Chapter 337 - 330: This is Yang Yang

The match has begun!

The Chinese Team reversed their strategy from the previous match against Brazil, pressing high from the very beginning.

After the baptism by fire of several FIFA U-20 World Cup matches, the players had become familiar with the team’s entire offensive and defensive system. Combined with their ample energy at the start, the Chinese Team’s midfield and forward press looked very cohesive.

The Argentina Team was clearly prepared for this aggressive pressing tactic from the Chinese Team and began to fall back into their own half.

Although they had defended resolutely against Brazil, what had been most impressive about the Chinese Team in the previous few matches was their fluid and skillful attacking coordination in the midfield and forward lines. Their defense, on the other hand, had always felt unstable.

Therefore, when devising his game plan before the match, Pancho Ferraro had carefully studied the possibility of the Chinese Team launching an all-out press. He even considered it highly likely and had made specific tactical arrangements to counter it.

With only three days between the semi-final and the final, it was difficult to drill these specific tactics in depth, but they had been practiced nonetheless.

The Argentina players quickly settled into a rhythm in their midfield and defense.

The Chinese Team, riding the momentum of their opening press, successfully controlled possession and patiently advanced into the Argentina Team’s half.

But against Argentina’s tight defense, the Chinese Team found it difficult to create any real opportunities.

Argentina’s midfield and defense marked Yang Yang particularly tightly, deliberately trying to sever the link between him and his teammates. This meant that the Chinese Team’s repeated attempts to pass to him were all unsuccessful.

In the fifth minute, a misplaced pass by the Chinese Team allowed Argentina to launch a counter-attack.

Messi drove forward with the ball at pace, charging all the way to the edge of the box before passing it to the right. Argentine midfielder Alzubi followed up with a long shot from the right side of the penalty area, but it was off target.

"The Argentina Team takes the first shot of the match. They seem a little rushed."

"A long shot from outside the box by Rodrigo Alcubierre."

"Although it didn’t create a threat, it was enough to give you a cold sweat. If they had been a bit more patient and built up their play, that shot might have gone in."

"The Chinese Team needs to be careful of Argentina’s counter-attacks."

...

After the goal kick, the Chinese Team once again moved the ball quickly up the wings.

Argentina continued to employ their defensive counter-attacking tactic, intentionally avoiding the Chinese Team’s sharp opening press.

Yang Yang, learning from the previous plays, began to expand his area of activity, drifting from the left wing toward the center.

The ball reached the final third, and Zhou Haibin played a through ball to Yang Yang’s feet at the edge of the box. However, the Argentine players were stuck to him from behind and to the sides, giving him no room to turn.

Yang Yang laid the ball off diagonally back to the left side of the midfield for Hao Junmin to collect.

At this moment, a flaw in the Chinese Team’s attack became apparent: a lack of overlapping support from the full-backs.

Both full-backs were playing conservatively and rarely pushed forward. This meant China’s wing play relied almost entirely on the combination between Yang Yang and Hao Junmin. With only two players, their attacking options were much more one-dimensional.

Conversely, if the left-back could make a quick overlapping run, their attack would become much more varied and three-dimensional.

But sometimes, that’s just how football is; you can’t expect everything to go perfectly.

Hao Junmin, finding no opportunity on the left flank, passed back to the defense to reset the attack.

Yang Yang clapped enthusiastically, showing his approval for Hao Junmin’s decision.

’It’s better to pass back and reorganize than to rush a forward pass and hand possession over to Argentina.’

After that, the Chinese Team tried to attack down the left wing again, but they still couldn’t create a threat and once again passed back to their defense. The Argentina Team was marking China’s Yang Yang very tightly.

Feng Xiaoting received the ball in the backfield. He noticed Yang Yang’s hand signal up front and saw Gao Lin pulling out to the right, so he immediately launched a long ball forward.

Unlike against Germany, the center-forward Gao Lin had a certain advantage against Argentina.

This time, he pulled outside the box to meet Feng Xiaoting’s pass, immediately got into position, and headed the ball back toward the midfield.

After receiving the ball, Chen Tao feinted as if he were going to rush for the byline, but then suddenly cut inside, dribbling toward the center.

Yang Yang had anticipated this and ran from the left side along the edge of the penalty area to provide support.

Chen Tao passed the ball horizontally to Yang Yang.

Beside him was Gago, the Argentine midfielder hailed as the "next Redondo." His defensive skills weren’t particularly strong and were indeed much inferior compared to his predecessor, Redondo.

Yang Yang was facing the direction of attack as he ran, and Chen Tao’s cross-field pass landed right in front of him.

Gago immediately lunged at him, trying to stop him.

Yang Yang used his left foot to control the ball coming from his right, trapping it to his right side. He feinted as if to shoot immediately, but Gago was clearly prepared, turning sideways to block with his body.

But unexpectedly, Yang Yang suddenly cut the ball back to his left with his right foot.

Sabella was defending to Gago’s left and immediately sensed the danger, rushing over.

But Yang Yang was a step faster. He quickly adjusted his body, planted his right foot, and swung his left, taking the shot!

"Yang Yang shoots!" the commentator exclaimed.

The moment Yang Yang cut past Gago, the goalkeeper, Ustari, reacted extremely quickly, positioning himself in the center of the goal.

The reason was simple. At that moment, Sabella was already blocking a large part of the shooting angle to the left side of the goal. The most dangerous area was the center. And typically, after a series of cuts and switching to the weaker foot, a shot down the middle was the most likely outcome.

But after cutting back, Yang Yang used his left foot to shoot directly for the top-right corner.

The ball flew between Sabella and Gago, but instead of going toward the center, it soared toward the top-right corner of the goal.

Ustari reacted and dove for it, but no matter how much he stretched his arms, he couldn’t stop the ball from hitting the back of the net.

"IT’S IN!!!"

"Yang Yang! Yang Yang has scored!!!!"

"The ninth minute! Just nine minutes into the first half, the Chinese Team is the first to breach Argentina’s goal!"

"Yang Yang takes the Chinese Team’s first shot of the match, and it’s a direct hit!"

After scoring, Yang Yang sprinted off the pitch, ran all the way to the stands where the Chinese fans were, and did a knee slide by the sideline. His teammates rushed over from behind and piled on top of him, embracing him.

"Incredible!"

"Yang Yang is in truly outstanding form today."

"The Chinese Team is at a disadvantage in the first half, playing against the sun, but Yang Yang’s instinct for goal is incredibly sharp! After a series of cuts to shake off Argentine midfielder Gago, he scored with a direct shot from his left foot!"

"That was an incredibly clean and decisive shot from the edge of the penalty area!"

"This is Yang Yang! This is the hero of our Chinese Team, Yang Yang!"

When Yang Yang got up from the ground, he excitedly looked toward the stands, found the section where his parents and Su Ye were, raised his right hand high, and made a ’one’ gesture with his finger.

It was his way of telling them that he had scored a goal.

Ibrahimovic and his other teammates were screaming and shouting; every single one of them was cheering for Yang Yang’s goal.

And seeing Yang Yang score with his very first shot of the game, one has to wonder if the Swedish Striker, who had always had a low shooting efficiency, felt a little bitter.

...

...

Messi stood on the field looking frustrated, his hands on his hips, shaking his head.

’Conceding a goal just nine minutes in... that’s just too fast.’

’The whole scoring sequence was so fast. A long ball from the Chinese Team’s defense to their center-forward, who headed it down to the right winger. He then cut inside and passed it across to Yang Yang, who took a few touches to get past Gago and scored with a direct shot.’

’From the start of the play to the goal, the ball only went through two players. It was incredibly efficient, but the most important part was Yang Yang’s series of moves at the edge of the box. That was the key to the goal.’

’You could say this goal was a perfect demonstration of Yang Yang’s skill.’

’Someone who can score thirty-one goals in the Eredivisie, win the European Golden Boy Award, and become the UEFA Cup’s best player is no simple opponent, that’s for sure!’

’But I’m not going to give up that easily!’

Messi thought, gritting his teeth.

...

...

The match restarted.

After their goal, the Chinese Team began to consciously slow down their attack.

This was also part of the pre-match strategy set by Coach Klauen: after a period of intense pressing, regardless of whether they scored or not, they were to fall back into a defensive posture. The Chinese Team needed to draw Argentina out so they could hit them on the counter-attack.

After conceding, Argentina began to fight back, and four minutes later, they drew the first yellow card of the match, which was given to the Chinese Team.

But soon, the Chinese Team launched a counter-attack. Yang Yang controlled the ball in the final third and passed it back to Zhou Haibin, who then sent a diagonal pass to the right. Chen Tao followed up and took a long shot from over twenty meters out, but it went too high.

Chen Tao looked apologetically at Yang Yang and his teammates. He had felt confident before taking the shot, but he had rushed it, failing to keep the ball down. It ended up being a sky-high blast.

Yang Yang, however, clapped forcefully for his teammate, encouraging him not to dwell on it.

The Argentina Team continued to push back. In the nineteenth minute, the Chinese Team launched another counter-attack.

This time, Argentina’s own center-back, Garay, made a mistake while trying to clear the ball with a header. Yang Yang intercepted it in the final third, dribbled directly to the left side of the box, took on the Argentine full-back one-on-one and beat him, then chipped the ball with his left foot toward the far post.

But Gao Lin, who had followed up, couldn’t get a clean hit on it, and the ball went out for a goal kick.

Four minutes later, it was Yang Yang who created another chance from the left wing. Hao Junmin sent a diagonal pass to the right, and Chen Tao controlled the ball at the right edge of the box before shooting. But his shot was straight at the keeper, and it was easily collected by Argentina’s goalkeeper, Ustari.

The first half continued.

After the first ten minutes, Argentina quickly regained control of the game, and the Chinese Team fell back into a full defensive formation.

But even though Argentina dominated possession, it was the Chinese Team that was actually getting more shooting opportunities.

Unfortunately, the players’ ability to capitalize on these chances was somewhat lacking.

Then, in the thirty-first minute of the first half, Messi received a pass from a teammate on the left wing. He embarked on a long run of nearly forty meters, weaving past three Chinese players before facing Feng Xiaoting inside the box.

One-on-one, Feng Xiaoting couldn’t stop Messi. He was hesitant to make a challenge inside the penalty area and ultimately allowed Messi to score.

One-one. The two sides were back on even footing.