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Chapter 225 Willing but powerless
After the start of the new season, Chi Zhen was indeed affected by the disruption of the preseason training schedule, which resulted in his performance not being good enough.

But he himself could feel it; something inside his body seemed to be stirring, wanting to emerge.

It seems that just one opportunity is needed to break through.

When he dribbled past two opposing players in front of Tyne's penalty area and put the ball into the goal, he felt something inside him burst out of its shell, and he even heard the sound of the shell cracking.

It's crisp and melodious.

After scoring, he didn't run to celebrate, but instead rushed straight towards the goal.

Then, before Tyne's goalkeeper Elliott Goetz could react, he picked up the football from the goal, hugged it to his chest, and ran back.

He also waved to his teammates, signaling them to hurry back to their half and their positions so that Tyne could kick off as soon as possible.

He scored in the 74th minute of the match, not counting stoppage time, which left 16 minutes before the end of the game. Including stoppage time, it should have been around 20 minutes.

Is it possible to catch up with two goals in twenty minutes?

Absolutely possible!
As the seed broke through its shell, Chi Zhen, feeling reborn, now felt full of energy.

He still remembers the state of flow he was in just now. If he can get into that state again, maybe he really can turn the tide and save the team like Brother Wang!
Therefore, he is full of confidence for the upcoming matches.

After placing the football in the center circle, he walked out of the center circle while looking at Brother Wang.

Now he feels that Brother Wang is still the sun, but it's as if he's wearing sunglasses. When he looks at Brother Wang now, he doesn't feel so dazzling anymore...

Under his watchful eye, Brother Wang walked towards the center circle, turning around to applaud and shout to his teammates behind him.

Because the scene was very noisy, Chi Zhen couldn't hear very clearly, but he vaguely heard Brother Wang saying:
"...Don't worry, it's nothing serious..."

He was probably trying to calm his teammates down.

After all, they had just conceded a goal, so everyone's emotions were bound to fluctuate wildly.

Chi Zhen's heart is still racing; he hasn't fully recovered from the excitement.

Therefore, the period immediately following conceding a goal is the most dangerous time, because the players on the losing side are less focused and more prone to making mistakes during the game.

As the team captain, it's perfectly normal to reassure your teammates.

Chi Zhen wasn't the captain of the team, nor was he a veteran player in the club, so he was still a bit hesitant and didn't dare to shout encouragement to his teammates like Brother Wang.

But that's okay, Chi Zhen believes that actions speak louder than words.

My goal is the best encouragement for my teammates.

The next step is to try to score another goal in a short period of time.

It can be five minutes, or it can be seven or eight minutes.

If they can change the score to 2-3, a difference of just one goal is enough to energize the whole team in the final moments.

Who knows, they might actually be able to replicate the miracle that Brother Wang created!

Of course, Chi Zhen only hoped that his team could create a miracle like Tyne's draw against Clayton Athletic, but he never dared to imagine that he, like Brother Wang, could help his team create a miracle with a hat-trick...

Although he had just scored a goal and felt incredibly confident, Chi Zhen still had a good sense of self-awareness.

※※※

Chi Zhen's goal did boost the morale of the Skós team, so after the restart, the Skós players performed very actively.

On the field, they also temporarily suppressed Tyne.

However, despite suppressing the ball, they didn't have many opportunities to threaten Tyne's goal.

On the one hand, McNeil made adjustments immediately after losing possession, telling the team to solidify their defense first and not rush to attack.

This way, Tyne's defense won't give Scorsese too many openings.

On the other hand, although Tyne conceded a goal, they were leading by three goals before. Even if they conceded one goal, they would still be leading by two goals. Tyne's players would not panic because of one goal.

There was another, more important reason that Chi Zhen overlooked…

Masson Harper received the ball in the backfield and passed it forward to Mihaita Radu in midfield. However, Radu, who should have been in the receiving position, was a step too late and watched helplessly as the ball was passed directly to the feet of Tyne's midfielder, Cabella.

Radu quickly sped up and lunged forward, trying to snatch it back.

Cabella then feinted, using the inside of his right foot to nudge the ball to the left, tricking Radu into moving in that direction. He then moved his foot around the ball and used the outside of his foot to nudge it to the right.

Seeing that he had missed his target, Radu tried to turn around again, but his legs gave way and he couldn't support his body, so he fell to the ground with a thud.

At the crucial moment, his body gave out, and his physical strength couldn't keep up.

The reason he didn't receive the pass from Masson Harper at the beginning was because he was slow to start.

Why is it slow to start up?
Because he was exhausted and somewhat dazed, he couldn't concentrate and failed to notice the captain's passing intention in time. By the time he saw the captain pass the ball and went to receive it, it was too late.

Sitting on the ground, he could only watch helplessly as Cabella dribbled the football forward.

By the time he got up from the ground, the ball had already been passed to the edge of the penalty area of ​​the Scots team, and Ribeiro finally completed a long-range shot that went over the crossbar.

Although Tyne didn't score, he still gave many Scorsese fans a real scare.

They had just pulled one back, giving them a glimmer of hope, but a counter-attack by Tyne nearly extinguished that hope.

If we concede another goal, this match could really be over...

The Skós fans, who had narrowly escaped disaster, sang loudly in the stands.

They knew the team was facing enormous difficulties, and as the team's "twelfth man," they had to step up and fight alongside the team.

Their way of fighting is to cheer for the team with songs.

However, their singing was quickly drowned out by the louder chants of the Tyne fans—after all, this was Tyne's home ground, where Tyne fans made up the majority.

But they kept singing, even if the Scottish players on the field probably couldn't hear them...

※※※

Chi Zhen didn't hear the Skos fans singing, but when he looked in that direction, he saw the Skos fans clapping and waving their arms.

So even though he didn't hear the singing, he still "saw" it.

He knew these fans hadn't given up yet.

He then turned his attention back to the field.

It was a dead ball situation, and he saw several of his teammates bending over, their hands on their knees, panting heavily.

The game had only been going on for a little over twenty minutes when they were down to ten men. This meant that the remaining nine players on the team—excluding the goalkeeper—had to run even more than usual to cover the gap left by their teammate's red card.

In addition, Tyne made a lot of passing and movement in today's game. Even if the Scotts were outnumbered and had a full squad, they would still be overwhelmed by Tyne's flexible and varied tactics.

Therefore, they had to run around more to avoid creating vulnerabilities.

This results in greater physical exertion.

Even though head coach Josep Gil has already used up four substitutions, the team's overall physical condition is still inevitably deteriorating.

Except for him of course.

With the game at this stage, he's been running a lot, not only in attack but also frequently dropping back to participate in defense – after all, the missing player is a center-back, not a center-forward. Everyone needs to come back to participate in defense to avoid being outnumbered in defensive situations.

But after running like that, Chi Zhen felt that he still had fuel in his tank.

He thought about it and realized that it might be related to his consistent training during the holidays.

He thought of Brother Wang again.

In the last game, Tyne also played with one less player, and some of his players were exhausted and on the verge of collapse.

However, the 38-year-old Wang still had the energy to complete a brilliant performance in the final moments of the game, after taking a long-range shot from outside the penalty area and immediately running into the penalty area, sprinting high and leaping high to head the ball into the goal.

Why does Brother Wang have such terrifying physical strength?

Perhaps it's related to his years of consistent holiday training?

Although he caused some trouble and took a detour at the beginning of this season because he learned from Brother Wang.

But Wang Ge's performance against Clayton Sports gave Chi Zhen a lot of confidence.

Originally, he just wanted to do this before next year's World Cup. Now he feels that maybe he can be like Brother Wang, maintaining a training rhythm during the pre-season break... Maybe when he's thirty-eight... no, not thirty-eight, when he's thirty-five or thirty-six, he can still maintain excellent physical function?
However, the time when he was thirty-five or thirty-six was too far away now, and Chi Zhen frowned, his mood heavy.

Because football is a team sport, it's useless if only one person has good physical fitness.

This fact made him somewhat depressed.

The excitement he felt after scoring the goal has faded considerably, and he has to face reality.

However, when he turned his gaze to Brother Wang, he had a sudden realization:

He's not yet the leader of this team, and can't inspire his teammates to fight for his ambitions. But he can fight for them himself, just like what Brother Wang said and did—he said he would lead the Chinese team to win the World Cup, but not everyone believed him, so he led the team to victory in every game to prove it.

When such victories accumulate one after another, his words will naturally be listened to and believed.

So there's no need to complain about how unfavorable the conditions are. Just take the initiative and try to score. When he can still score, his actions will naturally receive more support from his teammates.

It's actually very simple: score first!
※※※

The Scos are attacking, but they don't have many men left to commit to the attack.

There are only two players in the frontcourt: Chi Zhen and center forward Vega.

Chi Zhen didn't stay in front and wait for his teammates to pass the ball to him; that would have a very low success rate.

The Scots' attacks now depend on success rate, not sheer numbers.

Because everyone was too tired to run anymore, they didn't have enough energy to launch more attacks.

Although Chi Zhen was already very tired, he still dropped back to midfield to receive the pass.

Beside him was midfielder Mattis Van Ginkel, who was with Tyne.

Van Ginkel was substituted on in the 73rd minute, so he had more energy than Chi Zhen.

When he came up to apply the anti-vibration pads, he kept bumping into the pool from behind.

Because he knew that Chi Zhen had played the entire match and was now almost completely exhausted.

All I need to do is keep putting physical contact on him, and Chi Zhen will lose control of the ball.

Feeling immense pressure from behind, Chi Zhen ran towards the football and then stopped it.

Van Ginkel charged at him again, and he used the force of the impact to...
He pushed the ball forward, creating distance between himself and Van Ginkel, and then pushed it sideways at very high speed to further widen the gap.

Van Ginkel hadn't expected his movements to be so quick, rushing towards the spot where Chi Zhen had just been knocked away, but the target had already run to the next location.

He lost track of Chi Zhen just like that!
"Chi Zhen! Turn and get rid of him, good shot!"

However, he only managed to get rid of Van Ginkel; there was still the team's defensive midfielder, Isara, ahead of him.

As soon as Isara saw him turn around, he pounced on him, giving Chi Zhen no chance to calmly adjust.

Facing Isala's tackle, Chi Zhen chose to use the outside of his right foot to flick the ball to his center forward, Vega, who was diagonally in front of him.

At the same time, he accelerated past Isara and continued rushing forward past him.

Vega spread his arms, trying to block the restless Tyne center-back Claire Oni behind him.

But this is not easy.

Because besides O'Neil, Tyne also has another defensive player rapidly closing in on him.

That was Gianfranco Ramosa, who had been substituted on ten minutes earlier.

Just as the ball rolled to Vega's feet, Oni stretched out from behind and tried to poke it away.

He didn't succeed because Vega stopped the ball on the other side.

However, Lamosa is on the other side.

The Italian defensive midfielder rushed up and stretched out his leg.

Vega pulled the ball back, barely avoiding Lamosa's "sweeping leg".

Then he flicked the soccer ball to his right side while turning his head to observe Chi Zhen.

Upon discovering that Chi Zhen was rushing straight forward into the space behind Oni, he twisted his body and sent out a diagonal pass with his left foot!
But Vega didn't see it. While he turned to observe Chi Zhen, Katic on the other side also noticed Chi Zhen's forward run.

Just now, O'Neil went up to defend Vega, and Chi Zhen will definitely take advantage of this opportunity to cut behind O'Neil.

So the experienced Katic decisively rushed forward, not to tackle Vega, nor to check Chi Zhen, but to push Tyne's back line up a step.

Because he was the last defensive player on Tyne's backcourt.

After he moved forward, Vega indeed passed the ball to Chi Zhen...

In fact, when Chi Zhen was rushing forward, he was constantly turning his head to observe, not to see if Vega would pass the ball, but to observe the movements of Tain's defensive line.

So he noticed Katic's movements before Vega passed the ball.

But by then it was too late for him to brake suddenly and reverse.

In the blink of an eye, Vega had already passed the football over!
He knew in his heart that if he caught the ball, it would be offside...

He can stop and not waste his already limited energy.

But Chi Zhen didn't choose to do that. He didn't slow down at all, caught up with the ball passed by Vega, and then dribbled the ball towards Tyne's penalty area amidst a huge chorus of boos!

※※※

"Aaaaaah! Watch out!" Harry Collins cried out from the stands.

Jon Berg, who was next to him, immediately shouted to comfort him, "It's okay, it's okay! He was offside! The ball was offside!"

However, when he saw Chi Zhenyi dribbling the ball towards Taien's goal without hesitation, he wondered to himself – was he seeing things?
But he quickly comforted himself:
It's okay, it's the last minute of the game. Even if Scorsese scores another goal, it will only be 2-3, and we will still win in the end!

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, Chi Zhen had already dribbled the ball into the penalty area.

Goalkeeper Elliott Goetz decisively rushed out of his goal.

As Chi Zhen swung his right leg as if to shoot, Goetz immediately fell to the ground.

But after Chi Zhen's right foot landed, he gently flicked the ball up with his toe, and the ball flew over Gotz's head and finally fell into the goal behind him...

After the linesman who had been running forward with Chi Zhen stopped, he immediately raised his flag, signaling "offside".

The referee blew his whistle and raised his hand to indicate that Chi Zhen was offside, and the goal was disallowed.

Jon Berger pointed at the referee on the field and said to Harry Collins beside him, "See? I told you so! Offside!"

Collins finally breathed a sigh of relief.

※※※

Despite knowing he was offside, Chi Zhen insisted on shooting the ball into the goal, resulting in a outcome that was not unexpected for him.

Only then did he bend over, supporting himself on his knees with his hands, panting heavily.

He just turned and got rid of Van Ginkel from the center circle, then passed the ball to Vega and sprinted all the way. The final chip shot was a real test of his precise control over muscle strength when he was exhausted.

They've squeezed every last drop of oil out of his tank.

As Chi Zhen bent over, panting, the live score of the match was displayed on the large screen in the stands above him:

With less than a minute left in the game, the score was still 3-1.

Tyne, playing at home, are leading by two goals.

Chi Zhen ultimately failed to create a miracle like Brother Wang.

Shortly after Elliott Goetz took the free kick from the backfield, the referee blew the final whistle.

A huge cheer erupted at Lize Park Stadium.

"Match over! Match over! Tyne has defeated Scorsese 3-1 at home! Tyne has won both of their last two encounters! It's a victory, but this one is completely different from the last, and it's significant! Tyne won relatively easily this time. Of course, some might say that Scorsese started the game with a player sent off and played with one less for a long time, so it's normal for them to lose to Tyne... Well then, I'd like to ask, why didn't Tyne lose to Clayton Athletic in the last league match when they were in the same situation?"

Connor Cowley's words were sharp and incisive.

"I think after three rounds of the new season, everyone probably has to accept the reality that Tyne, who have secured Champions League qualification this season, have been transformed and are no longer the 'mercenaries' they used to be! Otherwise, how did they get Champions League qualification? Just by luck? Come on, admit it, this Tyne team has become a force to be reckoned with in the Premier League this season! Perhaps we can expect them to create some kind of storm this season!"

(End of this chapter)