Chapter 919: Each’s first step
When the Chinese team was having a meeting behind closed doors in the hotel conference room, the second game of this World Cup and the second game of Group A, the game between France and Uruguay, had also begun.
By the time the Chinese team was about to take a bus to the Mercedes Stadium, the competition venue, the game between France and Uruguay had just ended.
The French team, which returned home in the group stage of the last World Cup, showed their powerful attacking firepower in the first game this time.
Payet and Bonet each scored a goal, plus an own goal from a Uruguayan player. In the end, the French team defeated the South American team with a score of 3:1 and got off to a good start.
At present, the French team and the American team have three points and the same winning margin. However, the French team is temporarily ranked first because of more goals, and the United States is second. Uruguay scored one goal, so it ranked third, and the South Korean team was at the bottom of the group.
The first round of the group stage of Group A has come to an end, and now it is the turn of Group B.
The first to appear is the Chinese team, who will face Algeria. After their game, there is the game between Brazil and Russia.
The Chinese team's game will kick off at 4:00 pm local time in Atlanta on June 16th, and 4:00am domestic time on June 17th in China.
The hotel entrance was crowded with Chinese media reporters and Chinese fans who couldn't buy tickets - those who had tickets were now at the Mercedes Stadium.
When the Chinese team players walked out of the lobby wearing uniforms and lined up to get on the bus, the fans at the scene were the first to start a commotion.
They waved the five-star red flag in their hands and shouted and screamed: "Come on, Team China!!"
"Hu Lai is awesome!"
"Luo Kai, I love you!!"
"Qing Huan!! Ah - Qing Huan!!"
"Chen Xingyi!! Chen Xingyi!!"
The reporters pressed the camera shutter and fixed the scene on the memory card.
In such a noisy environment, the on-site CCTV reporter had to raise his voice, which made him look particularly excited: "The Chinese team players are coming out! They are about to board the bus to the Mercedes Stadium! Audience friends , this is the first time the Chinese team has started in the history of the World Cup!”
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Li Qingqing didn't wait for the alarm clock to ring, but was woken up by the sound of the TV in the living room.
I picked up my phone and saw that it was nearly an hour before the game started.
Then she saw Hu Lai's reply to herself: "Just got up."
It happened several hours ago, and she didn't plan to reply again, because at this time, Hu Lai needed to concentrate on preparing for the battle, not chatting with her on WeChat.
"... Audience friends, this is the first time the Chinese team has started in the history of the World Cup!"
The excited words of the reporter on the TV set in the living room outside hit Li Qingqing's ears at exactly this moment.
Then her sleepiness disappeared and she sat up from the bed.
The Chinese team is going to the stadium, why should they sleep?
Get up... No, it's to watch football!
She quickly changed her clothes, took her phone and got out of bed.
When I opened the bedroom door, I saw red flags waving on the TV screen in the living room. The Chinese team players boarded the bus one by one, cheered by fans and reporters.
Hu Lai happened to appear in the close-up shot, and fans were shouting his name hoarsely.
Li Qingqing smiled and then asked Li Ziqiang who was sitting on the sofa: "Dad, why are you watching the game at home? Didn't Aunt Xie tell us to go to their house to watch the game?"
"When is this? You may not have gotten up yet. What are you going to do now?" Li Ziqiang answered his daughter's question while lowering his head to check his cell phone. "Wait until the game starts soon before knocking on the door."
"That's right..." Li Qingqing herself got up more than half an hour earlier than expected.
After saying that, she went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water to wake herself up completely. Then she returned to the living room and sat down with her father to wait for the game to start.
In the TV broadcast, all the players of the Chinese team had boarded the bus, closed the door, slowly started up, and drove away from the crowded hotel gate.
Led by the police car that cleared the way, they headed towards the Mercedes Stadium, the competition venue.
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Hu Lai stood in the player tunnel, and the cameraman was next to him with the camera.
Hu Lai knew that the camera lens was pointing at him and his every move would appear in front of hundreds of millions of TV viewers.
But at this time, he didn't care about being clever in front of the camera like he did in the Olympics.
He looked expressionless on the surface, but he had actually entered the system space and was using the ten [Lingxi Cards] one by one for his starting teammates.
As the cards turned into white light one after another and were thrown into the bodies of his teammates, in his system vision, everything in front of him was completely white - the light chains of the teammates in front and behind gathered together to form a huge light pillar.
Fortunately, the light was not dazzling, otherwise Hu Lai would have been blind for a few minutes...
After using up all the [Spirit Cards], he began to equip himself with [Broken Bear Leg Guards], [Worn Bear Jersey] and [Lover's Red Rope].
Hu Lai, who was concentrating on buffing himself, didn't know that his scene had a different interpretation in the eyes of others.
"... Hu Lai looked serious in front of the camera. It can be seen that even Hu Lai rarely became nervous when facing the Chinese team in their first World Cup game..." He Feng said with emotion.
"Yes, I still remember his performance in the first Olympic Games. He was so free and easy..." Yan Kang agreed. "And today he is obviously not very relaxed..."
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After the commentator said this, Xie Lan didn't jump out to refute. Hu Lixin was a little surprised. I wonder if it was because Li Ziqiang and Li Qingqing were here today, and she couldn't let go... so she glanced in her direction. .
Only then did he realize that Xie Lan's hands were tightly clenched into fists in front of his mouth, and his body was trembling slightly.
It’s not that I can’t let go, but I’m too nervous...
Hu Lixin did not laugh at his wife because this was too normal.
He was also nervous, but he didn't show it as obviously as his wife...
Xie Lan, who couldn't restrain her body from shaking, suddenly felt someone put a hand gently on her... knee.
Turning around, she saw Li Qingqing sitting next to her.
When the girl saw Xie Lan looking over, she didn't say anything, but just smiled at her.
The shaking of Xie Lan's body suddenly eased a little.
So she gave Li Qingqing a grateful smile, and then continued to watch the live broadcast.
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Zhang Qinghuan, who was standing in the queue, suddenly raised his head with a feeling and cast his gaze diagonally forward.
There, he saw a man with long hair reaching his shoulders and a fair face staring in the direction of where he was.
That's Algeria's captain, their midfielder Elise Sedery.
Zhang Qinghuan thought it was his illusion, and the other party should not be looking at him.
So he looked back behind him to see if anyone else was looking at Sateri.
I haven't seen this happen.
Then he turned back and found that the other party was still looking in his direction.
That confirmed that Sateri was indeed looking at him.
As for why the other party looks at me...
Sateri noticed that Zhang Qinghuan also looked over, so he nodded slightly and smiled.
This smile appeared on Sateri's rather handsome face, and it was sure to charm many women.
But Zhang Qinghuan's heart sank.
Because the person in front of him who nodded and smiled at him was not a chic and suave "noble young man".
On the contrary, Illie Sedelli, who plays for the mid-range Serie A team San Marco, has a murderous nickname:
Killing machine.
As the saying goes, there is only the wrong name, not the wrong nickname.
So just from this nickname you can tell what kind of player Sateri is.
Sateri, who is 1.8 meters tall, does not look very strong, but he has outstanding core strength and is good at running. Sweeping in the midfield is his most common defensive method.
But that doesn't matter, most sweeping midfielders play like this.
In addition to these characteristics, Sateri also has a very famous characteristic, which is... rough defense and extremely aggressive.
Such characteristics have made him even somewhat "notorious" in Serie A.
This is a defensive player who seems to be running to kill the opponent every time he plays defense.
How could he possibly show kindness to himself?
No need to think about it!
That smile must be a threat!
Zhang Qinghuan didn't want to look at this lunatic, so he looked away, trying to keep his heart calm before such an important game.
Seeing the Chinese players' reaction, Sateri grinned widely this time, showing his teeth.
He turned around and looked away, standing at the front of the team, holding the team flag that would be exchanged later, behind his back, and raising his head slightly, like a proud general who had won a battle.
Soon the referee team came up from behind and said to the captains of both sides: "Get ready, gentlemen!"
Sateri didn't even look back. Yao Huasheng next to him turned around and applauded his teammates: "I'm on the field! I'm on the field! Cheer up!"
Other Chinese team players turned around to remind their teammates behind them and encourage each other.
Then the players from both sides took their caddies, followed the referee team and their captain, and moved forward.
Amidst the crisp sound of spikes, these two teams, both entering the World Cup for the first time, took their first steps in the history of the World Cup.
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Players from both sides walked onto the court and stood in a row, led by the flags of their respective countries. The live broadcast reminded everyone that the national anthems of both participating parties would be played next.
For Algeria and China, this is the first time that their respective national anthems have been played on the World Cup stage.
The stadium quickly became quiet.
The Algerian national anthem was played first.
Every Algerian player who appeared on camera seemed to have tears in his eyes and sang along to the music with great excitement.
This is their moment of glory.
After the Algerian national anthem, there was a burst of applause and a brief cheer.
Then the broadcast prompted: "The national anthem of the People's Republic of China will be played below!"
The cheers stopped suddenly, and the stadium was silent.
"Get up - people who don't want to be slaves!"
When the national anthem of the People's Republic of China was played on the TV, Yan Yan, Chu Yifan and their friends stood side by side in a row in front of the TV and in the KTV box. Just like the Chinese team players on the court.
They sang along with the national anthem on TV.
"Build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood!"
Not only in this KTV box, but also in other places in China, the audience in front of the TV also stood up and sang the national anthem in front of the screen.
"The Chinese nation has reached its most dangerous moment!"
Fans who were watching the live broadcast on their mobile phones also held their screens, remained silent, and sang the national anthem silently.
"Everyone is forced to give one last roar——"
Deafening roars rang out over Atlanta's Mercedes Stadium.
Those fans who came from far away China, those overseas Chinese and overseas students in the United States and Canada... raised their voices to join this chorus.
"Get up! Get up!! Get up!!!"
The broadcast camera scanned the Chinese team's coaching bench and bench in turn. Both the coaches and substitute players stood in front of their seats, facing the direction of the national flag.
"We are united! Brave the enemy's fire - move forward!"
The camera once again scanned the starting eleven players of the Chinese team. Through the live recording of the microphone, the TV audience could even hear the songs sung from their mouths.
"Brave the enemy's artillery fire, advance! Advance! Advance! Advance!!"
As the last note disappeared, huge cheers could not wait to be emitted from the stadium stands.
The captain Yao Huasheng in the camera clapped his hands hard and shouted to his teammates: "Get ready to play! Brothers!"
In the KTV box, Chu Yifan and Yan Yan were like captains, shouting excitedly: "Coming, coming, coming! The game is coming!!"
Countless Chinese fans in front of the TV are also shouting:
“Come on Team China!!”
The World Cup for the Chinese team is finally coming!
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PS, during the World Cup plot, consider that this plot is very important to the entire novel - not because of the final results of the Chinese team, but because this World Cup is a connecting part for the entire novel. The significance is definitely not the final ranking of the Chinese team.
I hope to use this World Cup to shape those important figures and make them more vivid.
So there will be more space in the competition.
But considering the update, if I still maintain the original rhythm, I am always worried about you scolding me, which makes me involuntarily want to speed up the pace when writing, hurrying and rushing.
But doing this actually goes against my original intention, and may cause me to miss some things and fail to explain the completeness of the depiction.
In other words, I don’t want to write fast, I want to write slow.
Write everything that needs to be written.
In this way, I guess some people will complain again that "I have written XX chapters for a game and haven't finished it yet."
So in order to make the experience of readers who follow the series a little better, I decided to update the game three times a day, but the plot outside the game will be updated once a day.
Three updates a day allows you not to feel delayed for too long, and it also allows me to write what I want to write during the game more calmly.
And during the first update of the day, I was asked to make up for the manuscripts I had used before, so that I would not be overwhelmed by the update progress. After all, summer vacation is approaching, and there will be a lot of trivial matters in my life, which will definitely affect my writing.
I will also explain in the update the day before specifically when there will be three updates and when there will be a single update.
First of all, there will be three updates a day tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. (End of chapter)