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Perhaps Dragon Victory’s life was destined to be fraught with hardship. He was born carrying his father’s hopes—his father, madly passionate about football, named him “Victory.” Yet, under his father’
Center Forward, No Pop-ups
May 19, 1985, evening, Beijing.
“Lose to Hong Kong? Is that possible?” A fan slapped himself hard, tears falling to the ground as his hand swung. For over a minute, seventy thousand people sat in deathly silence. Near Stand 18 at the Workers’ Stadium, angry shouts broke out first, soon followed by a tidal wave of invective flooding the stands from all directions, crashing down on the Chinese team as they began to leave the field. The players walked on, numb, not a single one daring to raise their head to look at the stands.
“Disband the national team! Disband the national team!”
“Disband the team! Coach Zeng Xuelin, step down!”
The first angry roar from the stands quickly swept over every section of the Workers’ Stadium. Just a moment ago, the fans had watched the pitch in a daze, unwilling to believe the Chinese team could lose at home to Hong Kong. But in that instant, the fire burning in their hearts was fully ignited, and all the honest, upright fans became a mob.
As spectators exited, their inexplicable fury spread rapidly. Only about a thousand police officers were on site to maintain order, for no one had imagined that Hong Kong would deliver the darkest night in Chinese football’s history.
The Chinese Youth Team players, dressed in civilian clothes and seated in the stands, became the first innocents caught in the crossfire. Mistaken for national team members, they were chased and attacked as they left the stadium. Thankfully, their athletic training allowed them to escape quickly.
With no