"Damn, Messi's shot scared the shit out of me. Good thing it didn't go in, or we'd have been completely done for."
On their way from the locker room to the training ground, the China national football team players chatted happily.
They did not like reviewing a loss, but after a win, there was nothing they looked forward to more than a review.
"Yeah. If that had gone in, we probably wouldn't have been able to come back later."
Tang Ye strongly agreed with Wu Lei. "That one was way too crucial."
"But none of that mattered. One last-minute winner from King Wu destroyed everything."
"Haha, fuck!"
"Hey, I'm not joking."
Tang Ye pointed at Wu Lei. "Just tell me, wasn't it cool as hell? If I'd scored that goal, I definitely would've taken my shirt off to celebrate too."
"Of course. One more and you'd have had a hat-trick."
"Oh, right."
Only now did he realize that he had indeed come close to completing a hat-trick in yesterday's match.
But none of that mattered anyway. Beating Argentina was badass enough; everything else was irrelevant.
"..."
"Wales... Wales are extremely important!"
"If possible, I hope our match against Wales doesn't end in defeat. A draw would be good, and a win would be even better."
Escribá wore a grave expression. "You should have seen it too. Germany have become very strong this year."
"I know you've beaten Germany before. I wasn't there at the time, but that was already four years ago. What happened four years ago should not interfere with the match we play today."
Escribá told the players that if they expected to lose to Germany in the third round, then they had to at least secure a draw against Wales in the second round.
Otherwise, with only