Chapter 858: Luo De

Utrecht Times World Cup Column — Tom scored 5 goals and provided 3 assists in 3 group stage matches; the Chinese national team has advanced to the knockout stage as group winners for the first time in history!

Messages of congratulations from major newspapers and friends kept Tang Ye’s phone vibrating nonstop; this situation had been going on for nearly a full day.

“They’re surprised by our match result.”

Escrivá noticed this — the “they” in Spanish parlance naturally referred to Tang Ye’s WhatsApp contacts.

“Haha, to be honest, I’m surprised too.”

Tang Ye held his phone, replying to friends’ messages while conversing with Escrivá.

“Didn’t you say earlier you felt we could beat Argentina? Didn’t you expect us to finish first in the group?”

Escrivá squinted; even now, he still couldn’t figure out how Tang Ye had made that prediction before the group stage began.

“I thought we’d finish second.”

Tang Ye spread his hands: “Argentina and Germany are both tough, and Wales is no pushover either — how could I possibly have thought we’d finish first?”

“I’m not that arrogant.”

“Haha!”

“Okok.”

Escrivá was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something, his eyes fixed on Tang Ye’s phone: “Who are all these people sending you congratulations?”

“...”

Tang Ye sensed a hint of danger and quickly slipped his phone into his pants pocket.

His other hand stayed inside the pocket, not pulling out immediately, but continuing to guard his phone: “Uh... just some teammates from the club, former teammates, you know — Bruno (Villarreal) and the rest. And... Eric hasn’t messaged me yet; he might be busy.”

Escrivá nodded slightly, then walked away.

Once he confirmed the coach was far enough, Tang Ye pulled his phone out again.

【Mr. Eric: Keep going — if you face Japan in the knockout stage, you’ve got a chance.】

【Tang Ye: Yeah, I think so too.】

Beijing time, 7:30 p.m. — only half an hour remained before the final Group D match between Japan and Spain began.

Douyin live stream.

【Title: Neutral Streamer’s Professional Analysis of Japan vs Spain】

【Online Viewers: 2.74M+】

Nearly three million online viewers, and the number was still skyrocketing.

When you first entered the stream, you might have thought it strange — why would a mere Douyin streamer have such an absurd number of viewers?

But once you saw GGBond’s head in the bottom-right corner, everything became clear.

【Insane, Tang Ball King is this dedicated? Already working overtime after qualifying for the knockout stage?】

【??? Is this even real? Who still watches CCTV? Tang Ball King, I love you!】

【GGBond, are you FIFA’s biological father? How come you stream every single match?】

【Streamer, who do you think will win today? Can you predict the score?】

【Feeling good, guys — Tang Ye is here!】

Before anyone noticed, the viewer count had already jumped to 3.5 million.

Tang Ye’s livestream was purely spontaneous — he hadn’t posted any promotion on social media, so the peak viewer count would still take a little time to hit.

To be fair, Chinese fans are truly lucky.

Not only did they advance as group winners, but they could watch Tang Ye’s livestream the very next day after qualifying.

Watching Spain, led by Luo De, brutally dominate Japan on screen, while hearing GGBond’s captivating voice — this must be football fans’ paradise!

Ronaldo and Messi never livestream match analyses — they’re nowhere near as well-rounded as Tang Ball King!

“Who do I think will win... Didn’t I say this during yesterday’s interview? I back Spain.”

“You saw the Ball Di poll — you all backed Spain too. Japan has zero chance of beating Spain.”

“Japan has a chance...”

Tang Ye nearly laughed out loud: “Then tell me — how exactly will Japan break through Spain’s midfield? Will Namba and Ito be constantly shadowed by Luo De? They can’t get through — unless they try to dribble in tight circles and treat Luo De like a dog on a leash. Do you think that’s possible?”

“Trust me, guys, I know football — Japan cannot beat Spain. Japan’s chance of winning is even lower than Korea’s chance of beating Spain.”

【666, why are you so absolute? Think you know everything? Show me your Ballon d’Or — if you can’t produce it, shut up.】

【Hey, wait — now that you mention it, Tang Ball King couldn’t win a Ballon d’Or right now even if he tried; the trophy’s sitting at home.】

【Tang Ye, don’t go off-script — are you backing Spain just because Luo De’s on the team? That’s not neutral commentary!】

Expecting Tang Ye to be neutral was nearly impossible — anyone familiar with this player knew he judged everything based purely on his first instinct.

Put nicely: decisive.

Put bluntly: full of bias.

But that was fine — you didn’t even need to wait for him to speak to predict his next line.

“Match about to start — let me introduce the starting lineups. First, Spain.”

Since he knew Spain’s team so well, Tang Ye didn’t need to sneak a glance at Ball Di on his phone — he could just watch the field.

“Goalkeeper: Unai Simón; defenders: Alex Balde, Pau Torres, Luo De...”

“Wait, is Luo De playing center-back today?”

Tang Ye widened his eyes: “Holy shit, Enrique’s doing science today. I’ve never seen Luo De play center-back — can this even work?”

Tang Ye paused, thought for a moment, then suddenly concluded: “It’ll work, guys — I feel Luo De as a center-back will be terrifying. His heading is insane.”

“...”

“Pedri! Pass to Olmo.”

“Olmo’s coming — holy shit, that speed! Can Morata see him?!”

“No, Morata, what the hell are you doing?!”

“Olmo, shoot yourself!”

“Damn!”

Only twenty minutes into the first half, Tang Ye was growing increasingly anxious watching the match.

On screen, the Chinese national team captain rubbed his nose, then turned to look at Zhang Yuning beside him.

“What do you think, Tang Ball King?”

Tang Ye’s gaze returned to his laptop screen: “...I feel Spain are underestimating them today. They don’t think Japan is tough, do they?”

Tang Ye had repeatedly said he favored Spain — but that didn’t mean Spain could play carelessly, however they pleased.

Japan wasn’t a weak team; if Spain wanted to win, they had to bring their full seriousness.

“Luo De, stop loafing — what are you doing?!”

“I give up — why did Enrique put Luo De at center-back? Why not play him as a defensive midfielder?”

“Here comes Pedri! Holy shit, this kid’s got talent!”

Pedri cut inside diagonally; from his god’s-eye view, Tang Ye saw Busquets in perfect position.

“Pass to Busquets!”

Tang Ye shouted.

But unfortunately, Pedri was still too young — he completely failed to recognize the golden scoring opportunity he had.

Plop!

He forced a through ball to Morata; Spain’s striker shot, but the goalkeeper blocked it.

Spain’s corner kick.

“Corner — look for an opportunity... Japan’s players are generally short.”

“Morata’s header... forget it, Morata’s off-form today — better watch Luo De.”

He fell silent suddenly; Tang Ye’s eyes slowly narrowed, his focus sharpening.

Plop!

The corner is delivered!

First-point position!

“Luo De!”

Boom!

“Nice!”

“Fuck!”