The commentator yelled, and Dominic Laski appeared behind the goal.
The football is flying high from the front.
And he was unmarked!
The Chinese fans in the stands also burst into cheers. Because of Hu Lai, Lasky, as Hu Lai's teammate in the club, has naturally won the support of the majority of Chinese fans.
So in this "China Cup" semi-final between Poland and Mexico, Poland became the "home team".
Amidst the cheers of the Chinese fans, Lasky adjusted his pace while running, then jumped up and turned in the air towards the football.
Mexican goalkeeper Salvador Manrique almost surrendered. He turned around, raised his hands, and saw Lasky hitting the football in the air!
And he had no time to make a save. He could only watch the football pass over his head and fly towards the goal behind him... behind him!
“Laski header!”
The football was pushed out of a parabola and flew toward the goal with everyone watching.
At this moment, on the big screen in the stands in the distance, the time of this game is beating:
94:21
The whistle for the end of the game is approaching, and this is the Polish team’s last attack of the game.
He has an absolute chance!
As long as this ball can be scored!
Lasky’s eyes are firmly fixed on the football. The goalkeeper has raised his hands in surrender, but whenever the football lands in the goal frame...
But he saw the football hit the top edge of the crossbar and then popped out of the baseline!
“Oops!” the Chinese commentator yelled regretfully. “Laski missed the chance to tie Mexico! This is Poland’s last offensive opportunity in this game! What a pity! What a pity!”
Watching the football fall outside the baseline, Lasky's legs immediately softened as he landed, and he knelt in front of the goal, then put his head in his hands and looked up to the sky with a sigh.
At this moment, the referee also blew the whistle to end the game.
"The game is over! Mexico defeated Poland 2:1! Lasky almost became a Polish hero at the last moment! But unfortunately, although his header bypassed the goalkeeper, it was rejected by the crossbar! 'Chinese Cup'
The first semi-final is over, congratulations to Mexico for qualifying for the final..."
In the television broadcast, Lasky looked very regretful and frustrated.
"Before the game, Laski said that he and Hulay had agreed to meet in the final. Now he has bid farewell to the final first. I have to say that this is indeed a pity... But in fact, Laski doesn't have to
So disappointed, he scored the only goal of the Polish team in the game, and his performance was very tenacious and outstanding..."
The commentator was right, Lasky's performance in this game was actually very good.
In addition to that goal, he also had several shots that fully tested Mexico goalkeeper Salvador Manríquez.
The last offensive opportunity was initiated by him after a sudden attack in the midfield. In the end, he ran to the back point and hit the football.
Although they didn’t score, without Lasky, the Polish team wouldn’t even have this attack.
Unfortunately, in terms of overall strength, Mexico, which was in the top 16 of the last World Cup, is indeed better.
Mexican goalkeeper Manriquez did not rush to celebrate with his teammates. Instead, he first pulled up Laski who was kneeling in front of his goal. He reached out and patted the latter's shoulders and face to comfort him. But Laski
Ji still looked gloomy.
It wasn’t until he was interviewed on the sidelines that he recovered to some extent from the depressed and lost mood.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t fulfill my promise, Hu.” He shook his head at the camera. “I wish you good luck and hope you can reach the finals. The next step is up to you!”
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“Let’s look at my son next!”
Xie Lan stood in the stands of the Provincial Sports Center, took a picture of the stadium, and then sent it to his circle of friends with this text.
She had just arrived at the competition site with the school bus from her husband’s school.
There are about forty minutes left before the semi-final between China and South Africa.
The stands were full of people, almost "full".
This is in contrast to the last match between Poland and Mexico.
Although Mexico was among the top 16 teams in the last World Cup and is a traditional strong team in Central and North America, its influence in China is definitely still far less than that of the host Chinese team.
That game was not arranged at the Provincial Sports Center, but at the stadium in Liucheng District, west of Jincheng. The game time was also in the afternoon, and the game time between the Chinese team and the South African team was at the prime time of 8 o'clock in the evening.
Fans who went to watch the match between Poland and Mexico did not even fill the stadium when the game started.
Finally, according to stadium statistics, the attendance for that game was 27,000.
The match between China and South Africa has not even started yet and it is already full. The Provincial Sports Center has a capacity of 60,000 people.
The Chinese team’s defeat in the Asian Cup did not affect the enthusiasm of the majority of Chinese fans.
Not long after Xie Lan posted it on WeChat Moments, someone replied: "Little sister, are you here too?"
He is her eldest brother.
“Yes, I came with the team organized by Lao Hu’s school. Are you there?”
“We are in the stands opposite you.”
Xie Lan looked up and saw that there were so many Chinese fans wearing red clothes that he couldn't tell where his big brother was.
But it must be in the sea of people anyway.
She lowered her head and replied on the phone: "Where's Dad?"
“Dad is watching at home, but mom won’t let him come to the scene.”
Seeing this sentence, Xie Lan laughed.
Dad's body is really not suitable for coming to watch the game...but Dad will definitely nag with Mom, and then lose the battle.
Just after settling down the children with the school teacher, Hu Lixin turned around and saw Xie Lan laughing while holding her mobile phone, and asked, "What are you laughing at?"
“It’s okay, even our eldest brother is here to watch the game...” Xie Lan showed her cell phone to her husband.
Behind them, the children standing in their respective positions were chattering away:
“I guess we can win this game!”
“Oh, your guess is too simple, isn’t it?”
“Guess the score, guess the score! I’ll go first, 3:0! The Chinese team wins!”
“Then I guess 4:0!”
“I think 2:0 will be fine...”
“No matter how many you guess, I think Hu Lai will definitely score a goal!”
“Hey! You are flattering our coach in front of him!”
"Ha ha ha ha!"
The children laughed.
Hearing this conversation, Xie Lan laughed first and looked at her husband.
Hu Lixin, who originally had a serious face, gradually started to smile under his wife's gaze.
※※※
"We have been conducting high-intensity training these days. I know you will be a little tired. But I believe that when you step on the court, you will find that the training these days is effective. This game will be a very big one.
It’s a good opportunity to test the effect of our training these days.”
Jorge Dillon was delivering his first pre-match pep talk to the players of the Chinese team in the locker room.
"I have always told you that you should treat yourself as a strong team. Not only tactically, but also psychologically. No matter what problems you encounter on the field, don't panic. After all, you are players who have participated in the World Cup.
Team. And this South African national team has not participated in the World Cup yet. This is your home court, and you must believe from the bottom of your heart that you can beat your opponent!"
“If you have a chance, take bold risks. If you don’t have a chance, take control of the ball. Keep the formation intact and keep your mind clear. Dare to make moves and dare to imagine.”
“The most important thing is to be bold and confident! Whether it is South Africa or Mexico, they are just an opponent, and we are also their opponents. They will also be afraid of us, because we are really strong!”
Dillon repeatedly emphasized that "we are strong" in order to instill confidence in the Chinese team players.
In his opinion, this is more important than any technique or tactics, and is the basis of all performance.
He believes that Chinese players lack confidence. He doesn’t know whether it is influenced by the traditional virtue of humility or because he has been a professional for too many years and dare not have confidence. After all, confidence with strength is called confidence, and confidence without strength is called arrogance.
Despite their outstanding performance in the World Cup, Chinese players believe that it was a special example under special circumstances and cannot be used as a reference.
It can be said that during the World Cup, they worked hard and worked hard to achieve such results.
Let them repeat it again, they themselves think it is impossible...
Players without confidence do not dare to make moves or make decisions on the court, and they do not dare to take risks when making decisions. They can only follow the rules. How can they win?
Dillon wants to comprehensively change the Chinese team in terms of technique, tactics and mentality.
All changes started from this first game!
“Starting from today is a new life for Chinese football. A brand new national team will be unveiled to the world. Starting from today, we have officially embarked on the road to the 2030 World Cup!”
Yu Jintao passionately translated Dillon's words and spoke loudly to the international players in the locker room.
According to common sense, the road to the 2030 World Cup should start with the top 40 of the qualifying rounds, but that’s right. Because the goal of this brand new Chinese team gathering here is to be able to participate in the World Cup three years later.