Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

"The referee's decision is questionable!"

"Yes, the slow-motion replay from the television broadcast shows that Sun Jihai did not appear to have committed a foul."

When the CCTV commentators saw the ruling, they were just as astonished as the audience at the scene, their eyes widening in surprise.

In slow motion, it's hard to say whether Sun Jihai's hand touched Di Maria, but Di Maria just fell straight down.

Moreover, he fell inside the penalty area, which makes it hard not to suspect that he was deliberately waiting for Sun Jihai to attack him, so as to kill two birds with one stone and get a red card.

Although he knew the referee's decision wouldn't be easily changed, as the captain, Lin Feng had to stand up for his teammates.

He approached the referee and tried to communicate with the opposing team:
“Mr. Victor, I respect your ruling, but that wasn’t a real foul. In fact, you yourself didn’t clearly see my teammate commit the ‘foul,’ did you?”

If it were an ordinary person protesting the ruling, the referee would probably have already given them a verbal warning and told them to back off. If they didn't listen, a referee with a bad temper might have to issue a card to maintain his authority.

But Lin Feng is no ordinary person. When facing such a big-name star, apart from those hot-headed referees, everyone else will give the star some face to more or less.

"Lin, I know you find this result hard to accept, but your teammate made a mistake and he received the punishment he deserved. That's all."

Viktor Kassai shrugged, looking helpless.

However, he avoided Lin Feng's question because, as Lin Feng had said, he did not see Sun Jihai push anyone.

Kassai only saw Sun Jihai reach out his hand, and Di Maria fell in the penalty area. The linesman also raised his flag to indicate a foul, so he determined that the opponent had committed a foul by pushing from behind, and gave a yellow card and a penalty kick.

Because I didn't see it with my own eyes, I didn't speak with much confidence.

"I know the verdict is final, so I don't intend to appeal or protest. I just hope you'll pay more attention to the other side's number 14. Although his name means angel in Spanish, sometimes the devil comes out in the guise of an angel to deceive people, doesn't he?"

After saying that, Lin Feng left directly and turned to comfort his teammate Sun Jihai, who had been sent off, showing no intention of continuing to argue with the referee.

This left Kassai somewhat incredulous. He glanced at Di Maria, who was joyfully hugging and celebrating with her teammates, with a puzzled expression, and couldn't help but think:
Could it be true, as Lin Feng said, that a devil is hiding beneath that seemingly harmless face?
With that in mind, he decided to pay more attention to Di Maria.

"Leo, you can take this penalty!"

Di Maria, holding the ball, found Messi, seemingly wanting to give up the penalty he had won.

Messi also really wanted to score in the Olympic final, since Lin Feng hadn't scored in this match yet. If he could score a goal, he would beat his opponent in that statistic.

But Messi preferred goals that he created himself, so he declined Di Maria's offer.

"Cough cough!"

Riquelme, standing to the side, coughed loudly, seemingly trying to get attention.

However, Di Maria pretended not to see it. After consulting Messi, he happily ran back to the penalty area with the ball, ready to take the penalty himself.

Behind him, Aguero and Higuain exchanged a glance, and Aguero shrugged, he actually kind of wanted the penalty.

He missed many opportunities in this game, and if Argentina loses in the end, he will most likely become the culprit of the team.

But Di Maria created this penalty, and if the opponent didn't allow it, Aguero wouldn't have felt comfortable taking it.

At this time, Di Maria was not very famous, far from being the winger with a value of seventy or eighty million euros in later years.

Zeng Cheng had done some research and analysis on several of Argentina's strikers before the match.

However, he studied forwards like Messi, Aguero, and Higuain the most. Di Maria hadn't scored many goals before and mostly served as a wingman to provide assists for his teammates, so he wasn't his main target for research.

Although he judged the direction correctly, Di Maria's shot was very decisive, and the ball was too fast for Zeng Cheng to save.

The score became 2-1, with Argentina pulling one back.

After scoring, Di Maria ran to the sidelines to celebrate wildly, even putting his finger to his lips as a slur to the stands.

This was clearly a response to the boos he received from Chinese fans in the stands when he took the penalty kick.

But this move only provoked even louder boos. Throughout the Bird's Nest stadium, apart from the Argentine fans who were celebrating wildly, all other fans, including neutral fans, were enraged by Di Maria's action.

I really want to kill this guy!

[That's so damn despicable, I really want to kick his legs off!]

If this bastard hadn't faked a fall to win a penalty, we'd still be leading by two goals and wouldn't be down to ten men!

It's fine for us to exchange a few insults offline, but the players on the field must remain calm and absolutely avoid making any irrational moves!

Yes, we're already down a man, and if another one gets sent off, then this game is completely hopeless!

After Sun Jihai was sent off, Klaus Toppmöller had to use a substitution, replacing Gao Lin with Sun Jihai and moving right winger Hao Junmin back to right back to fill the gap left by Sun Jihai's departure.

This was a forced substitution; Klaus Toppmöller had originally planned to make a like-for-like substitution in the defensive midfield position.

But after the team conceded a goal, he suddenly changed his mind.

Di Maria's goal cast a shadow over the fans' hearts, and the previously optimistic atmosphere vanished without a trace, replaced by an atmosphere even more somber than when the Chinese team was besieged by their opponents.

On the field, the Chinese players' mentality changes much like those of the fans.

After conceding a goal and having a player sent off, the players generally became tense, especially those with yellow cards, who became more cautious on the field, afraid of making mistakes that would give the opponent an opportunity.

This restrictive kicking style actually makes it easier for the opponent to attack.

Less than five minutes after Di Maria's goal, Argentina launched another highly threatening attack through excellent passing combinations in the attacking third.

In the 77th minute, Riquelme passed the ball to Mascherano, who immediately unleashed a powerful long-range shot from about 25 meters out.

Fortunately, Zeng Cheng was focused and made a diving save to deny his shot.

However, Argentina earned a corner kick as a result, and the threat to China's goal remained. During this period, Argentina gained momentum, launching a more aggressive attack and committing significantly more players to the attack.

Mascherano had previously focused on defense and hadn't participated much in the attack, but now, because the Chinese team simply couldn't mount any threatening counter-attacks, even he's moved up to the front to participate in the attack.

However, the biggest threat to the Chinese team is not the forward-moving Mascherano, but Messi and Di Maria, who are too active on the flanks, especially Di Maria.

Having tasted success, the 'angel' wants to replicate that success on the wing.

In the 79th minute, he tried the same trick again on the wing, attempting to deceive the inexperienced Hao Junmin.

Although Hao Junmin is young, he is not a hothead.

He saw through the other party's scheme and firmly blocked the inside, not giving Di Maria a chance.

Hao Junmin has explosive power and speed. Di Maria was unable to overpower him with speed and even fell into a disadvantage in physical confrontation with Hao Junmin.

He gritted his teeth and deliberately rammed into Hao Junmin. Hao Junmin instinctively spread his right arm to block him. This was exactly what Di Maria had been waiting for. When he saw the other man raise his elbow, he let out an exaggerated scream, then covered his face and fell to the ground. After falling, he didn't forget to roll around a few times.

Beep!
The referee blew his whistle quickly and arrived at the scene with a frown.

"what happened?"

Upon seeing Di Maria fall to the ground screaming in pain, the referee did not immediately make a ruling, but instead consulted with the linesman about the situation.

"It looks like the other team's number 7 elbowed him too high and knocked him down?"

The linesman couldn't see very clearly either; it seemed like the two had touched, but it also seemed like they hadn't.

Kassai frowned, glanced at Hao Junmin who was desperately explaining, and then at Di Maria lying on the ground. He couldn't help but recall what Lin Feng had said to him before.

He was about to draw his card, but he stopped himself from doing so. He only gave Hao Junmin a verbal warning and awarded Argentina a free kick.

The Argentine team was naturally very dissatisfied with the ruling, and several players ran to the referee to protest vehemently.

Judging from their indignant expressions, they seemed to genuinely believe that the Chinese player had elbowed their teammate.

Seeing that the other side was still arguing, the referee didn't tolerate it and immediately pulled out a card, showing a yellow card to Aguero, who had been the most vocal.

The set piece wasn't in a great position, and Riquelme opted to take it directly into the penalty area, but the first header was cleared by a Chinese defender.

Mascherano controlled the ball outside the penalty area and tried to pass it into the box, but unfortunately, the pass wasn't well coordinated, and Higuain was offside when he made the pass.

The spectators in the stands breathed a long sigh of relief when they saw the referee award possession to the Chinese team.

From the moment Argentina scored to Mascherano's pass, the Chinese team couldn't even touch the ball for seven or eight minutes.

This situation of being constantly beaten down by the opponent and bombarded relentlessly at one's doorstep is truly suffocating to watch.

"The Chinese team must find a way to break through, otherwise the string in the defense will definitely snap!"

"But the players on the field don't seem to have enough stamina. If we launch a counterattack at this point, there probably won't be many left who can keep up with the pace!"

Inside the studio, several commentators looked worried.

The pace of the game was suffocating even for them, let alone the players on the field.

"Coach Klaus Toppmöller just substituted Yu Hai. Is he also thinking of using his speed to make plays on the counter-attack?"

"It's very possible, but the problem now is that the Chinese team can't get possession of the ball in the attacking third, and Yu Hai can't get the ball up front!"

"It still depends on Lin Feng's performance. Within the Chinese team, he is the only one capable of delivering such accurate long passes!"

At this moment, the focus of the game was once again on Lin Feng.

Countless fans are silently praying that Lin Feng can pull off another miracle and help the Chinese team get out of its current predicament.

However, getting the ball to Yu Hai's feet is easier said than done.

Even the commentators understand this principle, so it's impossible for Argentina's coach and players on the field not to understand it.

In fact, after the Chinese team scored their second goal, the Argentine team's defense against Lin Feng had become ruthless.

Not only were there always one or two defenders following him around, but whenever he got the ball or made a receiving motion, Argentine players from all sides would rush towards him as if an air raid siren had been sounded, determined to cut off all his passing lanes.

After nearly eighty minutes of play, the Argentine players on the field were very clear that as long as they could contain Lin Feng and prevent him from supplying ammunition forward, the Chinese team's offensive threat would be virtually nonexistent.

Although on the surface it appears that Lin Feng neither scored nor assisted in China's first two goals.

But in reality, he orchestrated and initiated every attack by the Chinese team, and he also made the most crucial passes.

Despite the vast difference in possession between the two sides in this match, with China's possession rate at only around 30%, Lin Feng still managed to complete 5 key passes despite such low possession and few attacking opportunities.

How terrifying is this data?
Compare this to Riquelme, the midfield maestro of the Argentine team. Despite having nearly 70% possession, this representative of the ancient attacking midfielder only completed 4 key passes in this match, one less than Lin Feng.

But if this statistic can be maintained for a season, then an average of four key passes per game would be the world's best in the top five leagues!
Since the opponent poses such a significant threat, it would be worthwhile for the Argentine team to do everything possible to target him and limit his performance.

For this reason, they even assigned defensive tasks to attacking players like Messi, who rarely participate in defensive rotations.

Once Lin Feng receives the ball in a relatively close position, even Messi will have to join in the attack.

And so this amusing scene unfolded: in the 82nd minute, Lin Feng launched a counter-attack with the ball, and Messi, who was closest to him, came forward to harass him.

But unlike when Lin Feng defended Messi before, the two fought fiercely and were evenly matched.

Facing Messi's defense, Lin Feng didn't bother with feints. Instead, he used Messi's most familiar tactic—rhythm changes—along with a few simple moves: dribbling, flicking, and changing direction, which left Messi completely bewildered.

Messi, who had been beaten, was completely bewildered: Why does it feel like they're using all my moves? (End of Chapter)