Chapter Thirty-Seven: Metamorphosis

  "What? I didn't even touch him!", Feng Xiaoting desperately defended herself, but the referee still pointed to the penalty spot without hesitation. Feng Xiaoting wanted to argue again, and goalkeeper Zeng Cheng came over to pull her away, "Don't say anything more, you already have a yellow card on your body, do you want us to play with 9 against 11?"

  A French team's forward walked to the penalty spot with a smile, full of confidence. At this time, Zeng Cheng suddenly pointed to his own right side, as if provoking him, saying "Come on, kick it here!" The young and arrogant Frenchman really kicked the ball to the right side of the goal, but was saved by Zeng Cheng's desperate dive!

  But the Chinese team's players had not yet celebrated when they heard the referee's whistle, and saw him signal that Zeng Cheng had moved forward prematurely during the penalty kick, making it invalid. Gao Jun, who was already on the verge of losing his composure, immediately wanted to rush towards the referee, but fortunately Zeng Cheng reacted quickly and pulled him back, saying in a low voice, "Trust me!"

  The French team's striker walked to the penalty spot again, but incredibly, he changed direction this time and was judged by Zeng Cheng to press the ball firmly under his body, not even giving France a corner kick. Zeng Cheng, who saved the Young Guards for the second time, looked up at the sky and gave the referee a disdainful look, as if saying, "You dare to let them retake it again?"

  Zeng's brilliant performance won applause from the French audience in the stands, while also prompting a chorus of boos and whistles at the referee's biased "patriotic" calls. Seeing even their own compatriots turning against them, the French referees dared not provoke the crowd further and somewhat restrained themselves afterwards.

  Gao Jun's eyes had also regained their clarity, but unlike his usual absolute calmness, there seemed to be a fierce flame burning in his eyes. "Players should only use better performance on the field to counter unfair referee decisions. Zeng Cheng is the goalkeeper, he prevented the opponent from scoring, and I am the forward, so I can only use goals to slap the referee's face! It's great now that I'm a player, not a completely helpless coach..."

  In the 67th minute, right back Zhang Chenglin assisted in the front court, originally wanting to pass to Ao Lin's high point, but his footwork was not controlled well, and the ball was kicked towards the left side of the penalty arc. However, as soon as the ball left his foot, Gao Jun had already anticipated the problem and hastily retreated to respond, thus also temporarily getting rid of the entanglement of two French defensive players. Although it was only temporary. If it were the old Gao Jun, at such a distance he would definitely prioritize seeking cooperation, but now with a chest full of pent-up energy, he unexpectedly made a direct sideways shot!

  In the past, when shooting, Gao Jun would always try to conserve energy, but this time he concentrated all his strength into his right foot. All that was heard was a dull "thud" sound, and the football, almost deformed from the impact, shot towards the top right corner of the goal like an arrow leaving a bowstring...

  "China's No. 9 didn't wait for the ball to touch the ground, directly volleying it in mid-air! Poor Loris, he did his best, but the ball still flew into the top right corner of the goal... This is truly a heavyweight performance, I have a feeling that China's No. 9 player will definitely become a football superstar in the future..." The French commentator couldn't help but praise Gao Lin's performance amidst his sighs.

  Gao Jun, who usually had no expression after scoring a goal, made a rare passionate sliding gesture towards the sidelines, startling his teammates and momentarily making the atmosphere somewhat awkward. However, seeing the referee's ugly expression, as if he had just lost a family member, Gao Jun felt refreshed, like eating an ice pop on a hot summer day. "This kind of slap in the face is really refreshing! Referee, try calling this long shot offside?"

  This goal also allowed Gao Jun to experience the passion of playing football for the first time. In his previous life, he was unable to get excited due to physical reasons, and after crossing over until now, it was because his personality, cultivated over many years, had restrained his youthful nature, until now when he finally opened this lock.

  But even so, Gao Lin has accumulated decades of life experience compared to ordinary young players, so he didn't indulge in emotions like they did, and the result was "success with passion, failure with passion." He finally mastered the balance between rationality and passion, truly achieving "doing what one wants without overstepping the bounds," which is the highest level of playing football that Wenger expected, "rational and full of imagination." This amazing transformation started from this Toulon Cup match......

  Not long after, in a corner kick opportunity, Gao Jun seized the chance of melee in the penalty area, first kicking the ball into the goal with one foot, expanding the score to 3:0. The goal-scoring Gao Jun opened his arms and ran wildly all the way, releasing the surging passion in his heart. "Crossing made me lose a lot, but it also gave me a lot. I will never let others control my fate like in my previous life again. My fate can only be controlled by myself!"

  After losing another goal, the French launched a crazy counterattack. Although they scored one more goal before the end of the game with a free kick in the front court, they were powerless to reverse the situation and lost again with a score of 1:3. Thus, the Chinese youth team won the Toulon Cup for the first time and created new history for Chinese football!

  Apart from the championship trophy, the Chinese youth team also made a big harvest in individual awards. Gao Lin once again won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards, which is not surprising. Even Hao Haidong and Yu Hai respectively won the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball awards. In addition, defender Feng Xiaoting and goalkeeper Zeng Cheng were also selected for the Best Lineup, making the Chinese youth team the biggest winner of this tournament.

  In addition, the excellent performance of the Chinese youth team also won widespread recognition from the French football community and media. The world's most influential sports newspaper, L'Equipe, published a special report titled "Chinese New Stars Shine in Toulon", praising Gao Lin as well as other outstanding players such as Hu Jiajin, Yu Hai, Feng Xiaoting and Zeng Cheng, believing that if these promising young stars can grow smoothly, Chinese football may have the possibility of becoming the dominant force in Asia for the first time.

  Compared to these virtual ones, getting an invitation from a European club is more exciting for these young guys, but soon everyone found that the "overseas" road is not as easy to walk as imagined, because no mature professional club will hastily pay a large transfer fee and salary for a player who was previously unknown just because of his outstanding performance in one tournament.