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

Chapter 897 Advance or Retreat
With Mbappe scoring, the score is now 0-2.

Because of their completely different stances, the celebrations of French fans sounded somewhat jarring to Chinese football fans.

"Mbappe's goal... wow, it's definitely no problem."

"Well, Mbappe's header wasn't actually that good. I think the main credit goes to Dembele; he did an excellent job with that header."

"Dembele's performance in this match was indeed a bit over the top..."

Regardless of who played a bigger role in the second goal, France certainly extended their lead.

Wow!

Mbappe crosses his arms and tucks his fingers under his armpits—his favorite celebration move.

"Slide on your knees! Slide on your knees!"

French fans in the stands shouted at Mbappe, hoping their idol would do a sliding knee slide with three stripes to demoralize the Chinese team.

"Oh, fuck!"

Mbappe spread his hands toward the stands, waving them to indicate that he could not accept the suggestion, and then hugged Konaté, who ran up from behind.

"..."

The game has restarted, and it is now the 40th minute of the first half. Eskriva's teeth are clenched tightly, and the veins on his face are bulging.

Although Ferran always gives people a flustered feeling, the national team coach's mentality was clearly off today.

He seems to be at a loss?

But there was nothing that could be done about it, because judging from the situation on the field, the Chinese team was constantly being pressured. Since they were being pressured, the opponent's frequent shots on goal were something they had to deal with.

"The Chinese team really needs to think of a solution now..."

"Yes, we're saying the team is currently behind, by two goals. So in the second half, the Chinese team's tactics can't be mainly defensive; they need to proactively change tactics and look for attacking opportunities. That's what the Chinese players need to do now."

"..."

"Beep, beep beep—!!"

"Alright, the first half is over. The score is currently 0-2, with France leading by two goals!"

The halftime whistle blew, and now Tang Ye's head was displayed on the big screen. The national team captain's eyebrows were furrowed, and his expression showed an indescribable grievance.

There are now two paths facing the Chinese team. The first is to fight the French team to the bitter end, even if there is less than a 10% chance of success.

The second option is to be more conservative, strategically forfeiting this match and instead focusing their energy on the upcoming third-place match.

Here, CCTV's commentator shared a message with the fans: the knockout stage schedule for this World Cup is tight. If the Chinese national team loses in the semi-finals and is eliminated, they will face the third-place match in four days. This means that the players will have no chance to show their best form in the third-place match.

If the upper half of the bracket is like this, then the lower half is even more so.

In the lower half of the bracket, Argentina and Portugal will face off; the loser will have three days of rest before starting their third-place match.

hiss……

From this perspective, if the Chinese team had conserved their energy in today's match, they might have gained a huge advantage in the third-place match.
Whether they play Portugal or Argentina, they have the advantage in both physical strength and mental strength!
So, whether to advance or retreat became a question the Chinese national football team had to discuss during halftime.

"Everyone, please sit down quickly, and try to save some time."

"My idea for the second half is not to make too many substitutions for the time being."

As soon as Escriva finished speaking, all the players in the locker room turned their attention to him.

We won't make too many personnel changes for now...

Doesn't this statement imply giving up the chance to win? It's just that the game is currently underway, and some things can't be said outright.

"Actually, we're only two goals behind."

Tang Ye mentioned it briefly.

"..."

Escriva shook his head slightly, understanding what Tang Ye meant: "But you should see that we're not just two goals behind."

“Dembele and Mbappe are on separate paths, and we simply have no way to deal with both of them at the same time.”

"And as I said, Dembele and Mbappe may not be the key. The most crucial ones are Koundé and Theo (Hernandez). These two full-backs are the ones who cause us the most trouble. As long as they are on the field, we can't do anything."

Tang Ye gritted his teeth.

He wanted to say something more, but reason told him he was wrong, so Tang Ye simply turned his head away, unwilling to engage in further argument.

"Actually, I just... I think we still have a chance. We've won all the previous matches. It's just that today's match is a bit more difficult."

"It's incredibly difficult, Tom."

"..."

Seeing that Tang Ye remained silent, Escriva took a step forward: "I know what you mean, and I know what the rest of you are thinking. You want to win, yes, of course I want to win too!"

"But we need to be rational; this is what high-level sports teams should be doing."

"I also want to advance to the finals, but since the probability of advancing to the finals is small, we need to find a way to increase our chances of getting third place. Do you understand what I mean? Do you know what I'm saying?"

Eskeriva's words are easy to understand, but accepting them is not so easy.

"So we're just giving up, right?"

Zhang Yuning looked at Eskriva.

"No, of course not. We will make some adjustments in the second half and try to equalize the score, because this is the World Cup."

"But I won't ask you to fight to the death with your opponents."

"..."

After he finished speaking, the locker room fell silent. The national team players in the room all looked at Tang Ye, who hadn't spoken for a long time.

In fact, Eskeriva was also looking in the direction of Tangye.

"..."

"call……"

"so be it."

It's a bit of a compromise, but to be honest, Tang Ye is still sticking to his own ideas: "Although it looks like there's a big difference, as I said, we are only two goals behind, and I will try to find a way to do it."

Eskeriva nodded: "Yeah, of course, I'll try."

Eskeriva walked over, and Tang Ye raised his hand to bump fists with his coach.

……

"We're only two behind, so tell me, aren't we only two behind?"

On the way to the players' tunnel, Tang Ye shared his understanding with his teammates.

“I know you’re right, Tang Ye. But he (Eskeriva) is right too.”

"If we lose this hard-fought match against them, then we'll lose the bronze medal match as well."

"What if we win?"

Tang Ye looked into Wu Lei's eyes and said something that left the latter speechless.

"This……"

"Then you need to know which probability is higher. Never mind, let's not talk about it anymore. Just do your best and don't put too much pressure on yourself."

Wu Lei shook his body, took a deep breath, and looked up at the ceiling, mentally preparing for the upcoming second half.

The players were waiting to enter the field, and at this moment only Eskriva and Martí were in the locker room.

"Actually, you could have just said nothing and postponed the substitutions in the second half."

“If I did that, they wouldn’t accept the result.”

Escriva glared at Marty fiercely: "I had no choice!"

"This was bound to happen eventually, and it was bound to happen now."

"..."

"Welcome back, China Media Group and our viewers!"

"Neither side made any substitutions in the second half, but we can see that Tang Ye and Chi Zhongguo are positioned a little further forward for the Chinese team."

The midfielders' move forward was exactly what the commentators and fans expected.

Ethan, was there anything unexpected?

The kind that can equalize the score or even dominate France!

If the fans are objective enough, they should be able to realize that this tactical adjustment is probably not true.

Unless you suddenly change the nationalities of Dembele and Mbappe on the field.

Or Hernandez would also work.

If these three players are removed from the squad, the national football team will indeed have a chance to turn the tide.

52 minutes.

Elkeson was ready on the sidelines, awaiting instructions from Eskeriva.

Chuameni dribbles forward.

As Griezmann ran forward, he kept looking back to check on Tsuameni's situation.

"Give it to me!"

After a brief urging, Chuameni finally played a through ball.

Wow!!!

The ball came to Griezmann's feet, and the French attacking midfielder accelerated again, trying to use his speed to create opportunities for his team.

At the same time, other French players were also pushing forward.

"Left, left, look at Dembele!"

Wang Dalei was on edge; Dembele's presence was a major concern for him.

Dembele has reached a good position, but Griezmann is being marked closely by Tang Ye.

Tang Ye's one-on-one defense was very detailed; he prevented Griezmann from passing the ball to Dembele.

The two people were pulling each other.

There was nothing else Griezmann could do but pass the ball back to Fofana.

Wu Xi, who had retreated to defend, was in position at this moment and, together with Wu Lei, completed a steal.

Wow!!!

"Pretty!"

"Wu Lei!"

"China has a counter-attack opportunity!"

The French team played with great discipline, immediately retreating to defend after their attack was disrupted.

By grasping this detail, Wu Lei made a very smart decision.

He passed the ball back to Tang Ye, who was in an open position.

"Fuck!"

Griezmann realized something was wrong.

He shouldn't have run away from Tang Ye so quickly!
Get the ball and take small steps forward to adjust.

Even a fool knows what Tang Ye is capable of.

"Look at the striker!"

"forward!"

As Deschamps waved and called out, Tang Ye delivered his pass.

A perfectly executed long pass, directly targeting Zhang Yuning at the front.

The showdown between Varane and Zhang Yuning!

Varane almost got knocked down by Zhang Yuning, but Zhang Yuning was no pushover either, and the Chinese national team center forward managed to maintain his balance in the end.

"Come!"

Control the ball with your chest and pass it to Wei Shihao!
"good chance!"

"Wei Shihao!"

Accelerating forward, Wei Shihao bursts into the penalty area!
"Oh!!!!"

Lloris rushed out and tackled Wei Shihao, who was raising his leg to shoot, bringing him down. In the end, Lloris tucked the ball under his body.

"Oh!!"

"Penalty!"

"Penalty!"

"Beep!!!"

The referee reacted relatively quickly, blowing his whistle immediately after the two players fell to the ground in the penalty area and running into the penalty area to show Lloris a yellow card.

"Oh……"

The eyes of Chinese football fans lit up.

Since it was a foul inside the penalty area, it's definitely not just a simple yellow card.

"Beep!!!"

The referee pointed to the 12-yard mark.

"Penalty!"

"That's a penalty!"

"China gets a penalty!"

"Beautiful! Wei Shihao has won a penalty for the Chinese team!"

Zhang Yuning, who was next to the referee, jumped up and bumped chests with Wei Shihao next to him: "Awesome, Brother Hao!"

"Ha ha!"

"Damn! Penalty!"

Eskeriva smiled.

Lori made a big mistake at a crucial moment.

Wei Shihao's ability to adjust in front of goal is not strong, and his shooting accuracy is not high. If Lloris hadn't fouled and had just made a proper save, the success rate might have been higher. Instead, a foul resulted in a penalty kick.

Hey, that penalty kick won't be taken by Wei Shihao!

"As expected, the penalty for the Chinese team will be awarded to Tang Ye. Let's take a look."

Tang Ye held the ball tightly in his arms, while Wei Shihao stood beside him, looking excited. He couldn't hear what Wei Shihao was saying, but it sounded like he was trying to take credit.

From Wei Shihao's perspective, isn't this just a pure hero's arrival?
"Well, leave it to me."

After high-fiving Wei Shihao, Tang Ye walked into the penalty area.

“Beep!!!!”

……

(End of this chapter)