As soon as Xia Xiaoyu got the ball, players from the Honduras Olympic team rushed to defend him.
But he didn't pass the football around right away.
Because before catching the ball, Xia Xiaoyu had observed it and found that there was no good place to release the ball in front of him.
So he planned to control the ball more and push Honduras' line forward so that there would be space behind them.
However, this approach of allowing yourself to control the ball more requires taking risks as a defensive midfielder. Once he loses the ball here, the opponent will directly face the central defender, and the Olympic team's defense may be directly penetrated.
Most people would not dare to do this if they are not confident enough in their own skills.
Faced with the pressing of the Honduran players, Xia Xiaoyu turned around to protect the ball, turned his back to the direction of attack, and then made a gesture to move the football to the right with the outside instep of his right foot.
After tricking the Honduran player into jumping in that direction, he used the inside of his right foot to push the football to the left, and then turned his body from the left.
By this time, he had already turned around and faced the direction of attack again.
It seemed like they were just spinning around in circles, but the effort of spinning in circles pushed Honduras' entire formation forward by nearly twenty meters.
Xia Xiaoyu did not continue to control the ball. He quickly passed the football to Brother Huan who was diagonally in front of him to meet him.
When Zhang Qinghuan was receiving the ball, a Honduran player also came up to press him.
At the beginning of this game, Honduras adopted a strategy of charging hard and increasing their speed, hoping to use their fast pace to attack the Chinese team's defense.
The Chinese team mainly focuses on possession of the ball and is not in a hurry to attack Honduras.
Mai Zhaocheng is still very cautious.
Honduras' fast pace is reflected in their high-position press in the midfield and frontcourt, trying to gain the upper hand.
Obviously they also know that if they want to qualify from this group, they have to defeat the Chinese team.
However, facing Honduras' high-position press, neither Xia Xiaoyu nor Zhang Qinghuan panicked.
For those who play in Europe, this intensity of high-pressing will not affect them at all.
Zhang Qing welcomed the football and made a motion to catch the ball. After the Honduran players around him grabbed the ball, he suddenly stepped back and let the football pass, and at the same time turned around without the ball.
Just like that, we left the Honduran players behind!
"Oh, beautiful! Zhang Qinghuan!"
Amid the cheers of Chinese fans in the stands, Zhang Qinghuan dribbled the ball forward.
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When Zhang Qinghuan dribbled the ball, center Zhou Zijing did not go forward. Instead, he dropped back to respond.
The person on top is Hu Lai.
For the Honduran players, Hulay is obviously a greater threat than Zhou Zijing.
He single-handedly nailed the Honduran backline at the forefront.
In comparison, Zhou Zijing, who retreated, had no Honduran defensive players around him.
Zhang Qinghuan passed the ball to Zhou Zijing, who retreated to receive the ball.
Zhou Zijing turned his back to the attacking direction and used his body and skills to protect the ball.
It wasn't until Zhou Zijing caught the ball that the Honduran players turned and pounced on him.
At this moment, he saw Zhang Qinghuan pass diagonally past Zhou Zijing and rush towards the penalty area.
So the Honduran players were in a dilemma: should they defend Zhou Zijing or Zhang Qinghuan?
If you are defending Zhou Zijing, if he passes the ball to Zhang Qinghuan... the latter is facing the goal!
If Zhang Qinghuan is defended, Zhou Zijing can turn around calmly. It’s not like they don’t know how much of a threat it is to have a center turn around...
The Honduran players who finally pounced on followed the principle of "whoever has the ball is the greatest threat" and went up to defend Zhou Zijing.
Zhou Zijing did not pass the football to Zhang Qinghuan, but to Xia Xiaoyu who came in from behind.
After Xia Xiaoyu passed the football to Zhang Qinghuan, he did not stay in the backcourt, but actively moved forward, and now he came to support Zhou Zijing.
Watching the football being passed, Xia Xiaoyu raised his right leg and then passed the ball without stopping. The football flew over the heads of the players on both sides and landed right on Zhang Qinghuan's path!
"Xia Xiaoyu passed the ball! Beautiful! Accurate overhead pass! The Olympic team scored the offense!"
Zhang Qinghuan caught up with the football, and the Honduran players gathered around him. At the same time, the Honduran goalkeeper also moved towards Zhang Qinghuan, trying to block the angle of his shot.
Zhang Qinghuan indeed raised his right leg and made a motion to shoot.
But when he actually kicked the football, instead of shooting it, he knocked the football horizontally!
"Zhang Qinghuan...pass! Hu Lai!!"
Hulay, who was in the middle, suddenly broke out in front of the Honduran central defender and blocked the opponent.
The other party reached out and pushed hard, trying to disturb Hu Lai.
However, Hu Lai, who has trained in the Premier League for two and a half seasons and played in La Liga for one season, is no longer as prone to collapse as before in terms of physical confrontation.
He resisted the interference from the Honduran central defender and raised his foot to shoot the flying football!
When the Honduran goalkeeper turned over and rushed back, the football had already flown into the Honduran goal!
"Hu Lai! Hu Lai... Good goal!! The ball is scored!! Hu Lai! He scored the first goal of the Olympic team in this Olympic Games!! In the 22nd minute of the game, the Olympic team 1
:0 ahead of Honduras!”
The commentator He Feng raised his arms and shouted in the commentary box, and his shouts were quickly drowned in the even bigger cheers at the scene.
The Chinese Olympic team played all three Olympic group matches in San Francisco, which is the city with the largest Chinese population in the United States.
For the Olympic team, it is almost the same as playing at home.
Almost two-thirds of the seats in this game were occupied by Chinese fans.
There are Chinese students and other Chinese people here, as well as non-Chinese ethnic Chinese. They also come to support the Olympic team, waving the Chinese flag in their hands, and wearing five-star red flag paint on their faces. Judging from the appearance,
It’s completely impossible to tell that they actually don’t have Chinese nationality…
After all, not all Chinese Americans are "banana people" with yellow skin and white hearts.
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"oh!!"
"pretty!!"
After Hu Lai scored, the female football players in the conference room jumped up from their seats, raised their arms and shouted.
Among them, Li Qingqing yelled very loudly. Not only did she yell, she also banged the table hard, making a banging sound.
Xu Wen stopped teasing, for fear of being stuffed with another mouthful of dog food...
Amidst the cheers of the female football players, Hu Lai on the projection screen turned and ran to the corner flag area. After making his signature celebration, he hugged Zhang Qinghuan who came over.
Li Qingqing shook her fist at this scene and smiled happily.
This is a good start for this Olympics. Maybe we can really meet again in Los Angeles?
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In front of the Chinese team coaching bench, team leader Ran Jiachang and head coach Mai Zhaocheng also hugged each other.
"pretty!"
This goal made the stone in their hearts fall to the ground.
Although it stands to reason that the Chinese Olympic team should be stronger than Honduras, who can say for sure about football matches?
What reassures them is not that this goal helped the Chinese team take the lead. Just a one-goal lead is actually not safe.
The two of them were so happy because this goal was not a "lucky goal" that even the scorer himself didn't know how to score.
In fact, this goal is exactly one of the offensive tactics that the Olympic team has been practicing.
The main feature is that the center Zhou Zijing retreats and the midfielder Xia Xiaoyu inserts in the back row.
Zhou Zijing retreated to add a frontcourt fulcrum for the Olympic team's offense, while Xia Xiaoyu stepped in from the back to increase the strength of the offense.
Being able to use the offensive routines in training in games and score goals is the main reason why head coach Mai Zhaocheng is happy.
This means that the team’s previous training sessions were on the right track!
Unlike Shi Wuyuan's Olympic team four years ago, Mai Zhaocheng's Olympic team did not emphasize wing attack, but focused more on control of the midfield and frontcourt.
This is mainly because the personnel composition of the two teams is different.
Shi Wuyin's Olympic team had such outstanding wing attackers as Luo Kai and Chen Xingyi, so they naturally had to make full use of their advantages in wing and speed.
They emphasize one word "fast".
Mai Zhaocheng's Olympic team does not have Chen Xingyi and Luo Kai. Instead, they have Xia Xiaoyu, Zhang Qinghuan and Zhou Zijing, two midfielders with excellent control skills, and a center who can act as an offensive bridgehead.
Of course, they don't need to be "fast", but pay more attention to "stability".
Nor are they afraid of positional warfare.
Honduras wanted to attack after the opening, but after picking up the rhythm, they hit the iron plate.
It's like a light-weight assassin fighting against a warrior covered in iron armor.
Although the warrior is not fast and moves slowly, the assassin is agile and flexible. Judging from the scene, it seems that the assassin has the upper hand.
But in fact, the assassin surrounded the warrior for a long time and did not cause much damage to the warrior. Instead, he was exhausted.
And when the assassin slows down due to reduced physical strength, the warrior seizes the opportunity to deliver a "fatal blow", which can kill the assassin.
Hu Lai can increase the chance of a "fatal strike" for this warrior.
He is also the key to Mai Zhaocheng's ability to use this tactic to train the Olympic team.
If the Chinese Olympic team did not have an efficient shooter like Hu Lai, it would have to fall into a tough battle with its opponents and rely on the accumulation of flat cuts to cause damage.
With Hu Lai, two or three swords can deliver a critical hit, and the battle logic will be completely different.
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When Hu Lai and his teammates ran back to the half-court, the game restarted.
Honduras, who were lagging behind, came out with all their strength and wanted to equalize the score as soon as possible.
But the defense is empty and the door is wide open.
Just six minutes later, after the Chinese Olympic team stole the ball in the backcourt, Xia Xiaoyu directly passed the ball forward to find Zhou Zijing.
Zhou Zijing's header hit Hu Lai, who succeeded in countering offside.
After Hu Lai caught up with the football, he took a long shot directly outside the penalty area!
The football flew into the Honduras goal for the second time!
The Chinese Olympic team once again struck a "fatal blow"!