Chapter 110: Eliminating the Eastern Host

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  The Chinese team once again widened the score, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to the Dutch team's confidence. However, amidst the deafening cheers of the Dutch audience, the Dutch players still lifted their heads and reignited their fighting spirit to continue attacking. At this time, the referee finally showed his bias, after all, the Netherlands is the host country and a world football powerhouse, which is a very normal thing. On the contrary, in the previous match, the referee was surprisingly fair, which was a big surprise for the Chinese team. Perhaps at that time, the referee didn't expect the Dutch team to lose to China?

  "What's going on? The slow-motion replay just finished and the shot cut over, then it was a goal?", Huang Jianxiang asked Tao Wei with a confused expression.

  "Probably the opponent took advantage of our players still celebrating and quickly kicked off to catch us off guard? This goal was really not supposed to be lost!"

  However, Tao Wei only guessed half of the truth. The Dutch team's goal was indeed a quick kick-off that caught China off guard, but it can't be blamed entirely on the Chinese players' complacency after scoring. Because according to football rules, when kicking off from the center circle, one must wait for all opposing players to leave the center circle before kicking the ball out. But at the time, the Dutch player was eager to tie the score and didn't wait for China's players to fully exit the center circle before kicking the ball out...

  But what's even more fatal is that the referee didn't blow his whistle at this time, and the Dutch players naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity. They eventually managed to turn the score into 2:3, which means they were only one goal away from victory, and they saw hope again.

  The young men of the Chinese U23 team were actually blackballed by the referee, but because there was no footage of the kickoff in the broadcast, domestic media initially criticized them, especially the defenders. Fortunately, with mobile phone camera functions already available a few years ago, fans in the stands took pictures of the scene at kickoff, and the truth about this goal finally came to light.

  This time, the black whistle had a significant impact on the morale of the Chinese youth team. Fortunately, the referee in this match, even if he entered the "home court mode", was not as black as the French referee at the Toulon Cup, and the game was still worth playing...

  Although the quick kick-off successfully shaded the Chinese team once, due to the impatience of the Dutch team's mentality, they missed several scoring opportunities in a row. The young Chinese team, which gradually adjusted its mentality, took advantage of its strengths in rapid counterattacks and posed a threat to the Dutch team's goal again.

  After more than 70 minutes of the game, both sides' physical consumption was not small, and the endurance quality of the players on the field was also evident. China's right midfielder Zhao Yi had already clearly become somewhat unable to run, and Klinsmann had to replace him with Cui Peng. Another midfielder, Zhou Huaikai, and right-back Zhang Chenglin were also visibly less active in their movements due to the physical consumption of their positions, unlike in the first half. However, left-back Rong Hao showed excellent endurance for the first time in this tough game, his runs even more proactive than in the first half, and his performance increasingly outstanding. As a result, the Netherlands, which also had significant physical consumption, had to specially assign someone to defend against his wing attacks, but it was still difficult to completely restrict his play.

  In the 77th minute, Yong Hua attracted two Dutch defenders on the wing and passed the ball to Yu Hai, who ran to the corner of the penalty area. Yu Hai pretended to open up an angle for a shot after taking two steps horizontally, but suddenly turned towards the goal. The Dutch goalkeeper immediately came forward to block the near-angle shot, as Yu Hai had already scored from a small angle earlier in the game. However, Yu Hai cleverly dodged the ball and was about to shoot when he felt a strong force under his feet, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground. It turned out that the Dutch goalkeeper had stretched out his hand to pull down Yu Hai in desperation...

  This foul is too obvious, the main referee of this game is a bit biased towards the home team, but not yet black and bright, seeing that he hesitated for a moment and pointed to the penalty spot. The Dutch players immediately came forward to argue with the referee, but ultimately failed to change the penalty decision. The home team's fans in the stands were silent, while China's fans cheered thunderously.

  "Now take the lead with one ball, or I'll kick it." Gao Jun took the initiative to come and take the penalty, as a shooter, he actually didn't like to increase his own goal count by relying on penalties, but in the youth team, there was no more stable penalty taker than him, and this game was an elimination match that would be sent home if lost, so under the circumstances of only leading by one ball which is not safe enough, he still took the initiative without hesitation.

  As always, Gao Lin's penalty kick was easy to score, helping the Chinese team to widen the gap again in the remaining time of the game. Even Klusener, the usually calm coach of the Dutch youth team, couldn't help but punch his fist hard, knowing that this game should be won with less than 20 minutes left and a two-goal lead.

  After winning the Netherlands, the benefits that the Dutch enjoyed in the schedule due to their status as hosts will be inherited by the Chinese team. Because in a quarter-final match before this, Morocco eliminated Italy through penalty shootout and they will meet the winner of China-Netherlands match in the semi-finals. This also means that in the semi-finals, not only did China encounter the weakest opponent, but the opponent had also played an extra overtime, which would be physically exhausted, which is simply sending the Chinese team to the final!

  Due to the old grudge between German and Dutch football, thinking that the Dutch team's hard work would benefit their own team, the old German man Krautz was overjoyed. However, all of this is based on the premise that the Chinese youth team must hold on for the last twenty minutes, otherwise if they were miraculously turned around by the Dutch team, he would really vomit blood.

  Fortunately, the young men of the national youth team did not disappoint the old man. Although many players' physical fitness has obviously declined, they still maintained a score of 4:2 until the end and successfully eliminated the host to advance to the semi-finals of this World Youth Championship, creating a new history for Chinese football once again.

  And this game is also the first time that Gao Jun has not been selected as the best player in the tournament since the start of the World Youth Championship. This honor was finally awarded to Yu Hai, who performed well in the match, scoring two goals and creating a penalty kick, but Gao Jun felt relieved and happy about it.