Chapter 755: Chapter 754: Britain is Doomed
The first penalty taker for the Portugal team was Deng Kai.
Manchester City too.
Lisbon Sporting too.
Deng Kai’s penalty kicks had always been very steady.
But it’s been calculated by the media that about forty percent of his penalty kicks were passed to others.
This statistic is quite exaggerated.
It also showed Deng Kai’s generosity.
So, this time the penalty kick of course ... couldn’t possibly be given to someone else!
After ten seconds.
Cheers erupted at Dragão Stadium.
Portuguese fans sang and danced.
English fans felt as if plunged into an ice cellar.
Deng Kai’s penalty shot broke through the goal, scoring twice within fifteen minutes.
Helping the Portugal team to take a two-goal lead over England.
Great Britain... was seemingly doomed!
The sixteenth minute.
Beckham launched a cross from the right wing.
But Veloso was exceptionally brave, and he threw himself forward to block the ball like a machine gun.
The football hit Veloso’s back and bounced behind Beckham.
Deng Kai, who had come back to defend, picked up the ball and turned to advance, dribbling past the halfway line.
Gary Neville kept his focus on Deng Kai, retreating as he fought.
He didn’t dare to press too close.
Deng Kai’s breaking ability was quite strong and he was fast; once he got past Neville, Neville would probably never catch up again.
Bang!
Deng Kai passed the ball across the ground to Deco in the middle.
Unhindered.
After receiving the ball, Deco heard a call from the right side and direct-passed it to his front right.
Viana controlled the ball and then direct-passed it again to his front right.
Figo, making an off-ball cut inside, stormed into the penalty area and met the football with a push shot.
Whoosh!
For the third time, the football drilled into England’s net.
England’s goalkeeper Robinson was dumbfounded.
What the hell was all this?
Where were our defensive players?
From Deng Kai to Deco, to Viana, to Figo, not a single Englishman had made an effort to disrupt the Portuguese passing.
Was this tanking?
"GOAL! Figo! The old blade still sharp!"
"Three-nil! Figo has almost killed the game!"
"Incredible!"
"Two goals in two minutes! Three goals in sixteen minutes! Portugal has gone mad!"
"What on earth is the England team doing? They’re completely out of form!"
"Did they all go to a nightclub last night?"
"Or is it that faced with the Premier League king Deng Kai, they don’t even have the courage to fight back?"
The camera focused on the faces of England’s stars.
At this moment, the entire world felt the powerlessness of the English.
The speed of England’s collapse exceeded even their own imagination.
The twenty-fourth minute.
The frustrated English finally managed a beautiful counterattack.
Terry sent a long ball from the backfield, finding Owen.
Owen delivered a through pass.
Rooney fired a low shot to score.
However, before Rooney’s shot, the linesman had already flagged.
Offside!
It was a clear offside.
The combination of Owen and Rooney showed a huge error.
This also revealed the anxious mindset of the English.
If they couldn’t pull back a goal in the first half, then they truly didn’t stand a chance in this match.
The thirty-fifth minute.
The Portuguese attacked once more.
Deng Kai feigned a through run on the left flank, but deftly slipped the ball between the legs, cutting inside and eating Neville alive.
Neville indeed couldn’t keep up with Deng Kai.
Bang!
Deng Kai pulled away from Campbell and passed the football to C.Ronaldo up ahead.
C.Ronaldo carried the ball sideways, looking for a chance to shoot.
But Terry was closely marking him and attempted to intercept.
C.Ronaldo flicked the ball back to Deco with his right foot, then suddenly accelerated and ran vertically into the penalty area.
Deco played a wall-pass straight through, perfectly coordinating with C.Ronaldo.
C.Ronaldo led Terry by half a body and reached the football for a powerful shot.
Whoosh!
The football instantly stirred up countless white waves.
England goalkeeper Robinson stood there like a lackey.
Faced with C.Ronaldo’s close-range blast, he couldn’t make any reaction.
"GOAL! Manchester United’s new king C.Ronaldo has scored as well!"
"Four to zero!"
"This is all simply too crazy!"
"The camera switches to Beckham! He was Manchester United’s last number seven! And at this very moment, the current Manchester United number seven is replacing Beckham with a resounding victory."
"The passing of the baton of kingship is never about renunciation. Only when you challenge the king and win do you become the next!"
"C.Ronaldo has done it!"
By this point, the match had almost completely spiraled out of control.
The forty-first minute.
Ashley Cole burst down the flank at high speed, overtaking Carvalho, and relying on absolute speed, delivered a cross.
Owen and Rooney were both ready to pounce.
Unfortunately, Kilop slid in at the near post and cleared it before they could reach it.
The forty-fifth minute, and the additional time board was displayed on the sideline.
There were a total of three minutes of added time for the first half.
This was quite rare, mostly because the Portuguese team had scored four goals, and the celebrations had taken up a considerable amount of time.
Usually, there’s only one minute of added time in the first half.
The second minute of stoppage time.
Carvalho successfully tackled Ashley Cole.
As one of the best centre-backs in the Champions League this season, Carvalho was no easy target.
Kilop passed the football to Deco.
Deco started the counterattack immediately, with a through ball connecting with Deng Kai on the left.
Deng Kai advanced with the ball and voluntarily moved towards the middle, circling around Lampard who was blocking in front.
Meanwhile, C.Ronaldo, who was running in the center, intuitively moved to the left.
Their paths crossed.
Campbell chased after C.Ronaldo.
Deng Kai flicked the ball to accelerate, ready to pass through the defensive area formerly covered by Campbell.
Lampard followed Deng Kai but couldn’t close the gap between them.
Campbell, as though waking from a dream, hastily lunged at Deng Kai.
However, Deng Kai had already stepped past the blockade and stormed into the penalty area.
Campbell made a diagonal sliding tackle, willing to take a red card to stop Deng Kai.
Because there were no defenders behind him.
England couldn’t afford to concede another goal.
Unfortunately for Campbell, Deng Kai was swift on his feet, and Campbell’s desperate slide not only failed to reach Deng Kai but also took down Lampard who was hot on Deng Kai’s trail.
Arsenal and Chelsea suffered a serious traffic accident in the European Cup!
Robinson dared not charge out because Deng Kai was still some distance from the goal.
Charging now would have made it easy to be lobbed by a chip shot.
Meanwhile, Robinson’s gaze shifted toward the right side of Deng Kai.
Unbeknownst to him, his gaze gave away his teammate’s position.
Robinson also moved slightly towards the right side of the goal, his weight shifting to dive for a ball aimed to the right.
This indicated that he was mainly defending against Deng Kai’s left foot aiming for the far post.
Combining this information with the mental simulation of surrounding players’ movements, Deng Kai knew what to expect... Terry was rushing back for defense on his right!
Deng Kai was originally preparing to flick the ball to the right, maximizing the angle for a shot with his right foot to the far post.
That was the shot with the highest probability of scoring.
But now...
Deng Kai still flicked the ball to the right, but the angle was half of what he had initially planned.
Simultaneously, he raised his right foot slightly.
Bang!
A snap shot!
The backswing was very small.
Incredibly swift.
The football wasn’t hit hard, but its deception was its triumph.
