Chapter 781: The First Team Globally to Qualify for the World Cup Finals

Check Dongqiu Di Match Report: 4:4 draw against Saudi Arabia; the Chinese national team becomes the first squad globally, aside from Qatar, to qualify for the World Cup finals. (782,344 comments)

Check Dongqiu Di Live Match Report: Tang Ye delivers another assist hat-trick, Wu Lei explodes with power, and Ai Ai Kesen scores the equalizer against Saudi Arabia!

【666666】

【Dreaming back to four years ago, brothers】

【Dreaming back my ass; four years ago we qualified in the final round, but now damn it, we're the first to qualify】

【Brothers, if you ask me, the World Cup should be ranked by the order of qualification, which makes the Chinese national team the champions of the Qatar World Cup】

【GG Captain, boo-hoo-hoo, so cool!】

【The Tang Army upstairs, calm down; now is the time to focus on team honor. A Great Tang Prosperity for Chinese football!】

"China Media Group, good evening, dear audience friends. The result of today's match is displayed in the upper left of the screen: the Chinese team achieved a last-minute equalizer against Saudi Arabia away from home. Additionally, after this match, they have officially secured their ticket to the Qatar World Cup finals."

"Yes, you heard correctly. The Chinese team is the first squad to qualify for the World Cup finals, aside from the host nation Qatar!"

Logically speaking, once the match ended, the CCTV-5 broadcast should have concluded as well, at most letting the sports commentator provide a simple review of the game.

But today was different; after the match ended, CCTV-5 continued its live broadcast, with over twenty Chinese national team players walking around on the pitch.

How utterly annoying; with CCTV pulling a stunt like this, how can the betting websites grab traffic from post-match interviews!

Additionally, attentive fans noticed that around the 89th minute of the second half, CCTV changed the programming schedule for Channel 5.

Originally slated to replay badminton and table tennis matches, the schedule was now entirely filled with replays of the Asian Qualifiers.

【1:35 AM, UAE vs. China (Asian Qualifiers Round 12, Matchday 1)】

【3:35 AM, China vs. Saudi Arabia (Asian Qualifiers Round 12, Matchday 2)】

A total of five matches were scheduled straight through until 10:00 AM the next day.

By this point, what CCTV wanted was no longer about viewership ratings; those figures were useless.

Prestige was what mattered most!

"Hey, over here!"

Escrivá took the Chinese national flag handed to him by a fan and walked toward Tang Ye holding the banner.

"Oh! Thanks, Mr.!"

Tang Ye draped the red flag over himself, leaving space for Wu Lei and Feng Feng Xiaoting as well.

"Uh..."

Escrivá stood beside Tang Ye, appearing somewhat at a loss.

"Hmm, what's wrong?"

Tang Ye paused for a moment.

Realizing the situation, he quickly signaled Wu Lei to pull the national flag toward Escrivá's side.

"This..."

Hiss...

Escrivá took a deep breath.

He hesitated greatly, but after that hesitation, he gave up.

Ferrán certainly wanted to drape the national flag over himself and celebrate with the players, but since Tang Ye hadn't immediately draped the flag over his own body, Escrivá felt a sense of not belonging to this team.

Thinking about it carefully, since he did not hold Chinese nationality, he indeed should not have done so.

Tang Ye stepped forward, while Escrivá stepped backward.

"Hey!"

Tang Ye realized he had done something wrong; he signaled Wu Lei and Feng Feng Xiaoting to move aside, grabbed a corner of the national flag, and tried to drape it over Escrivá, but the latter directly avoided it.

"Mr. Ferrán! Hey, don't be like this; it's my fault, truly sorry, my mistake!"

Unfortunately, no matter what Tang Ye said, it was useless; Escrivá simply refused to step under the protection of the national flag.

"..."

Tang Ye stood still in place, shaking his head and sighing: "Come on!"

"There's no need to be like this!"

It was truly, truly a pity; no matter how much Tang Ye pleaded, Escrivá simply refused to come over.

"Just come in; the fans won't criticize you, I guarantee you, okay?"

"..."

Escrivá still shook his head.

With that, Tang Ye had no choice but to first hand the national flag to Wu Lei standing nearby, and then embrace Escrivá.

"There's no need for this, Ferrán; you are the coach of the Chinese team, no one will criticize you. Those Chinese fans scolded you before only because they thought you lacked ability."

"So do I have ability?"

Escrivá sidestepped the matter of draping the national flag and directly changed the subject.

"Haha!"

Tang Ye was amused.

"Of course, absolute ability!"

Martí popped over from who-knows-where: "Compared to Ten Hag?"

"Haha, fuck! Martí, don't mess around."

Check Dongqiu Di Hot Discussion: Tang Ye named MVP of the Chinese national team in the match against Saudi Arabia.

"To be honest, this result is naturally very satisfying."

Still at the match stadium, five or six reporters stood before Tang Ye; besides those from Saudi Arabia and China, there were also reporters from Japan and South Korea.

"Although it was a draw, we've qualified for the World Cup, so I think that's enough. Of course, this match also exposed some problems—very obvious ones."

Tang Ye rubbed his mouth and took a big gulp of water between sentences.

It was clear that this match had truly exhausted the captain of the Chinese team.

The reporter expressed hope that Tang Ye could elaborate on the problems he believed existed within the Chinese team.

"Hmm... I think our passing coordination could still be improved. Although we've qualified for the World Cup, I believe that with the Chinese team as it is now, if we were to participate in the World Cup directly, there's a high probability we wouldn't achieve any good results."

"Oh, of course, I don't mean to lack confidence. But we do indeed have some problems; that, I admit."

"But you have already confirmed qualification," the Japanese reporter said.

The Japanese reporter spoke, casting an envious glance at Tang Ye.

"Haha, there was certainly an element of luck involved, but I feel we still deserve this honor because we also put in tremendous effort."

Recalling Escrivá's hesitation earlier on the field when draping the national flag, Tang Ye specifically mentioned the Spaniard's name here, clarifying Escrivá's contribution to the team.

"TY, you just stated that if the current Chinese team were to participate in the World Cup directly, there's a high probability of not achieving good results. Do you think this is mainly due to what aspect? Is it insufficient overall strength, or something else?"

"A little bit of everything."

Tang Ye briefly mentioned.

Actually, the Chinese team has quite a few problems; the instability of the forwards' form is one of them.

But this is a media interview; Tang Ye couldn't speak ill of his teammates in front of reporters. For any professional athlete, that would be inappropriate.

"I also played with some issues in this match. Perhaps in the first half, I should have been more decisive; if so, maybe we could have won this match instead of drawing."

Click-click!

"It's not your fault."

Wu Lei, who had remained silent beside him, pushed Tang Ye.

"Haha, thanks!"

"After securing qualification for the final tournament in advance, will you consider competing for the top spot in the group?" the Japanese reporter asked.

"Of course, without a doubt. I believe the value of finishing first in the group is equal to that of qualifying for the World Cup final tournament."

The Japanese reporter frowned slightly: "This means you will be competing for ranking against the Japanese team next, and we have noticed that the Chinese team's opponent in the next match is Japan. After the instability of last summer gradually ended, we have also seen Japan's strength rapidly increasing, gradually approaching the level of the world's football powerhouses. Judging from today's performance, it seems there is a high probability that you won't be a match for the Japanese team?"

"Who knows."

Tang Ye shrugged, acting indifferent: "That's next month's business."