Chapter 733 - 18: France’s Sword! A Miraculous Strike Under Pressure! End as You Debuted!_5

"Screech!" But his breakthrough still failed. Ramos took advantage of his wide stride trying to shake off three people and cleverly came over to tackle the ball off the goal line.

Corner kick!

Ma’el’s face showed no expression, sweat rolled down his eyes, dangling on his nose and chin, he said nothing and walked into the penalty area to prepare for the point.

"Bang!"

The corner kick Nasri then sent out was clearly aimed at smashing his head.

He jumped together with Pique, and after jumping, found that the ball was a bit too high for both of them, possibly unable to hit it frontally with their foreheads.

"Bang!" He elongated his neck to propel the football with his head, upon landing, a quick glance revealed the ball went over the crossbar.

Still no goal!

"Again!!" Ma’el roared, clapping his hands, motivating his teammates while also motivating himself. Under his encouragement, the France team players began to know what they needed to do.

They formed an encirclement against the Spain team in the next 4-5 minutes, with consecutive bombarding forcing Casillas to become the busiest person on the field.

"The France team is rising! The Spain team is finding it hard during this period to push the defensive line out and also hard to get the ball and control it at their feet.

"We’ve noticed that Javi and Iniesta frequently clear with long kicks; they understand they can’t play around in the backfield at this time. To control, they must push out.

"Juanfran seems to be ready to play; he’s a sign from Bosque to strengthen the defense!"

"....."

"Beep beep!"

In the 78th minute of the match, Juanfran and David Silva clapped their hands on the sideline, stepped onto the field, taking position at right defender while Aveloya drew in a little.

Spain started playing a 5-5 formation without strikers, genuinely standing on defense.

Whether it was a brief lull disrupting the France team’s rhythm or more players gradually running out of stamina, after the substitutions, the Spain team found their rhythm and regained ball control.

"Boom boom boom.....!"

They comfortably controlled the ball near midfield, like teasing monkeys, dragging the already physically weary France team players around, occasionally speeding up the rhythm to attack, seeking a chance to kill off the match.

Under the dual torment of physiological and psychological pressure, many France team players quickly couldn’t withstand it.

"Ah.....!" In the 83rd minute of the match, Malouda had leg cramps, painfully lying on the ground, wanting to get up soon to join the match, yet helpless.

Only a minute after Koscielny helped him stretch, he cramped again. This time, enduring the pain, he hopped on one leg a few steps, jumping off the field to prevent the referee from stopping the match because of him.

Deschamps quickly chose to substitute; he had very few cards left to play, only able to send Mvira on.

"Hiss.....!" More worrisome was the 86th-minute match, where Matuidi fell to the ground touching his thigh without any confrontation. Upon checking by the medical staff, he was found unable to persist in the match.

Deschamps’ face became more somber, he brought on Menez and changed the formation to 4-2-4, letting Nasri move closer centrally to play a false nine role, providing support.

Two forced substitutions in a row will undeniably crown the whole team with another layer of haze, causing changes in the players’ mentalities.

"Thud!"

In the 88th minute of the match, Ma’el slipped while carrying the ball in the penalty area. This time, he did not immediately get up.

Looking at the vast sky, looking at the densely packed yet silent France team stands, he smirked with a strong premonition that his first major tournament was going to end like this.

"Snap!"

He propped himself up with his hands, raising his arm to run back again. Since there wasn’t much time left, it’s best to seize this remaining time and try a few more shots, at least not leaving too many regrets.

The Spain team used dense defensive formations to prevent him as much as possible from entering the penalty area for shots, using flawless marking and tackling to prevent him from shooting within 30 meters as much as possible.

Then he would shoot from the 40-meter mark, try from the 45-meter position!

Facing the extremely in-form Saint Casillas, this absolutely wasn’t a good technical and tactical choice, certainly to be considered insane.

But at the last moment, besides believing in himself, he had no other way!

"Bang!!"

In the 89th minute of the match, receiving a pass from a teammate in the 40-meter area, Ma’el decisively drew his bow and shot a super heavy artillery towards the near corner of the goal.

Like a thunderclap arising from the flat ground, this shot that Casillas and all Spaniards didn’t take seriously quickly approached the goal, suddenly giving an extremely dangerous feeling.

Casillas quickly moved towards the direction of the football, not daring to be careless, reached out to embrace the ball only tentatively, attempted to palm it out over the crossbar.

"Snap!" He managed to hit the football, but still broke out in a cold sweat. Ma’el’s long shot power and angle unexpectedly surpassed even his club super teammate Ronaldo’s.

Ronaldo at that position often missed or overshot the target due to putting too much power, even if he hit, the threat to the goalkeeper was limited.

The only time it hit the mark supposedly during his Manchester United days; seemingly, that ball even won the Puskás Award that year.

But Ma’el was different; Casillas had seen him score such a goal in the current tournament and several attempts that didn’t result in goals.

Without exception, these balls could threaten the goalkeeper... meaning he truly possessed the ability to score from the 40-meter region!

Not relying on luck, nor is it an extremely low-probability wild shot; he genuinely has this capability!