Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 771 Tianhe Sports Center Aims for its 5th Win?
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No. 1: China vs. UAE.

No. 2: NPC deputies compete in the Asian Cup qualifiers.

No. 3: China's national football team aims for first place in the group.

No. 4: Will Adidas renew Tang Ye's contract?

……

No. 12: Tang Ye won two Golden Balls. (Remained on the list for 12 consecutive days)
At Tianhe Sports Center, Zhang Xiaohan, head of the Guangdong News Department, accepted an interview invitation from Xinhua News Agency.

"I remember this should be the first time since 2016 that the men's national football team has played an official match at Tianhe Stadium. We also hope that Guangzhou can become a lucky city for our men's national football team."

Zhang Xiaohan had a smile on her face the whole time she was speaking.

With the match imminent, this man from Guangdong was in high spirits.

This should be the first time Guangdong has hosted such a large-scale sporting event since the pandemic, especially since it is currently the most popular men's football event both domestically and internationally.

"Did you have any considerations when applying to become a competition venue, or was the application process smooth?"

"Smoothly, very smoothly."

Zhang Xiaohan nodded with a smile: "Tianhe Sports Center is large in scale and can fully meet the needs of the event, which is our advantage."

"We also know that Tang Ye is from Guangdong."

"Although it's not Guangzhou, Foshan and Guangzhou are two closely connected cities. So, strictly speaking, Tang Ye can be considered half a Guangzhou native."

Zhang Xiaohan nodded to the reporter: "I believe that playing in his hometown will allow Tang Ye to perform even better."

Click, click, click!

"Some fans have said that playing in Guangzhou will put mental pressure on Tang Ye. What do you think?"

"Hmm... I don't think so."

"This isn't the first time I've known Tang Ye. I've been in contact with him since before the 2018 World Cup started. Back then, I thought he was a very good young man. Even though the national team wasn't favored, he was capable of leading the team to the knockout stage of the World Cup. At the time, I thought that even if we didn't qualify for the Russian World Cup, we would definitely qualify for the next World Cup. I didn't expect that we would directly qualify for the knockout stage of the Russian World Cup."

Zhang Xiaohan recalled what happened 3 years ago.

After the Chinese team upset Germany, the subway in Guangdong was free for one day, and then free for three more days after advancing to the knockout stage.

I just don't know what the situation will be like in Qatar next year.

"I don't think this kind of pressure is anything for an athlete of Tang Ye's level."

To avoid controversy, Zhang Xiaohan also mentioned some past events.

Guangdong started bidding for the venue for the 6th round of matches in September, and Tang Ye was contacted about it over the phone at that time.

In short, the decision to host the Asian Cup qualifiers at Tianhe Sports Center was not made unilaterally by Guangdong officials. They consulted Tang Ye before deciding that bidding for the Asian Cup qualifiers was appropriate.

"What are your thoughts on the recent online discussion about athlete Tang Ye running for National People's Congress representative?"

"Um……"

Zhang Xiaohan still had a smile on her face.

Trust our decision.

……

"This is the AFC Asian Qualifiers..."

“This…”

Boom!

Bang bang bang!
Neither team's players have shown up yet, but the fans in the stands are already getting excited.

The organizers provided 3000 seats for the visiting UAE team, but there were fewer than 400 people on the opposite side, so the away team's stands looked empty.

The home team's stands were a completely different story; they were packed with people, with not a single empty seat.

Fans with extensive experience attending concerts and major sporting events should be able to tell that there is definitely something wrong with the situation in the home team's stands.

Simply put, many fans without tickets managed to sneak in, creating the exaggerated scene of a packed house.

"Tang Ye!"

"King of Football!"

"Tang Ye!"

"King of Football!"

"..."

The noise was so loud that even the Chinese players in the locker room could hear it, and Tang Ye was inevitably teased.

"Is the King of Football under a lot of pressure right now?"

"Ha ha!"

"They're all die-hard fans, wow, and they have to be from Guangzhou. It's different with Evergrande around."

The football atmosphere in Guangzhou is just as exaggerated as in Dalian.

As national team players, Zhang Linpeng and others felt this most acutely.

Different cities have different football atmospheres.

"It's time to show off your skills."

Tang Ye paced back and forth in the room, rubbing his hands together every now and then: "I have a feeling, I'll score at least two today."

There were many people from Foshan, our neighbor, in the stands.

Everyone's watching.

Tang Ye really has no choice but to exert his strength now!
"Okay, calm down."

Eskeriva walked over to Tang Ye, put both hands on Tang Ye's shoulders, and pushed the Chinese team's number 10 back into his seat.

"Hey? What's wrong?"

Tang Ye feigned innocence: "Can't I even have two balls?"

"What you need to do right now isn't to score two goals, but to stay calm. Only by staying calm can you play a good game!"

Escriva rubbed his temples: "You play football with your mind, not your passion!"

"Maintaining passion is what a striker should do!"

"It's all the same."

Tang Ye waved his hand, clearly not agreeing with what Eskeriva said.

Seeing Tang Ye's reaction, Escriva shook his head and decided not to continue.

22-year-old Tom was clearly not as easy to educate as the 17-year-old Tom when they first met.

Clap your hands.

"Alright, like I just said, the strikers need to maintain their passion. That's the most important thing for us in today's game."

He kept waving his hands in gestures the players couldn't understand: "Keep the passion, keep the attack! Although we won the previous few games, as I told you before, we haven't fully utilized our offensive advantage!"

"What we need to do is strangle them! Use our midfield and forward lines to surround them and give them no chance!"

"If we win this match, we'll be number one in Group B!"

Wu Lei and Wei Shihao are already itching to make a move.

In today's match, the Chinese team chose to try the 4-4-2 formation right from the start.

It changed from 4231 to 442.

Change represents uncertainty, and uncertainty represents opportunity!
"3, 2, 1!"

"China!"

"come on!!!"

……

"Ta-da! Ta ...

"Ta-da! Ta-da!"

Bang bang bang bang! ! !

"China Media Group, China Media Group!"

"This is a live broadcast of the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifiers..."

"The match has begun, and now I will introduce the starting lineups for both teams!!!"

"China!"

"Brilliant!"

"China!"

"Brilliant!"

Not only at the scene, but also on the homepage of Dongqiudi, there were constant "China is awesome" comments.

Clearly, the fans weren't very concerned about the away team's starting lineup.

What they care more about is whether the Chinese team played well in this match.

The camera then pans to the east stands.

Besides Tang Zhengxiong's familiar faces, there were also some officials from both inside and outside the province.

"4-4-2, it seems Eskreva is preparing to make some attempts in this match..."

"Well, strictly speaking, the last game was an experiment, because the experiment was successful in the last game, which is why Eskeriva was able to decide to use 442 today."

“I think this role is quite sensible. We say that some Chinese players may not be able to keep up with Tang Ye’s pace, so we can increase the number of midfielders.”

"With enough people, teamwork will naturally come together."

UAE (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Hasaiif

……

Forwards: Zaabi, Saleh, Canedo
The UAE started the attack, but after regaining possession, the Chinese team immediately launched a strong offensive.

This is what Eskeriva asked of the national team players today.

We need to suppress them!

Use your midfield and forward players to overwhelm the opponent!

Zhang Linpeng dribbles the ball up the court.

The full-back dribbled past the center circle, and Zhang Linpeng considered his next move.

"Come!"

Upon hearing Zhang Xizhe's voice, Zhang Linpeng passed the ball to the middle and continued to make runs down the wing without the ball.

Get around the defenders and receive the pass from your teammate in front!
perfect!

A classic one-two pass; Zhang Xizhe's through ball was incredibly precise, and Zhang Linpeng maintained high speed down the wing after receiving the ball. Wu Lei made his decision after observing the play.

Run ahead to the right baseline.

"Middle lane!" (in Chinese)

Eskeriva's roar echoed.

Zhang Linpeng quickly changed direction and moved to the middle lane.

Within seconds, Wu Lei and Zhang Linpeng successfully switched positions.

They're preparing to send Wu Xi.

"Give it to Tang Ye!"

At Wu Xi's suggestion, Zhang Linpeng looked at Tang Ye behind him.

Tang Ye was also in the middle lane at this time, but he was in a bad situation.

On the left is Zaabi, next to him is Saleh, and there's also Canedo on the road.

"Come!"

Despite having three defenders, Tang Ye still arrogantly reached out for the ball.

"..."

Zhang Linpeng gritted his teeth and delivered a through pass.

It's time to take action!
By changing direction left and right, Tang Ye successfully bypassed Saleh, resembling a fried dough ball without a ball.

Wow!!!

Just as he was about to take the ball, Saleh and Canedo grabbed his arms from the left and right respectively.

The body leaned forward, but both hands were pulled back tightly.

Even if you are the king of football, you will inevitably lose your balance in this situation.

boom!
Tang Ye fell to the ground.

Slamming his left fist into the grass: "Damn it!"

"Oh dear, this..."

"The players from the UAE aren't being polite to Tang Ye at all..."

“Beep beep beep!!!”

The players who fouled Tang Ye were quickly criticized.

"Stupid!"

"Grass mud horse!"

"Is your mother dead? Why do you play football like that?"

It's a little bit aggressive.

After the match resumed, Escriva gave a few more words of advice to the players on the field.

"Don't let Tom play alone! Find more opportunities to combine, don't just pass the ball to him all the time!"

The reason why Eskeriva changed 4231 to 442 was to free Tangye from excessive pressure.

The current situation on the field seems to be going against Escriva's hopes.

Shouldn't they have been called for a foul for that?

In the stands, the officials chatted about the attack that had just taken place: "Tang Ye's hands were both grabbed, and he couldn't move them."

"I don't know, I also think it should be a yellow card..."

"There was probably no chance of offense, and it was the first foul, so no call was made."

There are quite a few football fans among the provincial leaders.

It's the 10th minute of the first half.

With the score at 0-0, the Chinese team relied on high pressing in the attacking third to forcefully increase their possession to 62%.

This possession rate is already very good for the Chinese team.

Tang Ye received a pass from Jiang Guangtai and moved closer to the full-back.

Move closer to the bottom line.

Drop your shoulder and change direction!

Tang Ye passed the ball to Wei Shihao, temporarily avoiding the defenders.

Rush over!
boom!
Tang Ye collided with the full-back.

He easily won the contest and then received the pass from Wei Shihao.

"Woww!!!!"

Snapped!
He delivered a cross.

!

Goalkeeper Hasaiev jumped out to make the save.

Unexpectedly, Tang Ye's pass dropped very quickly, hitting the grass before Hasaiev could make the save.

It rebounded.

At this point, we are already at the back position.

"Oh!!!"

boom!
Wu Lei unleashed a powerful volley.

Wow!!!

The ball went in!
Wu Lei had just turned around to celebrate when he saw the red and yellow flags raised by the linesman.

【offside】

"..."

"Beep beep beep!!!"

It was a great attack, but I didn't expect it to go offside, which is really frustrating.

"it's okay no problem!"

"Wu Lei is awesome!"

"There's still a chance to get in!"

Wu Lei swung his right hand, his expression revealing helplessness.

"My mine!"

Tang Ye raised his hand.

I was standing a little off-center when I passed the ball.

Although Tang Ye could observe the offside line, the offside line observed from his off-center position was inaccurate.

Just like a thermometer reading.

Readings obtained from looking down or looking up are inaccurate, and sometimes the error can be larger than you can imagine.

Tang Ye just encountered this problem.

He has to maintain a level playing field with his teammates and defenders as much as possible when he's reading the numbers!

"..."

Corner kick!

"Give it the forward position!"

A corner kick from Tang Ye.

Wu Xi was positioned at the near post to receive the ball, but after extending his leg, he couldn't reach it.

That ball wasn't meant for him in the first place.

Tang Ye's pass, bypassing Wu Xi and an Emirates defender, finally reached the penalty area.

Jiang Guangtai, who had been battling with the defenders, inexplicably received the pass.

!

Turn around!

Just as he turned to face the goal, Abbas kicked the ball away before Jiang Guangtai could react.

"Eh!"

"hiss--!!!"

"You're too slow to react, Jiang Guangtai!"

"It's really a pity."

"..."

"Team China!"

"come on!"

"Team China!"

"come on!"

It's the 21st minute.

The UAE managed to regain some control of the game, but their possession rate was still lower than China's.

Although no goals were scored, the possession rate showed that Escriva's 4-4-2 formation was quite successful.

Utilizing the strength of midfielders and forwards is indeed a good idea.

China's sixth deep attack opportunity was about to arrive, but Wei Shihao's mistake in controlling the ball gave the opponent a chance to counterattack.

"Look at number 16!"

No sooner had Tang Ye finished speaking than a long pass came out from the UAE's backfield.

Bypassing China's midfield defense, the UAE successfully passed the ball to Saleh, who was waiting in the attacking third.

This shouldn't have been a scoring opportunity in the first place.

As a result, Saleh also made a mistake when controlling the ball, and inexplicably completed a nutmeg of Feng Xiaoting.

Fry it up!!!

……

PS: There's more.

(End of this chapter)