香川真司 did not tell reporters what he had said, but instead encouraged the Japanese Olympic team players.

"...Although Zhou Sang and I are teammates, national honor is of course more important at this time. I hope the Olympic team can defeat the Chinese team and win Japan's first Olympic men's football gold medal in history. I will be cheering for the Japanese team in the stands at Wembley Stadium!"

These were very normal and ordinary words, with nothing to criticize, but also without any practical significance.

But at the same time, Takashi Sekizuka, the coach of the Japanese Olympic team, received a call from a certain Japanese reporter. The call lasted for twenty-one minutes. After the call, Sekizuka fell silent and pondered for a long time in his hotel room.

Then he took out his phone and called the team's coaching staff, assistant coach Tsutomu Ogura, Satoru Muto, strength coach Takeshi Rikiuchi, and even goalkeeper coach Toshiyuki Fujiwara to his room.

They gathered together to formulate a specific strategy for the final against the Chinese team.

In fact, the team already had a countermeasure, which was to stick to themselves and play according to the usual style of Japanese football. To put it bluntly, it was passing and controlling the ball, and then slowly wearing down the Chinese team, relying on who was more stable.

However, after receiving the call, Sekizuka pondered for a long time and finally decided to overturn the established strategy and adopt Kagawa Shinji's suggestion instead.

"Did Kagawa Shinji really say that?" assistant coach Muto Satoru asked after listening to Sekizuka's words.

"Yes, he conveyed it to me through a reporter," Sekizuka nodded affirmatively.

"If it's really Kagawa Shinji's opinion, then I think it's worth considering," Muto Satoru gave his opinion. "After all, he is very familiar with Zhou Yi, and he understands Zhou Yi's strengths and weaknesses."

"But do we have enough time to complete this transition? You know, we're not just sending someone to follow Zhou Yi," another assistant coach, Ogura Tsutomu, hesitated. "This means that we are actually fighting with one less person. The person who follows Zhou Yi cannot be expected to contribute to either offense or defense. He may even disrupt our own defensive arrangements..."

"I understand, but I don't think it's impossible. The key is what kind of awareness we have ourselves," Sekizuka said. "If we have the determination to win the championship, then all difficulties must be overcome."

"But the problem is, even if we do this, we may not necessarily win," Ogura Tsutomu said.

"Where in this world is there a game that you are guaranteed to win, Ogura?" Sekizuka laughed. "There are risks, but I think this risk is worth taking."

"Since you have fully considered it, then I have no objection. What exactly do we do?" Ogura Tsutomu gave up questioning.

"That's why I called you here. We must let the team readjust to a brand new tactic in the remaining time. In addition, everything we talk about today must not be revealed to the media, and a gag order must be issued internally within the team regarding this tactical adjustment. This is our secret weapon to deal with the Chinese team!"

"Understood!" the coaching staff all nodded in agreement.

※※※

While the Japanese team was making intensive preparations for the game against the Chinese team, in China, there was a lot of anticipation for this final.

This game has a dual meaning for Chinese fans. It is not only an Olympic men's football final, but also a continuation and manifestation of the grievances between Chinese and Japanese football.

Not to mention the distant past, just last year's Asian Cup, the Chinese team made it all the way to the final in a completely unexpected situation. In the final, they faced Japan, but unfortunately, Zhou Yi was absent due to suspension, which led to the Chinese team losing to Japan in the final and losing the championship.

But just this one game of grievances is enough to attract the interest of Chinese fans.

In addition, there is also a difficult-to-erase and forget hatred between China and Japan in history. Although it is now an era of peace and friendship between China and Japan is advocated, the scars of history are not so easy to smooth over in the hearts of the Chinese people. That war decades ago cannot be replayed, but the football field provides another possibility for China and Japan to compete on the football field.

Therefore, every confrontation between China and Japan will always be mixed with many things outside of football. No one will say let these things go away from football, because they can't go away, between China and Japan, they can't go away.

Chinese fans hope that the Chinese Olympic team can defeat the Japanese team, not only to win the gold medal, but also to vent their anger.

If the Chinese team's opponent in the final was Mexico, many people might think that they shouldn't put pressure on the Olympic team at this time. Being able to win a silver medal is already making history. But when they meet Japan, almost no one wants the Chinese team to lose to Japan in the final, except for the Japanese fans in China... Are there such people? Of course, there are, because Japanese football is indeed very strong, and naturally there will be supporters.

But then again, such people are only a very small minority, a minority within a minority, completely unrepresentative, and can be ignored.

So before the final even started, it had already surpassed the scope of the Olympic men's football final and became the focus of a contest between China and Japan.

Reporters went to interview Zhou Yi, wanting to hear his opinion on this situation.

Zhou Yi said: "This is just an ordinary Olympic final. I don't want everyone to give this game too much meaning, there's no need for that. Winning against the Japanese team, in addition to adding another gold medal to our Olympic delegation, is meaningless. It doesn't mean that the overall level of Chinese football is higher than that of Japanese football."

A reporter then asked: "But a year ago, the national team lost to Japan in the Asian Cup final. Isn't this a good opportunity for revenge?"

"Even if we win against the Japanese Olympic team here, that cannot change the fact that we were the runners-up in the last Asian Cup. If we want revenge, it should be in the Asian Cup, defeating the Japanese team to win the championship. Anything else doesn't count."

The reporters surrounding Zhou Yi to interview him all secretly shook their heads—Zhou Yi had returned to the state that reporters found boring. After he angrily scolded the traitors at the press conference, he seemed to have restrained all his sharpness.

Everything he said sounded fine, but combined together, it was just so boring. No hype at all!

How much they wished Sun Pan could accept the interview, maybe they could hear him blurt out "little Japs" at the fastest speed...

As a result, now they can only face a boring Zhou Yi.

Damn gag order!

※※※

Time passed quickly. After the Chinese team finished their semi-final match against Brazil on the evening of August 7th, on the evening of August 10th, the Olympic men's football competition ushered in the third-place match, with Brazil playing against Mexico.

The final result was somewhat unexpected.

Everyone thought that the Brazilian team, who had been blocked from the final by the Chinese team, would definitely go all out in the third-place match, because having already lost the gold medal, they absolutely could not afford to lose the bronze medal.

A bronze medal could at least save some face, right?

But that was not the case.

The Brazilian team played with their souls out of their bodies in the third-place match against Mexico, and seemed to have not recovered from the blow of losing to the Chinese team in the semi-finals.

In the end, they lost to Mexico 1:2 in the third-place match and failed to win a bronze medal.

After the game, Brazilian media angrily criticized the performance of the Olympic team, believing that they had disgraced the football kingdom.

As the team's leader and top star, Neymar was also severely criticized by the Brazilian media and fans.

But this had nothing to do with the Chinese team anymore. The next day, it would be their turn to take the stage.

At 10 p.m. Beijing time on August 11th, the final was finally coming.

This time was actually quite convenient for domestic audiences to watch, as they didn't have to stay up late.

Before the game, British media reported that 1 billion viewers in China would watch the final, which would set a viewing record for the Olympic football event.

Although this report was quite ridiculous, showing the British reporters' lack of understanding of China, this final would indeed be the most-watched game in the history of the Olympic football event.

The attention of Chinese media and fans to this game was no less than that of the semi-final against Brazil.

China Central Television began broadcasting live from 2 p.m. There were reporters guarding outside the hotel where the Chinese team was staying. In addition to the reporters, there were also many fans. Many of these fans were students studying in the UK. They were draped in five-star red flags and waiting outside the hotel. They were not there to ask the players for autographs and photos, but just hoping that when the Chinese team set off, they could shout "Go China" to them at the closest distance and send them off.

These people would wait outside the hotel until the afternoon, and would not leave even when the sun was at its hottest at noon.

Until the afternoon, they finally waited for the players of the Chinese Olympic team. They appeared in the lobby one after another, and the team bus was parked outside the lobby, so everyone knew that the team was about to leave.

As the Olympic team players appeared in everyone's sight, everyone cheered.

The shouts of "Go China" and "China will win" rose and fell.

The Olympic team players who were originally waiting in the lobby to board the bus obviously heard such shouts, and some of them waved to the fans outside the door.

This made the cheers outside the door even louder.

Coach Blazevic and his translator were the last to come down. After he appeared in the lobby, the players of the Chinese Olympic team began to walk towards the door, preparing to board the bus.

The cheers continued to increase, and the reporters also rushed up, carrying cameras and microphones to the entrance, wanting to take the opportunity to interview the Olympic team players.

Sun Pan waved his hand in a pretentious manner: "Please wait for our good news, people of the motherland!"

He Ying was very calm: "We will go all out."

Guo Nu: "I, I, I..." Then he was pushed onto the bus by Zhou Yi: "Hurry up, Lao Guo, don't block the way!"

Behind him, the reporters shouted: "It is said that Pele just said that he is more optimistic about the Japanese team winning the championship. What do you think, Zhou Yi?"

Zhou Yi did not turn his head, pushed Guo Nu onto the bus, and threw down a sentence: "Didn't the Japanese beat him up?"

Blazevic was the last to board the bus. After he got on the bus, he turned around and stood at the door, smiling and waving to the reporters and fans.

Then the bus closed its doors and drove away from the hotel amidst the flashes of the reporters' cameras and the cheers of the fans, heading towards Wembley Stadium, the venue for this game.

There, a game that was enough to be recorded in history was waiting for them.