Chapter 217: Chapter 216: I’ve Tried It, It’s Mediocre
What the hell.
Ronaldo is a player who desperately wants to win, and when his team concedes a goal, his expression is often the ugliest.
Although he doesn’t say it, everyone knows he’s cursing the defenders in his mind.
Just like the defenders curse in their minds when they see Ronaldo miss a shot.
"Deng Kai is communicating with his teammates on the back line. Despite his young age, his style on the field is very mature. As the midfield linchpin, it’s normal for him to give instructions to the defense."
"Oh, Ricardo is smiling. Did Deng Kai tell them a joke?"
"Isn’t this a bit too unserious?"
"If this is the attitude Deng Kai and the defenders have toward conceding goals, their recent mistake becomes easy to understand."
"It seems that Trigella doesn’t have high demands when it comes to team discipline, which indeed is a major drawback of coaches from youth training."
"Moreirense had won a series of matches before, they got cocky, and perhaps they thought of Gil Vicente as just another team. They didn’t respect the standings, so the standings won’t respect them."
"They’re going to concede again today..."
The commentator’s words got stuck in his throat.
Because the game had just restarted, and Gil Vicente, having got a taste for it, launched another massive frontal press.
But this time, Feng Te gave Kilop plenty of time to react, delivering him a comfortable pass.
Facing the press, Kilop effortlessly booted the football forward to the left front.
Ronaldo blazed after the ball, contesting the header with the opposite player.
The opponent disrupted the football early, but as a result gave Moreirense a throw-in from the side.
Serafim stepped up to take the throw-in.
The football came to Ronaldo’s feet.
Ronaldo passed back to Serafim.
Serafim passed back to Ronaldo again.
At that moment, Deng Kai came over to support Ronaldo.
Ronaldo made a strong lateral pass to find Deng Kai.
His intention was to use Deng Kai as a wall, bumping the ball for a nice one-two combination.
But right after Ronaldo released the ball, the opposing right-back immediately followed Ronaldo, cutting off the wall-passing route from Deng Kai to Ronaldo.
Deng Kai, as if his system had crashed, lifted his foot and nudged the ball backward, prompting the already quick ball to accelerate further.
A back-heel nutmeg!
At the same time, Deng Kai turned to the right, separating from the player with the ball on the outside.
Because Deng Kai was positioned on the left side, the defender behind him had to anticipate a cut inside, so his stance would be slightly biased towards the center.
For a player holding the ball on the left, moving towards the center poses a big threat, but moving towards the sideline reduces the danger.
In such situations, naturally, the defender would guard against the inside cut.
So when Deng Kai turned right, he wasn’t disturbed in the slightest.
If he had turned left, he would have been blocked by the opponent.
"He’s past him! Deng Kai’s speed is so fast! It feels like he’s gotten much faster recently!"
"Even though he took the outside, making a wider route, Deng Kai caught the opponent off guard, and now he’s ahead."
Deng Kai kept adjusting his position, blocking his opponent’s path with his body while cutting inside.
The opponent, if not resolute in foul play, could do nothing against Deng Kai with this kind of movement.
Bang!
On the left side of the penalty area, Deng Kai finished adjusting his steps and suddenly fired with his right foot.
An instep curve shot!
The football traced a large arc.
Although the Gil Vicente goalkeeper made a valiant save attempt, faced with such a curved shot, all he could do was hope that Deng Kai’s shot wasn’t perfectly wrapped up.
Whoosh!
The Gil Vicente goalkeeper’s prayer failed.
The football hit the far corner at a very tight angle, almost impossible to save.
"GOAL! A worldie! Deng Kai scores a worldie to equalize for the team!"
"It’s almost like an answer ball; this goal is just two minutes apart from Gil Vicente’s goal! Considering the celebration time, these two goals happened back-to-back."
"Nothing could boost the team’s morale more than this!"
"Moreirense’s defence, already on the verge of collapse due to an earlier mistake, will feel much relieved after this goal by Deng Kai."
"The match has become fair once again."
"Deng Kai’s move to separate himself from the ball is simply eye-opening; he plays with such flair."
"In terms of pure ball control and dribbling skills, Deng Kai might not stand out. But when it comes to imaginative actions, he is one of the top players in his age group!"
"His speed and shooting technique have improved dramatically from last year to this year."
After this goal, Moreirense obviously started to play tit-for-tat with Gil Vicente.
Deng Kai, like a vanguard, his goal seemed to tell his teammates "Brothers, I’ve tried it... it’s so-so."
What is the worst rating you can give to a man?
So-so!
As a result, apart from Deng Kai and Ronaldo, other players on the team also began to attempt one-on-ones with the opponent.
The significance of one-on-one is not really about getting past the opponent, but about expanding the time and space to handle the football.
Players without the ability to take on opponents one-on-one, just like Deng Kai previously told Ronaldo, can only play passive football; they must pass the ball before others arrive, which can easily lead to mistakes.
Thanks to the players’ efforts, Moreirense surpassed Gil Vicente in the number of shots and shots on goal in the next ten-plus minutes.
In the thirty-third minute, Feng Te passed the ball to Alex.
Alex successfully dribbled down the flank and made a successful cross from the bottom.
Unfortunately, the opponent had also fallen back to defend tightly. Alex’s pass was too long, sending the football from one side to the other, reminiscent of a shuttlecock.
On the other side, Deng Kai, who had been very active on the left wing today, ran over to bring the ball under control.
Upon seeing Deng Kai, the Gil Vicente players didn’t bother to chase the ball and simply waited for Deng Kai to cross it.
This sort of thing is pretty common.
Bang!
Deng Kai did indeed make the cross.
But he sent it to the near post.
And most Gil Vicente players were clustered in the middle.
Sharing a telepathic understanding with Deng Kai, as soon as the football was played, Ronaldo dashed towards the near post, slightly leaned forward to meet the ball, and glanced it with his head.
The football sailed over the crowd in the middle, landing straight into the goal at the far post.
"The far post! It’s the far post again! Ronaldo’s glanced header helps the team take the lead!"
"Two to one!"
"You can tell from Ronaldo’s surprised expression that he intended to set the ball up for a teammate at the back, but he didn’t expect it to go straight in! He’s so lucky with goals!"
"He has now scored seventeenth goals in the Portuguese second division, placing him second in the league top scorers!"
"Bear in mind, both he and Deng Kai joined Moreirense during the winter transfer window; averaging more than one goal per game, this scoring efficiency is truly terrifying!"
After this goal, the Gil Vicente players were still wondering how they had fallen behind.
But the Moreirense players had completely changed their mindset and started to play offensive football.
On the field, Moreirense began to dominate completely.
The roles had reversed.
Gil Vicente, now behind, their only task was not to concede more goals.
