bookrandom Chapter 696: Defeat Brazil and advance to the quarterfinals!
Chapter 696: Defeat Brazil and advance to the quarterfinals!
Both Germany and France faced Brazil and China in their first two matches, and both teams won both.
Germany's higher plus-minus score put them in first place.
France finished second.
Although the Chinese team also started with two losses like the Brazilian team, they ranked third based on their points difference.
Brazil is in fourth place.
In the next round of matches, the top two teams in the group, Germany and France, will face off, and the winner will advance as the group leader.
The weakest teams in the group, China and Brazil, will face off directly, and the winner will have a chance to advance to the quarterfinals as the third-placed team in the group.
According to the analysis of various basketball bloggers and fans, the Chinese team seems to have a real chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.
Of course, this is contingent on defeating their final group stage opponent, Brazil.
……
8 month 2 day.
in the afternoon.
Lille, Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
The match between Brazil and China has just ended.
The scoreboard was still flashing 102 to 84.
The Chinese fans throughout the stadium waved their red national flags wildly, and their loud and clear singing echoed throughout the stadium.
This is enough to prove that the team that scored 102 points was the Chinese team.
This was also the first victory for the Chinese team at the Paris Olympics.
Wang Xiucheng played less than three quarters in this game before being substituted to rest.
When Wang Xiucheng left the court, the Chinese team was leading the Brazilian team by 27 points.
The two teams don't look like they're in the same league at all.
Guo Shiqiang substituted Wang Xiucheng, preventing him from continuing to rack up points, because the Chinese team did not need to accumulate a net winning margin in this match.
The other two possible third-place finishers in the groups are Greece and South Sudan, who will face Australia and Serbia in the final round.
Under normal circumstances, Greece and South Sudan would not be able to defeat their opponents.
Therefore, as long as the Chinese team wins this match, they will be able to advance.
And in fact, that is indeed the case.
……
Houston, USA.
Sugar City.
"In the men's basketball competition at the recently concluded Paris Olympics, Wang Xiucheng's Chinese team dominated the Brazilian team in two quarters, and Wang Xiucheng did not play again after that."
Watching ESPN sports news on TV, Ma Xiaoxuan couldn't help but smile.
She knew that Wang Xiucheng's biggest goal had always been the Olympics.
Furthermore, Wang Xiucheng told her privately that his dream was never to reach the top eight in the Olympics!
"I want to surpass Yao Ming, I want to surpass all my predecessors, I want to see where my limits really are!"
Ma Xiaoxuan still remembers how Wang Xiucheng looked, full of high spirits, after drinking too much.
However, after waking up the next day, no matter how much Ma Xiaoxuan questioned Wang Xiucheng, he no longer admitted that he had said such a thing.
Suddenly, the child on the bed seemed to wake up. Ma Xiaoxuan immediately picked up her son and then looked at Wang Xiucheng, who was being interviewed by ESPN on TV.
"Your dad must be very happy now!"
……
"Good morning, everyone. This is the morning news program, 'Morning News,' which is being broadcast live simultaneously on CCTV-1 and CCTV-9.
"It's 7 a.m. Beijing time now. Let's start with news about the Paris Olympics."
"Earlier, the group stage of the men's basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics concluded."
"China defeated Brazil in their last group stage match, advancing to the quarterfinals as one of the two best third-placed teams."
"The following is the detailed report..."
Old Jiang, with red eyes, didn't sleep all night.
He wanted to sleep, but he really couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Wang Xiucheng flying around on the court.
And it's in the quarterfinals!
The Chinese men's basketball team has actually made it to the quarterfinals!
It seemed like there were children's voices coming from inside the house, so Old Jiang quickly turned the TV volume down.
"With the conclusion of the group stage, the eight teams that have advanced to the quarterfinals have been determined."
"According to the rankings, the United States is in first place, followed by Canada, Germany, Serbia, France, Australia, China, and Greece."
"The quarterfinal matchups have been decided. Let's see what Coach Yang Yi has to say."
The scene shifts, and Yang Yi appears on the screen.
Without any preamble, Yang Yi stated directly: "The rules for the quarterfinals are somewhat complicated. Simply put, the better your performance, the weaker your opponent will be. However, there is also the principle of avoiding opponents from the same group during the group stage."
"Anyway, the final matchups are: USA vs. Greece, Serbia vs. China, Germany vs. Australia, and the last matchup is France vs. Canada."
"The match we are most interested in, Hebei China Fortune vs. Serbia, will be at 24:00 on August 6th and 00:00 on August 27th. Please remember the match time."
Yang Yi did not give any answer regarding the probability of the two sides winning or losing the match; he simply gave a brief overview of the matchup.
The camera then returned to the studio.
"Let's look at other Olympic news."
"In the final round of the group stage, the Chinese women's basketball team defeated Puerto Rico 80-58."
"However, based on the tiebreakers, they finished third in the group with a one-point disadvantage, failing to advance to the quarterfinals."
Hearing the host's words, Old Jiang shook his head helplessly.
He certainly followed the women's basketball games as well.
It was unexpected that the Chinese women's basketball team, which achieved its best historical result of third place in the 22 World Cup and was once ranked second only to the United States in the world, failed to even make it out of the group stage in this Olympics.
On the contrary, the Chinese men's basketball team, which did not even qualify for the last Olympics, actually made it to the quarterfinals.
Life is truly unpredictable!
However, this also shows everyone just how fast the world of basketball is changing.
It might only take two years for an opponent you could easily defeat before to be able to defeat you.
Two years ago, who would have believed that the Chinese women's basketball team, which finished third in the World Cup, would fail to qualify for the Olympics?
Who would have thought that the Chinese men's basketball team, which missed the last Olympics, would actually make it to the quarterfinals and achieve its best result in history!
……
There is a three-day rest period between the end of the group stage and the quarterfinals.
The Chinese team was not delayed at all and took a private plane back to Paris that same evening.
Although the two locations are only 200 kilometers apart, the Chinese men's basketball team still opted for the faster flight.
In less than two hours, the entire Chinese men's basketball team returned to the Baima Hotel.
Reporters and fans who had received the news crowded the entrance of the White Horse Hotel, and it took them a lot of effort to get into the hotel.
After spending a few days in Lille, the group finally returned to Paris, the place where their dream began!