Chapter 65: Youth Has Lofty Ambitions — One Sword Can Decide Mountains and Rivers
17 November 2012, Emirates Stadium,
Six hours before kickoff, streets leading to the stadium filled with Arsenal fans in red.
An hour before the match the neighborhood was all red; it was hard to find passersby not tied to football.
At that moment a white tide marched neatly, singing the Spurs' anthem; they came proudly, greeted by nothing but filthy insults.
London police worked hard to separate the white and the red, directing the white tide and urging them to enter the stadium quickly.
When Tottenham's coach arrived, Arsenal fans greeted Adebayor and his family's female relatives with piercing boos and raised middle fingers.
The English pride of gentlemanly conduct was thrown to the winds at that moment…
Adebayor was not to be outdone; at the team bus window he politely returned the gesture: a middle finger!
…
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Penguin Sports live broadcast. Welcome to the 2012–2013 Premier League Round 12 North London Derby. Arsenal at home against Tottenham."
"I'm commentator Zhang Lu."
"I'm your old friend Zhan Jun."
Zhan Jun: "Tonight's match is crucial for Arsenal. Last round Arsenal were surprisingly held to a draw by Fulham and lost the lead; they cannot slip up here."
"For Tottenham, nothing would be happier than knocking Arsenal off the top."
Zhang Lu: "Tonight's match has many highlights: the speed duel between Xia Qi and Gareth Bale, Adebayor's declaration to score, and the long grudges between Arsenal and Spurs…"
"…Ladies and gentlemen, the players await in the tunnel. I'll announce the starting lineups.
Tottenham (4-5-1):
Goalkeeper: Hugo Lloris
Defenders: Michael Dawson, Jan Vertonghen, Kyle Walker, Steven Caulker
Midfield: Scott Parker, Aaron Lennon, Mousa Dembélé, Gareth Bale, Lewis Holtby
Forward: Emmanuel Adebayor
Substitutes: Dempsey? Defoe? Townsend, Carroll, Friedel… (lineup variant)
Arsenal (4-4-2):
Goalkeeper: Vito Mannone
Defenders: Thomas Vermaelen, Per Mertesacker, André Santos, Bacary Sagna
Midfield: Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey
Forwards: Xia Qi, Lukas Podolski
Substitutes: Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Olivier Giroud…"
…
In the tunnel:
lining up to enter,
Adebayor, in the guise of an "old Arsenal player," was telling his teammates anecdotes about the home dressing room.
Vermaelen stopped him.
An argument broke out between the two.
Players from both sides took sides and tensions rose — before kickoff the tunnel was already knife-edge.
A timely cough from the referee restored order.
The chaotic scene returned to normal.
But everyone looked fierce; those stares could eat people…
The referee called the two captains forward and gave them both stern warnings.
Thankfully, they soon walked out.
When the stadium DJ announced Xia Qi's name the whole ground shook.
A warm current flowed into Xia Qi's chest — at that moment he desperately wanted to choose Manual Mode for the match.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the players are out. Xia Qi received the ovation of the whole crowd — you can see how much they like him. If Xia Qi brings Arsenal honors, he will become a totem of this stadium like Thierry Henry."
"…"
"The match has begun. Arsenal in home red attack from left to right on your screen; Tottenham in white attack from right to left. Arsenal are on the attack."
A few minutes earlier:
"Ding dong"
"Please choose 'Training' or 'Match' mode."
"Match"
"Please choose your field position: A Forward, B Midfield…"
"A"
"System detects tonight the opponent has abundant resentment, matching the host with the [Domine with Strength] attribute."
"He is strong, I am stronger; he is arrogant, I am more arrogant; the clear breeze strokes the hills, the bright moon shines on the great river."
"Please choose 'Manual Mode' or 'One-Click AFK Mode'"
"Friendly reminder: during AFK, the system will automatically complete required actions."
"One-Click AFK!"
"Relax AFK — automatic completion brings an easy, joyful match experience! Match commencing."
…
Wilshere wanted to control the tempo from the start, to probe Tottenham's defense.
But Tottenham's players looked like they'd been shot up on amphetamines — ruthless, not playing fair: before Arsenal set shape they already pressed hard.
The North London Derby erupted from the opening whistle.
Clearly Tottenham had done their homework on Arsenal's play.
Xia Qi is hard to handle, so target those who feed him the ball.
Mousa Dembélé and Holtby double-pressed Wilshere, won the ball, and fed it back to Tottenham's midfield brain Scott Parker.
Xia Qi charged at Parker; Holtby dropped back to support; Parker's pass was quickly threaded to the left flank.
Bale took the ball on the left and "flew"; the intense jeers at the Emirates seemed to fuel him, and he easily took on both Arteta and Cazorla.
On the line of the box he crossed into the area.
Inside, the Little Beast Adebayor shook off Vermaelen's marking,
and beneath a tsunami of boos, met the ball with a first-time volley that flew into the stands.
When the shot flew high, Arsenal fans cheered as if Adebayor had missed only because of their jeers.
"Tonight Spurs are the away menace — Bale left-wing break and cross, Adebayor volleyed — the first shot of the match."
Mannone took the goal-kick, three passes later the ball was at Wilshere's feet; Lennon slammed down the accelerator and suddenly charged at Wilshere.
Wilshere, carried a little by several good recent performances, didn't release the ball immediately; he pushed it to the right to go past.
Unexpectedly, Lennon didn't follow the ball's right roll with a feint — he used inertia to crash into Wilshere, dumped him and then stolen the ball.
"Foul!"
"Foul!"
Wilshere raised his arm shouting at the referee.
But the referee only glanced at him coldly and did nothing.
"Tonight Tottenham are fierce and their objective is clear: swarm Wilshere."
"Spurs came prepared, they've found a way to counter Arsenal's tactics, and Arsenal were ill-prepared — the team's in trouble."
As Zhang Lu and Zhan Jun commented, Lennon rounded Arteta and ran hard down the flank.
But on the cut-in he was stopped by a sliding tackle from André Santos.
Arteta pulled Santos up, patted his shoulder in thanks.
Tottenham quickly took the throw-in; Lennon lifted the ball to Parker, who pinged it without looking — the ball flew to Adebayor's near post.
Vermaelen did an excellent job marking Adebayor this time; at the instant Parker passed he moved around to meet the run and intercepted, nudging the ball to Cazorla.
As Cazorla lifted his leg to control it, another foreign leg came into his view.
Dembélé fed the ball into the box again; Bale appeared out of nowhere and struck first time.
Mertesacker planted his hands behind his back and stepped forward to block with his body.
From the outset Spurs showed fangs: wave after wave of attacks. In the first several minutes Arsenal had not registered a single shot.
The game went on, and the ball eventually fell to Bale. Arsenal fans' hearts rose into their throats, and they covered their unease with boos.
Bale flew down the left again.
Adebayor pushed forward to draw defenders.
Cazorla lunged at Bale; Bale simply nudged the ball out then accelerated twice.
Cazorla was beaten.
Arsenal fans deeply missed Patrick Vieira.
Facing Bale's merciless "devouring," Cazorla could only chase in tears.
"Bale!"
"Eating Cazorla alive! Another classic moment!"
"Bale still cutting through!"
"Sagna dares not step up recklessly; he fights and retreats."
"Adebayor has stormed into the box."
Sagna couldn't retreat further and had to stop Bale.
Bale alternated right and left touches, a quick oily move flashed past him like a batter—Sagna's world went dark.
Just as he turned, the ball rolled to his feet.
Vermaelen, covering behind him, timely swept Bale's carried ball away.
Bale's dribble success failed!
Sagna was overjoyed and hoofed the ball forward.
Arteta was in the middle; an aerial relay performed a second touch.
This was Arsenal's practiced defensive counter.
No flashy tactical package,
just feeding Xia Qi's speed!
"Track back!!!"
Villas-Boas charged to the touchline shouting to his players.
The ball flew toward Tottenham's half.
Xia Qi sprinted like lightning to the drop point.
Tottenham left two players back during the attack.
Dawson, closer to the ball, raced toward the ball like a sports car, while Vertonghen ran toward the box to quickly recover.
"Xia Qi — go!" chanted the Emirates.
In view:
Xia Qi → far → very fast
Dawson → near → slower
At first the two had equal chances; nothing obvious to the naked eye decided a winner.
But soon Dawson realized he couldn't outrun Xia Qi. He was a hard man and, regardless of the cost, charged to collide with Xia Qi.
"Ding dong!"
"[Domine with Strength] attribute activated."
A force stronger than his will passed through Xia Qi.
A jaw-dropping scene occurred:
Dawson, as if simulating a theatrical fall, flew back in an exaggerated arc.
He hit the turf hard the harder he'd collided.
Dawson lay stunned on his back, watching Xia Qi's departing silhouette.
He couldn't believe he had just hit a person.
If you switched the person for a bear — that'd be reasonable.
"No!"
"Don't!"
Dawson saw his teammate Vertonghen also charge at Xia Qi, jolted upright in fright and shouted to the front.
Hopeless!
No surprise!
Vertonghen was also blown away by the "bear."
Vertonghen was bewildered midair: wasn't he supposed to recover? Why did he charge Xia Qi?
Oh — to avenge Dawson. Embarrassing to admit: old grudge not avenged and now new grudge added; I'll never tell anyone I did it to avenge a teammate.
Dawson and Vertonghen cursed the scouting team for missing this intel: Xia Qi's dossier contained no mention of his power.
Actually, Wenger and Pat Rice on Arsenal's bench were likewise puzzled.
If Xia Qi had used nimble skill to eat both defenders like Bale, they wouldn't be surprised — but a tank-like overtake was something they'd never seen before.
On the pitch,
the ball was descending,
Xia Qi cast a cold eye at Hugo Lloris, who had rushed out of his box.
He struck the ball heavily.
A volley strike!
Lloris thought Xia Qi would chip!
A chip into an empty net is safe — anyone would take it.
When the ball screamed toward him, Lloris was totally unprepared; the ball passed a centimetre from his face.
The wind whipped his face painfully; Lloris was half-dead with fright — in that instant his mind was empty except for an expletive: "Fuck, you bastard, trying to kill me!"
Lloris assumed the worst — he thought Xia Qi was deliberately terrifying him.
He overthought.
There's no emotion in the AI; it had its own rationale — this was the AI's calculated result.
Beep!
The referee pointed to the center circle!
The Emirates nuked!
Screams surged, making eardrums ache.
"Xia Qi, like a beast, has smashed two defenders aside and struck a volley goal."
"Tottenham dominated for sixteen minutes but conceded first; that's football — you never know what will happen next."
"Youth has lofty ambitions — with a sword at the ready he can steady mountains and rivers. When Arsenal were troubled, Xia Qi stepped up and gave Arsenal the lead."
Online and in the stands fans discussed excitedly.
"Xia Qi physically ate defenders — it fires me up; I choked on my noodles."
"Xia Qi's physical attributes are unreal; his post-acceleration is brutal."
"Yeah! The Brutal Emperor 2.0 — compared to tonight the old Xia Qi was gentle."
"I owe the previous Xia Qi an apology — tonight's Xia Qi is the real Brutal Emperor."
"Props to Dawson and Vertonghen; after tonight I believe eggs hitting stone, and I believe in fools who walk into tiger lairs…"
"Doesn't anyone pity Lloris? Someone shoots and scores; Xia Qi's shot nearly kills the goalkeeper."
On the sideline Villas-Boas ran to the fourth official to protest Xia Qi for charging defenders.
After the LED big screen showed the slow-motion replay, Villas-Boas closed his mouth.
Both collisions were clean physical duels — no small tricks, and also the attackers went into defenders rather than the other way around.
If that's a foul, then we might as well play tennis where there's no physical contact.
"Bloody pervert!" Villas-Boas cursed, returning to the touchline to call his players together.
"Don't panic — play like we trained."
"Bale, don't rush passing to Adebayor; cutting inside is more dangerous."
"Defensive focus is Wilshere and Xia Qi — Wilshere is more important than Xia Qi…"
Wenger called Arteta to the sideline to give tactical pointers.
"When Wilshere can't organize, you take on more responsibility."
"Make sure passing outlets look for Xia Qi first, then the others…"
Beep!
At the whistle, Tottenham's three lines surged forward toward Arsenal's box.
Being a goal behind made them even more ferocious.
(END CHAPTER)
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