Dongqiudi pinned post: China national football team vs. Netherlands penalty shootout in progress. The current score was tied at 1-1, with Virgil van Dijk and Tang Ye each scoring.
The leaders of both sides had stepped up, and both had performed brilliantly—they had not let the goalkeepers guess the direction of their shots.
The pressure on both sets of fans was immense, though the home side, the Netherlands, was under relatively greater pressure.
After all, the Netherlands held the advantage in every aspect, yet they now had to determine the final winner against their opponents through an unpredictable penalty shootout. It was truly awful.
The purpose of a penalty shootout was to produce a winner in an elimination match. Whether the result accurately reflected the difference in strength between the two teams was none of the shootout's concern.
A penalty shootout only cared about ending the match!
Louis van Gaal and Escribá exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away.
To be honest, neither side had any confidence about winning the shootout.
The Netherlands had not studied China national football team's penalty tactics, and China national football team had not studied theirs either.
Because before the shootout had actually arrived, no one had expected the match to turn out like this.
If someone had to take the blame, it still had to be Tang Ye. This guy had scored twice in five minutes and completely thrown the match into chaos!
"Netherlands' second penalty taker, Frenkie de Jong!"
"Beep!"
"De Jong, on the run-up..."
"Going left!"
Wang Dalei sprang out.
He had guessed the right direction!
But Wang Dalei's outstretched hand did not reach the ball. De Jong's penalty rolled directly past the outside edge of the post.
"OH!"
The Dutch fans in the stands wore expressions of utter disbelief.
"De Jong!