Chapter 68 Direct free kick in the first team
"After the farce, the game continued. Madeira Sailing's Silva also received a yellow card. Now the home team has two yellow cards, but fortunately they are leading by one goal."

"It's time to test Porto. When the camera turned to the bench just now, we saw some exchanges between Lopetegui and Jiang Yuan. Will Jiang Yuan have more playing time today..."

"Shit, Costa got the ball at the top of the arc, shook off Torres and shot! Luckily, Casemiro blocked the ball with his calf, otherwise Porto's situation might have been even worse"

"After falling behind 0-1, it's time to test the Porto players!"

A Kun was working hard in the live broadcast room. Although the game was quite exciting, it was not yet Jiang Yuan's "80 minutes of playing time", so there wouldn't be too many people.

According to convention, the number of online viewers in the live broadcast room will increase by 80%-20% when Jiang Yuan appears around 30 minutes. Based on the current number of people, the number of people in A Kun's live broadcast room today will exceed 6000.

So, A Kun worked particularly hard today.

……

The first half ended with a score of 1:0, and Porto players entered the locker room with a one-goal deficit.

On the physiotherapy bed in the middle, head coach Lopetegui was getting angry.

"Oh my God, are you really professional players? There were so many stupid mistakes in the first half, especially you, Indi. Why can't I tell who you were defending? Were you defending the air on the court?"

Indi, who was scolded, is the team's defender. He has dual Dutch and Portuguese citizenship. Now he is lowering his head and receiving a massage from the team doctor.

"Don't give him a massage. I won't be using this idiot in the second half!"

Lopetegui was a little angry. It is worth mentioning that when he said the word "shabi", he used Chinese. His pronunciation was not as good as Casemiro's, but it was almost the same.

"I will replace Juan, Hector, Tello and Paciencia in turn. Ruben will also warm up at the beginning of the second half. I will adjust according to the situation on the field at that time."

Hearing about the substitutions arranged by Lopetegui, Jiang Yuan cast an envious look at Neves. Compared with Jiang Yuan, a newcomer who only got to play for more than 80 minutes, Lopetegui obviously gave Neves more opportunities.

But Jiang Yuan couldn't complain about anything, the performance of this Portuguese midfielder was indeed remarkable.

Soon, the second half began. According to Lopetegui's substitution tactics in the midfield, Herrera and Quintero were replaced one after another. Of course, Indi, who had a disastrous performance in the first half, was also replaced. He was replaced by the team's forward Tello.

It is obvious that Lopetegui wants to strengthen the attack.

The head coach of Madeira Navigation also realized this and replaced the player with a defensive midfielder, Frasergio.

The second half was a performance of Porto's offense and Madeira's defense. Ruben Neves also got his chance to play in the 65th minute.

"Reuben, come on!"

Jiang Yuan patted Neves on the back to cheer up the Portuguese who was one year older than him.

"Jiang, watch my performance!"

Neves placed his coat on a chair and walked onto the field with the mission to bolster the offense.

"By the way, Jiang, you should warm up first!"

Finally, finally!
Jiang Yuan received the news about the warm-up. He deliberately looked at the big screen on the sidelines. This time the warm-up started 5 minutes earlier than usual.

If this is the case, Jiang Yuan might be able to appear before 80 minutes today!

In the Huanledou live broadcast room, A Kun's voice suddenly became louder.

"Brothers, we can see that Jiang Yuan has already started warming up. He warmed up in the 65th minute. This warm-up seems a bit early. Does Lopetegui have any special arrangements?"

“But it’s hard to say. There are examples of players warming up early but not being able to play. I hope Lopetegui can give Jiang Yuan more opportunities!”

……

As soon as A Kun finished speaking, Ruben Neves completed a long shot from the top of the Madeira Sailing penalty area. The shot was powerful but too straight and the ball was confiscated by goalkeeper Salin.

"Great, keep it up!" Lopetegui applauded on the sidelines. Jiang Yuan, who was jogging and stretching, would stop from time to time to take a look at the situation on the field.

From his point of view, it would be absolutely not easy for Porto to equalize the score.

Even though Porto was the one attacking throughout the second half, can you imagine that the most threatening goal for this Portuguese Super League giant team in the second half was Neves' long-range shot?
"Damn it, Jiang, you come on, replace Casemiro!"

When Jiang Yuan heard Lopetegui asking him to play, his first reaction was definitely joy, because the game was only in the 74th minute and Jiang Yuan had never played so early in the first team.

However, the person Lopetegui wanted to replace was Casemiro.

My goodness, this is a fight to the death!
……

"Jiang Yuan is on the field! He replaced Casemiro. The Brazilian defensive midfielder performed quite well in this game. I personally think his ceiling is quite high. What do the viewers in the live broadcast room think?"

"We can see that Lopetegui is now using a 424 formation, which can be said to be a variation of the 433, but it is more offensively threatening than the 433. This is the first time I have seen Lopetegui use such a tactic. It seems that the Spaniard really wants to equalize the score!"

"Maicon won the ball back in the backcourt and passed it to Ruben Neves, who stopped the ball and made a long pass to Quaresma on the right. Wow, this Portuguese midfielder is not even 1 years old yet, but his performance in the few minutes he played was really good!"

"Quaresma started to go down the wing. Would he choose to cross the ball? He chose to cut inside. Porto's left and right wingers made a cross run. Jiang Yuan inserted from left to right and drew away a player defending Quaresma."

"But the problem is that Quaresma's shooting success rate on the left is a bit low. How about passing the ball to Jiang Yuan? Damn, what the hell, Quaresma was knocked down!"

"beep"

The referee on the field blew the whistle, took out the foam spray and drew a white arc in the left penalty area.

Jiang Yuan ran into the small penalty area. According to Lopetegui's tactics, he was responsible for heading the ball.

Ruben Neves, who had just come on the field, took the ball from the referee, put himself in position, and prepared to take the free kick, as he is good at direct free kicks.

At this moment, Quaresma, who was helped up by Maicon, suddenly walked to Neves and the two started whispering.

Then, Neves looked at Jiang Yuan, nodded, and motioned Jiang Yuan to come over.

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Yuan ran over and asked.

Quaresma covered his mouth with his hand and whispered: "I remember you said you can take a direct free kick, right?"

Jiang Yuan nodded: "That's right."

"I have discussed this with Reuben, this ball is for you to play"

"What? Mr. Ricardo, this is not good..."

Jiang Yuan was struggling in his heart. On the one hand, he really wanted to take this direct free kick.

On the other hand, the free kick should have belonged to Neves, but Quaresma gave it to him instead.

If Neves gave it to him, Jiang Yuan would definitely not refuse, but after Quaresma said this, Jiang Yuan felt embarrassed as if he was taking advantage of his elder brother to bully others.

Neves shook his head and said, "It's okay, Jiang. I've basically been the one taking free kicks since I came on the pitch. This one won't make a difference. I'll give it to you this time. I'll be in charge of the fake shot."

"Well... Ruben, Ricardo, thank you."

Jiang Yuan picked up the football on the grass and adjusted its position according to his own habits.

……

(End of this chapter)