Chapter 61 – Olympic Group Stage (7)

061

Immediately after the game, the atmosphere at the press conference was divided into extremes.
The press conference for the winner, South Korea, was always friendly.

“First of all, congratulations on your victory, coach.”
“Thank you.”
“I had an incredible victory today. Did the manager expect today’s victory?”
“Of course. I trusted my players.”
“Director Gong! There was no difference in the starting list from the last game, so do you plan to play as a starting member for the next game as well?”
“It’s a sports magazine! Today, the coach showed a more aggressive tactic than usual, but why did he choose an aggressive tactic against a strong team, Spain—”

It was a bit scary to see the reporters waving their hands like bees and asking questions frantically, but the director didn’t mind… No, I rather like it.

I was selected as the best player of today’s game and was attending a press conference with the coach.
But. Who else would be a distinguished player if not me, who scored a hat-trick against Spain.

As I sit and think with a serious expression on what I should say, the reporters’ hyena-like eyes focus on me this time.

“Minjoon Hong!”
“Mr. Minjun!”
“Today’s hat trick… “
“Come on, everyone, calm down. I’ll take one question at a time. A reporter wearing glasses over there.”
“This is Kim Young-jin from Sky Sports. Congratulations on your hat-trick in today’s match, Minjun Hong.”
“Thank you.”
“Unlike the last game, we showed an active dribbling breakthrough in today’s game. You showed a completely different play from Honduras. Did you hide your dribbling skills for today?”
“That’s just the director’s instructions—”

While answering questions pouring in for more than 10 minutes, the question I was waiting for came up.

“Hello, Mr. Hong. This is KBS Gong Ja-young. Did you listen to Fernando’s pre-interview yesterday?”

Come!
Waited for this!

However, he shook his head with a polite expression.

“No. I didn’t hear you.”
“In yesterday’s pre-interview, Fernando said to Hong Min-jun, ‘I will erase it from the stadium. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.”
“Hmm.”

He barely held back the corner of his mouth that was trying to twitch and stroked his smooth chin.
The seniors told me to skip it, but… I was so annoyed to hear that, but I just couldn’t let it go. I was worried about what to say, going crazy and jumping up and down.

“I would like to say one word to Fernando, befitting the dignity of a winner. ‘You are the one erased, kid.'”
“… Oh yes.”
“Was that a good answer?”
“…….”

Kyaa~ It was perfect.

On the other hand, the press conference in Spain was held in a bloody atmosphere reminiscent of a hearing.

“I’m Orson Woodman from PopoTwo. Director Unai. I was confident before the match, but the result ended in a crushing defeat. Do you have anything to say about the results?”

Unai Simon, who looked like he had aged a day, stroked his jagged chin and licked his dry lips.

“No words can cover up defeat. We lost.”
“Okay. Then-“
“But today’s defeat is the defeat of me, Unai Simon.”

The reporter asked, slightly frowning at the director who was speechless.

“What exactly do you mean by your manager’s defeat? How is that different from losing a team?”
“It is different. Very different. This loss was entirely due to my inadequacies, but our players are still the best. Of course, they are better than the Korean team.”
“Aren’t all sports the result? The manager’s argument doesn’t seem to fit the spirit of sports.”
“No. I humbly admit defeat. My defeat But you can’t judge everything from just one match. Our players are superior to Korean players. No skill, no judgment, no positioning.”

As soon as Unai finished speaking, reporters here and there raised their hands.

“Director! That sounds like you’re not admitting defeat. Does that mean you’re not going to accept the outcome?”
“This is Montoya from Marca! There is a saying that today’s decision was against Spain. There is an opinion that the referee of today’s game is a Japanese and overuses the decision in favor of South Korea, an Asian country! Please say something about this!”

A few reporters clicked their tongues at one reporter’s question.

“Marca is a Spanish daily newspaper, isn’t it? Tsk, journalists have no conscience.”
“As expected of Real Madrid’s hunting dog. If you had eyes, you wouldn’t know that today’s judgment wasn’t bad.”
“The attitude of not admitting defeat is the same as that of directors and reporters. Anyway, the Spaniards.”

I, who was watching the Spanish press conference from the sidelines, was annoyed by the reporter’s rude question. There was no controversial decision, but blame the referee for the loss?

“No. The judgment of today’s match was fair.”

However, unexpectedly, the Spanish coach coolly denied the decision.

“So you’re admitting defeat?”
“No. Let me be clear here. Today we weren’t the best. But that was my problem as a coach, not the problem of our players. So I’ll show you. The final stage, when we meet Korea. We will overwhelm. No see.”
“Director!”
“Director! One more word—”
“Wait, I still have a question—”

At the same time, it is also shameless to the end.
Seeing the back of the director as he left the press conference as if he didn’t want to take any more questions after that, I understand it to some extent.

Because today’s match was a so-called ‘unacceptable loss’.

The result was a landslide victory of 3:0, but looking at the contents of the game, it cannot be said that it was a landslide victory. After the 20th minute of the second half when the mentality of the Spanish players exploded, the performance was also overwhelming, but until then, in terms of detailed indicators, they were equal, no, to the extent that Spain had the upper hand.

Football is not strange no matter what happens. No, all sports are like that.
A player called the world’s best may be sluggish, a top scorer may miss a shot, and a veteran defender may make a mistake.

Spain did that today.
Jorge, who is regarded as the best among the young players, repeated his play in some way, and Fernando, a promising defender from Barcelona, ​​was robbed by a player early on, and his mentality ascended and he made many mistakes.

That’s all.
Trustworthy captain Martin Defender Mendi, who was selected as a wild card, showed an urgent appearance in his own play instead of leading the young players unlike usual, and goalkeeper Alvaro Fernandez, another wild card and the owner of the defensive line, was worthy of the nickname of spider hand. Didn’t show any performance at all.

And to make matters worse, I was out of luck.
No matter how sluggish, there was a risky moment when Jorge’s shot hit the goal post 3 times, who had been constantly threatening the Korean defense as if Cles wasn’t going anywhere.

The reason why Korea was able to end the game without a goal was… No, it cannot be denied that being able to win was largely due to ‘luck’.

If only one of Jorge’s shots that hit the goalpost 3 times went in. In particular, if he had scored before the Spanish players’ mentality exploded, the result might have been different.

There was a reason why Spain’s excuse didn’t feel like an excuse.
And in addition,

‘But. Spain wasn’t strong today.’

The Spanish national team participating in this Olympics is at best 1.5 teams.
Excluding a few key players, such as large prospects like Jorge, it would not be strange to actually be in the second team. In addition, in the match against us, didn’t we take out a lot of the main members because we rotated?

Spain’s national team captain and wild card Martin Subimendi played as a central midfielder rather than his original position of attacking second line, Spain was not at full power.

Nevertheless, the scary thing about Spain is that each of our main players outperforms their individual abilities.

“Player Jorge! I was sluggish in today’s game! Can you tell me why?”
“Are you in a bad mood today?”

Jorge, who had a sluggish performance that did not match his reputation, was leaving with a gloomy expression.

“Wait! Jorge player! Jorge I have a question! What do you think of Hong Min-jun, who faced off against you in today’s match!!”

I suddenly stopped walking and looked back at the words of the reporter who hurriedly followed and shouted.

A name tag that reads “KBS” Attached to the reporter’s chest.
Indeed, national broadcasting! Don’t miss the chance to gukppong!

“Hong Min-joon?”

When Jorge, who had been silent, opened his mouth for the first time, the reporter who saw the slightest possibility rushed madly.

“Yes! Back number 7! He scored a hat trick today!!”
“I know. Number 7 Hong Min-jun.”

Jorge said my name with surprisingly accurate pronunciation.

“He was great. That’s great. It was fantastic.”
“Is that so!? Korea’s giraffe that even the world’s best young player, Jorge, praises!! Are you admitting that Hong Min-joon’s skills are better than yours!?”

The people around them frowned in unison.
Even so, Jorge smiled softly at the reporter who clung to him without hesitation.

“Best player? Oh, if that’s what you mean by me, yes. I’m the best But for today, Mr. Hong was the best. He… He was so beautiful. He is a picture-perfect player. That graceful trapping, incredible instant painting, excellent technique, soft-looking skin and moist eyes, thick lips… Even his sweat smells sweet.”
“…….”

The reporter, who at first liked it because his mouth was torn, took a step away from him as soon as he finished his words.