There were still a full four months before Sun Hao's first La Liga match.
This was also the first Offseason he had experienced since arriving in Spain.
Long... but not lonely.
Besides training with Fernandez, he also had one other thing to do: watch the World Cup.
In Europe, the once-every-four-years football World Cup was the liveliest event on the continent.
Sun Hao did not know much about the World Cup, but he had an incredibly deep impression of the 1998 World Cup.
Because he had still been a child that year, yet he had heard news of several people in nearby residential complexes jumping off buildings because of that World Cup.
It had made him remember one thing at such a young age: the France team had won that World Cup.
So before the World Cup arrived, he had already made plans.
He would use the World Cup to make a few investments and improve his current financial situation.
After all, Fernandez had mocked him more than once for not having a phone.
There were many legal betting websites in Europe. Since he had already bought a computer, it was very convenient for him.
And his strategy was simple: bet on the France team.
Because those websites allowed withdrawals very quickly, every time France played, all he had to do was watch the odds and put everything on them.
Simple and practical.
What he had not expected was that Fernandez was far more obsessed with the World Cup than he was.
Before the World Cup had even begun, Sun Hao would occasionally hear him talking about it.
After the World Cup began, he did not stop for a single moment, droning on like a monk chanting scriptures.
That day, before training had even started after they finished up, Fernandez began again.
"Clemente should be fired. He just watched his players stroll around on the pitch. What a waste of Hierro and Raul—their goals were both so beautiful!"
Sun Hao knew Fernandez was talking about last night's match.
Spain had lost 2-3 to Nigeria in the first round of the Group Stage, making their chances of advancing extremely grim.
Sun Hao agreed with the latter half of Fernandez's words.
He had met Raul when he went to watch El Clásico with Jocelyn.
Afterward, because Raul's parents were fans of his and Raul had a good personality, the two had exchanged messages privately a few times.
Raul's angled shot had indeed been beautiful.
But Spain had not lost unfairly either.
To put it bluntly, Spain was good at sports, but it had one weakness: it was slow to warm up.
That was true in football and basketball alike.
"Rudy, how about we go watch the World Cup Final?"
Sun Hao had finally had enough of Fernandez. It felt like he had become the Monkey King with the tightening headband on.
"Huh?"
Fernandez had not expected Sun Hao to suddenly say that.
He had never even considered going to watch a match in person before.
Not to mention that at this point, where would they even buy tickets?
"Just tell me, do you want to go or not?"
Sun Hao pressed.
"Yes!"
Fernandez nodded without hesitation.
"Then we'll go. I can find tickets, but you have to promise me one thing: focus on training when we train, and stop talking about the World Cup."
"No problem!"
Fernandez agreed decisively.
Having the chance to watch a match in person was a hundred times better than complaining on the training ground.
Scalpers, commonly known as ticket touts, existed in almost every industry, and they were especially active during the World Cup.
The method Sun Hao had mentioned was buying scalped tickets.
A lot of them advertised on those betting websites, and nobody bothered them.
He tried contacting several of them. There were still tickets available, but all the seats were quite high up.
That was not surprising. It was the final; there probably were not many tickets available for resale, and expecting good seats was unrealistic.
But when he had taken Jocelyn to El Clásico before, the binoculars had worked pretty well, so it was not like they would be unable to watch.
After buying two relatively rear seats, Sun Hao successfully sealed Fernandez's mouth.
They were getting to watch a match live—what more could he ask for?
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, the World Cup had reached the Semifinals, and Sun Hao and Fernandez paused their training and boarded a plane to France.
On the plane, Fernandez, who had been holding it in for over half a month, finally got to let loose and kept talking about the World Cup.
This time, Sun Hao did not stop him.
If people held it in too long, they would still need to get one off.
Trying to abstain forever would only make you sick.
Besides, now that the tournament had reached this stage, the good part had truly arrived.
Especially the match between Brazil and the Netherlands.
On one side was the Brazil team led by Ronaldo; on the other was the Netherlands' Golden Generation led by Bergkamp and Ajax.
Two of the three strongest teams in this World Cup were meeting head-on. It was bound to be an explosive clash.
"Who do you think will win it all?"
Fernandez threw out a perfectly natural question.
"France."
Sun Hao did not understand football, but he knew the result.
"I'm backing France too. I think they can win it this time."
"What did you say?"
Sun Hao thought he had misheard.
Also, this routine was not right!
Shouldn't Fernandez have supported Brazil while he supported France? Then they would make a bet, he would win, win Fernandez's loyalty, and Fernandez would obey him from then on?
He remembered the sight of Fernandez walking away with his hands behind his back when they had first met Jocelyn.
Don't tell me you really transmigrated too?
But Fernandez really was a theory buff. He was one when it came to women, and he was one when it came to predicting matches too.
Over the next while, Fernandez seriously analyzed it all for Sun Hao.
He thought that at this point, Brazil was the favorite to win, France was second, and the Netherlands was third.
As for Croatia, who had made it this far thanks to the draw, they were just there to make up the numbers.
According to his analysis, as long as France beat Croatia, they would have a great chance of winning the title.
Because they possessed a powerful midfield and back line, which would allow them to contain Brazil's attack to a large extent.
And in his view, this Brazil team was overrated. Their midfield and back line were just too weak.
So as long as Brazil's attack was stifled, France, with home-field advantage, would have a strong chance to counterattack and tear Brazil apart.
The analysis sounded quite professional, but aside from Sun Hao, everyone else would probably have thought it was nonsense.
Brazil was the defending champion, the king of the world, and had Ronaldo, the "best footballer in the world."
Lose? Were you kidding?
But after hearing it, Sun Hao felt Fernandez was practically a modern-day Zhao Kuo.
Not as an insult. His theories were genuinely good.
That night after arriving in France, they curled up in the hotel to watch the semifinal broadcast.
Listening to the shouts from around the hotel and out on the streets, Sun Hao finally got a taste of football fans' passion.
And the match was truly gripping.
It was 0-0 in regular time, still 0-0 after extra time, and went all the way to penalties.
In the end, Brazil performed steadily and beat the Netherlands 4-2 on penalties, marching proudly into the final.
At the same time, in the other semifinal, France defeated Croatia 2-1 and met Brazil in the final.
The answer to the question they had discussed on the plane—whether Brazil or France would win—was about to be revealed.
After Fernandez fell asleep, Sun Hao turned on the hotel computer. When he saw France's odds had reached 1 to 4, he put all his money on them.
The following afternoon, the Stade de France was packed with roaring voices.
Built specifically for this year's World Cup, the stadium could hold up to eighty thousand people and was on the same level as the Bernabéu.
And unlike domestic matches in Spain, this was the World Cup Final. The atmosphere among the fans could only be described with one word.
Insane.
Matching T-shirts were standard. The more extreme fans painted jerseys directly onto their bodies.
The crazier ones painted their faces too.
The craziest were those who painted themselves entirely as the Hulk or other Alien characters. They were absolutely the most eye-catching people in the crowd.
Of course, eye-catching as they were, female fans drew even more attention.
European and American female fans were especially bold.
Put on a tight T-shirt, and you would truly understand the meaning of letting your imagination run wild.
Some could not stand the blazing summer heat and wore only underwear, throwing a national flag over themselves. It made the summer feel damn hot.
As for those fans who were not only curvy but also stunningly beautiful, they were downright criminally tempting.
This kind of atmosphere was one of a kind.
Sun Hao suddenly felt that the tickets had been worth every penny.
Even if he could not watch the match, simply coming here to experience this atmosphere would have been worth it.
The stadium was also filled with all kinds of pre-match warm-up activities: Mexican waves, drumbeats, cheers.
The match had not even begun, yet the atmosphere had already been pushed to its peak.
Thanks to Yuanqian Naihe Qingshen and Duanqiao Canxue for the tips! Congratulations to both big shots for receiving Shui Qie's exclusive kisses~
Daily shameless plea for recommendation votes~ tips~ chapter comments~
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