Chapter 881: If I Had Kicked Just a Little Better, Maybe I Could Have

"Roar—!!!!"

This was Hernandez's second goal of the match; after scoring, Hernandez performed Mbappé's celebration of stuffing his hands into his armpits, paying tribute to Mbappé's god-tier performance in the previous World Cup.

The full-time score has reached 2:4; China trails by two goals!

"In that case... sigh, I actually think China's substitutions should have come earlier, capitalizing on the momentum right after that 1:2 penalty."

"Right, but after going down 1:2, they failed to generate any further offensive threat, so there was nothing more to be done."

The commentators all expressed their regret for the national football team.

Speaking of which, Griezmann's red card was truly a smart move.

What Griezmann received was not just a red card, but also China's chance to advance!

The match continues!

Now, Lusail Stadium is filled with cheers for France; the Chinese fans have been silenced.

The first two matches had made everyone somewhat complacent, but this semifinal against France truly slapped the fans awake.

France could continuously launch effective attacks, while whenever China tried to counterattack, they always failed to achieve the desired result.

After all, the gap in strength was indeed too large.

Moreover, does it seem like France has some sort of natural dominance over China?

"Wu Lei."

"Beautiful!"

"The pass goes to the center, Tang Ye!"

Boom!

Without controlling the ball, he immediately played a through pass; Tang Ye's pass accurately found Ai Ai Kesen, who had inserted into the penalty area.

Shot!

Boom!

"Goal!"

"But this seems to be an offside goal? Varane didn't even attempt an interception?"

"Oh, indeed, this ball was offside."

Ai Ai Kesen held his head in his hands, while Tang Ye kept waving his arms in frustration.

The players on the field were unclear about the situation, but the commentators could watch the replay.

Watching the replay revealed that at the exact moment Wu Lei passed to Tang Ye, Varane immediately moved forward, which resulted in Ai Ai Kesen being in an offside position.

It was as if Varane knew exactly what Tang Ye would do next!

"Come on, come on!"

Tang Ye raised his hands upward, signaling his teammates not to stand dazed: "Hurry, hurry, get back!"

"Prepare for the counterattack, we can still play!"

"..."

Escriva had already sat down; watching Tang Ye, who was constantly shouting instructions to his teammates alongside Marti, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

Hoo...

"On est en finale! (We're in the final!)"

"On est en finale!"

"Olé~~"

"Olé! Olé! Olé! Olé!"

"On est en finale!"

"Beep, beep-beep—!!!"

"Alright, the match has ended."

"This match was indeed very regrettable; China, reaching the World Cup semifinals for the first time, ultimately lost to France with a score of 1:4, missing out on next week's final."

"Although we say the score difference was quite large and France suppressed China in almost every aspect, we can also see that the Chinese players' performance in this match was still relatively outstanding, even earning a penalty kick right at the start of the second half."

"One could say China had a chance to pull the score back; if they had had a bit more preparation time before the semifinal, perhaps the result would have been different."

This sounded somewhat like making excuses for the Chinese players, but overall, China's performance in this World Cup was indeed truly stunning.

"... Commentator He and I have been commentating on football for so many years; we can say that this year marks the best results in the history of the Chinese national team. When discussing progress, we shouldn't always compare ourselves to others; we should compare ourselves to our own past..."

"Those who lose the match are not necessarily losers; I will always believe in this statement, especially regarding today's Chinese team."

"..."

The camera cut to the celebrating French players.

Having successfully reached the finals in both the Russia and Qatar World Cups, France's record in the World Cup is truly flawless; after all, with the strength of their squad on display, it was basically impossible for any cold upsets to occur.

"Bravo!"

Mbappé, Deschamps, and Hernandez embraced each other, surrounded by France's substitute players.

The director only gave Mbappé a brief moment on camera before switching to a camera angle specifically focused on Tang Ye.

The captain of the Chinese team had somehow ended up sitting on the grass, hugging his knees with both arms, staring blankly with a dazed gaze at the French players celebrating in the distance.

Dembélé, Giroud, Mbappé, as well as Varane and Lloris—they were all familiar players, all friends, yet that joy did not belong to him.

"Hoo..."

Turning his head, Tang Ye seemed to notice a camera filming him, so he turned his head back again.

"Tang Ye, it's alright!"

"It's alright, Tang Ye!"

"You were already amazing!"

"That's enough! Let's play for third place! We're satisfied with this!"

Everything had been fine until he heard the voices from the stands, at which point Tang Ye suddenly found himself unable to hold back.

"..."

"Damn it!"

Gritting his teeth, he clenched his right hand into a fist and punched the turf.

"Damn it!!!"

【Sigh, congratulations to France; they truly played well. We couldn't stop either Dembélé or Mbappé individually, so what could we do against both of them together? Even sending up Jiang Guangtai would be useless; they simply aren't on the same level as players.】

【My heart aches for Tang Ye... he was still urging his teammates to track back in the 88th minute; he really wanted to win...】

【Holy crap, our Tang Tang Qiuwang tore through the Premier League and the Champions League; where has he ever accepted defeat like this? Isn't it normal not to want to lose? I'm just baffled as to why we weren't in the lower bracket; facing either Portugal or Argentina would have been easier than playing France. Wouldn't handling Messi and Ronaldo have been a piece of cake for Tang Ye?】

【The boomerang has returned, brothers; would finishing second in the group stage have been better, allowing us to reach the lower bracket and advance to the final?】

【Second place my ass; if we had advanced as group runners-up, we would have been eliminated in the quarterfinals. England also has explosive wingers; with Rashford and Bukayo Saka accelerating, wouldn't we have been blown apart instantly?】

【Stop talking, everyone, just stop; isn't reaching the semifinals satisfactory? Anyway, I think we've already been incredibly awesome; long live the Chinese national team! Long live Escrivà!】

"Beep beep beep!!!"

"Ole ole~~"

"..."

The stands were filled with the cheers of French fans.

They had crushed the biggest dark horse to advance to the final!

Most importantly, they had taken down TY, the four-time Ballon d'Or winner, in the semifinals!

Undoubtedly, this match would greatly boost the morale of the French players, who would carry superior competitive form into the final to face their opponents!

"Kill the God! (Godslayer)"

"Kill the God!"

"Kill the God!"

"Wow!!!!"

In stark contrast to the lively stands was the Chinese team's locker room.

Not a single person spoke.

From the beginning of this World Cup until now, the Chinese national team had never suffered such a crushing defeat.