dognovel Chapter 543 The First Crushing Defeat in the World Cup!
Chapter 543 The First Crushing Defeat in the World Cup!
"come on!"
A dozen or so hands were stacked together and then pressed down hard.
Looking at the five players who had taken the field, Wang Xiucheng clapped his hands and sat down in the last row of the substitutes' bench.
The first match of the World Cup group stage between China and Serbia has finally begun.
Chinese fans who traveled from afar cheered loudly for the men's basketball team from the very beginning of the game, with national flags waving everywhere.
If someone didn't know the inside story, they might mistake this for a competition held in China.
Before the match, fans, commentators, and even betting odds in Las Vegas all believed that Serbia was the stronger team and would win without much trouble.
Especially since Wang Xiucheng is not going to play.
However, from the very beginning of the match, it was actually the Chinese team that launched the first attack.
Zhou Qi hit the first shot from mid-range, and then Zhang Zhenlin completed a three-plus-one play.
The Chinese men's basketball team started the game with a 6-0 lead in just over a minute.
The substitute players, including Wang Xiucheng, and the assistant coach all stood.
There's no room to sit during this match.
I thought that with a good start, the game would be in the favor of the Chinese team.
But in the subsequent match, Serbia gradually took control and surprisingly responded with a 7-0 victory.
Having figured out the Chinese team's offensive tactics, Serbia scored 18 points after the first quarter.
The Chinese team only managed to score 8 points.
At the end of the first quarter, Serbia led 25-14 by 11 points.
With Li Kaier and Zhou Qi both substituted off for rest, Hebei China Fortune, fielding a reserve lineup, showed a significant gap in skill compared to Serbia.
In the second quarter, Serbia once again scored 30-20.
At the end of the first half, Serbia led by more than 20 points, 55-34.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Wang Xiucheng, sitting on the bench, knew that the gap between the two teams was indeed huge.
After halftime, Guo Shiqiang brought on more players in the second half.
Apart from Wang Xiucheng, the other 11 players all got playing time.
It seems that the competition is no longer that important.
In the end, Serbia defeated China's men's basketball team by a somewhat exaggerated score of 105-63.
What frustrated Guo Shiqiang was that with five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Chinese team had already scored 63 points.
In other words, Hebei China Fortune failed to score a single point in the final five minutes.
Although they lost the game, the Chinese fans didn't seem too heartbroken.
Whether it was Yang Yi's or other commentators' words that had an effect, everyone knew that the Chinese team's target was not Serbia.
Although Wang Xiucheng did not play, he still went onto the field after the match to shake hands with the Serbian players.
Although Serbia did not have several players, including Jokic, they still have active NBA players such as Bogdanovic and Jovic.
Although Wang Xiucheng wasn't familiar with them, he at least knew them.
Standing on the field, Wang Xiucheng looked up at the red national flags filling the stadium and the fans wearing China Fortune jerseys. For the first time, Wang Xiucheng felt the weight on his shoulders.
After waving to the fans who remained at the scene, Wang Xiucheng followed the group and began to leave.
……
The crushing defeat of the Chinese men's basketball team in their first game naturally left domestic fans dissatisfied.
The fact that Wang Xiucheng didn't even play has angered many people.
"Why isn't Wang Xiucheng playing? The national team was built around you, recruiting a bunch of kids, some even 18 years old, and you're not playing? Are you kidding me?"
"If it were my nephews playing tonight, they probably wouldn't have lost so badly, right?"
"I told you long ago that the men's basketball team is following in the footsteps of the men's football team. Go to sleep."
Almost from the very beginning of the game, headlines about Wang Xiucheng and the Chinese men's basketball team were trending on various social media platforms.
On Douyin, any sports live stream that includes keywords like "men's basketball" or "Wang Xiucheng" attracts tens of thousands of viewers.
Several top basketball commentators attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers tonight.
Unlike some extreme fans, these top commentators at least outwardly support the men's basketball team.
"Brothers, what's the rush? The next two games are the real battle. Serbia is useless in this game. They lost, so what?" Ambassador, a basketball broadcaster who usually gets tens of thousands of viewers for his live streams, didn't dare to say anything when he saw more than 300,000 people watching tonight.
Meanwhile, in another, more professional live stream room called "Lan's Perspective," data from the match is being analyzed.
“我们刚刚以63比105不敌塞尔维亚，全场比赛我们失误高达21次，李凯尔9中0一分没得。”
"We can see that after the first minute, we were basically under pressure."
"At the point guard position, we are far behind our opponents. Neither Guo Haowen of the Nuggets nor 18-year-old Zhao Weilun can easily pass the ball out."
"Especially Zhao Weilun, on the international stage, he really is like an elementary school student, being knocked down at least 5 times throughout the game."
"But our inside game is actually no worse than theirs. Zhou Qi had 12 points and 5 rebounds, and Yu Jiahao had 4 points and 4 rebounds. We only managed to play like this because of our inside game."
"We only made 8 of 28 three-point attempts in this game, a shooting percentage of only 28.6%. Serbia also made 28 three-point attempts, but made 13, a shooting percentage of 46.4%."
"Our three-point shooting is completely subpar."
"Hopefully, Wang Xiucheng can bring about a change in the next match."
"The bad news is that we lost, and by 42 points."
"The good news is that all six Asian teams lost today."
"So, at least we haven't fallen behind."
……
8 month 28 day.
2 pm.
At 2 PM, in a CBD center in Shanghai, at a foreign trade company.
The manager walked out of the office, clapped his hands, and said, "I have an appointment with a client to come over in a bit. If you don't have anything else to do, you can all go home now."
"Off work?" A female employee asked instinctively, seemingly incredulous.
"What, want to work overtime?" the manager asked.
"No," the female employee replied immediately.
"If you don't have any, hurry up and leave. More than a dozen clients will be coming tonight. The office is too small, so you'd better get out of here quickly," the manager urged.
Everyone immediately started packing their things, especially the female employees, who seemed afraid that the manager would change his mind. They quickly grabbed their belongings, shut down their computers, and left the office.
The office was empty in no time.
Downstairs, the female employee was holding a male employee's hand, saying, "You're leaving get off work so early today, let's go see a movie."
"No, thank you." The male employee shook his head. "I have to write some copy tonight; the manager needs to see it tomorrow."
"Okay," the female employee said disappointedly, then took out her phone to find her best friend who had time.
After saying goodbye to his girlfriend, the male employee turned a corner and returned to the building a few minutes later.
But at this moment, he was already pushing a suitcase.
Soon, after returning to the office in the elevator, the male employee immediately called out, "The beer is back!"
"Push them in. I've sent Xiao Wang to buy some barbecue."
Just then, several male employees returned from outside the door.
Some of them were also holding various foods and drinks.
"Quick, set up the projector, hang up the curtains, and lock the front door when everyone comes back..."