CHAPTER 1876: CHAPTER 981: THE QUARTERFINALS

After spending a day at the school, Ding Yue headed to America from Mist City Airport the next day.

After all, the main reason for his return this time was to participate in the rocket recovery technology experiment.

Now that the experiment was successful and the subsequent matters were mostly settled, Ding Yue naturally needed to hurry back to America to watch the match. The upcoming games were quite crucial, as his Feiyue Football Club, representing the national team, was currently intensely preparing for the semifinals.

This time, the opponent in the semifinals is the Baxi Team.

The Baxi Team successfully took revenge for their twelve-year setback in the quarter-finals, defeating the powerful German Panzer Team and securing a place among the last eight. Facing the national team for a spot in the semi-finals, the pressure on the national team is enormous.

Many rational fans at home view the match between the national team and Baxi Team, believing it’s not impossible for the national team to win, but the difficulty is certainly high.

After all, before this, the national team had only faced some non-first-tier strong teams. Baxi Team is not an ordinary team; they have also won a World Cup before and achieved victory in their last match against the German Panzer Team.

The strength of the German Panzer Team needs no further explanation.

The current Baxi Team is even stronger than the German Panzer Team, making them a very tough opponent for the national team, which is quite reasonable to say.

The match is about to start soon.

All the quarter-final teams are now determined, and, unfortunately, both the England Football Team and the German Panzer Team did not make it to the quarter-finals.

Instead, Argentina, Spain, and Portugal, three classic strong football teams, made it into the quarter-finals, along with Uruguay, the national team, and Baxi Team, making it six teams.

Then came the Netherlands Team and the Croatia Team, making it into the quarter-finals as well.

Upon arriving in America again, Ding Yue checked into a hotel and then visited his team. He didn’t put much pressure on them, only telling them to play their best in the upcoming match.

Winning would be great, but even if they lose, it’s no big deal. Reaching the quarter-finals is already quite an achievement.

If they lose, they’ll go back, summarize their experiences, and continue to improve. There are many football matches waiting in the future, and they can use these matches to constantly enhance their strength, with future World Cups awaiting them.

After all, the current team from Mist City Arts and Science University has an average age of about twenty-four or twenty-five because the team was formed when they were eighteen at Mist City Arts and Science University. It’s been six or seven years, and they’re still very young. Even though the World Cup is held every four years, they could still play in at least two more World Cups at their current age.

If they’re still in good form in their thirties, they might even play in another World Cup.

Adding all that up, these players could potentially participate in four World Cups. One World Cup every four years, four World Cups span sixteen years. By then, even if they retire or whatnot, new players will step up.

Actually, even now, the Feiyue Football Club has started training youth football players.

These young football players developed through the youth football league will become the successors of the Feiyue Football Club and are very likely to be the future successors of the national team.

Since the national team adopted the Feiyue Football Club, not only have they advanced to the World Cup, but they’ve also achieved admirable results on the World Cup stage, with the admirable results referring to their position in the quarter-finals now.

The General Administration of Sports and the Football Association have realized that the rise of the national team requires entities like the Feiyue Football Club to enhance the overall strength of the national team.

Two days later.

The national team’s semifinal qualification match finally began.

Held at the Los Angeles Central Stadium in America, the opponent was naturally the Baxi Team.

This match was highly anticipated by many football fans worldwide, as one side was a world-class team like Baxi, and the other was this World Cup’s dark horse.

Initially, global football fans believed the national team only got a spot in the World Cup because of good luck in the Asian qualifiers.

Initially, many foreigners thought the national team would just make an appearance in the group stage and then be eliminated. But unexpectedly, the national team beat America’s team in the group stage, not only that, but they emerged from the group stage and reached the round of sixteen.

They even defeated a strong team in the round of sixteen and advanced to the quarter-finals.

Because of all this, foreigners no longer underestimated this new national team from Xia Country, believing it to be this World Cup’s dark horse.

Some foreign analysts even suggested that with the current strength of Xia Country’s team, defeating the Baxi Team is not impossible.

They had seriously watched the national team’s matches and knew that each player on the team was formidable, even though they weren’t very famous yet.

Believing that if they continue to shine in this World Cup, they’ll likely establish their international reputation once the World Cup ends.

For instance, Li Shuangying, Zhu Tan, Liu Zhan, Zhao Xuanming, and goalkeeper Zhu Cheng already have some fame online due to their outstanding performances on the field.

This afternoon.

Los Angeles Central Stadium.

The match between the national team and Baxi Team was set to start in just half an hour.

The number of Chinese spectators at the Central-West Stadium noticeably increased, with many fans traveling from China to watch the match live. After all, with the national team reaching this stage, advancing from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals, it’s essential to be there to support them live.

Of course.

Those who can afford to support the national team live generally have better financial conditions, yet the number of supporters is still significant.

Many former members of the national team also came to watch the match live.

Before the match started, Ding Yue received a message from an old friend saying he would come to watch the match live too, as his work was quite busy before.

Now that his work matters were mostly settled, he hurried to America, planning to watch the national team’s game live with Ding Yue.

That old friend of Ding Yue was Principal Xu Dongcheng of Westlight University.

Westlight University had been gradually developing over the years, becoming the second largest private university domestically after Mist City Arts and Science University. Although there was a noticeable gap between their strengths, Westlight University’s foundation was quite good, especially with some cooperative programs and departments with Mist City Arts and Science University, making its strength not weak.

If Mist City Arts and Science University has become a well-known domestic top university, then Westlight University’s strength is not inferior to other first-tier universities.

"Principal Xu, you’re here."

At the VIP spectator entrance of Los Angeles Central Stadium, Ding Yue greeted Principal Xu Dongcheng.

"Hahaha, I mentioned on the phone that I would come, so I had to make good on that. Besides, Principal Ding, you probably don’t know, but I’m an old football fan. Seeing our national team develop so well and achieve such results in the America-Canada-Mexico World Cup truly makes me extremely happy from the bottom of my heart."

Principal Xu Dongcheng laughed as he spoke.

"Hahaha, come on, let’s head over to the spectator area."

Ding Yue laughed heartily as he invited Principal Xu Dongcheng to join him, leading him through the VIP spectator entrance to the VIP seating area.

Although Principal Xu Dongcheng wasn’t as wealthy as Ding Yue, his net worth was counted in hundreds of millions, so buying VIP seats was no issue for him.

Once everyone was seated, they eagerly anticipated today’s fierce battle between the national team and Baxi Team!