八字万年历

Chapter 183: Road to Liga NOS Champions 2019/20 X

The ball smashed against the crossbar and flew out of play.

The Pacos de Ferreira player who took the shot could only put his hands on his head in agony and disbelief as he watched the ball fly out of play after being deflected out of play by the bar.

His teammates were also pained and disappointed that he hadn’t managed to hit the target, thus not allowing them to get an equalizer, but the Porto players breathed sighs of relief after seeing the ball fly out of play.

It was only at this moment the Pacos de Ferreira team’s tactic of soaking pressure was all so that they could strike back at them at the opportune moment and their plan had almost worked.

Rather, it was more apt to say that their plan did indeed work, but they were unlucky enough to be unable to convert and this was the only reason why the scores remained the same.

From the sidelines, Sergio Conceicao began shouting out instructions to counter this burst attacking tactic of the Pacos de Ferreira team.

With the aid of the manager’s instructions and their defensive efforts the Porto players managed to take control of the game again, putting pressure on their opponents while making sure to retain enough cautiousness to be able to shut down the sudden counterattacks of the opposition.

Time ran down and the first half came to an end with neither team being able to send the ball into the back of the net.

The halftime break of fifteen minutes passed away within the blink of an eye and the players were soon back on the field for the second half.

The second half started on a particularly boring note with neither of the two teams making extra efforts at goal as they were waiting for the other team to buckle first.

Porto already had the lead so they would win the match even without putting in the excessive amount of effort that they would need to put in to crack the Pacos de Ferreira defense.

Thus they simply waited while passing around the ball and making a few occasional attempts at the opponent’s goal, but not doing much more than that.

The Pacos de Ferreira team, on the other hand, knew that if they slipped up and left open any space because they were hasty to equalize, the Porto team would take advantage of that and would be able to strike hard at them and potentially further their lead so they did their best to defend while waiting for the opportunity to counter-attack.

But in the end, the Pacos de Ferreira team was the one losing so they couldn’t stay silent forever.

They were currently teetering on the edge of the relegation zone and needed as many points as they could get to stay away from the relegation zone.

To be fair, even if they ended up relegated back to the second division, they could easily make their way back to the first division in the following season since they were stronger than most of the other teams in the second division, but even then, who did not want to compete at the top level.

The opportunities available to the players at the bottom level in the first division were a lot better than what was available to the players at the top of the second division, thus they would always strive to not relegate back to the second division.

Even if their opponents were the current league leaders, the least they could do was try, after all, David would never have killed Goliath if he didn’t at least fling the stone.

Thus they soon started trying to attempt breaking through the Porto team defense, hoping they could at least score an equalizer.

They wouldn’t mind ending the match with a draw against the League leaders.

Thus with the end of the game nearing, the match became more open with both teams trying to get the next goal.

Despite the efforts of both teams, the scores remained the same and time continued running out.

In the 79th minute, Jason was substituted into the match for Jesus Corona.

With a full tank and a hunger for the game, the pressure on the Pacos de Ferreira team with his first touch on the ball.

Compared to the Pacos de Ferreira players whose movements had slowed down from exhaustion, Jason’s movement was like an electric eel swimming through the players that attempted to mark him, yet despite this, it still wasn’t easy to score against the opponent’s team.

In the 88th minute, Jason received a cross-field pass from Alex Telles and jumped to control the ball with a smooth flick on the ball with his right foot.

After taking control of the ball mid-air, Jason let it fall to the ground before sweeping it along with him as he began moving down the right side of the field.

As he began moving down the right side of the field, a Pacos de Ferreira defender came at him, but Jason quickly performed a reverse elastico and escaped the player’s tackle before continuing his run down the right side of the field.

Before he reached the right side of the Pacos de Ferreira 18-yard box, he swung the ball into the box with a cross, intending for the ball to reach Tiquiniho Soares who was running into the box.

Tiquiniho ran into the opponent’s penalty area, looking back at the ball and finally jumping for the ball when it seemed to be within reach, but due to arriving inside the Pacos de Ferreira 18-yard box a little later than the ball, he wasn’t able to catch the ball properly even though the ball touched his head.

After deflecting off his head, the ball flew at the opponent’s goal before smashing off the crossbar and out of play.

{Oh!!! What a chance! What a chance!}

{I don’t think he caught the ball properly and that didn’t allow him to direct it well costing his team a chance to further their lead}

{Porto may find themselves looking back at that opportunity if their opponents can somehow manage to equalize in the few minutes that are left of the game} The commentator said in a loud voice.