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The following morning, several of the top ten trending topics on Weibo were related to last night's game.

The top trending topic: #China's U23 team beats Yi Jianlian 4-1#

Second on the trending topics: #WuLeiScoresBeat,WuShiInjuredAndRetired#

Third on the trending topics: #Iron-willedNationalYouthTeam#

Fourth on the trending topics list: #YiLian's post-match remarks#

Fifth on the trending list: #FootballIsNotKickedWithWords#

The seventh spot on the trending searches featured a lengthy article by Ma Dexing, a senior reporter for the Football News, with the title in bold:

Unyielding Spirit! Wu Shi, a Young Player from the National Youth Team, and a Team That Refuses to Be Underestimated

The article doesn't begin by directly describing the match, but instead starts with Wu Shi's embarrassing debut in the China League One last August:

Ma Dexing, with a calm and restrained style, chronicles Wu Shi's transformation from a member of Shaanxi's youth training system to a member of Evergrande, from obscurity to widespread fame. He specifically mentions several details:

According to Coach Chen of the Shaanxi Chanba youth team, Wu Shi was very hardworking and would practice set pieces at least 50 times on his own after training every day.

"That kid doesn't talk much, but there's a certain intensity in his eyes. Others might slack off when they're tired from practice, but he won't. If the arc isn't right, he'll kick it again until he's satisfied."

"A coach from Evergrande revealed that Wu Shi was the most 'annoying' player in Lippi's training sessions—not because of his bad attitude, but because he had too many problems."

"After practice, he would pull the coach aside and ask: Why did we pass the ball this way? Why did we choose that running position? Sometimes the questions were so detailed that we had to think about them for a long time."

This caused the old man to miss dinner or rest time several times because he was answering the boy's questions. However, when the old man said this to me, his tone was full of appreciation for the boy's ability to ask such questions and his way of thinking.

The most moving part of the article is Ma Dexing's analysis of last night's match:

"Before the match, Yi Jianlian's coach said: 'Some challenges are tough and require our full effort; some matches... don't need to be played too aggressively.'"

He was wrong.

"This national youth team is much tougher than he imagined."

When Wu Shi was carried off the field on a stretcher, the camera panned across his face—there were no tears, only his tightly clenched teeth.

I saw that look in the eyes of veteran national team players during the 2001 World Cup qualifiers. It was the look of a warrior, the look of "As long as I can stand, I will continue to fight."

"Then we saw Wu Lei lift his jersey, we saw Chen Liang do the same, and we saw the whole team running like crazy in extra time."

When Wang Zhuofeng scored his third goal in the 115th minute, someone on the substitutes' bench cried—not tears of joy, but tears of pent-up frustration, anger, and resentment that had been building up for 120 minutes, finally finding an outlet.

Ma Dexing wrote at the end of the article:

"Chinese football desperately needs a night like this. Not because it's a victory—victories always pass. But because it showcases something long forgotten: fighting spirit."

"This fighting spirit is in Wu Shi's stubbornness in getting up again and again after being fouled, in Wu Lei's brotherhood in lifting his shirt to signal after calmly scoring the penalty, and in the team's all-out sprint in the last five minutes of extra time."

"This team, with an average age of less than 19, showed us in a 120-minute bloody battle that the backbone of Chinese football has never truly broken."

"It just needs time, it needs opportunity, it needs to stand tall in front of the whole world, like it did last night."

Within two hours of its publication, the article had been forwarded over 100,000 times and received over 200,000 comments.

The most liked comment came from an account verified as a "former national team player":

"In the more than ten years since I retired, last night was the first time my son offered to watch the game with me. He said, 'Dad, they played really tough.'"

Royal Perth Hospital, 9:00 AM.

Wu Shi lay in the hospital bed, occasionally moving his left leg—he could still move it, but it hurt whenever he did.

"Don't move around." Lin Wei's voice came from the doorway. She was carrying a thermal bag, and her eyes were dark-circled, clearly she hadn't slept well either.

"I brought you some porridge from the hospital cafeteria. It's not very good, but it's better than an IV drip."

Wu Shi tried to sit up, but Lin Wei quickly pressed him down: "Lie down, the doctor said the results will be available this morning, and they'll be here soon."

The moment the words were spoken, the ward door was pushed open.

The attending physician was an Australian in his fifties named Davis, followed by a translator and the national youth team doctor.

Davis held several films in his hand, his expression serious but not somber.

"Good news and bad news," he said bluntly. "Which one first?"

Wu Shi's heart skipped a beat: "Good news."

Davis inserted an X-ray image onto the lightbox: "No fractures."

Everyone in the ward breathed a sigh of relief.

"The fibula, tibia, and ankle joint—the bones are all intact," Davis said, pointing to the X-ray. "That's good news."

"And what's the bad news?" Lin Wei asked.

Davis changed the film:

"However, the ligament and soft tissue damage is very severe. Here—"

He pointed to a spot about ten centimeters above his ankle.

"The peroneus longus and soleus muscles are severely contused, and the tendons are slightly torn. More importantly, there is obvious hematoma and inflammation."

He looked at Wu Shi, his tone serious:

"If you start strenuous exercise now, or put too much stress on this area in the next month, it could cause permanent damage—scar tissue formation, loss of tendon elasticity, and even chronic pain. Simply put, your explosive power and ability to change direction could be affected."

Wu Shi's face turned pale: "A month... I can't play football?"

"No high-intensity training is allowed."

Davis said,

"You need to rest and undergo physical therapy. You'll have a follow-up check-up in a month. If the recovery is going well, you can start light rehabilitation training. But it will take at least six to eight weeks to fully return to the competition."

Six to eight weeks.

Wu Shi's mind raced with calculations: there were still two matches left in the Asian Youth Championship—the semi-final and the final/third-place match. Even if the Chinese youth team made it to the final, it would only be over in ten days.

He won't make it.

"Doctor, is there any way... to speed up the recovery?"

Wu Shi's voice was dry, "I can use the best medicine and provide the best treatment..."

Davis shook his head:

"Young man, I understand how you feel. But your body has its own recovery rhythm, and forcibly accelerating it will only backfire. What you need to do now is be patient."

He patted Wu Shi on the shoulder:

"You're still young, you have a long career ahead of you. It's not worth gambling your future on one tournament."

After the doctor left, silence fell again in the hospital bed.

Lin Wei ladled out the porridge and tried to say something lighthearted, but Wu Shi just stared at his sling-up left leg and remained silent.

Don't overthink it.

Lin Wei finally said only softly,

"Eat something first. I'll go ask the hospital about the follow-up treatment plan and see if they can arrange the best physical therapist."

After saying that, Lin Wei also left the ward.