The Prince of Tennis: The Quincy of Rikkai University

Chapter 283: The fierce lower half, the quarterfinals begin
"Won!"

“We beat the French team!”

"We have successfully advanced to the quarterfinals!"

In the lounge, the members of the representative team who had not yet played in front of the screen all exclaimed with joy.

Before the game started, they had always believed that it would be a fierce battle, but the result now is three wins in a row, which most of them did not expect.

"The quarterfinals are just the beginning."

The Byodoin Phoenix's expression did not show much fluctuation, as if she had already anticipated this situation.

But he still smiled, after all, their results this year were far better than those of the previous year.

They didn’t even make it past the group stage the year before last, but now they have broken the best record of the U17 Japanese national team.

Moreover, Byodoin is very confident that they will go further today.

"You're right."

Beside the Phoenix of Byodoin, Onijūjiro, Irie Kanata, Tanejima Shuji and others all smiled knowingly when they heard his words, and agreed with his point of view without any prior agreement.

While they were celebrating, on the tennis court, after the game, the teams from both sides lined up to enter the court and start the post-match session.

There's nothing special about it. The two sides are not familiar with each other and won't talk much after the game.

After a casual handshake, they each left.

Then, Maya Yuuki led the other six people into the exit passage, met up with the others in the lounge, and then returned to the hotel together to rest.

A small incident happened when I was about to leave.

Just when all the members of Rikkai University were preparing to return to the hotel for a long-awaited dinner, they discovered that Niou Masaharu was missing.

After asking others, I was told that he left early because of something.

Yukimura and others didn't think much about this. After all, it was not the first time that Nioh had done such a thing.

But Yuki was still on guard, as he already had a vague idea of ​​what was going on.

At noon, after the group returned to the hotel, Mifune Nyudo first disbanded the team and let everyone rest.

Then, two hours later, everyone was gathered in the lounge area for discussion as usual.

"First of all, congratulations to ourselves for defeating the French team in the match this morning and successfully advancing to the quarterfinals."

"This way, we are one step closer to the championship."

Mifunerudo first said some words of congratulations to relax the atmosphere.

But then, his expression immediately turned serious and he continued, "However, this does not mean that our road ahead will be much easier. Our next opponent has already been chosen."

As soon as Mifune finished speaking, the expressions of most of the team members suddenly became serious, and the originally somewhat impetuous atmosphere also dissipated immediately.

"Coach, our next opponent will be the Spanish team, if nothing unexpected happens."

Without waiting for Mifune Nyudo to tell him, Tanejima Shuji had already guessed the result.

Except for their own match, the first round of eliminations in their half of the zone basically went as expected by many media without any suspense.

"You're right. Half an hour after we defeated the French team, the third team to advance to the quarterfinals was Spain."

"They also beat the Portuguese team 3-0." "And two days later, we will play against Spain in the quarter-finals."

Mifune Nyudo explained the general situation in a concise manner, but Irie Kanata caught the details in his words.

"Wait a minute, coach, you said that the Spanish team was the third team to qualify. Does that mean that there are teams that qualified faster than us?"

Irie Kanata asked in surprise. He didn't understand how there could be a team that finished the game faster than them.

"This is actually a hot topic in the current World Cup. Switzerland's opponent, Alamenoma, announced its withdrawal before the start of today's knockout round, so Switzerland advanced directly to the quarterfinals without even playing a game."

Kurobe Yukio explained on behalf of Mifune Nyudo, and this situation slightly surprised everyone present.

"The Swiss team is so lucky. Why don't we have such luck?" Marui Bunta said somewhat indignantly.

Others felt the same way, because even though this was just a lucky win, it also meant that the Swiss team had much more time to rest than the other teams and could enter the next round with ease.

This is very advantageous in the lower half where the competition is so intense.

"However, Switzerland's next opponent will not be easy. Their opponent is also the American team that advanced with a score of 3-0," said Kurobe Yukio.

When they heard the American team, some people present had complicated looks on their faces.

Especially the people from the Youth Academy Department, their expressions were indescribably melancholy, because in the American team, there was their teammate Ryoma Echizen, who had fought together with them in the national conference.

"Okay, now everyone has understood the general situation. You can go to your respective training sessions. Our coaching staff will announce the roster for the match in two days' time tomorrow."

After Mifune Nyudo took a look around, he ended the meeting with serious words.

"Yes, head coach."

After the representative team responded in unison, they stood up in an orderly manner and left the rest area in twos and threes.

The coaching staff who stayed in place looked at each other and went to the meeting room together tacitly. They would discuss a lineup to fight against the Spanish team before tomorrow.

……

The news of the Japanese team's victory over the French team spread quickly. In less than half a day, everyone around the world who was paying attention to the U17 World Cup knew about it.

The score of 3-0 forced many media to pay attention to this team that was dubbed the dark horse in the group stage.

Now, the nickname "dark horse" is no longer enough to describe the Japanese national team.

If the victory in the group stage was attributed to the outbreak of the dark horse, then the record of sweeping the French team in the best-of-three format has proved that the overall strength of this team is not much different from those previous championship teams.

The German, American, Swiss and next round opponent Spanish teams, who received the news, have sent out their own intelligence experts to collect information on every member of the Japanese team from various angles.

The silent struggle over information asymmetry secretly unfolded during these two short days of rest.

As many people were looking forward to it, two days passed quietly and the quarter-final day had arrived.

On the night before the game, the coaching staff also announced the roster for the game.

Perhaps inspired by the unexpected encounter with the French team, the coaching staff came up with a rather bold list this time.

D2 Toyama Kintaro & Oni Jujiro
D1 Yuuki Maya & Tanejima Shuji
S3 Fuji Shusuke
S2 Tokugawa Kazuya
S1 Byodoin Phoenix

These seven people are the main force in this battle.

(End of this chapter)