Starting from a Fake University
Chapter 1730 - 908 The Player Exhausted on the Court_2

Chapter 1730: Chapter 908 The Player Exhausted on the Court_2

"Yeah, yeah, I noticed that in the first half, the Thai Team posed quite a threat to us, especially with their blitz counterattack leading to the first goal, catching us off guard."

Liu Zhan nodded in agreement.

Soon, the players of the national soccer team returned to the midfield resting area, where the head coach, Liu Changjian, was already waiting for them.

"Li Shuangying, the goal you scored was pretty good."

Head coach Liu Changjian clapped his hands and said to Li Shuangying.

Li Shuangying slightly nodded, neither boasting nor being overly modest, keeping a low profile. After all, given the current atmosphere inside the national team, being too high-profile might not be a good thing.

"Next, I’ll explain how we should play in the second half. After observing the Thai Team in the first half, I’ve discovered more detailed insights."

Liu Changjian started explaining to the players.

The players listened attentively.

"Firstly, in the second half, I won’t be making any substitutions. Any player who can’t hold out during the second half can signal to me for a substitution." Liu Changjian started with the basics.

Regarding the strategy for the second half, Li Shuangying and Liu Zhan were quite looking forward to it.

After all, head coach Liu Changjian is a master tactician, surely having a deeper understanding of the whole match, unlike Li Shuangying and the others who could only see their immediate situations on the field.

For example, Li Shuangying and others were aware of how fiercely the Thai Team defended, but weren’t really sure whether their offensive power was also strong.

This was because the national team’s defense was so bad that Li Shuangying couldn’t judge whether it was due to the inadequacy of their defense or the strength of the Thai Team’s offensive power.

"Let’s talk about you, Li Shuangying. The goal you scored in the first half will surely make the Thai Team target you closely. They’ll send more players to mark you, so in the second half, your main role will be to attract their defensive forces, thereby giving the main attacking rights to Wang Dachao. Understand?"

Head coach Liu Changjian first glanced at Li Shuangying, then turned to Wang Dachao.

"Hmm... yeah."

Li Shuangying nodded, indicating understanding.

He understood the reasoning behind it. In the first half, he had the main attacking responsibility, but having scored a goal in the first half, as Coach Liu Changjian said, he would be tightly marked in the second.

So at this time, he was indeed not suitable to be the main attacker.

But Li Shuangying wasn’t happy with one thing—that since he couldn’t be the main attacker, why not let Liu Zhan or Zhao Xuanming take up that role? Giving it to Wang Dachao, what was the meaning of that?

Previously, when talking with Liu Zhan, Li Shuangying had said that Wang Dachao didn’t have the skill.

If Wang Dachao becomes the main attacker, scoring a goal?

That’s very unlikely!

"In the first half, I had many chances to score, but Liu Zhan didn’t pass the ball to me. If he’d passed it to me, in the second half, we could surely overturn the Thai Team by a couple of points without any problem!"

At this time, Wang Dachao suddenly began boasting, and he was loud and clear about it.

The most surprising thing was that head coach Liu Changjian seemed to acknowledge Wang Dachao’s words, even nodding slightly.

Seeing this, Liu Zhan dared not speak despite his anger. He was angry because he didn’t want Wang Dachao to be the main attacker. Taking away Li Shuangying’s attacking responsibility was understandable, Liu Zhan understood that, but even if Li Shuangying was drawing the defense, giving the main attacking role to Zhao Xuanming would be a better choice. Why specifically give it to that guy, Wang Dachao?

"Zhou Peng, as the secondary attacker, you’ll need to be ready to replace Wang Dachao. Understand?"

Head coach Liu Changjian instructed again.

"Yes, Coach Liu!"

Zhou Peng heard this, he happily nodded in response.

Oh my!

Wang Dachao as the main attacker!

Zhou Peng as the secondary!

They’re marginalizing Liu Zhan and Zhao Xuanming at once, and upon hearing this, Li Shuangying felt very dissatisfied, but this was the tactical arrangement for the second half by the head coach—they were helpless.

It seemed, in the second half, they could only give it their all to cooperate with Wang Dachao and Zhou Peng.

Li Shuangying had a speculation which was that head coach Liu Changjian possibly wanted to create a "balance" within the team.

After all, if everything were left to him, Liu Zhan, Zhao Xuanming, and just people from the Feiyue Football Club, what would happen to players from other clubs?

Thinking about this, Li Shuangying felt helpless, also sensing that coach Liu Changjian really had too many thoughts, which were not beneficial for the national team.

Clearly, everyone should unite in the World Cup Pre-Match, to play well together, coaches and players united as one. But unexpectedly, there were undercurrents and complex relationships which were exhausting mentally.

To avoid letting these things disrupt his focus, Li Shuangying chose not to think too much about it, as any more thoughts could affect his performance on the field.

Just like that.

The national team followed the coach’s arrangements for the second half and started the second half against the Thai Team.

For the second half, Ding Yue and Huang Youjie were still full of confidence.

But Ding Yue was still a bit worried.

That was the stamina issue for Li Shuangying and others.

Throughout the match, Li Shuangying, Liu Zhan, Zhao Xuanming, and Zhu Tan were tirelessly running around the field, doing their utmost to resolve crises and create attacking chances.

In contrast, other teammates of the national team weren’t as relentless, thereby increasing the "burden" on Li Shuangying and the others, which led Ding Yue to worry whether the stamina of these four could last until the end of the match.

The worrying situation slowly started heading in the direction of his concern.

As the second half began, the Thai Team seemed like they had a surge of adrenaline, frantically creating threatening opportunities, prompting the national team’s players to sprint back and forth. Since other players seemed unwilling to exert themselves on the field, it led to more running for Li Shuangying and the others.

The second half quickly passed twenty minutes, although the Thai Team didn’t pose much of a shooting threat, Li Shuangying, Liu Zhan and the others were repeatedly forced to move to the midfield.

Every time Wang Dachao and Zhou Peng got the ball, they failed to organize a successful counter-attack. In those twenty minutes, Wang Dachao had two touches but couldn’t deliver an effective shot.

Zhou Peng had one chance but was easily blocked by the opponent before he could shoot.

Every time Li Shuangying saw Wang Dachao and Zhou Peng with good opportunities yet falter, he felt a pang of dissatisfaction!

"Damn it!"

Li Shuangying muttered to himself, but the ever-changing dynamics on the field left him no time to remind Wang Dachao and the others to decisively take a shot, because when the ball landed in the Thai Team’s hands, he had to fight for it.

Thus, Li Shuangying continued to tirelessly shuttle across the field; he was there for offense, he was also there for defense!

If he couldn’t intercept the ball near midfield, once the Thai Team rushed into their penalty area, there would be a significant threat. Li Shuangying didn’t want to see such a threat arise since he had no absolute confidence in his defender teammates.

Sure enough.

Unable to intercept a ball at midfield, the Thai Team’s offense surged more fiercely.

The national team’s defenders quickly arrayed a defense line.

But their defense line always offered unexpected surprises.

In the 29th minute of the second half, the Thai Team’s offense finally took effect—breaking through the national team’s defensive line, a crucial shot!

This shot was deflected by the goalkeeper.

However, the deflected ball was promptly picked up by another Thai Team player, who took another crucial shot.

And this time, with virtually no defense, he straight-up scored!

"Number 07 quickly came in, oh no, he scored!"

The domestic commentator said regretfully.

At that moment, the stadium sighed collectively again.

And on the field, seeing his team’s defense breached once more and allowing a goal, Li Shuangying reached his breaking point. Initially exhausted, he felt disappointed, his body suddenly relaxing from tension, and he fell onto the ground.