Chapter 40: No Last-Gasp, No Football!
One side timid and cautious, the other totally unleashed.
The match began to tilt toward Arsenal.
In the 80th minute, Fernando Torres shook off Per Mertesacker and smashed a near-post effort — it hit the post.
Carl Jenkinson hoofed it clear and the ball was collected by Santi Cazorla, who found Xia Qi.
Xia Qi didn't rush the attack; after seeing Torres' effort strike the post, the whole Chelsea team had quickly retreated to defend.
There was little point in speeding up for a counter now.
He, Cazorla and Mikel Arteta passed around calmly in their own half.
Then, with Chelsea pressing high, a sudden long ball from the back found Olivier Giroud in the box.
Giroud and John Terry jumped together to contest; in the air Terry clattered him.
When Giroud landed he didn't first check his chest for injury — he straightened his hair instead.
From a distance Xia Qi's smile was about to overflow from his eyes — what a vain man, but Giroud's looks were undeniably on point.
Wenger made substitutions: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was replaced by Abou Diaby, and Thomas Vermaelen came on for Per Mertesacker.
Vermaelen took the captain's armband from Arteta.
Roberto Di Matteo didn't make a change right away.
In the 82nd minute Arsenal pushed everyone forward; Theo Walcott burst down the flank and squared for Giroud. Giroud held off Terry and knocked it back to Xia Qi.
After trapping the ball, Xia Qi danced four stepovers in front of Frank Lampard; when Lampard was nearly sick from being shaken, Xia Qi used the outside of his foot to flick the ball and cut into the box.
Inside Chelsea's penalty area it was like a crisis: John Obi Mikel and Branislav Ivanović closed in to double-team Xia Qi, but he simply clipped the ball with his heel.
Left-back André Santos surged in at the far post and, at the edge of the box, unleashed a thunderbolt.
Petr Čech, like a god, kept the ball out with one hand as it was about to nestle in the net.
Arsenal launched the resulting corner; Giroud headed toward goal and the ball skimmed the crossbar and out.
Di Matteo then made his move: he replaced John Terry with Oscar.
That substitution was puzzling — Terry had been Chelsea's best performer.
If Di Matteo wanted to take off a defender to strengthen attack, he would naturally have subbed off the injured Ashley Cole.
Cole had come back on and, though gallant, his injury still affected his form.
To take off the best-performing defender instead left people scratching their heads.
Even Terry himself looked bewildered; after confirming it was indeed him, he swore and left the field resigned.
The match went on.
After adding a man in midfield, Chelsea did become more proactive — mainly because Oscar's introduction revitalized Juan Mata.
This surprised everyone at Arsenal.
Wenger raised his estimation of Di Matteo a few points because of it.
In the 86th minute, Mata received an Oscar pass and turned to send a close-range shot to the near post, but Vito Mannone went down and held it on his knees.
In the 91st minute, Torres headed on and Oscar unleashed a world-class strike that struck his own teammate Eden Hazard.
Vermaelen, who had just come on, cleverly lobbed the ball to Xia Qi.
At the same time Ramires and Frank Lampard came charging at Xia Qi in succession.
Because it happened so suddenly,
their double-team was out of sync: Ramires had come in a bit too fast and he and Lampard were separated by about a yard — enough for an AI to exploit.
As Xia Qi sped forward he suddenly chopped the ball back; Ramires expected a change of direction and braked.
But Xia Qi accelerated again.
He'd tricked their rhythm!
Ramires lost his balance and could not stop the run; Xia Qi was about to slip past him when Ramires, in desperation, stuck out an arm to block his path.
It was an instinctive move — at this point an experienced player would instead grab at the shirt hem.
A free kick on the defensive end was gift-wrapped.
Xia Qi immediately saw the chance.
He pushed the ball out, accelerated his body, and without dodging, drove straight through!
Lampard was only a yard behind Ramires; seeing Xia Qi release the ball he thought it was an opportunity and also accelerated forward.
But the outstretched arm from Ramires failed to have its intended effect; under Xia Qi's sheer force, it didn't buy the teammate even a second.
In a flash Xia Qi lifted his left foot and poked at the ball.
The ball threaded cleanly between Frank Lampard's open legs.
The nutmeg was brilliant — not only did it start the follow-up counterattack, it also dissolved the awkward situation of being sandwiched by opponents from front and back.
Ramires then reacted and grabbed at Xia Qi's shirt.
He thought he could rescue Lampard at the cost of a yellow card.
Xia Qi activated both legs and simultaneously flicked his arm backward.
A huge tug ripped Ramires' fingers wide apart.
After the nutmeg, Lampard spun around expecting Ramires to have done something to gain a second or two for him.
But Xia Qi was barely affected; as he roared forward he even bumped Lampard with his shoulder.
Lampard, stumbling onward, felt seriously wronged: "I just got nutmegged; Ramires — you're a pig of a teammate!"
The three-way scramble was dizzying for the fans; in the blink of an eye nobody could see clearly.
All they knew was Xia Qi had taken on two and won!
Not only had he won, he'd opened the curtain for the counterattack.
Arsenal fans leapt to their feet, waving fists and shouting: "Charge!"
Arsenal attacked on three fronts!
Although exhausted, they pushed forward with everything they had.
Diaby, fresh from the bench, was the quickest to surge.
Xia Qi, at the edge of the box, did not immediately pass; he waited until David Luiz closed in and slid a leg.
Xia Qi then did a neat trap and flick to evade David Luiz's tackle, then a drag to force his way inside.
Di Matteo's substitution showed its downside.
Petr Čech was now exposed.
Ashley Cole and Branislav Ivanović scrambled to block shooting angles for Čech.
Xia Qi lifted his left foot and applied spin to the ball.
The ball curved with heavy rotation, sailed past Ivanović's outstretched right hand and towards the far corner.
Čech swore: "Fuck!"
He launched himself in a full-stretch dive.
Still fuming in his mind: a monster!
Damn — all these one-on-ones and he still didn't just blast it!
What he didn't know was that for the AI, who takes the shot depends on the highest probability of scoring, regardless of whether it's a clear one-on-one.
Right now, unmarked Abou Diaby had a finishing probability of ninety-six percent, while Xia Qi's own finishing probability, though high, was only around sixty-something.
But the AI is good at choosing!
It picks the higher one!
Diaby surged forward, took his run-up and leapt, thumping the ball down with his forehead.
Closer to goal and with pace, Čech's dive was more a matter of pride.
91:34 on the clock!
Diaby completed the winner!
After scoring Diaby pulled his shirt over his face and ran toward Xia Qi…
"No last-gasp winner, no football!"
"The miracle boy — assists the team's last-gasp winner in stoppage time!"
Diaby: Do I not deserve a name of my own?
(END CHAPTER)
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