Chapter 1 When Luck Runs Out

When the match started, a huge cheer erupted from the Estadio Mineirao, all for the Brazilian team, not for the Chinese team.

As the host country, the home atmosphere here was very strong.

The stadium, which can accommodate 62,547 fans, is the second largest stadium in Brazil.

Today, the Mineirao Arena was almost entirely a sea of yellow. Brazilian fans occupied the vast majority of seats in the stadium.

However, although there were fewer Chinese fans, the red stood out against the yellow and was easy to spot.

After the kickoff, the commentator He Ping began to introduce the starting lineups of both sides for the match.

Compared with the previous match, the Chinese team's starting lineup only had one adjustment in the forward position, with Gao Lin replacing Wu Lei.

Gao Lin was in the center, and He Ying went to the right.

The other positions remained the same.

On the Brazilian side, Scolari replaced Paulinho, who had performed poorly in the group stage, with Fernandinho, a defensive midfielder playing for Manchester City. There were no other major adjustments.

Neymar and Hulk were both in the lineup.

Fred was still the center forward.

The referee for this match was the famous Englishman, Webb.

Any player who has played in England or in the Champions League will definitely be familiar with this referee.

Zhou Yi had experienced matches officiated by Webb before. The most memorable one was the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid a couple of seasons ago, where Webb was the referee.

However, at the national team level, Webb had never officiated a match for the Chinese team before. After all, the last time the Chinese team participated in the World Cup was in 2002.

Brazil, on the other hand, had a match against Chile in the round of 16 of the South Africa World Cup four years ago, which was officiated by Webb. In that match, Brazil won 3-0 with goals from Juan, Fabiano, and Robinho, advancing to the quarter-finals.

So, if you had to say it, Webb was a referee who brought good luck to Brazil. It's unknown if Webb would continue to bring them good luck in this match.

While He Ping was introducing the starting lineups of both sides, the Brazilian commentators were talking about the history between the two teams: "This is the second time we've played against China in the World Cup. The last time was back in 2002, when we won the championship. In the second round of the group stage, we beat the Chinese team 4-0..."

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After the match started, the Brazilian team, with their home advantage, launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal.

Four minutes into the game, Neymar got the ball in the center circle and, facing the defense of Zhou Yi and Yang Muge, chose to dribble straight through the middle.

He brushed past Zhou Yi, but was promptly pushed down by Yang Muge.

Referee Webb made the first foul call of the match, penalizing Yang Muge and issuing a verbal warning.

"The Chinese team must closely guard Neymar today. His breakthroughs will be a major threat..." He Ping said.

If you had to say which Brazilian player the Chinese team feared the most, it would definitely be Neymar.

Neymar was also the only player in Brazil's starting lineup who had never played against Zhou Yi before.

Brazil got a free kick in the attacking half. They played it into the Chinese team's penalty area, and Hulk jumped up to head the ball. The ball was tipped over the crossbar by Sun Pan, giving Brazil a corner kick.

Next, Hulk ran over to take the corner kick.

After the corner kick was taken, it was cleared by Feng Xiaoting with a header. Marcelo got the second ball outside. After adjusting, he took a powerful long shot with his left foot.

The ball drew an arc before going wide of the goal.

It startled the Brazilian fans in the stands, who almost cheered.

Although Marcelo's shot didn't go in, it sounded the horn for Brazil's all-out attack.

In the twelfth minute, the Brazilian team played a beautiful combination in the attacking half.

Hulk got the ball on the left and broke forward. Facing the defense of two Chinese players, he chose to pass the ball to Neymar, who was supporting him in the center, and then he continued to run forward himself.

Neymar, with his back to the direction of the attack, was unable to turn around because Guo Nu was marking him closely. So he flicked the ball behind him with the outside of his right foot, passing it back to Hulk, who was surging forward!

Hulk accelerated into the penalty area, but Chinese right-back Zhang Linpeng was also following him closely. When Hulk got the ball in the penalty area, he had physical contact with Zhang Linpeng, and then he fell in the penalty area.

When Hulk fell to the ground, huge boos and shouts erupted from the stands of the Mineirao Arena.

Brazilian fans stood up from their seats and waved their arms in the direction of the field.

They thought it was a penalty.

But referee Webb showed no reaction.

Brazilian coach Scolari on the sidelines was stunned for a moment before shouting angrily, "How can that not be a penalty?!"

Chinese commentator He Ping also worried, "Hulk fell in the penalty area. The Chinese team needs to be careful!"

Subsequent slow-motion replays showed that there was indeed physical contact between Zhang Linpeng and Hulk. His hand did make an outward pushing motion, but it was not very obvious, and the force of the motion shouldn't have been enough to make Hulk fall so easily. Hulk is very strong, like a human tank. How could he be pushed down so easily?

Even if Zhang Linpeng's hand made a move, Hulk was also suspected of diving.

"That's not a penalty. Webb saw it very clearly!" He Ping breathed a sigh of relief.

But the Brazilian commentators had a different opinion: "That is a penalty! The Chinese team's number five player made a very obvious pushing motion! Webb turned a blind eye?! It seems that Zhou Yi's words before the game really worked, making the referee afraid to even stick to normal officiating standards, for fear of being labeled as 'taking care of the home team'!"

When he said this, he was indignant, with a sense of displeasure that Zhou Yi had succeeded.

Hulk's fall became the first controversial call of the match. Scolari was still talking incessantly, but he couldn't change the outcome of the call.

Fortunately, the Brazilian players were not affected by the call. They continued to launch attacks on the Chinese team's goal with their home advantage.

In the seventeenth minute, Brazil launched another attack, reaching the edge of the Chinese penalty area. Neymar passed the ball to the left, trying to find Hulk. As the returning Yang Hao watched the ball fly past him, his mind went blank, and he suddenly reached out his hand to block the ball...

"Eh? Eh! That's a handball!" the Brazilian commentator exclaimed. "That's a deliberate handball! He's going to get a card!"

"Yang Hao's foul..." He Ping was also speechless. It wasn't a threatening pass, and even if Yang Hao couldn't intercept it, he didn't need to use his hand to block it... As a defensive midfielder, getting a yellow card for such a stupid reason would be very detrimental to the rest of the match. "Yang Hao is a bit nervous. He may be affected by the home atmosphere of this match..."

The home atmosphere of this match was indeed very feverish. At every moment, there were shouts and songs from Brazilian fans in the stands. As long as the Brazilian team got the ball and advanced forward, regardless of whether they threatened the Chinese team's goal, there would be huge cheers, so loud that they caused extreme heart discomfort.

In addition, when Chinese players got the ball, there would be a burst of boos. Of course, the other Chinese players didn't get too many boos. It was mainly Zhou Yi. Whenever Zhou Yi touched the ball, the boos would be especially loud. Zhou Yi's remarks before the match had successfully aroused the Brazilian fans' dislike of him.

Referee Webb did not let go of the Chinese team's foul this time. He not only gave the Brazilian team a free kick on the left side of the attacking half, but also gave Yang Hao a yellow card.

Then, Hulk took the free kick for the Brazilian team. The free kick he took bypassed the wall and flew directly towards the near corner of the goal.

However, it was difficult for such a free kick to break through Sun Pan's fingers.

Sun Pan jumped into the air and blocked the ball out of the baseline.

The Brazilian team got a corner kick.

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Hulk took the previous corner kick, but this time the Brazilian team changed their corner kick taker. Neymar ran over to take this corner kick.

He kicked the ball towards the near post.

The Chinese team also strengthened their defense at the near post, after all, it was a very threatening way to score from a corner kick.

Brazilian national team captain Thiago Silva indeed jumped high at the near post, wanting to head the ball!

Guo Nu, who was shorter than him, relied on his excellent jumping ability to challenge Thiago Silva at the near post, but he was squeezed behind Thiago Silva, and Silva managed to head the ball before him.

However, under Guo Nu's interference, he couldn't head the ball into the goal either. He could only graze the ball towards the far post.

This graze caught the Chinese team's defense off guard.

Sun Pan was originally at the near post blocking Thiago Silva's header, and the Chinese team's defensive focus was also relatively forward.

Who would have thought that Thiago Silva would graze the ball to the far post!

At the far post was David Luiz!

However, in front of David Luiz was Yan Min, who had retreated to the goal to defend.

Between Yan Min saw the ball flying over and reflexively raised his leg back, as if a horse was about to kick someone with its hind legs. It was a completely subconscious action. He wanted to block the ball before David Luiz.

But David Luiz was close behind him and also raised his leg. The two legs collided together, and the collision caused Yan Min to lose control of his leg.

The ball hit his calf, then changed direction and bounced into the undefended goal...