Chapter 45: The Fierce Battle Between China and Qatar

On October 2nd, the Qatar Football Association announced through its official website the 25-man squad for the World Cup qualifiers against China, with the 32-year-old veteran Sebastian making his return. Qatar's newly appointed head coach Carreño revealed the team's preparations for the qualifiers. After four rounds of the Forty-Strong World Cup qualifiers, Qatar stands atop Group C with three victories, nineteen goals scored, and two conceded, securing the first place by goal difference. The second spot, meanwhile, is held by Dai Zhiwei's China.

On October 8th, Qatar will host China in a pivotal match that will likely determine which team advances as group leader. Sebastian, who has played 101 matches for the Qatar national team and scored 29 goals, had not been called up for a year and missed the Asian Cup earlier this year. In the 2008 World Cup qualifiers, he scored the decisive goal against China; at that time, Gao Lin fell in front of the small box and committed a pulling foul, giving Qatar a penalty, which Sebastian converted, leading Qatar to a 1-0 victory and causing China to finish last in the group and be eliminated.

After the resounding victory over Gamba Osaka, Dai Zhiwei had no time to return home and celebrate the National Day with his parents, as he immediately traveled to Doha to challenge Qatar, their long-standing nemesis.

The starting lineups were as follows:

China's lineup:
Goalkeeper: Wang Dalei
Defenders: Ren Xing, Mei Fang, Zhang Linpeng, Zhang Chengdong
Midfielders: Yu Dabao, Zheng Zhi, Cai Huikang, Wu Xi, Jiaxiang
Forward: Dai Zhiwei

Qatar's lineup:
Goalkeeper: Amin
Defenders: Hassan, Cazorla, Yassir, Musa
Midfielders: Huh, Boudiaf, Asadalla
Forwards: Maksoud, Sebastian, Haydos

The two sides had previously met 14 times in international A-level matches, with China holding a slight advantage of six wins, four draws, and four losses, scoring 19 goals and conceding 13. In World Cup Asian qualifiers alone, they had faced each other seven times: one win, three draws, and three losses for China, with eight goals scored and eight conceded—no real advantage, and China had never tasted victory in Doha.

Since a narrow 1-0 home win against Qatar in the 2004 Asian Cup, China had failed to win in their three encounters over the following eleven years.

As Dai Zhiwei stood in the player tunnel, awaiting his turn to enter the pitch, he cast a helpless glance at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium and smiled bitterly.

Qatar's national team calls Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium home, also known as “Al Sadd Stadium,” with a VIP seating capacity of 18,000. However, this is only theoretical; considering safety concerns and broadcast effects, the actual number of spectators is extremely limited, and today there were only about 10,000 fans inside.

“Such a small stadium—it's not much of an advantage for attacking players,” Dai Zhiwei shook his head and walked onto the field.

Just eleven minutes into the match, Dai Zhiwei had barely received the ball, let alone attempted a shot. He stood, hands on his hips, speechless, watching Qatar celebrate wildly.

From the start, Qatar launched aggressive attacks and managed to take the lead in the 22nd minute.

After kick-off, China struggled to mount effective offensives, whereas Qatar applied continuous pressure. In the 22nd minute, Sebastian cut across the edge of the penalty area and fired a shot, which was blocked. Yu Dabao was penalized for a handball during defense, and Qatar capitalized on the ensuing right-flank free kick. Haydos sent a diagonal pass into the box; Jiaxiang headed it clear, but the ball glanced off his head and fell right onto Boudiaf, who charged forward and headed it into the net.

0:1!

Dai Zhiwei looked on helplessly at the repeatedly faltering defense. It took him tremendous effort to score, yet the opponents only needed to seize defensive lapses to score with ease—it was utterly frustrating.

Regarding domestic football development, Dai Zhiwei was at a loss for words. Players scoring 30 points refuse to learn from those who score 90—Brazil, England, France, Spain—and still claim the 90-pointers’ methods don’t work.

Nearby was a former rival, now consistently scoring around 75. They used to be in similar circumstances; surely, one could copy the 75-pointer’s methods, right? But unable to even copy, nor willing to learn, yet hoping to innovate independently—it was laughable!

Nevertheless, so long as he wore the national team jersey, he would not allow others to flaunt their prowess before him!

He resented the football association’s lack of ambition.

But for his country, Dai Zhiwei was determined to shed blood for the nation.

Just wait, Qatar!

The China versus Qatar match continued in full swing.

In the 29th minute, China attacked: Wu Xi passed, and Zheng Zhi sent a long ball from the flank.

Dai Zhiwei took two great strides, outpaced his marker Yassir, and volleyed the ball directly, sending it toward the upper center of the goal.

Qatar's goalkeeper Amin reacted quickly, managed to get his hands to the ball, but failed to secure it; the shot missed narrowly, sailing just over the crossbar.

“Damn, damn, damn! Still didn’t go in!”

Landing, Dai Zhiwei spat out his frustration like a machine gun. It was his third shot of the match, all missing the mark—a pity.

As Dai Zhiwei lamented, China mounted another attack. Wu Xi intercepted the ball at midfield and passed it to Zheng Zhi ahead.

Zheng Zhi, holding the ball in the center, saw Dai Zhiwei pulling away from the box. Other teammates might have hesitated, but Zheng Zhi, who had the best chemistry with Dai Zhiwei and had witnessed his turn-and-break moves near the penalty area, wasted no time and sent a direct pass to Dai Zhiwei’s feet.

Dai Zhiwei stopped the ball; Yassir, behind him, pressed tightly. Instead of turning to break through as Zheng Zhi expected, Dai Zhiwei returned the ball to Yu Dabao, then spun and darted into the box.

Yu Dabao, inspired, didn’t hesitate—he lifted his foot, sending a high ball straight into the box!

Facing away from the goal, Dai Zhiwei leaped high.

Without seeing the goal, Dai Zhiwei relied on his instinct, nodded the ball forcefully in the direction he imagined the goal to be!

Amin had planned to come out and catch the ball above Dai Zhiwei’s head, as such lobs usually aren’t fast and he would have time to intercept.

But, unexpectedly, Dai Zhiwei jumped for the header near the edge of the penalty area while facing away from the goal—a lobbed header!

Given Dai Zhiwei’s leap and height, he barely managed to make contact underneath the ball.

This was why Amin chose to come out. If Dai Zhiwei had waited for the ball to drop further before heading, it would have entered Amin’s control zone.

But Dai Zhiwei got to it first.

On the pitch, sometimes it’s all about seizing that split-second advantage.

Amin realized it was too late to retreat; his only option was to use his forward momentum to jump and intercept midway, so he leapt up with all his might.

His intentions were good, but the outcome was not—he failed to reach the ball, which traced a high, elegant arc through the air, sailing over Amin’s head and dropping toward the goal...

Yassir, who had just lost Dai Zhiwei, rushed desperately toward the goal for a bicycle-kick clearance. But as he reached the goal, he saw the ball’s arc nearly grazed the crossbar and flew into the net.

Yassir could only use his head, straining to reach the ball from below, but his hurried jump lacked height, and the ball soared over his head and crashed into the net!

“It’s a goal! It’s a goal! It’s a goal!” The Huaxia Sports Channel commentator roared, “Dai Zhiwei’s goal equalizes the score—a lobbed header from near the edge of the penalty area. Sometimes, scoring depends on a flash of brilliance from a star!”

The Huaxia commentator was still reveling in the joy of Dai Zhiwei’s goal as China braced for Qatar’s increasingly frenzied counterattack.

After Dai Zhiwei’s spectacular goal brought the score level, Qatar launched a storm of attacks. Had China’s defense not held strong, they’d surely have been shredded by now.

“Hold on to the ball!”

With a fierce sliding tackle, Zhang Linpeng dispossessed Sebastian, who hadn’t noticed him, and without concern for Sebastian lying on the ground—whether truly injured or faking—sent the ball ahead to Jiaxiang, who started a wild sprint down the flank.

Yet Zhang Linpeng’s ferocity was but a fleeting moment.

Wang Dalei shouted, leapt high, stretched as far as possible, and with his fingertips finally touched Maksoud’s powerful shot from a tight angle, sending the ball bouncing out of bounds—Qatar earned a corner.

“Hey! Stay focused—don’t let them shoot so easily!” Wang Dalei, having just stood up, shouted loudly at his teammates.

Wang Dalei was anxious; after Dai Zhiwei’s goal equalized the score, Qatar had gone mad, pinning China in their own half for most of the game. There had already been three shots likely to result in goals.

Had Wang Dalei not been in top form today, the score would not be 1:1, but 2:1 or even 3:1.