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"Next, we turn to international sports news. Early this morning, Beijing time, the 2014 Brazil World Cup Group H continued. In a highly anticipated match, the European powerhouse Belgium defeated South Korea with a score of 3-0."
"In this match, Belgium's 17-year-old Lance performed exceptionally, scoring three goals alone, achieving a hat-trick. Including his goal and assist in the first match, Lance has already contributed 4 goals and 1 assist in the first two group stage matches."
"With these 4 goals, Lance temporarily leads the scoring chart of this World Cup. The victory in this match also allowed Belgium to qualify for the knockout stage one round in advance…"
This was Lance's second appearance on CCTV's "Xinwen Lianbo."
The last time was when he led Bayer Leverkusen to win the Bundesliga.
"Xinwen Lianbo" spent 10 seconds mentioning this event in its final international news brief, and gave Lance a 3-second long shot.
By all accounts, Lance was already prominent enough.
Unexpectedly, this time, after defeating South Korea, CCTV1 Comprehensive Channel did not put the match report in the international brief, but instead, in the international news segment, dedicated a separate 30-second voice-over to report on this single match.
Among so many World Cup group stage matches, only Belgium's victory over South Korea was reported separately.
This was quite intriguing.
…
Lance didn't even know about this at first.
The day after defeating South Korea, Belgium had a short one-day break.
After the big match, Lance's confrontation with South Korea had consumed a lot of his energy, so after a simple celebration with his teammates, he fell into a deep sleep.
By the time it was deep into the night in Brazil, the sun was just rising in the East on the other side of the globe, many fans had stayed up all night watching yesterday's big match, and the entire internet was excitedly discussing the game.
The top three trending topics on Weibo were completely dominated by Lance:
#Belgium vs South Korea
#Lance Hat-Trick
#First Anti-Korea Player
"This is the first time I've seen a Chinese person play football and win against Koreans."
"Luckily Lance didn't come back; it's more satisfying to crush Korea in Belgium."
"Lance actually became the main player for Belgium, so strong!"
"Oh my goodness! Am I dreaming? A Chinese person scored a hat-trick at the World Cup?"
"He's Belgian."
"A passport doesn't explain anything; it's enough that his heart is Chinese."
"Chinese people are Chinese!"
"He and Lin Dan are both from Longyan."
"Just ask if he has black hair and yellow skin! Is there a problem with being a descendant of the dragon?"
"To be fair, when he turns 18, he can exploit a loophole, choose to join Chinese nationality and get an ID card, while retaining his eligibility to play for the Belgium Football Association."
Lance has expressed his closeness to his homeland on more than one occasion in public, and has stated more than once that he is Chinese.
Moreover, whether it's Lance's standard Mandarin accent, his language habits, or his way of thinking, he is no different from a normal Chinese person.
Anyone who has seen Lance's interviews knows he is completely different from a "banana person"; he is clearly one of their own.
He doesn't even need to prove it himself; anyone with eyes can see it.
And netizens are all giving Lance advice.
The homeland, in principle, does not recognize dual nationality; if he chooses a Chinese ID card, his Belgian nationality will automatically become invalid.
However, even if his Belgian nationality becomes invalid in the East, the Belgium Football Association will certainly not let go of such a key player as Lance.
They will definitely work hard to retain Lance's Belgian identity, allowing him to continue to stay with the Belgium Football Association.
This way, Lance would be registered as a Belgian in FIFA's archives, belonging to the Belgium Football Association.
In reality, he could retain Chinese nationality, becoming a "mercenary" playing football in Belgium with a Chinese ID card.
Similar discussions are endless on the Chinese internet, many netizens have sent private messages or @ Lance himself, so he is naturally very aware of it.
As for the specific operation, he will leave it to his agent team next year, Lance just wants to focus on playing well now.
Regardless, Lance's hat-trick performance against South Korea last night made the entire internet ecstatic for a whole day, watching South Korea lose was just so satisfying!
If they could meet the Japanese team in the knockout stage, it would be even more enjoyable if Lance represented Belgium and crushed them.
After a day of online buzz, by 7 PM, "Xinwen Lianbo" aired, and Lance's 30-second exposure once again became a sensation nationwide.
Previously, leading Bayer Leverkusen to win the championship was only a small splash, a minor breakthrough.
Many people who didn't understand football or follow sports still didn't know who Lance was.
Appearing on "Xinwen Lianbo" was different.
From high-ranking officials to street vendors, everyone heard Lance's name.
Who cares what team he plays for, just ask if he's Chinese, and if he beat South Korea!
That's enough!
Suddenly, more and more people began searching for Lance simultaneously, and his Baidu Index soared overnight!
Lance's popularity instantly expanded from tens of millions to hundreds of millions!
He instantly became a national football star like Yao Ming and Liu Xiang.
The massive traffic caused Weibo's servers to suddenly crash around 8 PM, and Weibo urgently summoned operations personnel to maintain the servers.
In Berlin time, it was currently around 1 PM, in the afternoon.
The lunch rush at the restaurant in Munich had just passed, Lu Yongping and Zhao Ping had just finished being busy, asked the head chef to prepare some staff meals, and the two came to a corner to eat and plan.
"Why are we still so tired even as bosses?"
"It's all because of you; we could just hire two more people, but you insist on doing the work yourself."
Lu Yongping couldn't help but complain, and Zhao Ping immediately became unhappy.
"Oh, so hiring people doesn't cost money, right? You know how expensive labor costs are here; we have to pay salaries, taxes, social security… Do you know how much all these expenses add up to in a year? Anyway, we're just sitting around, what's wrong with doing more work and saving some money for Lance?"
"He's earning tens of millions of Euros a year now; does he need us to save money? He didn't even want the money I gave you last time."
"A football career only lasts a few years; we have to plan for the future."
"Don't worry about that; with his current performance, if he plays for another year or two, his annual salary will be more than enough just from bank interest."
"I…"
Zhao Ping suddenly had no retort.
Accustomed to frugality, she was temporarily unable to adapt to her son's new status.
He is now a world-class football star; even if this Cantonese restaurant were to close down directly, and the old couple were to travel the world and spend lavishly, Lance could easily afford it.
Just as Zhao Ping was lost in thought, CGTN's German Chinese channel simultaneously broadcast CCTV1's "Xinwen Lianbo," and the couple unexpectedly saw the national news reporting positively about their son on TV.
They had just watched Lance's live match broadcast last night, and were still very excited to see the footage in the news.
"See, what did I tell you? Lance is already a big star."
"Yes… a big star."
Zhao Ping didn't have that sense of vanity from her son being on "Xinwen Lianbo."
She simply felt that, given Lance's effort and love for football, he deserved to play on a bigger stage.
Looking at Lance's smile in the news, she knew that her son was truly enjoying football.
That was enough.
…
"You called just for this?"
"Yes! We saw you on Xinwen Lianbo, that's great!"
"I…"
Lance was speechless.
After the big match last night, he had a short day off today, and he was planning to sleep in to catch up.
Waking up naturally around 9 AM, then going to the gym to work out, after that, playing golf with Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, and other teammates to relax, or enjoying a wonderful spa at the base's hydrotherapy center.
He checked his phone; it was just past 8 AM, and his father's excited voice was hard to miss.
He made a long-distance call for no other reason than seeing him on Xinwen Lianbo.
"Alright, alright, you guys have fun. I'm going to get up and work out."
Since he was woken up, Lance decided not to bother sleeping anymore.
He washed up and went straight to the base's gym for his daily, unshakeable iron-pumping session.
With two consecutive wins in the group stage, Belgium secured their spot in the knockout stage and had a chance to finish first in the group.
For the remaining match against Russia, the coaching staff had decided to use a rotated lineup, just playing casually to train.
The focus would be on the knockout stage!
Their opponent would be the second-place team from Group G!
Looking at the teams in Group G: Germany, Portugal, United States, Ghana!
The situation in Group G was quite tight, with several teams having a chance to qualify.
"Could I meet Cristiano Ronaldo?"
Lance couldn't help but recall the Champions League semi-final, where they were unfortunately eliminated by Real Madrid.
If given a choice, Lance would prefer to meet Portugal!
He also wanted Cristiano Ronaldo to experience the taste of being eliminated!
Lance wanted revenge!