Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 285



Only Noblemtl

Episode 285: Underrated or Overrated?

The first match of the North and Central American World Cup, which began after a splendid opening ceremony, was as expected.

[The back space is open! Lozano―! Powerful shot! In the 12th minute of the first half, the first goal is finally scored!]

The Mexican attacker, who had been playing around with the defender, broke through and scored a goal. The goalkeeper blocked the shot, but the trajectory after blocking it was inside the goal, so it was conceded.

“It’s over. Now, isn’t it impossible to do even the Ten Hundred of Chinese Souls?”

A word from Lee Kang-im, who was watching. It was definitely like that.

And two minutes later, this time Mexico’s header came from a corner kick. Another goal. The heart of Mexico, the Estadio Azteca, was in a frenzy.

At best, the opponent is China, but it seems like they are roaring, “We’re not dead yet!”

And as the score grew to 2-0, China showed the typical behavior of a weak team collapsing.

The organization is broken, the defense is broken, the team is devastated… … .

Anyway, it was a goal festival.

As the World Cup is a festival for people all over the world, China faithfully fulfilled its role of entertaining the viewers.

[Oh, oh, oh – refraction -! It’s going in again -!]

He quickly scores the ball after it has been deflected by a Chinese player, making the score 3:0.

[Here we go! The first touch was good! Fold! Left-handed―! Gooooooooool―!]

[Uriel Antuña! The score is 4:0! A perfect goal!]

Mexico ended the first half with a score of 4:0. The national team only watched up to that point. There was no point in watching the game any longer.

Mexico would have won this game and China would have lost it, unless a meteorite had hit the stadium.

Even without four Mexican players, China will not win.

And it happened as expected.

Mexico added two more goals in the second half to end the first game 6-0, a landslide victory.

In some ways, it was a cruel story for a country that had not advanced to the World Cup in a long time. It was a familiar team that had been to the World Cup before, so it was natural for them to be in a state of confusion when they advanced after 24 years.

Even taking that into account, 6:0 was a bit harsh.

Kim Shin-ah was very happy, as if she had some feelings of resentment towards China.

[Kim Shin Ah: Haha …

[Kim Shin-ah: I feel full just looking at the score]

[Kim Shin-ah: Even if you steal all the kimchi and hanbok, you can’t steal soccer skills, right?]

[Kim Min-woo: Don’t be happy about other people’s sadness. That’s not good.]

[Kim Shin-ah: Yeah, it’s okay to be happy that China won’t be able to do it~]

[Kim Min-woo: I admit that…]

Meanwhile, Kim Shin-ah also brought back the Chinese people’s reactions to the game. There were videos of them breaking TVs, crying, and screaming.

Kim Shin-ah was very pleased to see it. She said that she would go to bed with this as a side dish today.

[Kim Shin-ah: Do well because you have intuition! But can’t you make time for your family? Can’t you even have time to eat together and see each other’s faces?]

[Kim Min-woo: If you eat something wrong and get sick, it’s a big problem. Understand.]

[Kim Shin-ah: Well, that’s true. I admit it. Even Kim Min-woo is right sometimes. The saying that even a broken clock is right twice a day is true.]

[Kim Min-woo: lol]

[Kim Min-woo: You should be thankful that you were born a real woman]

[Kim Min-woo: If it had been a man, he would have been found dead already]

[Kim Shin-ah: If I were a man, I would have already eaten you and leftovers]

[Kim Min-woo: ???]

[Kim Shin-ah: ??]

[Kim Shin-ah: Was it a bit wild?]

[Kim Min-woo: Are you crazy?]

[Kim Shin-ah: It’s been years]

It’s strange. I’m sure he wasn’t this bad before I started playing soccer. How did he end up like this?

‘No. I didn’t really talk to him until then, so I might have misunderstood his personality.’

Even though we’ve lived together our whole lives, it’s hard to gauge our personalities…

* * *

The United States, another opening nation and in the same group as South Korea, also played its matches.

It was a match against Norway.

Of course, since it was a match between two countries in the same group as us, we had no choice but to watch it much more closely.

“Wow. Is this how it is?”

A showdown between Group I, Pot 1 and Pot 4.

The match between the 11th and 47th ranked FIFA teams surprisingly ended in a 2:2 draw.

It was an unexpectedly shocking score.

Foreign media and even our national team members naturally thought that the US would beat Norway.

But when I actually looked into it, the results were different.

It felt like that.

The match in which Ronaldo drew with Spain alone in the 2018 Russia World Cup.

There were fewer goals than at that time, but the one who stood out in that match was Holland.

There was an opinion that he was no match for Mbappe because he always got left behind in important matches, but these days, that opinion is becoming a thing of the past.

Holland also gets it done when it counts.

Especially since it was his first World Cup, he must have been running with all his might.

Anyway, thanks to that tearful performance, the score was 2:2. Both teams took 1 point each.

And this was good news for Korea.

“If the two teams draw like that, doesn’t that make our plan to advance to first place better?”

It was Kim Jun-young.

Naturally, our goal was to advance to the group stage in first place.

Starting with this World Cup, the third-place teams in each group can also advance to the round of 32 based on their performance, meaning that the top teams in each group can play against the third-place teams.

Of course, Korea was so unlucky that even though we came in first place in Group I, we couldn’t play against the third place team.

This was inevitable as not all third-placed countries advanced to the round of 32.

Therefore, whoever wins first place in Group I will face the second place team in Group F, and Group F includes Argentina, Senegal, Turkey, and Jamaica.

There was no way defending champions Argentina would advance in second place, so our opponents would be Senegal, Turkey or Jamaica, which was the best option we could have chosen.

First of all, they crushed Turkey 4-0 a while ago, and Senegal will be difficult to beat, but they can catch them.

The ball is round, but I don’t think Jamaica will finish second, so let’s leave it out of the question.

“Well, really? Anyway, we just need to get first place. If we get second place, we’ll have a headache.”

This World Cup was very complicated because it was the first 48-nation World Cup. First of all, if they advanced to second place in Group I, they would face the winner of Group J, and the Netherlands was the favorite to win first place in Group J.

Even though we won last time, the Netherlands is still a burdensome opponent. We must avoid them and pass in first place.

“I don’t think that will happen, but if we make it to third place, who will we meet?”

“Group C 1st place.”

“C-type noodles… .”

“france.”

It is absolutely unacceptable to meet Mbappe starting from the round of 32. If we meet a strong opponent from the start, the entire national team will be exhausted, and then the World Cup journey will become really difficult.

Above all, France is an opponent we may or may not be able to win against even if we give it our all.

“Personally, I would like to see Mbappe and Holland face off in the World Cup. Let’s send them. Let’s tell the US to face the Netherlands.”

“Hehehe. Is it good?”

Now, we will soon have our first match. Our opponent is Côte d’Ivoire. It is not an opponent that we can easily go against, but it is clear that they are a weaker team than us.

The FIFA ranking is just a number, but even so, with a difference of nearly 20 places and the best players except for Hwang Hee-cheon going, they have to win at all costs.

If we draw here, the atmosphere will really flow strangely.

* * *

Before the World Cup, countless media outlets around the world predict who will win the World Cup and who will advance after being eliminated in the group stage.

It is the greatest event in the world of football that happens once every four years, and it was absolutely necessary to attract people’s interest and attention.

Perennial title contenders Brazil had a 15% chance of winning the tournament. That’s the highest chance of any country, but Brazil’s last title came in 2002…

Next is France. The second-largest soccer powerhouse after Brazil, who won the 2018 World Cup and seemed destined to win the 2022 World Cup as well, but ended up finishing as runner-up after being defeated by Messi’s Last Dance.

France had a 14% chance of winning.

Below that are now Argentina, Belgium, England, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, etc.

The percentages were 12, 10, 9, 8, 7, and 6 percent, respectively.

Considering that Italy, ranked 6th in odds of winning, has not been to the World Cup for the past 8 years, I don’t know how credible these odds are… … but if there’s one thing that stands out in this World Cup…

[South Korea’s Chance of Winning the 2026 North and Central America World Cup is 4%!]

It was the second highest probability of winning after Portugal.

Well, you might think that the odds aren’t that high, but considering that there are only 9 countries with a higher odds than Korea, this is a really incredibly high odds.

That too, in an Asian country.

[… … Leading daily newspapers reported that South Korea’s recent strengthened power played a major role in increasing their chances of winning. In particular, Man Utd’s Kim… … .]

Without Kim Min-woo, South Korea’s chances of winning were 0.4%. With just one more person, the country’s chances of winning increased tenfold.

However, even prominent European experts criticized this, saying that Korea’s chances of winning were greatly underestimated.

“So what percentage would be appropriate?”

“It should be around 25%.”

“… Yes? Brazil is at 15%?”

“Yes. And Kim led Hannover, who were struggling in the second division, to promotion without conceding a goal. As soon as they were promoted to the first division, they kept clean sheets against world-class teams like Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Leverkusen, and won the championship after promotion.”

“Oh, that’s definitely―”

“Not only that. Then he moved to the Premier League and won four trophies with Manchester United, a team that was considered a fallen powerhouse. I don’t think anyone will doubt that Manchester United will win the big league next season. How can someone like that not win the World Cup? Kim has already achieved things that are more difficult than the World Cup.”

“Leo, you’re not saying that because you’re from Manchester United, are you?”

“Go ask Gerrard or Carragher. You’ll get the same answer.”

“……mom.”

Most people, even if they weren’t Rio Ferdinand, would have given a similar assessment.

The most conservative approach was something like, ‘Korea is a country that can either be eliminated in the group stage or win the World Cup. Both scenarios are possible, but if they don’t get eliminated in the group stage, I think there’s a 90% chance that Korea will win the World Cup.’

Of course, there were countless people who refuted that. In the end, we had no choice but to wait and see what kind of performance would be shown at the World Cup.

As it turns out, Korea has become the country that receives the most attention in the world during this World Cup.

Before the match, coach Leon Harpers and captain Son Heung-min appeared at a press conference and were interviewed.

“The first match against Côte d’Ivoire is scheduled for tomorrow. Based on the performance so far, it seems like Korea has a high chance of winning. What kind of mindset will the Korean national team have going into the match?”

At first, the questions were mundane.

Son Heung-min and coach Leon also answered normally.

Why are there such answers? Don’t let your guard down, there’s no guarantee of winning, things like that.

“Will Hwang’s injury affect future matches?”

“He’s obviously an important player for our team and he’ll be back soon, but I don’t think the game will be shaken up too much.”

“What about Kim then? What if there’s no goalkeeper Kim?”

Leon’s eyebrows furrow at the deliberate question.

“Such an assumption is meaningless.”

“Many commentators in Europe say that South Korea cannot even guarantee a place in the tournament without Kim. Do you have any comments on this?”

“… … Hey.”

Leon took a brief breath.

There were countless words in my mouth to counter that question, but they couldn’t come out.

Because what the reporter said was true.

To be completely honest, Leon wanted to shout:

“Hey! Even without Kim, we can still make it to the group stage! We just need to get into the top 3, right?”

Of course, he could never say that, so Leon opened his mouth with an angry expression.

“You are ignoring the many players who are playing for Korea with dedication. You don’t have parents, do you?”

“Suddenly my parents―”

“Aren’t you asking that question because you didn’t receive proper home education?”

Instead, Leon decided to say something refreshing. Slander.

Here, he wanted to go further, but Leon did not have such a bold heart. If it were Kim Min-woo, he would have taken a few more steps, but Leon decided to stop here.

“I’ll take the next question. I won’t take any more questions from that reporter. And don’t even think about hanging around the press room anymore.”

A ragtag group that engaged in provocative behavior to produce provocative articles has been permanently banned from attending press conferences with the Korean national team.

It was the right thing to do.