Wang Yi knew nothing about any of this. The next morning, he began training with the team at Lusail Stadium, since they had a game against Korea that evening.
According to the tournament organizers' rules, the arena wasn't open to the teams on the morning of a game.
It had to undergo its final pregame inspection and maintenance.
But Tamim had paid a price to make sure China Team got a privilege no other team could enjoy.
Naturally, the other countries were unhappy and called it unfair.
Tamim's response was, "Only broke people complain that life is unfair."
That shut them right up.
Whoever complained was broke.
Some of those countries really were broke, but none of them would admit it in public.
All they could do was seethe in silence.
It was hard to say whether Korea had been lucky or unlucky.
They'd faced only weak teams in the group stage and advanced as the group's top seed. Their next opponent was France team, a formidable side.
But first, France's starting center had injured his ankle in practice and couldn't play.
And, as luck would have it, South Korea Team's Three-point Percentage remained sky-high in the round of sixteen.
They made 18 of 25 three-pointers in that game.
That gave them a three-point win over France and sent them into the quarterfinals.
That was the lucky part.
The unlucky part was that their next opponent was China Team.
The moment they learned they'd be facing China Team in the quarterfinals, the entire South Korea Team let out a collective groan.
The internet in Korea was full of lamentations, too.
"Damn it, that guy again."
"It's over, it's over. We're done for against China Team."
"They're scarier than Team America!"
People thought Team America was stronger than China Team. Even