Starting with playing defensive midfield for Evergrande

Chapter 183 The record-breaking battle is coming, is this still a football match?

7:00 PM on April 2, 2015.

The minor incident involving beer and barbecue at the national team lasted for a full three days.

The Asian Cup quarterfinals have finally arrived.

However, although the fans were very harsh in their online criticism of the national team players for not taking the game seriously, when the day of the game actually arrived...

These fans, who are always sharp-tongued but kind-hearted, still gathered wildly outside the Sydney Olympic Stadium.

"China team, you will win!"

"China team, you will win!"

"China team, you will win!"

The sky was filled with red flags, and the frenzied shouts of tens of thousands of people made the national team players on the bus feel as if they were playing the Asian Cup final rather than the quarterfinals.

And so, amidst the frenzied shouts, the bus slowly drove into the stadium's internal passageway.

As soon as the bus stopped, Lippi stubbed out his cigar and strode toward the pre-match press conference.

After all, they had already proven their strength with two resounding victories in the group stage.

Therefore, at the press conference, Angle Postcoglou, the Australian coach who had confidently declared before the Asian Cup that he would lead Australia to its first Asian Cup title, very politely began by praising Lippi's historical achievements.

Then came things like, "The Chinese team is very strong, this will be a tough match," and so on.

Ang Postekoglu's low-key demeanor meant that Marcello Lippi, a seasoned veteran of many challenges, naturally didn't put on any airs of being a world-renowned coach.

He offered a very insightful commentary on Ang Postcoglou's improvements to the Australian national team's overall playing style.

In short!
The two of them then exchanged compliments in an unusually amicable manner.

However, at the press conference, Ang Postekoglu showed weakness and did not dare to challenge Lippi directly. But once in the locker room, Ang Postekoglu completely tore off his humble mask.

"Suhao!"

"He's the only threat to the Chinese team!"

"Milai!"

"You're the captain! I don't need you to contribute to the team anywhere else in this game!"

"Keep a close eye on that Su! Be aggressive!!"

"I want you to show enough aggression!"

"Of course, except for Milai."

Like a roaring lion, Ang Postcoglu assigned his disciples tasks that he had already given out countless times during the training over the past few days.

Yes!

Ang Postcoglou's fighting style is simple and brutal!
That means all the Australian players should use their yellow cards on Su Hao.

Even a red card would be perfectly acceptable.

According to Ang Postcoglou, even if the Chinese team were to play 10 against 11 without Su Hao, they would still have a nearly 60% chance of winning.

Ang Postcoglu was giving his disciples instructions on tactics that were clearly not very impressive.

Inside the Chinese team's locker room at the same time.

Lippi is no longer acting as if he can just let things slide and win casually, as he did in the group stage.

Because I know the traditional style of Australian football.

Therefore, Lippi has repeatedly reminded Su Hao to protect himself in the upcoming matches.

In fact, to protect Su Hao, Lippi even started Qin Sheng in this match.

The old man mumbled his instructions again.

After explaining all the tactics, Qin Sheng put his arm around Su Hao and patted his chest, saying, "Haozi, just play boldly today. If these Australian bastards dare to mess around, I'll cripple them!"

"Zhuang Dian'er Tai!"

"Zhuang Dian'er Tai!!"

"This is a live broadcast of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup quarter-finals in Australia!"

"China vs. Host Australia!"

"The players from both teams are already standing in their respective halves of the field!"

"The referee is checking his watch too!"

"Beep!!!"

"With the referee's whistle!"

"The competition has officially begun!"

"First, let's look at the starting lineups for both sides!"

"China's starting goalkeeper, wearing a traditional white jersey and attacking from left to right: Zeng Cheng!"

"."

"On the other side, Australia's starting goalkeeper, wearing the traditional yellow jersey and attacking from right to left: Matthew Ryan!"

"Defenders: Matthew Ryan, Alex Wilkinson, Matt Spiranovic, Trent Sainsbury!"

Midfielders: Mark Milligan, Milne Jedinak, Massimo Luongo, James Troisi, Robbie Kruse!

"Lone striker: Tim Cahill!"

"Australian coach Angle Postcoglou fielded a relatively cautious 4-5-1 formation against Marcello Lippi's Chinese team!"

Sydney Olympic Stadium!

The moment the referee blew his whistle, the more than 20,000 Chinese fans in the stands erupted in a frenzy of screams, making many people mistakenly believe that it was a home game for the Chinese team.

Meanwhile, on the field at the same time.

The Chinese team, having gained possession first, didn't try to hide anything or test the waters.

The moment Su Hao received the pass from Wu Lei.

Su Hao then sprinted towards Australia's half of the field with the ball.

With the midfield maestro so aggressively charging forward, Hao Junmin and Yu Hanchao on the flanks naturally went at full speed, as if they had gone mad.

Is this a crazy, all-out attack right from the start?
On the sidelines, watching the Chinese team's momentum, Australian head coach Angle Postecoglou was momentarily at a loss.

According to his prediction, since he was the host team and had the home advantage, the Chinese team should have tested the waters first, right?
But the result?

However, Ang Postcoglou was only slightly surprised and quickly regained his composure.

As for the reason, it was naturally because his own players, whom he had repeatedly instructed, ended the Chinese team's attack almost the instant Su Hao crossed the center circle!
"Beep!!!"

The referee's whistle sounded.

Su Hao collapsed onto the grass.

Meanwhile, Australian striker Cahill, who had just made a direct sliding tackle on Su Hao, quickly got up and spread his hands in front of the referee, who was standing right next to him, to show his innocence.

"This...Australia"

"Teacher Huang, are you trying to say that this is indeed very Australian?"

Huang Jianxiang, watching from the commentary booth, was speechless as Su Hao was taken down right at the start of the match.

"That's so Australian! Their playing style is still so aggressive! I just wonder what the referee's standards will be today; what if they give a yellow card?"

Old Huang is still hoping that the referee will be more strict in his rulings.

But soon, a scene unfolded that greatly disappointed Lao Huang, all Chinese fans, and even Lippi, who had begun to complain to the fourth official on the sidelines.

Yes!

The referee, who had stopped the game, didn't pull out a card or even issue a warning. He went straight past Cahill and came to Su Hao, who was still on the grass clutching his right leg, to ask if he needed a stretcher or something!
-
[Damn it, I knew it! Those damn West Asian referees would never give us any favorable calls! Cahill's tackle just now definitely deserved a yellow card!]
-
[That's normal, but Cahill's tackle was a frontal tackle, so not giving him a card is understandable. The problem is that this first foul didn't receive any real punishment. I guess Su Hao will be...]
-
[Damn it, Su Hao absolutely mustn't get injured by these bastard Australians! If he gets hurt, our chances of winning the Asian Cup will be in serious trouble!]
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[Pah! Can't you say something nice? You have such a foul mouth! Su Hao has seen it all. There are way more brutal fouls in the Premier League than this, and Su Hao is fine. How could he possibly be injured today?!]
-
[That's right. Even those rough guys from the Premier League can't beat Su Hao, so these Australian bastards are even less likely to succeed. And based on what I know of Su Hao, I reckon one of those Australians will get injured and have to leave the field soon!]

The game started with an exaggerated, powerful tackle.

The rest of the match naturally became fragmented due to various petty fouls by Australian players and the referee's inaction. 4th minute of the match!

Su Hao received the ball in the middle and used a graceful Marseille turn to get past the double-team of Cahill and Mark Milligan. Before he could pass the ball, another Australian midfielder, Massimo Luongo, crashed into Su Hao's side.

With his 93cm physique, Su Hao was naturally not afraid of Massimo Luongo's simple physical collisions, but the problem was that this A-League local player used a dirty trick.

As he rammed into Su Hao, he also added a powerful kick to Su Hao's ankle.

"what!!"

Su Hao let out a scream and collapsed to the ground again.

Seeing that Su Hao had been treated this way, Zheng Zhi, Qin Sheng and the others naturally rushed to Massimo Luongo, wanting to demand an explanation for Su Hao.

However, the referee once again played the role of a protector.

After threatening to pull out cards by putting his hands in his pockets, Zheng Zhi and the others could only retreat dejectedly.

However, Massimo Luongo's actions this time were excessive.

The referee merely issued a symbolic yellow card, silencing the indignant Chinese team players.

The sidelines of the stadium!
Seeing that the referee finally pulled out a card, Lippi, who was about to flip the table, walked back to his own area.

The competition has since resumed.

However, what angered all Chinese fans, who were even starting to curse, was that the Australian players seemed completely unfazed by the yellow cards.

For the next twenty minutes.

When defending, the Australian players still seize every opportunity to deliver a powerful blow to Su Hao.

And in those short twenty minutes!
The entire Australian team received three yellow cards because of Su Hao.

As for warnings and the like, there are too many to count.

It was this insane series of fouls that completely disrupted the rhythm of the game.

Even in the 26th minute of the match.

After Su Hao was fouled and fell to the ground for what felt like the umpteenth time by an Australian player, Qin Sheng, whose head was already bursting with rage, finally couldn't hold back and grabbed the neck of James Troisi, the Australian midfielder who had brought Su Hao down.

Old Qin's squeeze completely ignited the already intense gunpowder.

Australian defender Jason Davidson, seeing that Qin Sheng dared to pinch his own teammate, immediately rushed towards Qin Sheng.

But before he could even reach Qin Sheng's side, Hao Junmin, who had faced off against him countless times, stepped in front of Jason Davidson.

"Fuck you!"

Old Hao's English wasn't very good, so he could only use this most common greeting along with a push to send Jason Davidson back.

"Fuck!"

Seeing that even a weakling like Hao Junmin was getting his hands on the weapon, Jason Davidson was naturally furious and shoved back at him.

Old Hao has seen a lot of the world.

As soon as Jason Davidson reached out his hand, Hao Junmin let out a scream and rolled on the ground.

Hao Junmin was just putting on an act, but Wu Lei naively thought that Hao Junmin had really been hurt by Jason Davidson.

Without a word, Wu Lei launched a flying kick at Jason Davidson's chest.

They even did neck-pinching and flying kicks!

Both sides, who had been trying to control their own actions, have now completely entered into a chaotic melee.

Cahill grabbed Qin Sheng's neck with his own hand, and even though neither side had the upper hand and both were exerting force, he was the first to roll his eyes.

Wu Lei delivered a flying kick to Jason Davidson, but before he could even show off his legwork to his teammates after landing, Australian captain Mila Jedinak retaliated with a flying kick of his own.

With Wu Lei's small frame, how could he withstand a kick from Mila Jedinak!
After being kicked, Lei Zi was sent flying like a kite with a broken string.

"I'll fuck your mother!"

Wu Lei stood up for himself but was kicked away instead. Hao Junmin, who was rolling on the ground, couldn't help but get up and kick Mila Jedinak as well!
Chaos!

Complete chaos!
The two teams on the field clashed fiercely.

And soon, this fierce battle on the field continued into the stands.

At the start of the game, many Australian fans kept making discriminatory squinting gestures towards the Chinese fans' stands.

Now that things have escalated to the point of conflict, discriminatory actions have naturally been replaced by large-scale slogan attacks like "chink."

On a normal day, when the Chinese are outnumbered, they might habitually back down. But today, including those who couldn't get tickets outside the stadium, the Chinese fans, whose numbers were almost equal to those of the Australians, were more united than ever before.

After breaking through the relatively small number of security personnel, the group of Northeastern men who were leading the charge immediately engaged in combat with the Russian who had been the most vocal in their insults.

With someone taking the lead, the Chinese fans naturally became excited and all joined the fray.

Some clever young man even searched for a song called "Call to Arms" and played it directly through the loudspeaker.

"dididdi!!!"

"Beep beep beep beep!"

As soon as the bugle sounded, the already passionate Chinese fans, eager to dedicate themselves to their country, became even more excited.

On the field!
The players from both teams, who had been fiercely attacking each other, quickly stopped when they saw the fans in the stands start a brawl.

As professional players, they know very well that even the most violent brawls on the field will only result in a few red cards.

But a fan brawl of this scale in the stands is a different story.

It could even lead to human deaths.

So, after the battle stopped, the players from both teams rushed to the sidelines to comfort their respective fans.

just
The bugle call to charge has already been sounded.

How could Chinese fans, caught up in the heat of the battle, possibly back down?
Half an hour!

A full half hour later, the fans from both teams in the stands finally stopped fighting.

However, in just half an hour, nearly a dozen people had already been taken away by ambulances at the scene.

7: 5!

Seven Australian fans were pulled away, while five Chinese fans were pulled away.

The conflict between the fans has subsided.

The referee finally had the time and energy to deal with the heated conflict that had just occurred on the field.

A flurry of red cards appeared on the field.

Since it had escalated into such a major incident, the West Asian referee naturally dared not make any more controversial rulings.

A total of 8 red cards were issued, and 4 players from both teams were sent off.

On the Chinese team's side, Wu Lei, Hao Junmin, Qin Sheng, and Sun Xiang all performed flying kicks.

Australia, on the other hand, has Jason Davidson and Cahill.
With four players sent off from each side, only 14 players remained on the field.

Looking at the suddenly empty stadium, both head coaches were stunned.

Yes!

Regardless of the outcome, in football history, this is the first time eight players have been sent off in one go.
This is already making history again.

However, while Lippi was still marveling at how he had set another record, Australian coach Postcoglou suddenly felt uneasy.

Have no idea!

Because it developed to this point in a muddled way.

That damned Chinese player, Su, whom I fear most, is still on the field!
Do not!
Not only that Chinese Su, but also that Van Dijk on the back line!
China's two strongest players are still on the court, but what about Australia?

Cahill, team captain, starting center-back
His Australian team.
The strongest players were all sent off.

There are still 70 minutes left in the game!
This means that Australia, which has no tactical system left, has to face that damned Chinese Su while missing four players.

(End of this chapter)