Football: He suffered a broken leg at the start of the game, but partnered with Haaland!

Late at night, the hotel room was filled with a faint scent of peppermint essential oil.

Sun Yang lay face down on the physiotherapy bed, his upper body exposed.

His girlfriend and personal therapist, Catherine, had her hands covered in essential oils and her thumbs pressed precisely on the soleus muscles of his calves.

"Your muscles are as tight as rocks." Catherine breathed slightly, increasing the pressure in her hands. "The continuous high-intensity matches have caused a serious buildup of lactic acid. If you don't completely relax, you're likely to strain yourself in the next match."

"Push harder, it's okay," Sun Yang replied in a muffled voice, burying his face in the ventilation hole.

Catherine pushed the fascia on the outside of his thigh with her elbow and complained in perfect British English, "You need to learn to manage your energy on the field. Your freakish cardiovascular system can handle it, but muscle fibers have their limits. Dortmund's team doctor sent an email; they're worried you might get seriously injured in the Asian Cup."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Sun Yang rolled over, sat up nimbly, and put on his T-shirt. "The ticket to Tokyo is right in front of us, so there's no way I can hold back now."

……

Semi-final, Songkhla Stadium.

The sweltering air felt like it could be wrung out of water. The stands seemed somewhat empty, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the tens of millions of Chinese fans watching on their screens.

"Hello everyone, this is He Wei. Today, Coach Xu Yang and I will be bringing you live coverage of this semi-final match!" In the CCTV broadcast studio, He Wei was already in the zone.

Inside the locker room, Cannavaro rested his hands on the tactical table, his sharp gaze sweeping over his starting lineup.

"Listen! The Australians have studied our footage closely." Cannavaro slammed his fist on the table with an exaggerated gesture typical of Italians. "They came to a ridiculous conclusion: we are strong offensively but weak defensively, and our backline can't withstand their aerial bombardment."

Teaching assistant Mario slammed several data reports on the table.

"So, they won't assign anyone to specifically mark Son today," Cannavaro sneered, a mocking smile playing on his lips. "These arrogant kangaroos think that as long as they score more goals than us, they can win the game. They want to play an attacking game against us!"

Cannavaro strode up to Sun Yang and grabbed his shoulder: "Sun, since they dared to leave you undefended, then go and tear their defenses to shreds!"

"Beep—"

The referee blew his long whistle, and the match began.

Australia kicked off first. This team, with an average height of over 1.85 meters, moved like a group of heavily armored vehicles charging forward, swiftly sending the ball directly into the Chinese half.

Just one minute into the game, the two sides engaged in a fierce battle in midfield.

While Huang Zhengyu was vying for the ball with O'Neal (#13), he was subtly elbowed in the chest, causing him to fall backward in pain. However, the referee, who was only two meters away, simply raised his hands to signal for the game to continue.

In the 3rd minute, Huang Zhengyu gritted his teeth and made a sliding tackle, managing to steal the ball from O'Neill's feet. He swept the ball across the ground, and it rolled along the grass to Sun Yang near the center circle.

Sun Yang received the ball and turned around. In the instant he looked up, his eyes quickly scanned the entire court.

It turned out exactly as Cannavaro predicted!

Within a full three meters of him, not a single defender was marking him closely. To guard against a through ball, the opposing team's two defensive midfielders actually retreated to the edge of the penalty area, cowering like turtles.

Not close-range? In Europe, giving an organization's core player that much space to handle the ball is tantamount to suicide!

Without any hesitation, Sun Yang dribbled the ball forward with great strides. Ten meters, twenty meters.

Twenty-five meters from the goal, the opposing defense remained holed up on the edge of the penalty area.

"Wait a minute, isn't Australia's defense retreating too far?" In the broadcast booth, Xu Yang immediately noticed the problem. "This is practically giving Sun Yang a huge corridor in the middle!"

Sun Yang pushed the ball forward with his right foot.

His abdominal muscles tightened suddenly, and his left foot sank into the grass like an iron nail.

【BatiGO】Power-up mechanism, full power start!

His right foot was stretched straight, like a swung iron hammer, striking the center of the ball heavily.

boom!

A thud that made your teeth ache exploded in the empty stadium.

The ball barely spun; ignoring air resistance, it carried terrifying potential energy exceeding 120 kilometers per hour, drawing a straight white line as it headed straight for the upper right corner of the goal.

Australian goalkeeper Glover didn't even have time to bend his knees and jump. By the time he heard the sound of the wind, the ball had already smashed through the net with a "whoosh".

1-0! A dream start, just three minutes into the game!

"Goal!!! Sun Yang!!!" He Wei slammed his hand on the table, his voice rising eight octaves in an instant, "A powerful, devastating shot! A perfect shot! The Australian defense paid a heavy price for their arrogance in the third minute of the game!"

On the sidelines, Australian manager Trent Alexander-Arnold's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He clutched his head in anguish, roaring at his assistant coach, "F**k! Who taught them to retreat like that? Why did they leave such a huge gap for him to shoot?!"

The assistant coach looked completely innocent: "Boss, it was your strategy, you said to cut off his passing lanes to the forwards, and not to mark him closely..."

"Shut up! Push them down! Smash them with high balls!" Arnold waved his arms angrily.

The Australian team's spirits were not broken. After the ball restarted from the center circle, they immediately launched a fierce counterattack.

Just two minutes later.

Australia's number 23, Metcalfe, won half the ball in midfield and played a through ball down the right flank. Number 9, black striker Toure, accelerated like a cheetah, and despite the tight defense of Wei Zhen and Feng Boxuan, he used his explosive power to create a gap and send the ball into the penalty area just outside the byline.

At the far post of the penalty area, number 21 Italiano leaped high like a spring from the ground, outmaneuvering his defender Zhu Chenjie, and headed the ball with a powerful header into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Goalkeeper Chen Wei made a desperate save, his fingertips touching the ball, but it still deflected and went into the net.

1 is better than 1!

After scoring, Italiano arrogantly retrieved the ball from the net and ran back to the center circle, waving his fist.

"What a pity! This was purely a matter of physical strength." Xu Yang shook his head repeatedly. "This kind of British-style aerial bombardment really hit the weak point of our defense."

On the sidelines, Cannavaro angrily kicked at the turf: "Keep an eye on him! Block his position before he jumps, don't let him get going!"

Australia completely abandoned the midfield, with their defenders launching long passes down the flanks, turning the Chinese penalty area into an irrational melee.

"The pace of the game was so fast, it was almost suffocating!" He Wei exclaimed. "Australia doesn't play any midfield penetration game at all; they just cross the ball to the wings as soon as they get it. But on the Chinese side, with Sun Yang as the midfield maestro, their play was incredibly smooth!"

12 minutes.

China transitioned from defense to offense, with Sun Yang receiving the ball on the left side of the midfield. This time, Bakus, the defensive midfielder who had just been hit and was in pain, finally remembered to mark closely and charged forward aggressively, wanting to use his body to challenge him.

Sun Yang's eyes darkened.

He suddenly lowered his left shoulder, making a convincing feint to change direction. Bakus's center of gravity was shifted, and he instinctively shifted to the right.

At that very moment, Sun Yang deftly flicked the ball with the inside of his right foot, smoothly brushing past Bakus, and dribbled down the left flank.

Right-back Krul hurriedly covered to defend.

Sun Yang suddenly stopped at the outside of the penalty area, his left and right feet moved back and forth with lightning speed, and then a smooth Marseille turn completely fooled Krul!

Near the byline, he didn't even lift his head before crossing the ball.

The ball, with its visually stunning inward spin, flew over the heads of the two center-backs as if guided by the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, landing precisely in the only open space at the edge of the penalty area.

A pancake being fed right to one's mouth!

Zhang Yuning only needed to take one step forward, meet the falling ball, and calmly push it through the middle with the instep of his right foot.

Goalkeeper Glover was halfway out of his goal when he watched helplessly as the ball went through his own legs and rolled back into the net.

2 is better than 1!

"It's in!!! Zhang Yuning!" He Wei's voice was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

"The opponent just scored with a cross from the byline. Sun Yang immediately responded with a quick cross from the byline, a pass that was practically feeding Zhang Yuning a perfect chance!"