Wang Dalei

"K2T Wisata"

If you’re looking for a hero who hasn’t been shackled by the tragic bout of boring political correctness from which most footballers currently suffer, Wang Dalei is your man.

And really, though we joke, every little guilty pleasure in football – the fights, the bribes, player candor, etc. – seems to be emanating from China. There might be something to this growing domestic superpower afterall.

Wang’s candor has erupted into a small scandal, and it all stems from their 3-0 loss to Japan in the Asian Games on the weekend, particularly the second goal, which can be seen here.

I mean, it’s not a good punch, that much is clear, but it’s certainly not the worst we’ve seen, not least with a current rash of inexplicable howlers sweeping the globe. (Honestly, who released the airborne pathogen which prevents goalkeepers from checking their surroundings?)

Getting a verbal lashing from China’s 1 billion football critics, Wang responded in kind:

A national TV commentator compared Wang to “volleyballer”, saying his save was amateur.
Wang reacted by filling his microblog on a popular Internet portal with angry outbursts, calling Chinese soccer fans “morons” and reporters “haters of Chinese soccer”.
“I heard that there are 7,000 professional soccer reporters (in China) and I guess 4,000 of them must hate soccer,” Wang wrote. “Is that really necessary?
“I’m not a ‘Spiderman’. I punched the ball out, but you guys still laugh at me. I was beaten on the pitch and verbally abused off. Don’t say you know how to play soccer. Because you know nothing about it.
“Go home and first count how many pieces of leather a football has. ‘Hit a person when he is down’, that’s what you bastards are doing. That’s why Chinese soccer is a mess.”

He then confirmed his rant with his best rapper impression:

“I didn’t use dirty words. If you think I did, that’s your problem,” said Wang after Tuesday’s training for next match against Kyrgyzstan.

Wang then used dirty words to push across the point that he didn’t use dirty words.

“I don’t give a shit to what other people would say. That’s who I am,” he added.

Clearly we all need more Wang Dalei in our lives.

And it sounds like we may get it, considering he’s been on trial with Man City, Inter and PSV. The day shall come.