Chapter 85: League No. Strength

After seeing the ball being headed into the goal by Wang Lie, the Korean commentator first exclaimed, and then immediately questioned: “Ah!!! Wang Lie! Was this ball offside?!”

The guest commentator echoed: “It should be offside, right? It’s obviously offside…”

The TV broadcaster also gave them face and quickly cut to the slow-motion replay of the goal. However, it was not to see whether Wang Lieyue was offside at the moment Dean passed the ball, but to replay the whole process of the goal from the beginning, so that everyone could see how the goal was scored:

When Dean kicked the corner kick to Van Ginkel, everyone could see from the camera that Wang Lie suddenly turned around and ran out of the penalty area.

By the time Van Ginkel passed the ball to the retreating Dean, Wang Lie had already run to the penalty area line and began to move horizontally towards the back point.

At this time, all the Hackney Knights’ players were focused on collectively pressing forward to create offside, and no one noticed Wang Lie.

Dean looked up and observed the situation in the restricted area.

The Hackney Knights players pressed forward.

Wang Lie, who had originally run to the penalty area line, was now in the crowd and continued to move back.

Dean crossed with his right foot.

When the football flew up, Wang Lie, who was originally in the crowd, suddenly moved forward and stood out from the crowd near the penalty area line!

Next is the shot that everyone saw in the live broadcast just now.

Near the back of the goal, Wang Lie appeared there very abruptly.

Most of the Hackney Knights’ players raised their hands to indicate that Wang Lie was offside, but their Australian international center back Sebastian Surget was the first to react, turning around and rushing back to defend against Wang Lie.

The team’s left back Thomas Vanek also reacted with him – because he was the Hackney Knights player who was dragged at the back…

He also turned and ran towards the goal, but it was too late!

He and Serget could only look up from the ground and watch Wang Lie take off into the sky!
As they stared in amazement, Wang Lie in mid-air headed the ball into the goal before goalkeeper Vito could punch the ball!

The replay ended here, and everyone could see clearly how Wang Lie scored the goal.

The TV broadcast then cut to the VAR perspective, freezing the picture at the moment Sonny Dean passed the ball, drawing reference lines to tell the audience where Vanek, who was at the end of the Hackney Knights’ defense, was at this moment, and where Wang Lie was at this moment.

Through the two reference lines, everyone can clearly see that the blue line representing Wang Lie is inside the red line representing Vanek’s position, and the distance is more than half a body length.

This ball is not offside at all!
After the video referee team confirmed that Wang Lie was not offside, they also told the referee on the field the result through the wireless headset.

So the referee turned around, pointed to the center circle, and blew the whistle to indicate that the goal was valid!

The cheers at Lize Park Stadium that had just started after Wang Lie scored a goal became even louder!
Tyne’s players could also celebrate boldly. At this time, Wang Lie had already run to the corner flag area. He did not make any particularly excited movements, but just opened his arms and waited for his excited teammates to rush towards him.

A group of people huddled together near the corner flag area.

The commentators can cheer without any worries, even though many of them may have already cheered the moment the ball flew into the goal…

Connor Cowley exclaimed: “Can you believe this is the jumping height of a 38-year-old?! He jumped higher than Vito, who was 29 years old! The well-deserved king of headers!”

Milne also praised Wang Lie highly: “Facing the powerful league leader, Tyne took the lead at home! It’s Wang again! He helped the team break the deadlock! In such a crucial game, you can always trust him!”

“Wang’s eleventh league goal of the season and his tenth league goal for Tyne! Unbelievable, this is the state of a 38-year-old veteran! His performance completely breaks our understanding of the rules of football!”

Zhao Chuanfeng praised Wang Lie’s movement: “In this corner kick, we can see how smart Wang Lie’s movement is. I think this should be a set-piece tactic carefully designed by Tyne. It is to take advantage of the Cavaliers players’ focus on creating offside opportunities to cover Wang Lie’s movement…”

Luo Jin smiled and said, “Wang Lie once again showed his amazing jumping ability, and this is all thanks to his super strong core strength. He jumped a head higher than goalkeeper Vito! He is so strong, this body doesn’t look like he is 38 years old at all!”

As for the Korean commentators and guest commentators, they were silent after the VAR replay.

The game had only been going on for over 20 minutes, and they had already been slapped in the face quite a few times…

※※※

Seeing Brother Wang head the ball into the goal, Chi Zhen in front of the TV couldn’t help but wave his fist vigorously, feeling happy for Brother Wang.

At this time, he seemed to have forgotten that the better Brother Wang performed, the more precarious his core position would become.

He was simply happy that Wang Ge was able to slap Kang Dongxun in the face with a goal.

The competition between him and Wang Ge is an internal conflict among the people, while Jiang Dongxun is an external enemy.

In the face of foreign enemies, we must of course put aside all disputes and unite to face the enemy.

If you don’t cheer for Wang Ge at this time, do you want to cheer for the Koreans? Do you hope that the Koreans will beat Wang Ge to his true colors so that you can take the top spot?
He won’t do it!
Even if he wants to defeat Brother Wang, he has to rely on his own abilities to win.

What’s the matter with Koreans here?!
※※※

When the Tyne players finished celebrating and ran back to their own half, Wang Lie pulled Dean aside, ruffled his hair, and finally patted him on the back, praising him for his good pass.

Then he let go of Dean and waved his arms to the Tyne fans in the stands, signaling them to cheer louder.

As expected, the cheers above the Li Ze Park Stadium immediately increased, and they all shouted:
“China Wang! China Wang! China Wang!!”

Seeing this scene, guest commentator Luke Milne smiled and said to Connor Cowley beside him: “What do you think, Connor? What did I say before? Jiang has offended someone he shouldn’t have offended!”

Connor Cowley also felt that Wang Lie felt good today: “Having just finished playing for the national team, Wang does not seem to be very tired… He is very excited today and in very good shape!”

Milne laughed. “This is all thanks to Jiang! I don’t know if Neves knew about Jiang’s provocation to Wang before the game. If he knew, but still insisted on letting Jiang start, then I must say that Neves may have underestimated Wang… Does he think that Wang, who is already 38 years old, is not in good physical condition after just playing for the national team?”

In the Hackney Knights coaching booth, Paul Neves couldn’t help but glance over at the team’s medical director, Carlson Ward.

He really wanted to ask this famous American sports medicine doctor what he thought about the 38-year-old veteran being able to have such an incredible bounce.
He knew that compared to speed and confrontation abilities, jumping ability was relatively less affected by age…but Wang Lie’s performance so far in this game still shocked him.

Before going to the national team, he played in seven consecutive games, two of which were as a substitute, and the last five were all starts.

Then came two national team games, one as a half-time substitute and one as a starter.

After returning to the club, he started again in this game.

He is like an iron man! He hardly shows the adverse effects of the national team competition on him…

At least in the more than 20 minutes of the game so far, there is no apparent impact.

It makes people wonder if he played a fake national team game.

Ward told him to believe in science, but Neves couldn’t see any trace of science in Wang Lie…

※※※

Taking the lead at home greatly boosted the morale of Tyne players.

After the start of the game, they launched a fierce attack on the Hackney Knights’ goal.

During this period, Hackney Knights were forced to switch to defense and were in a passive position on the field.

The Tyne fans in the stands were also encouraged and cheered for the team with singing and cheering.

The atmosphere was very lively.

Hackney Knights head coach Paul Neves kept making gestures on the sidelines, asking the players to shrink their defense and withstand Tyne’s offensive first.

“Vettini cuts inside! Shoots! Too high!”

“Tain makes a comeback! This time it’s Wang’s shot! The angle is too straight and Vito holds it!”

“Van Ginkel’s long shot slipped out of the goal! Tyne’s attack was very fierce during this period. It’s hard to believe that this is a team that aims to avoid relegation at the beginning of the season!”

……

Tyne’s attack was fierce, but the Hackney Knights gradually adapted and quickly recovered from the panic of losing the ball.

And they still have the energy to take advantage of Tyne’s attack, counterattack and threaten Tyne’s goal!

In the 33rd minute, Tyne attacked from the front court. When Van Ginkel passed the ball diagonally to Dean, he was interfered by Hackney Knights’ midfielder Kimba Bello, causing him to make a mistake in passing the ball. He failed to pass the ball to Dean, but was intercepted by Hackney Knights’ left back Vanek. Vanek then dribbled forward.

After attracting Tyne midfielder Ramosa to come towards him, he passed the ball to forward Robin Bok who came up to meet him.

He continued to run forward, pretending to play a two-on-one with Bock.

This caused Tyne’s right-back Barnabas to be afraid to defend Bok, so Bok had a brief period of space to control the ball.

He turned and kicked the ball to the other side.

The ball was passed to Hackney Knights right midfielder Noah Pronger who made a forward run.

Progg dribbled the ball from the flank towards Tyne’s penalty area.

“Knight’s counterattack! Prog!”

Katic defended Proger, he did not rush to steal the ball, but fought and retreated.

At the same time, he always maintained a suitable distance from Proger, even to the point that he seemed a little far away from outsiders…

At such a long distance, if Proger wanted to shoot, he wouldn’t even be able to block it in the first place.

But the reason why Katic did this is because he knew that Proger’s long-range shooting ability was not very good, so he was not worried that he could score a goal by shooting directly from outside the penalty area.

With this distance, he can take care of two people at the same time – he is defending Proger and Kang Dongxun in the middle at the same time.

If Proger were to pass the ball to Kang Dong-hoon, he would also be able to turn quickly and control the Korean.

Sure enough, under Katic’s defense, Proger was a little hesitant about passing the ball to Kang Dongxun.

This hesitation made him lose the opportunity to pass the ball – more Tayen players came back, and at the same time he and Kang Dong-hoon ran to a place where there was no passing angle.

At this time, Katic suddenly rushed forward, approached Prog and put pressure on him.

This forced Proger to force the shot himself.

Such a shot naturally did not pose any threat to the goal guarded by Goetz – Goetz didn’t even make a save, and the football flew high into the stands behind him.

The Tyne fans in the stands burst into laughter when they saw the ridiculously high shot.

The commentators were full of praise for Katic’s successful defense:

“As expected of the former world’s No. 1 central defender, Katic’s experience and awareness were fully demonstrated in this one-on-two situation!”

※※※

Tyne fans certainly had reason to laugh at Progg’s shot, but Hackney Knights’ counterattack was not meaningless – although it failed to threaten Tyne’s goal, it also meant that Tyne could no longer attack Hackney Knights’ goal as recklessly as they had just scored.

After the team regained the opportunity to move forward and attack, head coach Neves stood on the sidelines to supervise the game.

Falling behind in the first half was very disadvantageous for the team.

We must equalize the score as soon as possible. If we go into the halftime break with a one-goal deficit, the situation will be difficult to handle…

Regardless of why Wang Lie is in such good shape, at least the morale of the entire Tyne team will be greatly boosted.

This team will become more difficult in the second half.

Taking into account that Hackney Knights have more Chinese players and are more influenced by the national team, the situation will only become more unfavorable for Hackney Knights as the game progresses.

Anyway, Neves no longer dared to hope that Wang Lie would run out of energy in the second half and leave the court early…

Instead of pinning your hopes on others’ failure, you might as well work hard to equalize the score in the first half!
He first whistled and then used gestures to convey his thoughts to the players on the field:

Play it simple! Shoot more and create more chances!
This is not the style of football that Hackney Knights are best at, but it is the most suitable one at the moment. As a team competing for the league championship, they must have the ability to fight in a chaotic way. After all, there is no guarantee that every opponent and every game will allow Hackney Knights to play in their comfort zone with ease…

The Hackney Knights, who regained the ball, did play more simply and directly. They didn’t even try to get through the midfield through various cuts and runs, but instead made long passes from the backcourt to find Robin Bok in front.

The success rate of such an attack is indeed not high enough, but because of Bock, a completely tireless “sweeping forward”, sometimes they can seize some opportunities and create chaos.

In the 38th minute, the Hackney Knights had just passed the midfield and almost all of Tyne’s players were in position. Seeing that there were no good opportunities, midfielder Kimba Bello passed the ball back to the central defender Monte who was pressing forward.

Monte was observing the situation on the field before receiving the ball. After receiving the ball, he made some slight adjustments and then kicked the ball directly to the front court.

It’s Bock that I’m looking for!

The Dutch striker ran towards the ball and then competed with Katic for the ball.

With a height of only 1.82 meters, he has no advantage at all against Katic, who is 1.88 meters tall.

But he still managed to interfere with Katic with his fighting spirit and hard work, preventing him from heading the ball far away.

The ball fell outside the penalty area, and Van Ginkel, who was at the top of the penalty arc, originally planned to turn around and clear the ball to the front court.

But he had only swung his leg halfway when he turned around and saw Hackney Knights’ attacking midfielder Mads Kerten rushing up to him, blocking his leg with his body, and “licking” the football forward with his chest, while knocking Van Ginkel away and entering the penalty area!
“careful!”

“Danger!”

“Kerten!”

Amidst the exclamations, Tayne’s midfielder Ramosa and central defender Hugo Guenduzzi rushed towards Kerten together, trying to stop him from shooting.

Among them, Ramosa raised his hands and rushed towards Kerten.

He successfully interfered with Kerten, causing him to lose his balance when shooting, causing him to miss the target…

From a straight instep volley to an outside instep slice!

Hugo Guendouzi tried to block the ball but failed.

Elliot Goetz made a sideways save, but the ball, which was cut by Kerten’s outside foot, made a strange arc and flew past his hand!
Then dive into the goal!
“Mads Kerten!! He equalized the score for the Knights!! This goal was very crucial! With only a few minutes left in the first half, he forced the two teams back to the same starting line!”

“The Knights scored a very important goal in an unconventional way! Neves’s temporary tactical adjustment before the game worked! Hackney Knights showed their strength as the top team in the league!”

After scoring the goal, Kerten ran towards the corner flag area with his arms open. Above the stands was where the Hackney Knights fans who traveled with the team gathered. They were cheering and trying to make noise to make themselves the protagonists of the stadium!
After all, they were so frustrated in the previous game…

Now it’s their turn to shake their fists at the Tyne fans and fight back!
Hackney Knights players rushed to the bottom of the stands and celebrated the goal with the fans above.

Neves in front of the coaching bench was also celebrating the goal with his coaches.

With core organizing midfielder Raul Pope out due to injury, Neves took a very risky approach and temporarily changed the team’s style and tactical play.

Now it seems that we cannot say that he has made the right bet, but at least there is hope of winning.

Because it really works!
This goal is the best and most powerful proof!
The Hackney Knights did not lose their composure because of the change of style!
Neves on the sidelines punched the Cavaliers players who had finished celebrating and returned to half court, shouting:

“Keep kicking like that! Keep going!”

Hackney Knights fans sang “North London Forever” in the stands to cheer their team on:

“North London will always exist!”

“No matter what storm we go through!”

“These streets belong to us!”

“And my heart will never be separated from you!”

“My blood will always be…”

“Flowing in this land!”

The Hackney Knights players listened to the singing of their fans and returned to their positions, waiting for Tyne to kick off.

Now they have regained the initiative of the game, this goal is just the beginning!
(End of this chapter)