DEFYING FATE

Chapter 59: A Miraculous Goal

Xu Yan was very calm. She turned and looked Dong Xuebingslowly. "You play?"

Dong Xuebing nodded. "Yes."

"You are good at goalkeeping." Li Qing frowned. "Strikersand goalkeepers are very different positions!"

Xu Yan had already given up on winning this match. She wavedher hand. "Forget it. There is only 1 minute on the clock. No matter how weplay, we will not win. You have just been discharged from the hospital. Didn'tthe doctors tell you not to do strenuous sports? The Eastern District playersare too rough. What if you get injured again? There is no need for you to takethe risk." Xu Yan sighed. "Director Li, tell the referee that we will notchange players. We will carry on with 10 men."

Dong Xuebing stubbornly insist: "Chief Xu! Please let meplay!"

Li Qing scolded. "Xiao Dong! We are doing this for your owngood!"

Xu Yan looked at Dong Xuebing's determined look. Shehesitated and said: "Just be careful."

"Yes!" Dong Xuebing turned and ran onto the pitch.

The referee announced there was one minute of injury timeand blew the whistle. The Western District players saw Dong Xuebing, who hadjust been discharged from the hospital and was the reserve goalkeeper replacingtheir injured striker, they lost confidence. Tan Limei, Changjuan, and the restof the supporters stop their cheering. They watched the match silently. Theyhad lost hopes for winning. Their district will be known as the district withzero wins from 8 games.

59 seconds remaining...

55 seconds remaining...

The player taking the freekick was big sized. He ran up tothe ball and aimed straight at the goal.

But it was too far, and the player was not skillful enough.The ball hit Guo Shunjie's chest which was beside the wall and rolled to thefeet of the opposing team player!

Political Commissar Xu shouts: "Attack! This is the finalchance!"

49 Seconds remaining...

The best defense was to attack. The Eastern District playersdid not hide in their own half. All of them rushed forward. With a series ofshort passes, they moved towards the Western District penalty box.

28 Seconds remaining...

The Western District players were running back to defend atfull speed.

Dong Xuebing did not join the rest to defend. As thestriker, he can only wait at the center of the field waiting for his teammatesto pass him the ball. Come on! Get the ball back!

The Eastern District player who had injured Zhuang Zhisuddenly shot at the goal!

Bang! The ball hit one of the defenders and deflected tofeet of the Western District player from Commission for Discipline Inspection!

15 seconds remaining...

Political Commissar Xu screams at her players. "There is nomore time! Stop him from passing!"

Two nearby Eastern District players immediately charged athim and one of them, a midfielder, managed to steal the ball away from him!

There were only 11 seconds left!

That's it! It's the end of the match!

The Eastern District players stop attacking, and the WesternDistrict players also gave up hope of winning.

10 seconds remaining...

9 seconds remaining...

The Eastern District midfielder managed to dodge Guo Panweiand another player's tackle and kicked the ball back to his own half. But heused slightly more strength, and the ball flew over the last two defenders and landedoutside the penalty box.

That was not important as there was no more time.

5 seconds remaining...

4 seconds...

The ball bounced twice and went out of play.

The referee looked at his watch and did not award the throwin. He blew the full-time whistle!

That's it. No wins in 8 matches!

Xu Yan laughed at herself and walk off with her bag. TheWestern District players were walking off the pitch, disappointed. The playersdid not even shake the other team players' hands as they walk away.

The only person that was behaving differently was DongXuebing. He was deep in thoughts as he stared at the other team's penalty box.

After a while, Dong Xuebing's eyes brighten up!

BACK!!!

...

There were shouts and sounds coming from everywhere!

The next moment, Dong Xuebing saw the Eastern Districtmidfielder stole the ball!

There were only 10 seconds left!

The opposing team players were smiling, and after dodgingGuo Panwei and another player's attempt to get the ball back, the EasternDistrict midfielder laughed and kicked the ball back to his half. He wanted towaste the remaining few seconds. The moment he kicked the ball, the playersfrom both teams knew that was the end of the match. No one wanted to run afterthe ball and were standing there waiting for the referee to blow the whistle!

But something unexpected happened!

"Ah! Look!"

"Damn! Who is that?"

Everyone realized that a few seconds before the ball waskicked, a player from the Western District started running!

It was Dong Xuebing!

The moment that midfielder kicked the ball, Dong Xuebing ranpast the last two defenders! To everyone's surprise, the outstanding goalkeeperfrom yesterday's match seems to know where the ball was heading and where itwill land! Dong Xuebing did not even look at the ball and continued runningtowards the area two meters outside of the penalty box. 1 meter! 2 meters! 3meters!

There were 6 seconds left!

Everyone was staring in shock. The ball amazingly landed atthat spot!

The ball accurately landed at Dong Xuebing's feet, and hestopped it.

Xu Yan jumped up from her seat!

One on one with the goalkeeper!

There were no defenders in front of Dong Xuebing! It wasonly the goalkeeper in front of him!

Dong Xuebing could hear the footsteps of the defendersapproaching from behind. He kept his cool and continue his run forward with theball!

There were only 3 seconds left!

The goalkeeper ran forward to stop Dong Xuebing!

Dong Xuebing tapped the ball lightly with his feet andchanged his direction!

1 second left!

Bang!

Dong Xuebing used all his strength to kick the ball with hisright foot!

The football brushed against the goalkeeper's left boots andcontinued flying towards the goal!

Dong Xuebing and all the rest of Western District playerscould feel their hearts skipped a beat. They stared at the ball nervously asthe ball flew towards the open goal. It was only 0.5 seconds, but it feels likean eternity.5 meters, 4 meters, 3meters, 2 meters. 1 meter! Swished! The ball entered the goal in the top rightcorner!

Goal!!!!!

A miraculous goal!!!!

The whole stadium was dead quiet. There was no cheers orshouts. It was eerily quiet!

1-second pass...

2 seconds pass...

3 seconds pass...

Xu Yan was the first to react. She dropped her bag on thefloor and shouted with all her might: "Goal!!!!!!!"

Dong Xuebing dropped on the ground, raised his arms, andshouted.

"We won?" The Western District players could not believetheir eyes!

"We won! We won the match!!!"

Then... the whole stadium cheered!