Chapter 487 World Cup Quarterfinals

On November 11, Democratic candidate Carter defeated Republican candidate Ford by a narrow margin in the presidential election and became the 2th President of the United States.

Why did Ford lose, making him the first president to fail in reelection since 1932? After taking office, he unconditionally pardoned his predecessor who nominated him as vice president, which greatly reduced his score.

As the Democratic Party regrouped, Xixi's direct superior's direct superior in the organization was invited to join the cabinet, and her status began to rise.

In any case, Xixi has personally done a lot of support work for the victory of democracy.

She was born in 47 and is 29 years old now.

At this age, in this position, and with such outstanding looks, there are many high-ranking officials in the Democratic Party of New York State who covet her.

But they also know that this woman has the support of media giants and has no shortage of money or power.

But in the current social environment, they are unable to give women a higher position.

Without the right chips, they had no way to start, so they could only demonstrate their magnanimity as leaders.

Of course, these are what Xixi said herself.

But she does face an important problem: if she wants to go into politics, her single status is an obstacle. Without a family, she cannot win the trust of voters.

Both of them knew this very well. What Xixi meant was to find an ally of status and become husband and wife.

Wang Yuanchao also expressed his agreement with this.

After all, Wang Yuanchao's advice to her at the beginning was to take the professional route, build up her reputation, accumulate favors bit by bit, and then compete for state senator, strive for the presidential nomination within the organization, and then aim for the cabinet. After the cabinet, she can accumulate power in the Senate of Congress.

Before Xixi, there were already many women politicians in the United States, some of whom had taken this path.

For example, there was a Republican female senator from Maine, Margaret Smith, who was included in the list of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in the 64 election, becoming the first female nominee for the presidential candidate of a major organization in history. Although she did not make it to the finals, she set a record for women running for president.

By the time La Zipperton comes to power, Xixi will have accumulated enough power, and Wang Yuanchao can make careful plans to secure a position for her in the cabinet.

Attorney General is suitable, as historically this position has been held by women.

With the experience in the cabinet, Xixi will be able to accumulate a rich resume. After Bush Jr., she will be able to compete with the ones who come after her.

Hehe, even if I can’t win the fight, the King of Understanding can at least give it a try, right?
If you want to compete for the position of Attorney General, you must now start to transform and get involved in the economic field, otherwise you will not be able to help Zipperton.

Xixi didn’t know that La Zipperton would take office, and Wang Yuanchao didn’t dare to be absolutely sure now, but it was likely that this person would be the one.

Xixi still trusts Wang Yuanchao's judgment. After all, she is now well-known in the organization.

That is to say, in a big state like New York, in other small states, there is still hope to run for state senator.

Now that Xixi's issue was resolved, he also started to become active with his former father-in-law Reagan.

President Ford failed to seek re-election, so the only big shot left in the Republican Party was Reagan.

Reagan had to start planning for four years later. After all, Carter was able to defeat Ford's re-election, so why couldn't Reagan defeat Carter's re-election?
Anyway, Reagan is no longer the governor and has the campaign funding support from his former son-in-law Adam Wang, so he can start by sorting out the current situation.

He is very patient.

Just like how he went from being the president of the Screen Actors Guild to becoming the governor of California.

Wang Yuanchao returned to Hong Kong only after he had sorted out matters in the United States.

There was nothing unusual in Hong Kong, and life was still going on peacefully and prosperously.

But Wang Yuanchao knew that a new era was about to begin.

——Time flies by, June 1978——

In December 1977, the Hong Kong Football Team defeated Iran and qualified from Asia for the Argentina World Cup for the second time.

When it comes to leagues, player training, investment, and head coaches, other countries in Asia really cannot compare with Hong Kong football.

This time, Hong Kong United is in Group D with Peru, the Netherlands and Scotland, and the top two teams in the group will qualify.

In the first round of the group stage, Peru beat Scotland 3:0.

At the same time, the Netherlands beat Hong Kong United 1:0.

All the players compete at the same time, ensuring a fairer result.

The Netherlands is a European football powerhouse, and Wang Yuanchao still acknowledged that the team only allowed one goal.

In the second round, Scotland lost to Hong Kong 0:2.

It was also very thrilling. Hong Kong almost scored an own goal, which would have made the score 1:1. Fortunately, the goalkeeper reacted superbly and caught the ball. Hong Kong took advantage of the situation to counterattack and expanded the score to 2:0, completely securing the victory. Even if they can't beat England, they can beat Scotland, which is not bad.

In another match of the same round, the Netherlands and Peru drew 0:0.

Peru and the Netherlands had one win and one draw, so they are in a good position to qualify, while Hong Kong United had one win and one loss, so they also have a chance. Only Scotland was eliminated early with two losses.

In the third round of life-and-death battle, Peru and Hong Kong United tied 2:2.

Peru has one win and two draws, accumulating 4 points, with a goal difference of +3. Hong Kong has one win over West Germany, one draw and one loss, accumulating 3 points, with a goal difference of +1, and basically has no hope of qualifying.

But Scotland fought for honor and actually beat the Netherlands 3:2!
Scotland won one game and lost two games, accumulating 2 points and was eliminated. The Netherlands won one game, drew one game and lost one game, accumulating 3 points, with a goal difference of +0, and watched Hong Kong squeeze out of Group D!
I really have to thank our good Scottish brothers!
[Except for the fabricated results of the Xiangjiang United team, all others are real historical results]

So Hong Kong, Italy, West Germany and Austria advanced to Group A of the second round of the group stage, while Group B was made up of Argentina, Brazil, Poland and Peru.

It can be seen that Group A is basically composed of European teams, and Group B is basically composed of South American teams.

In the first round of Group A, Hong Kong beat Austria 2:1 and got off to a good start, while West Germany drew 0:0 with Italy. The situation is very good for the Hong Kong team!
In the second round, Italy beat Austria 1:0, and West Germany beat Hong Kong 2:1. West Germany and Italy won one and drew one, pushing Hong Kong to third place in the group, and the situation was reversed in an instant.

In the third round, Hong Kong United tied with Italy 1:1. Italy won one and drew two, accumulating 4 points and successfully advanced. Hong Kong United won one, drew one and lost, accumulating 3 points.

Austria lived up to expectations and defeated West Germany 3:2. Austria was eliminated with one win and two losses and 2 points, while West Germany had one win, one draw and one loss and 3 points.

Although Hong Kong had a goal difference of +0 and West Germany had a goal difference of +0, but West Germany defeated Hong Kong 2:1 and there was no need to compare the goal difference at all. West Germany relied on this game to beat Hong Kong United and advanced to the competition for third and fourth place. Hong Kong United came third in Group A and was unfortunately eliminated.

Although Wang Yuanchao felt regretful, he could accept it very much. After all, they made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup! Great Britain didn't even qualify!
In the last World Cup, Hong Kong was defeated by West Germany 3:0, but this time it was 2:1, which is a lot of improvement.

So with two wins and two draws, what is there to be dissatisfied with?

While Asian countries do not pay much attention to football, Hong Kong must take the lead and build a strong aura. The football market in Asia is not small. According to the current Hong Kong league rules formulated by Wang Yuanchao, Asian players are not considered foreign players.

The ambition is obvious.

Of course, there are basically no players from West Asia. There are more players from East Asia, and even more of them are Chinese and European and American foreign players.

Europeans and Americans can also become naturalized in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's household registration system is very open.

So the Hong Kong team is not all made up of yellow-skinned Chinese. There are white-skinned Europeans and dark-skinned South Americans. The main purpose is to be inclusive.

Also because of Wang Yuanchao's close relationship with the authorities, football lottery was also exposed.

It is also sold by Wang Yuanchao’s horse racing ticket agency.

Team employees, players and their immediate family members can buy football lottery tickets, but they can only bet on their own team to win. If they bet on their own team to lose, they will be fined or even jailed. If gambling is found, the players will be directly disqualified from participating in the Hong Kong League.

Football stars have become big names in Hong Kong. They are rich and have many romantic affairs outside.

Some people are retaliated against by their spouses, who bet on their husbands’ team to lose.

Although the truth was finally revealed and the player was spared from jail, he was still fined. In Wang Yuanchao's words, if he can't even take good care of his family, how can he take good care of his football career? Can he be worthy of the citizens of Hong Kong?
Although the player has not been disgraced, he has become a warning beacon for Hong Kong football.

For these energetic guys, the competition in the league is already very fierce. Once they are affected by these things, not only will their energy be greatly depleted and their form decline, but the club will not be optimistic about them and will gradually marginalize such dangerous people.

After all, there are so many talented people... Not only local players, players who have returned from studying abroad, but also players from East Asian countries, and even players who can't make a living in Europe and the United States and come here to grab food.

Many fans from Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia regard a certain team as their home team simply because there are players from their country playing there.

If their players can play, start, or defend successfully, these are achievements worth showing off. If they score a goal, they will be given titles like Japanese Soccer King or Korean Baseball King and so on, and they will be showered with titles like that.

These players cannot enter the European and American football scene, and the Hong Kong League is the highest level league they can access.

In order to earn more broadcasting fees, advertising fees and sponsorship fees, the second-tier teams in the Hong Kong League will negotiate cooperation with the national teams of Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries, and talk to their businesses about sponsorship, attract their players to play football, and focus on opening up the advertising market in their country.

Members of the national teams of many countries are not strong enough to play in the Hong Kong Football League A, let alone the League B.

There are also many second-tier football clubs in Hong Kong, which are not necessarily opened by Hong Kong people.

Anyway, the Hong Kong Football Association is very open about the management and naming rights of the team, as long as you follow the rules.

These market-respecting behaviors and strict management have made the Hong Kong football market very good. Whether watching the game live or watching it on TV, the revenue has always been very good, and there is a huge market in East Asia and Southeast Asia.

Many people are proud to play football in the Hong Kong League.

Everyone who runs a football team in Hong Kong has their own interests to gain, just like Wang Yuanchao runs Chelsea in the UK.

The World Cup quarterfinals are the best reward for Hong Kong football.

(End of this chapter)