Lin Hai Ting Tao

Chapter 741 We've Qualified!

The restored Chinese team did not give Oman any more opportunities for wishful thinking.

In the seventy-seventh minute, Zhou Yi was fouled to the ground by an opposing player while protecting the ball in front of the opponent's penalty area, and the referee awarded China a free kick.

Hao Junmin took the free kick, which was twenty-eight meters from the goal.

The free kick he took bypassed the Omani wall and then went into the goal...

"Hao Junmin!!! Ahhhhhhh! What a wonderful free kick! 3:1! The Chinese team is sure to win this game!" He Ping shouted excitedly. What made him excited was not the goal, but the meaning represented by the goal—the victory was set!

If the Chinese team beat Oman away, they would be able to advance to the World Cup finals two rounds in advance!

This is the common goal and dream of all Chinese football people—including media reporters, commentators, fans, players, coaches, and Football Association officials!

For this dream, Chinese football has worked hard for countless years. Forty-four years were exchanged for a release in the 2001 top ten, and then Chinese football entered a trough, and it seemed that there was no hope of seeing the light of day again. Unexpectedly, starting from 2011, good news came one after another, and everyone had a little hope again.

At the beginning of 2011, the Chinese team was not favored in the Asian Cup. Even the national team coach said before the expedition that the Chinese team was third-rate in Asia. As a result, under the leadership of Zhou Yi, the Chinese team actually made it all the way to the final. If he hadn't been suspended for one game in the semi-final due to a foul and couldn't play in the final, the Asian champion might not have been Japan's.

In the 2012 London Olympic Games, the national Olympic team, built around the five young dragons playing in Europe, swept all the way and finally defeated the Japanese Olympic team to win the gold medal in the Olympic football event, creating Chinese football history and Chinese Olympic history—before that, the Chinese sports delegation's gold medal record in the Olympic ball events was only the Chinese women's volleyball team, so the women's volleyball team can be called "spirit". The national Olympic team's performance at the London Olympic Games created new history. In the ball events, Chinese male athletes also won gold medals.

By the time of the top ten in 2013, the national team, which had been supplemented with the Olympic champion lineup, also performed well in the World Cup qualifiers, giving many fans hope of reaching the World Cup finals again.

If the Chinese team had not unexpectedly lost to Qatar at home, the Chinese team might have gotten their tickets to Brazil early...

Therefore, the topic of the Chinese team possibly participating in the Brazil World Cup was not a sudden topic in the past few days, but has been going on for a long time. Since last year, after the Chinese team drew with Japan away and defeated Australia at home, everyone has been discussing this topic.

Everyone was mentally prepared.

But when happiness really comes suddenly, the huge sense of impact still catches everyone off guard.

In fact, He Ping knew that before this game, the domestic CCTV prepared two plans. One was that the Chinese team beat Oman away and got the right to participate in the World Cup finals in advance. CCTV would have a series of special reports and program arrangements, down to how the subtitles should be typed.

The other plan was what CCTV would do if the Chinese team was held to a draw by Oman away, or simply lost to Oman and failed to qualify in advance.

This is no secret, and it is not a unique method of CCTV. All media will prepare two plans in advance when facing such major events—successful and unsuccessful.

Of course, everyone hopes that the failed plan will not be used...

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After Hao Junmin scored a goal, Chinese fans in front of the TV cheered.

This game was so highly anticipated that live broadcasts were arranged in bars, restaurants, and even cinemas across the country.

Instead of staying at home, everyone gathered in the above-mentioned places to watch the game with others.

Now, they are also hugging each other tightly, celebrating the victory they have won—although the game is not over yet, everyone believes that the Chinese team is sure to win this game.

This is different from the game twelve years ago. At that time, the Chinese team only narrowly won Oman 1:0 at home, and Oman could equalize the score at any time during the game.

Now the Chinese team is leading Oman by two goals!

Such a huge difference in strength makes the two-goal lead like an insurmountable gap.

These scenes of fans celebrating wildly were also filmed by TV stations across the country. These are not only news materials, but also precious records of Chinese football's second entry into the World Cup finals.

Many years later, it will be released in the form of a documentary to let people see what the Chinese football situation was like at that time.

In the camera, Chinese fans were tearful, cheering and ecstatic. After experiencing the dark times after the Japan-Korea World Cup, Chinese fans have a deeper feeling for today.

This day was too hard to come by!

It was even more lively online.

Some people couldn't wait to refresh the screen with words like: "We won!" "We qualified!" "Brazil, here we come!"

Everyone is happily discussing the situation after qualifying.

Although the Internet is a virtual world, and everyone is not face-to-face, unable to see other people's expressions or hear other people's voices, everyone can still easily release their emotions just from these words and emoji pictures.

The "World Cup Finals" has always been the highest pursuit and goal of Chinese football: winning the World Cup is not very realistic, everyone is very satisfied to be able to participate in the World Cup finals.

During each World Cup, Chinese media will devote a lot of energy, manpower and material resources to report on the sports event. The scale of reporting is not inferior to the Olympic Games, and the attention is no less than the Olympic Games.

But you must know that the Chinese team did not participate in the event that their national media and fans paid so much attention to.

This is really a reality that makes people not know what to say—as disinterested bystanders, it is amazing to be able to participate so fully, and it is difficult to find a second example in the world where their own national team did not participate but has such an influence in the country.

Football is the number one sport in the world, but if it is just the number one sport played by others and has nothing to do with oneself, then what is so rare about it?

During the World Cup, many Chinese fans support the German team, some support the Brazilian team, some are die-hard fans of Argentina, some are supporters of England, some are loyal supporters of Spain, and some are supporters of France, Italy, the Netherlands... Even Japan and South Korea have a large number of fans in China.

When the teams they support are eliminated from the World Cup, the fans can cry like tearful people.

When the teams they support win in the World Cup, they are as happy as if they are celebrating a festival.

But you can't say that they are unpatriotic or worship foreign things.

It's just that the emotions in the hearts of the vast number of fans cannot be supported by Chinese football, so they need to look for spiritual sustenance outside.

If the Chinese team is very strong and can participate in the World Cup finals every time, I believe that no matter how much Chinese fans support Brazil, Argentina, Germany, England, etc., they will put supporting the Chinese team first.

Unfortunately, in the past so many years, the Chinese team has not been able to get their support—they can't even participate in the World Cup, so what is there to support?

Now, the Chinese team has returned to the World Cup, and they have also found their spiritual sustenance again. Maybe in the World Cup, they will still support the teams they originally supported, but when there is a game with the Chinese team, the Chinese team will always be the first choice.

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In reality and on the Internet, Chinese fans are celebrating their qualification.

Although the game is not over yet, there is also a happy atmosphere on the Chinese team's coaching bench.

Gao Hongbo and his assistants all smiled.

Everyone knew that they were sure to win this game. There was no suspense.

And that's exactly the case.

Next, after the game restarted, the Chinese team played with ease. They were two goals ahead and could play however they wanted. Gao Hongbo didn't need to make any more adjustments on the sidelines.

If Oman wanted to desperately attack and come out in full force, the Chinese team would counterattack and could completely score another goal.

If Oman was afraid of the Chinese team's counterattack, shrank their defense, and was unwilling to attack, then the Chinese team didn't mind slowly dealing with them and exhausting the game time. Anyway, if they maintained this score until the end, they would still win.

Now the Chinese team is completely invincible.

Finally, after five minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

The TV broadcast screen that Chinese fans were watching immediately displayed the following sentence: "We're in!!"

When this scene appeared in front of everyone, many old fans were stunned for a moment—in a trance, they thought they had traveled back to October 7, 2001. At the Wulihe Stadium in Shenyang, after the Chinese team defeated Oman 1:0, the same sentence flew out on the TV screen: We're in!

In front of the TV, young people were cheering and shouting at the top of their lungs, while almost all fans over the age of thirty were in tears...