Lin Hai Ting Tao

Chapter 742 Grand Chorus

Chapter 1 A Historic Victory

When the final whistle blew, the Chinese fans in the stands erupted in a huge cheer, despite being in the away stadium.

On the field, the Chinese players were just as emotional as the fans.

Many of them cried tears of joy—they never imagined they would live to see their team make it into the World Cup finals!

Most of these players played in the domestic league and had participated in at least one World Cup qualifier, but they had never even made it to the top ten, let alone the World Cup finals.

This time, they not only made it to the top ten, but they also made it into the World Cup finals in one fell swoop.

For them, this was truly the pinnacle of their lives.

As professional soccer players, as members of the national team, participating in the World Cup was their ultimate goal.

World Cup champions?

That was too far away from them; unrealistic goals were meaningless.

Even the "Five Little Dragons" playing overseas were extremely excited about this result.

They huddled together, celebrating as if they had won some kind of championship.

Gao Hongbo first went to shake hands with the opposing coach, Le Guen, and then walked towards his players.

He was also very happy. He was the first local coach in the history of Chinese soccer to lead the men's national team into the World Cup finals. He had made history and realized his dream.

He could finally give himself an explanation.

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Everyone was celebrating to their heart's content, whether they were players on the field or fans in front of the television.

After the game ended, even though it was almost eleven o'clock at night in Beijing, the excited fans still poured into the streets.

In Beijing, in Shenyang, in Shanghai, in Guangzhou, in Dalian, in Wuhan, in Chengdu... in every city in China, traffic jams choked the main roads, and people leaned out of every car window, waving the national flag and honking their horns.

In the squares of major cities, many fans quickly gathered to celebrate the qualification.

They waved the national flag and their arms, cheering loudly.

Whether they knew each other or not, men and women hugged each other; at this moment, no one would think that the other was being a pervert.

The bars inside and out were filled with cheering crowds, and golden beer was splashed into the sky at barbecue stalls and open-air restaurants.

The owner rushed out and excitedly announced, "Drink, drink, drink! Tonight, everything is on me!"

A vendor who had been selling national flags before the game grabbed handfuls of flags and stuffed them into the hands of every fan passing by his cart: "Here, take them! They're free! Take them! We're all Chinese, let's celebrate together!"

Someone lit firecrackers and fireworks, and beautiful fireworks bloomed in the night sky, booming like New Year's.

In front of the reporter's camera lens, excited Chinese fans crowded around, venting their emotions to the camera.

"The last time we qualified, I was still young, and I don't remember much. I'm very happy this time. I witnessed history in person!" a young fan said excitedly.

"Thank you Zhou Yi! Thank you Sun Pan! Thank you He Ying! Thank you Yang Muge! Thank you Guo Nu... Thank you to all the players and coaches of the national team! You helped us realize our dream! The World Cup, it's the World Cup..." As the fan spoke, he became so emotional that he started to cry. Immediately, a fan came up and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him, and when he turned around, he hugged the other person tightly and burst into tears, crying so hard that the person comforting him also started to wipe away tears. And so, two grown men hugged each other in front of the camera, sobbing uncontrollably.

But no one felt embarrassed, awkward, or strange. Many people were wiping away tears, just like them. If you weren't a soccer fan, if you weren't a Chinese soccer fan, it would probably be difficult to understand this feeling.

The reporter was also touched by this scene. The beautiful reporter wanted to say something, but her mouth opened and she couldn't make a sound.

A shout came from somewhere: "Long live the Chinese team! Long live China!"

The shout quickly spread to other places, and the whole square was filled with a unified roar: "Long live the Chinese team!! Long live China!!"

Not only in this square in this city, but in other cities in China, in those places where fans gathered, this sound echoed.

"Long live the Chinese team!! Long live China!!"

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The next day, television news, traditional newspapers, and online new media all used a lot of space and time to report on the Chinese team's 3-1 victory over Oman in the away game, as well as the scenes of celebration across the country after the game.

The images reminded people of the news reports during the Spring Festival—the people of the whole country joyfully welcomed the New Year...

Except now it was the people of the whole country celebrating the Chinese team's qualification for the World Cup finals.

The images reminded people of the successful bid for the 2001 Olympics and China's accession to the WTO.

In the evening, the Xinwen Lianbo (CCTV Evening News) also devoted five minutes to reporting this event, which showed its importance...

First, it reported on the game itself, then it switched to the scenes of celebration across the country, and finally it ended with the deafening cheers of "Long live the Chinese team! Long live China!"

When the plane carrying the entire Chinese team returned to Beijing, thousands of Chinese fans gathered outside the Capital International Airport to welcome the triumphant national team.

There were so many people that they couldn't fit inside the terminal, so they had to wait outside.

When the Chinese players appeared before everyone, the cheers from the assembled crowd seemed to be able to lift the roof of the terminal.

The Chinese players were also taken aback. They had never seen such a scene before—even when they won the Asian Cup runner-up or the Olympic gold medal, there wasn't such a spectacular welcome home...

The security guards had to work hard to maintain order, so that the excited fans wouldn't flood the passage that had been cleared with great difficulty, but even so, the originally three-meter-wide passage had now become barely wide enough for one person to pass through...

"Amazing..." The players stared blankly at everything, and some didn't dare to go forward, fearing that they would be swallowed up as soon as they walked in...

Zhou Yi took the lead and walked out.

Seeing the players come out, everyone cheered, and then someone started singing "Ode to the Motherland," and a grand chorus began near the exit.

As the second national anthem, very few people in China can't sing "Ode to the Motherland".

"Five-star red flag fluttering in the wind! How loud the victory song rings!! Sing of our dear motherland! From now on towards prosperity and strength—!!"

The unified singing echoed in the terminal, and it took a long time to subside.

Zhou Yi and his teammates, protected by security guards, walked through the singing fans.

Zhou Yi kept waving to the fans, and when he couldn't move forward, he stopped to sign autographs or fulfill their requests for photos.

The short distance of a dozen meters took the entire Chinese team more than half an hour to pass through, and after boarding the bus, the fans still crowded around the bus.

There were so many people that the bus couldn't start at all, and could only "crawl" at a speed of five kilometers per hour. The Chinese team's bus seemed to be slowly driven out of the airport and into the entrance of the expressway toll station, surrounded by fans.

When paying the toll, the toll station was also crowded with people, who were taking pictures of the inside of the bus with their mobile phones.

And behind the bus, there was a long queue, all of them the private cars of fans.

When the bus was driving on the highway, these convoys followed behind it, neither overtaking nor changing lanes, just following behind the bus with their hazard lights on, forming a long dragon. Every car had a national flag attached, and many cars simply extended the national flag from the car window and sunroof, waving in the wind.

The Chinese players on the bus gathered in the back row, watching the convoys in surprise, waving to them.

For them, such a scene was unprecedented—when could the national team of the past enjoy such treatment? It would be good enough if they weren't treated like rats running across the street, with everyone shouting to beat them...

The national team players in the car were infected by the scene in front of them, and someone couldn't help but sing an "old song"—Sun Nan's "Red Flag Fluttering".

"That's the rainbow taken from the rising sun, no one doesn't love your color..."

This song was very famous, and as soon as someone sang the first sentence, someone immediately followed with the second sentence:

"The most beautiful face in the world, no one doesn't miss your face..."

The third person joined in: "Your bright eyes lead me, let me stay in Dreamland and look forward to the future! When I leave home, you blow the horn with deep affection..."

Then, more and more people joined in, and Zhou Yi, a post-90s generation, also sang along.

Even the old driver driving the bus hummed softly, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the steering wheel.

So the inside of the car turned into a grand chorus, and the CCTV reporter accompanying the team faithfully recorded this scene with his camera.

"Five-star red flag, you are my pride! Five-star red flag, I am proud of you! Cheer for you, I bless you! Your name is more important than my life—!!"