Chapter 619: The World Cup Begins
"How does it feel to be with the national team?"
After Spain's two warm-up matches, the outside world collectively lost faith in Spain's national team.
This negative outlook quickly spread among Spanish fans, to the point that even Pep Guardiola, who was on vacation in Asia, heard about it and called Lin Quan specifically to ask about the situation.
"It feels the same as before, nothing special. If I had to say, maybe it's that there are more young players now, which automatically elevates my status as one of the 'older' ones on the team."
Hearing Lin Quan joke, Guardiola felt a little relieved on the other end of the line.
If Lin Quan still had the energy to joke around, things couldn't be as bad as the media made them seem.
Sure, this Spanish team was facing serious issues with an aging squad and a gap between young and veteran players, but it wasn't as hopeless as some reports suggested.
With 22-year-old Lin Quan anchoring the team, Spain's floor wouldn't be that low.
But the media wasn't completely wrong. Spain had a good chance of making it to the knockout stages, but winning the tournament would be extremely difficult.
In Guardiola's eyes, the biggest favorite to win this World Cup was France.
However, cup competitions are always full of surprises. Even if a team is the favorite, one poor performance or unexpected incident could see them knocked out.
So, until the final moment, no one could predict for sure who would win the championship.
After chatting for a while, Guardiola told Lin Quan he had already booked his flight for June 14th, planning to watch Spain's first match.
Whether as a coach, a father, or just a fan, Guardiola wasn't going to miss such an important event as the World Cup.
However, since he was coming on the 14th, he would miss the opening match of this World Cup.
…
On June 8th, the Spanish national team arrived in Krasnodar, Russia.
This would be Spain's training base for the next month—assuming they made it all the way to the final without being eliminated.
When the team disembarked from the plane, they were greeted by a large crowd of fans at the airport.
These fans went wild when they saw players like Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta, and Gerard Piqué walking at the front of the group. They cheered their names and even shouted "Barça! Barça!"
Even though Barcelona's performance had declined in recent years, the huge fan base built during the reign of their "Dream Team" was undeniable.
These fans seemed to be there to welcome the Spanish national team, but in reality, they were there to support the Barcelona players.
As Sergio Ramos walked by behind them, the fans continued to chant "Barça!" seemingly oblivious to him. This made Ramos frown, and he shot an annoyed glare at one of the loudest fans.
The man seemed to be startled by Ramos' look and immediately fell silent.
As a Real Madrid player, Ramos didn't like Barcelona. After all, the two teams had a long history of rivalry, with numerous clashes and conflicts in La Liga.
But honestly, within the Spanish national team, Barcelona's influence had been stronger than Real Madrid's for the past ten years.
Compared to Real Madrid, Barcelona focused more on youth development. La Masia, their youth academy, had produced an extraordinary number of talented players over the last decade, securing their dominance in the national team.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid, under the "Zidanes y Pavones" policy, leaned toward buying established stars from outside the club.
The positions left for young players were often less glamorous or entirely handed over to foreign players, making Real Madrid more like a "mercenary army," with most starting spots occupied by non-Spanish players.
As a result, it wasn't surprising that Barcelona dominated the Spanish national team.
However, this year, for the first time, Real Madrid had more players in the national squad than Barcelona.
Of the 23 players called up, six were from Real Madrid, while only four were from Barcelona.
This was why Ramos was so frustrated. He didn't mind when Barcelona had more players and stole the spotlight. But now that there were more Real Madrid players, he couldn't accept that the Barça players were still getting all the attention.
As for the players from other leagues or clubs, they didn't care much about the fans' reactions.
The rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona was none of their business.
Their only concern was whether this constant friction between the "Real Madrid faction" and the "Barcelona faction" would affect the team's unity and fighting spirit.
Following the Barcelona players were the Real Madrid players, but the crowd's reaction was muted.
Apart from Ramos and Isco, who received a few claps and cheers, most of the Real Madrid players didn't get much attention.
This wasn't surprising. Although Real Madrid had won the Champions League last year, players like Nacho, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vázquez, and Marco Asensio were either substitutes or played in positions that didn't attract much spotlight, so they didn't have much exposure.
In contrast, Lin Quan caused an instant stir the moment he appeared.
Walking and laughing with Thiago from Bayern Munich, Lin Quan was caught off guard by the deafening cheers.
Looking up, he realized the crowd was cheering for him, and a wide smile spread across his face.
He waved to the fans and greeted them with a simple "Привет!" ("Hello" in Russian).
Though his pronunciation wasn't perfect, the fans were thrilled, and the cheering grew even louder, attracting the attention of everyone in the airport.
"Who's that with all the hype?"
"Looks like it's someone from the Spanish national team!"
"No way, is Lin there?"
"Of course! Didn't you see the banners and signs the fans are holding?"
"Haha, what a lucky coincidence! Let's go take a look. I heard Lin loves signing autographs and taking pictures with fans. Maybe we'll get lucky too!"
Many people had the same idea. As a famous "fan lover" in the football world, Lin Quan rarely refused fan requests for autographs.
However, today's situation was different. The airport security didn't want any trouble.
With so many fans crowded in one place, one wrong move could lead to chaos.
If any criminals took advantage of the situation to cause harm, it would be a huge problem.
So the security team kept the fans and players strictly separated, not allowing any direct contact.
After leaving the plane, the Spanish players boarded the team bus, which took them directly to their training base.
Once they arrived, Del Bosque instructed the players to quickly assign their rooms and get settled in.
There would be no training today. They would rest up for the night and start full training the next day.
Spain still had a few tactics to practice before the World Cup began.
…
As Spain arrived in Russia, so did other tournament favorites like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, and France.
Along with them came fans and journalists from all over the world.
Moscow's streets quickly filled with fans wearing jerseys from various national teams, creating an exciting football atmosphere as the entire world of football turned its attention to Russia.
Before the World Cup began, media outlets started building hype.
On June 9th, German media outlets revealed a list of the top five World Cup favorites, compiled by experts and football legends.
According to their list, Germany was the biggest favorite to win the tournament.
Next was France, with their young and dynamic squad, whose total market value surpassed that of Spain.
Spain, as the two-time defending champion, ranked third.
Latin American powerhouses Brazil and Argentina were ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
Perhaps to be polite to their hosts, the Germans placed Russia in the top eight.
The German rankings sparked heated debate among fans.
Many thought the Germans were shamelessly putting themselves at the top.
However, most people didn't disagree with the rest of the rankings.
Opinions varied on who was the biggest favorite—some said Germany, others said France, but almost no one thought it was Spain.
"Seriously? It was just two warm-up matches, and people are already writing Spain off?"
Some die-hard Spanish fans couldn't stand how low others' expectations were for Spain.
This Spanish team might not be as strong as the ones from the previous two World Cups, but it wasn't as weak as people were saying.
Just consider this simple question: Who's better, the 2018 version of Lin Quan or the 2014 version of Messi?
Or, if that's too hard to compare, just think about the 2018 versions of Lin Quan and Messi.
Argentina is ranked as one of the top five favorites, but their overall strength is far inferior to Spain's.
Argentina was practically relying on Messi to carry them. Without Messi, they'd be lost, and Messi even had to come out of international retirement to save the team.
If Argentina could make the top five, how could Spain be ranked only third?
Of course, this view didn't gain much traction.
"Come on, who do you think Spain can knock out—Germany or France?"
Spanish fans wanted to argue that Spain had beaten both teams before, but those matches were from several years ago.
The teams hadn't faced each other recently, so the fans held back their words.
After typing a long response on their keyboards, they ended up deleting most of it, leaving only one sentence:
"We'll see on the field!"
Indeed, the outcome of matches wouldn't be decided by fan debates.
The real test would come when the teams faced off on the pitch.
On June 14th, the 2018 World Cup officially kicked off.
The opening match was between host nation Russia and Asian team Saudi Arabia.
With Russia ranked among the top eight in Germany's predictions, many people were confident that the hosts would win their opening game.
After all, even at their worst, Russia was still a European team, while Saudi Arabia was just an Asian team.
Asian teams had performed terribly in the previous World Cup, leading some to suggest that FIFA should reduce the number of World Cup spots allocated to Asia.
Of course, there were some gamblers who decided to bet against the odds.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward, right?
If everyone was expecting a Russian victory, why not place a bet on Saudi Arabia?
There's an old saying: "Bet against the obvious, and you'll win big."
If you lose, well, better start working to pay off the debt, but if you win, you'll be living large!
But as another saying goes: "Gamblers end up with nothing."
Everyone betting on Russia to win clearly had their reasons.
In the opening match, Russia thrashed Saudi Arabia 5-0, leaving jaws on the floor and gamblers penniless.
The Saudi crown prince, who was in attendance, initially tried to keep a calm and composed demeanor, but as his team conceded more goals, even he couldn't hold back his frustration.
What kind of performance was this? What a disaster!
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was all smiles, applauding non-stop throughout the match.
Caught between the two, FIFA president Gianni Infantino looked a bit awkward.
Russia wasn't considered a traditional football powerhouse, yet they had crushed Saudi Arabia 5-0.
It made Infantino wonder if Asian teams were just too weak.
No doubt, after this match, calls to redistribute World Cup spots would resurface.
But for the sake of promoting football around the world, the Asian spots couldn't be reduced.
Even with 4.5 spots, the two most populous countries in the world were already struggling to qualify for the World Cup.
If the number of spots was reduced further, they might never make it to the tournament.
But if Asia's spots weren't cut, then the teams from Europe and Africa would start making noise.
Just thinking about it gave Infantino a headache!
At this moment, he began seriously considering the proposal to expand the World Cup.
If the tournament expanded to 48 teams, perhaps the opposition would quiet down.
With more spots available, more Asian teams could qualify, and the two most populous nations would have a better chance of making it.
However, while this might sound simple, it was much harder to implement.
For every supporter of expanding the tournament, there were just as many detractors.
And increasing the number of teams to 48 would require adjustments to the current schedule, which would affect the timing of national leagues and coordination with clubs.
Following the opening match, the second game of Group A saw Uruguay face off against Egypt.
Egypt wasn't a traditional football powerhouse, but they attracted a lot of attention at this World Cup for one reason: Mohamed Salah.
Salah had enjoyed a sensational season and had become one of the hottest stars in world football. In Egypt, he was a household name and a role model for countless young fans.
However, despite Salah's presence, Egypt lost to a stronger Uruguay team.
Once again, it proved that football is a team sport—having one great player isn't enough.
(End of Chapter)