Chapter Thirty-six: The French Black Whistle

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  The French team's corner kick was taken to the middle of the small penalty area, and Zeng Cheng easily picked it up. His feet had not yet touched the ground, and the ball in his hand had already been thrown out. He used a throw-out to launch China's first quick counterattack in this game, just like he did when he was at Dongfang team. Feng Xiaoting received the ball and made an accurate long pass directly to Gao Lin's feet. As soon as Gao Lin received the ball, without waiting for the French player behind him to foul him, he used a beautiful Marseille turn to shake off the opponent, and then passed a ground ball to the empty space on the left...

  "This is... Marseille roulette? Beautiful! Accurate one-two, China's No. 11 player made a timely run, his speed was very fast, our little guy was working hard to catch up, oh, he passed the ball ahead of time, there were three Chinese players in the middle... No. 9 didn't shoot, let the ball pass by! No. 8 had no one marking him! He lifted his foot and shot, the ball went in! Damn it!", The French commentator still has style, although he was very upset that France conceded the first goal, but afterwards he praised the performance of China's front four players.

  Gao Jun's shake-off, side-stepping, and forward insertion, as well as that divine brushstroke of a leak, Yu Hai's timely forward insertion and high-quality passing, Hao Hengmin's timely follow-up and envelopment with precise shooting power, even the unnoticed role of Gao Lin in pulling the defense, all received his high praise. Although the French team performed poorly in the previous World Cup, from this commentator's body language, one can still feel the grandeur of a world champion.

  But the referee of this match did not have such a large scale, if it can be said that the previous judgment standard was unfavorable to the Chinese team, then in the subsequent game, his performance began to openly and brazenly favor the French team (by the way, the French referees on the Toulon Cup are indeed very black, of course, it's the 2007 session, I didn't watch the 2004 session...).

  Yu Hai was tripped by an opponent on the edge of the French team's penalty area while dribbling, but the referee not only didn't give a free kick, but also gave Yu Hai a yellow card, thinking he was diving. Yu Hai remembered the yellow card that Hao Haidong had received earlier and restrained his anger without arguing with the referee.

  But in just a few minutes, he couldn't bear it anymore. Because his goal with no problem at all was blown as offside, this goal can be blown out, how to play the game? And Yu Hai, who simply waved his arm at the referee to show his dissatisfaction, ate the referee's second yellow card and was sent off!

  The referee's crazy penalty gave the Chinese team's players no chance to stand up and argue with him, and soon the referee awarded France another undeserved penalty kick, which was simply outrageous. Gao Jun murmured to himself in a daze, "Exactly the same, just like during the Asian Cup..."

  The most direct reason for Gao Lin's dismissal from the national team before his transfer was that he failed to lead the team to qualify from the group stage in the Asian Cup, but if you look closely at the match, you can understand that although China's state was not very good at that time, without black whistle, qualifying should have been a sure thing...

  In the second match against Qatar, Gao Hong had anticipated that the opponent would have the help of black whistles before the game. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, he replaced some main players who were relatively poor in emotional control. As a result, the Korean referee Kim Dong-jin, who was personally instructed by AFC President Hammam from Qatar, did indeed exert his power...

  In physical contact, if Qatar wins, it's a reasonable collision, but if China wins, it must be a foul; while the malicious tackle by Qatar players on Chinese players didn't even get a yellow card, instead, the Chinese team captain, who just gestured dissatisfaction, got a yellow card for no reason. Even in the most chaotic era of the Chinese league, such blatant refereeing is rarely seen...

  Under the indulgence of the referee, the Qatar team played with great momentum, and originally the Chinese team had no advantage in terms of strength (including the home advantage of the Qatari people), so how could they play? As a result, the Chinese team lost as expected, but Gao Hong finally endured it because there was still one last match. As long as they could win two goals against Uzbekistan, China would still be able to advance from the group stage. Although Uzbekistan was strong, due to the fact that their players were not flexible enough and had poor physical fitness due to their older average age, winning two goals was a bit difficult, but Gao Hong felt it was still worth trying.

  But after the third game started, Gao Hong soon discovered that the referee was as black as in the previous game. It was clear that Hamman's manipulation of the referee was not just to win the second game, but to thoroughly destroy the Chinese team.

  If Gao Hong could swallow the bitter pill for the sake of the third game, considering the previous game's black whistle, then in this third game, when the Uzbekistan team scored a goal with an out-of-bounds ball that was hooked back in, Gao Hong really couldn't bear it anymore. He furiously asked the linesman "Why?" three times, and as soon as he got the chance, the main referee immediately ran over to give Gao Hong a red card, expelling him from the field. Although China's players gave their all and played the most exciting game since the Asian Cup began, they were ultimately unable to defeat Uzbekistan, who later advanced to the semi-finals of this Asian Cup, and were eliminated early...

  In a flash, Gao Jun thought back to when he was still a player. Although he had an excellent performance in the league with an average of 1 goal and 0.5 assists per game, and also performed steadily and outstandingly in the few appearances for the national team, he never became a mainstay of the national team. At first, it was because the head coach at the time, Gao Fengwen, had a grudge against Xu Genbao, so he refused to call up Gao Hong to the national team. Later, the German coach only looked at physical strength and so-called "spirit" while completely ignoring technique and tactics, saying: "Gao Hong, even if you can score goals, with your thin build and running distance that's not even as good as a goalkeeper's, I will never use you..."

  Gao Jun thought back to his previous life, where he had almost always been suffering from injustice and grievances. But a person's endurance has its limits, and the referee's blatant black whistle in this match was similar to what happened at the Asian Cup? This not only awakened Gao Jun's memories but also stimulated his nerves again, and a kind of emotion that he had never felt before filled his chest: "I've endured for 30 years, I really don't want to endure anymore, I don't want to endure!"

  Generally speaking, the calmer a person is in daily life, the more crazy they become once they explode. Gao Jun has maintained an almost "stone-faced" calm throughout his over 30-year football career, burying all the pressure and negative emotions deep within him. Now that he's lost control and completely vented, it's likely to thoroughly destroy himself. What saved Gao Jun later was a sudden change on the field...