Sure enough, the ball kicked out by Li Mingyu landed at the feet of Pedri.
Pedri swayed continuously, and after reaching the bottom, he made a sweeping pass. Morata in the center grabbed a header to help the team break the deadlock.
"That's a good shot!"
The assistant referee did not raise the flag, and the assistant referee's voice came from Turpin's headset again.
Turpin nodded and said, "I saw it, and I'm sure it was a good shot!"
Turpin pointed his finger at the center circle, declaring the goal valid.
The excited Morata rushed to Pedri on the sidelines, and the two hugged each other tightly.
This is the first goal of World Cup from Morata.
World Cup and Morata in 2014 and 2018 failed to be selected into Spain National Team.
This time, as Spain National Team's official center, Morata performed very well.
Although he did not score a goal in the first game, his running and pulling were very good. Moreover, he took advantage of his physical advantage and made a return pass in the penalty area, helping Li Mingyu easily score the long shot.
In this game, Morata ran more actively. Finally, his hard work paid off and he scored World Cup's first goal, which is gratifying.
Li Mingyu rushed to the sidelines, jumped on the back of Morata, and celebrated passionately.
A familiar script. In that game 8 years ago, Spain National Team also opened the scoring, but the following time was a past event that Espanyol did not dare to look back on.
So will today's game still have the same trend as eight years ago?
Turpin returned to the midfield, waiting for Spain National Team's players to come back.
Netherlands National Team received a heavy punch right from the start, which made their fighting spirit even higher.
8 years ago, our seniors were able to defeat Spain at a score of 5:1, and we can do the same today.
Seeing that the players on both sides had returned to their own half, Turpin blew the kick-off whistle.
Although Netherlands National Team's frontcourt players are not as star-studded as before, they are all players with good abilities.
Spain National Team, who somewhat underestimated the enemy, soon suffered.
Depay, who just transferred to Barcelona this year, found many shooting opportunities in the frontcourt.
De Gea saved Depay's shots twice in a row, causing the fans in the audience to scream in surprise.
In the 25th minute, Netherlands National Team made a comeback and succeeded in stealing the ball in the backcourt. Van Dijk handed the ball to De Jong.
De Jong made a long pass of about 40 meters in the backcourt, which landed directly at the feet of Depay who was rushing in from the wing.
"Is it offside? Is it offside?"
Turpin Because he had just turned around and was unaware of the situation behind him, he saw that the assistant referee did not raise the flag, but he still had to confirm with the opponent through the headset.
The assistant referee said very firmly, "There is no offside. At the moment of passing the ball, player No. 9 was not offside!"
"OK! Thank you!"
Turpin thanked his buddy while chasing after Depay.
And Eric Garcia is the only one left in the backcourt of Spain who can stop Depay.
Behind Depay, Alba, who was attacking, lowered his head and quickly chased back.
But the distance between the two makes it basically impossible to catch up.
Depay was very fast and rushed to Eric Garcia with the ball.
Eric Garcia, who is passively defensive, does not dare to take a shot easily. If he fouls, it will probably be a Red Gem Promotion Card. Then it will be too difficult for the team.
Eric Garcia, whose defense was not firm, was shaken away by Depay with a sudden change of direction.
Single ball.
Facing De Gea's attack, Depay calmly fired a low shot, turning De Gea's attack into a joke.
1:1.
There is absolutely no problem with this goal.
Turpin, who was following Depay and was about to run out of breath, immediately confirmed that the goal was valid.
During the slow-motion playback, the director showed a scene very carefully, which made people boo.
Because behind Depay, not only Turpin is chasing, but also Alba of Spain National Team.
The reason why people booed was that, not only did Alba fail to catch up with Depay, he even failed to keep away from Turpin, who started later than him.
The fans at the scene also booed Alba with dissatisfaction.
At the same time, everyone also gave applause to the referee Turpin on duty.
This goal greatly boosted the morale of Netherlands National Team.
Even Netherlands National Team's goalkeeper Cillessen couldn't help but run crazily from his own goal to the bottom line on the other side and join the celebration.
This goal made Spain fans feel a little bad.
Are we really going to repeat the mistakes of 8 years ago?
Li Mingyu waved to everyone, gathered in the midfield, and said something, asking everyone to be more vigilant and not to underestimate the enemy.
Turpin saw that Netherlands National Team's celebration took a little too long, so he ran over and asked them to quickly return to their own half.
Netherlands National Team, who were somewhat carried away, reluctantly walked from Spain's half to their own half. While walking, they did not forget to interact with the Netherlands fans in the stands.
Suddenly, Li Mingyu seemed to see something, his eyes suddenly lit up, he ran from outside the center circle to the center circle, and stood next to Morata.
Morata is very surprised, because modern football rarely has two players standing in the center circle when kicking off.
But Morata is also very smart. He realized that Li Mingyu was thinking of a surprise attack.
The referee Turpin also saw Li Mingyu's behavior and frowned slightly, not knowing what this young man wanted to do.
However, when the referee Turpin looked at Netherlands National Team's player who was slowly walking back to his own half, he finally knew what Li Mingyu was thinking of doing.
"What a keen young man, with such a clear mind!"
Turpin knows that Netherlands National Team is going to be in trouble.
But as the referee, he did not give any reminder. After all, fairness and justice is what he wants to achieve!
Turpin stood there, calmly watching the scene that was going to happen next.
When the last Netherlands National Team player walked back to his own half, the referee Turpin glanced at the unusual player with sympathetic eyes, and with Li Mingyu's expectant eyes, blew the kick-off whistle.
The whistle woke up someone at Netherlands National Team.
That is Cillessen, the goalkeeper of Netherlands National Team.
Cillessen At this time, he had just walked out of the center circle and was happily running towards his goal.
But this whistle sounded like a reminder, making Cillessen feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
He looked back in horror at the football in the center circle.
Just as the referee blew the whistle, Li Mingyu signaled Morata to give him the ball.
Morata touched the football lightly with his foot. Li Mingyu directly exerted his force on the spot and kicked the football hard towards Netherlands National Team's door.
In the horrified eyes of fans all over the world, the football slid in the air for more than two seconds and went directly into the gate of Netherlands National Team.
When the Netherlands player looked confused, the referee Turpin made a gesture that the goal was valid.
Netherlands National Team's players all went crazy. They surrounded Turpin and complained to the opponent that the ball was invalid and that it was a sneak attack.
Turpin said with a serious face, "Gentlemen, please calm down. There is no problem with this ball!"
Young Depay's eyes were almost red. He had just scored a goal to equalize the score, and the opponent used such a shameless method to steal the ball. How could this be possible?
Depay shouted excitedly, "Our goalkeeper hasn't returned to the goal yet, how can we kick off?"
Turpin looked at Depay with the eyes of a mentally retarded child, and said calmly, "It seems that you need to learn some basic rules of football."
"When all players from both sides return to their own half, the referee can blow the kick-off whistle."
Turpin looked at Depay expressionlessly and said, "You are the last player to return to your half zone. When you return to this half zone, I can blow the kick-off whistle. As for whether your goalkeeper has returned to his position, that is not my problem!"
Netherlands National Team's players all looked bitter, especially goalkeeper Cillessen. Due to his recklessness, the team actually lost the ball in this way.
In fact, things like this are not uncommon in world football.
Generally speaking, goalkeepers rarely choose to celebrate with their teammates, because usually after a goal is scored, teammates celebrate in the opponent's half. At this time, if the goalkeeper runs over, this problem will occur.
And even if the goalkeeper rushes to the opponent's half to celebrate, he will quickly return to his own goal. Ordinary goalkeepers will not make this mistake.
Secondly, if there is a clear-minded person in the team, he will stand in the opponent's half, wait until his goalkeeper returns to the goal, and then step back to his own half.
However, because the goal just now was so exciting, all the players in Netherlands National Team were already on top.
No one is aware of the goalkeeper's problem.
As a result, the alert Li Mingyu got the opportunity for this sneak attack.
When Turpin saw that Netherlands National Team's players were still chattering, they couldn't help but make a driving gesture and said, "Okay, this ball will not be changed, hurry up and kick off, let the game run."
Netherlands National Team's players had no choice but to kick off the ball angrily.
The dramatic goal made Spain fans ecstatic.
Commentators from various countries have also given reasonable explanations for Li Mingyu's sudden attack.
Many fans have always believed that the referee will blow the kick-off whistle after all players are in position.
In fact, otherwise, the referee would not be so considerate.
This goal also served as a reminder to many goalkeepers who like to make waves.
Professional goalkeepers rarely rush into the opponent's half to celebrate a goal, unless it's a last-minute winner.
After the restart, Netherlands National Team's morale took a significant hit.
Netherlands National Team's movements began to get louder.
The smell of gunpowder between the two sides also became stronger.
The whistle of Turpin also kept sounding.
"De Jong, please pay attention to your movements and stop your unnecessary little moves!"
"Busquets, what you did just now was too dangerous, you have to pay attention to your actions!"
"Wijnaldum, don't use your cleverness to challenge my bottom line. Next time, I will play your cards for you!"
"Hey, hey, you two, separate quickly. What are you doing? I have the final say here!"
"Li, return to your position and don't challenge my authority!"
Turpin called for more than ten fouls on both sides within ten minutes. In the end, Turpin used five topaz War God cards to calm down the players on both sides.
The real controversy of the game appeared in the 40th minute of the first half.
After Li Mingyu received an inverted triangle pass from Pedri in front of the penalty area, he used a fake shot to dodge the defensive player who was coming up. With a light pick, he was about to bring the football into the penalty area.
At this time, the football had a small change of direction, and the ball could not be passed.
Li Mingyu quickly stretched out his right hand and raised it high to indicate the opponent's handball action.
However, Netherlands defender De Ligt quickly kicked the football out of the sideline.
Eliminate the danger first.
The position where Turpin was standing was actually not very good. He saw that the football was blocked by De Ligt, but he was not sure whether the opponent blocked the ball with his hands.
"Clement, I think you need to watch the VAR replay to confirm whether the ball is a handball!"
The VAR assistant referee's voice appeared in Turpin's headset.
Turpin listened carefully to the voice in the headset, wanting to make his own judgment.
If the ball just now was a handball, De Ligt's body was in the penalty area at the time, and he would have been awarded a penalty kick, and De Ligt would have been shown at least a topaz War God card.
However, De Ligt already has a topaz War God card on his back.
Therefore, this penalty is probably the most critical penalty that Turpin needs to make in this game.
Li Mingyu rushed in front of Turpin, stretched out his hand excitedly, and said, "Sir, he must have handballed the ball. I am sure that he blocked my ball with his hand!"
Turpin was not fooled by Li Mingyu's words. He was still waiting for the VAR assistant referee's reply.
Turpin has always believed that when the referee needs VAR to intervene, he must do two things.
The first is to listen carefully to every word of the VAR assistant referee in the headset to analyze whether you need VAR intervention.
The second is your body language, because at this time, all eyes will be focused on you, and every move you make must be firm and powerful, without hesitation.
After determining that VAR intervention was needed, Turpin said to Li Mingyu, "Li, I understand your mood, now I am going to check the VAR replay!"
Turpin made a gesture to watch the VAR replay and ran to the sidelines.
"Are you in position?" the VAR assistant referee asked in the headset.
Seeing the screen in front of him, Turpin nodded and said, "I'm already in place, please show me the lens just now!"