Chapter 457: Chapter 456: The Asian Derby, The Person Who Knows Brazilian Players Best
Although grazed by Campbell and staggering, Deng Kai maintained possession of the ball and then swept the football to his left after a brief adjustment.
Ronaldo got the ball, a simple but brutal cut inside with a flick.
Arsenal’s right-back Lauren and Wu Xudong shared similar career paths, both starting as wingers before being converted into speed-oriented full-backs.
That’s to say, sometimes their defense... leaves something to be desired.
Ronaldo’s inside flick just nutmegged Lauren.
Taking advantage of Lauren’s turn, Ronaldo burst past him, completing the cut inside.
Kolo Toure, following Drogba’s forward dart to the left, happened to block Ronaldo’s shooting path.
He Wei couldn’t help but laugh at that moment.
Looks like Sporting hasn’t rehearsed this, right?
Is Drogba’s positioning that bad?
Bringing someone into Ronaldo’s shooting path, how is Ronaldo supposed to shoot?
As everyone knows, all Ronaldo can do is shoot.
Bang!
Ronaldo made a sideways pass!
The football brazenly traversed Arsenal’s penalty area.
The entire box was empty, allowing the ball to roll freely.
All the players were drawn away.
And down the center and at the far post, two flashes of green and white streaked by.
In the middle was Kaka.
At the far post was Wu Xudong.
Kaka stretched out his foot for a poke shot.
Himan went down, spreading his hands as wide as possible to cover more area.
But the problem was the ball was too fast, and Kaka didn’t touch it.
Arsenal fans couldn’t help but feel relieved, Ronaldo’s pass was indeed poor.
That sideways pass was hit too forcefully, did he think he was shooting on goal?
Bang!
The football shot into the Arsenal goal.
Making the shooting move simultaneously with Kaka, Wu Xudong at the far post scored with a sliding shot.
The football flew past the fallen Himan’s left hand into the net.
The slide shot was not of the best quality, but it was victorious since Himan had already completely lost his defensive capability.
After the slide shot, Wu Xudong slid out of the goal and flew out of the field from outside the post.
"GOAL!"
Inside the CCTV Sports Channel’s studio, Huang Jianxiang stood up and hammered on the desk like mad.
The fans could only hear the banging noise.
But Huang Jianxiang believed that not a single fan sitting in front of the TV would complain about him.
Because everyone was repeating the same action he was.
"Wu Xudong! Wu Xudong has scored!"
"Champions League goal! This is the first goal scored by a Chinese player in the history of the Champions League!"
"Deng Kai initiated it, Ronaldo assisted, Wu Xudong scored a milestone goal!"
"From this moment on, all the other Chinese players struggling abroad have become followers. They must aim for Wu Xudong’s record, strive to play in the Champions League as soon as possible, and show off the strength of Chinese players!"
"Four to five! Kaka immediately snatched the football out of the goal!"
"Deng Kai is urging all his teammates to quickly return to their own half to restart the game!"
"Sporting Lisbon still has a chance! They refuse to accept a four-to-five loss."
"This team never gives up! They are incredibly tenacious."
"It is this spirit that supported them through the tough winter break, creating a record of twelve matches unbeaten in all competitions!"
"They aren’t willing to be ended by Arsenal! At least not by Arsenal in this match!"
Every Chinese fan in front of the TV felt a pang of regret.
If this were a goal that helped the team to victory, or even to equalize, everyone could celebrate extravagantly.
But unfortunately, the team was still behind, meaning this meaningful goal didn’t even get a second of celebration time.
This is like the hardworking efforts of many Chinese people, struggling all their lives with scarcely any time or opportunity to stop for rest. If possible, everyone should really stop to walk and see, to enjoy a chubby peach’s football novel.
However, at this moment, Wenger discarded the dignity of the academy-style approach.
He was actually making a substitution!
Time-wasting!
The esteemed Arsenal manager was resorting to the sort of shenanigans Ferguson would play—the downright dirty tricks?
The fans at Estádio Alvalade were furious.
They began spewing obscenities wildly.
Wenger, faced with this, could only continue to stand with his hands in his pockets—or rather, searching his pockets to alleviate his embarrassment.
Japanese player Inamoto Junichi came on for Parlour, presenting the "Asian Derby" that fans in Asia were particularly looking forward to before the game.
Parlour deliberately dawdled off the field until the referee blew the whistle to warn him, only then did he leave the pitch.
Inamoto Junichi was just as slow to enter the game.
Next to him, Wiltord, the only one of the three musketeers not to start, was also waiting.
It was expected that in another minute or two, he would also be substituted on.
Playing the game was not important; what mattered was wasting time.
Wenger really was executing the tactics he learned from Ferguson to perfection.
At this rate, this season’s Arsenal was carrying high expectations.
Lofty art has always struggled to win championships; the biographies of kings recorded their achievements, but only unofficial histories contained the reasons for their ascension to the throne.
On the sidelines, the fourth official raised the board.
The added time for the match was a lengthy seven minutes.
This was mainly due to the numerous goals scored.
Wenger thought the time was too long and kept complaining, eventually receiving a yellow card.
He really disliked the added time because during that period, Ferguson was damn strong.
With that amount of time, Ferguson’s team could turn a draw into a win, turn a loss into a draw.
If there was no added time in the Premier League, it would be Arsenal with the three-peat, not Manchester United!
The 91st minute.
Boos arose again in the stadium.
Arsenal substituted Wiltord for Bergkamp.
Bergkamp was just as leisurely.
An impatient Veloso approached to hurry Bergkamp along, leading to a confrontation between the two.
Deng Kai held Veloso back because this was exactly the effect Bergkamp wanted.
If the quarrel continued, it would waste Sporting Lisbon’s own time.
The 94th minute.
Arsenal made Sporting Lisbon aware that wasting time could be for their own good.
Henry, with a single pass during a dribble, successfully created a chance.
If it wasn’t for Schmeichel’s sufficiently early charge, getting to the ball before Wiltord, Sporting Lisbon would have feared conceding another goal.
Schmeichel immediately launched a counterattack, but his long pass was disrupted by Vieira.
Afterward, possession constantly changed hands, with neither side giving the other any opportunity.
By the 96th minute, as the game was drawing to a close,
Veloso seized the moment to tackle Ljungberg.
Ljungberg fell to his knees in protest, but the referee deemed Veloso’s defense to be without fault.
Veloso passed back to Pepe.
Pepe sent a long ball down to Kaka, who had dropped deep.
Kaka dribbled and sped up, intending to push forward with the ball.
Inamoto Junichi, who had come on as a substitute, rushed toward Kaka with a gleeful expression.
Kaka had been playing the entire match.
Inamoto Junichi had only been on for five or six minutes.
The latter was fully fit and defending the former was seemingly easy as pie.
If anyone in the world knows Brazilian football well, besides Brazilians, it definitely has to be the Japanese.
For a long time, Japanese have treated Brazilian football as the subject of their learning and research.
In the famous anime "Captain Tsubasa," Brazil is portrayed as the "land of dreams."
