Twenty years later, the Chinese soccer world is making waves again, and this time it's not the national team that's breaking through to Asia, but our refereeing team!
This is no dreamland. However, the breakthrough this time is not the national soccer team, but our refereeing community. Recently, FIFA announced the list of referees for the final stage of this year's Qatar World Cup, and three of our referees, Ma Ning, Cao Yi, and Shi Xiang, were successfully selected, with Ma Ning being honored as the main referee, and the remaining two being assistant referees.
The three inductions of our referees are significant.
On the one hand, they are expected to continue and even create new history. Our referee last time is also the only time as the World Cup final stage of the game, that is still in the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan: Lu Jun law enforcement Croatia against Mexico, Poland against the United States of America's two games; 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Mu Yuxin was shortlisted as assistant referees, but did not get the opportunity to enforce the law. Two "shortlisted", our referees are "alone", which to some extent limits the timing of their law enforcement matches, especially assistant referees like Mu Yuxin.
According to the practice of the World Cup, in order to facilitate communication and coordination between the field, FIFA prefers to arrange in the same game from the same country and region of the referee and assistant referee with. Therefore, this World Cup in Qatar, three of our referees compared to the past has a "group advantage", they are expected to realize the assistant referee and even our referee team in the World Cup final round debut.
On the other hand, our referees were able to be selected this time, need to overcome more difficulties than in the past. on January 10, 2019, the first round of the group stage of the Asian Cup Group E Qatar against Lebanon, Ma Ning became the first 12 years of law enforcement of the Asian Cup matches in China's referee. Subsequently, due to the impact of the epidemic, in the World Cup referee investigation period stipulated by the World Football Federation, China's referees temporarily stay away from the world stage for up to 15 months, until April 2021 to return to the Asian Championship. After that, Ma Ning, Cao Yi and Shi Xiang were stationed abroad for a long time, ensuring their presence in all major AFC tournaments, which led to their selection for the World Cup refereeing list with their outstanding performance.
During their time abroad, in order to ensure the quality of their training and physical fitness, the three Chinese referees practiced until they became dehydrated at one point in the high temperatures of West Asia. Last year, they participated in the Qatar World Cup Candidate Referee Elite Seminar. Manning revealed that during the seminar, every morning there is a theory test, video case test, physical fitness test, practical operation, etc., practicing several hours a day, the intensity and density are very high, in the return to the country during a short period of isolation will also adhere to the training, in addition, they will also give each other tips to overcome the diet and sleep problems. It is in such a diligent preparation, the three referees defeated a number of strong opponents, especially Manning, is after defeating the famous whistles from Bahrain, Jordan and Japan to get the qualification for the World Cup.
The selection of our referees, especially Ma Ning, is also worthwhile for our fans to reevaluate and revise some of their long-standing stereotypes. Ma Ning in the enforcement of the Chinese Super League is known as tough, had a single game to make four penalty kicks, more than a dozen cards, sent off two or three people are commonplace, although the vast majority of them are not a miscarriage of justice, but he still became a "thorn in the side of many fans", by a variety of verbal attacks, and even "check the paper! "This is beyond the conventional scale of the attack.
Manning's ability to remain tough for a long time actually reflects his full confidence in his own professionalism; he has "offended" almost every team, which to a considerable extent reflects his professional attitude of neutrality and equal treatment. In contrast, the last appearance of the World Cup in China's "Golden Whistle" Lu Jun is far less, he because of long-term bribery in 2013 in the anti-corruption case of the national football team behind bars, even if the sentence was commuted in 2014, has been lifelong prohibited from continuing to engage in the soccer profession.
Three of our referees into the Men's World Cup, in the national football men's national football and all levels of professional leagues at the moment of the overall trough, is tantamount to a shot in the arm. Although their entry, can not directly play a role in the progress of China's players and the league, but at least can let more people realize, adhere to the professional, enduring loneliness to eat bitter, and at the same time continue to actively with the global standards of professional standards, learning from the advanced experience, it will be from the mainstream of the world of soccer closer to rather than farther and farther away.
