Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 103



Only Krnovel

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The Olympic soccer tournament does not have a round of 16, but starts from the quarterfinals. It is similar to the Asian Cup, but the difference is the participating countries.

The level is incomparably higher than that of the Asian Cup.

There was no country that could stop us with such a ‘slap slap’ attitude as we did during the Asian Cup.

That is, if we limit it to countries that make it to the tournament.

‘I thought Japan would naturally fight with us, so I thought we could finally take it easy…’

It’s such a shame.

“Hey, isn’t this a bit strange? Japan beat Spain?”

Lee Jin-seop goes crazy next to me.

I thought I was going to fight a reasonable opponent, but I ended up fighting a monster again after one mistake, so it was understandable.

I muttered next to him as if I was grumbling.

“We beat them in the World Cup, so why can’t we do it in the Olympics?”

“That’s true. I just watched the highlights of the Japan-Spain match. But something feels a bit off. Spain looks really weak and doesn’t have the will to attack. Should I say that?”

“Does that mean you lost on purpose?”

“There’s no way that’s possible. If you look at the timeline, France was beating the US, and we were beating Egypt, so the Group A rankings were already decided. So Spain saw that and thought, “Ah! It’s much better to meet Korea than France,” so they deliberately didn’t play actively in the game.”

That certainly makes sense.

“And look at this. The substitution list is also fucking ridiculous. You’re losing the game, so why would you change a striker instead of a volante? You even changed a fullback. No matter how you look at it, this is clearly intentional.”

“Spain was also suspected of such things during the World Cup.”

There were rumors that Spain, who didn’t want to meet Brazil in the quarterfinals, deliberately lost to Japan so they could go to the opposite port and get a taste of the game.

And with the relatively sweet matchup between Morocco and Portugal, both Japan and Spain were able to smile, but what’s really funny is that both Japan and Spain were eliminated in the round of 16.

Lee Jin-seop also looked at me with a sinister smile, as if he knew that.

“Hey. Spain met Morocco in the World Cup and got eliminated in the round of 16, right? Are you showing us?”

“···You still say that after seeing everything?”

“Ahaha! That’s right! I spoke nonsense. Oh man, anyway, it’s this guy’s mouth that’s the problem.”

Jinseop Lee laughed heartily and hugged me. I shook him off because I felt heavy.

Yes, it would be much better for Spain to deal with South Korea than with France.

But Spain will take one lesson from the Olympics as well as the World Cup.

That avoiding tigers doesn’t guarantee survival.

Spain, which was eliminated in the World Cup without a striker who could decide the game, will be reminded of that game this time as well.

Above all, even France, which had a much more destructive attack power than Spain, eventually knelt before me.

‘At least I will likely be treated like a swindler until the day I meet France again.’

Kim Shin-a said that not only the soccer community but the entire Republic of Korea is excited about the Olympic results.

Although Klinsgel was fired and a new head coach was appointed to lead the national team, the national team was not doing well and, in return, great attention was focused on the national team for this Olympics.

Above all, after defeating the host country ‘France’, soccer experts were also showering Korea with praise rather than predictions, saying that Korea could really do something this time.

The Olympic team’s greatest achievement was winning a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics, but if they can just get a ‘gold’ this time…

“Minwoo.”

“yes?”

“This is a really good article. Read it.”

“yes?”

What are you talking about out of the blue?

Lee Jin-seop sent me a link via KakaoTalk.

[The national team evolves day by day, and the hidden pearl within it, center back ‘Lee Jin-seop’]

“What is this? Isn’t there something wrong with this article?”

“What? Is it accurate?”

“Did you buy the reporter some beef? The wording is strange…”

I was curious and did some research on the Olympic team. Then they came flooding in.

Kim Shin-ah wasn’t making a fuss. I clicked on the article that looked the most delicious and read it.

[The beginning of the Olympic myth? 3 wins out of 3 matches in the group stage, the advancing Republic of Korea]

“Choi Yong-seok is leaving a legendary mark at the Olympics. He won 3 out of 3 matches in the group stage. He also defeated France, which is considered the strongest team at this Olympics, and Kim Min-woo is continuing his clean sheet streak once again······.

······There is a saying in the sports world that a team that is good at attacking wins the game, but a team that is good at defending wins the championship. I would like to add a new saying to this. If you have Mbappe, you win the game, but if you have Kim Min-woo, you cannot lose the game······.

Choi Yong-seok-ho’s steps must continue this trend. It must never end in a flash. By winning all the group preliminaries, South Korea has achieved a fairy tale, and now it must become a legend······.

“hmm.”

I thought it was an article, but it was actually a column in the form of an article. The author of the column happened to be a famous soccer expert whom I also knew.

Of course, in the soccer community, he is treated as a soccer expert, but in terms of career experience, there are few people in Korea with this level of experience.

Anyway, after reading this column to the end, my eyes naturally went to the comments below.

[I’m really looking forward to the next World Cup.. Especially Kim Min-woo. He must be crazy. How can such a crazy goalkeeper be only 18 years old?] [1311 likes]

[It seems obvious that he will become the most famous player in Korea after Son Heung-min. He may even become an even more overwhelming player than Son Heung-min. And if Kim Min-woo is in the national team right now… I think it’s not impossible to repeat the myth of reaching the World Cup semifinals.] [1068 likes]

[Information: Kim Min-woo has not conceded a single goal since his debut. Even if Yasin Grandpa returns, he won’t be able to block better than him. ㅇㅇ] [691 likes]

Comments that make you feel both proud and embarrassed at the same time.

I forced myself to shake off the urge to see more and put my phone away.

*

In soccer competitions, qualifying for the tournament is a serious step towards winning.

Unlike the group stage, if you lose just one game, you have to pack your bags and leave, so the sensitivity and issues were also extremely high.

And the tournament bracket for the 2024 Paris Olympics was as follows:

Group B 1st place Japan vs Group A 2nd place France.

I’m saying goodbye to Japan in advance. They must be feeling good after beating Spain and advancing to the group stage in first place, but I wonder. Will they be able to smile against France?

‘Perhaps Japan chose an honorable death? If they fought against us and lost, they would have been cursed at in the mainland, and it didn’t seem like they could win, so they just met France.’

Although the odds were slim, advancing to the Olympic quarterfinals isn’t such a bad result for Japan.

However, if the quarterfinal opponent is Korea, and Korea beats Japan and advances to the semifinals, it would be a very different story. So, the Japanese coach may have made a political decision for his own future.

Group D 1st Argentina vs Group C 2nd Australia

And the next port was the return of the World Cup.

These two countries met in Qatar and met again this time. Their relationship is stronger than expected.

Australia barely qualified for the Olympics after winning a playoff against an African nation, but their journey appears to have ended here.

No matter how much I think about it, the picture of Argentina losing just doesn’t come to mind.

The opposite arrangement would probably see France and Argentina meet in the semi-finals, creating another match of the death guillotine.

‘A rematch between Messi and Mbappe? That would be really fun.’

I smiled and promised myself that I would definitely watch the game live.

Group A 1st place Korea vs Group B 2nd place Spain

And us.

The opponent was Spain, a very strong team, but the match was likely to be a close one.

We thought we would win, but the foreign press said otherwise. Didn’t the foreign bookmakers say that the odds of South Korea and Spain winning were exactly 50/50?

‘Perhaps the overall player pool gap is clear, but it’s because we performed so well in the competition.’

Currently, the Spanish Olympic team has players playing for Wolverhampton, and there are many European players from Atletico Madrid, Villarreal, Valencia, Liverpool, Porto, etc.

It’s natural because they are European players, but they are neither bench warmers nor second-team players like they were in Morocco.

Even if they are not very good, there are quite a few subs or regular members who frequently come and go from game to game.

‘It’s just that they don’t have a solid finisher, but they’re just as good as France.’

Maybe I’ll just keep passing the ball around like I did during the last World Cup? And then we’ll go into overtime, and my true worth will come out in the penalty shootout…

‘Looking at the current form of the attackers, we could even score first and end the game within 90 minutes.’

Of course, I can’t let my guard down. I’m not an overwhelming goalkeeper to the point where I can let my guard down against Spain.

Group C 1st Brazil vs Group D 2nd Ukraine

And the countries that will face us in the quarterfinals.

If Ukraine comes up, it’s very thank you, and if Brazil comes up, it’s okay.

‘If we can just beat Spain and advance, we can beat Brazil. The Brazil of the Olympic soccer team is not the Brazil of the national team.’

Star players like Neymar, Vinicius, Paqueta, Richarlison, Militao, Alisson, etc. are not on the Brazilian national team at the Olympics.

Also, there was no need to add superstars as wildcards, and since wildcard players are not obligated to be called up to the Olympics, there was no reason for each club to necessarily accept the national team’s request.

Especially since they are key players within the team.

The host country France and Argentina were a bit special. France aside, the Argentine wildcards (Messi, Di Maria, Martinez) probably made some kind of deal with their teams.

Anyway, if we were to predict the outcome…

‘Ukraine will fight, but it won’t work against Brazil.’

.

.

And the first match of the tournament began.

The first match to kick off the tournament was between Japan and France.