Chapter 16: Hat Trick

Although Yang Chaosheng and Zhang Ye were desperately chasing after Elkeson, the Brazilian bear had already picked up speed, barreling straight toward Liaoning Hongyuan’s penalty area. Zhang Ye managed to keep from falling too far behind, though he couldn’t catch up, but Yang Chaosheng was left further and further behind with every stride.

Facing the charging Elkeson, Ding Haifeng approached with extreme caution, not daring to let his guard down for a second. He knew all too well that even the slightest opportunity was enough for Elkeson to get a shot off.

As the two closed in rapidly, with barely two meters between them, Elkeson suddenly made his move. He didn’t bother with any dazzling footwork; instead, with a simple flick, he nudged the ball around Ding Haifeng and continued to chase it down the line, bursting past him at full speed.

Elkeson raced to the byline, glanced up at the penalty area, and immediately delivered a cross. The ball soared into Liaoning Hongyuan’s box, and Dai Zhiwei, who had been ready and waiting, rushed to meet it. Leaping high into the air, he prepared to head the ball towards goal.

"Ha!"

Just as Dai Zhiwei went up for the header, Zhang Lu let out a shout. Taking advantage of his role as goalkeeper, he reached out and punched the ball away before Dai Zhiwei could connect.

"Damn!" Dai Zhiwei muttered in frustration. His vertical leap was impressive—he could easily dunk a basketball—but at only 175 centimeters tall, if he had Zhang Linpeng’s height, this ball would have been his, not Zhang Lu’s.

Though Zhang Lu managed to punch the ball clear, it didn’t go far. Instead, it landed at the feet of Goulart just outside the penalty area.

Goulart looked up at Liaoning Hongyuan’s goal, hesitated not at all, and unleashed a powerful shot.

With a dull thud, the ball struck Mitchell’s body and was blocked. In that instant, the center-back had thrown himself into the path of the shot, using his body to deflect it away.

But the danger was far from over—the ball was still inside the box, and still in a perilous position. Mitchell scrambled to his feet and lunged toward the ball, intent on booting it clear.

Just as Mitchell was about to kick the ball away, a foot darted in front of him, and the ball vanished in an instant.

Instinctively, Mitchell turned to look towards his own goal, only to see, to his dismay, the ball nestling in the back of the net.

He turned again to see who had scored—he caught only the yellow jersey and the number 24.

Mitchell had been marking Dai Zhiwei ever since the failed header, but when Goulart took his shot, Mitchell had no choice but to abandon Dai Zhiwei and rush forward to block the attempt.

It was, without question, the correct choice. However, as the rebounded ball hadn’t fallen far from either man, Dai Zhiwei, guided by his sharp instincts and off-the-ball movement inspired by the legendary Nakata, was a split second quicker and poked the ball into the net.

Dai Zhiwei was already close to goal; even a prepared Zhang Lu would have struggled to stop a shot from such proximity. What’s more, with the chaos in the box, Zhang Lu’s line of sight had been obstructed.

When Dai Zhiwei struck, Zhang Lu’s reflexes were sharp, but he simply couldn’t react in time.

“Gooooooooooooal! Dai Zhiwei scores! In the 53rd minute, Dai Zhiwei capitalizes on his brilliant awareness inside the box, beating Mitchell to poke the ball home,” the home commentator at Shenyang Tiexi Stadium announced, his voice tinged with resignation as the goal came for the visiting Evergrande team.

In contrast, the television commentator was ecstatic: “Oh my God! It’s Dai Zhiwei! That’s his third goal of the match! At just twenty years old, Dai Zhiwei has netted his first career hat-trick in this fifth round of the Chinese Super League! He’s a rising superstar in Chinese football!”

After a brief pause, the commentator, Xu Guangxi, resumed, his voice booming after receiving a prompt from the producer: “And I’ve just been informed that this is Dai Zhiwei’s seventh league goal of the season, putting him at the top of the scoring charts! He has scored in every Super League and AFC Champions League match this season. Perhaps Coach Perrin should pay more attention to Dai Zhiwei’s matches!”

Unaware of the excitement in the broadcast booth, Dai Zhiwei, realizing he had scored, launched into a wild celebration, sprinting toward the corner flag and sliding across the turf.

“Xiaowei! Hat-trick! A hat-trick!” His teammates swarmed him by the corner flag.

“Ha ha!” Dai Zhiwei laughed with pride at their cheers.

Meanwhile, on the Liaoning Hongyuan bench—

“Damn Evergrande! Damn that goal!” With the score stretched to 3–0, the Liaoning Hongyuan head coach, who had managed to maintain a façade of composure, now succumbed to despair.

Trailing by two at halftime, there was still hope of leveling the score or even overturning the deficit, but being three goals down, with no more than forty minutes left, meant the game was all but lost.

Dai Zhiwei’s goal signaled the end of any suspense over the outcome. The Hongyuan players on the pitch lost their fighting spirit and began to play out the clock. In contrast, Guangzhou Evergrande, emerging from a fortnight of poor form, now looked ruthless and hungry.

In the 61st minute, James committed a foul with a sliding tackle in midfield. Zheng Zhi took the free kick quickly, passing to Zhang Linpeng on the right. Zhang Linpeng, just past the halfway line and spotting Zhang Lu off his line, unleashed an audacious long-range lob—the ball sailed over Zhang Lu’s head and into the net, putting Evergrande up 4–0.

The goal was so sudden that the television cameras failed to keep up. Only after the ball hit the net did the footage catch up with Zhang Linpeng already celebrating with his teammates.

It was only on the slow-motion replay that the full splendor of the strike was revealed—a goal worthy of comparison to Beckham’s legendary lob for Manchester United.

Eight minutes later, Zhang Lu’s goal kick didn’t travel far. The ball was headed back towards the edge of the box, where a Liaoning defender’s failed clearance allowed Goulart to lay it off to Elkeson. From just outside the penalty area, Elkeson blasted the ball into the top corner—Evergrande now led 5–0.

Notably, this was Elkeson’s first league goal of the season. In his scoring race with Dai Zhiwei, he now found himself unexpectedly left far behind.

In the 76th minute, Zhang Linpeng cleared with a header. Zheng Zhi picked up the ball deep in his own half and launched a long pass forward. Goulart burst through on goal, deftly sidestepping a sliding Ding Haifeng in the box, then rounding Zhang Ye before slotting the ball past Zhang Lu. Evergrande led 6–0.

Goulart’s solo run was made all the easier by Dai Zhiwei’s off-the-ball movement down the right flank, which drew defenders away. Many times, a striker’s value lies not only in goals, but also in the disruption they cause with their runs—an indispensable element of team strategy.

After Goulart’s goal, Cannavaro substituted both Goulart and Dai Zhiwei—this was Dai Zhiwei’s first time being taken off.

“Well done, Dai!” Cannavaro greeted him on the touchline with an embrace, whispering in his ear, “Rest up well; you’ll be starting the next game.”

“No problem!” Dai Zhiwei replied with a hearty laugh, knowing his performance had thoroughly convinced the former World Player of the Year and cemented his place as a fixture in the starting lineup.

With Dai Zhiwei and Goulart off, Evergrande showed no sign of letting up; the substitutes came on brimming with excitement.

In the second minute of added time, Zhao Xuyang was brought down by Wang Liang on the left wing, earning Evergrande a free kick from the left channel.

With Goulart off, Elkeson was the undisputed first-choice free-kick taker. He stood over the ball, ran up, and curled it directly into the near corner—Evergrande had scored again.

7–0. That was the final score between Evergrande and Liaoning Hongyuan, marking their emphatic return to form after a string of winless matches.

Naturally, the Man of the Match award went to the dazzling Dai Zhiwei—his second such honor of the season.

But unlike his first, Dai Zhiwei now accepted the accolade with composure. This was the transformation of a rookie into a star.