China's capital, the National Television Station headquarters, the Sports Channel live studio.
Wei Zhen was no longer the reporter who used to run around the fields. He was now one of the executives of the National Television Station's Sports Channel and had begun overseeing the World Cup broadcasts. Although he wielded greater authority, he had lost the chance to attend the World Cup.
Especially when he sat in the studio and watched China Team battle their opponents match after match on the fields of Brazil, he felt deeply conflicted. He had once fought alongside these national team players as their "comrade-in-arms."
Facing the Netherlands was a major test.
The Netherlands was the first truly world-class powerhouse China had encountered in this World Cup. Colombia, whom they had faced earlier, could not really be considered a world power, but the Netherlands was different.
The Netherlands' performances in major tournaments had always been inconsistent. Sometimes, they even failed to qualify. But no one could deny the strength and pedigree of this team. They were a genuine world-class powerhouse, and they had been the runners-up at the previous World Cup.
At this World Cup, they had opened with a crushing five-one victory over Spain, making the Dutch even more famous.
Before the match, almost the entire world, except for China's most die-hard fans, uniformly backed the Netherlands. The odds were overwhelmingly one-sided. Everyone believed China Team would struggle to overcome this hurdle, and that facing China was practically a free pass for the Netherlands into the semifinals.
Van Gaal and Dutch legend Van Basten had repeatedly reminded the team before the match to watch out for Yang Yang. Players such as Sneijder and Robben also believed that China Team's Yang Yang posed a major threat and had to be treated with caution.
But