Chapter 926 A Premonition

Tomorrow was the World Cup semi-final between China and Germany. That evening, Zhou Yi sent a message in the national team's WeChat group: "Nine o'clock tonight, come to my room for a little meeting."

Before a semi-final, it was normal for the players to organize their own meeting.

Before the appointed time, the Chinese players had all gathered in Zhou Yi's room.

"The game is tomorrow, so everyone's here for a pep talk. Some of you may think a pep talk is unnecessary for a semi-final? In my opinion, it's absolutely necessary, because I'm not sure if everyone is pulling in the same direction," Zhou Yi said.

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.

"These past few days, the domestic internet has had different opinions about our prospects. Those are just the opinions of fans and the media, they can say whatever they want. But I think we ourselves have to unify our thinking. For example, what attitude should we have towards this semi-final?"

Zhou Yi looked at everyone.

"Are we all completely satisfied after reaching the final four? Or do we want to go even further?"

Sun Pan chuckled, "Of course we want to go further!"

Going further meant reaching the final, which seemed unbelievable to many. Could they really beat Germany?

Zhou Yi said, "Panpan, it's not up to you alone."

Then he looked at the other teammates.

He Ying said, "Go further."

Yan Min: "Go further."

Yang Muge: "Go further."

Guo Nu: "G-g-go further."

Zheng Zhi: "Go further."

Gao Lin: "Go further."

Zhang Linpeng: "Go further."

...

More players, under Zhou Yi's gaze, expressed their determination. No one said, "It ends here, I'm satisfied with this result." They all said, "Go further."

Of course, some of them might not have been sincere. After all, when the vast majority of people were saying they wanted to go further, anyone who said it ended here would immediately become the target of public criticism. They didn't have the courage to openly oppose the majority.

Zhou Yi knew this, and he didn't delve into whether everyone was being sincere or not.

After receiving everyone's assurances, he nodded and said, "It seems our thinking is unified, that makes things easier. Of course, I know our semi-final against Germany will be very difficult, but that doesn't mean we can't win. Before our game against Brazil, many people probably thought we couldn't win either. But what was the result?"

Zhou Yi spread his hands.

"So I want to say that football is round, anything is possible. Since we can eliminate the hosts, we can also eliminate Germany, as long as our whole team performs well, plus a little bit of luck... From what I know of Germany, they are not invincible, and they are not without weaknesses. But whether we can win depends not on the opponent, but on what we ourselves want. If we don't want to win, if we're satisfied with the final four, then we absolutely cannot reach the final, not even a sliver of hope. Only if we ourselves desperately want to reach the final can we create a miracle."

"I firmly believe that we can create a miracle, just like I believed from the beginning that we would not stop in the group stage. My trust in all of you has never wavered in the slightest. It's the same with this game. I will fight to the last moment for tomorrow's game and our goal. I'm very glad that everyone feels the same way as I do."

After listening to Zhou Yi's words, those players who had been hesitant naturally had only one thought at this point—why think so much? Just fight! Making it to the final would be awesome. And if they failed, at least they would have given it their all, and there would be no regrets.

"Alright, thanks for coming to this meeting. Now go back and rest. Rest well, recharge your batteries, and tomorrow let's have a great battle!"

"Okay! Let's have a great battle!"

Everyone responded enthusiastically.

※※※

Every Chinese player who stepped onto the Estádio Mineirão, when they heard the national anthem being played, was probably thinking about the contents of yesterday's meeting.

They were going to have a great battle, they were going to surprise the world once again.

They would never have imagined that only ten minutes into the game, the situation on the field would suddenly change, and an accident would occur.

In the tenth minute of the match, Germany launched a quick attack, catching China off guard. When they got into China's penalty area, there was only Sun Pan there.

Sun Pan, rushing out of his goal, knocked down Mark Wagner, who had received the ball in the penalty area and was dribbling.

The referee Marco Rodriguez's whistle blew.

"Ah... dangerous!" Liu Jianhong exclaimed when Mark and his teammate successfully beat the offside trap.

What followed was the scene of Sun Pan rushing out and knocking down Mark.

"This ball..." Liu Jianhong didn't know what to say.

Just now, China was attacking, but the opponent intercepted the ball and launched a quick counterattack. Toni Kroos made a long pass directly from the backcourt, finding Özil in front, who then sent a through ball to Mark, who was offside.

The Chinese players didn't have time to retreat.

Now, because of Sun Pan's foul, China would definitely concede a penalty. The game had only started for ten minutes, and China was about to lose a goal. This was what everyone didn't want to see.

But what they didn't want to see was yet to come...

Marco Rodriguez not only awarded Germany a penalty, but also turned around and showed Sun Pan a... red card!

Sun Pan had nothing to say about the penalty, because he had indeed committed a foul. He didn't argue with the referee, saying that Mark had faked the fall.

He didn't do that, but prepared to save the opponent's shot in the upcoming penalty.

He never expected that the referee's red card would directly dash all his hopes!

"Red card?! This... referee Marco Rodriguez from Mexico showed Sun Pan a red card?!" Liu Jianhong was incredulous. "How can this be a red card? A penalty has already been awarded, a yellow card warning would have been enough, why give a red card? This is the World Cup semi-final! To rashly send off a player in such an important game, isn't that too inconsiderate?"

There was some anger in Liu Jianhong's questioning.

He could easily imagine the impact of this red card on the Chinese team.

China was already inferior to Germany in terms of overall strength. To be able to fight Germany, they had to give it their all and ensure that they didn't lack players in key positions.

Sun Pan was very important to China. China's ability to reach the semi-finals all the way was not only due to Zhou Yi's organization and assists, and He Ying's goals, but also to Sun Pan's saves, which had repeatedly saved China from danger.

Now, only ten minutes into the game, the main goalkeeper Sun Pan was sent off with a red card, China was penalized with a penalty, and they had to play with one less player. How could they play the next eighty minutes?

Besides Liu Jianhong, the fans online were also extremely angry: "What kind of referee is this! Black whistle!"

"Damn, they already gave a penalty, why give a red card? Does this referee even know how to officiate?"

"The game has only started for ten minutes, and we have to play with one less player and get penalized with a penalty. As expected... FIFA doesn't want to see China reach the final, shameful!"

...

※※※

The fans in front of the TV couldn't understand the referee's decision, and the Chinese players on the field couldn't understand the referee's decision either.

Sun Pan's expression changed first. He had already turned around to walk back, but when he saw the red card, he rushed to the referee Marco Rodriguez and roared at him, "Is your brain full of shit?! Why are you giving me a red card?!"

At this time, he had already been shown the red card, and even if there were no additional penalties, he would definitely miss China's next game, whether it was the final or the third-place play-off, it had nothing to do with him.

So even if Sun Pan honestly left the field now, it wouldn't minimize the losses in the World Cup for himself and China.

He might as well vent his emotions...

Moreover, with Sun Pan's hot temper, he couldn't stand it at all.

Just as Sun Pan was about to push the referee, Guo Nu and Feng Xiaoting finally managed to hold him back. They were relatively rational, knowing that if Sun Pan was too excited and did something too outrageous, he might be subject to many additional penalties, which would also be a big blow to Sun Pan.

It wasn't worth it.

As the captain of the Chinese team, Zhou Yi also rushed up to negotiate with the referee, he also felt that the penalty was too heavy, a yellow card would have been enough...

But the referee Marco Rodriguez remained unmoved, he would never change the decision he had already made.

Lippi, who had experienced many battles, also seemed very agitated by the decision. He rushed to the sidelines and roared at the fourth official, "What kind of decision is this?!"

The Chinese fans in the stands expressed their emotions with boos and curses.

Everyone was angry.

Although Zhou Yi remained calm, it was to no avail.

The other Chinese players also besieged the referee, but the result of doing so was that they only received yellow cards, and there was no other significance.

In the end, the referee Marco Rodriguez insisted on the original decision—China was penalized with a penalty, Sun Pan was sent off with a red card, and Yan Min and Zhang Linpeng, who were too excited to protest the referee, received yellow cards, and Lippi was also sent to the stands with a red card.

In the first ten minutes of the game, China suffered heavy losses.

This was something that all Chinese fans hadn't expected before the game...

※※※

ps, The last day of Champion's Heart, thank you for your support and companionship.

The second update will be at twelve noon.