Chapter 246 Fate

When the referee blew the whistle to end the match, the Chinese team players and coaches, who had been waiting on the sidelines, could no longer contain their excitement. They rushed onto the field to celebrate with the fans.

Lippi went to shake hands with the Spanish coach, Bosque.

Bosque was still very gracious, congratulating the Chinese team on their victory and wishing them good luck in the rest of the World Cup.

Then he shook his head and left the field.

The Spanish dynasty was collapsing as its golden generation aged, a stage that any dynasty must go through.

But losing all three games caused Spain to lose face, and as the team's coach, he would certainly have to bear a large part of the responsibility.

Spain's World Cup was over, and his troubles were probably just beginning…

After shaking hands with Bosque, Lippi turned to his team and joined in the celebration.

Four years ago in South Africa, he and his Italian team had tasted the bitterness of being eliminated from the group stage as defending champions.

But four years later, he was leading a young team and enjoying the joy of making history.

Such is fate.

※※※

Zhou Yi didn't celebrate with his players. Instead, he was immediately pulled into the mixed zone by reporters for interviews.

Everyone wanted to hear Zhou Yi's views on the game and his expectations for the knockout stage.

“…I'm very happy that we were able to defeat Spain and qualify for the group stage.” Zhou Yi said with a smile in front of the camera. “This is the result of the whole team working together. Next, we will prepare for the knockout stage, and we will maintain this spirit… We won't be eliminated in the first round of the knockout stage. I have this confidence that we will go further. From now on, every step we take is creating history… We hope to bring more joy to Chinese fans and keep them happy for a longer time…”

A reporter asked about Zhou Yi's physical condition, whether he felt tired after playing almost ninety minutes after recovering from his injury, and whether there was any reaction from the injured area.

Zhou Yi shook his head: “It's okay, I'm not very tired. I don't feel anything in the injured area anymore. Actually, it wasn't a serious injury to begin with, but the timing of the injury was very bad. It happened half a month before the start of the World Cup. If there was no World Cup, this injury probably wouldn't have had any impact at all… I feel very good now, and the previous injury will not affect my performance in the future.”

The Chinese reporters didn't keep asking Zhou Yi questions. After thanking him, they let him go back to celebrate the victory with his teammates. It was better to be with his teammates at this time.

Zhou Yi ran back to his team, who were in front of the stands where the Chinese fans were gathered, thanking the Chinese fans who had come from afar, so Zhou Yi joined them.

Everyone, both in the stands and below, was very happy, with the most radiant smiles on their faces.

Although this Chinese team had a glorious performance in the Asian Cup finals before participating in the World Cup, and also had a highlight moment when they defeated the Japanese team at home in the World Cup qualifiers, none of those moments could compare with the present.

Because this was the World Cup main competition, this was the moment when the Chinese team entered the knockout stage, this was the highlight moment for Chinese men's football so far.

Liu Jianhong said with emotion when he saw this scene: “Is there any question why football is the number one sport in the world? The Chinese team's first victory in World Cup history can attract so much attention and make so many people happy. It feels like we won a gold medal at the Olympics, and this is just a victory in one game… During the World Cup in Brazil, the Chinese team will be affecting the hearts of many Chinese people. During this period, the keywords of the whole society are probably the World Cup and the Chinese team…”

※※※

The Chinese team's historic victory in a World Cup match and their historic entry into the World Cup knockout stage made Chinese fans very excited. Although it was already two o'clock in the morning Beijing time, many fans were still wide awake, browsing all the news about the national team online, reading the post-match interviews, browsing the latest news on Weibo, browsing the posts and jokes on the forums…

Everyone was involved, like a carnival feast.

The next day, when everyone woke up, this carnival reached its climax.

Many people who were not fans at all also joined in.

Although they were not fans and didn't stay up late to watch the games, they still had to pay attention to such an important event as the Chinese team playing in the World Cup.

When they heard that the Chinese team had actually defeated the defending champion Spain and won the right to qualify for the group stage, everyone was very surprised, and after the surprise, they were excited.

In the past, whenever there was a Chinese team match, the internet was always full of jokes mocking the Chinese team.

But this time, there were no such jokes. Instead, there were all kinds of jokes praising the Chinese team.

Previously, the official Weibo account of the Chinese national team had posted a “sorry” message after a defeat. Every time the Chinese team lost, this Weibo post would be turned out by netizens to whip the corpse.

This time, this old Weibo post was turned out again, but the purpose was not to whip the corpse, but to make all kinds of heartwarming replies and reposts: “No need to say sorry anymore!”

“You guys did a great job, really!”

“Actually, the blogger can delete this post. Chinese football has proved with practical actions that you don't need to bear the infamy all the time!”

“This time, no need to apologize. This time, it's our turn to apologize to you for our previous mockery and abuse!”

Traditional media also joined in. The front page headlines of all major newspapers this morning were almost all about the Chinese team winning the match against Spain and winning the right to qualify for the group stage. There were Weibo accounts specializing in collecting these front page headlines and posting them to cheer for this carnival.

Usually, those Weibo accounts that had nothing to do with football were also actively discussing topics related to the Chinese team at this time.

It was truly a national participation.

As Liu Jianhong said, this is the charm of football, this is the best proof that football is still the number one sport in the world.

Even individual events at the Olympics cannot be compared with football, and neither can basketball, the second largest ball sport.

Only football can truly arouse such widespread attention and discussion, and whether it is victory or defeat, it can set off a storm of public opinion in this society.

In this relatively peaceful era, sports are actually a war without gunpowder smoke, a confrontation between countries. And football is the most extreme of these.

At every Olympic Games, everyone is so concerned about the gold medal table, the medal table, and the competition in every game.

But the Olympics are, after all, a comprehensive sports event, including many sports.

And football, on the other hand, is just a single event that can achieve the same level of influence as the Olympics. This is not a meaning imposed on football by some politician, but a natural formation after a hundred years of national liberation movements. Football accompanied British colonization to the world, and also witnessed the rise and independence of nations in South America, Africa, and Asia. In this process, football often carries the hope of a nation and country for self-esteem and honor—these emerging countries faced those old powers with weak strength, but on the football field, the two sides were indeed fair, and even those backward countries were better. Therefore, the victory of football was particularly important at that time.

There was a Chinese movie in the 1990s called *Kyoto Ball Masters*, which told the story of the Yihetuan (Boxer) movement in the late Qing Dynasty, which well explained that kind of emotion.

Not to mention emerging countries, even old capitalist powers, after encountering major disasters, football can become a "good medicine" to make up for the national mind and boost national morale. After World War II, Germany was almost reduced to scorched earth, and the defeat of World War II also caused the German people to suffer heavy blows both materially and spiritually. At this time, the "Miracle of Bern" when the German national team won the championship at the Swiss World Cup was very important. That victory greatly inspired the German people's confidence in rebuilding their country and homes. This is the best example of football helping the country.

Of course, any sport actually has such effects.

But because of the strength of the British Empire in those years, their tentacles spread all over the world, and their sailors on merchant ships and gunboats set foot all over the world, they naturally spread modern football invented by the British to the world, so compared with other sports, football, relying on the prestige of the British Empire in those years, is the most widely spread sport, and naturally became the world's number one sport.

In a sense, football is even the universal language of the world. People from two countries who do not speak the same language cannot talk and chat, but they can get together to play football, and they all know the rules of the sport, and the emotions they feel from this sport are the same.

When one person feels happy for the victory of a football game, people in another country will not be surprised or wonder why he is so happy, but will show an understanding smile.

This is football.