Chapter 762: Chapter 761: Zidane is 10% Stronger Than Deng Kai!
However, considering that the threat of Ribery and Pires is more or less the same, it’s not incorrect to call him a gunner as well.
The eighty-sixth minute.
Wiltord’s entrance had an almost immediate effect.
Although Trezeguet’s lethality was in fact stronger, he was too pure, able to feast on the balls fed by Henry but hardly able to create many chances for Henry.
But Wiltord had been eating at this higher level for a few more years, and now his ability to organize the attack upfront had greatly improved.
He directly blocked Feng Te, attempting to turn towards Henry.
Would I, Feng Te, the clever one, let him pass it on?
Hey!
Where’s the ball?
Wiltord tapped it with his heel, sending the football in the opposite direction.
Ribery, cutting inside without the ball, successfully received it, overtaking Pepe by half a step.
Pepe saw that things were not looking good.
Ribery could shoot or pass.
Whatever choice he made, it almost directly threatened the goal of the Portugal team.
Peep!
The whistle sounded.
The referee came rushing over to show Pepe a yellow card.
Ribery, having been on the field for less than twenty minutes, had drawn two yellow cards.
But that was not all.
Because the referee was pointing to the penalty spot.
"Penalty!"
"Oh! My God! It’s actually a penalty!"
"This... the Portuguese players quickly rushed towards the referee, protesting."
"Deng Kai talked to the referee, believing it wasn’t a penalty, but the referee stood by his decision."
"This is so thrilling! It’s already the eight-sixth minute, only a few minutes left until the end of the match, and now..."
"Indeed, at the moment Ribery was brought down, his toes were actually a tad away from the penalty area line; he wasn’t stepping on the line."
"This is a wrong call."
"But from the perspective of the referee and the assistant referee, from their angle, it might have looked like Ribery was indeed stepping on the line."
"According to the rules, the penalty area line is also part of the penalty area. As long as a part of the foot is on the line, it’s considered entering the area. This is the same as how boundary lines and goal lines are judged."
"As long as the ball touches the boundary line, it’s not considered completely out of bounds or a goal."
"You could say this is a major mistake, but the result can’t be changed now."
Regarding this decision, there is actually a consensus.
That is, if you watch the replay, it indeed was a wrong call, and it shouldn’t be a penalty.
But judging it as a penalty isn’t too big of an issue either because it’s really hard to discern to that degree with the naked eye.
Perhaps later on, when video assistant referees become prevalent, people get accustomed to using replays to judge whether it’s a penalty.
But before this rule was invented, when the referee’s decision conflicts with the replay, the referee’s call stands. The replay is just for fans to see what happened at the moment, not to influence the referee’s decision.
On the other hand, from the referee’s perspective, they prefer making decisions that don’t affect the outcome of the game.
When they face major penalty decisions, especially when there’s hardly any time left in the match, their decisions tend to be the kind that implies "even if it’s wrong, both teams still have a chance."
Like now, even if it’s a wrong call, the French team gets a penalty, and if they score, the score will be two to two.
The game can continue, and the Portugal team will still have a chance to fight for the win; most likely, they won’t have the energy to trouble the referee.
But conversely, the France team, not getting a penalty, might directly lose the match. Then as the losers, they would definitely take issue with the referee, taking their anger out on him.
This is human nature.
If the score was two to two at that moment, the referee most likely wouldn’t award the penalty to the France team.
Because then they couldn’t bear the wrath of the Portugal team.
A referee who dares to make a game-changing decision at such a moment, to end the game, is either a truly super competent Golden Whistle, or more likely, a Super Black Whistle with an agenda.
So, this decision was highly unfavorable for Portugal, but... at least it proved that there was no other manipulator behind this game.
The outcome was entirely in the feet of the players.
After ten seconds, the French fans on the scene erupted into cheers.
The camera focused on Zidane.
The bald man took a no-hesitation penalty kick that tied the score at two to two.
Bayia’s reaction was more than a beat slow.
According to Deng Kai’s analysis, if the French team got a penalty, there was a high probability that Zidane would take a Panenka penalty.
So Bayia mainly guarded against the Panenka.
Unexpectedly, Zidane was not limited to a single move; although he was famous for his Panenka penalties, when it was time to seek an angled power shot, he would not hesitate.
He would do the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.
"Zizou! Zinedine Zidane! He has saved the French team!"
"Ribery! The penalty he created is especially crucial!"
"Is Deng Kai regretting plucking Ribery from the French amateur league now?"
"His most reliable helper in the club has delivered a fatal blow in the most important match! I wonder if this will affect Ribery’s relationship and status at Manchester City?"
Many people had reason to suspect that if France, saved by Ribery’s penalty, ended up winning the Delaunay Cup, Deng Kai might settle scores out of resentment, relegating Ribery to the bench or even selling him directly!
Eighty-eighth minute.
The French and Portuguese teams both played somewhat conservatively, not wanting to be killed off by the opponent at the last moment.
Ribery took a long shot that flew over the bar, then quickly retreated.
Second minute of stoppage time.
Deng Kai combined in a one-two with Deco and Ronaldo, and after a successful cut inside, he took a shot.
The result was that Thuram, who had been beaten by Deng Kai, made a decisive tackle, turned around immediately, anticipated Deng Kai’s shot, and successfully blocked it.
Third minute of stoppage time.
France used their last substitution, with Silvestre replacing the somewhat spent Desailly.
This also served to waste some time and disrupt Portugal’s attacking rhythm.
Those more confident often prefer to take it slow rather than make radical decisions in the last minute or two.
The French team was confident about extra time.
Because Deschamps had already received the players’ running stats for the match.
The Portuguese players had, on average, run 800 meters more than the French players.
But Portugal’s midfield and attack had run an average of 1,200 meters more than their French counterparts.
The two sides had the same number of goals.
The number of threatening attacks was also similar.
This actually reflected some issues.
That is... there was indeed a gap between the cores of the two sides.
The French team, led by Zidane, was about ten percent more efficient than the Portuguese team, led by Deng Kai!
The world’s number one midfielder... was still Zidane!
This result was incredible because, in the past few years at Real Madrid, Zidane’s performance, stats, and abilities seemed to be on the decline.
Meanwhile, the world’s top player Deng Kai’s stats and honors were explosive, nearly locking up this year’s Golden Ball and FIFA World Player of the Year in just the first half of the year!
Was Zidane still better than Deng Kai?
This...
With the referee’s whistle, the regular time of the match ended.
The two sides were tied two-all.
The match would go into extra time in a few minutes.
The French team was full of confidence for extra time.
On the Portuguese side, all the players formed a circle, with Trigella among them.
Trigella looked at Deng Kai: "Kai, are you ready?"
Deng Kai smiled and shook his head: "Wait a bit longer!"
"Everyone, hold on a little longer, help me carry this a bit more!"
In the French data statistics, one can see many things.
But they could not see that in this game, Deng Kai, despite being quite present, did not actually control the game.
His running data was not less than when he played as the core at Manchester City, and he frequently participated in the defense.
But a closer look reveals that many of Deng Kai’s advanced stats, such as the number of tackles and interceptions, the number of offensive orchestrations, dribbles past players, aerial duels, and so on, were actually much lower than when he normally played as the core.
Typical of not giving full effort!
So in reality, for nearly half of the game, the core of the Portugal team was not Deng Kai, but Deco and Viana.
So... it was half a Deng Kai + Deco + Viana that were ten percent less efficient than Zidane.
And the other half of Deng Kai...
