The entire stadium erupted in boos, with many believing something was amiss. However, any fan familiar with the match rules would have known the referee's call was perfectly valid.
According to FIFA's latest update on handball rules, a penalty kick is awarded if a handball occurs within the penalty area with the arm extended and not close to the body, accompanied by a yellow card. If the handball prevents a certain goal, it results in a red card and a penalty kick.
Therefore, Han Zi'ang's decision was entirely correct and didn't even warrant a yellow card.
As for what constitutes a "certain goal," it's defined as a ball within approximately five meters of the goal line, with its trajectory indicating it will undeniably enter the goal.
Furthermore, the red card penalty for a handball is only applied if it's deemed intentional.
In essence, as long as the arm remains in contact with the body during defense, there's no need to worry about receiving a yellow or red card.
Consequently, FIFA would not issue any response. In fact, even if the referee's call were genuinely questionable, such matters would only be addressed after the match, as FIFA cannot interfere with the referee's decisions on the field.
The Brazilians were aware of this, and their complaint was merely a long shot.
The match continued until the 40th minute of the second half with no breakthrough. Brazil was awarded another penalty kick, their seventh of the match.
At this point, Tian Luo approached the team captain on the field and requested to take the penalty.
"The coach said that we should take all the penalties, you shouldn't kick them!" the Brazilian captain replied.
Preventing their top scorer from taking a penalty might seem like a peculiar decision, but the reasoning was simple: the coach didn't want to damage Tian Luo's confidence.
Tian Luo was currently unparalleled in his shooting ability, and he took immense pride in his penalty kicks. Both his and the opposing media had hyped them as the "strongest spear" and the "strongest shield."
The issue was that the "strongest spear" and the "strongest shield" are only truly the strongest when they haven't clashed. Once they do, one is bound to break.
If the "strongest spear" were to break, it could lead to a complete loss of confidence and a severe emotional breakdown for Tian Luo. He was still a young man in his early twenties and had never experienced such a failure, lacking the necessary psychological resilience.
If the "strongest shield" were to break, it would be manageable. But if their own "strongest spear" were to shatter, Tian Luo might be in a daze for all subsequent matches.
While other matches might allow for months or even a year for recovery, this was the World Cup, and Brazil still had a final to play. The coach couldn't possibly allow his team's "strongest spear" to suffer psychological issues at such a crucial juncture.
Thus, all penalties were assigned to other players, and the Brazilian captain absolutely forbade Tian Luo from taking any.
"In the end, the coach thinks I'll miss, that I'm not as good as that guy, right!" Tian Luo said angrily, clearly displeased by this perceived lack of trust from his coach.
He couldn't understand why the coach was so certain he couldn't score against the Chinese goalkeeper. The goal was much larger than the bed of his family's old truck; how could he possibly miss?
The captain hesitated, glancing at the coach, but the distance was too great to discern his expression.
Meanwhile, the referee urged the captain to decide on the penalty taker quickly. With only five minutes left until the end of the match, if they didn't score, Brazil's World Cup journey might truly end here.
The captain decided to defy the coach's orders and nodded to Tian Luo, "Go ahead, don't feel any pressure, whether you score or not is fine!"
Tian Luo nodded, took a deep breath, glanced at the goal defended by Wang Fanfan, and walked to the penalty spot.
"Holy cow, Brazil is finally sending Tian Luo in! They're finally willing to use their strongest spear! I thought they weren't going to let Tian Luo play at all this match," exclaimed the commentators upon seeing Tian Luo step up for the penalty.
"It's understandable. Brazil is cornered now. If they don't let Tian Luo take it, their match will end here!" the other two commentators calmly assessed the situation.
The global media also held their breath as Tian Luo stepped up. The moment of confrontation between the "strongest spear" and the "strongest shield" had finally arrived, and everyone was filled with anticipation.
Tian Luo positioned himself decisively, took his run-up, and struck the ball with a placed shot.
"Oh no, why is Tian Luo's shot going wide from the start?" people exclaimed as the ball flew directly away from the goal. It looked like it was going to fly out of bounds.
Had Tian Luo cracked under the pressure?
However, halfway through its flight, the ball suddenly took a bizarre turn and veered towards the corner of the goal.
It was an incredibly tricky curved shot, with a bend far exceeding anything seen in previous matches.
Witnessing the ball's elegant arc through the air, all spectators held their breath. How could a ball possess such a beautiful curve? Many spectators who had previously been indifferent to Tian Luo became his fans at that moment.
Then, the ball was unceremoniously swatted away by a mighty hand.
Tian Luo's beautifully curved shot was decisively punched away by Wang Fanfan.
After making the save, Wang Fanfan even quipped, "Showy!"
Indeed, to Wang Fanfan, this perfectly curved shot was nothing more than a flashy, pointless display. The longer the curve, the longer the ball stayed in the air, giving Wang Fanfan more time to react.
Wang Fanfan knew exactly what kind of shots he couldn't save: those with extreme speed, so fast that even his full sprint couldn't match the ball's speed into the net.
After extensive training with the Jiangnan Group's simulated player machine, Wang Fanfan concluded that he could save any ball that stayed in the air for longer than 1.02 seconds with 100% certainty.
For balls staying in the air for more than 0.76 seconds, Wang Fanfan might miss three to four out of a hundred, provided the shot was aimed at the corners. Otherwise, he was confident he could save them all.
However, if the ball stayed in the air for less than 0.7 seconds, even shots aimed at the corners would be missed by Wang Fanfan in three to four out of a hundred attempts. If the aerial time was less than 0.65 seconds, unless the ball landed within two meters of Wang Fanfan, he wouldn't be able to save it.
If the aerial time was less than 0.53 seconds, Wang Fanfan wouldn't have enough time to react, and the ball would go in directly, meaning a 100% success rate.
It was highly unlikely any player could achieve such ball speeds, and Wang Fanfan had yet to encounter a speed he couldn't handle.
However, Tian Luo was an exception. Wang Fanfan had carefully studied Tian Luo's match footage and knew that on several occasions, his penalty kicks had an aerial time of around 0.75 seconds. This meant that if Tian Luo aimed directly for the corners, Wang Fanfan would have at least a 10% chance of conceding a goal.
But for a curveball deliberately aimed at changing trajectory, it provided Wang Fanfan ample preparation time to easily swat it away.
Thus, the contest between the "strongest spear" and the "strongest shield" reached its conclusion. Just as the Brazilian coach had feared, the "strongest spear" was shattered.
In the subsequent play, Tian Luo seemed like a different person, having lost all his sharpness and making several elementary mistakes.
The match dragged on until the 45th minute. Due to the numerous penalty kicks, the referee added a substantial 9 minutes and 30 seconds of stoppage time, giving Brazil another chance.
However, Team Am also had scoring opportunities.
For the entire second half, Team Am had been unable to mount a threatening attack on Brazil's goal. Brazil, desperate to win, pushed almost everyone except the defenders forward in the stoppage time to create a scoring chance.
It's debatable whether this was the right or wrong approach, but with the opponent holding the advantage, failing to score at least one goal would render even the best defense futile.
However, this created an opportunity for Liu Xu. During a counter-attack, Liu Xu's precise shot nearly broke through the opponent's goal.
It was a "nearly" because a defender also blocked Liu Xu's shot with his body, and the referee blew the whistle for a penalty. This was the tenth penalty of the match and the first for Team Am.
The defender, seemingly flustered by the opponent's penalty-saving tactics, risked a handball to block the shot. The ball hit his wrist, making it an undeniable handball.
Liu Xu did not disappoint his team, delivering a powerful and decisive shot that sent the ball into the net.
This was Liu Xu's conclusion after practicing penalties countless times with Wang Fanfan: ditch the fancy tricks and just focus on speed!
With this penalty goal, Brazil completely lost all confidence. When the final whistle blew, Brazil's World Cup journey ended. Team Am, primarily representing Asia and China, had historically advanced to the World Cup finals.