Five minutes, neither side scored a goal.
For the spectators outside the field, five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. However, for the teams on the field, it felt like an eternity.
Because the teams are at their peak physical condition in the first five minutes, it’s generally the easiest time to score, so there’s frequent offense and defense.
Both sides were going all out, determined to take a piece out of the other.
The ball was intercepted.
"Chi Shi, how did you get robbed like that?" Li Hua ran up and went in for a tackle without hesitation, almost as if he wanted to go down with the opponent.
The opponent had no choice but to pass the ball out to the full-back.
Jiang Nian mostly stayed in the midfield and the opponent’s side, focusing on attacking, not worrying much about defense in the first half.
The stamina of the third class was still good, they could hold on for at least a few minutes.
He was looking for an opportunity to score a goal.
"Jiang Nian is in good form, but the psychological pressure is too much," Qianbao said, dressed in a cotton dress, starting to comment on the field.
Hearing this, the third class students around Qianbao looked surprised.
"Teacher, you understand soccer?" Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt
"So professional-looking."
"Of course, I was once a student too," Qianbao said smugly, arms crossed, though she was parroting Jiang Nian.
The psychological pressure was high because a goal needed to be scored in the first five minutes of the half.
The longer it dragged on, the smaller the chances of winning for the third class.
Even though beating a master was possible, it couldn’t be denied that the opponent’s passing and controlling skills were far ahead of the third class’s rag-tag team.
If dribbling mistakes were frequent, then long passes were the solution.
At this point, the weakness in the defensive midfield stood out. Li Hua was okay, but if it had been [Accuracy] Jiang Nian, it would have been even better.
Unfortunately, Li Hua was a lousy shot.
Not only was his aim ridiculously poor, but he also easily lost the ball. Putting him as a forward would only waste the good balls passed by Jiang Nian.
Qingbao had arrived earlier, standing not far away.
She watched for a while, then walked over to Qianbao and greeted her. Not exactly awkward, but a bit forced for someone with social anxiety.
"Teacher Zhuang is here too?"
"Yes, after all, it’s the championship," Qianbao smiled broadly, "The kids from the third class are quite cute, of course, I want to watch with them."
"Teacher... boohoo!!"
We can only say that Qianbao was pure mischief. With just one sentence, she had the group of third class students all dizzy with joy.
"So touched, teacher, I love you so much!"
"The teacher loves you too! Mua!"
Qingbao standing to the side was momentarily dumbfounded. Facing the veteran teacher, she couldn’t win no matter how hard she tried.
She was too shy to say anything similar and could only mumble.
Zhang Ningzhi dragged Yao Beibei elsewhere to shoot, just then came over from the other side. They wandered around their class’s team for a bit and then left.
The two girls were trying to find the best position and had already taken many photos of Jiang Nian.
"Beibei, did they score?"
"No." She shook her head and frowned, "I feel like a few people from our class are about to run out of energy."
Zhang Ningzhi was a little flustered; she was supposed to take pictures at Jiang Nian’s request. But she hadn’t expected the situation on the field to be so grave.
Suddenly, she remembered something Jiang Nian had said. If they didn’t score a goal within five minutes, then... so she quickly turned around and asked.
"What minute is it now?"
Zhang Ningzhi in the crowd felt the pressure, involuntarily standing on tiptoe, looking at Jiang Nian running on the field.
Silently praying in her heart, score one, please.
Wang Yuhe snapped a photo with her phone, surrounded by unfamiliar faces, couldn’t help but turn and look at the girl beside her.
"Yunyun, I want to get on the field too and play."
Jiang Nian’s first two attacks had been blocked by several people. There were too many gaps in the defense, and they even spent some time retreating.
The opponent had skills, even their soccer shoes were professional.
It wasn’t hard for Jiang Nian to dribble past and shoot, the difficulty was that this game wasn’t a one-man game, teammates could also add pressure.
But, regardless of whether it was teammates losing the ball or passing mishaps, Jiang Nian’s gaze remained calm, running while searching for spots.
The ball flew from the back, landing near Jiang Nian.
The opportunity had come.
Jiang Nian accelerated, taking the ball towards the opponent’s penalty area. His control over the ball speed was quite precise.
With perfectly-timed dribbling, he got past two players.
At the same time, he forced the opponent to retract their defense, even pushing the defensive midfielder back. Several formed a surrounding stance, pressing towards Jiang Nian.
Li Hua got anxious, cursed, and rushed, thinking to support Jiang Nian, but it was too late.
But unexpectedly, a strange scene occurred.
Jiang Nian shook twice and slipped through the two-man blockade, the ball shot out at a tricky angle.
Landing on the ground, it rolled a few times and slowed down. The perfectly-measured strength seemed to be waiting for Jiang Nian to come up and continue dribbling.
Without a doubt, the most brilliant dribble!
"What are you doing, damn it!" The opponent’s love-struck guy panicked, "How could you lose that ball? That’s ridiculous!"
The opponent’s half became a total mess.
Jiang Nian remained calm, sprinting across the field. The ball stuck to his foot like it was glued there.
He went past the defense, leaving the opponent’s goalie, dressed in a green vest, standing alone in the wide goal. The battlefield was spacious, as if uninhabited!
Jiang Nian was sprinting up front, with a group of people in pursuit. In just a few seconds, he quickly closed in on the goal.
Dribbling into the opponent’s penalty area, he put tremendous pressure on their goalie.
Crap, it’s my first time seeing this scenario.
Do I just step up and block him, or should I observe a bit more? This guy dribbles so steadily, it’s like he flows past me effortlessly.