Two days later, a shocking announcement was made to the A team.
As for the Am team, the reason they defeated the formidable Brazil was due to the invincible tactic of handball defense. It was clear that this tactic would be restricted in the finals. Without this tactic, the Am team's strength would be at best around the quarterfinals, and they would never be opponents to the Dutch team, who had defeated France.
Therefore, the entire Netherlands was in a state of frenzy, with celebrations everywhere, marking the premature victory of the World Cup by the Dutch team.
The match began with almost everyone having a one-sided opinion. As usual, the pre-match interview segment saw reporters asking Messi, the head coach, the same question: his prediction for the outcome of the match.
"I believe our team's strength is superior to the opponent's," Coach Messi stated frankly. "Therefore, I think our team has a very high probability of winning this match and thus winning the World Cup."
Hearing such a confident answer, many reporters found it incredible and asked Messi how he could make such a firm prediction.
"As I said, the prediction is based on the strength of our two teams," Messi said calmly. "But if you must ask for another reason, I recall what I said during my first head coach interview for this World Cup."
"I believe that if our first match went like this, it would be very similar to the World Cup I participated in 12 years ago. After losing the first match, we went all the way undefeated, eventually winning the World Cup championship."
"I believe this World Cup will repeat what happened in 2022. I can feel destiny cycling."
With this answer, all the reporters present were speechless and furiously disseminated this response across the entire internet.
Those who watched this interview expressed that Messi had gone mad, predicting matches through metaphysics. Was this even possible?
Well, regardless of whether it was possible or not, the match officially began.
As a result, in the second minute of the first half, Liu Xu received a long pass from a teammate, took a shot, and the ball flew directly into the net.
This goal stunned Liu Xu himself. He had actually taken this shot as a tentative attempt because he found his path blocked by enemy defenders. Trying to dribble past them and then shoot would undoubtedly be a waste of time and could even lead to the ball being intercepted.
It was better to just take a long shot and reorganize the attack. He never expected this bizarre shot to actually score. Liu Xu was rendered speechless by the excitement at this moment.
The Dutch team was also stunned by this goal. They had practiced numerous tactics before the match, but none of them addressed what to do if they conceded a goal in the second minute of the game.
The morale of the Dutch team began to waver.
The next thirty minutes were a back-and-forth exchange, with both teams dazzling the audience with their intricate passing attacks and solid defenses.
It was during these repeated direct confrontations that the Dutch team finally found an opportunity to equalize, changing the score to 1:1.
However, just five minutes later, an Am team player returned the favor, and the first half ended with a score of 2:1.
At the start of the second half, the Glen team attempted to replicate the first half's surprise attack, but it failed.
In the twenty-third minute of the second half, Liu Xu sprinted and snatched the ball from an opponent, followed by a series of dribbles, and finally took a shot from outside the box, successfully scoring to lead 3:1.
This almost guaranteed victory for the Am team, but the Dutch team's resilience was unexpected. In the thirty-eighth minute, they scored a goal, bringing the score to 3:2.
By the forty-sixth minute, which was stoppage time, the Dutch team scored again, ultimately managing to fight back and equalize the score to 3:3. The match was tied in regular time, forcing it into extra time.
However, both teams' stamina was largely depleted after the two halves. As a result, extra time was far less exciting than the previous 90 minutes. Especially since the Am team adopted a defensive strategy, with most players retreating into their own penalty area, intending to endure the 30 minutes of extra time solely through defense and then proceed to a penalty shootout, which they were confident of winning.
The Dutch team, on the other hand, clearly could not accept such a fate. They launched continuous, frenzied attacks, but their lack of stamina rendered all their offensive efforts weak and ineffective.
As extra time was nearing its end, following a failed attack, Han Ziang successfully intercepted the ball and then passed it to Liu Xu.
With less than two minutes remaining until the end of the match, Liu Xu intended to use an attack to see out these final two minutes. Upon receiving the ball, he did not pass it but instead broke through into the opponent's half with his individual skill. He encountered the obstruction of three to four Dutch players in the middle, but none of it mattered, as Liu Xu skillfully evaded them all.
However, Liu Xu was cornered near the boundary at this point. Ultimately, Liu Xu passed the ball to Liu Pei Qiang, who had rushed over. Upon receiving the ball, Liu Pei Qiang, without hesitation, found an angle and unleashed a powerful shot towards the goal.
As it happened, a Dutch defender rushed out and blocked the shot.
The bad news was that the shot missed the goal, but the good news was that the ball hit the defender's arm.
The referee, notorious for awarding penalties for handball, did not miss the opportunity to blow his whistle. Consequently, the defender received only a yellow card, but the Am team was awarded a penalty kick.
Liu Xu took the penalty. He merely nudged the ball gently into the net, and it flew directly into the Dutch team's goal. The match finally concluded with a score of 4:3, and the Chinese team lifted the World Cup trophy.
At this moment, both Chinese and Dutch fans were in tears, though their emotions were vastly different.
In the Chinese commentary box, the three commentators were in tears. Among them was Han Qiaosheng, whose hair had already turned white. This football commentator, born in 1957, was now 78 years old and had already retired to the second line, no longer working as a commentator.
However, as the Chinese team had unexpectedly reached the World Cup, and even the World Cup final, the television station specifically invited Han Qiaosheng back to commentate on this unprecedented glory for the Chinese team.
Upon seeing the final penalty kick scored, Han Qiaosheng was overwhelmed with emotion, weeping uncontrollably with all the commentators.
Nearly half of the Chinese fans in front of their televisions were also in tears. Some even held up portraits of their fathers or grandfathers and cried out, "Dad, Grandpa, our Chinese team has won the World Cup! I can now burn paper offerings to tell you. I won't have to wait for my descendants to burn paper offerings to inform me anymore!"
The joy of victory goes without saying; it is believed that all readers can imagine how wild the scene was.
During the subsequent award ceremony, all the players uncommonly pushed Wang Fanfan, the substitute goalkeeper, to the most central position on the entire podium. Han Ziang and Liu Xu stood beside him.
The FIFA President, who presented the award, did not hesitate and directly handed the World Cup trophy to Wang Fanfan.
This was also an unprecedented scene in the World Cup. No goalkeeper had ever stood in the most central position on the podium, nor had any goalkeeper directly received the World Cup trophy from the FIFA President.
This is because the player who receives the World Cup trophy is always the most outstanding and most important player in the entire team. In the past, this player was often Messi or Mbappé. There had never been a situation where a goalkeeper lifted the World Cup trophy, let alone a substitute goalkeeper.
But now, Wang Fanfan had achieved it. Most miraculously, none of the billions of viewers worldwide found it abnormal. The Am team's progression to the World Cup final, and even their victory in the World Cup, with Wang Fanfan's terrifying defense against penalty kicks, was undoubtedly indisputable!
After the entire team received their awards, Huang He, as the owner, walked to the center of the field for the first time.
Seeing the appearance of the world's richest man, the camera lenses immediately focused on Huang He. Under the gaze of billions of viewers worldwide, Huang He, a middle-aged man in his fifties, embraced the tall Wang Fanfan and kissed him fiercely on the forehead. The surrounding players immediately cheered and applauded, and Wang Fanfan lowered his head and shyly called him "Dad."