Chapter 23: The Strongest Brazil

  Then the Chinese team's offense surged, and surprisingly kept Brazil in their own half for a full ten minutes. However, perhaps they had used up all their good luck in previous matches, as China's attacks consistently failed to yield results. Even Gao Lin, who was known for his reliable shooting, was not an exception. One powerful shot from the penalty area hit the post and bounced out, while another excellent header flew over the crossbar, leaving him frustrated and punching his thigh in anger.

  Wasting opportunities is indeed going to be punished, in the 15th minute, Brazil seized the only opportunity since the start of the game to take the lead, the team's first shooter Abuda jumped high in the penalty area, received a precise pass from teammate Jonas and headed the ball into the goal. The Chinese team, which had taken the lead in all four previous matches, finally tasted the feeling of losing the ball first.

  With this goal, the Brazilian team quickly found its rhythm and completely controlled the game. However, Brazil's aggressive pressure also gave China a chance to counterattack. In the 9 minutes before the end of the first half, China created another scoring opportunity. Left winger Yu Hai and left back Rong Hao made a beautiful two-on-two pass, and Yu Hai shot powerfully into the penalty area, but Brazilian goalkeeper Bruno miraculously blocked the ball. However, the ball did not go far. Gao Lin, this lucky player, appeared in a dangerous position in time, stretching out his foot before Brazil's defender to score the goal, China tied the game 1-1 under extremely passive circumstances!

  After the goal, Gao Jun, who never liked to celebrate, waved his arms and shouted at his teammates, "We finally made it here, how can we lose like this? What about Brazil? We'll destroy them too!"

  "That's absolutely right! Destroy Brazil! Advance to the final!", The young men of the Chinese team are at an age where they fear neither heaven nor earth, and their good performance in this World Youth Championship has made them extremely confident. Now that Gao Jun has stirred them up like this, their morale has been greatly boosted.

  The match became increasingly fierce, and the actions of both sides gradually increased. Chinese team midfielder Li Benjian was injured after being maliciously fouled by a Brazilian player and left the field. Due to the fact that one of the team's defenders had been suspended due to a yellow card in this game, Liu Chunming had no choice but to put on 14-year-old Zhang Linpeng to replace the injured Li Benjian. However, the somewhat biased referee only gave Brazil a yellow card, which made China lose even more.

  Although Zhang Linpeng has a promising future, he still can't be compared to Li Benjian, especially in terms of offense. On defense, he appears too rough around the edges, and this weakness was immediately seized upon by Brazil's tactically astute team, who launched a fierce attack.

  In the 72nd minute, Brazil got a chance for a quick counter-attack. Ivan Dro used his agility to easily get past Zhang Linpeng's tackle and dribbled forward. China's main central defender Cai Xi hurried over to make a defensive play. However, Ivan Dro didn't entangle with him and instead accurately passed the ball to Abdou. Abdou received the ball and shot from distance in the first time, Zeng Cheng was slightly slow to react, and could only watch as the ball rolled into the net from under his arm, Brazil once again pulled away on the scoreboard...

  "Don't worry, there's still plenty of time, keep attacking!" Gao Jun said, seeing that his teammates seemed to be affected by the lost ball, and quickly encouraged them. Under his encouragement, the whole team quickly regrouped and in the 85th minute, Gao Jun got the ball and suddenly made a straight pass to the side, Yu Hai timely accelerated and successfully counter-attacked, received the ball and continued to move forward for two steps before making a horizontal pass in front of the goal, the ball reached Gao Jun who easily pushed it into the net, scoring a textbook-like goal that tied the score again!

  After a while, the regular 90 minutes ended, and both sides entered extra time with a 2:2 tie...

  At this time, the Chinese players' weakness of poor physical fitness has been fully exposed. Under the Brazilian team's wave-like attack, they can only barely hold on. When a quick counterattack opportunity finally appears, Yu Hai is caught up by the opponent's defender due to his decreased physical strength and the chance is ruined. Fortunately, due to the opponent's similar physical exhaustion, their movements are somewhat distorted. The player who intended to kick the ball out of bounds instead kicked it near the corner flag and out of bounds, resulting in a corner kick for China...

  For the Chinese team, which is not lacking in high points, corner kicks are also a good scoring opportunity. However, the player who took the corner kick, Hao Jiamin, also consumed a lot of physical energy, and his technical movements were severely deformed. His usual footwork was not good, and the inswinging ball he kicked was too high and too floating. As a result, the Brazilian team's central defender easily headed the ball away.

  But just as the Brazilians were about to breathe a sigh of relief, substitute Zhang Linpeng made a powerful shot from the top of the penalty area, and the ball changed direction after hitting a Brazilian player, flying into the net. The score became 3-2, and according to the rules of this World Youth Championship, Brazil was suddenly eliminated! China won this extremely difficult match by luck!

  The Brazilian goalkeeper stared blankly at the ball rolling into the net, unable to accept such a cruel reality. His performance in this game was almost perfect, why did he encounter such a thing? While Gao Jun had already rushed towards the young hero, throwing him to the ground and shouting uncontrollably, "You are indeed my lucky general!"

  Gao Jun said that Zhang Linpeng was his lucky star, and there were reasons for this. When he first joined the Gao family army, his abilities in all aspects were not outstanding, and it was completely due to the fact that Chinese football talent was scarce at that time. Gao Jun had no choice but to prepare for the rainy day, turning the national team into a base for cultivating new people. Zhang Linpeng thus entered the national team early, but at that time, his personal ability was not outstanding, and he always managed to score key goals, most of which had a strong element of luck, such as deflections. Considering that he played right-back at the time, the shooting opportunities he could get were actually limited. It has to be said that he is indeed a lucky star. And Gao Jun relied on his several times of saving the country to successfully pass the trust crisis in the early days of taking over the national team, and won time for him to reform the national team. Unexpectedly, after crossing over, Zhang Linpeng was still Gao Jun's lucky star...

  After the Chinese team and the Brazilian team decided on a winner, another semifinal match was quickly divided into victory or defeat. The Spanish team launched a wave of attacks in an unfavorable situation with 0:2 behind, eventually tying the score to enter extra time, and scoring again just before the game entered a penalty shootout, causing the powerful Argentine team to die suddenly, they also became the next opponent of the Chinese team.