Born Conductor, Extraordinary Ping Pong Player

"Moric, their right-back can't run anymore!" Taking advantage of the time the opposition spent celebrating, Lu Yang found Moric.

"You mean, let Vedian charge at him again?" Moric looked at the opposing right-back, who was constantly rubbing his knee—a very obvious omen.

Many players, when recalling their injuries, would say that they had actually felt discomfort in certain areas before the injury occurred.

While many injuries are caused directly by collisions, fatigue and overuse are actually the cause of even more, and often the former is merely a catalyst for the latter.

Soon, Moric found Vedian, and the two chatted for a few moments.

Beep!

With the sound of the whistle, the match restarted.

Different from before, Moric increased his support for Vedian.

Vedian led the opposing right-back on a series of back-and-forth runs.

He even created two excellent opportunities during this time.

But unfortunately, the team's forwards were lackluster and failed to capitalize.

The Bisceglie coach also saw the problem and called a young player to warm up.

But just then, Arnold, who was attacking, had the ball stolen by Lu Yang once again.

Lu Yang pretended to pass to Moric, drawing Arnold and the opposing midfielder toward him.

But in reality... Lu Yang launched a long ball toward the Bisceglie half.

The ball sailed directly over the Bisceglie defensive line.

Vedian started his run immediately.

The right-back marking Vedian for Bisceglie also started to move, but he quickly collapsed to the ground.

His already overburdened knee had completely given out; he was injured.

Vedian cut in from the left, as if entering an empty field.

The moment he took possession, he was already through on a breakaway!

In all fairness, the pass wasn't great, and Vedian even had to awkwardly adjust a few times after receiving it to bring the ball under control.

But this was of no consequence; after all, Bisceglie was playing with such abandon that their defensive line had pushed up far too high.

Vedian dribbled forward, and the opposing goalkeeper rushed out to meet him.

Bang.

Vedian pushed the ball into the far corner and scored!

"GOAL! Vedian, it's Vedian!"

"San Remo has seized a brilliant counter-attacking opportunity, one created and directly assisted by Lu Yang."

"He stole the ball from Arnold, then used a feint to pass to Moric, gaining better space to distribute the ball before launching a long pass that directly created a one-on-one. And Vedian lived up to expectations—they are still fighting! The suspense of the match has returned!"

"One-nil is a very insecure score, and what's more insecure than one-nil is two-nil. This saying couldn't be more accurate for Bisceglie. They were too careless, they were too arrogant!"

The Bisceglie coach was furious.

One part of his anger was frustration that he had clearly foreseen the danger but failed to prevent the disaster.

The other part was his rage at Arnold's performance today.

He had been completely frozen out by the opposing number 24 center-back.

That would be one thing, as there are always times when a forward's form is off.

But if you can't get past him, don't force it.

Don't you know how many possessions you've lost to Lu Yang?

If it weren't for you foolishly handing the ball over to Lu Yang, would the team have conceded this goal?

Do you really think you're good enough for Serie B, so you look down on Serie D opponents, your teammates, and even your coach?

Idiot!

There are always players who can shine in lower-level leagues but become completely ordinary when they move to higher-level ones.

There are also players who seem to play in high-level leagues, but when they go to lower-level ones, they aren't necessarily that superior and simply cannot carry the team.

Except for certain players with very distinct characteristics or those who are ridiculously strong, for most players, the platform is actually more important.

Whether you can play in Serie A, Serie B, Serie C, or Serie D is sometimes not about how good you are, but about your luck.

In the head coach's eyes, Arnold was just a very lucky player. Admittedly, he did have some strength and characteristics; otherwise, the coach wouldn't have specifically built the attacking tactics around him.

But he mistakenly viewed his own luck as his skill.

In fact, with the same tactics, if Vedian came to Bisceglie, he could execute them just as well.

Arnold was nowhere near as outstanding as he thought he was.

Bisceglie's success this season was inseparable from their number 10 and their number 9 center-forward, but their hard work and importance had been stolen by Arnold and the media that supported him.

"Sorry, I misunderstood you before. I always thought you were on their side; I didn't expect you to actually be helping us. Without that ball you just passed to me, I wouldn't have gotten this assist." As Lu Yang walked past Arnold, he said these words.

Arnold sprayed black blood in his rage.

What did he mean by "passing it to you"?

That was a hundred times more insulting than saying he had been dispossessed by him!

Arnold was furious.

"Who the hell do you think you are? You're just a little defender from an Italian fourth-tier team! I'm ten thousand times better than you!" Arnold's trash talk was truly lackluster.

Growing angrier as he spoke, he couldn't help but shove Lu Yang.

This scene was caught perfectly by the referee.

Tweet!

Arnold paid the price for his actions, receiving a yellow card.

Moric walked over and said, "You should have gone down just now; if the referee hadn't seen it, you would have been the one at a disadvantage."

Lu Yang smiled, however. "Don't worry. If the referee hadn't seen it, I would have returned the favor. Don't forget, I'm a center-back."

It isn't very difficult for a defensive player to injure an attacking player.

There are plenty of ways to do it without even resorting to fouls.

Some players study this their entire lives and have deep insights into it.

Right, Ramos?

Soon, Bisceglie restarted the match.

This time they were more cautious, and the possession Arnold received decreased significantly.

The Bisceglie number ten had clearly received instructions from the head coach.

But this sparked Arnold's dissatisfaction.

Although the team was leading two to one, Arnold hadn't been involved in a single goal.

He had no stats.

This didn't align with what the reporter behind him had promised.

He needed stats.

Besides... he had been frozen out by Lu Yang!

This was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

Therefore, Arnold frequently dropped back into midfield, forcing his teammates to give him the ball.

The number ten could ignore Arnold once or twice, but he couldn't ignore him forever.

Finally, under pressure, he passed the football to Arnold, who had come back to support.

And this became the second explosive point of the match.

Eighty-second minute of the match.

Arnold held the ball, used a flashy step-over to instantly accelerate, bypassed the San Remo midfield, and drove straight ahead.

The direction he was heading was exactly the zone guarded by Lu Yang.

"Truly enviable talent." Watching Arnold sprint, Soto sighed.

Soto was known for his ferocity, stamina, strong tackling ability, and excellent defensive anticipation.

But his speed was not fast.

"But I wonder if this Arnold's coach ever told him that when he feels exhausted, he should try to avoid using explosive, standing-start dribbling methods," Soto said, squinting. "Because that puts too much pressure on the muscles and Achilles tendons. And when you're tired, your body relaxes unconsciously, making it... very easy to get injured."

This is a physics problem.

When you have strength, your force offsets a portion of the external impact, and the pressure actually landing on your tendons and muscles is greatly reduced; detailed equations for this are laid out by specialized sports physics experts.

But when you have no strength left, it is your bones that end up resisting the external force, and at that point, you are relying solely on their physical structural integrity.

That is why, in cases where someone breaks their leg while standing and lifting weights, the reason is often that the lifter's strength is insufficient to support the weight of the barbell, so they withdraw their effort and attempt to use their body's structure to support the barbell, only to be crushed by it.

As Soto was speaking, Lu Yang once again completed a beautiful tackle while retreating.

Arnold couldn't get past Lu Yang at all.

"Thanks!" After winning the ball, Lu Yang controlled it habitually, not panicking to clear it, even though he was already near the edge of the penalty area.

This was a very risky move; if he were dispossessed, it would basically result in a conceded goal.

The furious Arnold let out a roar and charged toward Lu Yang.

He stretched out his foot to win the ball back.

But the next second, Lu Yang pulled the ball back and flicked it to the other side.

V-Pull!

Arnold's left-footed tackle missed, landing on the turf, but his center of gravity had already shifted toward the right, where Lu Yang had pulled the ball.

In that instant, the physical inertia was still on the left, but the new force was already being applied to the right.

This was a violent collision.

It often leaves a person momentarily frozen.

And if his body is not strong enough, it can even lead to sprains or strains.

"Ah!"

After Lu Yang dribbled the ball away, Arnold collapsed where he stood.

He clutched his left thigh, rolling on the turf in agony.

This was a non-contact fall, which usually signifies that a player is truly injured.

But Lu Yang did not care about that.

He charged forward with the ball.

At the same time, Moric caught Lu Yang's gaze and began to sprint forward as well.

In truth, having played for so long, Moric had long since identified the second weakness in the Bisceglie team: one of their midfielders was simply not up to par.

He was a substitute who only started because the regular player in that position was suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, and his positional awareness was poor.

Furthermore, the Bisceglie number ten was an attacking midfielder who often played quite far forward.

Consequently, their midfield actually had a massive hole.

However, this weakness was not immediately exploitable.

At the very least, Moric could not break through this weakness on his own.

Unless there was someone who could join him.

And that person...

"Ping-Pong!" Lu Yang shouted while running.

Moric immediately sprinted toward the front right.

The two men advanced along the central axis, one left and one right, one behind and one ahead.

The Bisceglie number nine rushed to challenge Lu Yang.

Lu Yang passed the ball to Moric and continued forward. The Bisceglie number ten rushed to challenge Moric.

Moric passed the ball to Lu Yang and continued forward. The Bisceglie substitute midfielder rushed to challenge Lu Yang.

Because Lu Yang and Moric had already signaled their intent to push forward, the Bisceglie defenders were now tight on them; they no longer had the space to hold the ball, observe, and distribute as they had just moments ago.

But who could have known that Lu Yang would pass the ball without even taking a touch?

Wall pass!

The ball rolled toward Moric.

The opposing center-back rushed forward, while another defender dropped back to prevent Moric from taking a long shot.

Moric was already thirty-two meters out from the goal; he had the ability to strike from this distance.

Bang!

The Bisceglie center-back failed in his challenge.

Had Moric taken even a moment to adjust, the defender would have had a chance to intercept him.

However, Moric did not adjust at all, opting instead to pass the ball without a touch.

Another wall pass!

Four consecutive transfers, with the final two being back-to-back wall passes.

Bisceglie's seemingly impenetrable defense was instantly shredded by Lu Yang and Moric.

In that moment, Bisceglie's midfield and defensive lines appeared as fragile as paper.

The ball rolled to the edge of the penalty arc, and in the next second, Lu Yang appeared behind it.

He drew back his leg and unleashed a thunderous strike!

Bang!

The Bisceglie center-back could only turn his back, attempting to block the ball with his body.

But Lu Yang's shot clearly wasn't without options; he deliberately avoided the far post where the center-back was positioned and instead aimed for the near post.

The Bisceglie goalkeeper felt a secret sense of relief, thinking that the angle at the near post was tight enough for him to cover...

Boom!

The ball, soaring through the air, suddenly dipped, slipping perfectly under the armpit of the Bisceglie goalkeeper before bouncing into the net.

Another Dipping Shot!

"GOAL!!!"

"Good heavens, you simply cannot believe what just happened!"

"This isn't football; this is art!"

"The ball is in! San Remo has stubbornly leveled the score, and the goalscorer is... Lu Yang!"

The San Remo fans in the stadium celebrated wildly.

Meanwhile, the majority of the Bisceglie fans clutched their heads, utterly unwilling to accept what they had just witnessed.

They had been equalized?

And by a center-back, no less!

The most critical part was that the entire attacking sequence involved only two players from start to finish.

Two players had carved through Bisceglie's entire midfield and defensive line?

This...

This is absolutely unscientific!

"It's Lu Yang again! He's the one who stood up, and it was his unconventional play that broke the deadlock. Before this, no one would have believed a center-back could combine with a midfielder to tear through two defensive lines using continuous passing and wall passes!"

"This was a flash of genius, and even more so, the chemistry between two youth academy players! They must have practiced these running tactics countless times to execute such a brilliant combination in a real match."

"Moric's final pass was perfectly weighted. Any lighter, and the tracking center-back would have intercepted it. Any heavier, and the other center-back might have claimed it. His passing was superb! In fact, we can see in this sequence that the ball Moric passed to Lu Yang was of even higher quality than the one Lu Yang returned to him."

"But that doesn't matter, because Lu Yang's final Dipping Shot was enough to make up for everything! With one assist and one goal in this match, he is the biggest hero in the team's comeback!"

"They say the Chinese are great at Ping-Pong, and wasn't this sequence just like a game of Ping-Pong? Ping-pong, ping-pong—four touches between two players, and they showcased the perfect spirit of team football!"

"If Lu Yang hadn't completely frozen Arnold throughout this match, I would really doubt if he's actually a center-back. The quality of that shot was incredibly high; he is simply a natural-born killer!"

"To snatch a point from the league leaders—San Remo's strength has exceeded everyone's expectations!"

"Oh, we can see the stretcher coming onto the pitch. Arnold went down without any contact just now; it looks like a thigh strain. We don't know the severity yet, but regardless, he cannot continue in this match."

"Bisceglie has already used two substitutions, so their room for adjustment is very limited. If they are rational, they should play conservatively for the remaining time and settle for the one point instead of three."

"Wait, Bisceglie isn't pulling back; they are still launching a full-scale attack!"

"That's right, Bisceglie does not accept a draw! This is their home turf, they are the league leaders, and they have no reason to retreat!"

"So, viewers, the rest of this match is going to be a spectacle!"