Chi Meiya
Chapter 157 Tottenham Has Twelve Players!
It all happened too quickly, and there was no chance to trip anyone.
So, to put it bluntly, if someone died in this collision, they could only blame their own weak body.
"If the referee disallows this goal, or to be more precise, if the referee calls a foul on Zhao due to the contact between Zhao and Son, and thus disallows the goal, then..." Henry's eyes darted back and forth. He didn't want to make any definitive statements. With such an obvious offside earlier, the referee hadn't called it, so what if...
Then Henry thought, if the referee dared to make such a blatant call, he would never set foot on a field again.
"There's no way he can disallow it. If he does, I'll report him to the Premier League."
James nodded vigorously. If the referee dared to disallow it, his license would be revoked.
After repeated confirmation, the referee turned around, and the camera immediately focused on him.
The referee made the VAR gesture, then blew his whistle and spread his arms.
Goal disallowed!
"Ah???" Henry was dumbfounded.
"What? This goal shouldn't be disallowed. The referee made the decision after repeatedly watching VAR. This can't be a foul!" The replay showed the moment Zhao Gang and Son Heung-min collided.
Son Heung-min fell to the ground in pain, clutching his chest. Zhao Gang was also knocked down, but he got back up.
"What the... Is he done acting???"
"What does this mean? Did the referee take money??"
"How much money could be enough for him to go to jail??"
"Is the Premier League finished??"
"It's all fake, all capital manipulation! Manchester City is too strong, and the Premier League doesn't want to see one team dominate!!"
The Korean commentators were silent for a few seconds after seeing the call, unsure how to spin it.
"Um... well... the thing is... he..."
Most of the Tottenham fans at White Hart Lane were dumbfounded.
A bad call was acceptable, but this blatant, blind call was too much to swallow.
Guardiola stood on the sidelines, jumping up and down in anger, his eyes almost popping out of his head.
He wanted to smash the referee with a water bottle.
Arteta was desperately holding him back, otherwise Guardiola would have run onto the field to fight the referee.
If it were Mourinho and his assistant, they would have already rushed in to beat up the referee.
Manchester City's players looked bewildered, unsure of what had happened.
The referee ran towards the penalty area and stood in front of Gundogan.
"Ah? Oh..." James suddenly understood, "He's not calling a foul on the contact between Zhao Gang and Son Heung-min, he's calling a foul on Gundogan during Manchester City's corner kick earlier... This..."
Henry rubbed his bald head. The broadcast finally showed the foul from earlier, when Gundogan and Alli collided in the penalty area and both fell to the ground.
This was during Manchester City's corner kick earlier. Silva crossed the ball into the penalty area, Walker headed it out, Son Heung-min received the ball and prepared for a long run, but was knocked down by Zhao Gang. Then Manchester City launched a counterattack and scored a goal.
"Regardless of whether Gundogan committed a foul or not, this was already several rounds... four attacking rounds ago! After the goal, you... you call a foul???" Henry couldn't believe it. Could VAR be used like this??
"It's more reasonable than calling a foul on Zhao and Son's collision, right?" As a senior football journalist and host, James had never seen VAR used like this, but it did seem more acceptable than calling a foul on Zhao Gang.
"This is really using the sword of the Ming Dynasty to behead an official of the Qing Dynasty!" James suddenly exclaimed, "A small knife poking the ass, opened my eyes wide!"
Gundogan pitifully explained to the referee that they both fell down together, there was no foul.
Alli stood not far away, his eyes blank, dumbfounded.
He hadn't even complained himself, but the VAR referee noticed it and reported it to the main referee, who immediately went to confirm.
Too magical.
The referee blew his whistle, and Lloris prepared to take the free kick.
After a brief moment of confusion, the White Hart Lane fans didn't even offer the referee a round of applause for his justice, only scattered applause.
"That's right, it was Gundogan's foul that led to Manchester City's goal. The referee really has sharp eyes to have spotted it, otherwise Tottenham would have been in trouble if Manchester City had stolen one!" The Korean commentators watched the replay excitedly.
So that's how it was!
There must have been a reason!
Otherwise, why would the referee have looked at VAR?
"Hopefully Son Heung-min won't be affected by being knocked down. Son Heung-min was going for the ball with all his might, while Zhao Gang was going for Son Heung-min! This is allowed by the rules, but Zhao Gang is really a sneak!"
"Yes, he's good at being cunning, but this kind of trickery won't win. Let's wait and see!"
Manchester City's players were a bit demoralized.
Could it be called like that?
In the following match, the players on both sides started tackling frequently, possibly due to the referee's standard.
Fouls occurred from time to time.
Gundogan repeatedly fouled Camela and Eriksen in the middle, receiving a yellow card and drawing boos from White Hart Lane.
Aguero even received a yellow card during a counter-attack.
And for Tottenham, Camela's aggressive foul also earned him a card.
Alli's pull on Zhao Gang near midfield resulted in another yellow card.
Zhao Gang spread his hands and put pressure on the referee. It was a Manchester City counterattack, Zhao Gang had already broken through, and Alli's pull didn't stop him.
There was a lot of space ahead, which should have been an advantageous attack and could have led to a dangerous attack.
The card could have been issued later, but the referee stopped the game and gave Manchester City a free kick.
The referee nodded at Zhao Gang and gave him a thumbs up.
You make a good point, I'll call it like that.
Giving another yellow card was already good enough.
Manchester City's players were messed up again by this call, and the excited Sterling had to return empty-handed, his head drooping.
Damn it, Zhao would definitely have passed it to me, and I would have scored if I had rushed all the way!
"From the result, the referee's calls resulted in cards, so there's not much to say, but from the process, there are still some problems. Both sides seem to be dissatisfied with the referee's standard."
David Silva dribbled the ball in the middle, looking for teammates to break through. Camela quickly went up to steal the ball. When Silva protected the ball, a hidden pull caused Silva to lose his balance, and Camela directly stole the ball.
Silva staggered and fell to the ground, sitting there shouting desperately at the referee.
The referee ignored him and followed the attacking players forward.
Silva gritted his teeth, stood up, and quickly chased back!
Camela passed the ball to Eriksen.
Eriksen's attacking ability had always been good, and he dribbled the ball quickly.
After attracting the defense, he made a long diagonal pass to Kane, who was rushing into the middle.
Just as Kane was about to speed up, Fernandinho suddenly appeared behind him and reached out his little hand.
Kane didn't have time to dribble the ball and fell directly to the ground, rolled around, and spread his hands to the referee.
A whistle sounded.
Fernandinho turned his head in surprise and stared at the referee.
I fouled just by pulling someone?
It was okay for Silva to be brought down???
Tottenham's players were also extremely dissatisfied. This was a very dangerous attack, which could have resulted in a goal, or at least a yellow card!
Both sides disagreed with the decision and surrounded the referee.
The referee struggled to separate the two sides. This foul was still not given a card.
Manchester City's players quickly set up a wall in the penalty area. The free kick from this distance, not far from the penalty area line, could be shot directly at the goal.
Eriksen stood in front of the ball and took a deep breath.
Kane and Son Heung-min were both hidden in the crowd.
"As expected, he's shooting directly!" James commentated.
Eriksen had the ability to do so.
"Oh no, just a little bit off!" James' heart twitched. Bravo reacted quickly and directly saved the powerful shot!
Although James' commentary was still neutral, he naturally hoped that Manchester City could win the game, or at least not lose!
Just like when he commentated on Liverpool's games, although he was fair to the audience, he would scold any Liverpool player who performed poorly in private.
Bravo made a save, fell to the ground, and didn't control the ball. He quickly got up and continued to defend.
At this time, Son Heung-min suddenly rushed out and shot the ball into the goal!
2:1!
Tottenham took the lead after falling behind!!
Son Heung-min ran out of the field with his arms open, welcoming the cheers of the White Hart Lane fans.
Yes, that's right!
"Son Heung-min!! Goal!! A very beautiful tap-in! Bravo, a world-class goalkeeper, couldn't stop the goal!
He's still not good enough against Son Heung-min!
Beautiful, Son Heung-min! This is the ability of Asia's number one player. Against the Premier League's number one team, he had a decoy assist and a direct goal! Perfect performance!
Manchester City is indeed no match for Son Heung-min!
Beautiful, beautiful!" The Korean commentators were so excited they were almost going crazy.
In a strong match, against Manchester City, one assist and one goal!
Isn't this much better than Zhao Gang's assist?
Son Heung-min is the real number one player in Asia!
"Son Heung-min is strong!"
"Let that Zhao Gang know what a top striker is!"
"He can also try to get a foul like Son Heung-min? Play for another ten years!!"
"Haha... Look at the fans' enthusiastic cheers. The entire White Hart Lane is supporting Son Heung-min. He deserves to be the pride of our Korea!!"
Manchester City's defense loudly complained to the referee, raising their hands to signal.
Offside, such a big offside, can't you really see it???
"Son Heung-min was really offside on this goal. He was offside by half a body at the moment Eriksen took the free kick. It's not particularly obvious, but now there's VAR, Son Heung-min was indeed in an offside position for the tap-in. The referee should take a look at VAR." James wasn't sure.
"Could the referee think that Bravo touched the ball, so he'll think it doesn't count as offside?" James suddenly asked this on purpose. He wasn't ignorant of the game, he just wanted Director Zhang to explain the rules.
In fact, many commentators would ask these seemingly amateur questions. It's not that they don't understand, it's just that they pretend not to understand in order to help the fans understand more deeply.
"It's not like that. Like rebounds from hitting the goalpost or rebounds from hitting a defending player, a player in an offside position tapping in the ball is considered benefiting from an offside position.
Even if Bravo saved the ball, if Son Heung-min was in an offside position to tap it in, it's also offside! Unless Bravo controlled the ball and then passed the ball and Son Heung-min snatched it and shot it into the goal, then the goal wouldn't be offside.
It's not that there's no offside if a defending player touches the ball. It has to be a defensive player's active mistake that leads to the player in the offside position receiving the ball, then there's no offside. This doesn't count as the goalkeeper's active mistake, because the goalkeeper never controlled the ball."
"Oh... this offside is really something!" James nodded repeatedly, pretending to finally understand.
Many viewers aren't clear about this offside rule and always think that if the defender touches the ball, there's no longer any benefiting from an offside position.
The referee pointed to the center circle and didn't watch VAR.
Fernandinho was about to rush towards the referee, but Zhao Gang grabbed him.
Fernandinho was the midfield barrier. If he received a yellow card, the rest of the game would be even more difficult.
Bravo rushed up and argued non-stop, and sure enough, he received a yellow card.
Guardiola ran to the fourth official and was so anxious that he couldn't even speak clearly.
What the hell is this?
Why not look at VAR to confirm??
If he can't judge on the spot, can't the VAR referee see it??
I even saw it, Son Heung-min's whole body came out, can't VAR see it??
The fourth official explained something to Guardiola, but Guardiola was still shouting in dissatisfaction.
Until the referee ran over and gave Guardiola a yellow card.
Guardiola threw his hands up, turned around, and cursed angrily.
Helpless.