Chapter 31: Really accurate at judging people!

"One million." Zhang Yuan said calmly.

These three words were apparently very light, but when they fell into Zhao Decai's ears, they seemed to be as heavy as a thousand pounds!
"This... you are really lucky." Zhao Decai was very unconvinced: "But the referee obviously has a problem, he is biased towards the host country."

"If we ignore the referee factor, Portugal will not lose!"

Zhang Yuan chuckled. What Zhao Decai said made sense, but Portugal in 02 was not as strong as he had imagined.

"Okay, how about we make another bet?"

"Okay." One million is not a big sum for Zhao Decai.

"The Koreans have won now, and the next round is the 1/8 group stage, which should be against Italy. Who do you think will win?"

"That must be Italy!"

Zhao Decai was extremely sure when he spoke.

"The great players from Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Inter Milan are all in the team."

"Buffon, Maldini, Coco, Zambrotta, Totti, Piero..." Fatty Zhao knows them all.

"With this lineup, kicking a stick is like kicking a great-grandson, just play it casually!"

How can we lose when Feilong hits our face again!

"Oh, really?" Zhang Yuan deliberately provoked the other party with a frivolous tone: "What if the sticks win?"

Zhao Decai snorted coldly: "I know you don't understand football when I hear you say that."

"I tell you, even if we have the home advantage and even if the referee gives face to the host, football still depends on strength."

"With Italy's strength, they can't lose!"

"In that case, do you dare to bet another million? It's the same. No cash required, just consider it an investment."

"it is good!"

Zhao Decai held his breath.

I've been watching football for so many years, how could I not understand the game?

Three days later, at 7:30 in the evening, Zhao Decai sat in front of the TV like last time, with a glass of wine in one hand and his arm around his secretary in the other.

The whistle blew and the 1/8 knockout match between South Korea and Italy began.

3 minutes into the game, penalty!
Zhao Decai's face froze. What the hell...

Ahn Jung-hwan took the penalty kick and the Korean audience cheered thunderously, but the goalkeeper was Buffon, one of the strongest goalkeepers of the 21st century!
Zhao Decai breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the penalty was saved.

"That's right, we can't score with Buffon."

In the 17th minute, "Wolf King" Totti sent a corner kick. Vieri broke through the illegal pulling of several players and headed the ball into the goal with his invincible physical fitness!

"Okay!" Zhao Decai clapped his hands, and a big white cloud floated down immediately.

The Korean audience in the stadium booed loudly in a very "Korean" way after the goal.

In the 21st minute, Totti and Kinnan competed for the header. Such a small scramble resulted in a yellow card from the referee!
Zhao Decai stomped his feet in anger.

In the 41st minute, Coco was hit by a malicious elbow from Liu Xiangtie and was bleeding profusely, but the referee seemed to be blind and did not react at all.

When Zhao Decai saw this scene, he smashed the wine glass.

In the second half, in the 49th minute, Piero was elbowed like his teammates, but was reprimanded by the referee.

In the 53rd minute, Lee Yong-pyo's dive earned Tomasi a yellow card from the referee.

In the 59th minute, the team got a free kick in the frontcourt with an excellent position. Zambrotta, who was dissatisfied with the decision, went forward to argue and received another yellow card.

This is already Italy's third yellow card!
Zhao Decai was dumbfounded. This yellow card is free?

At this time, the Italian team had discovered the conspiracy of South Korea and the referee, and began to strengthen their defense and asked the players to pay special attention to the opponent's "little moves".

In the 69th minute, Zambrotta was maliciously tackled and was injured and substituted, but the referee remained indifferent.

In the 79th minute, in the Italian penalty area, Li Tianxiu hit the back of the head of Maldini who had fallen to the ground!
"Is this playing football or killing people?" Zhao Decai was going crazy.

Still, the referee remained indifferent. Many years later, Li Tianxiu admitted in a program that he had kicked the opponent on purpose, and he was not ashamed of it but proud of it.

In the 81st minute, Totti broke into the penalty area and was tackled by a stick, but the referee showed him a yellow card for diving. Totti received two yellow cards and was sent off.

Five minutes later, Italy's brilliant breakthrough was called offside.

Finally, before the end of extra time, South Korea's Ahn Jung-hwan scored a header and ended the game 2-1.

Because of this goal, Ahn Jung-hwan was fired by the Italian Serie A team Perugia a few days later and was never hired again.

"Italy... lost?"

Zhao Decai, who was sitting in front of the TV, had his eyes dazed and his vision blurry. He couldn't believe what was happening.

"How can this be?"

"How can this be!!!"

Zhao Decai's adrenaline surged, and he actually lifted a solid wooden coffee table weighing dozens of kilograms and smashed it hard at the TV. After a flash of electric sparks, the room returned to calm.

The secretary beside him was terrified and huddled in the corner, not daring to move, for fear that the boss would take his anger out on them.

Ding ding, ding ding…

At this moment, the cell phone rang suddenly in the quiet room, startling the secretary.

Zhao Decai picked up the mobile phone that had slipped off the coffee table and looked at the caller ID.

【Zhang Yuan】

He gritted his teeth and picked up the phone, and Zhang Yuan's still calm voice came from the other side.

"Two million."

"I don't accept it!" Zhao Decai's voice was about to break: "Black whistle, absolutely black whistle!"

"Bangers are shameless!"

"Mr. Zhao, do you think that for South Korea, face or winning is more important?"

Zhao Decai remained silent.

"The next match between South Korea and Spain is coming up. Do you still dare to bet?"

"Who says I dare not!"

Zhang Yuan’s provocation was very effective, and Zhao Decai, who was already excited, immediately agreed.

"Even if they dare to smear Italy, the match against Spain is a battle to advance to the semi-finals. I don't believe FIFA will allow refereeing scandals in such an important match!" "Okay, it's still one million." Zhang Yuan said nothing more.

Four days later, at 2:30 p.m., the match between South Korea and Spain began.

This time, Zhao Decai did not bring his secretary. He bought a new TV to replace the one he smashed. He sat on the sofa, shaking his feet and feeling uneasy.

"It's impossible that Zhang Yuan's predictions are always correct!"

【stubborn】

But things went counterproductive.

Sweeping kick, Vajra palm, Iron Mountain lean...

Shaolin Kungfu is good, really good~~
Shaolin Kungfu is awesome, really awesome~~
You are the Diamond Leg~~I am the Iron Head Kung Fu...

It was a foul by South Korea, I didn’t see it.

Spanish tackle, yellow card.

It was an own goal by South Korea, and the whistle was invalid.

Spain broke through and the whistle was blown for offside.

Two goals were disallowed and the game eventually went into a penalty shootout, but even the serious foul of the Korean goalkeeper moving prematurely during the penalty shootout was ignored.

In the end, the Spaniards cried and the Koreans smiled...the "strongest" record of an Asian country in the World Cup was born.

vomit……

Zhao Decai collapsed on the sofa, like a deflated ball. He no longer had the energy to get angry like he did last time.

He was numb.

I thought it would be dark, but I didn’t expect it to be this dark!
Even he, who deals with coal every day, thinks it’s dark!

Ding ding, ding ding!
The phone rang on time like the previous two times, but Zhao Decai didn't even bother to check the caller ID.

"Three million." It was still Zhang Yuan's voice.

"How do you know that the Korean Congress will win?" Fatty Zhao had lost his temper and was just curious.

"Although I don't understand football, I understand American people!" Zhang Yuan seemed calm, but every word he said made Zhao Decai feel as heavy as a mountain.

"Okay, I give in. I really give in."

"Don't worry, Mr. Zhao. The World Cup isn't over yet. The next game will be between South Korea and Germany."

"Why bother watching?" Zhao Decai slammed the table and said, "The Koreans will definitely win."

"If it were me, since I'm already so shady, I might as well keep shady all the way and become a world champion!"

"Oh, we have different opinions again. I think Germany will win."

"No way. Now I understand the Chinese people."

"Another million?"

"Let's gamble." Zhao Decai is now so stubborn that he can still keep his mouth shut even after cremation.

Fatty Zhao said so, but after hanging up the phone he thought about it again and again, and then made a phone call with a pretentious tone.

"Hey, bet one million dollars on Germany to win in the next game!"

Although he didn't admit it verbally, he had already accepted Zhang Yuan's judgment in his heart.

Three days later, the semi-finals.

Zhao Decai, who was watching TV, was surprised to find that the black whistles that had plagued the three games between Portugal, Italy and Spain had disappeared!

The penalties were extremely precise and strict, as impartial as a fair scale.

"This is really strange..." Fatty Zhao was puzzled.

"Could it be that this competition was manipulated by Zhang Yuan?"

Without the referee's foul, Germany won the game easily with its strength, without any suspense.

This time, Zhang Yuan, who was on the crew, picked up his phone and was about to make a call like he had done the previous three times, but the phone rang.

"Four million, hehe, I got it first!" Zhao Decai felt a sense of pleasure as if his prank had succeeded.

"I want to know now, how did you guess that there was no foul play in this game?"

Zhang Yuan smiled and replied: "I don't understand baseball, but I understand the Chinese people. Besides that, I also understand a person."

"Who?"

"Beckenbauer!"

That year, if the old man had not turned the tide and asked FIFA to change the referee before the match between Germany and Germany, do you really think that the Koreans would not dare to become the black champions?

The title of “Football Emperor” wasn’t given for nothing!

The old man is a well-known leader in the industry not only in terms of professional ability, connections, and appeal. Even so, he had to rely on coercion and inducement to obtain the right to compete relatively fairly.

Italy won the cup in 06 and Spain won the cup in 10.

The two teams that were destroyed by the Koreans with unfair whistles in the game won the next two World Cups.

Ultimately it all depends on your strength.

Zhao Decai listened quietly to Zhang Yuan's analysis and explanation. He was speechless for a long time. After a long while, he finally spoke...

"You're really good at reading people!"

"Mr. Zhao, thank you for the four million."

"You're welcome. I have to thank you!"

Zhao Decai changed his mind temporarily and listened to Zhang Yuan and bought Deutsche Welle, making a small cash profit.

[Received thanks from Zhao Decai, XX length +0.3, X ability +5! ]

wipe! ! !
Zhang Yuan's eyes widened when he saw the attribute gains that Zhao Decai brought to him.

you really are……

"Mr. Zhao!"

"what?"

"You will be my real brother from now on, the pure kind!"

(End of this chapter)