In the basketball world, starting from the 99 World Youth Championship

Chapter 11 Knockout Group

"We won, we defeated the defending champion Greece, and the knockout round of China is here." Xu Jicheng jumped up from the commentary seat excitedly and let out a roar.It's not easy. The Chinese team waited for this moment for 16 years. There are several 16 years in life, especially for professional players, there are very few who can play for more than 16 years.

Compared with the passion of the Chinese team, the atmosphere of the Mythical Legion is very low. The head coach Yannakis is comforting his disciples, especially No. 10 Diamantopoulos who is crying. The loss of the game also means that the Greek team has become the first defending champion to be eliminated from the group stage since the U19 was founded.

Zhang Tian and his teammates hugged and shook hands with each other one by one. The former knew very well that Diamantopoulos and Diamantopoulos would become one of the nightmares of the Chinese team in the international arena in the future. Now that they have defeated them, they have a certain attitude towards the future. Not a small improvement.

The U.S. team qualified as second in the group for two consecutive World Youth Championships, which seemed to indicate that the U.S. team that won the championship in 91 was just a flash in the pan.

"Zhang Tian, ​​I'm a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, can I interview you?"

After Zhang Tian dealt with the foreign media, he welcomed a middle-aged man.

Unexpectedly, even the Xinhua News Agency was alarmed by qualifying in the group stage, which reminded him of a popular online name "so handsome that I alarmed ***".

"Before the start of the group stage, did you think that we would qualify as the first in the group?"

This reporter didn't ask other reporters about topics that had nothing to do with the game.

"No, although my goal before the group stage was to qualify from this group, I never thought I could break through with a complete victory." Zhang Tian was not inflated, telling the truth.

The middle-aged reporter nodded, and continued to ask the second question, "So you have entered the knockout round, do you have a new goal?"

Zhang Tian's post-match press conference could not be held again, and the sports press officer on Aveiro's side could only be replaced by other players from the Chinese team.In the three group matches, they only saw Zhang Tian once at the press conference, which made them even more mysterious than Ye Xiu, and they only had to wear a mask like the former.

"The goal is to personally get the MVP of this World Youth Championship, or the team can get a better ranking."

Zhang Tian's answer was the electronic sound of the system. This is a system task, and the reward is to draw another star card. Of course, the star cards in the prize pool still range from N to SSR.

The interview with the middle-aged man ended soon, and Zhang Tian returned to the hotel. Instead of sleeping, he called home.

At this time, Zhang Tian's home in China was also full of joy, except for a middle-aged man who looked nine times like Zhang Tian.

"Here's a call, why don't you answer it? What are you thinking about?" Zhang Tian's grandfather yelled angrily, and he yelled at the middle-aged man who looked very similar to Zhang Tian.

This middle-aged man is called Zhang Jianye, Zhang Tian's father, and also Zhang Tian's "enemy". Zhang Tian and the other party have been fighting each other since they were young. Although each time they ended up being beaten by themselves, the latter still persevered .

Zhang Jianye was sprayed by his father, and picked up the phone very depressed, "Hey, what are you doing calling, you little bastard, do you want to show off that you have led the team to qualify..."

Zhang Jianye was next to the phone, completely venting the resentment in his heart. These days, because of Zhang Tian's glory in the World Youth Championship, the consequence is that his status at home continues to decline. Zhang Tian brushed off his presence, but it was nothing.

"What's wrong with Dad? Listening to your tone, it seems like you're going to regret it, but it's useless to regret it. I have already submitted this year's NBA draft report before the game against the Greek team, so you are in trouble."

Zhang Tian on the other end of the phone was very rampant, and this tone aroused Zhang Jianye's anger again. In terms of irritating people, Zhang Tian is definitely the No. 1 in their Zhang family, otherwise he wouldn't have suffered so many beatings.

Zhang Jianye was so angry that smoke was coming out of his head. What did he want to say, but the phone was snatched by the emperor at home, "Little God, since you have chosen the path you want to go, you must stick to it Go on, there is no such word as giving up halfway in the dictionary of our Zhang family."

Zhang Tian listened to everything grandpa said in his heart. Compared with his father, grandpa was more reasonable, at least he wasn't someone who could move his hands and never speak.

After the grandfather finished talking, grandma and mother picked up the phone again. After the call was over, almost an hour had passed. The four elders in the family knew the time difference here, so they didn't talk too much. They understood that Zhang Tian needed to rest After all, he has now changed from a relationship with the National Youth Team to the core of the National Youth Team.

The eight teams that entered the knockout round will be randomly divided into two groups. The schedule is still the same as the group stage. The top two teams in the group will enter the final semi-finals, and the four eliminated teams will continue to play ranking matches.But even if they hit it, it won't change anything.

The eight teams that entered the quarter-finals were China, Croatia, Australia, the United States, Argentina, Spain, Brazil and Russia. Only one team from Asia and Oceania was shortlisted, while three from the Americas The team was shortlisted strongly, only Venezuela became a baby of experience in the group stage.

In comparison, in the European region, where the U19 has always been domineering these years, although three teams were shortlisted, only Latvia returned home in the group stage, but the defending champion Greece was eliminated in the group stage. In terms of the overall strength of the European region , The loss is great. Although Russia unexpectedly entered the knockout round, their strength is obviously unable to compete with the defending champion.

Fortunately, Russia and China are in a group. In addition to the two of them, there are Argentina and Brazil in the group. This group is much better than the group stage. Before the group stage, the media bragged The U.S. team and Argentina, and now the media are putting their attention on the Chinese team.

"The Chinese team is undoubtedly very lucky to be grouped this time. The probability of them not being able to enter the semi-finals is too low. Compared with them, the other three teams have to consider how to compete for another semi-final spot. .”

The quarter-finals hadn't started yet, and the European media began to praise the Chinese team. The defending champion was so praised and went home, and they obviously didn't want to let go of the red giant who eliminated the defending champion.

And another group, Australia, Spain, the United States, Croatia, and Oceania's only seedlings have already begun to consider playing in the ranking competition. With their strength, it is no less difficult than Australia to become the world's number one if they want to stand out from the gap between the three powerful big country.

(End of this chapter)