Football: Don’t talk about feelings, I’m just an AI

Chapter 247: A Few Things Before the Battle with Messi (Transitional Text)
Before England's match against the Netherlands, Argentina's match against Belgium had already ended.

At Argentina's training base, Messi and his teammates were watching the live broadcast of the game attentively.

Seeing Xia Qi score goals was as easy as drinking water. He scored five goals in just 70 minutes.

The theater was suddenly so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
The Argentine players stared at the screen intently, and a tense atmosphere filled the air.

When Van Persie successfully misled the referee and gave Xia Qi a yellow card, the Argentine players couldn't help but cheer for Van Persie.

Aguero, Romero and others jumped up from their seats, pumped their fists and cheered, some even shouted, "One more!" They hoped that Xia Qi's two yellow cards would be turned into a red card and he would be suspended.

However, the television was not a wishing well and their wish did not come true.

After Xia Qi exposed Van Persie's diving behavior to the public, Hodgson decisively replaced him to prevent the situation from getting further out of control.

When Xia Qi was substituted, a huge sigh was heard in the theater.

After the live broadcast ended, the Argentine players in the viewing room fell into deep thought.

They are worried about the semi-finals in four days.

Xia Qi scored 13 goals in five games, and such a scoring efficiency made the defenders have no confidence when facing him.

The forwards also lack confidence because Xia Qi is not only good at scoring goals, he is also good at defense!

The atmosphere became a little depressing until Romero clapped his hands and said, "Isn't it just Xia Qi? We also have Messi!"

His words seemed to bring a little comfort to everyone.

"Yes, Romero is right. We are afraid of them and they don't want to fight against us." Aguero was the first to stand up and support Romero's point of view, and soon everyone accepted this point of view.

Although that is what he said, Messi has only scored 5 goals and 3 assists in three World Cups, while Xia Qi has scored 13 goals and 5 assists in one World Cup. With such a big gap, it would be a lie to say that he is not nervous.

Argentina head coach Sabella then announced closed training.

The players wailed. The South American players who liked the "freedom of the night" no longer liked the head coach who was like a brother to them. Tracing back to the source, they hated Xia Qi even more...

...

After the game, the media praised Xia Qi like a tide:
"A super B2B striker, a ruthless flower-destroying tulip, withers again in the World Cup."

"The era of the three sticks ends, the future is the battle between Messi, Ronaldo and Xia Qi. "

The report said: World football has ushered in a historic year of great competition. After Argentina and Portugal, English football has finally welcomed its own King Arthur...

"Xia Qi has become one of the players with the most goals in a single World Cup, tying Fontaine's record in 1958."

The article points out: The most shocking thing is that this is only Xia Qi's first World Cup, and 13 goals does not seem to be his limit.

"The strongest England team in history is on the road to bringing back the glory of the World Cup."

The article commented: In the history of English football, there have been many geniuses, from Lineker, Gascoigne to Beckham, Owen... but there has never been a star like Xia Qi who surpasses his teammates in all aspects. Xia Qi's appearance made the stars submit and reduced internal fighting, which is exactly why the England team has been smooth sailing in this World Cup...

"The Netherlands: We didn't lose to England, we just lost to Xia Qi."

The article pointed out that the Dutch team did have an absolute advantage on the field after Xia Qi left the court, but unfortunately the score gap was too big and they were unable to turn the tide!

Following the enthusiastic media coverage, many people in the football world also expressed their opinions.

Wenger: "Hodgson is not England's weakness. Give the ball to Hakim and let the best player on the field decide the game. Why is this not a tactic?"

"Coaching Xia Qi is indeed challenging, as he can play in any position on the field except goalkeeper.

People who have difficulty making choices should never be his coach. England is lucky that Hodgson does not have difficulty making choices. He made a brilliant decision to let Xia Qi play as a forward against the Netherlands..."

Gullit: "It's hard to imagine that Xia Qi is an English citizen. His all-out attacking and defending style is more like that made in Holland... He and I do have many similarities, but he is better than me. At least I can't score so many goals."

Kahn: "The most terrifying thing about Xia Qi is not only his extremely high goal rate, but also his leadership.

Rooney has always been very self-important. Even an outstanding player like Ronaldo cannot convince him, but he behaves like a child in front of Xia Qi. Even if Xia Qi's ability is 100% copied to Leo, he can't lead Argentina forward. " (Before the Qatar World Cup, Messi's biggest criticism was his lack of leadership.)
……

After the game, Xia Qi's agent Joanna called Xia Qi and told him that his market value had soared to 120 million, making him the most expensive player in the world.

Xia Qi asked about the transfer situation and learned that there were four clubs that had formally made offers to Arsenal, namely Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Manchester United.

Joanna said that Manchester United can be excluded, they are just here to raise the price. Although Paris Saint-Germain offered the highest price, the transfer fee and treatment of Arsenal are the most generous, but in comparison, their platform is the worst among the three...

Joanna said excitedly: "Xia, do you know who was the first call I received after the game?"

"Is it Karl Lagerfeld?" Xia Qi asked curiously.

"No, it's your boss Kroenke! He asked me to have a meal with him sometime. I guess he wanted to discuss your transfer. Just play well. I guess there will be more and more dinners like this..."

Xia Qi smiled and told Joanna that she could eat the meal, but she shouldn't rush to agree to anything and should wait until the World Cup was over.

...

...

The top four teams of this World Cup have finally been announced: Brazil, Germany, Argentina and England!

These four teams are jokingly called the most powerful top four lineup in history by fans.

However, looking back at history, the top four teams in 1970 - Germany, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay - are also the strongest.

At that time, the Uruguay team was a two-time World Cup champion and its strength should not be underestimated.

But people's memories are always short, and in modern eyes, England seems to be stronger than Uruguay, even though the actual situation may not be the case.

In any case, the semi-finals of this World Cup will feature two exciting and powerful matches, which has greatly stimulated the boom in ticket sales and live broadcast ratings.

The first match was between Brazil and Germany, and the ratings for this match hit a record high.
The minute ratings were as high as 4.73%, and the audience share exceeded 72.40%. (Unit: minute). Unfortunately, Brazil's star player Neymar was unable to play due to injury.

Brazilian fans left messages on the Twitter of "Crow Mouth" Pele, hoping that he could predict that the German team would win.

German fans on the other side of the Atlantic chanted: "Please let him go!"

Despite this, Pele remains full of positive energy and predicts that Brazil will win the championship at home.

Interestingly, Paul the Octopus, the popular prediction star of the 2010 World Cup, swam under the German flag in the fish tank.

Although Bailey and Paul appear to have made different choices, their answers are actually the same.

In the end, amid the cheers of German fans and the curses of Brazilian fans, the German team won the game.

Squidward Paul continued his legend again four years later.

Next, the semi-final between Argentina and England is about to begin.

This time, both Pele and Paul agreed that Argentina would win in the end.

Before the game, bookmakers also adjusted their odds accordingly, lowering Argentina's odds and raising England's odds.

However, despite this, more people still choose to support Argentina.

The Brazilian media conducted a survey on this, and many fans said: In the duel between Messi and Xia Qi, Xia Qi will win; but in the match between Argentina and England, Argentina will win.

This means that they think that although Xia Qi can win in individual competition, he cannot help the team win the game... After all, Squidward has not made any mistakes so far...

The Brazilian media lamented: "Paul is the best in the world. Messi and Xia Qi are nothing compared to him..."

Despite everyone's general pessimism, Xia Qi boarded the bus to the São Paulo Stadium.

(End of this chapter)