Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 414 China's Predicament, the Arrival of a Powerful Rival, Brazil

FIFA Official: World Cup Group Stage Best XI.

Goalkeeper: Ochoa (Mexico)

Defenders: Godin (Uruguay), Stones (England), Marcelo (Brazil), Trippier (England)
Midfielders: Modric (Croatia), Tang Ye (China), Kante (France)

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Harry Kane (England), Denis Cheryshev (Russia)
Head Coach: Marcello Lippi (China)
Without exception, all the players selected for the best lineup are top-tier superstars from their respective countries.

There are 12 people in total, with England having 3 people in first place, followed by China having 2 people in second place.

Judging from the matches alone, the Chinese team doesn't seem that strong, but when it comes to comparing statistics, there's always someone from the Chinese team who can step up.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to Tang Ye, another Chinese player was selected for the third team of the best lineup, namely Zeng Cheng, the starting goalkeeper of the national team.

In the three matches against Germany, Senegal, and Sweden, Zeng Cheng made a total of 13 saves, ranking second among all goalkeepers.

Second only to Mexican goalkeeper Ochoa in the first team!

In addition to the Best Player and Best Team awards, the Chinese team also topped the Best Match award.

The match between China and Sweden is tied for the top spot on the list of the most exciting group stage matches of this World Cup, along with the match between Spain and Portugal.

Argentina took third place, with Messi and Rojo turning the tide and saving the team from dire straits.

China is in fourth place again, with Tang Ye scoring twice in his World Cup debut to defeat defending champions Germany.

Chinese fans quickly discovered that China could always get involved in any ranking, and its ranking was never too low.

Tangye fans suddenly tensed up.

This……

Will there be haters saying my GGBond is manipulating data again?
Fans who don't understand football are still silently enduring the pressure, while fans who do understand football have already turned on Bilibili.

Search for the content creator: Football Elements.

Tang Ye's fans don't pay attention to football-related content, but they will definitely watch every single football-themed video.

Football-related content, 67.2 followers.

Last video update: 32 days ago.

[Hey bro, where are you?]

Urea only plays when the game is going well; in essence, it's still about dodging and countering.

[Classic national team matches suspended]

Because the uploader hasn't updated in a long time, their posts from the past 32 days have been taken over by fans.

The most outrageous thing is that the person behind the football element actually replied to a fan's question.

[Piggy Hero: The Pride of the Chinese National Football Team: So the YouTuber just doesn't update during national team matches?]

[Football Elements (uploader) replies to Piggy Hero, the Pride of the Chinese National Football Team: I'm not an idiot]

! !
[Laughing to death]

[I've finally come out, isn't that something?]

[Urea, please reply to me. What kind of hater only plays games where you're winning?]

……

On June 30, Tang Ye and Zhang Yuning arrived at the base canteen together after finishing their afternoon training.

Tapping his slightly sore thigh, Tang Ye sat down in a chair and asked, "Has the match in France started yet?"

"let me see"

Zhang Linpeng used to turn on the TV.

After spending several minutes searching for a live stream source, they discovered that they had to pay to access it. The Chinese national football team players had no choice but to spend £28 to subscribe to a BTSports membership.

The match between France and Argentina happened to start at that moment.

"Hmm, that feels good."

Not in a hurry to eat, Tang Ye carried a chair to the front of the TV and took what he thought was the best spot.

"No, Osman didn't start? Why?"

Tang Ye, seeing only Mbappe on the field and not Dembele, shrugged in bewilderment: "Does Deschamps not understand football? Seriously?"

"Haha, Tang Ye, you go up and coach the French team!"

"Hey, don't tell me."

Tang Ye thought Feng Xiaoting's words made a lot of sense.

He's quite familiar with several of the French players; if he were to actually coach them, it would probably be no different from playing a video game.

"But I don't know much about Argentina. Being a coach is too much trouble; I wouldn't be one."

Playing football is already exhausting enough; Tang Ye wouldn't take on any other part-time job for himself—that would just be asking for trouble.

"Don't panic, let's see first. Brother Lei, who do you think will win?"

"Uh, I don't know either."

After a brief moment of thought, Wu Lei ultimately didn't give a definitive answer; instead, Zhang Xizhe spoke up.

"Yes, I support Argentina."

"Argentina? No way, I think France is stronger."

Tang Ye had his own ideas, and he also gave his teammates a brief explanation.

"Mbappe and Dembele are both ridiculously fast; Argentina's defenders can't keep up with them. Um... even though Dembele isn't playing, I think Mbappe alone is enough."

When Tang Ye first joined Villarreal two years ago, he played two matches with Mbappe, and that's when he met his good friend, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

Having seen Mbappe run up close, Tang Ye knew just how fast the guy was.

As the match began, the Chinese national football team players slowly gathered in front of the television.

Both sides were visibly stronger, but Tang Ye could sense that the French team was playing a bit better.

Beep!
"Penalty kick!"

Tang Ye covered his head with both hands.

"..."

Dongqiudi Halftime Report: France trails Argentina 1-2. Griezmann scores a penalty, Messi assists Mercado to complete the comeback. (28423 comments)

[Can Matuidi please stop kicking people? Messi is about to collapse.]

[I suggest replacing Matuidi with Tang Ye; this should give France a 3-goal lead by halftime.]

[Ronaldo fans are starting again: Why wasn't it Tang Ye who replaced Banega? If Argentina had Tang Ye, Messi would have scored a hat-trick!]

Cristiano Ronaldo fans want Tang Ye to help the French team, while Messi fans want Tang Ye to help the Argentine team.

However, there was nothing Tang Ye could do, because he was currently sitting in a chair with his teammates watching TV!
"The French team is attacking (in English)."

"Pavar!"

Snapped!
A powerful shot was delivered, and the Chinese players sitting in their chairs immediately stood up.

"My grass!"

"GOOO-AAAA-LLLLL!!!!"

"Pavardddd!!! (Pavar)"

A stunning long-range outside-of-the-foot shot, the French full-back chipped the ball directly into the top corner.

"Awesome..."

Taking a deep breath, Tang Ye repeatedly watched the replay provided by the director.

"It would be so much more enjoyable to watch this game live."

As Tang Ye spoke, the Chinese players on the side were still in awe of Pavard's goal.

Most importantly, France equalized with this goal! 2-2!

Wu Lei looked at Tang Ye, who laughed heartily and then helplessly shrugged.

"My best goal of the World Cup is gone."

"However... well, the best goal of the group stage should still be mine."

Tang Ye knew how cool his rabona world-class goal was. Although it couldn't compare to Pavard's long-range shot, it was still enough to clear out the group stage.

……

Dongqiudi Match Report: France 4-3 Argentina to advance to the quarterfinals; Mbappe shines with three goals, Messi provides two assists. (46231 comments)

France Football – If Mbappe can maintain this level of performance in the upcoming quarter-finals, Tom might lose his World Cup Best Young Player award.

Previously, most fans speculated that Tang Ye, who had an outstanding performance in the group stage, would win the Best Young Player award at this World Cup, but Mbappe's performance in the first round of the knockout stage has changed fans' opinions.

"If the Chinese team can go as far as the French team in the knockout stage, I'm sure Tom will win the Best Young Player award. But the problem now is that the Chinese team is relatively weak overall, and they encountered a tough Brazilian team in the round of 16," a reporter from France Football explained.

Chinese fans find it hard to accept, but that is indeed the truth.

If Tang Ye wants to win any awards, such as Best Rookie, World Cup Golden Boot, or even World Cup Golden Ball, it will be impossible without the support of his teammates.

You can perform exceptionally well, but I've played three more games than you.

So how do you play?
……

FIFA officially announced that Tang Ye's winning goal against Sweden has been selected as the best goal of the World Cup group stage.

The Sun reports that Tom liked a fan's comment calling for Dembele to replace Matuidi, which he later deleted, but some fans took a screenshot immediately after seeing it.

The Sun reports that Tom liked a photo of Mbappe on Instagram after the victory over Argentina and commented with a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" emoji, to which Mbappe replied "Master Tom".

Two days before the match between China and Brazil, a fan on Dongqiudi (a Chinese sports betting platform) created a comparison video.

With the tournament already in the knockout stage, the tactics the head coach comes up with are beyond the predictions of ordinary fans.

But that's okay, fans can focus on individual players for analysis.

China vs. Brazil: A comparison of player tiers.

World-class (absolute core of elite clubs): China (Tang Ye), Brazil (Neymar).

Continental level (main players of Champions League teams): China (none), Brazil (Alisson, Silva, Casemiro, Coutinho, Willian, Marcelo).

Top five league level: China (none), Brazil (Miranda, Paulinho, Firmino, Fernandinho)
National team level players (substitutes in the top five European leagues): China (Wu Lei), Brazil (Danilo, Taison, Jeromel, etc.)
The four tiers encompass all 23 players from the Brazilian team and 2 players from the Chinese team.

The gap in player ability is still quite obvious. It remains to be seen whether Lippi, the championship-winning coach, can come up with a good way to narrow the gap between the players.

"I still hold the same view: playing defense all the time won't work for us."

Lippi's first words stunned the players.

However, the Chinese national football team coach quickly gave his opinion.

The gap in strength between China and Brazil is too large; even if China parks the bus, it will still concede at least 3-5 goals.

So, the esteemed Mr. Marcello decided to play it tough.

The Chinese team started by playing defensively, trying to prevent the Brazilian team from finding their offensive rhythm too quickly.

Then, when the time was right, Tang Ye stepped up to speed up the Chinese team's offensive pace.

Brazil certainly didn't expect the Chinese team to have any offensive ideas, so this is a breakthrough point that China can use.

Lippi moved the magnetic flag on the tactics board with his hand.

"Marcelo, Marcelo has a clear attacking tendency, so their left flank, which is our right flank, the flank where Lei is, is the key to our attack."

"It's not a simple attack."

Fearing the players might misunderstand, Lippi added: "It's counter-attack; counter-attack is what works for us!"

Tang Ye noted down this key point and then continued listening to Lippi.

Brazil is just too strong. If they don't learn something from Lippi, Tang Ye feels they might get thrashed 0-5 or even 0-6.

For the Chinese team, who had just broken the record and entered the knockout stage, this was extremely embarrassing.

Seeing Zhang Linpeng take out his phone to write something down, Tang Ye and other national football players followed suit.

Tang Ye missed some things, so he copied some from Wu Lei's phone and successfully completed his notes.

1. Attack from the right flank (Wu Lei), note that it is a counter-attack.

2. Be careful of Coutinho's through balls and long-range shots.

3. Jesus frequently drops back to receive passes, so it is necessary to cut off the passing connections between Jesus and Neymar and Paulinho.

4. Casemiro is the key to Brazil's defense; we need to find ways to get him a yellow card or even a red card.

……

Having noted down eight key points, Tang Ye felt that his understanding of Brazil had reached a new level.

but……

Tang Ye didn't smile, because he knew it was absolutely impossible to defeat Brazil with these things.

"Whoosh..."

Noticing Zhang Yuning and Wu Lei looking at him, Tang Ye shook his head and let out a breath: "Haha, just try to lose by a small margin. Good luck!"

You should go further.

Wu Lei suddenly said something that left the players speechless, leaving Madaloni alone to ask Wu Lei what he had just said.

"Hey, it's nothing, Brother Lei."

Tang Ye waved his hand: "Just keep going, I'm already very satisfied to have come this far, really, I'm not lying to you. Brother Hao can vouch for that."

"Yes"

Wei Shihao laughed: "When he was a child, he told me that his dream was to play in the World Cup for the national team. He already fulfilled his dream in the previous match against Germany."

Tang Ye walked over and put his hand on Wu Lei's shoulder.

Of course, this is just a way to comfort his teammates.

Tang Ye knew a principle.

The more you get, the more you want to get.

Tang Ye never thought about winning the Premier League title before, but after finishing second, his desire for the Premier League title burned like a fire in his heart.

Of course, there is a big difference between the national team and the club. Tang Ye needs to stay calm and take things one step at a time to gain more.

"To be honest, no one will blame us for losing anyway, so let's just keep playing well."

Captain Feng Xiaoting spoke, and the players clapped each other, seemingly ready for the match against Brazil the day after tomorrow.

……

The No.1 trending topic on Weibo: China vs. Brazil World Cup knockout stage.

The Chinese team generated a lot of buzz during the group stage, so news about the knockout stage also appeared relatively early.

The Chinese national football team has released a promotional poster for their match against Brazil. The poster features a mountain in the center, with the Chinese team standing at the foot of the mountain looking up. The caption reads: "Never back down in the face of difficulties, rise to the challenge."

This mountain, Mount Nebulina, is the highest mountain in Brazil, embodying Brazil's long-standing dominance in football.

This is the official poster for the Chinese team; there's also a poster for the Brazilian team.

Brazil's poster is quite unique; on the left is Neymar and the rest of the Brazilian team, and on the right is...

There was only Tang Ye on the right.

Facing Brazil's 23 players, Tang Ye on the right looked somewhat helpless.

Caption: Dark horse?
Brazil's poster makes it very clear that they don't take any of the other Chinese players, except for Tang Ye, seriously.

That's incredibly arrogant!
……

(End of this chapter)