The Qatar team reversed and advanced to the quarterfinals, Ma Ning's accurate judgment was recognized by many parties, and the Chinese referee team was the hardest on the Doha front
In the 4th meeting of the 1/8 finals of the Asian Cup in the early morning of the 30th Beijing time, the host Qatar team reversed the Palestinian team 2-1 to enter the top 8 with a pass and a shot from Afif. The four-member Chinese international referee team with Ma Ning as the main referee participated in the law enforcement of the game. With the players on both sides focusing on the game itself, the whole game ran smoothly. Manin's decision in this game, especially the penalty for a foul in the box by Palestinian player Saleh in the opening stages of the second half, was accurate.
Before the match, it was widely believed that the defending champions could easily win down their opponents when playing at home. However, the course of the game was full of twists and turns. In the 37th minute of the game, the Palestinian team Dabagh took advantage of the opponent's return pass mistake and shot hard to break the deadlock on the field. In the 6th minute of stoppage time in the first half, Qatar's Afif took a corner kick and assisted captain Haydos to equalize, and the way the two scored in connection was the same as the way they scored the Chinese goal in the third round of the group stage.
Shortly after the start of the second half, Afif put the ball straight into the Palestinian defence, and Qatar's Ali was brought down by the opposition player Saleh after Al-Ali burst into the box, and Manin was very decisive in awarding a penalty. Afif took the penalty himself, scoring his fourth goal of the tournament. Images show that Saleh did touch Alli's foot during the tackle and the penalty was awarded accurately.
During the South Korean team vs Bahrain team in the group stage of law enforcement, Ma Ning showed seven yellow cards to both sides. However, in this game, he showed only three yellow cards, and all of them were shown to the Palestinian team, including one yellow card shown to Saleh. After the match, members of both sides shook hands with Ma Ning and two Chinese assistant referees. The law enforcement of the Chinese referee team in this game did not cause controversy. An expert from the international refereeing community commented: "You can clearly see that Ma Ning's enforcement in this game is very smooth, which is related to the fact that the players of both teams are focused on the game itself. Ma Ning's several key decisions, especially the yellow card and penalty kick decisions, were accurate, which will undoubtedly leave a good impression on the AFC referee committee in charge of the competition enforcement evaluation. ”
From the start of the main whistle of the Korean and Pakistani match on the afternoon of January 15 local time to the 1/8 final card and Pakistan match on the evening of the 29th local time, there was a full two weeks between it. During this period, Ma Ning also participated in the enforcement work of the group stage as the fourth official three times. Despite the small number of home games in the group stage, Ma Ning has always maintained a focused and diligent attitude in his daily training. A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily learned in Doha that Ma Ning, Fu Ming, Zhang Cheng, and Zhou Fei are the hardest trained among all the referees in this Asian Cup, and they often start the day's training at about 6:30 in the morning. In addition to going to the stadium to enforce the law, their daily work and life trajectory is maintained between the station and the training ground. For referees, being able to sleep well after participating in a game is the biggest reward for themselves.
It is understood that in order to maintain a good physical condition, the referees also pay great attention to eating habits. The AFC conducts weekly weight checks on Asian Cup referees. Maintaining self-discipline at all times inside and outside the arena is also the reason why Ma Ning and other 4 Chinese referees can appear on the law enforcement stage with vigorous figures.
Judging from the current situation reflected by all parties, Ma Ning and other 4-member Chinese referee team will continue to stay in Doha without accident to prepare for the law enforcement work of the next higher-level events.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily, Doha, Qatar Special correspondent Xiao Yun