“This is truly a difficult time…”

As Zhou Yi lay in bed lamenting this, the Brazil versus Croatia match was playing on TV. Only eleven minutes into the game, Brazil's left-back Marcelo scored an own goal, putting Croatia in the lead.

The host team, Brazil, was trailing under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of their countrymen.

The Brazilian commentators on TV chattered incessantly, but no one could understand them. Even though Spanish and Portuguese were similar, the rapid pace of the Portuguese made it difficult for people like He Ying and Sun Pan to follow, so they didn't even bother trying to understand what the commentators were saying.

Even watching the game, they were distracted.

Because what happened in other people's games didn't matter. What mattered was their own.

Just before this World Cup opening match, the Chinese team had announced the starting lineup for the next day's game, and Zhou Yi was, as expected, not on it.

In their first group stage match the next day, the Chinese team would challenge Chile at the Arena Pantanal in Cuiabá.

In their final warm-up match, which had ended just a few days before, China's opponent was Costa Rica. The reason for choosing this team was that they were both Latin American countries, perhaps sharing some similarities in playing style.

That game ended in a 1-1 draw between China and Costa Rica.

The result might have seemed okay, but it was important to note that Costa Rica had been in the lead for most of the match. It wasn't until the seventy-seventh minute that the Chinese team launched a successful counterattack, with He Ying leveling the score thanks to his individual ability.

So, based on the process, the Chinese team's performance was not satisfactory.

This was just a warm-up match, and with the World Cup about to begin, the Costa Rican players hadn't really given their all. They weren't putting much effort into their defense, worried about getting injured.

In a real World Cup match, their opponents wouldn't hold back at all.

How would the Chinese team, without Zhou Yi controlling the rhythm, face opponents showing their fangs?

Everyone gathered in Zhou Yi's room to watch the opening match, but their minds were probably not on the game.

So naturally, they talked about Zhou Yi's injury.

Zhou Yi, who always presented a smiling and confident face to the media, revealed his true feelings in front of his friends, leading to his earlier lament.

It had indeed been a difficult time since his injury.

The injury itself wasn't serious; he just needed enough time to recover. It wasn't a big deal at all.

But it happened to coincide with the World Cup, and time was very tight. If Borussia Dortmund hadn't made it to the Champions League final at all, and Zhou Yi had suffered the same injury in the last round of the Bundesliga, it wouldn't have caused such a big reaction. A month would have been enough for him to recover.

Because of the World Cup, this not-so-serious injury had become very troublesome.

Didn't Zhou Yi want to recover as soon as possible? Of course he did, more than anyone else.

Didn't Zhou Yi want to miss the first two group matches? Of course not, more than anyone else.

But there was nothing he could do; he had to accept the outcome.

"Don't worry, we won't stop at the group stage…" the "warm man" Yang Mu Ge comforted him softly.

"I believe we won't stop at the group stage, but watching you guys play on TV like this is still pretty annoying."

Sun Pan laughed, "Idiot! You can go watch in person!"

Zhou Yi glared at him.

On TV, after a series of bombardments, Brazil finally had their core player Neymar equalize the score in the twenty-ninth minute.

"Brazil is having such a hard time even on their home turf… this World Cup is really going to be tough…" He Ying murmured, watching the TV.

"Brazil underestimated them, right? They thought Croatia would be easy to beat, but they turned out to be a tough nut to crack." Others also focused their attention on the game, and Guo Nu said, "There are still a lot of good players in this Croatian team…"

"I think it's because the overall strength of this Brazilian team has declined," Zhou Yi said. "There's a serious talent gap in Brazilian football right now. It's been a long time since they've produced any outstanding youth players. Look at this Brazilian team, players like Fred, who used to have a hard time even getting into the Brazilian team, can now be the starting center forward…"

In the end, Brazil didn't score until the seventy-first minute, when Neymar scored again, reversing the score. In the ninetieth minute, Oscar sealed the victory for the team, 3-1. Brazil had a difficult time winning their first match of this World Cup.

The first day of the World Cup came to an end like this.

Brazil secured the victory they needed, laying a good foundation for advancing from the group stage.

The second day was when the World Cup would fully kick off.

At one o'clock in the afternoon on the thirteenth, the second group stage match in Group A began, with Mexico playing against Cameroon. At four o'clock, the strong match between Spain and the Netherlands in Group B kicked off. At seven o'clock in the evening, the second group stage match in Group B, China versus Chile, would begin.

These three matches corresponded to midnight, three in the morning, and six in the morning Beijing time.

The match between China and Chile would kick off at six in the morning on June 14th. If you were only watching the Chinese team's match, you wouldn't have to stay up all night; you could just get up early.

However, the match between Spain and the Netherlands before the match between China and Chile was also of great interest to everyone.

This was a rematch of the last World Cup final.

※※※

On June 14th, the hotel where the Chinese team was staying was crowded with media reporters and Chinese fans from morning on.

Although news had spread yesterday that Zhou Yi would definitely not be able to participate in this match, everyone still held a glimmer of hope that a miracle would happen at the last moment, that Zhou Yi would recover miraculously and make it to the match.

After lunch, the entire Chinese team took a nap as required by the coaching staff.

At this time, the match between Mexico and Cameroon also began.

Perhaps because they had just eaten lunch, or perhaps because the match time was too early, the players of both teams were not very excited.

In the end, Mexico narrowly defeated Cameroon 1-0 thanks to Peralta's goal. The Group A standings were already out, with Brazil, who defeated Croatia 3-1, ranked first, Mexico second, Cameroon third, and Croatia at the bottom due to the fewest goal differences.

Before the match between the Netherlands and Spain began, the Chinese team's players had recovered from their naps. Then, at the request of the coaching staff, they gathered in the conference room to watch the match between the Netherlands and Spain. Their purpose in watching the match was different from that of ordinary fans. As opponents in the same group, they certainly wanted to fully understand the current state of these two teams.

At the same time, in China, many fans stayed up late to watch this match.

This match was the first heavyweight clash of this World Cup.

Before this match, the Spanish national team was the pinnacle of world football. They had monopolized the championships of the past three major world tournaments, including two European Championships and one World Cup. Although they lost 0-3 to Brazil in the final of last year's Confederations Cup, the Confederations Cup had always been used for training, and it didn't prove anything.

Before the match, everyone was reviewing the final from four years ago, reviewing De Jong's kick to Xabi Alonso's chest, reviewing Iniesta's game-winning goal, and reviewing Casillas's brilliant saves.

Before this match, Casillas had maintained a 433-minute consecutive scoreless record in the World Cup. In the last World Cup in South Africa, Spain only conceded two goals in seven matches, and both came from the group stage. Casillas kept a clean sheet in all four knockout matches. Facing the Netherlands in this match, as long as he kept a clean sheet for the first eighty-five minutes, he would set a new record, surpassing the 517-minute consecutive scoreless record of Italian legendary goalkeeper Zenga.

"I'm not very optimistic about Casillas breaking Zenga's record," Zhou Yi said before the match started. "He's not in good shape right now, especially after losing the Champions League final. The Spanish media has been criticizing him, saying that he was the culprit for Real Madrid losing their tenth Champions League title. There are also voices saying that David de Gea should replace Casillas… These doubts have undermined Casillas's confidence. In addition, he himself is under a lot of pressure, which is not conducive to his performance in the World Cup."

Zhou Yi really wasn't optimistic about Casillas. If the previous Casillas was a world-class goalkeeper, then he had now been demoted to a top-tier European goalkeeper. Although he was still a very good goalkeeper, there was still a big gap between him and the previously magical and omnipotent "Saint Iker."

As people get older and don't get good match practice at the club, a decline in form is inevitable.

※※※

After the match started, both sides played very aggressively. They both created some scoring opportunities.

Casillas even saved a one-on-one chance from Sneijder.

It seemed that the loss in the Champions League final hadn't affected him.

In the twenty-sixth minute, Silva sent a through ball. Diego Costa, a Brazilian striker who had given up the opportunity to join the Brazilian national team and chose to join the Spanish team, broke into the penalty area and tried to shake off the Dutch players' defense but fell. Italian referee Rizzoli decisively blew his whistle and awarded Spain a penalty.

However, from the slow-motion replay, Costa was suspected of diving.

But the referee had already made the call, and there was nothing anyone could do.

Xabi Alonso stepped up to take the penalty, and he sent the ball into the lower left corner of the goal. Spain took a 1-0 lead over the Netherlands.

After four years, it seemed that nothing had changed between the two teams. Spain was still stronger than the Netherlands.

But in the following match, the Dutch team launched a fierce counterattack. They attacked continuously, and just as the first half was about to end, the Dutch team's Blind suddenly sent a long diagonal pass from near the midfield line on the left.

After flying in the air for about fifty meters, the ball flew into the Spanish penalty area.

Dutch forward Robin van Persie, arriving at full speed, made a diving header. From a very far distance, he chose to dive, a completely unexpected shooting method. The ball flew over Casillas, who was standing too far forward, and plunged into the goal behind him! The Netherlands equalized the score!

"Damn!"

Seeing this goal, there was an exclamation in the conference room. Everyone was surprised that Van Persie's shot went in.

"That's too lucky!" someone shouted.

"No, Casillas was standing too far forward. He has a big problem with his judgment of high balls. The lack of matches has made him lose his ability to accurately judge the landing point of the ball…" In the eyes of Casillas fans, Zhou Yi must be a "Casillas hater." But what he said was true, because he had already proved it in the Champions League final.

The first half ended in a 1-1 draw.