Chapter 883: The Possibility of Winning the World Cup Golden Boot and Golden Ball

"China National Team vs Portugal: First-Ever Clash Against C. Ronaldo—Can Tang Ye Secure Victory?"

"During his stints at Villarreal and Manchester United, Tang Ye gained extensive experience defeating C. Ronaldo in direct confrontations, which will greatly benefit the Chinese team in the third-place match. However, it is worth noting that C. Ronaldo did not go undefeated against Tang Ye during his time at Real Madrid and Juventus; the Portuguese captain's form is considered key to his team's chances of beating China."

【Time to punish C. Ronaldo again. Felix is in poor form, so attacking down his flank is definitely the right move.】

【Forget about Felix; if he starts the next match, I'll do a handstand, no joke.】

【This Portugal coach is also incompetent; he's not even a fraction as good as our Saint Haode. Brothers, I feel our chances of winning are actually quite high.】

【Don't add any buffs! Jiang Guangtai and Wang Wang Shenchao are also in poor form, and are you sure Tang Tang Qiuwang can recover his condition in time?】

【Always believe in our Tang Tang Qiuwang; always moved to tears!】

【66666】

Retweeting FIFA announcement: The Qatar World Cup third-place playoff will be held at Lusail Stadium, featuring China (home) versus Portugal (away), with the winner claiming the tournament's bronze medal.

Accumulated yellow card suspensions and red card suspensions for both sides: None.

"Leão, push up on the left wing, get to the byline!"

"Ah, what a pity, he couldn't control the ball during that dribble!"

"......"

After confirming their opponent was Portugal, Tang Ye spent the entire day watching match recordings of the Portuguese team.

Although he verbally claimed the third-place match was unimportant, faced with the opportunity to win a World Cup medal, Tang Ye still had no intention of giving up.

"Leão is truly fast..."

Zhang Zhang Linpeng remarked with a sigh from beside him.

As the team's right-back, Zhang Zhang Linpeng felt out of breath just from watching the recordings.

It was hard to imagine what the situation would be like when they actually faced each other on the pitch.

If the opponent simply bursts past you without saying a word, wouldn't you be completely shattered?

"It's fine; his ball control is actually quite unstable."

Tang Ye pointed at Leão on the projection screen, signaling Wei Wei Shihao to pause the video.

"Look, he hasn't even reached the penalty area yet, but he's already shifting his center of gravity; his body is already unstable. Looking at the time now, it's... the 80th minute?"

"81st minute," Wei Wei Shihao added.

"That's exactly it; he's been on the pitch as a substitute for less than 30 minutes, and he's already lost possession more than once."

Tang Ye stated that the gap between Leão and players like Dembélé or Mbappé was still significant.

His speed was very fast, but Leão's ball control during high-speed sprints was not as stable as Dembélé's or Mbappé's; this might be the key for the Chinese team to break the deadlock in the upcoming match.

"Indeed, he doesn't seem to enter the penalty area much."

"Right, and even if he does enter the box, it's useless; if you stick tight to him, he won't have any space to shoot."

"Damn, Tang Ye, listening to you talk makes defending against Leão sound so easy."

Feng Feng Xiaoting realized he was being hypnotized and quickly spoke up.

"Haha! It's true, trust me; keep some distance from him outside the box, and once he enters the penalty area, just stick right onto him; it's very reliable. Besides, Leão lacks long-range shooting ability, so don't panic."

Tang Ye patted Feng Feng Xiaoting.

After such reassurance from his teammates, Feng Feng Xiaoting truly felt convinced.

"I don't even know if I'll be in the starting lineup the day after tomorrow, but right now I feel like I can defend against Leão."

"Haha!"

"Keep it up, keep it up."

"You've recovered much faster than I imagined, Tom..." (in Spanish)

Outside the meeting room, Tang Ye walked side by side with Marti; the Chinese national team's assistant coach and captain discussed many things.

"What else could I do? I cannot afford to lose again."

"... It's certainly great that you've adjusted so quickly, but I feel you are somewhat forcing yourself."

"Hmm, what I mean is... you know."

Marti looked at Tang Ye.

After spending these past two days together, Marti's impression was that Tang Ye had not fully moved on from the semi-final defeat; the emotions he was displaying now were all feigned: "You want Wu and Zhang and the others to adjust their form as well, so you're pretending to be like this, right?"

"... I won't hide anything; if I were truly distressed, I would tell you; believe me."

"No, if this were the past, I would believe you wouldn't hide anything and that everything you said was true, but now is not the past, and you and I are no longer at Yellow Submarine. We are now with the Chinese National Team, and you are already 23 years old, having won four Ballon d'Or awards."

"......"

Tang Ye sighed: "What else can be done? A loss is a loss; haven't you felt it? We lag behind by too much; there's simply no way to catch up."

"? We only lost this one time; why are you speaking like this?"

Facts proved Marti's guess was correct; Tang Ye had not truly moved on from the match defeat. His emotions had shifted from anger to helplessness, or perhaps one could call it a form of compromise.

"We can start over in four years; yes, in four years. Ferran and I will stay here; I am certain Ferran will do so. Hmm... or do you think we won't be able to stay?"

Marti added: "You know that guy Ferran; if there's something unfinished, he wouldn't leave even if he had to take a pay cut. Besides, you probably can't find many coaches better than Ferran now, right?"

"This isn't a problem with the coach, nor is it your problem."

Tang Ye gently pushed Marti: "Nor is it a problem of time."

"Then what problem is it?"

"We are simply too far behind; we can beat the Netherlands, we can beat Spain, but we cannot beat France. The gap between us and some European and American teams is just too large."

"This is not a problem that you or I can solve; waiting another four years would be useless!"

"......"

Matti froze.

Realizing he had gotten too excited, Tang Ye quickly apologized: "Hiss, sorry, Matti, my fault."

"... It's fine, it's fine."

Matti placed a hand on Tang Ye's shoulder: "I think I get what you mean. But no matter what, we will keep going."

"From the moment I met you, there has been nothing you couldn't accomplish."

"But this time is different."

"No, no, no, it must be the same; Ferran and I will keep waiting. I guarantee it to you on his behalf."

"..."

Tang Ye didn't answer immediately; he just bumped fists with Matti: "Let's go."

Retweet of "Today's News" headline—All 10 stadiums for the 2023 China Asian Cup are ready, including: Beijing Workers' Stadium, Tianjin Teda Football Stadium, Kunshan Football Stadium, etc.; the opening ceremony is scheduled for June, with the specific date to be determined.

Chinese Football Association announcement: Responding to fans' questions, Ferran Escrivá's team will confirm leading the squad to compete in the Asian Cup.

Insiders report: Due to advancing to the semi-finals, the entire national team will share a bonus of 10 million RMB; if they ultimately win third place, the bonus amount could rise to 18–25 million RMB, provided by sponsors such as Wanda and C'estbon.

A semi-final bonus of 10 million RMB is actually quite substantial, with each player receiving nearly 500,000, but compared to the heyday of China's golden-era football in previous years, it is indeed much less.

Perhaps if Evergrande still existed, the bonus would be far more than this?

But it's all the same now; having come this far, rewards of several hundred thousand RMB no longer matter; what matters is the upcoming contest for the World Cup third place.

Additionally, there is one more reflection.