In the 85th minute, Su Hang dropped back into midfield to receive the ball once again.
With Joaquín and Iniesta positioned high up the pitch, there was plenty of space for Su Hang to retreat and operate.
Kehl was drawn out of position by Iniesta's movement.
Ballack assumed Su Hang would shield the ball and wait for teammates to make their runs before distributing—just as he had done throughout much of the match.
But this time, Su Hang simply rolled the ball behind him, spun sharply, and accelerated straight through!
Just when everyone thought his energy had faded, Su Hang activated his skill—Wind Chaser!
His speed surged to its peak.
Ballack was instantly left behind, staring helplessly at Su Hang's back.
Kehl, rushing to cover, never even got the chance to challenge him, overtaken before he could react.
Metzelder—who had already been forced to cover Su Hang countless times—stepped up once more.
Su Hang took a quick touch to the right, then raised his right foot in a shooting feint.
Truthfully, it wasn't a particularly convincing fake.
But Metzelder still instinctively threw himself backward, hands behind him, stretching out a leg to block.
The German defenders were so rattled by Su Hang's bursts that they no longer trusted their instincts.
Every motion from him felt dangerous.
Bang!
Su Hang flicked the ball left with his right foot, gliding past Metzelder and bursting into the box.
Metzelder tried to recover but stumbled badly, completely beaten.
Worse, he collided with Mertesacker, who had rushed over from the side, blocking his teammate's path.
Right-back Friedrich cut inside to pressure Su Hang, but Su nudged the ball left again, holding him off and slipping away from his reach.
Then Su Hang raised his right foot, his whole body leaning dramatically to the left.
Bang!
A curling strike!
For a split second, Lehmann thought he was staring down his club teammate—Thierry Henry!
That elegant sway!
That lean!
That curling touch!
It was all eerily familiar!
Swish!
The ball arced smoothly past Lehmann's hands, kissed the far post, and bounced into the net.
Su Hang, who had fallen from his extreme follow-through, sprang up immediately.
He sprinted to the corner flag and, facing the cameras, dropped into a flawless knee slide—hands clenched, chest lifted, head held high!
Just like Spain's spirit in this match—unyielding in adversity, refusing to surrender!
It was as if that celebration shouted to the world: Stand tall—the Gunner King endures!
"GOAL!"
"He's gone mad! Su Hang has completely lost his mind!"
"Is this guy even human?"
Now I finally get why Sir Bobby Robson once called Ronaldo an alien!
"Because you'll never believe the man scoring before your eyes is made of the same flesh and blood as you!"
"A hat trick! Another damn hat trick!"
"Even the Germans are bowing to Su Hang!"
"Six–two! Spain delivers an epic triumph!"
"Looking at this scoreline, you'd never imagine how grueling their first half was!"
"God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light! God said, 'Spain shall score,' and there was Su Hang!"
The stadium commentator had gone completely berserk.
Commentators on other networks were also getting caught up in the madness.
Derek Rae: "He's unstoppable—miss one game, score three goals the next! Su Hang is rewriting history with every touch!"
Queiroz: "That's Su Hang for you! The second hat trick of this World Cup—once again, it's Su Hang! What a breathtaking display of finishing!"
"Su Hang has become the fifth player in World Cup history to record two hat tricks!"
"The first was the Hungarian legend Sándor Kocsis."
"The second, French legend Just Fontaine."
"The third, Germany's iconic striker Gerd Müller."
"The fourth, Argentina's warrior king, Batistuta."
"But Batistuta's hat tricks came in two different tournaments. The first three legends—and now Su Hang—all achieved both within the same World Cup!"
"Even more impressively, Su Hang did it in back-to-back matches—two consecutive games with three goals each!"
"Not even Fontaine or Gerd Müller accomplished that. Before him, only Kocsis had done it!"
"But Kocsis achieved his back-to-back hat tricks in the group stage. Su Hang, on the other hand, has done it in the far tougher knockout rounds!"
"From this perspective, Su Hang has just set a brand-new record!"
"He's a pure goal-scoring machine!"
"With six goals to his name, Su Hang overtakes Klose once again, reclaiming the top spot on the scoring chart. Given the scoreline, Klose has no chance of catching him now!"
"The Golden Boot for this World Cup—almost certainly belongs to Su Hang!"
...
Applause thundered across the stadium.
Even the most unwilling German players couldn't help but watch as fans from both sides stood and clapped for Su Hang.
He had conquered everyone.
Germany stopped pressing forward—they no longer had the heart to attack.
Both teams began winding down the clock.
Seeing that, the referee didn't even bother adding stoppage time, blowing for full-time right at the 90th minute.
Spain's substitutes rushed onto the pitch in celebration.
Spain had booked their place in the semifinals.
Su Hang was lifted high by his teammates, tossed into the air again and again.
When no one else believed, he was the one who stood tall—because he was unstoppable… no, because he was the captain!
...
Unsurprisingly, Su Hang was once again named Man of the Match.
In the post-match interview, he remained humble.
Reporter: "Did you expect such a massive victory before kickoff?"
Su Hang shook his head. "Not at all. Even at halftime, we were still talking about how to fight Germany to the last minute. This result? None of us saw it coming."
Reporter: "Two matches, six goals, and one assist—your efficiency is off the charts. What's your secret?"
Su Hang smiled. "Trust in your teammates' strength, I'd say."
"Six goals and one assist—behind every single one of those numbers are eleven players, eighteen players, twenty-three players—the entire Spain national team, and all the Spanish fans who've supported us."
Reporter: "How would you rate the German players?"
Su Hang: "I'm not in a position to judge them. As opponents, Ballack was tough to deal with, Klose's finishing is top class, and Lahm is an absolute nightmare to face."
"Of course, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, Schneider… they all have room to grow—but they're all excellent players."
...
(35 Chapters Ahead)
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