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

Chapter 880: Ten Hag watches the game live; the desperate Chinese team faces a precipice.
[Are you guys still awake? You're here to watch me, Tang the King of Football, get thrashed, huh? You guys are really awful. You didn't watch when we had a huge advantage, and now you're trying to stir things up again when we play Spain.]

Watching Tang, the King of Football, play is hardly considered just joining in the fun!

[Damn it, why isn't Rodri Chinese? Today's match is a Manchester United derby!]

Losing one is a win, losing two is still okay, anyway, I'm already tanking and ready to lie low, let's see how I, Tang the King of Football, do things.

A live viewership of over 5000 million at 3 a.m. is truly an exaggeration.

This figure is almost three times that of the last World Cup final!

Judging from the comments sections of various social media platforms, Chinese fans are quite considerate. They know that playing against Spain is not an easy task for the Chinese national team, so they did not set any overly strict goals.

Losing by one goal is considered a win, because it's enough to create the best result in the history of the Chinese national football team in the World Cup knockout stage!

Since that's the case, you can just lie down and watch my performance as the King of Football, Tang.

As we all know, GGBond's tackling ability is among the top three in the world. If the Chinese national football team plays defense with all its might, it will definitely not be weak!
"Tom!"

In the players' tunnel, Rodri, wearing the captain's armband, shook hands with Tang Ye.

"How come you're the team leader now?"

Tang Ye was surprised by the armband on Rodri's arm.

"It was at the beginning of this year, didn't you watch our matches during the group stage?"

"During the group stage, I only paid attention to the scores..."

Tang Ye shrugged and started talking about the third round of the group stage. Rodri laughed and said, "Sorry, Tom!"

"It doesn't matter, what can we do? We can only win the game."

Tang Ye hugged Gavi next to Rodri, granting the Spanish midfielder's request for a jersey.

"that……"

Rodri followed behind Tang Ye: "If I eliminate you, you... won't blame me, will you?"

"..."

Tang Ye glanced back at Rodri: "Am I that kind of despicable person?"

"Okay, okay, it's mine!"

Rhodes raised his hands in surrender to Tang Ye: "Then I can rest assured."

"..."

Standing at the entrance to the players' tunnel, Tang Ye placed his hand on his Manchester United teammate's shoulder: "Don't be too confident, Rod."

Rodri didn't speak, but suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Whether Tang Ye was joking or not, the captain of the national football team gave Rodri a slight sense of dread.

Back when he was at the club, Tang Ye was always a pillar of strength in crucial matches, but now he's gone to the other side...

Hiss... Rodri always has a strange sense of tension.

"Go Tom!"

Rodri slapped Tang Ye on the shoulder forcefully.

"Absolutely. You should also try your best, don't lose too badly."

"Oh!"

……

China Media Group...

“Beep!!!!”

The match began with the referee's whistle.

The 4-seat stadium was divided into home and away teams. The Chinese team had slightly more fans than the Spanish team, but not by much.

The camera panned down to the area below the presidential platform, where familiar faces came into view for the fans.

The legendary chosen one of the planes, the one favored by the god of gambling—GGBond's father, Masao GGBond!

Tang Zhengxiong's expression was unusually serious, suggesting that he also realized that this match was not simple.

The camera panned to the left, and soon fans saw another familiar face.

“Eric Ten Hag, that’s the manager of Manchester United in the Premier League, and also the club coach of captains Tang Ye and Rodri. Hmm… if I remember correctly, this should be the first Qatar World Cup match that Ten Hag has watched.”

"Yes, this match definitely has to be played in person, haha!"

"It's a key match, but the main focus is on players Tang Ye and Rodri. If we compare the overall strength of the teams, Spain's lineup is clearly superior to China's. However, the good news is that Jiang Guangtai has recovered from his injury, which is a crucial strengthening for the national team's defense!"

"Gavi, oh, beautiful!"

Gavi raised his right leg high, successfully blocking Zhang Xizhe's pass.

"Fuck!"

Zhang Xizhe's voice could be clearly heard during the broadcast, because Chinese fans are extremely sensitive to the word "damn it."

Zhang Xizhe rushed forward to try and steal the ball back.

"do not go!"

Tang Ye shouted, but it was too late.

Gave pulled the ball under his body and passed it back to Busquets.

Busquets took a step forward, and the space left by Zhang Xizhe's pressing in the attacking third became the key to breaking the deadlock.

Seizing the opportunity, Busquets delivered a low, through ball.

Llorente, who made a run down the right flank, received the ball!
"Vamos!"

Morata shouted it out from the bench.

"Fix it, fix it!"

Enrique directed his teammates to come and receive the pass, while Llorente continued his forward runs with the ball.

Zhang Xizhe was on his way back to the team, but it looked like he was too late.

Llorente slowed down, and just a second before Zhang Xizhe was about to get close, Llorente played a through ball forward, which Asensio received from the wing.

Almost simultaneously, Ferran Torres, who was originally in the right winger position, cut inside to the center and completed a cross-run with Asensio.

Wow!!!

Asensio went down the wing and challenged Wang Shenchao one-on-one!
Change direction!

His change of direction was a bit slow, and he couldn't shake off Wang Shenchao immediately. Asensio didn't care and just dribbled forward, using his body to block the ball and complete the pass.

In the middle, Torres!

Torres was surrounded by defenders, but the Spaniard was very clever and simply let the ball pass him by.

Olmo has the ball now!
It ran across Zhang Linpeng's face.

Olmo!
Snapped!
The shot was taken, the ball hit the six-yard box and bounced off.

! !
Wang Dalei jumped out to the side, but Olmo's shot hit the right post and bounced off before being swatted away by Gave on the rebound.

"Depend on!"

Gavi clenched his right fist and swung it out.

"Oh!!!!"

“Beep beep beep!!!”

Less than three minutes into the first half, things started to get chaotic, with Spain's quick counter-attacks giving the Chinese players a lesson.

It was really fast and accurate, but Gavi's follow-up shot was indeed a bit abstract.

"fine!"

Gavi, who missed the opportunity, received encouragement from Busquets and Asensio.

In stark contrast to Spain, the Chinese team...

Why do we have to go up there?!

Tang Ye shouted at Zhang Xizhe, "If you lose the ball, retreat. If you move forward, our formation will break down, and I won't be able to cover your position!"

Not only Tang Ye, but also Escriva off the field was emphasizing the formation.

"be careful!"

With his hands pressing down, Eskeriva was extremely nervous: "Be careful!"

"..."

"Hey, Spain's attack is quite aggressive, they seem determined not to give their opponents any chances, hehe."

Zhang Lu sighed, "This commentator seems to have started to be pessimistic about the Chinese national football team."

Seeing that things were not going well, Huang Jianxiang quickly spoke up for the national football team.

"Although the attack was very fluid, we would say that the Spanish wingers and midfielders were not quite in form."

"Yes, you can see that from the group stage data. Gavi, Torres, and Busquets are not in very good form, while the Chinese players are in much better form."

8 minutes.

boom!
Tang Ye and Pedri collided, and the Chinese national team captain won the aerial duel. However, his teammates reacted too slowly, allowing Busquets to gain possession of the ball. Switching between his left and right feet, Busquets easily bypassed the pressing Wu Xi.

"Wow!!"

Dribble the ball forward yourself!

Busquets and Olmo combined very well, and in the end, Olmo passed the ball to Alba on the left flank.

Dribble towards the penalty area!
It seems like he underestimated his opponent a bit too much. Alba didn't make any feints while dribbling the ball, and it looked like he wanted to "walk" directly into the Chinese team's penalty area.

This is of course impossible.

Using his physical advantage, Jiang Guangtai successfully got the ball and quickly passed it to the goalkeeper.

Not daring to be careless, Wang Dalei decisively kicked the ball out with a long kick.

boom!
Pass the ball out with a long pass.

Laporte is looking for a position.

He chested the ball down and passed it to Rodri.

Just as Rodri was about to adjust, Wei Shihao suddenly rushed up, along with Zhang Yuning who was on his way.

For an average player, the ball would probably be conceded by now, but for Rodri, dealing with this situation is not difficult.

Pull the ball back.

Swish!
Rodri pulled off a big play, dribbling past Wei Shihao who was pressing him.

Hey!

The Spanish captain's behavior angered Enrique.

Rodri dribbled forward, crossed the center circle again, and then passed the ball.

It's Olmo again!

Jump up!
boom!
Olmo headed the ball into Wang Dalei's arms.

"..."

"xuuu!!!!"

Judging from their performance on the field, Spain did play well, but they did not seem to have solved the problem that the team had exposed as early as the group stage: all the midfielders and forwards lacked shooting touch.

If players like Olmo and Morata had been a little more accurate with their shots, Spain wouldn't have only managed 5 points in the group stage.

It's the 16th minute of the first half.

CHN: 37%.

SPN: 63%.

The possession rate is still within an acceptable range.

Around the 17-minute mark, Spain's attack eased up slightly, and Tang Ye almost instantly noticed this, reaching out to his teammates for the ball.

By dribbling the ball forward and applying pressure, Tang Ye managed to pick up the pace of the game for his team.

"Wu Lei is receiving the call, along with Zhang Yuning."

"But with Rhodes' positioning, Zhang Yuning might not find many opportunities!"

"It's been sent!"

Seeing Tang Ye's gesture, Zhang Yuning blocked Rodri's position and directly passed the ball rolling towards him to Wu Lei next to him.

Stumbling a few steps under Pedri's interference, Wu Lei finally regained control of the ball.

Wu Lei took Pedri to the byline, but he didn't go far. He tried to cut inside the penalty area but was quickly marked closely by Alba.

With two defenders interfering, it was unlikely that he could continue cutting inside. However, at this moment, Wu Lei had a flash of inspiration.

Feint and move to the middle!

Alba guessed Wu Lei's intention, stretched out his foot to interfere, and easily blocked the ball.

"Vamos!"

While the Spanish fans in the stands were still chanting "vamos," the ball that Alba blocked came to Wu Xi's feet the next second. The Chinese midfielder took a step forward with the ball and then passed it to Tang Ye.

"mine!"

Calling for the ball, Tang Ye completed a difficult turn despite interference from Busquets and Rodri.

Busquets is still pulling!

Oh shit!

Tang Ye cursed under his breath.

It was very uncomfortable, but I still forced myself to pass the ball.

Busquets pulled hard, dragging Tang Ye to the ground.

With such strong interference, Tang Ye's pass was naturally wildly off-target. Wei Shihao chased after it but couldn't catch up, and could only watch helplessly as the ball rolled out of bounds.

"That's a foul!"

Zhang Yuning complained to the referee, "This is fucking ridiculous! I can't move at all!"

"I know!"

The referee signaled to both teams to stop talking and awarded the Chinese team a direct free kick.

Busquets was still arguing with Zhang Yuning, while Eskeriva, watching from the sidelines, took a deep breath.

China's key tactic today was to find penalties and direct free kicks, and this time it was successful.

but……

To be honest, the tactic of looking for penalties and free kicks is really terrible and full of flaws. Escriva only did it because he had no other choice.

The advantage of this tactic is that it can catch the opponent off guard.

The downside is that the team's honors are directly linked to the performance of penalty takers and free-kick takers.

The camera focuses on Tang Ye on the court.

Yes, if the captain is not in good form, the Chinese team will simply collapse.

"be careful!"

Rhodes signaled to his teammates to cheer up and patch up any gaps in the wall.

"Stand closer together!"

Rodri pressed down on Gavi's shoulder and whispered, "When you jump later, try to jump as high as possible! The higher the better!"

"..."

"That's right, these kinds of set-piece opportunities are what the Chinese team needs to seize."

"Beep!!"

Wei Shihao looked at Tang Ye beside him and almost stopped breathing.

Tang Ye raised his left hand high.

Start your running start!
boom!
He uncharacteristically unleashed a curling shot, which successfully bypassed the jumping wall of players.

The crucial part is yet to come!
The arc was incredibly exaggerated; Unai Simon first took a step, then jumped out.

Snapped!
The goalkeeper blocked the ball.

"Yes, I can take it!"

Feng Xiaoting reminded him, and Wang Shenchao ran forward like a madman, snatching the ball back before Llorente could regain his footing.

With his body about to go out of bounds along with the ball, Wang Shenchao regained his balance and delivered a low cross-court pass.

The target is clear: Tang Ye on the right flank!
However, Wang Shenchao's pass was indeed not very good...

"I'll come, I'll come!"

Seeing an opportunity, Wei Shihao went berserk and collided with Torres.

boom!
Wei Shihao fell to the ground and pushed the ball to Tang Ye in advance.

The push was a bit too fast, causing Tang Ye to step on the left side of the ball with his right foot.

"..."

Inside the penalty area, the Spanish defenders were quickly rebuilding the wall, and Tang Ye's experience told him that it was too late to adjust his posture at this point.

Tuck your left foot behind your right foot.

boom!
With a powerful backheel pass, the ball soared into the air, flew past Gave's ear, and then, to the Spanish goalkeeper's bewildered gaze, went into the goalposts.

"..."

Wei Shihao, still lying on the ground, just stared at Tang Ye beside him.

"Awesome, awesome."

……

(End of this chapter)