The appearance of the Lion King instantly sent the atmosphere at the scene to a fever pitch.
No one had expected that Xihong Zoo would send their Lion King to participate in this football match.
After all, lions and football seemed to have no connection whatsoever.
But this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd for the Lion King.
Especially the foreign spectators from Africa, who felt as if they were seeing their own national players appear when they saw the Lion King.
And because of the Lion King's appearance, the caliber of this match was instantly elevated.
This naturally made everyone even more eager to see the animal players who would appear next.
After the atmosphere on the field had slightly settled, Teacher Han's voice echoed through the broadcast.
"The tenth player who just appeared is the Lion King from the African savanna, and he is the forward for this match."
"You can all likely gauge his strength. Now, we will introduce our second animal player."
As soon as Teacher Han finished speaking, another figure appeared at the entrance to the stadium.
When the figure fully emerged from the shadows, the cheers from the crowd erupted once more, just as they had when the Lion King appeared.
And this player was wearing the number eleven jersey, also designated for a forward.
Compared to the number ten Lion King from before, this player was in no way inferior.
Following the gaze of the crowd, they saw that the number eleven player was none other than another king from Xihong Zoo – the Siberian Tiger King, Hua Dajie.
Following the tug-of-war match last time, Hua Dajie once again appeared on the field.
Compared to the Lion King, Hua Dajie clearly had more fans. As soon as she entered the field, many enthusiastic fans were calling out her name.
"It's evident that our number eleven player's popularity far surpasses that of our number ten player."
"Although everyone is very familiar with the number eleven player, I still want to take this opportunity to formally introduce her. Our number eleven player is Li Hua, the Siberian Tiger from Longguo's northeast."
As soon as Teacher Han finished speaking, Hua Dajie, in perfect cooperation, let out a mighty roar towards the entire audience, as if greeting all her fans and compatriots.
With the appearance of these two regal lions and tigers, the faces of the men's football team instantly turned ashen.
The original plan was not like this at all.
The main reasons they had suddenly accepted the organizing committee's invitation to participate in this match were, on one hand, to leverage the popularity brought by this competition to dilute some of their existing negative press.
On the other hand, they hoped to use this entertaining match to bridge the gap with the national audience.
They had seen the list of opponents earlier. Xihong Zoo's initial opponent list did not include these behemoths.
It was just some apes and monkeys.
Had they known about these two giants, they would not have come at all.
At this moment, they finally understood what it meant to be in a predicament.
However, the audience clearly couldn't be bothered with their woes. After Hua Dajie's appearance, their anticipation for the next nine players grew even stronger.
At this rate, Xihong Zoo was likely sending out their entire strongest lineup.
And it turned out that the netizens' speculation was not wrong at all.
After Hua Dajie entered the field, the figure of the leopard Li Bao then appeared on the field.
With this, the three top predators of the natural world were gathered, causing the men's football players beside them to tremble.
If they hadn't known that the animals at Xihong Zoo had no aggressive tendencies, they would have long since run away in fear.
Before their emotions could calm down, a large black bear wearing a jersey walked out, leading a smaller bear.
This was the only player on the field accompanied by a ball boy, and seeing this, the audience couldn't help but chuckle amidst their cheers.
"What a divine lineup! Tigers, lions, leopards, black bears. Are they sure they're here to play football?"
"This is a bit too much. The animal kingdom is sending all their T0 players, while our human side is T5."
"What's next? What's next? Hurry up and bring them all out at once."
"I suddenly noticed a critical point: the animals don't have hands. Does that mean they will never commit a handball foul?"
"Good observation, but you're not allowed to notice it next time."
"Be grateful it's not rugby. If it were rugby, the men's football team would be wiped out today."
"If it were rugby, they'd need mechs to compete."
...
As the netizens discussed the current animal player lineup, the fifth and sixth animals also made their appearances.
They were the defender Giraffe, wearing the number four jersey, and the defender Zebra, wearing the number five jersey.
While the imposing presence of these two animal players didn't match the ferocity of the previous four beasts, they possessed an advantage that the first four players lacked: long legs.
Especially the giraffe, the human players standing next to it weren't even as tall as its legs.
However, from the perspective of the men's football players, these two animal players were considerably more "adorable" than the previous four, as these were the only two herbivores so far.
And just as everyone was stunned by the giraffe's long legs, the seventh and eighth animal players also walked out.
They were none other than a large rhinoceros and a wild boar.
The men's football players, who had just been lamenting the lower threat level of herbivores, immediately wore bitter smiles.
What kind of beings were they playing against?
But before they could recover from the pressure exerted by the rhinoceros and the wild boar, the ninth and tenth animal players also emerged from the tunnel.
Upon seeing the ninth and tenth players, the men's football players finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally, we see two small animals. I thought Xihong Zoo was out of small animals."
"I recognize the monkey behind, but what is that guy in front with the buzz cut, white back, and black belly?"
"Probably a skunk. In any case, it should be a relatively safe animal."
"Are they almost done? Just the goalkeeper left, right?"
"They're not going to send an elephant as the goalkeeper, are they? If they send an elephant as the goalkeeper, then we really don't stand a chance this time."
"Indeed. Just standing there, it would block the entire goal."
At this moment, all the men's football players were secretly praying that the remaining animal goalkeeper would not be an elephant.
Their gazes, like those of the audience, were all fixed on the stadium entrance.
When they saw a small figure appear at the entrance, a hint of excitement flashed across their faces.
"Good news! It's not an elephant. Their goalkeeper isn't an elephant!"
But as they smiled, their smiles quickly faded.
Because as the figure gradually hopped out from the shaded area, a powerfully built, muscular kangaroo, munching on a carrot, joined the animal player lineup.
"Bad news, their goalkeeper is a kangaroo!"