The World Cup group stage had fully concluded, and the most crucial knockout stage was about to begin.
China's match against Spain would kick off at 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 4. The importance of this match to both sides went without saying.
China national football team was in a relatively comfortable position. After all, reaching the World Cup round of 16 was already the best result in the team's history. Even a heavy defeat to Spain would not draw too much criticism.
Spain, comparatively speaking, faced slightly more pressure. For a traditional European football powerhouse, being eliminated in the round of 16 was unacceptable.
#2022 FIFA World Cup#China#ChinaSpain#China national football teamSpain. These related tags had recently taken over social media. In particular, simply putting "China" and "Spain" together would inevitably trigger TikTok's and Bilibili's recommendation algorithms.
It was no exaggeration to say that as long as you included the tags "China" and "Spain" in a new post, even if it was just a random photo, at least a hundred people would be arguing in the comments.
Before this World Cup began, Chinese fans had never imagined that their team would reach the knockout stage. Naturally, no one could have predicted China national football team's opponent in the round of 16.
That was right. China national football team's round-of-16 opponent was the very place where head coach Escribá had been born: Spain!
Fifth in the FIFA world rankings!
Qatar, Al Rayyan.
Bang!
The Qatar Airways charter flight bearing the Chinese flag touched down at the airport.
The group stage had now fully ended, and the various teams' match venues had changed as well. China national football team's battleground had shifted from the capital, Doha, to Al Rayyan.
So, would China national football team be able to return to