Original title: Opinion – Three Chinese referees qualify for the World Cup with unusual significance
After 20 years, Chinese football finally burst out of Asia again!
You are not dreaming. However, this time it was not the national football team who rushed out of Asia this time, but the Chinese referee. Recently, FIFA announced the list of referees for the Qatar World Cup finals this year. Three Chinese referees, Ma Ning, Cao Yi and Shi Xiang, were selected. Among them, Ma Ning was selected as the main referee, while the other two were selected as assistant referees. .
The selection of three Chinese referees is of unusual significance.
On the one hand, they are expected to not only continue to write history, but may even create a new history. The last and only time a Chinese referee enforced the finals of the World Cup can be traced back to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan: at that time, Lu Jun had enforced Croatia VS Mexico, Poland VS the United States; in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Mu Yuxin Shortlisted for the assistant referee list, but failed to get the law enforcement opportunity. In the first two “finalists”, the Chinese referees were “single soldiers”, which to a certain extent reduced their chance to enforce the game, especially for assistant referees like Mu Yuxin.
According to the convention of the World Cup, in order to facilitate on-site communication and coordination, FIFA prefers to arrange the combination of the referee and assistant referee from the same country and region in the same game. Therefore, in this year’s World Cup in Qatar, the three Chinese referees have a “group advantage” compared to the previous ones, and they are expected to make their debut as assistant referees and even the Chinese referee group in the World Cup finals.
On the other hand, for Chinese referees to be selected this time, they need to overcome more difficulties than in the past. On January 10, 2019, Qatar played against Lebanon in Group E of the first round of the Asian Cup. Ma Ning became the first Chinese referee to officiate the Asian Cup in 12 years. Since then, due to the impact of the epidemic, during the World Cup referee inspection period stipulated by FIFA, Chinese referees have temporarily left the international arena for 15 months, and will not reappear in the AFC Champions League games until April 2021. Since then, Ma Ning, Cao Yi and Shi Xiang have been stationed abroad for a long time to ensure their appearance in various major events of the AFC, which is why they were selected for the World Cup referee list by virtue of their outstanding performance.
When abroad, in order to ensure their training quality and physical fitness, the three Chinese referees once practiced dehydration under the high temperature in West Asia. Last year, they took part in an elite seminar for Qatar World Cup candidate referees. Ma Ning revealed that during the seminar, there are theoretical tests, video case tests, physical fitness tests, practical operations, etc. every morning, and the training is performed for several hours every day, with great intensity and density. In addition, they support each other in overcoming eating and sleeping problems. It was under such diligent preparation that the three referees defeated many strong opponents, especially Ma Ning, who qualified for the World Cup only after defeating the famous whistleblowers from Bahrain, Jordan and Japan.
The selection of Chinese referees, especially Ma Ning, is also worth re-evaluating and correcting some of the long-standing stereotypes of Ma Ning by Chinese fans themselves. Ma Ning is known for his toughness in law enforcement in the Chinese Super League. He once made 4 penalty kicks in a single game, played a dozen cards and sent two or three people off. Although most of them were not misjudgments, they still made He has become a “thorn in the eyes” of many fans, and has been attacked by various verbal and written criticisms, and even “check papers” that are beyond the norm.
Ma Ning’s ability to stay tough for a long time actually reflects his full confidence in his professionalism; he has “offended” almost every team, which to a considerable extent reflects his neutral and equal professional attitude. In comparison, Lu Jun, the last Chinese “Golden Whistle” who appeared in the World Cup, is far behind. He was imprisoned in the Chinese football anti-corruption case in 2013 for accepting bribes for a long time. Even if he was commuted and released from prison in 2014, Has been banned from continuing to engage in the football industry for life.
The entry of three Chinese referees into the Men’s World Cup is tantamount to a shot in the arm at a time when Chinese football has fallen into a slump from the national brand of men’s football and professional leagues at all levels. Although their shortlisting cannot directly affect the progress of Chinese players and leagues, it can at least make more people realize that it is hard to stay professional and endure loneliness, and at the same time, they will continue to actively integrate with global industry standards and learn advanced experience. , it will be closer to the mainstream of world football instead of drifting away.
Article source: Yangcheng Evening NewsReturn to Sohu, see more
Editor:
Disclaimer: The opinions of this article only represent the author himself, Sohu is an information publishing platform, and Sohu only provides information storage space services.