Chapter 176: 2018 Russia World Cup (1)

Despite the loss, they fought bravely! South Korea advanced to the round of 16 as group runners-up!

South Korea suffered a 2-1 defeat to Germany in the group stage, finishing with 2 wins and 1 loss, and narrowly advanced as group runners-up. South Korea will face Switzerland, the winners of Group E, in the round of 16. If they can beat Switzerland, they will face the winners of the round of 16 matches between Belgium and Japan.

If Japan advances to the quarterfinals, it would be the first Korea-Japan match in the World Cup main tournament...

Meanwhile, Switzerland has no standout star players except Andrea Schmidt, the attacking midfielder from Liverpool, so many bookmakers favor South Korea's chances.

On the other hand, the 16-year-old football genius who saved Korea!

Meanwhile, Ryu Ha-neul was the biggest contributor to South Korea's round of 16 advancement. In the first group stage match against Sweden, he earned a penalty and scored the winning goal, directly involved in two goals. In the second group stage match against Mexico, he assisted the first goal and then scored the tournament's second goal with a spectacular overhead kick.

In the final group stage match against Germany, he assisted the opening goal. Across the three matches, he recorded two goals and two assists, and was involved in all five of South Korea's goals. Whenever South Korea was in danger, he was the one who saved the team...

Currently, Ryu Ha-neul has recorded two Player of the Match awards, tying for the most POTM awards...

'What the hell, all there is is the story about the torn jersey?'

In the internet world I hadn't accessed in a while, there were overwhelmingly more stories about the torn jersey than about my play. Well, since I've been managing my body steadily since childhood, there were no bad ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠comments, which was a subtly good point.

However,

'Sigh... What kind of weirdos are these...'

Still, the videos from the Sweden and Mexico matches had plenty of praise for my play, so I filled my recognition hunger and enjoyed a brief moment of civilized life before returning to my daily routine.

And for me, daily life meant training.

We thoroughly analyzed Switzerland's strengths and prepared for the round of 16 match.

"Switzerland used 4-2-3-1 against Serbia and Costa Rica, 4-1-4-1 against Brazil, and is likely to use 4-2-3-1 against us. Seo-hee, explain Andrea's characteristics to me."

"Yes, Coach. First, Andrea is a player who mainly uses his left foot. His curling shots from outside the penalty box and through balls inside the box are powerful. Um... And since he practices a lot of curling shots toward the near post during personal training, if we practice blocking the near post side..."

Especially since Andrea, the ace who led Switzerland to the round of 16, played with Seo-hee on the same team, information only teammates could know was a big help for the defenders.

Well, some of Switzerland's starters played in the big leagues, but except for Andrea, Liverpool's ace, there was no player who could change the team's quality, so the attacking players prepared custom tactics rather than usual team play and tactical training for the match against Switzerland.

"Good! Let's keep it up like this!"

"Switzerland is nothing."

"Hey, hey. We saw what they did. Honestly, if we were in their group we wouldn't have advanced. Brazil wasn't normal either?"

Time passed quickly in this good atmosphere, and on the first day of the round of 16, France beat Argentina and Uruguay beat Portugal, setting the first quarterfinal pairings,

and on the second day of the round of 16, the day before our match,

"Wow, Spain got eliminated?"

"...Are the Russians that weak? Or was it a pregnancy thing."

"I don't know about that far, but there was talk that they all synced their menstrual cycles together."

"Really? Hmm..."

...An upset occurred as Russia beat Spain.

'What? Did Spain originally get eliminated here in this World Cup? But if that's the case, why did Germany advance? Spain getting eliminated here?'

Since it was such an old World Cup, I only remembered that Germany lost to us in the group stage and was eliminated, Croatia caused an upset and finished as runners-up, and France won the championship, but the fact that Spain got eliminated was a huge shock.

If in my previous life Spain had been eliminated here, even so, this world's Spain was a country that deserved the title of invincible fleet. It wasn't a country that would fall to Russia in the round of 16.

But the fact that even that Spain got eliminated meant that even if you were objectively stronger, you couldn't be complacent.

The media was saying that beating Switzerland was a given, but it was hinting that anything could happen on the World Cup stage.

And the other teammates also felt similar emotions to me, so after the Spain match, the faces of the other teammates were wiped clean of the joy of advancing to the round of 16 and the excitement of facing a relatively weak team, leaving serious expressions.

So we faced Switzerland with quite serious expressions, unlike during training.

[The fifth match of the round of 16. The match between South Korea and Switzerland is taking place at Samara Arena.]

[Actually, I don't think this round of 16 match is the most unexpected one. Switzerland and South Korea. Countries that weren't expected to have a big chance in the round of 16, right? And who would have predicted that Switzerland would top their group by beating Brazil in the group stage. Really, the World Cup stage is a stage where predictions are difficult, huh.]

[That's right. Actually, there were some questionable decisions in yesterday's Russia match, right?]

[Yeah, well. But, you know, it's already past, so whatever.]

The commentator's dark voice echoed in the room. And Camila and Valentina, who were listening to that voice, felt gloomy because their country had been eliminated, but still didn't take their eyes off the screen.

"...Still, Ha-neul ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠has to watch the game."

"...Yeah. Even so, we have to watch this."

The two people who exchanged soul-less conversations felt grateful that Bruna and Yu-ri were not in the dorm. If they had been there, they would have teased them for losing in the round of 16.

And the two people looked at each other again, thinking about another friend who was not there.

It was because thinking about Ha-neul, who was secretly mischievous in front of his friends, leading South Korea's World Cup quarterfinal run and returning, gave them a slight chill.

"...But am I the only one like this? I hope Ha-neul wins, but I don't think losing would be bad either."

"...Me too?"

"......"

If Ha-neul led South Korea to the quarterfinals, the two people wouldn't have the confidence to handle his mischief, but they also felt like it would be nice if he did something mischievous.

So the two people stared at the screen with complex emotions, and in the first half, twenty minutes.

[Wow, as expected from Andrea. Perfect curling shot from outside the penalty box? The Korean players were ready, but since it was such a well-taken shot, they couldn't stop it.]

As Switzerland's opening goal went in and Ha-neul's face, with his brows furrowed, appeared on camera, the complex feelings the two people had before the match started simplified.

"Ah... Ha-neul..."

"Sigh."

After all, they realized that the image that suited Ha-neul wasn't a dejected one, but a bright smile.

"Ha-neul!!"

"Aaaah! Wow! Did they move the goalposts?!"

"Tina! Head! Head! Head! Stop it!"

So the two people raised their voices as if they were South Korean fans,

[South Korea's heart to score a tie before the end of the first half is felt.]

[...The whistle blows! The first half ends 1-0!]

"Ah..."

"Sigh... Please help Ha-neul a bit. Please."

Despite the passionate cheers of the two people, the first half between South Korea and Switzerland ended 1-0, and the signal for South Korea's quarterfinal run lit up red.