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

Chapter 876 Rodri's headers are impressive; Japan can't possibly be a match for Spain.
Utrecht Times World Cup Column – Tom scores 5 goals and 3 assists in 3 group stage matches, leading the Chinese national team to advance to the knockout stage as group winners for the first time in history!
Tang Ye's phone has been vibrating non-stop with congratulations from major newspapers and friends, a situation that has continued for almost the entire day.

"They were very surprised by our match result."

Escriva noticed this, and the "they" the Spanish people were referring to were naturally Tang Ye's WhatsApp friends.

"Haha, to be honest, I was quite surprised too."

Tang Ye held his phone, replying to messages from friends while communicating with Eskeriva.

"Didn't you say before that you felt we could beat Argentina? You didn't expect that we would advance as the group winners?"

Eskeriva squinted, still unable to understand how Tang Ye had made that prediction before the group stage began.

"I thought we should be second in the group."

Tang Ye shrugged: "Argentina and Germany are both tough opponents, as is Wales. I can't possibly think we can advance as group winners after seeing this situation, can I?"

"I'm not that arrogant."

"Ha ha!"

"Ok."

As Eskeriva was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something and stared at Tang Ye's phone: "Who were those people who congratulated you?"

"..."

Tang Ye vaguely sensed a crisis and quickly put his phone into his pants pocket.

He didn't take his phone out immediately after reaching into his pocket, but instead continued to protect it: "Um... it's some teammates from the club, former clubs, um, you know, Bruno (Villarreal) and the others. And... Eric hasn't messaged me yet, he might have something to do."

Eskeriva nodded slightly and then walked away.

After confirming that the coach had gone far away, Tang Ye took out his phone again.

[Mr. Eric: Good luck! I think you have a chance against Japan in the knockout stage.]

Tang Ye: Yeah, I think so too.

……

At 7:30 PM Beijing time, only half an hour remained before the start of the final Group D match between Japan and Spain.

TikTok live stream.

[Title: Neutral commentator provides professional analysis of the Japan-Spain match]

[Online viewership: 274 million+]

Nearly 300 million online viewers, and the number is growing rapidly.

When you first enter the live stream, you might find it a bit strange that a mere Douyin streamer would have such an exaggerated number of online viewers.

But once you see GGBond's head in the bottom right corner, everything makes sense.

Wow, is Tang Qiuwang really that dedicated? Working overtime right after advancing to the knockout stage?

[What?! This is amazing! Who even watches CCTV anymore? Tang, the King of Football, I love you to death!]

GGBond, are you FIFA's godfather? It seems like you can broadcast any match...

[Host, host, who do you think will win today's match? Can you give a score prediction?]

[That felt good, brothers! Tang Ye is here to lend a hand!]

Before I knew it, the number of viewers in the live stream had jumped to 350 million.

Tang Ye's decision to start the live stream was purely on a whim, and he didn't announce it on social media, so it will probably take a while before the number of viewers in the live stream reaches its peak.

Chinese football fans are truly blessed.

Not only did they advance to the knockout stage as the top seed in their group, but they also got to watch Tang Ye's live stream the day after they advanced to the knockout stage.

Watching Rodri lead Spain to a thrashing of Japan on the screen, with the captivating sound of "GG Explosion" in my ears, this must be paradise for football fans!
Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi never provide live commentary on matches; they are not as comprehensive as Tang Qiuwang!

"Who do you think will win... I already said it in yesterday's interview, didn't I? I'm optimistic about Spain."

"I understand the votes on the football website. Don't you guys also favor Spain? The main reason is that Japan has absolutely no chance of beating Spain."

"Japan has a chance..."

Tang Ye almost burst out laughing: "Then let me ask you, how are you going to get past Spain's midfield? Wouldn't Takumi Minamino and Jun Ito be completely outmatched by Rodri? They simply can't get past them unless they play short passing and possession and walk Rodri around like a dog. Do you think that's even possible?"

"Trust me, brothers. I know football very well. Japan really can't beat Spain. The probability of Japan beating Spain is not even as high as the probability of South Korea beating Spain."

[666, host, why are you speaking so absolutely? Do you really think you know a lot about football? Look at the Ballon d'Or, if you can't produce anything, then shut up.]

Hey, don't be so sure, if you asked me, Tang Qiuwang, to win a Ballon d'Or right now, he really couldn't. All his trophies are at home.

[Tang Ye, don't mess around. Are you cheering for Spain just because they have Rodri? That's not right. What happened to being a neutral commentator?]

It's probably impossible to get Tang Ye to remain neutral. Anyone who knows this player even slightly knows that he relies entirely on his brain's first reaction when making judgments.

To put it nicely, it's decisiveness.

To put it bluntly: it's all prejudice.

But that's fine, because you don't even need to wait for Tang Ye to speak to be able to predict what he'll say next.

"The match is about to begin. Let me introduce the starting lineups for both sides, starting with Spain."

Tang Ye knows the Spanish team very well, so when introducing the starting lineup, he didn't need to secretly check his phone on the football website; he could just look at the situation on the field.

"The goalkeeper is Unai Simon, and the defenders are Alex Balde, Pau Torres, and Rodri..."

"Hmm, is Rodri playing as a defender today?"

Tang Ye's eyes widened: "Holy crap, guys, is Enrique doing some research today? I've never seen Rodri play center-back before, is this even possible?"

Tang Ye lowered his head and thought for a while, then for some reason came to a conclusion: "It should work, brothers. I feel that Rodri should be very strong as a center-back. His heading ability is amazing."

"..."

"Pedri! Pass it to Olmo."

"Olmo's here! Holy crap, he's fast! Morata, can you take a look?"

"No, Morata, what are you doing, Morata?!"

"Olmo, shoot yourself!"

"Depend on!"

With only 20 minutes of the first half played, Tang Ye was getting increasingly anxious as he watched the game.

In the footage, the captain of the Chinese national football team touched his nose and turned to look at Zhang Yuning sitting next to him.

"How should I put it, Tang the King of Football."

His gaze returned to the laptop screen: "...It seems like Spain is a bit complacent today. Do they think Japan is an easy opponent?"

Tang Ye has repeatedly emphasized that he is more optimistic about Spain, but this does not mean that Spain can do whatever it wants and come whenever it wants.

Japan is not a weak team after all. If Spain wants to win, they must take the game seriously.

"Rodri, what are you doing? What are you doing, Rodri?!"

"I'm speechless. Why did Enrique make Rodri play as a defender? Couldn't he play him as a defensive midfielder?"

"Here he comes, Pedri! Wow, this young man is something else."

Pedri cut in from the side, and Tang Ye, with his God's-eye view, saw Busquets in the perfect position.

"Give it to Busquets!"

Tang Ye shouted it out.

Unfortunately, Pedri was too young; he didn't realize what a great scoring opportunity he had.

Snapped!
A through ball was forced towards Morata, but the Spanish striker's shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

A corner kick for Spain.

"We can look for opportunities from corner kicks... Japan's players are generally not tall enough."

"Morata's head... never mind, Morata isn't in good form today, let's rely on Rhodes instead."

Suddenly, Tang Ye stopped talking, his eyes slowly narrowed, and his attention became focused.

Snapped!
A corner kick!
First point of view!
"Rodri!"

boom!
"Nice!"

"Holy crap!" "Goal!"

"Rodri's header is awesome, that was a really powerful shot!"

"1-0! Spain takes the lead!"

Tang Ye and Zhang Yuning were very excited, and the Spanish fans in the stadium also celebrated.

Wow!!!

"Rodri!!!!"

Rodri and Garvey charged toward the corner flagpole at incredible speed.

"Hiss... If I remember correctly, this should be Rodri's first World Cup goal, right? Hmm, it should be his first."

"Oh?"

Tang Ye suddenly widened his eyes, then burst out laughing, because Rodri made a celebratory gesture of combining the Emperor Armor under the lens of several photographers.

【66666】

[Wow, even the Spanish midfielder has to do your celebration after scoring a goal. Is this the influence of the GOAT?]

[You guessed it right? Awesome! Really, Tang, you should have predicted the score for me sooner, it's too late now!]

You're absolutely right that Tang Ye likes to talk nonsense.

But to say that Tang Ye doesn't understand football would be a terrible statement.

Betting fans are generally very arrogant, but they are still willing to lower their heads in front of Tang Ye and humbly ask him about the score.

Unfortunately, Tang Ye didn't make any predictions about the score today. He only told the fans one thing—trust Rodri! Trust Spain!

……

Dongqiudi Halftime Report: Rodri scores a header and then summons the Emperor's Armor to pay homage to Tang Ye; Spain leads Japan 1-0 at halftime. (Hot)
On Dongqiudi (a Chinese sports betting platform), it was discussed that Spain led Japan 1-0 at halftime. If the score remained unchanged until the end of the match, the Chinese national football team would face Japan in the first round of the knockout stage.

They'll face Japan in the first knockout round!

This is probably not good news for most teams, as Japan is definitely one of the dark horses of this World Cup.

However, the situation in China is quite unique.

They're all from Asia, so if you ask who understands the Japanese team best, it's definitely China.

Even dark horses come in different sizes. Japan is just a small dark horse. How dare you be so presumptuous in front of China, the big dark horse led by GGBond?

Based on the group standings in the Asian Cup qualifiers, playing Japan in the first round of the knockout stage would be the best possible outcome for the Chinese national football team.

[Tang, if we play Japan in the Round of 16, can we advance to the quarterfinals this year?]

"..."

Tang Ye's eyes lit up when he saw this comment.

He really wanted to tell the fans that he was confident of advancing to the quarterfinals, but considering that it was being broadcast live, he held back in the end.

"Well... I can only say that the probability would be higher if we played against Japan," Tang Ye replied.

"Does that mean they have no chance against Spain?"

Zhang Yuning watched Tang Ye with a smile.

"That doesn't mean there's absolutely no chance, it just means the chances of advancing would be higher if we played against Japan. Don't you think so, Ning?"

Tang Ye put his hand on Zhang Yuning's shoulder: "But you don't need to worry, you are the world's number one center forward, it doesn't matter who you play against."

"I'm so damn excited, haha!"

Zhang Yuning pushed Tang Ye away, who was joking, and soon the second half of the game began.

Enrique made no substitutions, and Rodri remained in the center-back position.

Tang Ye did not quite agree with this formation, because he always believed that Rodri's skills were superior to Busquets'.

However, Spain was in the lead in the first half, so let's choose to trust Enrique.

Go Spain!
Let's knock Japan down to second place!

then!

The Chinese men's football team, led by the great GGBond, will end Japan's fate in the round of 16!
"..."

"..."

[Online viewership: 913 million+]

"It's been 85 minutes. Spain can play a little more conservatively. I feel like it's about time."

"I feel that Japan actually played quite well today, but Junichi Ito couldn't capitalize on his opportunities."

"Holy crap, Gavi, what kind of move is that?!"

A blunder by Gavis handed over a significant advantage to Tomokazu Haruno.

Kaoru Mitomatsu, of course, wouldn't hold back with the opposing players. He sprinted forward with the ball and then delivered a through pass, giving possession to Shogo Taniguchi, who had just gotten off the ground.

clap clap!

Through continuous passing and receiving, possession of the ball unknowingly came to Maeda Daizen's feet.

!!!

boom!
A low shot was delivered.

The ball went in!
"Fuck!!!"

"Dude, what the hell is going on?!"

Tang Ye leaned his head close to the screen, making his head appear very large in the camera's view.

"Gavi! How could you make such a mistake?!"

"Holy crap!"

After venting his anger, Tang Ye clutched his head tightly with both hands, staring at the computer screen with a look of utter despair.

Zhang Yuning, who was standing next to him, was also dumbfounded.

They didn't say anything, but the two national team players gave the impression to the viewers in the live broadcast room that they were about to cry.

【66666】

[It's been 87 minutes, does Spain still have a chance? If it's 1-1, Spain will be second in the group, right?]

[Hajime Moriyasu...would you rather play against Argentina than face me, King Tang?]

[Host, what's your opinion now? Did you guess wrong? It seems Japan is also in first place in the group.]

"..."

Tang Ye stared blankly at the computer screen.

"Oh shit."

"Grass!"

The live stream has ended. Go check out other live streams!

? ? ? ? ?

The screen was filled with "6666" comments, a tribute to the departed Tang Ye.

In less than three hours of live streaming, fans witnessed Tang Ye's entire journey from arrogance to overconfidence and then to breaking through the defense. The news of Japan's last-minute equalizer against Spain also became a trending topic on major platforms immediately.

Tang Ye's prediction was a complete failure.

But it must be said that the Japanese team led by Hajime Moriyasu was indeed a bit too ruthless.

……

Dongqiudi Match Report: Rodri scores with a header, Maeda Daizen equalizes, Japan secures first place in group stage with a last-minute equalizer against Spain in the third round. Tang Ye's live stream ends in humiliation after a defensive lapse. (73492)

The poster on the homepage of Dongqiudi shows Tang Ye with his head banging against the camera at the moment Maeda Daizen scores a goal.

Poster theme: Japan pulls off a stunning draw against Spain; China faces the formidable Spanish team in the Round of 16!

……

(End of this chapter)