Chapter 397: Tang Ye Overheats in the Locker Room: Am I Worse Than Him?

On the big screen at Wanda Plaza, Tang Ye and Wu Lei, having missed a scoring chance, high-fived before slowly retreating.

The top left corner of the screen displayed the live match score.

Germany: China

0:0.

"Tang Ye is awesome!"

"Damn, he's so fierce!"

"Go China!"

"It would've been great if that had gone in."

Over a thousand people had gathered in the plaza, and dozens of cars on the highway had even stopped specifically to watch the match.

Ten minutes into the match, China and Germany were currently trading blows, a scenario the fans had never imagined.

Is this f***ing the Chinese men's football team?

"What a pity, Tang Ye!"

He Wei sighed.

It would have been perfect if that backheel flick just now had gone in.

Taking the lead against the German team!

Fans couldn't even dream of such a scene!

"Drop back, drop back!"

"Widen the defensive line!"

Maddaloni shouted from the sidelines, accompanied by his translator.

"Huff, huff."

Retreating while observing, that shot just now had filled Tang Ye with overflowing confidence.

He would continue searching for possible opportunities!

Smack!

Neuer kicked the ball out with a long boot, and the German team launched their counterattack.

"..."

"The German team is slowly finding their rhythm; their possession rate has already reached 65%, and if they maintain this, it could exceed 70%."

"The Chinese team needs to figure something out."

"Yes, staying in their own half to defend is a good option for the Chinese team, but the question is whether they can continuously block the attacks of the German forward line..."

Kroos made a forward run down the flank!

Cross!

Müller!

Bang!

The German striker headed the ball, but it went wide of the post and flew straight out.

"Hiss..."

The Chinese football players and fans were now under immense pressure.

Because the German team's attacks were growing stronger and stronger.

If this trend continued, it might only be a matter of time before Germany scored!

Kroos took the corner kick!

"Front point, front point!"

Plattenhardt controlled the ball, but his subsequent cross was successfully intercepted by Feng Feng Xiaoting.

Feng Feng Xiaoting decisively lofted a high ball to Tang Ye.

OK!

Tang Ye turned, extended his foot, and kicked the ball forward.

With no suitable passing option available immediately, Tang Ye could only advance with the ball himself for now.

"Ahead, ahead!"

Spotting an opportunity, Tang Ye prepared to pass, but Werner directly shoved him down.

"Whooo—!!!"

"Beep beep beep!!!"

The fans on site supporting the national team were somewhat dissatisfied; Tang Ye sat on the ground, shaking his head helplessly.

Dongqiu Di live match report: In the 23rd minute, Tang Ye advanced with the ball, and Werner committed a defensive foul, receiving a yellow card.

The first yellow card of this match had been issued!

"Come on!"

Zheng Zhi reached out and pulled Tang Ye up from the ground.

Tang Ye's expression was not good right now, as Werner's pull just now had scraped his arm until it bled.

It was a set-piece counterattack for the Chinese team, with goalkeeper Zeng Cheng responsible for handling this ball.

Kicked out with a long boot!

This play had been designed; the first point was aimed directly at Zhang Zhang Yuning, who was skilled at heading!

Bang!

"Zhang Zhang Yuning heads it to Tang Ye!"

"A very good combination; Tang Ye moved laterally to shake off Khedira!"

Boom!

A through pass sliced between Kimmich and Özil, delivering possession to Yu Yu Hanchao up front.

Tang Ye moved into the center to support.

Yu Yu Hanchao passed the ball over!

Perfect coordination; Tang Ye extended his foot to control the ball.

And then...

"Damn it!"

Özil directly tripped Tang Ye.

"..."

Sitting on the ground and sighing, Tang Ye no longer knew what to say.

"Within two minutes, Tang Ye has been fouled consecutively by German players."

"Yes, Tang Ye is clearly being specially targeted by the German players."

In this match so far, Tang Ye has been fouled five times, and that is even while he was adept at dodging physical confrontations.

If Tang Ye had not dodged those confrontations, how many times would he have fallen?

Hiss!

Unimaginable!

The camera cut to the Chinese and German officials in the stands, who shook hands amicably.

After standing up, Tang Ye glanced toward the home team's substitute bench.

That was where the German head coach, Löw, was positioned.

Tang Ye did not know whether these German fouls were instructed by Löw.

But now was not the time to ponder that.

He needed to devise some countermeasures to deal with the German players' targeting!

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Tang Ye's direct free-kick shot missed by a hair's breadth; China missed a scoring opportunity.

"China!"

Boom boom!

"China!"

Boom boom!

Playing up to this point, China has earned two excellent scoring chances, which is already one more than Germany.

Furthermore, the German players' repeated fouls against Tang Ye have even caused some on-site fans to defect on the spot, shifting from cheering for Germany to shouting "China."

Thinking about it carefully, Germany is so strong; if China could take them down, the nations of these fans would have a much easier time.

Wow!

No, we must cheer for China!

"China!"

Boom boom!

"..."

"Özil has the ball!"

"Turns and passes forward!"

"Draxler!"

Germany executed an excellent short-range passing combination on the left flank; Kroos received the ball and pulled wide, then suddenly played a through pass forward.

The target was Müller, who was charging in from beside Feng Feng Xiaoting!

"Oh!!!"

Boom!

A pushed shot was struck.

Goal!

"Oh my god!"

"Germany's combination play has secured their first goal of this World Cup."

"From striker Thomas Müller!"

"Eh, but..."

The moment Müller scored, the Chinese players immediately surrounded the referee.

"This goal might be suspected of offside..."

The screen switched, showing the moment of Kroos's pass.

"Oh, this is... fans in the live stream might not know that this World Cup is using semi-automated offside technology for the first time, which is the VAR displayed on the screen."

"The referee now needs to consult the Video Assistant Referee to determine whether Müller was actually offside..."

Beep!

Referee Faghani blew the whistle.

"Goal disallowed!"

The two commentators in the CCTV studio suddenly became agitated.

"Germany's goal is invalid; the score remains 0-0!"

"Germany has not scored!"

The German officials had already stood up to celebrate, but had no choice but to sit back down, while the Chinese officials amicably extended their hands to shake with the German officials.

"Damn!"

Tang Ye cupped the back of his head with both hands.

There were bloodstreaks on his arms from the fall just now, but Tang Ye felt no pain whatsoever.

Dammit, that scared me to death!

Baidu Hot Search No. 7 at the 1-minute mark: Germany's goal disallowed.

"Come on, come on!"

The Chinese team players gathered together to encourage one another.

Müller's goal was offside, which greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese footballers!

"Attack! We can attack!"

Tang Ye emphasized the importance of attacking to his teammates once again.

"Their form is poor; they're playing terribly, so we can attack."

"Don't be afraid! Pass forward, pass forward!"

Tang Ye gave special instructions to Feng Feng Xiaoting and Zhang Zhang Linpeng.

Tang Ye was simply too skilled at controlling the situation on the field.

Today's German team is weak!

Since that's the case, the Chinese team should forget Germany's past honors.

Forget the fear of the German team.

And then...

Attack!

After the match entered the 30th minute.

Playing against a Chinese team ranked outside the top 50 in the world, yet failing to score by the 30th minute, the German fans were already growing anxious.

The good news was that China was playing steadily; the defenders kept passing the ball at the back with no intention of attacking, so the German goal was temporarily safe.

"Pass, pass, pass!"

Tang Ye signaled for his teammates to pass him the ball.

Receiving the ball in the attacking third!

Swish-swish!

Swish-swish!

Two consecutive nutmegs created some space; Tang Ye decisively sent a long pass toward the byline!

It was aimed at Wu Lei!

"Wu Lei has controlled the ball!"

"Tang Ye is moving toward the center; Tang Ye must be trying to support Wu Lei..."

"Tang Ye gets the ball!"

"Tang Ye has been brought down!"

Özil committed another foul against Tang Ye.

Thud!

Tang Ye crashed onto the ground.

Because he had been running quite fast, after falling he slid forward for some distance.

His arms scraped against the turf, tearing open a dark red wound.

Thud!

He clenched his right fist and slammed it fiercely onto the grass.

"Fuck!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning had intended to come over and help him up, but Tang Ye's expression frightened him.

He had never seen Tang Ye this angry before!

But there was nothing to be done about it.

It was now the 34th minute of the match.

Yet Tang Ye had already fallen nine times.

"Are you okay?"

Zheng Zhi pulled Tang Ye up; the latter used his jersey to wipe the blood flowing from his arm.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Attack, Brother Zhi, attack! It's fine; their defense is trash."

Tang Ye's mood had indeed turned sour.

Based on Zheng Zhi's understanding of Tang Ye, this guy usually wouldn't use a hurtful word like "trash" to describe his opponents.

"Attack, attack!"

Tang Ye shouted a few more times.

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Tang Ye brought down by Plattenhardt after receiving the ball near the byline. Chinese players have fallen a total of 10 times so far, with Tang Ye accounting for all 10 falls.

【Wait, is Germany this dirty?】

【Holy shit, are they treating my GGBond like a football?】

【Seriously, does mighty Germany have to rely on fouls to play against China?】

【Can you stop pulling people? I can see blood on Tang Ye's jersey already.】

In the defensive third, Mei Fang gained possession; Tang Ye immediately made a run to support.

"Come on, come on, come on!"

Mei Fang lifted his head for a glance.

Tang Ye was sandwiched between two German players.

After a moment's hesitation, Mei Fang finally chose to pass the ball to Feng Feng Xiaoting on the wing and continued passing it around.

"..."

Chewing the gum in his mouth, Tang Ye now felt unbearably awful.

After the match entered the 40th minute, the pressure on the German fans grew heavier, and of course, the Chinese fans felt the same.

If Tang Ye was stretchered off directly in the first round of the group stage, what would the Chinese team play with next?

"Substitution, substitution!"

Chinese fans in the stands shouted toward Lippi's direction, with even a few speaking English: "Sub Tang Ye! Sub Tang Ye!"

Should Tang Ye be substituted off?

Lippi was now very hesitant.

He certainly knew that without Tang Ye, the national team couldn't play the remaining two group matches, but as a seasoned coach, he also knew this.

Germany was playing terribly today!

Two choices.

1. Play it safe by substituting Tang Ye off and prepare directly for the upcoming matches against Senegal and Sweden.

2. Go for it, see if they could manage a draw against the German team.

Choice one was quite good, but choice two was simply too tempting!

"It's now the 42nd minute of the first half; if the Chinese team can hold out until halftime, then I think this would be a rather good result."

Wu Lei's shot was parried out by Neuer, and Tang Ye rushed to the landing spot to challenge Ozil for the ball.

Tang Ye held his position, while Ozil, charging up from behind, lifted his foot directly, trying to touch the ball before Tang Ye could.

Tang Ye was also moving, and in the end, Ozil's studs stepped directly onto the side of Tang Ye's thigh.

"Damn!"

He fell straight to the ground.

It hurt badly, but Tang Ye got up immediately and charged in front of Ozil.

"No, what are you trying to do? Tell me, what are you trying to do!"

Tang Ye pushed Ozil forward little by little, forcing Ozil to keep retreating.

Werner came over and pushed Tang Ye away, but Tang Ye quickly pushed Werner back.

"Hmm, there's some situation on the field; it seems Tang Ye is somewhat dissatisfied with Ozil's foul."

"Yes, that's right; Ozil's studs should have stepped on Tang Ye's thigh."

Beep beep beep!!!

Whistles from the crowd flew everywhere as Tang Ye and Werner pushed each other back and forth.

Zhang Zhang Yuning helped push Werner away, while Tang Ye charged straight at Ozil, and the two began shoving each other.

"Fuck you, you stupid piece of shit, does your mother know you play football like this?"

Tang Ye cursed loudly at Ozil in English.

As the one who had been fouled, he knew Ozil had done it on purpose.

Moreover, this wasn't the first time Ozil had committed a foul.

Tang Ye could accept it once, and he could endure it twice.

Three times was also okay, after all, Tang Ye was still relatively easy to talk to.

But damn it, four times was truly a bit excessive!

"Get lost!"

Ozil cursed back, but Tang Ye wasn't afraid in the least, after all, he had honed his skills in Tieba when he was young.

"Come on, continue, continue, why are you retreating, what are you afraid of, come the fuck over here!"

Tang Ye stepped closer little by little, and Wu Lei hurriedly pulled him away.

The German players also pulled Ozil away.

"Beep!"

The referee showed a yellow card to Ozil, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the national football team players; Tang Ye spread his hands at the referee, expressing incomprehension: "Isn't this a red card?"

"Beep!"

For questioning the referee's decision, Tang Ye was also shown a yellow card.

The conflict between both sides escalated further; Tang Ye went around Wu Lei trying to find Ozil again, but was quickly blocked by Müller in the middle: "Tom, forget it, forget it, I'll talk to him, I'll talk to him, there's no need."

"..."

Pah!

Spitting a mouthful of saliva onto the grass, Tang Ye scraped the turf under his feet with his studs.

"Damn!"

Check Dongqiu Di halftime report: Group F, Round 1, China drew 0:0 with Germany at halftime, Müller's goal was disallowed, and an intense conflict erupted between Tang Ye and Ozil.

【Ozil is so disgusting; I'm unfollowing him, brothers.】

【Reading his lip movements, Tang Ye must have said "fuck".】

【Ozil is treating Tang Ye like a ball to kick; isn't this a red card? I think Germany is also failing; they keep fouling Tang Ye; if they didn't foul, we might even be leading.】

【Calm down, brothers; if both Tang Ye and Ozil get sent off, we'll suffer a huge loss.】

"Boooo!!!"

Fans in the stands booed Ozil, while players from both sides slowly walked toward the tunnel.

Along the way, Tang Ye deliberately waited for Özil; Wu Lei stood right beside him to prevent Tang Ye from doing anything rash.

Though Tang Ye had a good temper, at nineteen years old, the urge to throw a punch was merely an impulse away.

Seeing Tang Ye, Özil spread his hands and shrugged: "So, what else do you want to say? Hurry back and deal with your blood, Tom."

"So you're very proud, is that it?"

Tang Ye waved his hand dismissively: "I don't know what you're proud of. Do you even realize you played like trash today? The fact that you're a starter in Germany is a miracle. Do you think those few through-balls you made today were good? If you had passed even slightly better, the score wouldn't be 0-0 right now."

"You're so terrible it's deadly, yet you still love committing fouls like hell. Go play by yourself."

After cursing him out, Tang Ye walked away. Özil wanted to charge forward but was held back by Müller and Kroos.

"No need, no need."

Both Müller and Kroos knew Tang Ye; naturally, they couldn't just stand by and watch Özil and Tang Ye come to blows.

After all... they were indeed the ones in the wrong.

"France Football" Russia World Cup Special Column—In the first half of the China-Germany match, Tom suffered 17 fouls, falling to the ground 11 times.

Just as halftime began, French forward Mbappé posted a photo of Tang Ye's bleeding arm on his personal social media, captioning it: "Hard to imagine this is a football match."

Having won their first match by a large margin, Mbappé was currently very popular; his post received many likes from fans immediately after being published.

Among them were even several well-known figures in the football world.

Escrivá was the first to like it, followed by Manchester United assistant coach Fan Fan Dejiahe, Villarreal captain Bruno, and Manchester United captain Ashley Young.

Fans searched for a long time but couldn't find Ten Hag's account.

Ten Hag was clever; he had certainly liked it too, but he used a sock puppet account, so the fans didn't know.

"The Sun"—The Chinese Embassy in Russia liked Mbappé's post, then subsequently unliked it.

In the locker room, Tang Ye returned to his spot without saying a word.

He poured mineral water onto his hand, then used the water to wipe the bloodstains off his arm.

The team doctor wanted to disinfect Tang Ye's wounds, but was refused.

Compared to disinfection, Tang Ye felt what he needed more right now was to calm down.

Lippi entered last, while Madallo helped close the door.

"Tom, are you okay?"

Madallo walked over to Tang Ye, who was leaning against a cabinet and nodded lightly: "I'm fine, actually it doesn't hurt much."

Although there seemed to be bloodstains everywhere, they were all external injuries; plus, with his attention fully on the match, Tang Ye couldn't really feel the pain of the wounds.

"Germany played somewhat poorly in the first half with many fouls, but we must admit they were the side with the advantage."

"Our defense was still acceptable; we can continue with it in the second half."

"Tom, in the second half, you can position yourself a bit further back."

Lippi spoke slowly.

Hearing the Italian's words, it seemed the national team's goal for this match was now to fight for a draw.

Achieving a 0-0 draw against Germany would, if accomplished, enter the history of Chinese football.

Feng Feng Xiaoting nodded: "Mm, Germany's form isn't very good; if we continue playing defensively, we might have a chance."

"..."

"No, I..."

Tang Ye hesitated, then spoke: "This has nothing to do with form; I wanted to say this earlier."

The locker room suddenly fell silent; Zhang Zhang Yuning stared blankly as Tang Ye continued.

"We need to find our rhythm, but how can we possibly find a rhythm by just defending?"

"During the match, I told you we could attack, but you just kept nodding, nodding continuously, yet you still passed the ball back and forth behind, never moving forward."

"The full-backs kept telling me to go up; of course I can go up, but if they keep telling me to go while you never pass forward, how am I supposed to do it? To get the ball, I have to drop back, then dribble it all the way forward myself."

Tang Ye looked at Feng Feng Xiaoting: "You clearly could pass forward, clearly could coordinate with me, so why wouldn't you cooperate? And on the field, I already communicated with you many times."

"Damn it, I don't know why you're so afraid. What is there to fear about those few players on the German team?"

He spread his hands.

"Always defending, always defending. Even a trash player like Özil can play offensively, but I'm only allowed to defend? Am I worse than him, that I must always defend?"

"Hell, their midfield is weak as anything, yet you're still afraid; I don't know what you're scared of."

(End of Chapter)