Chapter 29 Sweeping Across the Little Japs

Regardless of whether that little Japanese fellow managed to pick up some Chinese by stealth, for Momo, a mere one-goal lead was simply not satisfying enough.

A Japanese team composed of an Olympic squad, substitutes, and a makeshift new formation—wasn't that a textbook definition of courting death and waiting to be counter-slaughtered? If they didn't thoroughly thrash them right now, when else were they going to do it?

"Hello everyone, I am Chen Nu. In the first half, the score between the two teams is 2-1, with the Chinese team holding a one-goal lead over the Japan team. That's right! It's the Chinese team in the lead! Ah! Momo! A lightning-fast counterattack by the Chinese team!"

Right at the start of the second half, the Chinese team created a brilliant opportunity. During the halftime break, Momo had a brief exchange with the veteran Hao Haidong, who told him: after receiving the ball, don't hesitate, just go for it! If there's a good chance, pass it right over.

Please, the opponent was currently playing a 3-5-2 formation. Three defenders? Heh, Momo thought to himself: Hey, little Japan, come here, let me reward you with a few slaps across the face.

As for using five midfielders to strengthen midfield control? Please! Did they really need to fight for midfield possession against them? They could just bypass the midfield quickly. In fact, up until now, the Chinese team had only two things on their mind: attack, attack, and attack!

If you were the Japanese A-team, I might play defensively and counter against you. But since you're just an Olympic squad mixed with substitutes, wouldn't I pierce you through until you looked like a sieve?

Hao Haidong naturally showed no courtesy either. He dropped deep to receive the ball, played a sharp through pass, and Momo instantly accelerated, easily breezing past the opposition. The Japanese midfield looked like mere decorations! Who was going to wait for them to fall back?

Amidst the cheers of Chinese fans and the jeers of Japanese supporters, Momo struck directly, piercing through the ten fingers of the Japanese goalkeeper. Oh, the young Japanese goalkeeper, Momo couldn't help but smile just looking at his bewildered face!

Oh my! The world is terrifying. Weren't they saying the Chinese team was a bunch of weak chickens? Who would have thought the Chinese team would turn out like this.

"The ball, the ball, the ball, it's in! Momo! Momo! He scores for the Chinese team once again! Expanding the lead to 3-1!"

Well, right now, a Japanese team lacking their full-strength lineup was nothing more than a drowning dog to Momo, and beating a drowning dog was the most joyful thing in the world.

To be fair, the coordination in the Japanese team's frontline was actually quite admirable, but the problem was that the players were far too green. Even so, they still gave the Chinese defensive line quite a headache.

Zhang Meng made several crucial defensive interventions, and Zhang Yunlong made a series of saves to keep a clean sheet for the time being, but eventually, a mistake occurred, exposing the shortcomings of the Chinese team!

It started with a tackle by Zhang Meng, but facing his own goal, it was naturally impossible for him to launch a counterattack by passing forward. So, Zhang Meng passed the ball to a fellow Chinese teammate, who then hit a massive clearance—which smashed directly into the body of a Japanese player standing right in front of him!

Good grief, was that supposed to be a clearance? The opponent was only about ten meters away, and you kicked it straight into his body? Couldn't you clear it toward the sky? Couldn't you clear it out toward the sidelines?

When the ball slammed into the Japanese player, everyone froze for a moment—the Chinese team always loved to freeze for a moment!

The only one who reacted was Zhang Meng, but he could only watch helplessly as the Olympic team forward, Daikubo, slotted the ball into the back of the net. The Japan team clawed one back, keeping their hopes alive at 3-2 in the fifty-second minute.

The Japanese fans on the sidelines were ecstatic, loudly singing their national anthem. In their eyes, the Chinese team seemed to be "running out of stamina"?

As the match entered the sixty-third minute, Hao Haidong intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and unleashed a long-range shot from outside the penalty area. The Japanese goalkeeper parried it with his palms! Well, if he had used his fists, the ball might have flown further away, but he used his palms!

"Momo! Momo! A spectacular volley from Momo! The ball ricochets off the underside of the crossbar and rolls into the net!"

Well, this time Momo didn't run to retrieve the ball immediately. Instead, he raised three fingers—his thumb, pinky, and middle finger!

Well, actually, Momo was just flipping off the Japanese fans. But this way, if they wanted to pick a bone with him after the match, Momo could just say: Ah! Actually, I was just saying, look, I've scored three goals!

One has to admit, the Japanese team was truly tenacious! After receiving four slaps to the face, they were still brimming with fighting spirit. But the question was, would they be able to maintain this fighting spirit when the fifth goal went in?

In the sixty-eighth minute of the match, following a series of quick passes, Momo got hold of the ball. His shot inside the small penalty area was brilliantly saved by the Japanese goalkeeper, but Hao Haidong quickly followed up to tap in the rebound, changing the score between China and Japan to 5-2.

In the seventy-second minute, Hao Haidong was substituted off, and Yang Chen came on. In the eighty-eighth minute, Zhang Meng once again dispossessed Daikubo near the center circle, and Zhang Weifeng sent a high cross forward. Unfortunately, the positioning was slightly off, but Momo managed to bring the ball down and prepared to shoot.

Panic broke out among the little Japanese defensive line. However, Momo chose not to shoot; instead, he chipped a cross into the center. There was a Japanese player stationed there, but perhaps he was too young and overly eager—Yang Chen surged past him and executed a diving header, making it 6-2 and sealing the victory for the Chinese team.

In the remaining moments, the match completely descended into garbage time. Although the Japanese team switched their formation back to 4-4-2, it was already of no use.

In the eighty-nested minute, Momo was brought down inside the Japanese penalty area, and the referee pointed to the spot. Momo graciously handed the penalty-taking duty over to Liu Yun飞 (Liu Yunfei).

What is humiliation? What is a slap in the face?

Before the match, they had been acting all cocky, claiming they were going to win the championship right at our doorstep, acting as if their Europe-based players were too good to return home, and when they did return, they only wanted to play against South Korea?

Bragging about their Olympic squad players, their substitutes, how most of them were domestic league players, and how they were just testing a new formation! How were you expecting the Chinese team to take that?

In truth, the Chinese team's strength was never bad to begin with; they simply lacked someone in the frontline to spearhead the attack. Hao Haidong was fantastic, but he dropped so deep...

On the defensive end, they had lacked a truly impenetrable iron wall, but now Zhang Meng had completely filled that void.

Liu Yunfei stood at the penalty spot, took his run-up, struck the ball, and shot! The ball pierced through the ten fingers of the Japanese goalkeeper, changing the score to 7-2 for the Chinese team.

Serves you right for showing off, getting beaten so badly you don't even know how to function anymore, right? Even our goalkeeper can score.

The Japanese goalkeeper looked rather depressed. Well, anyone would feel that way after having their net breached seven times!

The Chinese fans on the sidelines cheered and roared wildly, waving those vibrant five-starred red flags so fiercely that Momo was half-afraid they might rip the flags apart with sheer brute force.

In reality, the Japanese team wasn't actually bad. Although they were just a team made up of Olympic players and substitutes, their frontline coordination and total number of shots vastly exceeded those of the Chinese team. You could even say that if they had been just a bit better at capitalizing on their chances, the outcome might have been completely reversed.

Of course, a lot of that was thanks to Momo tearing through their defense over and over again, but could you really blame Momo for that?

Well! In the end, the Chinese team defeated the Japanese team with a score of 7-2. To everyone's surprise, some opposing players actually approached Momo to swap jerseys.

"Strong man, yours, exchange?"

Well, that certainly fit the Japanese national temperament. Hearing and seeing that, Momo finally confirmed for sure that they really were the Japanese team.

However, Momo had zero interest in the jerseys of Japanese players, alright?

Ahem, this incident was subsequently reported by the Chinese media as well:
*Japan requests jersey exchanges with Chinese players; Chinese team members flatly refuse.*

Of course, Wattley from the *Munich Evening News* continued to smear Momo as usual, running an article titled:
*The Impolite Chinaman.*

So what? Well, the three greatest joys in life: kicking a man when he's down, beating a drowning dog, and rubbing salt into an open wound.

Uh, I suppose it was time to go rub some more salt into the Japanese team's wounds, wasn't it?