Chapter 26 Penalty Kick

After the South Korean team equalized the score, the South Korean fans at the stadium were very excited, constantly chanting "Daehan Minguk" (Republic of Korea) to cheer on their team.

The Chinese team was indeed affected by the conceded goal and the conflict, becoming somewhat unstable, and their performance dropped significantly, resulting in them being besieged by the morale-boosted South Korean team.

Five minutes later, Ji Dong-won dribbled the ball down the wing and suddenly cut inside into the penalty area, where right-back Zhou Yun stretched out his foot to poke the ball away.

But after he poked the ball away, Ji Dong-won's foot came up and made contact with Zhou Yun's leg that had just made the tackle.

After the contact, Ji Dong-won lost his balance and fell to the ground with a shout.

The referee Roldán's whistle blew again!

Zhou Yun reflexively raised his hands and turned to look at the referee.

Zhou Yun wasn't the only one looking at the referee, almost all the players from both sides were. Even Ji Dong-won, who was lying on the ground, craned his neck to look at the referee.

Under everyone's gaze, Roldán pointed his hand towards... the penalty spot!

"A penalty?!" He Ping was shocked – it had only been five minutes, and the second penalty kick was already here! Was this for real?! "Referee Roldán has awarded another penalty kick. It's really rare to see a team get penalty kicks in such a short period of time in a soccer game... Well, maybe I'm just not that knowledgeable..."

He Ping actually had more direct words in his heart, but he was a commentator and a public figure, so he couldn't say some things too directly, otherwise it would cause trouble.

His colleagues had learned from past mistakes. During the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, while commentating on a South Korean team match, he questioned the referee's obvious bias towards the South Korean team. The next day, the TV station received a protest call from the South Korean embassy, who believed that the CCTV commentator's obviously biased remarks were slandering South Korea.

A simple match commentary directly escalated to a diplomatic "incident." Since then, commentators have had to be very careful when commentating on South Korean team matches.

He Ping couldn't speak too bluntly because of his job, but Chinese netizens didn't have to be so restrained. For a time, there were many posts on Weibo denouncing the black whistle, and everyone angrily cursed the South Koreans' ancestors for eighteen generations.

After all, many people were already unhappy with the first penalty kick, and now another one came just five minutes later. Who could tolerate this?

Moreover, recently at the London Olympics, the Chinese Olympic team collectively suffered unfair treatment from referees and public opinion, which also made Chinese netizens' sense of shared hatred very strong.

For a time, South Korea, from soccer to K-dramas, to idol groups, to kimchi... was all trashed by Chinese netizens.

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"A penalty!!" While Chinese fans were furious, the South Korean commentator raised his arms and shouted. "Ji Dong-won's sharp breakthrough led to the opponent's foul, and we've got another penalty kick!"

On the sidelines, Blazevic was roaring angrily, as he was very, very dissatisfied with the call. Generally speaking, after awarding a team a penalty kick, any referee would be more cautious about awarding another penalty kick, and would never award one again in such a short period of time.

But this referee just did it.

How could this be? It's not like the South Korean team was the host!

Seeing that he had been called for a foul, Zhou Yun jumped up from the ground and rushed to the referee, waving his arms and explaining to him: "I didn't foul! I touched the ball first! I touched the ball first! I really touched the ball first!"

The other Chinese team players also surrounded him, protesting and appealing.

Zhou Yi was also among them. He felt that it was indeed a bit much for the referee to award two penalty kicks in five minutes.

It was almost impossible to explain this phenomenon with "bad luck," it had to be a "conspiracy."

When he was still a fan, he had personally witnessed how the South Koreans maximized their "home advantage" in their own World Cup. So he always suspected South Korean soccer of the worst possible intentions.

Although this wasn't the South Korean team's home field, Zhou Yi felt that if the South Koreans wanted to pull strings, it seemed like there was nothing they couldn't do.

Perhaps the first penalty kick could be said to be fine, but what about this second one? Zhou Yi saw clearly from the side that Ji Dong-won had deliberately come up to find Zhou Yun's leg. If that could be considered Zhou Yun's foul, then Zhou Yi himself could definitely get the entire South Korean team sent off in half an hour.

While the Chinese team players were protesting, Sun Pan didn't rush up to the referee to glare at him this time. Instead, he pulled his teammates away one by one, getting them away from the referee.

That included Zhou Yi.

"Stop arguing, do you think you can get the referee to change his decision?" Sun Pan said to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was speechless. Of course, he knew that was impossible, but he had emotions in his heart, and he just wanted to vent them.

"Alright, stop arguing!" Sun Pan clapped his hands and shouted to his teammates. "Don't worry, they won't score this time!"

The teammates were persuaded back by him, and now it was Sun Pan's turn to stand at the front. But he didn't go to referee Roldán, but instead stood in front of Ji Dong-won. He wanted to say something, but he shook his head in distress: "Damn it, I don't know Korean..."

At this time, He Ying suddenly stood up: "What do you want to say? I'll translate for you."

"You... you know Korean?" Guo Nu was surprised.

Sun Pan was very happy. He pointed at Ji Dong-won from afar and said, "Tell that ******* son of a bitch that if he can kick this ball into his Grandpa Sun's goal, Grandpa Sun will take his surname."

He Ying did indeed say a bunch of things to Ji Dong-won in Korean.

Zhou Yi couldn't understand Korean, but he could infer from the changes in Ji Dong-won's expression that He Ying must have added fuel to the fire, or at least faithfully translated the extremely insulting term "******* son of a bitch."

Because after listening to He Ying's words, Ji Dong-won looked furious, his eyes spitting fire, and he glared at Sun Pan.

Sun Pan looked at Ji Dong-won's expression, but grinned, his mouth getting wider and wider, and finally he simply burst out laughing, and in the midst of his laughter, he turned and walked back to his goal.

After completing the translation, He Ying also withdrew from the penalty area. Zhou Yi, Yang Muge, and Guo Nu all surrounded him, eagerly asking him: "What did you say to that kid?"

He Ying said calmly: "I told him that Sun Pan said that the goal he's guarding is his mother's crotch, and if he's got the guts, he should kick the soccer into it."

Everyone next to Zhou Yi had a petrified expression, looking at He Ying with disbelief. They never expected that this person who usually seemed so serious could say such "dirty" things...

"I... I swear..." Zhou Yi even stammered.

Yang Muge had a "image collapse" expression.

"I... I didn't expect He Ying, you... you're also that kind of person..." Guo Nu was also very disillusioned.

He Ying said very seriously: "Weren't we supposed to provoke him? Then why not provoke him more thoroughly? Saying you'll take his surname is too unimpactful."

He also complained about Sun Pan.

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Sun Pan didn't know that He Ying had complained about him. After he stood in front of the goal line, he didn't lower his center of gravity, nor did he spread his arms to make a defensive stance. He simply spread his feet slightly, let his hands hang naturally by his sides, and stood straight on the goal line, like an Eiffel Tower, overlooking the opponent in front of him.

Then he raised his right hand and pointed to the lower right corner of the goal on his right side.

The meaning was to tell Ji Dong-won that he was going to dive to that corner in a moment.

Telling the opponent which direction you're going to dive before saving a penalty kick seems pretty stupid. But things weren't as simple as they appeared on the surface. This action could be understood as a psychological warfare tactic – no one knew if Sun Pan was really going to dive in that direction, maybe it was a bluff, maybe it was a feint. This would increase the difficulty of the penalty kicker's choice, making him hesitate, and the worst thing you could do when kicking a penalty kick was hesitate.

Of course, there was another explanation for this action, and that was blatant... contempt.

I've already told you which direction I'm going to dive, I don't even bother to play any psychological games with you, I simply look down on you!

Sure enough, this action intensified Ji Dong-won's reaction. His face was almost swollen into a pig's liver, and he looked at Sun Pan with gritted teeth.

Apart from Sun Pan, the goalkeeper of the Chinese national Olympic team, and Ji Dong-won, the South Korean penalty taker, all the other players from both sides withdrew from the penalty area.

However, the stadium wasn't quiet. The stands were filled with boos and curses from Chinese fans. If you listened carefully, you could definitely hear insulting words like "bangzi" (a derogatory term for Koreans).

He Ping said worriedly: "The South Korean team has been awarded two penalty kicks in a short period of five minutes. I don't want to say whether these two penalty kicks should have been awarded... It's useless to say these things at this time. The Chinese team is facing a huge crisis. If the South Korean team scores this goal, it will be a crucial test for the Chinese team..."

"Now all eyes are focused on the two people in the penalty area. The penalty kick is being taken by Ji Dong-won, who faked the fall just now. He scored a penalty kick five minutes ago. If he scores this goal, he will score twice. Can Sun Pan stop his penalty kick? Before this, these two people had a lot of conflicts. This will be a continuation of their feud..."

The South Korean commentator said excitedly: "Ji Dong-won is bravely standing in front of the soccer again. He is the most active player in this game. In the first penalty kick duel, he has already defeated the Chinese goalkeeper Sun Pan once! This time, he undoubtedly has a psychological advantage!"

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Amidst the shouts and curses of the Chinese team fans, referee Roldán blew the whistle hard.

Ji Dong-won ran up and rushed towards the soccer.

His run-up was very powerful and fast. He reached the soccer almost instantly, and then swung his leg, drawing it back straight and kicking the soccer.

Bang!

At the same time as this sound rang out, Sun Pan's body, which had been sticking to the goal line like a bamboo pole, swayed for a moment. Then, when everyone turned their attention to him, they saw that he had already taken off and dived towards the lower right corner of the goal. He did indeed dive in the direction he had said he would in advance!

And the soccer that Ji Dong-won kicked out was also heading in that direction! The impetuous Ji Dong-won was going to have a showdown with Sun Pan here and decide who was superior!

The first time, Sun Pan also judged the direction correctly, but he was a little short of being able to touch the soccer.

What about this time?

Like a bomber diving and dropping bombs, Sun Pan's palm opened and blocked the soccer's path, and then he flicked it hard!

The soccer that Ji Dong-won kicked out hit his fingertips and was deflected!

He saved it!

The soccer spun and flew out, bypassing the goal post, and then flew out of the baseline!

"Sun Pan——!! Great save! Beautiful! A beautiful save!!" He Ping roared hoarsely. "He did it! He saved Ji Dong-won's penalty kick! He has saved hope for the Chinese team!"

"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!" In the same commentary box, the South Korean TV commentator screamed, holding his head in his hands. "Ji Dong-won's penalty kick has been saved!"

Chinese fans in front of the TV all jumped up and cheered, raising their arms and shouting: "**!! It's the bomb!!**"

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As the soccer spun and flew out of the baseline, Ji Dong-won stared blankly in that direction, dumbfounded.

The excited Chinese players cheered and jumped into the penalty area, rushing towards Sun Pan to celebrate with him.

Sun Pan's movements were faster than theirs. He jumped up from the ground and rushed to Ji Dong-won in one stride, almost touching Ji Dong-won's forehead, and mocked with a grin: "My good grandson, you really listen to your grandpa, eh!"

Being humiliated by Sun Pan in person like this, even if Ji Dong-won didn't understand Chinese, he definitely knew it wasn't good words.

Ji Dong-won, who was already full of fire from missing the penalty kick, was humiliated by Sun Pan like this. With his temper and personality, how could he possibly endure it? He pushed Sun Pan's neck and chest with both hands.

Sun Pan covered his face and fell to the ground in response. A 1.92-meter tall man was like a weak and fragile woman, being pushed to the ground by Ji Dong-won...

Looking at Sun Pan covering his face and falling to the ground, Ji Dong-won was stunned for a moment, and then he heard a rapid and piercing whistle.