While the Am team fought hard for World Cup qualification, many people worldwide closely followed this team, curious if the Boss Huang's son, the next world's richest man, would play for them.
Theoretically, Boss Huang had gone to such lengths to establish this team with the sole purpose of getting his son into the World Cup, meaning his son was surely on this team.
However, according to public rumors, Boss Huang's son was only about 15 years old at this time, and the entire Am team had no one under 17. Thus, this child seemingly did not exist.
Yet, some argued that no one truly knew Boss Huang's son's age, as media reports had only inferred the child was five years old based on news of him attending kindergarten.
If Boss Huang's son had been seven years old at the time, he would indeed be on the Am team now.
Consequently, the viewpoint that Boss Huang's son was on the team gradually gained traction. Of course, in reality, Huang Fan was not on this team, as his age and ability had not yet met the World Cup standards; his real chance to play would come four years later.
At this time, Huang Fan was still playing in the French third division.
Even though the main players had been transferred to the Am team, each team had about 20 players. So, even with a batch of elites being withdrawn, assembling an 11-player team was not a major issue.
However, after losing its main players, the team's average age decreased by one year, and their capabilities became even more questionable. Yet, unexpectedly, this team fought even harder and now had the opportunity to advance to the French second division.
As long as they secured a victory in the next match, the Chinese Youth Training Team would directly earn the top spot in the French third division league standings, thus gaining direct promotion to the top-tier league.
This match was extremely intense because the opposing team also had a chance to qualify for the league. Both sides drew 1-1 in regulation time, and in extra time, they each scored another goal, ultimately ending in a 2-2 draw, awaiting a penalty shootout.
But by this time, the opponents and their fans were utterly despairing.
This was because as the penalty shootout began, the Chinese French Youth Training Team replaced their goalkeeper with a new one.
This tall goalkeeper, though merely a substitute on the team, possessed a nickname that was renowned throughout France: "Men Ban" (Door Panel).
This nickname might not sound particularly imposing, but any fan aware of the story behind it would tremble at the mention of it during a penalty shootout.
As the name suggests, "Men Ban" meant that two door panels had been installed on the goal. With these panels in place, once the goal was "closed," no football could possibly enter; it would be directly blocked by the panels.
Last season was irrelevant; this season, the goalkeeper's penalty save rate whenever he played was an astonishing 100%.
This meant that no player had been able to score past the opposing goalkeeper from a penalty kick, making him the nightmare of countless penalty takers. He had instilled despair in almost all penalty takers in the entire third division, making them afraid to face him.
The facts proved that this "Men Ban" would uphold his title until the end of the season. After only three kicks, this penalty shootout was over.
The Chinese French Youth Football Training Team had defended its goal, preventing any ball from entering, while they themselves scored three goals in succession, ending the match prematurely.
This also meant that the Chinese French Youth Football Training Team had secured their qualification for the French second division. This professional league, second only to the French first division, one of the world's top five leagues, represented a significant step forward for the entire youth football training team.
It was a pity that at this time, domestic fans were not overly interested in following this team that was once again making history. All their attention remained focused on the Am team.
Because after the top 12 qualifiers ended, it would already be 2030. Thus, after only half a year, the Am team would represent China on the World Cup stage, enduring high-intensity competition within a month.
Meanwhile, Boss Huang suddenly received news from the Football Association stating that as a Chinese team, the Am team could not be without the leadership of the FA.
Therefore, the Chairman of the Chinese Football Association intended to personally serve as the team leader for the Am team, ensuring that the team would not make any mistakes while competing abroad.
His reasoning was also quite straightforward: he stated that while it would have been most appropriate for Boss Huang, the Chairman of the Am Football Association, to lead the team, he knew that Boss Huang never traveled abroad. However, the Am team could not be without a Football Association Chairman as team leader. Thus, he had very conscientiously taken on this job and responsibility, which made Boss Huang want to punch someone.
But to be fair, Huang He was indeed under some pressure, and it was not convenient for him to fall out with the FA. So, in the end, he could only agree to lead the team, but only to lead it; no extra suggestions would be made or heeded. Simultaneously, this FA Chairman would have no authority to interfere with the team.
This Chairman readily agreed to these conditions, and Huang He finally had to accept it with a heavy heart.
Soon, it was the day the Am team set off for the World Cup. This World Cup was finally held in Uruguay, but simultaneously, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil would also co-host the matches.
However, with the expansion of the World Cup to a total of 18 teams, the previous method of allocating four teams per group could no longer be used.
This would result in 12 groups, and if the top two from each group advanced, there would be 24 qualifying teams, making it impossible to conduct knockout stages.
Therefore, after careful consideration, FIFA announced that the World Cup group stage would be divided into 16 groups, with three teams in each group, and only the top team in each group would qualify for the next round; the other two would be directly eliminated.
Then, the first-place teams from these 16 groups would compete in the round of 16.
This way, the competition in the group stage would become much more intense. After all, it was previously four teams advancing to two, and theoretically, each team had a 1/2 chance of reaching the knockout stage.
But now, it had become three teams advancing to one, with only a single opportunity remaining in each group.
However, this also presented a problem: if each group played one round, then each group would only need to play 2 matches in total. Compared to the previous 6 matches per group, the number of matches would be significantly reduced.
So, after careful consideration, each group would play two rounds of matches.
The first round of matches would determine the standings, and in the second round, the third-place team would play against the second-place team. The winner would then qualify to play against the first-place team, and the ultimate victor would advance from the group.
This way, each group would require 4 matches, and the total number of group stage matches would increase to 64, double the previous 32 group stage matches. This would not only bring in more sponsorship and ticket revenue but, more importantly, extend the entire World Cup schedule by about a month, allowing the immense popularity generated by the World Cup to envelop for a full three months, an immeasurable impact.
Returning to the main topic, after understanding the rules of the expanded World Cup, the next most important thing was the group draw.
If one could be drawn into a group with weaker opponents, it would undoubtedly provide a significant advantage.
This time, all participating teams would be divided into three pots, with one team from each pot in every group. This would prevent strong teams from colliding prematurely in the group stage.
There were a total of 16 teams in Pot 1. Asia had two spots in Pot 1, obtained by the group winners of the top 12 qualifiers, belonging to Fusang and the Kingdom of Arashi.
To be honest, with the expansion of the World Cup, the benefits for Asian football, among others, were very obvious.
For example, during the previous period when there were only 8 groups, there were never any Asian teams in the Pot 1 spots; they were all held by teams from Europe, the Americas, and the host countries.
Asian teams could only contend for spots in Pot 2 and Pot 3.
But with the expansion to 16 teams, Asia naturally secured two Pot 1 spots, allowing them to avoid strong teams in advance.
However, these two spots clearly had no relation to the Am team. The Am team secured a spot in Pot 2, meaning their group would inevitably include a super-strong team, and this team would definitely not be an Asian team due to the continental protection rule.
Therefore, the Am team could only encounter teams from Europe, the Americas, or Africa. And if the Pot 1 team the Am team encountered happened to be from Africa, rather than Europe or the Americas, they would basically be doomed.
But as it turned out, fate did not favor the Am team. After the group draw concluded, the Am team was placed in the same group as Croatia and Romania. This looked like a group of death from any angle.
After all, Croatia had reached the semi-finals in the previous tournament; they were a traditional powerhouse.
Romania was also a traditional strong team, but they had performed poorly in this year's qualifiers, which is why they fell into Pot 3. In short, the Am team was doomed.