Chapter 868

The magazine “Korean Air” — Qatar World Cup quarterfinal: Asia’s last hope, China, faces traditional powerhouse the Netherlands.

The Manchester Evening News front page headline — True winner? This World Cup’s eight teams feature a total of ten Manchester United players, including: Tang Ye, Rashford, Dembélé, De Jong, De Ligt, Varane, and others.

The Manchester Evening News article is utterly redundant.

Everyone says Manchester United is now the greatest club in the world; of course, the World Cup’s top tournament should have the most United players — whether it’s Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City, or Liverpool, they all pale in comparison!

The Netherlands squad also has two Manchester United players: De Jong and De Ligt, both of whom are key starters.

The round of 16 was a battle between elder and younger brothers.

Now the quarterfinal has become a battle between elder and younger younger brothers.

The World Cup knockout stage draw rules are utterly disgusting — forcing Manchester United’s own brothers to draw swords against each other.

…

Click-click!

After concluding all matches of this World Cup, the Japanese national team players and head coach Moriyama Hajime bid farewell to fans at the airport.

Though they failed to advance to the quarterfinals, Japanese fans were still satisfied with their team’s performance, so there was no obvious booing at the scene.

“Go on! Next World Cup, we’re aiming for the quarterfinals too!”

“Coach Moriyama, keep going!”

“Nan’yō!”

Click-click!

Moriyama Hajime bowed to the camera.

“Coach Moriyama, your team successfully reached the knockout stage this World Cup — that’s a solid achievement for any Asian team…”

“Hmm… yes, it’s decent, but I don’t think it meets our goal.”

Moriyama Hajime’s tone carried frustration: “China reached the quarterfinals. We wanted to do the same, but we didn’t manage it.”

“Compared to Tang Ye and his teammates, we still have many shortcomings. This World Cup has made us deeply aware of these errors, and over the coming years, we will reflect deeply and correct them.”

Moriyama Hajime nodded to the reporters: “The future Japanese team will become stronger, and our goal remains unchanged: we will win the World Cup in 2030.”

The reporters also brought up next June’s Asian Cup — a question that was extremely uncomfortable.

Right now, China’s team is terrifyingly strong within Asia; the 2023 Asian Cup is even being hosted by China. What could Moriyama Hajime possibly say?

“There’s still a significant gap between us and China. Six months of reflection may not be enough, but we’ll do our best. We will challenge China in next year’s Asian Cup.”

“Even if they’re a World Cup quarterfinalist?”

“Yes, even if they’re a World Cup quarterfinalist.”

Moriyama Hajime and the Japanese team bowed 90 degrees to the fans who came to see them off, and here they set their flag: Japan will advance to at least the final of the 2023 Asian Cup starting in June, and if possible, they will challenge China once again.

…

The Nikkan Sports interviews Coach Moriyama: There remains a significant gap between Japanese football and China; cultivating a player like Tang Ye is extremely difficult, even China cannot replicate it a second time; the team will reflect deeply, and the June Asian Cup will be an opportunity for revenge.

【So full of themselves? Planning to beat the national team on China’s home turf?】

【Don’t bash them — Moriyama seems genuinely determined; Japan’s football hasn’t made zero progress these past few years.】

【Japanese football is just average. If you want real high-level football, you’ve got to look at our national team — Tang the King runs 16 kilometers in two hours — that’s real high-level football!】

【So frustrating — why the hell is it the Netherlands in the quarterfinals? I’d rather face Portugal or Switzerland — why not just bully my Luo Ge?】

【Face Portugal? You think Portugal’s a pushover? None of these quarterfinalists are easy. Just accept it — what can you do?】

“Come on, come on!”

“Damn, give it to me!”

After colliding with Zhang Xizhe, Tang Ye took possession of the ball.

He dodged and weaved, finding an opening.

Bam!

He passed to Akesen up front.

He shot directly!

Goal!

“Wow!”

Clap-clap-clap-clap!

Applause erupted on the training ground; Feng Xiaoting spread his hands at Wang Dalei on the ground: “Dalei, your reaction was too slow!”

Wang Dalei shook his head, getting up from the ground: “I just don’t feel in form…”

“Damn, don’t say that.”

Zhang Yuning called out to both: “Don’t talk about this now — if your form really drops later, you’ll regret it.”

“Sigh.”

Wang Dalei was helpless.

His performance in the knockout stage has clearly been worse than in the group stage.

But they couldn’t suddenly replace him with Yan Junling as starting goalkeeper at this stage.

As long as Wang Dalei’s form doesn’t deteriorate drastically, he’ll start in every remaining match.

Top teams never change their starting goalkeeper — let alone a super elite squad like China, a World Cup quarterfinalist.

“Beep!”

“Gather up!”

The translator urged them; Escrivá clapped beside them: “Hurry up, hurry up.”

Having stayed with the national team so long, Escrivá had picked up quite a bit of Chinese — phrases like “I fucking” and “damn it” came naturally, since they were so common on the Chinese team’s training ground.

“Come on, Dalei, just play normally.”

Ma Di comforted Wang Dalei as he took off his gloves, while Escrivá began his speech.

“The Netherlands have played a three-back system since the group stage. I think they’ll likely use the same against us — about 95% probability. They probably don’t have any better formation left; their tactics are too monotonous.”

“But… hmm, our tactics are pretty monotonous too.”

As he spoke, Escrivá rubbed his hair.

“But you need to snap out of it — strictly speaking, not just snap out of it, I feel you need to be more tense.”

Escrivá looked at the players before him: “I know reaching the quarterfinals is a great achievement, but what I mean is, we’ve only gotten here once — no matter what, we must show our absolute best level.”

“I want you to play with the mindset of wanting to win, even if we’re likely to lose in the end.”

“…”

“That’s about it. Rest well, everyone.”

“Beep!”

Escrivá walked away, and the national team players, once full of energy, now calmed down considerably.

Escrivá was right — though they’d already exceeded expectations, they still needed to raise the pressure.

In competitive sports, without pressure, you can’t play — you’d have zero chance of winning.

“But how do we generate pressure…”

Zhang Yuning shook his head: “I can’t think of any reason why I should feel pressured right now.”

“That’s true…”

Wang Shanchao agreed; Tang Ye and Wei Shihao were off to the side doing something unknown.

“Tang Ye.”

“Tang Ye!”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

Tang Ye turned his head; Feng Xiaoting was looking at him.

“My brother Wei says he feels his thigh has no power — before, on the bus, Senior Wang also told me he felt the same.”

“Then… alright, I feel it too.”

Feng Xiaoting sighed: “A 120-minute match, all high intensity — how can we possibly recover?”

“This World Cup is held in winter — the schedule is much tighter than previous editions,” Wu Lei added.

“But we just can’t adapt — it’s our first time reaching the quarterfinals.”

“Haha, true enough.”

The players were helpless.

Such high-intensity matches, with less than a week between each — it was truly grueling.