Chapter 326: Chapter 325: Only a Fool Would Play Football Like This
"Hello, football fans, and welcome, you’re now watching...The match today is being held at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion, formerly known as Kaiserslautern Stadium, built in 1926 and renamed in 1954 in honor of the captain of the World Cup-winning West Germany team, Fritz Walter. It’s also the second-largest stadium of the German Second Division."
"Rehhagel stated before the game that they had closely studied Deng Kai, and their number one task for this match is to limit his effectiveness."
"Alright, Kaiserslautern kick off the football, and the match is officially underway."
"Djorkaeff is ruthless in his tackles, challenging Terry right from the start and succeeding. The young English defender seems a little green when up against a formidable French star."
"Some fans have dubbed this match as the ’French Derby’, because each team has one main player from France’s ’98 World Cup-winning team...Kaiserslautern’s Djorkaeff and Sporting Lisbon’s Deschamps."
"Alright, Sporting Lisbon today have willingly given up ball possession, focusing more on defense."
"Three minutes into the game, with no opportunities on the right, Kaiserslautern transfer the football through midfield, it looks like they’ll still rely on Djorkaeff... Oh no! Matthaus with a dreamy interception!"
"Matthaus is just too strong, this interception was very preemptive. Kaiserslautern’s midfield was too careless, they didn’t play back through the defense, choosing instead to initiate from the midfield."
"The advantage is that they’re faster in transition compared to teams like Sporting Lisbon, who play through their back line, but the downside is that there’s a higher risk of losing the ball, requiring midfielders to have excellent passing skills and to remain highly vigilant."
"Maybe Kaiserslautern’s midfielders have forgotten what kind of player Matthaus is beside them. This is the Golden Ball winner who was mentioned in the same breath as Maradona in the early ’90s! Just two years ago he was playing in the Champions League final as a key midfielder for Bayern."
"Even in the first half of last season, he was still an indispensable player for Bayern. If you treat him like an average forty-year-old player, you’re definitely asking for trouble."
Bang!
Matthaus snatched the ball and immediately passed it over to Deng Kai.
"Deng Kai holds the ball just outside the center circle, dribbling forward while looking towards the left. Ronaldo is speeding up, Ronaldo is sprinting."
"However, Sporting Lisbon’s formation was compact just now, with Ronaldo assisting on defense, so his position hasn’t crossed the halfway line. Even with his speed, he’ll have to wait a moment to get into position."
"Kaiserslautern’s defense falls back immediately, taking their defensive positions, not giving Sporting Lisbon any chance for a counterattack. With too few players upfront, Sporting Lisbon can only wait for more support to mount a positional attack..."
Bang!
Just as the commentator was saying the counterattack wasn’t on, Deng Kai, less than ten meters past the halfway line, suddenly sped up after dribbling to adjust, his right leg lifted high, tilting his body to the right.
This move, is...
The Seedorf-style cruise missile launcher!
The excellent winger Schweinsteiger!
Black Panther Hunt!
Long-range shot!
Going it alone!
What does Ronaldo count for! (When there’s a Brazilian player on the field for Kaiserslautern)
"He shoots! Deng Kai fires from over thirty-five meters away from goal!"
"Has he lost his mind? From such a distance, how can he dare?"
"Not every unguarded moment is a clear chance, exactly because Deng Kai’s position was beyond the usual concept of a long-range shot, the Kaiserslautern player didn’t close in to defend him but instead retreated to wait for him to enter the defensive zone."
"Deng Kai is a bit delusional if he thinks he can score from there, he..."
Swish!
The football shoots out like a cannonball from under Deng Kai’s foot.
Then it sails towards the goal.
The football flies low and starts to rise gradually but it doesn’t float aimlessly into the sky.
Instead, it climbs steadily and calmly.
At the same time, the speed of the football is quite fast.
But because Deng Kai’s long shot had no spin on it, the ball shows no variation mid-flight.
It clearly traveled ten meters, but you might think it flew only three or five meters.
This is a visual deception, very deadly for a goalkeeper.
When the Kaiserslautern goalkeeper realizes what’s happening, the football is already very close to him.
He instinctively reaches out to save it, but he doesn’t have time to leap fully, there’s no time.
Normally, if it were like this, the goalkeeper would be able to save this ball.
After all, the football came from afar, and Deng Kai had a shooting motion, so the goalkeeper had already chosen his position earlier.
This is the advantage of good positioning; in a critical moment, even without adjusting, you can still save the football.
Good positioning is like defeating time.
But!
The football soared!
It started low, skimming waist-height, but as it entered the penalty area, it suddenly climbed another level.
The flight path brought it to the upper half of the goal.
If we divide the goal from top to bottom into four sections, this ball had reached the highest section.
This is the most uncomfortable area for a goalkeeper to make a save.
In this zone, you can only use the palm of your hand to push the football away.
And how big is a palm?
Compared to shots aimed at other zones, a goalkeeper’s saving range can include their body, legs, and so on.
Moreover, saves in this highest zone often require the goalkeeper to jump.
Every goalkeeper can touch the crossbar with a leap, but jumping requires force, generating force requires charging up, and that takes time.
And time was precisely what Kaiserslautern’s goalkeeper lacked.
Zzzt!
The football kicked up a spray of white foam, its momentum unceasing.
The Fritz-Walter-Stadion fell instantly silent.
The fans of Kaiserslautern hadn’t even finished their team anthem.
But Sporting Lisbon had already secured a goal.
The commentator was compelled to announce, "GOAL! A superb long-range shot is born! The scorer, Sporting Lisbon’s midfielder, Deng Kai!"
A handful of Sporting Lisbon fans on-site went wild.
Five to one in the first leg.
Now, with another goal from Deng Kai, the aggregate score was six to one.
What could Kaiserslautern use to turn the tables?
On the pitch, Deng Kai, having scored, pointed at his team’s bench and, accompanied by the likes of Ronaldo, Pepe, Feng Te, Terry, Barzagli, and Drogba, rushed towards the substitutes’ bench.
There in the bench area, players like Ibrahimovic and Kwame Ayew, as well as the assistant coach Maxa, raced towards Deng Kai. The groups collided, leaping high, and mid-air they made a 180-degree turn, producing a resounding celebratory roar, "Siuuuuuu!"
The scene was stunning.
In the entire stadium, only these few individuals made any sound.
Though not loud, it stood out due to the surrounding silence, and the ’siu’ resonated throughout the entire stadium.
From that moment, many were certain the match had ended.
It was over for Kaiserslautern!
In Deng Kai’s Siu, they didn’t just see a goal celebration—it was more about the confidence Deng Kai instilled in Sporting Lisbon.
In the midst of the celebration, the camera meaningfully found Rehhagel.
Although he appeared composed, he didn’t immediately make any other strategic adjustments.
Because this conceded goal—it wasn’t the fault of Kaiserslautern’s players.
Getting dispossessed is normal, and Kaiserslautern’s players had retreated quickly; Sporting Lisbon hadn’t managed to launch a counterattack.
This goal, anyone would have had to accept it.
After all, who would be insane enough to shoot from 35 meters out and unleash such a high-quality world-beater?
Are you sure you’re a midfielder and not one of the top five strikers in the world?
Are you sure your role is to orchestrate and assist rather than to score like Ronaldo?
Are you sure your small frame can handle the tremendous reactive forces of a shot from more than 35 meters out?
Are you sure you’re on the side leading five to one and not trailing one to five, needing to make the most of every shooting opportunity to catch up?
Are you sure this is the third minute of the match, not the last three minutes that require such precious long-range attempts?
Only an idiot would play football like this.
But if it goes in, then it’s the work of a genius.
