Chapter 35: When Fouling Becomes a Tactic — How Do You Beat It?
Frank Lampard's and John Terry's sliding tackles were less a defensive measure than a warning.
At this point most players would simply pass the ball away to reset — even if they got it back a second later it would be fine.
Simple human courtesy — give it and move on!
A few, like Neymar, would "roll dramatically! Neymar, roll!"
The AI-driven Xia Qi is of that Neymar ilk.
He has no emotions!
He doesn't read the theater of the pitch.
Seeing the pair slide in one after another — which did little to help Chelsea's defense and instead hindered it —
"Ding — match point detected, [Dao Xing Gui Dao] attribute activating…"
At once Xia Qi trapped the ball, executed a Marseille turn, slipped past Lampard's sliding challenge, then lightly pushed the ball forward; after Terry slid past he completed an outside-over speed burst around his head.
Not much damage — but huge humiliation!
Lampard and Terry's faces had nowhere to go — blacker than night!
Chelsea's back line immediately sounded the red alert!
Ashley Cole panicked. He couldn't let Xia Qi run all the way; he sprinted out of the box and lunged at Xia Qi.
AI steered Xia Qi's body to thread a precise pass out of Cole's small gate, and Xia Qi completed another outside-over speed burst.
A fourth one!
"Too brutal — the last guy who did this so violently must have been Ronaldo Nazário?"
"An average of a solo run per game! More ferocious than Ronaldo, Kaká, Messi — the only ancient god comparable is Maradona."
"Wrong name, right nickname — the Brutal Emperor, the brutality continues…"
Ashley Cole chased desperately from behind, but he was clearly too late.
Xia Qi chased to the ball; David Luiz shuffled small steps — now he had to worry less about Xia Qi shooting than about getting dribbled.
Getting run over by a solo run early in the game is more shaming than conceding a goal.
"Eat him alive!"
"Number five!"
"Five!"
"Five!"
"Five!"
On the pitch, this kind of one-man-breakthrough can get people carried away. Fans had forgotten the point of beating five defenders in a row.
They just wanted Xia Qi to get past David Luiz — his hair reminded them of cotton candy; if you're not going to eat him, who will you eat?
Arsenal fans' piercing chants of "Five!" stabbed at David Luiz's heart. He glanced at Xia Qi's ankles a few times, but having given away a red-card starter early, he couldn't summon the nerve.
AI doesn't act on emotions; what Arsenal fans most wanted and David Luiz most feared simply didn't happen.
Instead,
Xia Qi lifted his foot and struck the ball with the area between the inside of the foot and the laces, brushing under the ball along its edge to impart heavy spin.
The ball flew out with violent rotation toward the outside of the goal.
It looked like it would go wide and Petr Čech leapt — and at first he was short.
But in his miss the ball traced a strange arc, like a boomerang, and curled back into the far corner, hitting the net.
A curl shot!
Curl-shot people, curl-shot souls — those who hit curlers aren't ordinary!
"Wow! A beautiful curl-shot! It's the kind of curl that vanished from the world after Alessandro Del Piero retired!"
"This may not be the goalkeeper's worst nightmare, but it ranks among the most 'sly' shooting techniques."
"Only 78 seconds into the match and Arsenal have taken the lead — will tonight be another feast?"
Nobody blamed David Luiz or Čech at Chelsea.
They only looked at Xia Qi with fierce eyes.
Killer intent: 100!
The curl shot — magnificent!
Arsenal fans had already forgotten Xia Qi failing to get past the fifth man; they applauded and cheered. Soon someone shouted: "Two more to go!"
At first only a few shouted; soon the whole stadium chanted: "Two more!" "Two more!"
Chelsea's killer intent: 124!
The match continued.
Chelsea kicked off and started normally; when Cazorla intercepted possession, the tone changed.
…
"Xia Qi gets the ball. Oh! Lampard again! Is this the third time?"
"Can this be allowed? In just over ten minutes Xia Qi's been fouled six times. If there's no retaliation I'll eat this microphone."
On the pitch,
Lampard watched with complex feelings as Xia Qi picked himself up from the turf.
This boy's style couldn't be more different from the other "born to be fouled" type like Neymar.
Despite being trampled, tackled, chopped and elbowed by opponents and teammates, he never rolled on the ground acting pained, nor did he appeal or complain to the referee.
He stood up expressionless, didn't even brush grass off his backside, and calmly waited to restart.
If Lampard hadn't seen the anger in his eyes he'd think he hadn't committed a foul.
Lampard sighed inwardly: no wonder Steven (Gerrard) liked him so much and said he was born to be a Liverpool man.
Why must he belong to Liverpool? He'd fit our iron-clad Blues just as well…
On the touchline Wenger shouted at the fourth official: "Three times! Three times! If you can't send him off at least give a yellow — nothing, just because he's some deity?"
"Calm down, sir. The referee has his reasons. Besides, Xia Qi hasn't reacted."
Wenger didn't know how to explain Xia Qi's match temperament — a thousand words boiled down to one French essence.
Seeing Xia Qi so stubbornly uncomplaining, some Chelsea players felt respect, others resentment.
Ramires met Xia Qi's gaze and tilted his chin up, putting on a provocative "come and get me" look.
He and Xia Qi were both playing the #10 role tonight, but their displays were like a firefly versus a bright moon.
Jealousy filled his heart.
A South American who had fought his way from the slums to Europe, the "dirty" plays on pitch came naturally.
His tackles were dark, dirty, and concealed.
He didn't see that Xia Qi's refusal to appeal was a sign of bravery; he saw it as inability to prove a case.
"Xia Qi's been fouled six times and Chelsea haven't got a single card. Whose home is this tonight? Wenger is too gentlemanly — he should learn from Mourinho and Ferguson…"
"Rationally speaking, Chelsea's repeated fouling in midfield interrupts Arsenal's attacking organization and splinters the game. That tactic, though dirty and unpopular, is effective, and worth copying. If Arsenal can't find a better method, I think more lower-table teams will adopt it."
Zhang Lu in the Penguin livestream and Sky commentator Martin Tyler voiced similar concerns.
This famed British pundit posed a soul-piercing question on the live feed: "When fouling becomes a tactic, how do you defeat it?"
On the pitch, Xia Qi searched for the answer!
(END CHAPTER)
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