Chapter 840: You Know What Happens When You Choose to Trust China Again

"Do you know what I'm talking about, Ferran?"

Getting no verbal feedback from Escriva, Marti spoke up once more to confirm.

"... I know, of course I know."

"So?"

"Let's not talk about this anymore."

Escriva pushed Marti away: "The draw result came out half a year ago, we should have known then what the situation would be."

"There's no changing it now, alright? We're here to play matches, just play them well. Whatever about Tom is his business."

"..."

The Spanish head coach was already starting to ramble; after speaking he walked off, leaving Marti alone on the spot to think.

Maybe he shouldn't have brought this up?

Or maybe Ferran had already figured this out long ago?

Hiss...

Marti took a deep breath.

If it was Ferran...

Maybe when he saw the draw result on the spot, he had already imagined this very scene?

Then there's nothing to be done.

Marti now only felt Escriva was pitiful. The Spaniard was a very pitiful coach; he wanted to make his mark in national team matches, only to run into FIFA targeting him.

And himself too!

Marti himself was also very pitiful!

Everyone was a pitiful wretch, pitiful wretches crippled by the draw result!

Reprinted from a long 442 article, a detailed analysis of the possible tactics of China and the Netherlands in the World Cup proper:

The article really was very long, roughly more than 2,000 English words, but for Chinese fans they could very cleanly ignore the half belonging to the Netherlands, leaving only 1,000 words.

The 442 expert said that although the Chinese team has only played one friendly so far, there is still quite a lot that can be seen.

"It can be confirmed that the current Chinese team is more outstanding than during the World Cup qualifiers. Surprisingly, judging from the friendly performance, they are very likely to be the team with the biggest overall improvement from the qualifiers to the proper tournament. I am surprised by the coordination between the Chinese players; they are doing better than before."

Praised to the skies, it even felt a bit like a backhanded compliment.

Of course this absolutely wasn't any backhanded compliment; the 442 football expert had genuinely seen the Chinese team's progress.

Better coordination, stronger individual ability from every starter, plus a brand-new tactical system. Looking at it now, of the 32 participating teams only the Chinese team can do all three at the same time — ridiculously strong.

Putting it this way might still not get the point across, so the newspaper expert made an analogy.

"There seems to be an invisible thread between the Chinese players; ty shares his football wisdom selflessly, thereby lifting the entire team."

As expected, the comment section was soon flooded; many fans accused 442 of being biased, even going so far as to use this unscientific explanation as if it were reason!

As Britain's most professional football tactics newspaper, fans hoped 442 would not be fooled by ggbond's dewy-fresh appearance, and must stay objective.

"We have seen that the Chinese team's two wingers are now positioned further back (this became even more obvious in the second half of the friendly), so we have reason to believe that during the group stage the Chinese team will make the central corridor their focus. ty's individual performance and the efficiency of his coordination with his teammates will directly decide the Chinese team's World Cup fate."

—Excerpted from 442.

CCTV5+.

Tang Ye passed the ball first to Pogba; after receiving Pogba's pass he did a rainbow nutmeg, flicking the ball up, and after it landed kicked it forward to Messi.

Messi trapped the ball: "sodawater?"

"No!"

"Pepsi Cola?"

"Oh, that's nice!"

Messi pulled three bottles of Pepsi Cola, misting with cold air, from the fridge, tossed two to Tang Ye and Pogba respectively, and kept the last one for himself.

The three of them twisted off the caps together.

"Wow!"

【Pepsi Cola】

A CCTV5+ advertisement; judging by the looks of it the filming must have been done fairly early. The sponsor Pepsi Cola even assumed Pogba would take part in this World Cup, but they guessed wrong, so this pre-scheduled ad could only be shoved on air as is.

The good news is that this Pepsi ad features Tang Ye and Messi, directly blowing up the World Cup Group C draw result. On Twitter, #pepsicola was the most-searched World Cup sponsor, even surpassing adidas and nike.

Among all listed companies, only one — Bobobond — had a buzz ranking ahead of Pepsi Cola.

But Bobobond the company is utterly shameless; they didn't put in a single penny of sponsorship for Qatar, purely freeloading on the World Cup traffic through Tang Ye.

"Where I am right now is Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar; this will be the venue for this World Cup's final."

"As you can see, the streets of Doha are currently covered in World Cup-related elements; with every step you take here you can see a new promotional poster."

Just as the on-site reporter said, in the frame there is a Cristiano Ronaldo nike poster; pan the camera left and you see Tang Ye's adidas ad — the two ad screens are even facing each other.

"On site we are very fortunate to have interviewed Tang Ye's father. Mr. Tang, hello!"

The reporter gave Tang Tang Zhengxiong a slight bow; gg Tang Zhengxiong greeted the camera.

"This World Cup's Chinese team group-stage draw situation doesn't seem very ideal? As the father of the Chinese team captain, your understanding of football should far exceed that of an ordinary fan. What is your view on this draw result?"

"Um..."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong thought for a moment: "I feel whatever the draw result is, it's not a problem. Trust in professional sports is what matters most. I trusted Tang Ye, so I boldly let him play football, and now I will keep trusting him."

"Football is a thing of wins and losses; win and you're awesome, lose and you go to the island. You took the gamble, so accept it — nothing more to say."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong spoke with great conviction.

The reporter glanced at the "China Sports Lottery" logo on the microphone and continued: "We say China Sports Lottery is also one of the official sponsors of the Chinese team at this World Cup, providing funding support for the Chinese team's logistics and training. I recall that at the last World Cup you said you spent tens of millions of yuan betting on China's straight win in the China–Germany match?"

"Oh, that one."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong rubbed his nose, somewhat regretful: "Back then, I intended to buy, but I was in Russia at the time; it was inconvenient to buy Chinese sports lottery tickets, yet buying Russian lottery tickets would have let foreigners earn the money, so in the end, I didn't buy."

PS: In some countries, family members of athletes are prohibited from placing bets, but in China, it is allowed because sports lottery is a public welfare undertaking, not gambling; a significant portion of the prize money is donated. Additionally, most Chinese sports lottery betting focuses on the Big Five Leagues, while China does not have a single player in those leagues.

【???】