Chapter 974: Push Forward! Press Up! Chen Zhong Is On!

Inside the stadium, the cheers of Chinese fans fell silent, as Portuguese fans waved their flags excitedly.

Cristiano Ronaldo ran towards his teammates, this was his first match against Chen Zhong since they parted ways, and it seemed, with the overwhelming strength of his teammates, could they win?

Cristiano Ronaldo’s face was full of happiness,

Bernardo Silva’s exquisite and lethal arc shot perfectly bypassed Wang Xiaolei’s fingertips, precisely hitting China’s Achilles’ heel, helping the Portuguese team gain the advantage.

The stadium was instantly overwhelmed with the laughter and cheers of Portuguese fans.

Portuguese players celebrated wildly, Silva pointed to Mendes, who gave him the brilliant assist, while Cristiano Ronaldo vigorously waved his arms, his sharp gaze sweeping over the slightly disappointed Chinese players, finally resting on Chen Zhong.

0-1!

The cold numbers on the scoreboard mirrored the brutal gap in strength on the field.

The faces of Chinese players were filled with unwillingness and helplessness.

Zhang Wenxuan angrily punched the turf, Li Ji gasped heavily, Sun Fei looked at Cancelo’s celebrating figure, his eyes burning with fire but tinged with a trace of powerlessness.

Only Chen Zhong didn’t stay put; he ran towards the goal, picked up the ball, and shouted loudly: “The match isn’t over yet! Show your fighting spirit!”

“Damn it! Don’t act like a bunch of wimps!”

“We made history in the last World Cup, this time we can still break through, a Portugal?”

“Can they stop us?”

Chen Zhong roared loudly, the national team’s experience was too little, they lacked confidence and guts, and now Chen Zhong was their backbone, his voice made his teammates raise their heads again.

“Don’t you dare lower your heads!”

“I’m not admitting defeat anyway! Come with me!”

“I’ll guard the back, you score in the front!”

Chen Zhong’s shout made his teammates raise their heads again, the confusion in their eyes faded away, for the World Cup Chen Zhong had become a center-back, under his command, China’s once third-tier defense could concede very few goals on the World Cup stage.

They still have a chance!

A single goal isn’t the end of the world!

After restarting the game, Portugal became even more aggressive, attempting to kill the suspense before the end of the first half.

Their high press became more fierce, constantly pressuring Zhang Wenxuan and Li Ji.

China’s defenders were having an extremely difficult time playing the ball out, Wang Xiaolei’s several long kicks mostly fell within Portugal’s midfield control.

In the 42nd minute, Joao Neves intercepted in the middle and quickly passed to Cancelo, who was inserting on the flank.

The latter made a beautiful fake move to bypass Sun Fei and crossed the ball.

This time Cristiano Ronaldo at the back post outmuscled Xu Ping with a powerful header!

Wang Xiaolei reacted quickly, flying with one hand to deflect the ball! But the danger wasn’t over, the ball landed at the feet of Bruno Fernandes at the top of the penalty area arc! He adjusted a step and volleyed angrily!

In a flash, it was that red figure again!

Chen Zhong almost threw himself out like blocking a gunshot!

The ball struck his chest fiercely, making a dull sound, and bounced outside the penalty area. Chen Zhong fell to the ground, painfully clutching his chest, but quickly struggled to his feet.

“That must hurt!”

“He doesn’t seem to feel the pain, he stood up quickly!”

“Chen Zhong! Chen Zhong!”

Cristiano Ronaldo watched this scene, his gaze slightly moved, but soon returned to combat mode.

In the last few minutes of the first half, with China’s resolute defense and Chen Zhong’s several critical saves, Portugal failed to widen the score gap further. After 1 minute of added time, the referee blew the whistle to end the half.

Cristiano Ronaldo, while leaving the pitch, found Chen Zhong and exchanged shirts with him, he looked at the somewhat panting Chen Zhong and said: “Several guys want to swap jerseys with you!”

“Chen, I understand you!”

Cristiano Ronaldo truly understood, the former Portuguese team was also carried by him alone, and now China’s team compared to the former Portuguese team was even weaker.

“Yeah!” Chen Zhong patted Cristiano Ronaldo and said, “It isn’t over yet! It’s not certain who wins or loses.”

…

The atmosphere in the locker room was heavy.

The players took the time to recover their physical strength, actually, China’s team wouldn’t look so embarrassed if it weren’t for the continuous matches that significantly drained the main players’ stamina, and substitute players had trouble making an impact in such a strong dialogue.

Some young players were still unable to start in such a match.

“In the first half, conceding was an indication of overall strength, the responsibility doesn’t fall on individuals.” Ancelotti first comforted the players, then said: “We anticipated challenges, but must admit, the opponent is stronger than we imagined. In the second half, we need to change!”

“Hao Chen come down to rest, save your strength.” The coach looked at the panting Chen Zhong and said: “Chen Zhong, you’re up! Now we need not defense, but offense!”

“Portugal’s defense line, the focal point upfront, we need you to open them up!”

Hao Chen took a look at the coach, he wanted to say something but opened his mouth and finally closed it.

In this match, faced with Portugal’s central defenders Ruben Dias and Inacio, Hao Chen had little room to perform, after all, he was just a single-function AC Milan substitute center forward, a trump card, asking a ‘side dish’ to be the ‘main course’ is truly too difficult for him.