Chapter 1 The Controversy

As expected, the media's deliberate exaggeration and dissemination of Zhou Yi's verbal joust with the provocative Qatari reporter at the press conference quickly turned it into a hot topic of discussion among fans online.

Everyone felt the Qatari reporter had gone too far in his bullying, and a torrent of online abuse erupted, some of it incredibly harsh.

Meanwhile, professional media outlets and influential bloggers highly praised Zhou Yi's response.

They believed he had truly acted with dignity, reason, and restraint. Faced with unwarranted suspicion and humiliation, he had neither yielded nor flown into a rage. Throughout the entire exchange, his tone remained gentle, and he maintained a smile on his face.

Of course, that alone wouldn't have been enough to earn him such widespread acclaim.

Beneath the gentle and polite facade, he didn't forget to savagely mock Qatar's own dirty laundry. Everyone knew what had happened with that hotel that closed down for renovations. When the incident first came to light, many people in China were unhappy, believing Qatar's actions were too underhanded.

But when they cursed online, those people couldn't hear them.

Now, Zhou Yi had cursed them face-to-face, leaving them speechless.

It was incredibly satisfying!

If Zhou Yi had resorted to foul language, his mockery of Qatar wouldn't have been so powerful. He would have given them something to latch onto, and the vulgarity would have diverted his firepower.

As it was, Zhou Yi had delivered the perfect response.

Many female fans on Weibo excitedly declared their desire to bear Zhou Yi, their "male god," children, completely disregarding the fact that Zhou Yi hadn't even reached the legal marriage age…

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After hearing about the incident, Sun Pan also fiercely ridiculed the self-overestimating Qatari reporter in the group chat, while taking a dig at Zhou Yi: "With his dumb look he still wants to argue with Zhou Yi, doesn't he know that my Da Zhou Yi can type with his tongue! The **** is amazing!"

"Not as good as you, Panpan, you can type with your face. Special skill 'face-roll keyboard'!" Zhou Yi retorted.

"Damn it! You're online!" Sun Pan was startled, not expecting Zhou Yi to reply so quickly.

"Wasn't online, but I sensed it as soon as you started badmouthing me."

"Bullshit! No one will believe you!"

"Pfft!"

"Hahaha!" Everyone laughed happily.

"But that Qatari reporter was really bullying people too much. If I were you, I would have just played to a draw with Jordan and then advanced together, pissing off Iraq and Qatar!" Guo Nu said.

"Yeah, otherwise, let's just play a normal draw!" Sun Pan immediately agreed, which wasn't something he did very often with Guo Nu…

However, Zhou Yi said, "That's what you say, but we still have to try our best to beat Jordan in the match."

"Why? As long as Iraq can beat Singapore by a large margin, won't they be able to advance to the top ten? They will definitely pad their goal difference against Singapore at home…" Sun Pan was puzzled. "Zhou Yi, you're not usually such a noble person…"

"Heh, you're too depraved to understand my uprightness, Panpan."

"Get lost!"

"The reason I don't want to play to a draw is simple—why play to a draw when you can win?" Zhou Yi said.

"Are you so sure you can win?"

"Of course, one hundred percent sure."

Zhou Yi said. He had already played against Jordan in the virtual match, so he dared to say that.

"The thought of benefiting Iraq just makes me feel uneasy…" Sun Pan was still unwilling.

Although Iraq was five goals behind Jordan, if Jordan lost to the Chinese team, their goal difference would only decrease, not increase. And if Iraq could thrash Singapore at home, the difference of those few goals wouldn't be an insurmountable chasm…

"There's nothing to be uneasy about. Iraq's entry into the top ten doesn't mean they can go to Brazil. Maybe we'll be in the same group in the top ten, and we can still get points from them." Zhou Yi said this in a grand, yet relaxed way, as if defeating Iraq was nothing difficult.

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Regarding the matter of whether or not to advance hand-in-hand with Jordan, Zhou Yi had not only said it to his friends in the group chat, but he had also said it within the Chinese team.

Before the match between the Chinese team and Jordan at home began, Zhou Yi said to his teammates, "We still have to win this game. Not for Iraq, but for ourselves."

His view was agreed upon by the other teammates.

The last game of the top twenty was still at their home stadium. Who wouldn't want to welcome the top ten with a victory?

※※※

At four o'clock in the afternoon of February 29th, Beijing time, the match between the Chinese team and Jordan at home began.

Meanwhile, Iraq's match against Singapore at home would not start until 9:45 PM Beijing time. By that time, the match between the Chinese team and Jordan would have long ended, giving Iraq plenty of time to prepare for their final match and accurately calculate how many goals they needed to score against Singapore…

After the match began, Jordan, playing away from home, indeed aimed for a draw. They defended steadily, occasionally relying on counterattacks to threaten the Chinese team's goal.

If they had a choice, Jordan would rather the Chinese team lacked sportsmanship and played a tacit draw with them, then advanced together.

And the Jordanian fans who came to watch the game also waved the Chinese five-star red flag and held Chinese banners with slogans like "Long Live the Friendship between China and Jordan" to please China.

It was unclear whether Jordan's defensive strategy was on point, or whether the Jordanian fans' actions had really made the Chinese team hold back. In any case, the first half of the match was almost over, and the Chinese team had not yet scored.

The score remained unchanged at 0:0 for forty minutes.

Judging from the first forty minutes of the match, the two sides weren't competing intensely. There were few fouls, the match was smooth, and the referee's whistle was rarely heard.

The atmosphere wasn't tense.

In the media box, a Qatari reporter, including the Al Jazeera reporter with the big beard, frowned as he watched the game.

He watched the match with a deep frown.

If Jordan and China ultimately drew, then there was nothing Iraq could do…

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Just as the Qatari reporter was anxiously racking his brains, in the forty-third minute, the score on the field was finally changed!

The Chinese team scored!

Hao Junmin received a pass from Zhou Yi and shot the ball into the goal, opening the scoring for the Chinese team!

The cheers of the Chinese fans erupted in the stadium, and the big-bearded reporter in the media box jumped up with excitement.

No matter how many times he had been humiliated in front of Zhou Yi, it didn't matter, as long as Iraq could pass this hurdle and enter the top ten, it would all be worth it!

This Qatari reporter had such a deep affection for Iraq, and there was a reason for it. His mother was Iraqi… so he was definitely half Iraqi.

"Zhou Yi's assist, beautiful! The Chinese team is in the lead! Zhou Yi used practical actions to answer the slanders of those villains!" Liu Hong said. "Just as he himself said, our level of professional ethics is much higher than some people's!"

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In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and Qatar's offensive was obviously strengthened. They replaced defender Salman with midfielder Khalil during the half-time break, which meant they wanted to strengthen their attack.

The Chinese team used Qatar's eagerness to equalize the score to score another goal in the sixty-ninth minute.

The goal was still scored by Hao Junmin.

The big beard jumped and danced in the media box. The Chinese team was sure to win!

Moreover, after losing two goals, Jordan's goal difference was only three. As long as Iraq could beat Singapore by four goals at home, they could surpass Jordan and become the second in the group, thus advancing to the top ten!

Beating the weakest team in the group by four goals at home was not difficult for Iraq.

However, in the seventy-sixth minute, Gao Hongbo replaced Zhou Yi with Yu Dabao. This substitution made the big beard nervous—taking Zhou Yi off so early, was the Chinese team preparing to throw the game?

Damn it, it was too obvious! With more than ten minutes left in the game, they replaced their absolute core player… this was clearly the rhythm of giving up the game!

The big beard fixed his gaze on Zhou Yi, who was leaving the field. He was waving to the Chinese fans in the stands with a smile on his face. He didn't seem angry about being taken off early, and it could be seen that he was very satisfied with his performance.

Seeing this smiling face, the big beard thought of his encounter at the press conference…

What sportsmanship? Humph, bullshit!

He cursed in his heart.

※※※

In the eighty-fifth minute, Jordan pulled a goal back through defender Othman, which made the big beard even more certain that the Chinese team was deliberately throwing the game in order to kill Iraq.

As for why the Chinese team was deliberately trying to get rid of Iraq, the big-bearded reporter naturally thought that Iraq was a huge threat to the Chinese team.

His thinking seemed to make sense, after all, Iraq was the only team in this group that had "forced" the Chinese team to a draw at home… which was really remarkable.

However, just three minutes after Jordan scored, in the eighty-eighth minute, Yu Dabao, who replaced Zhou Yi, scored a goal, securing the victory for the Chinese team.

The big beard's heart could completely return to his stomach.

Just as he was happy for Iraq's future, a Chinese reporter in the media box shouted at him, "Hey, shouldn't you apologize for your previous slander and suspicion of the Chinese team!"

The big beard looked innocent: "But isn't it natural for you to pursue victory at home? Do you want to lose at home?"

He spread his hands and said, as if this result was a matter of course.

"You…" The Chinese reporter who asked the question was so angry that he couldn't speak. He had seen shameless people, but he had never seen such a shameless person…

A Chinese reporter next to him said indignantly and helplessly: "Okay, you better pray that Iraq or Qatar don't meet us in the top ten!"

The big beard chuckled and was very disdainful. The ten teams were divided into groups, how could it be so easy to be in the same group?

Besides, even if they were in the same group, so what? Could the Chinese team definitely beat Qatar and Iraq?