July 12, afternoon. Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The World Cup final: China versus Germany.
Before the match, the atmosphere in the China Team dressing room was incredibly tense.
After battling through so many consecutive matches—especially the last two, hard-fought clashes against the Netherlands and Argentina—the China Team had been severely affected and drained. Ren Hang had been injured against Argentina, while Chen Tao had also run out of stamina and could not start tonight.
Queiroz had no choice but to make adjustments, adopting the more balanced 4-4-2 Formation.
Wang Dalei was in goal. The back line consisted of Li Xuepeng, Feng Xiaoting, Mei Fang, and Zhang Linpeng. Hao Junmin, Zhou Haibin, Zheng Zhi, and Wu Lei formed the midfield, with Yang Yang and Gao Lin as the two forwards.
Chen Tao, Wu Xi, Zhao Xuri, and the others had all been placed among the substitutes, ready to come on at any time.
Everyone could feel the team's current situation. They had been drained far too badly. To have fought their way this far was already their limit, and defeating the powerful Germany Team was truly incredibly difficult.
This team was completely different from the Netherlands and Argentina. The German War Machine had always been renowned for its stability.
There was no need to mention the Korea-Japan World Cup, when they had reached the final under Ballack's leadership before narrowly losing to five-star Brazil. At the Germany World Cup, they had made it to the semifinals, then defeated Portugal in the third-place match to take third place. At the South Africa World Cup, they had once again reached the semifinals, beating Uruguay 3–2 in the third-place match to claim third place again.
And at this Brazil World Cup, they had once again reached the final, even slaughtering the