Chapter 291: Chapter 290: The Target, the King of the Instep
The speed advantage was not so great anymore.
At such times, it really tested the passer’s skills.
Previously, during the Qatar World Cup matches of Portugal, there were players who, on the right side less than twenty meters from the baseline, continuously made through passes that were too strong, causing the football to go out of bounds.
But Deng Kai was not like those Portuguese players at the time, he...
Bang!
Deng Kai made a straight through pass, and the football flew out of bounds as if it had been shot.
Ronaldo didn’t even run for it, just turned his head to look at Deng Kai, as if to say, "Are you messing with me? Even if you moved the baseline back ten meters, I still couldn’t catch up."
Do you have a vendetta against an advert board?
Are you really going to slam the advert board?
Deng Kai gave a sheepish smile and gave Ronaldo a thumbs-up.
Thumbs up, thumbs up, solve everything with a thumbs up.
Ding Ding is still too non-mainstream, oh no, too consciousness-stream.
Too much fluctuation in passing.
Even with his seventy-nine short pass and seventy-four long pass stats, he couldn’t hold it steady.
In the thirty-ninth minute, Deng Kai drifted back to his position on the right and switched places with the football and Quaresma, preparing for a cross from the wing.
Bang!
Halfway through switching, Deng Kai made a diagonal pass, identical to the previous one he had made to Ronaldo.
But this time the touch was much better.
Quaresma turned and shook off his defender, indicating that a good pass from his teammate could still lead to an attack even without enough distance for a sprint.
However, this pass was aimed outside the large penalty area, and when Quaresma shook off his opponent, he was still inside the large penalty box. The opposition didn’t dare to commit a deliberate foul. Regardless of whether the referees cover for you, professional athletes still have this level of alertness.
And with the ball moving outwards, even if Quaresma received it, it wouldn’t be too threatening...
Bang!
After catching up with the football, Quaresma didn’t stop it; instead, he took an extra step and outran the ball, getting ahead of it.
Bang!
Without stopping the ball, he directly passed it back with an inverted triangle flick pass!
Still using the outside of the foot technique!
A pass looking like a shot!
The Rosenborg penalty area suddenly became panicked.
Because most people did not anticipate this would be a reverse-curving or "C" shaped pass, a number of players missed their chance to intercept the football.
This position clearly called for a positive curve pass to be more threatening.
Amongst the crowd, a tall figure emerged.
Ibrahimovic came down from the sky, using his not-so-favored header to make an attempt at goal.
At the time he was in the air, the distance between him and the goalkeeper was no more than two meters.
Even if he had chosen not to go for a header, there was a chance that the ball could have been directly scored at the far post.
The back-heel pass from Quaresma was truly masterful.
The commentator hyped up the play, "Sporting Lisbon equalizes the score! Deng Kai with a delicate through pass, Quaresma delivers a wonderful assist, and Ibrahimovic heads the ball into the net!"
"This young team from Lisbon had been in troubles, but it seems they’ve found a way to break through."
"Amongst them, Quaresma’s pass deserves so much praise!"
"He actually had two other ways to handle the situation, the first was to catch up to the football, control it, adjust, and then pass it. But that would have lost the element of surprise, and with his teammates all in set positions, it would have been difficult to create a threat,"
"The second was to cross the ball immediately upon catching up to it, using a defender’s technique to make the cross. But since his position was already very close to the byline, a cross with too much of an arc could easily go out of bounds in mid-air,"
"Alternatively, during the cross, he could intentionally aim it backwards a bit, the technique resembling a reverse triangle pass more. However, the two closest points to Quaresma were both Rosenborg’s defensive players, making it challenging to get the ball through on the ground,"
"That’s why Quaresma chose to overtake the football, turn, and execute a flick pass with the outside of his foot,"
"Ensuring the football could be sent off without going out of play mid-air. It could also mislead the opponent with its unusual arc, and in the end, there was even a chance to attempt a zero-angle shot with the outside of the boot,"
"That’s absolutely genius-level play!"
"Speaking of which, because of his outstanding outside of the boot technique, the media once dubbed Quaresma the ’King of the Outside of the Foot’!"
The commentary for this match has been very good, and well-prepared.
If Deng Kai had heard that last remark, he would probably have a strong sense of crisis inside.
The title of ’King of the Outside of the Foot’ is the closest title to Deng Kai at the moment!
The forty-second minute.
Deng Kai made a clean interception in the forward field,
Rosenborg’s passing in their own half was of poor quality, purely defensive, that would have been fine. But now they were obviously trying to initiate an attack, basically serving up an interception to Deng Kai on a silver platter,
Deng Kai passed the ball to Ronaldo,
Ronaldo tapped it back,
Deng Kai knocked it sideways to Viana and pulled to the side,
Viana looked for Ronaldo, but there was no opportunity, so he passed it to Deng Kai instead,
Deng Kai, seeing Ibrahimovic breaking into the penalty area from the middle, and Ronaldo doing the same from the left, had a moment of inspiration,
Bang!
"Deng Kai kicks for a cross! So sudden! And it’s a flick pass with the outside of the foot!"
"With over twenty meters to the goal, this pass proves that his right leg has quite good power,"
"It looks like Deng Kai is looking for Ibrahimovic, only the outside of the right foot could complete this pass so quickly. If he switched to his left foot to pass, he would have delayed the opportunity. This is because Deng Kai is right-footed, and when dribbling normally, the football is more under the control of his right foot, although he can pass with his left, it requires some adjustments,"
"Don’t ask why he can’t make the pass with a normal right-footed technique. Since Deng Kai is on the left flank, to pass to the center of the penalty area with normal technique, his body would have to face the goal in advance, and then push the football sideways by half a step, which also needs processing time,"
"Deng Kai is very good at seizing the moment—ugh, seizing opportunities. His vision is exceptional, always able to spot fleeting chances. This leads him to sometimes use unconventional passing techniques in order to seize those opportunities,"
"Thus, his passing error rate isn’t low, and some mistakes can be quite outrageous. It’s not because his passing skills are lacking, but that at that time, only such a method could get the football through. If the pass is accurate, it’s a brilliant one, but it’s normal if not,"
"Oh no! Ibrahimovic made the wrong run!"
In the frame, Ibrahimovic, who cut inside the penalty area, faked to the right before suddenly speeding up and darting to the front left, aiming for the front post of the goal,
It seemed that Ibrahimovic anticipated the pass would aim for the near post,
Whereas Ronaldo was delayed by the opponent and couldn’t cut in on time,
After all, with the outside of the foot, it’s hard to pass very far, reaching the near post would be quite good,
However...
After the football flew into the sky, the arc was alarmingly high,
As if the wind had picked it up, it kept rising, and when nearing the near post, it was still two to three meters over the goal,
This pass was on the same level as a sky-high shot during an attempt to score a goal,
Ibrahimovic, in the end, didn’t even attempt to go for it,
Instead, he stood with his hands on his hips, watching the football,
Way off!
No point in running!
