Soon, under Qida's lead, the French team's players quickly calmed down. No matter what happened from then on, they would devote all their energy to the match.
They had, of course, fully prepared for Cao Baming's appearance on the Tangguo team.
At this very moment, Cao Baming stood at the center of the entire pitch, which was exactly as Dechang had predicted before the match. After all, this was the Tangguo team's only tactic.
Right now, they were congratulating themselves that their prediction hadn't been too far off, and everything was proceeding as expected.
But in the next second, after a clearance from the France team, the ball was received by a Tangguo player, and a counterattack immediately launched.
At this moment, there was a time bomb on the field: Cao Baming. Every player on the France team was extremely tense. They could no longer advance with the same looseness as before.
Upon seeing Cao Baming's position, they immediately dispatched three players for defensive support. Although he didn't have the ball at his feet, their experience told them that they absolutely could not lose control of him.
And if they focused their attention on him, then other players on the Tangguo team would definitely gain more opportunities. As a result, Wu Lei successfully received the ball on the flank.
At this moment, the France team was still wary of Cao Baming, but if Wu Lei passed the ball forward, Han-Guo team would have a clear one-on-one chance, which they had to defend against!
Although they relaxed their vigilance on Cao Baming for just this instant to track the Han-Guo player in the frontcourt, at this very moment, Wu Lei still chose to pass the ball to Cao Baming!
Then, after receiving the ball, Cao Baming didn't need to control it. He directly used the outside of his foot to pass the ball to the open left flank!
Fang Hao, who was following up, controlled the ball and then unleashed a powerful shot towards the goal!
The football arced through the air and directly entered the net!
The ball somehow managed to slip right under the goalkeeper's arm!
"Goal!! Goal!! Goal!!"
The spectators were extremely excited.
At this moment, all the France team players were frozen in place. They sighed to the heavens, helpless.
Fang Hao, after scoring, still had an expression of disbelief on his face. He hadn't expected his shot to be of such high quality!
The Tangguo players excitedly embraced each other. Li Gang's expression relaxed slightly.
"It's still down to Cao Baming. After our Tangguo team's substitute, Cao Baming, came on in the eleventh minute as arranged by the head coach, the entire team seemed to come alive instantly, like a lion awakening!"
"In just one minute! They scored in just one minute! We have to admire this!!"
"Tangguo team, trailing France by three to one, has clawed back one goal. They still need two to draw!!! Come on! Heroes and warriors!"
"This was a brilliant counterattack, with virtually every pass executed in one touch without any delay, completely different from before!"
"The morale has certainly been boosted by this!"
The commentators' voices echoed in the fans' ears. And at this moment, Cao Baming himself was thinking exactly that.
It would undoubtedly be the best if he could boost everyone's morale with a goal immediately after coming on.
After all, what could unite a team and increase their desire to attack more than a goal?
The camera panned over, and one could see Mbappe's dismissive expression still present. His confidence was not so easily shaken.
It was only one goal. They still had a two-goal lead. Let's see what they could do against them!
With the boost of his God's Eye talent, Cao Baming could see Mbappe's arrogance clearly. In fact, many people on the opposing side were still unconvinced.
If they were unconvinced, then he would convince them.
It was as simple as that; there was no need to overthink it.
Soon, the match resumed. At this moment, it was only the fourteenth minute, and including the goal celebration and any potential stoppage time, the total number of goals had already reached four!
This was extremely rare in football history, let alone in a World Cup final!
It had undoubtedly set a new record for goals in a World Cup final, and if the match continued in this vein, the overall World Cup goal record would likely be broken ruthlessly!
The match continued.
In the 18th minute, Zidane, as the captain of the France team, finally stepped up in the center. A very beautiful organized attack gave the France team another almost certain goal opportunity.
Although the Tangguo team had just scored, they were still prioritizing defense, as arranged by head coach Li Gang before the match.
True opportunities often arose from counterattacks like the one just witnessed. Only in such counterattacks could Cao Baming's role be truly utilized, with his unparalleled God's Eye passes and unstoppable long-range worldies.
Under the dense defense of the Han-Guo team, Henry's shot ultimately missed the target, as a defender successfully slid to clear it out of bounds.
The France team had one attacking opportunity after another, but it was completely different from the opening few minutes. They had frequent chances but frequently wasted them, always feeling like they were just a little bit short, always out of reach.
For the Tangguo team, they didn't need to control possession. Instead, once they gained possession, they had to immediately exploit defensive loopholes in the opponent to organize attacks.
In this regard, the person in the world who did this best was this person named Cao Baming. It was unlikely that any team or individual would dare claim to be stronger than Cao Baming.
However, this, in turn, put Zidane in a difficult position, because the France team had historically been known for its counterattacking style. In this situation, if the opponent also didn't want possession, and they themselves didn't particularly desire it either, they weren't very fond of such sustained positional play.
Super-speed attackers like Mbappe or Henry on their team all needed ample space to sprint in order to create perfect opportunities and unleash their talents and advantages.
Therefore, if they continued to play positional warfare like this, they would be at a disadvantage. Zidane quickly realized this.
After several unsuccessful attacks, the France team's head coach, Deschamps, initiated a tactical adjustment for the players on the field.
The purpose of this adjustment was simple: to concede possession to the opponent as much as possible, while they would stick to what they did best – counterattacking.