Chapter 622: Messi's Bad Luck, Lin Quan's Easy Victory
When reporters heard Vicente del Bosque publicly praise Cristiano Ronaldo, they were quite intrigued. Curious, they pressed further:
"And how would you evaluate Lin Quan's performance for your team?"
Del Bosque looked at the reporter with pride, lifting his head slightly, and said confidently:
"Lin is the God of football!"
The room was in an uproar. The reporters had expected Del Bosque to give Lin Quan high praise, but they didn't expect him to go that far.
The God of football? There's never been such a title in the football world! Sure, Michael Jordan is often called the "God of basketball," but in football, while there have been two great players who earned the title of "king"—Pelé and Maradona—neither was ever called a god.
It was shocking to hear Del Bosque give Lin Quan such a lofty title!
Unsurprisingly, Del Bosque's statement was immediately picked up by various media outlets, sparking heated debates.
"Del Bosque's exaggerating, isn't he? What makes Lin Quan worthy of being called a god? He's not even at Pelé or Maradona's level!"
"Exactly! How can a 22-year-old surpass football legends like Pelé and Maradona?"
"Pelé not only led Brazil to three World Cup victories but also had an enormous global impact on the sport. In some war-torn countries, fighting even stopped just to watch Pelé play. Does Lin Quan have that kind of influence?"
"Comparing him to Pelé isn't fair—let's use Maradona. Even though there was that controversial 'Hand of God' goal, Maradona still single-handedly led Argentina to win the World Cup. Lin Quan's success, on the other hand, comes from playing with an already strong Spanish team, so his achievements don't carry as much weight."
"Unless Lin Quan leads this current Spanish team to a World Cup victory, I don't see how his national team success can match up to Maradona's."
Many people opposed the idea of Lin Quan being called the "God of football." While Lin Quan had indeed won many honors at both the club and national level, others had done more. Plus, his youth led many to instinctively reject the idea that he could surpass legends like Pelé and Maradona, both of whom had long and distinguished careers.
Football is a sport where seniority often carries weight, and experience can be a significant advantage.
However, not everyone was against Del Bosque's view. Some people agreed with him:
"I think Del Bosque has a point—Lin is the God of football!"
"Even though Lin is only 22, he's been playing professionally for six years. In that time, he's already won a World Cup, a European Championship, four Champions League titles, and four league titles!"
"And in all those victories, Lin was not just a participant; he was a core player, often the most important one. Without him, neither Spain nor Manchester City could have won those trophies."
"Seriously, who else in football history has achieved that?"
"People love to compare Messi with Lin, but when Messi was Lin's age, he had only won two Champions League titles and three league titles. He hadn't won a World Cup or a Copa América yet!"
"Plus, of Messi's five major trophies, two of the league titles and one Champions League were won when he wasn't even a regular starter. Only one league and one Champions League title came when he was a main player."
"When you compare Messi to Lin, Lin completely overshadows him in terms of achievements. In terms of individual skill, it's hard to judge, but whenever Lin's team faced Messi's, Lin almost always came out on top—whether at the club or national level."
"Before Lin burst onto the scene, everyone, including football legends and experts, couldn't stop talking about Messi as the next 'King of football.' But now that Lin has posted even better numbers and is more dominant, suddenly people are talking about seniority and age? That's just double standards!"
Lin Quan's supporters backed up their arguments with solid evidence, using statistics to silence his critics. Some fans may have known Lin Quan was great, but they didn't realize just how great he truly was until they saw all the data.
Many people who initially opposed the idea of calling Lin the "God of football" were now more open to the idea, even if they didn't fully support it.
Lin Quan was aware of the debates swirling around him, but he wasn't overly concerned.
When a reporter asked him about it, Lin responded humbly:
"Being crowned as a god or a king isn't something I'm thinking about at my age. For me, the most important thing is to play well in the next match and win as many games as possible."
His modest and humble response won over even more people.
Many football prodigies have risen to stardom, only to fall from grace due to the overwhelming praise and pressure from the public.
Some people feared Lin Quan might meet the same fate, but after six or seven years of hearing endless praise, he had developed immunity to it.
...
Because the debate about whether Lin Quan deserved to be called a football god had dragged Messi into the conversation, the focus on Argentina's match that evening intensified.
Argentina was actually in a relatively easy group (Group D), with no particularly strong teams except for Croatia. The other two teams didn't seem capable of posing much of a threat to Argentina.
However, in a shocking turn of events, Argentina's opening match ended in a stunning draw.
After 90 minutes of intense play, Argentina was held to a 1-1 draw by Iceland, delivering one of the biggest upsets of the World Cup so far.
This was Argentina, a traditional football powerhouse and a team that had reached the semifinals of the last World Cup!
Their opponents, Iceland, were playing in their very first World Cup and came from a tiny island nation with a population of less than 300,000.
Before the game, everyone had expected Argentina to win comfortably, but the result left them all shocked. Some bettors even lost everything, making the metaphorical "rooftop" quite crowded that night.
Argentina started the match strongly, with Sergio Agüero—who had struggled in the previous World Cup—scoring in the 19th minute to give Argentina the lead.
However, Iceland showed incredible resilience. Just four minutes later, they equalized, refusing to be beaten.
In the second half, Argentina earned a penalty, and Messi stepped up to take it. But the Icelandic goalkeeper made a brilliant save, and Argentina missed the chance to win the game.
After squandering their early lead and the penalty, Argentina couldn't find another breakthrough and ended up with a draw, casting doubt on their chances of making it out of the group stage.
With only three group stage matches in the World Cup, failing to beat Iceland put Argentina in a precarious position. If they lost to Croatia in the next game, they could face early elimination.
After the match, the media exploded with coverage, and Messi, as Argentina's star player, took most of the blame. He was harshly criticized by both the media and fans.
As people discussed Messi's poor performance, they couldn't help but compare him to Lin Quan.
Compared to Messi's struggles, Lin Quan's performance had been stellar by comparison, causing some of the critics who had doubted Lin's status to waver in their convictions.
Sometimes, you don't even need to do anything—your rival's mistakes will boost your standing.
As Zhang Xuefeng might say: "This is just brilliant!"
After Messi was heavily criticized, some fans began to wonder what kind of results Lin Quan would achieve if he were in the Argentine lineup.
...
"Despite their small size, Iceland is a team that leaves a strong impression. They are by no means a weak side!"
Before Spain's second match, some reporters used Argentina's draw against Iceland as a topic for their questions to Lin Quan, curious to hear his thoughts.
Lin didn't take the opportunity to criticize Argentina. Instead, he gave a fair and objective assessment.
Iceland really wasn't a weak team. They had already proven that at the 2016 European Championship.
Back then, even Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal struggled against Iceland, and England had been famously eliminated by them in the Round of 16.
Although Iceland has a small population, their national team had recently produced several talented players.
It's unfair to judge a team based solely on its population size or historical record. If population were the key factor in football success, then certain large, mysterious Eastern nations should be dominating the sport.
But in reality, those Eastern nations aren't doing well in football at all.
While Lin's comments were fair, some interpreted them as an attempt to excuse Argentina's performance.
In this fierce competition for the title of the world's best footballer, with Lin Quan and Messi constantly being compared, many fans were surprised to see Lin defend his rival.
His words left them unsure of how to respond.
No wonder Lin Quan had so many fans—his character and sportsmanship were just as impressive as his skill on the field.
Lin's fair and honorable attitude earned him the admiration of many fans.
The World Cup is the biggest event in the football world. In fact, it's the biggest event in all of sports.
Because of this, the World Cup attracts an enormous audience, including many "casual fans" who don't normally watch football but tune in for the excitement.
Some of these people may have never heard of Lin Quan before, but in recent days, his name had been everywhere—on TV, online, and in newspapers.
It was impossible to ignore him!
After learning a bit more about him, many of these new viewers quickly became fans of Lin Quan.
Some admired his extraordinary skills, others appreciated his humility and character, and a few were drawn in by his good looks.
Within a short time, Lin Quan's follower count on social media platforms like Weibo and Twitter shot up, surpassing 100 million!
The speed of his growing popularity even took Lin Quan by surprise.
The World Cup was truly a powerful magnet for attention. His follower count, which had been stagnating before the tournament, had increased by tens of millions in just a few days.
And this was only after the first round of matches! If this trend continued, by the end of the World Cup, Lin Quan's followers could easily reach two or even three hundred million!
The number of social media followers a player has is closely linked to their commercial endorsements and sponsorship deals.
The more followers a player has, the more sponsors are willing to pay top dollar for endorsements.
But Lin Quan didn't have time to think about such matters. The second round of the World Cup was about to begin.
The World Cup consists of eight groups, and the matches are played in group order.
Typically, there are two to three matches per day, and each round takes about a week to complete.
Spain's second match was on June 21, against Iran.
Although Iran was a traditional powerhouse in Asia, they were considered underdogs in the World Cup.
Historically, Iran had never made it out of the group stage in previous World Cups.
The Spanish team didn't take their opponents too seriously, and this almost cost them.
By the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0. Spain, known for their powerful attack, had been shut down by Iran's defensive wall.
The Iranian players knew they were no match for Spain, so they parked the bus—a highly defensive strategy that stifled Spain's offense.
Spain tried everything to break through the Iranian defense, but they couldn't find a way through in the first half.
Their inability to score made the Spanish players increasingly anxious, which only worsened their coordination and weakened their attacks.
Meanwhile, Iran, having successfully held off Spain's relentless attacks, grew bolder and even started launching counterattacks.
Although Iran didn't score, the fact that they dared to go on the offensive wasn't a good sign for Spain.
Del Bosque, watching from the sidelines, grew more and more nervous as the match entered the second half with the score still tied.
Spain had no way to break through Iran's defense, and their offensive strategy clearly wasn't working.
Realizing this, Del Bosque made a decisive move in the 65th minute, bringing on two substitutes at once: Koke and Marco Asensio, who replaced Iniesta and Lucas Vázquez.
The fresh legs immediately brought new energy to Spain's attack.
Koke's tireless running, his forward runs, and his strong defensive skills freed up Lin Quan, allowing him to push further up the field and contribute more to the attack.
With Lin Quan advancing, the pressure on Iran's defense skyrocketed.
Finally, in the 74th minute, Lin Quan delivered a brilliant through-ball to Diego Costa, who turned into the box.
Costa managed to get past the defender but stumbled, and the ball deflected off a defender, bouncing toward the edge of the box.
Isco rushed in for a shot, but his effort was blocked by an Iranian defender and deflected back.
Lin Quan, who had continued his run after making the pass, found the ball right at his feet by chance.
Without even looking at the goal, Lin swung his foot and took a shot.
To everyone's surprise, it was a perfect strike—an absolute screamer.
The Iranian goalkeeper had no chance, and the ball flew into the net.
0-1!
Spain had finally broken through!
On the sidelines, Del Bosque was so emotional that he nearly cried.
Finally, they had scored!
And once again, it was Lin Quan who had delivered in the crucial moment!
(End of Chapter)