in the second half?" ”

"That's right, Senior Sister Tong Jing. She's super cute and talks so sweetly. Yue Yin and I had just chatted with her in the passageway. Xu Mu said, "She went to the bathroom to change her jersey, and she will definitely go in the second half." ”

"Is she better than a boy?" Miller asked.

"At least her skills are better than many of the boys in the stream, that's what their official account says." Yue Yin said.

Ye Ruiyang and I looked at each other, the offensive in the first half was quite fierce, and if another offensive player was replaced in the second half, the defense line would undoubtedly face a greater crisis.

"No, it's a girl, how can you prevent this?" Ming Ming frowned.

"How to prevent it, how to prevent it, how to shovel, how to crash, it's as simple as that." "What is there to ask?" ”

I suspect that Xu Mu is really going to hammer him this time.

"She's a girl." Obviously, he is very puzzled by his attitude towards learning.

"What's wrong with the girl? Do you look down on people? "I'm tired, and Xuexue's voice isn't so loud," she came to play, not to play. Now that you're ready to stand on the court, there's nothing special. Damn, this is the arena, everyone doesn't rely on anything else, just their own strength and the coach's arrangement. She has the ability and the right to play, so she has to be like everyone else. She's just an ordinary opponent, what does it matter if she's a man or a woman? ”

He's right. If you treat it specially, you look down on girls. Ordinary heart. We respect every opponent and try to defeat them, which is the best respect for them. The coach came over and knocked on Xuexue's head, and then looked at Mingming, who was busy apologizing and saying that he didn't look down on girls, but he was a little worried, and now he fully understands what to do.

Actually, we all know it, he doesn't need to explain it, we all know it. Xu Mu patted him in a friendly manner and told us that in the passage before, the senior sister asked her to tell us that she would play later, and everyone should not have any worries and play normally.

"She also said she was going to score for us. No girl has ever scored in the Mayor's Cup before. Yue Yin smiled and walked up to me and Ye Ruiyang, "Don't let her set a record." ”

"You still keep an eye on Huang Minxue, this guy's pass in the first half scared me out of my heart attack, and I'm embarrassed to talk about it here, I really want to screw his head off." Xu Mu smacked his lips and kicked him lightly, but Xuexue didn't fight back.

"It's okay, let's do it together." Ye Ruiyang said, got up and walked to the back of the learning chair, and slapped his palm.