Chapter 414: China's Dilemma, The Strong Opponent Brazil Arrives

FIFA Official: World Cup Group Stage Best XI.

Goalkeeper: Ochoa (Mexico)

Defenders: Godín (Uruguay), Stones (England), Marcelo (Brazil), Trippier (England)

Midfielders: Modrić (Croatia), Tang Ye (China), Kanté (France)

Forwards: C. Ronaldo (Portugal), Kane (England), Cheryshev (Russia)

Head Coach: Lippi (China)

Without exception, every player selected for the Best XI is a scorching hot superstar from their respective nations.

Twelve players in total; England occupies three spots, ranking first, followed by China with two players, ranking second.

Judging by the matches alone, the Chinese team doesn't seem overly strong, yet whenever statistics are compared, someone from the Chinese team always steps up.

Worth mentioning is that besides Tang Ye, another Chinese player made it into the Third Team of the Best XI: Zeng Cheng, the starting goalkeeper for the national football team.

In the three matches against Germany, Senegal, and Sweden, Zeng Cheng completed a total of 13 saves, ranking second among all goalkeepers.

Second only to Ochoa, the Mexican goalkeeper from the First Team!

Beyond Best Player and Best XI, the Chinese team also surged to first place in the Best Match category.

China vs. Sweden tied with Spain vs. Portugal for the top spot on the list of the most spectacular matches of this World Cup group stage.

Third place belongs to Argentina, where Messi and Rojo turned the tide to rescue Argentina from a desperate situation.

Fourth place goes to China again: Tang Ye's World Cup debut featuring a brace to defeat the defending champions, Germany.

Chinese fans quickly realized that no matter what ranking it is, China always manages to get involved, and the ranking is never too low.

Tang Ye's fans suddenly grew tense.

This...

Don't tell me those anti-fans are going to say my GG Bond is farming stats again?

Fans who don't understand football are silently bearing the pressure, while those who do have already opened Bilibili.

Searching for the content creator: Football Elements.

Tang Ye fans wouldn't normally follow Football Elements, but they absolutely never miss a single episode of Football Elements' videos.

Football Elements, follower count: 672,000.

Last video update: 32 days ago.

【Hey bro, where are you?】

【Niao Su only plays favorable matches; essentially, it's still ~dodging↑ confrontation】

【Classic hiatus during national team matches】

Due to the lack of updates, the content creator's feed from the past 32 days has been overrun by fans.

The most ridiculous part is that Football Elements personally replied to a fan's question.

【Piggy Hero, Pride of the National Team: So the content creator won't update during national team matches, huh?】

【Football Elements (Content Creator) replying to Piggy Hero, Pride of the National Team: I'm not an idiot】

!!

【Dying of laughter】

【The person himself actually showed up, that's something】

【Niao Su, reply to me; how does only playing favorable matches make someone an anti-fan?】

On June 30, Tang Ye and Zhang Zhang Yuning arrived at Jidishitang after finishing their afternoon training.

Knocking on his slightly sore thighs, Tang Ye sat down on a chair first: "Has the France match started yet?"

"Let me check."

Zhang Zhang Linpeng went over to turn on the TV.

After spending a few minutes searching for a live stream source, they finally discovered it required payment to access; helplessly, the Chinese football players spent 28 pounds to purchase a BT Sport membership.

The match between France and Argentina happened to be starting right at that moment.

"Mm, that's better."

In no rush to eat, Tang Ye dragged his chair in front of the television, positioning himself directly where he felt the view was best.

"Wait, Ousmane didn't start? Why?"

Seeing Mbappé on the field but not Dembélé, Tang Ye spread his hands in confusion: "Deschamps doesn't understand football, damn it."

"Haha, Tang Ye, you go up and coach the French team."

"Hey, don't say that."

Tang Ye felt Feng Feng Xiaoting made a very valid point.

He was quite familiar with several players on the French team; if he really were to coach them, it would probably be no different from playing a video game.

"But I don't know Argentina very well. Being a coach is too much trouble; I won't become a coach."

Playing football is already exhausting enough; Tang Ye wouldn't take on some part-time job for himself, as that would be purely inviting suffering.

"No rush, let's watch first. Brother Lei, who do you think will win?"

"Uh, I don't know either."

After a brief moment of thought, Wu Lei still didn't give a definite answer; instead, Zhang Zhang Xizhe spoke up.

"Hmm, I'll support Argentina."

"Argentina? No way, I think France is stronger."

Tang Ye had Ji De Xiang Fa, and he briefly explained it to his teammates.

"Mbappé and Dembélé are ridiculously fast; those Argentine defenders can't catch up. Uh... even though Dembélé isn't playing, I think having just Mbappé is enough."

When Tang Ye had just joined Villarreal the year before last, he played two matches against Mbappé; it was then that he befriended his good friend, the Ninja Turtle.

Having seen Mbappé run up close, Tang Ye knew just how fast this guy was.

The match began, and the Chinese national team players slowly gathered in front of the television.

Both sides were visibly strong, but Tang Ye could feel that France was playing slightly better.

Beep!

"It's a penalty!"

Tang Ye clasped his head with both hands.

"..."

Check Dongqiu Di Halftime Report: France trails Argentina 1:2; Griezmann scores from a penalty, Messi assists Mercado to complete the reversal. (28,423 comments)

【Can Matuidi stop kicking people? Messi can't stand up anymore.】

【Suggest substituting Tang Ye for Matuidi; that way, France would probably lead by three goals at halftime.】

【The Messi fans are at it again; why not substitute Tang Ye for Banega? With Tang Ye on Argentina's side, wouldn't Messi immediately score a hat trick?】

Cristiano Ronaldo's fans wanted Tang Ye to help the French team, while Lionel Messi's fans wanted Tang Ye to help the Argentine team.

However, Tang Ye could do nothing about it, because he was currently sitting in a chair watching TV with his teammates!

"France is attacking!"

"Pavard!"

Smack!

A volley was struck, and the Chinese team players sitting in their chairs immediately jumped to their feet.

"Holy shit!"

"GOOO——AAAA——LLLLL!!!!"

"Pavardddd!!! (Pavard)"

An outside-of-the-foot worldie from super long range; the French full-back directly curled the ball into the dead corner.

"Fucking awesome..."

Taking a deep breath, Tang Ye repeatedly watched the replay provided by the director.

"This goal would feel so satisfying to watch live."

As Tang Ye spoke, the Chinese team players beside him were still stunned by Pavard's goal.

Most importantly, thanks to this goal, the French team had equalized the score!

2:2!

Wu Lei looked at Tang Ye; the latter burst into laughter, then helplessly spread his hands.

"My World Cup Goal of the Tournament is gone."

"But... hmm, the Best Goal of the Group Stage should still be mine."

Tang Ye knew how cool his rainbow-kick worldie was; although it couldn't compare to Pavard's long-range shot, it was more than enough to dominate a mere group stage.

Check Dongqiu Di Match Report: France defeats Argentina 4-3 to advance to the quarterfinals; Mbappé becomes a god, creating three goals alone, while Messi provides two assists. (46,231 comments)

France Football — If Mbappé can maintain this performance in the upcoming quarterfinals, Tom might lose his World Cup Best Young Player award.

Previously, the vast majority of fans guessed that Tang Ye, whose group stage performance was heaven-defying, would win this World Cup's Best Young Player award, but Mbappé's performance in the first round of the knockout stage has caused some shift in Mi De Kan Fa.

"If the Chinese team could go as far as the French team in the knockout stage, I can confidently say Tom would win the Best Young Player award. But the problem now is that the Chinese team's overall strength is relatively weak, and they encountered the tricky Brazilian team in the Round of 16," the France Football reporter gave his analysis of the reasons.

Chinese fans found it somewhat hard to accept, yet the fact was indeed just like that.

For Tang Ye to win any award, such as Best Young Player, the World Cup Golden Boot, or even the World Cup Golden Ball, it would be utterly impossible without the support of his teammates.

You might have a heaven-defying performance, but I play three more matches than you.

So how do you compete with that?

FIFA Official: Tang Ye's last-minute winning goal against Sweden is selected as the Best Goal of the World Cup Group Stage.

The Sun — Tom liked a fan's comment requesting Dembélé to substitute Matuidi, then deleted it, but some fans took screenshots the moment they saw it.

The Sun — Tom liked Mbappé's Instagram photo after defeating Argentina and commented with a "Ninja Turtle" emoji; Mbappé replied, "Grandmaster Tom."

With two days remaining before the match between China and Brazil, a fan on Check Dongqiu Di produced a comparison video.

Now that they have reached the knockout stage, the tactics presented by the head coaches are no longer something ordinary fans can predict.

But that doesn't matter; fans can focus on analyzing individual players.

China vs. Brazil: Tiered Player Comparison.

World Class (Absolute Core of a Giant Club): China (Tang Ye), Brazil (Neymar).

Continental Class (Starter for a Champions League Team): China (None), Brazil (Alisson, Silva, Casemiro, Coutinho, Willian, Marcelo).

Top Five League Class: China (None), Brazil (Miranda, Paulinho, Firmino, Fernandinho).

National Team Class (Substitute in a Top Five League): China (Wu Lei), Brazil (Danilo, Taison, Geromel...).

These four tiers encompass all 23 players of the Brazilian team and 2 players of the Chinese team.

The gap in player ability is quite obvious; it remains to be seen whether this champion coach, Lippi, can devise a good method to narrow the disparity between the players.

"I still hold the same view: playing purely defensively will not work for us."

Lippi's first sentence stunned the players.

However, the head coach of the Chinese national team soon offered his perspective.

The strength gap between China and Brazil is too large; even if they park the bus, they would still concede at least 3 to 5 goals.

Therefore, the respected Mr. Marcello has decided to play something ruthless.

At the start, the Chinese team should play defensively, not letting the Brazilian team find their attacking rhythm too quickly.

Then, when the timing is right, Tang Ye will step up to accelerate the Chinese team's attacking pace.

Brazil certainly won't expect the Chinese team to have ideas about attacking, so this is a breakthrough point China can use.

Lippi's hand moved the magnetic flags on the tactical board.

"Marcelo, Marcelo has a clear attacking tendency, so their left flank, which is our right flank, the flank where Lei is—this is the key to our attack."

"Not a simple attack."

Fearing the players might misunderstand, Lippi added: "It's a counter-attack; a counter-attack is what's feasible for us!"

Tang Ye noted this key point, then continued listening to Lippi.

Brazil was simply too strong; if they didn't learn something from Lippi, Tang Ye felt they might get thrashed 0-5 or even 0-6.

For the Chinese team, which had just broken records to enter the knockout stage, such a result would be utterly humiliating.

Seeing Zhang Zhang Linpeng take out his phone's memo app to take notes, Tang Ye and the other national team players followed suit.

Tang Ye missed a few things, so he copied some notes from Wu Lei's phone, successfully completing his own.

1. Attack down the right flank (Wu Lei); note that this is a defensive counter-attack.

2. Beware of Coutinho's through balls and long-range shots.

3. Jesus frequently drops deep to receive; we must cut off the passing links between Jesus, Neymar, and Paulinho.

4. Casemiro is the key to Brazil's defense; we must find a way to earn Casemiro a yellow card, or even a red.

……

Having noted a total of eight key points, Tang Ye felt his understanding of Brazil had reached a new level.

However...

There was no smile on Tang Ye's face, because he knew it was absolutely impossible to defeat Brazil relying solely on these things.

"Huff... huff..."

Noticing Zhang Zhang Yuning and Wu Lei looking at him, Tang Ye shook his head, exhaled, and said: "Haha, let's just try to lose by as little as possible. Come on!"

"You should go further."

No one knew why Wu Lei suddenly said such a thing; it left the players speechless, leaving only Madaloni there pressing Wu Lei on what he had just said.

"Hey, it's nothing, Brother Lei."

Tang Ye waved his hand: "Let's just do our best together. I'm already very satisfied to have made it this far. Really, I'm not lying. Brother Hao can vouch for that."

"That's right."

Wei Wei Shihao laughed: "When we were kids, he told me his dream was to play in the World Cup for the national team. His dream was already fulfilled in that match against Germany."

Tang Ye walked over and placed his hand on Wu Lei's shoulder.

Of course, this was merely a psychological comfort for his teammates.

Tang Ye understood a principle.

The more one obtains, the more one desires to obtain.

Tang Ye never used to think about winning the Premier League title, but ever since finishing second once, his longing for the Premier League championship burned like fire in his heart.

Of course, the national team and the club are very different; Tang Ye needed to stay calm and take things step by step to gain more.

"To be honest, no one will blame us if we lose, so let's just play our hearts out."

Captain Feng Feng Xiaoting spoke up; the players clapped each other on the back, seeming ready for the match against Brazil the day after tomorrow.

……

Weibo Hot Search No. 1: China vs. Brazil World Cup Knockout Match.

The Chinese team generated huge buzz during the group stage, so news about the knockout match surged early.

The official Chinese Football Association released a teaser poster for the match against Brazil; in the center stood a towering mountain, with the Chinese team at its base gazing upward, accompanied by the caption: "Know the difficulty but do not retreat; face the hardship and press forward."

This mountain was Pico da Neblina, Brazil's highest peak, symbolizing Brazil's long-standing dominance in football.

This was the official poster from the Chinese team; there was also a poster from the Brazilian team.

The Brazilian team's poster was quite special: on the left were the Brazilian players led by Neymar, and on the right was...

On the right, there was only Tang Ye alone.

Facing Brazil's 23 players, the expression on Tang Ye's face on the right seemed somewhat helpless.

The caption read: "Dark Horse?"

The meaning of this Brazilian poster was obvious: they did not regard any Chinese player other than Tang Ye as worthy of attention.

So damn arrogant!

……

(End of Chapter)