Chapter 168: Chapter 167: Is this Kai or Ronaldo?
Deng Kai stood at the penalty spot, and as the whistle blew, he struck the ball decisively.
The football was hit with full force, flying toward the right side of the goal.
The Boavista goalkeeper guessed the right direction, but was one step too slow in the dive, failing to stop Deng Kai’s goal.
"GOAL! Deng Kai scores with a penalty shot! He converts the penalty he earned himself, grabbing his first goal of the season."
"Many thought he would pass the ball after doing a ’bicycle’ move, but instead he went straight through."
"This is quite uncharacteristic of Deng Kai’s play style, but I must say, it’s pretty effective."
"It seems that as his height has increased, so has Deng Kai’s confidence in breaking through. He’s become bolder in his actions. He really should teach Ronaldo a thing or two—Ronaldo’s ’bicycle’ might be faster, but his is more graceful!"
Clack!
Ronaldo, laid up in bed, angrily threw his phone!
What a ridiculous comment!
Does he understand football?
Could my ’bicycle’ that’s as fast as lightning be worse than Deng Kai’s ordinary one?
This penalty completely changed the dynamics of the match.
With a goal in hand, Sporting Lisbon no longer had to worry about maintaining their lead and began to pass the ball back more freely.
They moved their ball control from the midfield to the defense.
Deng Kai’s movements and interplay decreased significantly; he only needed his teammates to pass the ball here and there.
Boavista launched an intense counter-pressing at the thirty-fifth minute.
However, as Deng Kai dropped back, the counter-pressing failed to produce any real effect.
Boavista made one final push, then weakened, and finally exhausted themselves.
They completely lost control of the game.
The only thing they could do was to wait for their coach to fire them up during the half-time break.
Forty-third minute.
The Boavista fans on the side of the pitch began to jeer again.
This time, it signified they were truly in a panic.
The first half was almost over, and these fans saw not a glimmer of hope.
If their team didn’t score a goal now, they might just leave during the intermission.
In a bid to retain the fans...
Forty-fifth minute.
Deng Kai coordinated with Duarte and Wu Xudong on the sideline for a series of plays.
After five consecutive passes, Deng Kai feigned receiving the ball.
Duarte lobbed a through ball over the top; Wu Xudong tore through on the right flank, charging to the bottom line.
Bang!
Wu Xudong crossed the ball from the baseline.
Yu Shihao jostled for a header in the center.
But he wasn’t tall, making such aerial balls quite challenging for him.
These were better suited for the team’s original starting forward Peckao, or the bedridden Ronaldo.
Bang!
The Boavista center back headed the football out of the penalty area.
But the next moment, his hairs stood on end.
Because he saw Deng Kai use his arm to fend off a defender, sprinting past him to find the gap and drawing his bow at the falling football.
Bang!
A volleyed half-volley shot.
No technique.
All raw emotion!
The football rocketed into the net.
Boavista’s goalkeeper was blocked by the crowd in front of the goal and didn’t even see the football.
"Two to zero! Sporting Lisbon scores another goal before the halftime break!"
"They have the chance to end their three-game losing streak in the league today."
Boavista’s coach needed to think of a solution.
Facing powerful ball control, what could Boavista ultimately come up with?
In the sixty-fifth minute, the opposing players fouled Deng Kai for the second consecutive time, finally earning a yellow card.
Their tactical intention was clear, which was to give Deng Kai plenty of physical challenges.
No matter what happened to the ball, you’d definitely end up on the ground.
The youth training league has a strict scale for punishing physical fouls; this lesser choice of the professional teams didn’t work well here.
In the seventy-second minute.
Deng Kai, Hao Junmin, and Yu Shihao played a series of short passes on the left, ultimately leading to Yu Shihao taking a long shot outside the penalty area on the left, winning a corner kick.
Deng Kai took the corner kick, and the tallest member of the team Shao Jiawei leaped high to score with a header.
A short player in basketball becomes a giant in football.
Three to zero, Sporting Lisbon secures the victory.
In the seventy-sixth minute, Boavista still tried to launch an attack.
The recently scored Shao Jiawei made another contribution in defense by blocking the opponent’s shot.
In the eightieth and eighty-first minutes, Veloso committed consecutive fouls against the attacking players, hindering the opponents’ momentum but also receiving a yellow card for it.
In the eighty-sixth minute.
Tavares intercepted the ball in the penalty area and then passed it to Deng Kai, who cleared it with a long kick to Yu Shihao on the left, who was pulling wide.
Yu Shihao fiercely contested with the opponent and, although he couldn’t get past, won a throw-in in the attacking half.
After the throw-in, Deng Kai held the ball and faced the opponent’s challenge with a Marseille Turn to get past them, then accelerated towards the penalty area with the ball.
After attracting enough defenders, Deng Kai passed the ball to Wu Xudong, who had cut inside in advance.
Wu Xudong received the ball and sent a diagonal pass from behind the advancing Deng Kai.
The position’s defender was pulled away, and the football came to Yu Shihao’s feet.
The defender lunged at Yu Shihao.
Outside the left side of the penalty area, Yu Shihao didn’t hog the glory, tapping the ball with his heel to Hao Junmin behind him.
Hao Junmin passed the ball diagonally without stopping it, sending it into the penalty area, causing an off-rhythm play for all Boavista defenders.
With a series of passes, the camera could hardly keep up.
In the end, the football rolled past the penalty spot, and Deng Kai arrived just as the ball did.
Bang!
From such a close distance, Deng Kai took a low shot, and just as Boavista’s goalkeeper was diving to intercept, the football flew into the goal.
"GOAL! Four to zero!"
"That was a classic display of team coordination! A chemical reaction occurred among Deng Kai and the three Chinese players. Trigella’s sought-after ball-control tactics are finally paying off."
"This ball was well-run by Deng Kai, but even better passed by the other players, which almost amounted to passing the football straight into the goal."
"A hat-trick! Let’s congratulate Deng Kai; he’s become the second player to achieve a hat-trick in the U17 league, the first being Ronaldo."
"Oh! It has to be said, Deng Kai’s performance today is indeed making people wonder — is this the same Deng Kai? Are you sure this isn’t Ronaldo?"
"If Deng Kai continues to perform like this, I think the fans of Sporting Lisbon might even forget about Ronaldo."
"Alright, the main referee has blown the whistle for the end of the match, congratulations to Sporting Lisbon on bouncing back after three straight losses. Their lineup today was very bold, but it worked well."
"Yu Shihao and Hao Junmin both provided assists, Shao Jiawei scored, and although Wu Xudong didn’t rack up individual stats his performance in the match was undeniable."
"Let’s hope these players can also put in a good performance in the next match."
"As for Deng Kai, he proved himself once more. His passing and ball-handling data for this match approached that of the entire Boavista team, making him without a doubt the core of Sporting Lisbon!"
After the match, Deng Kai was elected player of the game.
The media’s perception of this Sporting Lisbon U17 team was: "the magic is beginning to show"!
