Chapter 291: Farewell to Meazza
Before the French team lifted the World Cup trophy, various other World Cup awards were gradually announced. The best goal undoubtedly belonged to Wang Feng's miraculous performance in the 1/8 finals between China and Switzerland, where he dribbled past seven players.
The most entertaining team award was given to Argentina, while the Fair Play Award was given to Brazil and Spain, serving as a consolation for them.
The Best Newcomer award went to the German forward Podolski, who, along with Dong Fangzhuo, scored three goals in this World Cup. If Dong Fangzhuo were a little younger, he wouldn't have missed out on this award.
The Golden Glove award was claimed by the French goalkeeper Barthez. Although his performance in this World Cup wasn't particularly outstanding, his highlight performance during the penalty shootout in the final impressed the judges.
The Best Lineup included three players from the Chinese team: Sun Jihai, Dong Fangzhuo, and Wang Feng. The Silver Boot award was won by Klose, while the Golden Boot was claimed by Wang Feng.
Finally, the highest individual honor of the World Cup��the Golden Ball, Silver Ball, and Bronze Ball��was announced. Firstly, the Bronze Ball award winner was Klose from Germany, which surprised many because usually only the winners and runners-up get the Gold and Silver Balls.
Next, the Silver Ball was awarded to Zinedine Zidane of the French team. And when the final moment of the Golden Ball award announcement arrived, everyone was both surprised and felt it was reasonable. The recipient was Wang Feng from China!
Since the establishment of the World Cup Golden Ball award in 1930, Wang Feng is the first player to receive this honor as a member of the national team ranked fourth. When he received the trophy from Blatter, he felt deeply moved.
The trophy is all golden, with a slightly curved rectangular prism on the bottom circular tray, with two grooves inside and a golden football embedded at the top. The overall weight is quite heavy.
If the European Golden Ball and FIFA World Player of the Year are the highest individual honors for professional players, then the World Cup Golden Ball award is the highest honor for national team players. Renowned football stars like Pusk��s, Pel��, and Cruyff have all won this honor.
However, many players still hope to lift the World Cup trophy, just like Zidane, who seemed ecstatic on the side. He didn't mind not winning the World Cup Golden Ball, though he was congratulating Wang Feng with his mouth, his eyes were fixed on the golden trophy in the center of the field that countless people admired.
Wang Feng shrugged, leaving the final stage to the French team. Tonight, they were the biggest winners.
The grandeur of the German World Cup came to an end, and the investigation into the "Calciopoli" scandal in Serie A also concluded. A first-instance judgment was made, mainly involving four clubs: Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio, and Fiorentina.
Juventus faced the most serious issues; they were relegated to Serie B for the next season and stripped of their league titles from the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. They would also be deducted 9 points in the new season.
Lazio and Fiorentina were also sentenced to relegation to Serie B, with varying points deductions.
AC Milan retained their Serie A participation for the next season, but they had 15 points deducted from the 2005-06 season, dropping them to fifth place in the league, seemingly ruling them out of next season's Champions League.
Of course, these clubs still have the right to appeal, but it seems Juventus is out of luck; Moggi's phone recordings were too damning.
Inter Milan emerged as the winners amidst this turmoil. As they finished second in the 2004-05 season and third in the 2005-06 season, they were awarded the Serie A title for both seasons.
Originally, some officials in the Serie A league thought the 2004-05 season title should remain vacant, but that year Wang Feng's red card incident had a significant impact and directly determined the destination of the title.
After several rounds of discussion, they ultimately decided to award the league trophy to the Nerazzurri, meaning that under Wang Feng's leadership, Inter Milan won five consecutive Serie A titles!
As Wang Feng's departure from Milan approached, he went through the formalities and reunited with his former teammates, comforting the somewhat melancholic Materazzi and congratulating Ribery on winning his first World Cup championship, albeit as a substitute.
"Boss, wherever you go, I'll always remember that you pulled me out of the construction site back then," Ribery said with tearful eyes.
Wang Feng felt a bit emotional, but he didn't show this emotion; instead, he said with a slight ease, "Frank, professional football always comes with separations. You're already a top-class player in Europe; it's time to take the lead."
"If Juventus and AC Milan are in trouble now, what you need to do is to continue Inter Milan's streak. If you can't do it, I'll fly back from Spain to knock on your head!"
Ribery nodded heavily. In the past, he primarily created opportunities and passed the ball, but now he needed to shoulder the responsibility of being the team's attacking core and develop his own finishing ability.
As people discussed the future and digested the sadness of parting ways, in Inter Milan's chairman's office, Moratti said firmly, "I want to organize a farewell ceremony for Wang Feng. He is the greatest player in the club's history, and if he quietly leaves like this, it will be a permanent regret."
The team manager Santoro said, "But Wang Feng has only been with Inter Milan for five seasons, and he has just eliminated the Italian national team. I'm worried about negative effects."
"His contribution cannot be measured by time alone, and what does beating Italy in the World Cup have to do with the club?"
Seeing Moratti's insistence, Santoro couldn't persuade him further, so he could only contact Wang Feng while preparing for the club's farewell ceremony.
Wang Feng was surprised to learn this news, realizing that Moratti had been very kind to him throughout. Of course, he hadn't done anything to betray Inter Milan; he had not only won many championships but also left behind a transfer fee of �100 million.
Wang Feng was to have his farewell ceremony at the Meazza Stadium! This news made Milan, which had just calmed down, lively again. Fans who loved Wang Feng, fans who couldn't bear to see him leave, and fans who resented his cruelty to the Italian national team couldn't help but want to witness it with their own eyes.
For a moment, the tickets originally prepared for Inter Milan fans became rare, and online prices skyrocketed, forcing the club to continue opening more stands.
On the day of the farewell ceremony, a small stage was set up at the center circle of the stadium. Wang Feng took the microphone and walked onto it. Various voices resounded, mostly pleading and trying to retain him, with a small part expressing grievances and booing.
Wang Feng just slightly turned his head, quietly listening to the fans' voices. On the giant screen of the stadium, his contributions to the club were scrolling.
In five years, he played 304 official matches for Inter Milan, scoring 327 goals, with over 40 league goals for four consecutive years and over 15 Champions League goals for four consecutive years.
These numbers had surpassed the club's highest goal-scoring records. Giuseppe Meazza, the legendary star of Inter Milan, had scored 284 goals. The second-highest scorer, Altafini, had only 209 goals, achieved over 11 seasons, showing how miraculous and difficult it was to surpass Wang Feng's records.
With so many goals, he brought five league titles, three Champions League titles, one UEFA Cup title, three Coppa Italia titles, two Supercoppa Italiana titles, three UEFA Super Cup titles, and two FIFA Club World Cup titles to Inter Milan.
Inter Milan truly surpassed the "Grand Inter Milan Dynasty" of the last century and established a new immortal glory, all of which couldn't have been achieved without their "King," Wang Feng.
Watching the records displayed on the board and the highlight reel of Wang Feng's brilliant goals and cup-lifting moments, the noise from the stands gradually disappeared, and more and more people shed tears. They cried, shouted, hoping to keep Wang Feng, hoping to keep this leader of the Nerazzurri.
Wang Feng raised the microphone, he didn't say any unnecessary words, didn't make a lengthy speech or express any sentiments. He simply said softly, "Addio! Inter Milano!" (Goodbye, Inter Milan!)
Then he walked straight into the player tunnel, ignoring the fans' shouts from above. He didn't even look back, fearing that his tears would be noticed, but unfortunately, the omnipresent cameras betrayed him.
The next day, the headlines of major Italian newspapers were pictures of Wang Feng with tears in his eyes, which made more people feel sorry for him. It turned out that even the Iron Man could shed tears and couldn't bear to leave everything behind of the Nerazzurri.
The former glory had passed, and a whole new challenge awaited him!
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