82 Puyol's Voice
Seeing Fabregas at the penalty spot, Bosque and the assistant coaches stood up, ready to celebrate what they thought would be a winning goal.
They thought that this penalty would secure the victory, but it unexpectedly went off target, leaving Bosque and the assistant Tony feeling a bit embarrassed. They exchanged a glance with a wry smile on their faces.
"Why is it so difficult for these guys to take a penalty?"
"Who's up next for the penalty?" Tony thought for a moment, and replied, "It's Xavi. He's usually reliable with penalties, so he shouldn't miss, right?"
Bosque seemed to agree outwardly but he was drumming in his mind, Is Xavi really that reliable? It seemed Spain's penalties had a tradition of not being reliable, even during Bosque's era.
During Enrique's era, despite practicing penalties 1,000 times before the games, Spain was still eliminated in penalty shootouts, and they were eliminated in penalty shootouts in two consecutive World Cups too.
Fabregas's missed penalty didn't impact Spain's morale much, but it had a significant effect on France's morale.
After the game restarted, the French team pressed hard, launching a series of aggressive attacks against Spain.
Due to the controversial nature of the previous rulings by the head referee, after the game restarted, the head referee seemed to consciously or unconsciously make decisions that favored the French team.
In the 41st minute, Ramos and Ribery received a yellow card warning for a tussle.
Two minutes later, Lin broke through and was almost similarly tripped by the defensive player, but the referee, who was very close, made no gesture.
This naturally angered the Spanish players, and Busquets, Xavi, and others also rushed to confront the referee, feeling that his rulings were unfair.
Even if not showing a card, there should at least be a free kick.
The head referee did not even give a verbal warning and directly showed a yellow card— not to the French defending player but to Spain's midfielders, Xavi and Busquets.
The existence of these four yellow cards, including the two shown to the French team earlier, in the first half—an indication that his refereeing had problems.
Unable to tolerate it, Bosque stormed out to protest with the fourth official: "Hey, look at you and what you've done. That's a yellow card, you're not punishing the foul player, instead, you're showing a yellow card to my player. Is this how you enforce the rules?"
The fourth official gestured for Bosque to calm down. If there was a problem, he could file a complaint with FIFA. He was only the fourth official and couldn't change the head referee's rulings.
Bosque actually knew that protesting to the fourth official wouldn't do much, but if he didn't protest, he wouldn't feel good.
"I will complain to FIFA!"
After saying this, the coach huffily returned to the coach's bench.
Perhaps due to the influence of the boos from the fans or perhaps he felt that he had rectified it, the head referee eventually calmed down.
After showing the two yellow cards to the Spanish team, the head referee's enforcement returned to a normal standard.
In the 44th minute of the first half, the Spanish team committed a foul in their own half, gifting the opponent an okay position for a free kick.
The ruling for this free kick was not a problem, but the fans in the stadium would boo whenever they observed the head referee making a decision not favorable to their team.
The French team was not affected by the boos on the scene, as it wasn't directed at them anyway.
Cabaye took the free kick, choosing to directly loop the ball into the penalty area, where teammates were ready to head or shoot.
Benzema, similar in height to his club teammate Ramos, out jumped him to claim the first touch in the penalty area.
Instead of taking a direct shot, he passed the ball to his teammate.
Ménez made a high leap from the other side to head the ball, breaking through Spain's defense. This was a magnificent cooperation; in the last minute of the first half, France tenaciously leveled the score with a header.
However, the big screen replay at the venue showed a suspicion of offside on the goal.
At the moment when Benzema headed the ball, Ménez appeared to be on the offside line.
This further displeased the Spanish fans. Protests against the 'black whistle' could be heard, and some conspiracy theorists even believed that the referee for this game had come with a mission from FIFA.
FIFA didn't want to see Spain defend their World Cup, so they wanted to find an opportunity to eliminate them. Although this kind of guesswork lacked actual evidence, once conspiracy theories spread, more people would believe in them.
Even if FIFA were to immediately step forward and clarify the situation, it would probably be very difficult to completely eliminate the impact of the conspiracy theory.
After scoring, the French team was extremely excited and celebrated wildly at the Calderon Stadium, despite the boos from over 50,000 fans on the scene.
Being able to defiantly level the score when behind, with the odds against them, and the referee's seemingly unfair treatment, was nothing short of a morale boost for the French team, leaving them excited and full of energy.
The Spanish felt that they had been unfairly treated by the referee, and the French team felt the same.
If they had lost the game, the French team would definitely have protested to FIFA.
Of course, winning the match was a different matter.
After the celebrations ended, the first half was over.
When the game restarted, the head referee directly blew the whistle for the end of the first half.
Both teams left the field one after the other and returned to their respective locker rooms.
On the home team's side, the Spanish players, who had been psychologically affected by the head referee in the last few minutes of the first half, didn't look good one by one, and the atmosphere within the team was quite gloomy.
"Forget about the first half of the game, forget about the referee's unfair rulings. What you need to do is to play well and not be influenced by these factors."
Bosque wasn't someone who was good at hyping up and inspiring his players in the locker room to boost their morale. He was more of a traditionalist who methodically dictated tactical gameplay in the locker room, and that's it.
Asking him to rouse the players like Ferguson did didn't quite fit his style.
The motivators in the Spanish locker room were the old captains of the national team, such as Puyol and Casillas.
Seeing that their teammates were somewhat dispirited, Puyol stepped forward:
"Hey, guys, we aren't behind. This isn't the end of the world, no need to feel so down!"
"Even if this game ends in a draw, with our previous goal difference advantage, we can still top the group and secure a direct spot in the World Cup!"
The players looked up at this old captain who, due to aging and declining form, had not been on the field recently.
This summer, Puyol underwent knee surgery, but the post-surgery recovery situation was not very optimistic.
This World Cup journey was likely to be the last time the old captain fought side by side with them.
For them, if they missed this World Cup, there might be another chance. But for the 34-year-old Puyol, there was no "next time."
"With our strength, plus the support of over 50,000 fans at home, can't 45 minutes in the second half be enough for you to turn the score around?"
"Is that really how you think?"
"Guys, you are world champions, you are European champions, you are the strongest players in the world, and no one can defeat you!"
Recalling the years he had fought alongside his national team teammates, the scenes of them lifting trophies and the honors they had achieved after hard work, Puyol became very emotional, saying:
"Perhaps many people know that my knee injury is very serious. I was planning to retire next year.
But Xavi urged me, hoping that I could accompany everyone to play in the World Cup again. I accepted Xavi's persuasion. It's not that I feel the national team can't do without me, but I want to witness our ascent to the top of the world again, creating an immortal dynasty for the Spanish national team together with everyone!
I hope that after completing the World Cup and winning the World Cup trophy, I can announce my retirement calmly amidst the attention of the world, instead of leaving the field despondently like someone defeated by injuries and illness."
"I can't play in this game, so I can only hope in you, please!"
Puyol's emotional speech moved his teammates deeply.
Several old teammates from clubs and the national team stepped forward to warmly embrace him.
The gloomy atmosphere within the team had now dissipated.
And because Puyol publicly set the target of defending the World Cup championship, which everyone had only dared to keep in mind and not openly mention, the players' fighting spirit was rekindled.
The road to defending the championship would definitely be very tough and not smooth sailing.
The French team was just a stumbling block on the path ahead, and there would be many more stumbling blocks in the future. If they couldn't even overcome this obstacle of the French team, what talk of defending the championship?
Seeing the resurgence of their teammates' fighting spirit, Puyol jokingly remarked, "Moreover, we have players like Lin in our team. As long as the ball comes to his feet, he can work miracles!"
