Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 714 - 505: Feint, Flying Kick, Forcibly Breaking Through the Gate! Tang Long’s Ultimate Performance at Mönchengladbach’s Home Ground!
What kind of player is Tang Long?
His height isn’t the tallest, his speed isn’t the fastest, his dribbling isn’t the most graceful, and his shooting isn’t the most accurate. When you look across the global football scene, none of his individual skills stand out as the top tier.
But whenever he steps onto the field, whenever his cleats leave marks on the green pitch—
More and more opponents feel a strong energy emanating from him, an aura of command.
This is the presence of Tang Long!
His every move draws attention. A mere glance from him makes defensive players tense up like startled birds, fearing his sudden burst because no one knows where he’ll head next.
"Fabian, keep a close watch, don’t lose focus!"
Gladbach midfielder Dahud admonishes Fabian, then rushes to the midfield to support teammates.
There, Gladbach players are locked in battles with Gundogan, Diego, Ranocchia, and others in a heated zone, the football rapidly traverses between players’ feet like an agile silver snake, dazzlingly weaving through the crowd.
Fabian is Gladbach’s right back, tasked with marking Tang Long in this match.
The tall United States player watches the young man beside him nervously, swallowing hard as his Adam’s apple rolls, his eyes betraying a hint of unease.
He sees Tang Long standing just three meters away, motionless, hands on hips, gaze fixed on the midfield.
At this moment, the midfield area has become an intense battleground, whereas the left flank where they stand is relatively quiet, so much so that they can hear the clicking of cameras from the first row of fans.
Fabian and Tang Long exchange a glance, Tang Long raises his head, their eyes meet, and Fabian sees Tang Long smile at him, quickly avoiding eye contact.
He dares not look directly at Tang Long!
Fabian, feeling very guilty, thinks to himself: "I can’t be too close to him, or when he starts, he could easily shake me off; but I can’t be too far either, or I’ll give him ample space to take the ball."
Thinking this, Fabian is anxious, his eyes split between watching the midfield and Tang Long, almost needing to squint.
"Hey!"
Tang Long’s shout, like a reverberating bell, breaks the brief silence as he steps forward!
This shout jolts Fabian, who charges forward towards Tang Long.
"The ball, where’s the ball?"
Fabian freezes, eyes hastily scanning for the ball’s trace only to realize it’s still under Gundogan’s control in midfield.
He suddenly understands that Tang Long’s earlier move was just a feint to deceive him.
Fabian feels a slight relief, exhaling a long breath. At this moment, he’s entirely close to Tang Long.
Feigning calm, he forces a stiff smile, clasps Tang Long’s arm, and says with a grin, "I’ve got you covered, don’t run around now."
However, Fabian doesn’t know that his actions have led him into a deeper dilemma.
Often, players realize they’ve been deceived and still have a chance to promptly correct their defensive mistakes.
But Fabian is different; even though the ball isn’t at Tang Long’s feet, when he was drawn to Tang Long’s shout and approached him, he thoroughly exposed his biggest weakness to Manchester City’s midfield players.
He now has no opportunity to correct it, whether he can remedy the situation is no longer under his control.
Bang!
Ranocchia delivers a long pass, sending the ball flying towards the left-side baseline!
Indeed, it was one of those "faster than words," just as Ranocchia swings his foot, Tang Long explosively starts like a cheetah ready to pounce!
Fabian feels a sudden gust as he originally held Tang Long’s arm, now instantly released, grasping again but finding only air.
Realizing his defensive error, Fabian internally laments.
He understands that he had positioned too close, fallen for Tang Long’s feint, and now with Tang Long making another start, he cleverly exploited Fabian’s slow turning speed.
But as he realizes it, Tang Long used a vocal feint to draw him closer and then capitalized on his slow turning reaction during his next move.
Fabian wishes to chase, yet his cheeks puff like a frog, arms leaving blurred shadows, but he can only watch the dust rising behind Tang Long.
"I’m here!"
Center-back Nico arrives in support, covering for Fabian in the defensive gap behind.
In this match, the home team Gladbach is playing with three defenders, right center-back Nico, aged 20, is youthful, fast, high stamina, wide range, Gladbach’s coach Schubert placed him here as a contingency, assisting Fabian’s defense.
The ball flies through the air, Nico, confident in his speed, originally thinks he’ll have a sprint duel with Tang Long;
But after three steps, Nico slows down his pace.
For good reason, Ranocchia’s pass went quite deep, speedily, a high ball forward, Nico judges the ball will directly exit the baseline, there’s no way Tang Long can catch up.
But Nico was terribly wrong!
Although he was the same age as Tang Long, his ability to predict the ball’s trajectory was far inferior to Tang Long’s skills.
[The ball is about to go out of bounds, stop the ball in the air]
Waiting for the ball to land before stopping it would be too late. Seeing the ball about to cross the baseline, Tang Long leapt and stretched out horizontally, sending his right foot towards the football!
Theoretically, Tang Long’s dive to save the ball was a move made during a high-speed sprint, and the ball was quite a distance from his body. If this kicking motion was used at the goal to meet a cross and shoot, it would make some sense, but stopping the ball this way seems like a fantasy.
Yet Tang Long managed to do it!
The next scene left Nico completely stunned.
Just as Tang Long touched the football, he suddenly retracted~
While retracting, he made a subtle tip upward with his toe. With the sense Maradona endowed him with, the football suddenly had a cushioning effect. Along with Tang Long’s leg retraction, both the ball and the man fell gently in the air, directly landing on the slender baseline, making grass fragments fly around.
The sideline referee near the corner flag bent over, his eyes wide open like copper bells, staring intently at the scene.
From his perfect angle, it was clear that the ball did not go out!
After both the ball and Tang Long landed, he used the rebound force from the instant of landing like a spring, immediately bouncing up, pressing his body forward, skillfully bringing the ball under control, and heading towards Borussia’s penalty area.
The fifty thousand fans at Borussia’s home Prussian Park Stadium exclaimed in unison!
They simply couldn’t believe their eyes; the ball clearly looked like it was going out and yet Tang Long managed to stop it in the end!
Especially the spectators close to the baseline saw it very clearly, this extreme ball-stopping maneuver was like a gymnastics move, leaving them stunned and awed.
"Ah! He actually managed to stop it!"
"Oh my God, how on earth did Tang stop it, an airborne kick to stop the ball? That’s not scientific!"
"His feel for the ball is just exploding!"
"So amazing, I can hardly believe my eyes!"
...
"Don’t just stare dumbfoundedly, quickly surround him!"
Borussia’s goalkeeper Somo cried out urgently, calling his teammates to surround Tang Long.
At this moment, the Swiss goalkeeper felt like a guardian of treasure, with the goal behind him as the treasure, the thief Tang Long had already caught the scent of gold, rushing beneath his nose, how could he not be anxious?
But being anxious didn’t help!
Fabian, who had been swiftly bypassed by Tang Long like a whirlwind, with cheeks puffed and face flushed, finally managed to catch his breath and get back to defend;
Nico, who was originally guarding inside the penalty area, also quickly pressed forward with a tense expression.
One moved to encircle from the side, the other rushed up front to intercept, the two players formed a pair of iron gates, aiming to keep Tang Long trapped outside the door guarded by Somo.
Yet these iron gates of Borussia were covered with rusty hinges, trying to keep Tang Long out still lacked the critical strength.
Facing the encirclement of the two players, the most reasonable breakthrough route was undoubtedly through the narrow gap between them.
Tang Long feigned right, startling Nico into unintentionally tilting to one side, causing the originally soon-to-close iron gate to open a gap once again.
With keen eyes and quick feet, Tang Long gently flicked the ball up, charging forward through the gate gap with all his strength!
"Open the door for me!"
Forcibly breaking the gate!
Fabian, who was rushing to catch up, sensing the awkward situation as Tang Long forcefully charged in, quickly accelerated towards Nico’s direction, attempting to give Tang Long a tightly fit door defense, but instead of closing Tang Long down, he collided heavily with his teammate Nico.
Only to hear a dull "thud," their heads clashed and both cried out "ouch" in pain, then each bounced away.
Having reached this point, even if Agüero was facing an open goal in the middle, Tang Long couldn’t possibly pass it.
After all, wasn’t it Alan Shearer who reminded him that a striker needs to be a little selfish?
With just a slight horizontal shift, Tang Long cleverly adjusted the angle, then tightened the muscles in his leg, like a taut bowstring, fiercely whipping out a beautiful inward curve!
Whoosh—
Firmly hitting the far corner!
Goal!
(There’s another Chapter, expected to be released around one thirty to two o’clock)
