Chapter 545: You Don’t Have to Participate in Scoring a Goal Yourself

Arnold assisted Sterling to score the first goal away from home, and was the biggest contributor to England's lead. However, as the on-site director gave a slow-motion replay of the entire England goal, most commentators, whether in the on-site commentary seat or the remote live broadcast room, believed that Li Qing was the biggest contributor to this goal.

In addition to the pass that made England's offense suddenly clear, the dribbling and passing in the first ten minutes attracted the attention of most Croatian defensive players, which gave Sterling an easy chance to shoot. Otherwise, how could Sterling, who always likes to fire anti-aircraft guns, complete such a high-quality shot?

England coach Southgate secretly breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the score is ahead, the possibility of winning this game will be greatly increased.

Croatia, which has already lost by a large score in the first round, will definitely not be content with losing at home. Strengthening the offense is definitely inevitable. Modric and Rakitic's double defensive midfielder combination is biased towards offense, and the defense is a little bit worse. At that time, Li Qing and Sterling, who have the speed advantage, will get many counterattack opportunities.

In particular, Li Qing is good at grasping the ability. If Croatia's defense is a little slack, it will bring Li Qing a huge counterattack opportunity.

Croatian head coach Dalic obviously thought of this possibility, frowning, feeling the pressure increasing. Although Croatia won the fourth place in the World Cup this year and was praised and loved by the whole country, if he lost to Spain and England in the European Nations League, it would be difficult for him to continue as the head coach.

But then again, there is no loss in a gamble, Dalic believes that there is a chance to win before the game is over.

Liverpool has remained unbeaten in various competitions with Li Qing in excellent form, setting many records, but records will eventually be broken, and the same is true for England. No matter how outstanding Li Qing's personal ability is, he can't be compared with the team.

The English players celebrated the goal crazily, as if they saw the team's two consecutive victories. The Croatian players were helpless. Li Qing had to be guarded against because of his reputation. Modric and Rakitic felt more and more pressure. They looked at each other and saw a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes.

Rakitic and Modric witnessed Li Qing's strength in the Champions League. The feeling of powerlessness is still fresh in their memory. In the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, Barcelona defeated Liverpool 3:0 at Anfield. What was the result?

Li Qing made a big fuss at Camp Nou and led Liverpool to a super reversal.

The dominance in the Champions League final was particularly obvious. There were more than 70 minutes left in the game, and they didn't know how to continue.

…

The game resumed, and the home team Croatia, which was behind in the score, had to strengthen its offense. However, Croatian head coach Dalic was very careful. Strengthening the offense was based on the relative safety of the team's defense, that is, not all players dared to participate in the offense. Modric and Rakitic mainly focused on midfield organization.

As the game went on, Modric and Rakitic's positions changed in depth. Modric was the rear brain, and Rakitic was in the front position, creating threats with Kovacic and Pickford guarding the goal.

Croatia took control of the game despite being inferior to England in overall strength. Head coach Dalic frowned and paced back and forth in the home team coach command area. On the other hand, the visiting team coach Southgate sat in the coaching seat, leisurely, as if the game had nothing to do with him.

It is undeniable that Croatia's midfield strength is the best in Europe, but the forward's scoring ability is still a little bit rubbed. Perisic is the most threatening player in the forward line. Unfortunately, he was defended by the English defenders without any temper, so that Croatia had the ball but no direct threat to Pickford's goal.

Time often passes very quickly in high-level competitions. Modric sent a very coquettish right foot outside instep pass on the right side of the attack. The football drew a beautiful arc in the air and flew from the right side of the attack to the left side of the attack. Unexpectedly, the central defender Stones suddenly appeared in the running track of the football, raised his right foot, and stopped the football in front of him.

Modric and several Croatian defensive players turned around and chased Li Qing who was turning and accelerating. England's quick counterattack from defense to offense was not for Li Qing, but for captain Harry Kane, who then passed it to another player with outstanding speed, Sterling.

As the ball moved to Croatia's half, the Croatian defensive players who switched from offense to defense had to shift their attention to Sterling who was moving forward quickly with the ball.

However, it was too late.

Sterling has been trained by Southgate to be a top winger who can pass and shoot in Manchester City. In the past two seasons, he has become the key man for Manchester City to kill opponents.

Facing Jedvaj's defense, Sterling used his body rhythm changes and strong explosive power to cut inside to the right. Lovren lacked Klopp's new appointment in Liverpool, and had few opportunities to play. His game state was greatly affected. It was very difficult for him to defend the small and fast Sterling.

Sterling faked a shot and dribbled past Lovren, and when he reached the middle of the penalty area, he shot the ball like a cannonball, hitting the snow-white net in the upper left corner of the goal...

"Gooooooooooooooooooa——"

Sky TV commentator Andy Gray's signature elongated voice resounded throughout the live broadcast room, and guest commentator Martin Taylor said loudly: "Who said that goals need to go through Li? Gareth Southgate's England used this goal to tell everyone in the world that there are other players in his team who can score goals!"

Sterling, who scored twice, was extremely crazy and cheered. Since England won the World Cup, everyone has praised Li Qing, thus ignoring his sacrifice. In this game, he finally seized the opportunity to score twice, and his mood was naturally excited.

Head coach Southgate was also very excited. He coached England to win the World Cup. Many media and football experts believed that this was Li Qing's credit. Now he used two goals without Li Qing's direct assists to prove that other English players can also score goals!

Of course, Southgate also knows the importance of Li Qing. Although both goals were scored by Sterling, Li Qing's role is still very important. The first goal was Li Qing's through pass that made the offense suddenly clear. The second goal was Li Qing's driving away a large number of defensive players, giving Sterling the opportunity to dribble one-on-one.

The on-site director gave a slow-motion replay of England's goal. He Wei, the commentator of China Channel 5, shouted: "Who said that Li Qing must take the ball and attack to pose a direct threat to the opponent's goal? He can take away the huge defensive force by running! Sterling must thank Li Qing for his active running after the game!"