Chapter 861: Tang Ye vs. Rodri

FIFA Official Website: Chinese midfielder Tang Ye selected as MVP of the Qatar World Cup group stage.

The Chinese National Team reposted FIFA news: Tang Ye selected as Group Stage MVP.

Good news, indeed, but in the eyes of many of Tang Ye's haters, this headline is undoubtedly their opening to attack.

In Russia, he was the Group Stage MVP.

Now in Qatar, he is still the Group Stage MVP.

Conclusion drawn: The Chinese team are gods of the group stage, capable only of playing group stage matches.

"Munich Subway" Reporter: China often performs beyond expectations in the group stage; this is a major reason for Germany's repeated failures. But objectively speaking, China's strength is insufficient to support them in achieving victory in the knockout rounds.

Commentator Owen: If they wish to advance to the quarter-finals, China would need to face Japan in the Round of 16, but regrettably, China's opponent is Spain, which greatly diminishes their hopes of advancing.

Some remarks by European journalists and commentators were deeply stinging, almost like slapping the Chinese National Team across the face.

But objectively speaking, you truly cannot refute their statements; these stinging words are, to a large extent, the truth!

Sigh.

Whenever people are bullied, they always think of finding their mother; right now, Chinese fans also hope the Chinese National Team's "nanny," GGBond, will step forward and say a few words—no matter what he says, as long as it boosts the fans' morale, that will be enough.

However, due to the incidents involving Li Tie and Chen Chen Xuyuan, the Chinese National Team has been extremely cautious regarding press conferences; apart from Escribá, no one is allowed to accept journalist interviews before match day.

Just as Chinese fans thought they would have to endure humiliation and bear the burden, the press conference from neighboring Portugal arrived.

Several Portuguese reporters were quite talented; upon seeing C. Ronaldo, they immediately asked about matters related to Ten Hag and Tang Ye, while C. Ronaldo, as if possessed, showed great interest in these questions.

"Spain is indeed excellent; we faced them in the group stage back in Russia. We failed to secure a victory against Spain, which remains a regret of mine."

"TY encountered Spain in the Round of 16; for them, this is indeed terrible. As everyone can see, Spain may be superior to China in many aspects."

C. Ronaldo pursed his lips: "However... I believe TY has already delivered sufficiently good performances in this World Cup; those fans who do not recognize him will only use the 'Group Stage MVP' title to attack him. What we need to understand is that some matters involving the entire team are beyond one's control; TY winning the Group Stage MVP is already sufficient proof of his ability."

"As for those who belittle TY and belittle the Chinese National Team... as a Portuguese player, I perhaps should not say anything, but as a senior figure in the football industry, I feel such belittling behavior is inappropriate; we need to respect a player who has won four Ballon d'Or awards at the age of 23."

"Moreover, TY won those four Ballon d'Or awards despite Erik's interference; the immense value therein naturally goes without saying."

C. Ronaldo was extremely cunning, taking the opportunity at the end to subtly belittle Ten Hag.

To make Ten Hag uncomfortable, C. Ronaldo even stated, "Tang Ye winning the Ballon d'Or under Ten Hag's interference, I believe, holds even more value than some of my own Ballon d'Or awards."

From this, one can also see the towering hatred the Portuguese harbor toward the Manchester United manager.

In order to belittle Ten Hag, C. Ronaldo was willing to cut himself!

【Boohoo, Boss Luo really is... I'm crying to death.】

【Wait, what exactly did Tang Ye do to C. Ronaldo? Has he been tamed into a little brother or something?】

【Hahahaha, every time he gives an interview, at least half the time is spent talking about Tang Ye and Saint Ten; I feel C. Ronaldo could emulate Saint Li and arrange a meal with Ten Hag.】

【Saint Ten: Cristiano Ronaldo wants to have a meal with me, but as you know, I can see there are some little tricks involved here, so I won't go; however, this does not mean I feel fear.】

After watching C. Ronaldo's interview video, fans only regretted that they could not use a god's-eye view to monitor the Carrington Base; otherwise, they would definitely figure out what exactly happened between Tang Ye and C. Ronaldo.

How GGBond's Super Lollipop bewitched the proud Portuguese is a question destined to have no answer.

However, the fact that C. Ronaldo firmly stood on the side of Tang Ye and the Chinese National Team is already established.

James posted on social media to strongly support Tang Ye: "The eternal GOAT; capable people never care about others' doubts."

James, Ronaldo, and Tang—three super players standing on the same line, all loyal supporters of the Chinese National Team!

【FIFA & Qatar Football Association & Ruiyang Industrial and Commercial University Sports Management Center】

【Chinese National Team Training Base (Temporary)】

"Conventional thinking is definitely useless!"

In the Sports Department office, Escribá reached his conclusion.

"Mm!"

Martí quickly nodded in agreement, then suddenly thought of something: "So, does unconventional thinking work?"

"Shit, you're saying this now? Are you even part of the Chinese team?"

"Oh, oh, sorry, sorry."

Martí took a step back: "It's mainly that the online comments are too terrible right now; I've been somewhat affected."

Speaking of which, Martí had to marvel at Ferran's transformation; given the current online atmosphere, for a Spaniard to remain calm is truly a rare and valuable quality.

"Online comments are online comments; what relation do they have to our match?"

Escribá's attitude was firm: "Regardless of whether we can win or not, we must play the match as well as possible!"

Martí turned his head to look; displayed on Escribá's office computer was the match record between China and Brazil during the Russia World Cup.

In the Round of 16 of the World Cup four years ago, the Chinese team led by Lippi lost to Brazil with a score of 5:3 and was ruthlessly eliminated.

Surpassing Lippi's team management results must be Escribá's goal for the knockout stage.

However... keeping the score difference against Spain within three goals is absolutely not an easy task.

"Álvaro (Morata)'s form is average; what we need to worry about more is Rodri..."

Escribá shared his thoughts with Martí.

They would temporarily formulate a tactic; if both coaches deemed it suitable, then that would be the plan.

There was no other way; the time left for the Chinese team was running out, and discussing a flawless tactic in such a short period was simply impossible.

"Good afternoon, King Tang."

Zhang Zhang Yuning walked into the gym and handed Tang Ye a bottle of ice-cold cola.

"Oh, thanks!"

Tang Ye clinked bottles with Zhang Zhang Yuning, though he merely placed the drink beside the stool, as the captain of the Chinese National Team seemed to feel thirsty.

"You seem under a lot of pressure..."

Zhang Zhang Yuning sat down beside Tang Ye, placing a hand on the latter's shoulder, hoping it would offer some comfort.

"Aren't you under a lot of pressure too?"

Tang Ye spread his hands: "Everyone on our side is in the same boat right now, nothing to say about it."

"Eh, then I definitely don't have much pressure, huh — Haaland even cheered me on."

"Haha!"

Mentioning Haaland's pep-talk video, Tang Ye finally burst out laughing.

"No way, how did you threaten him into filming that video? That's ruthless — over 20 million views on Douyin."

"Where would I need to threaten him? I just told him we're about to play the knockout round, could he give our striker a little cheer — isn't that just a small favor?"

"Ok ok, a small favor, but that caption was something you gave him, right?"

Leaning his upper body back, Tang Ye put on a look of surprise: "How did you know?"

"Of course I know — the Tang Tang Qiuwang flavor is that strong."

"Haha!"

Tang Ye gave Zhang Zhang Yuning a pat on the back: "How about it, little Zhang Zhang Yuning cheered you on — do you feel like your form is soaring now?"

"Awesome."

Zhang Zhang Yuning gave a thumbs-up: "But honestly, I really do feel pretty great."

Zhang Zhang Yuning let out a sheepish chuckle.

A super striker worth 180 million euros recording a video to cheer him on — that feeling really wasn't bad.

"If our Round of 16 had been against Japan instead of Spain, I feel like my form could really take flight right now."

"Damn, so you're still not confident!"

Tang Ye pushed Zhang Zhang Yuning away: "Spain is Spain — does playing Spain mean we can't be confident?"

"Eh, I watched your livestream — that's not what you were saying during it!"

"……"

Tang Ye was also helpless: "I didn't expect Japan to play that well either, but mainly it was a fix — nothing we could do about that."