When Mark finished his interview and returned to the locker room, Müller and Neuer were already dancing the polka to music.
Seeing Mark, the hero of the comeback in this match, Müller's eyes lit up, and he quickly called out,
"Mark! Come here!"
Looking at their expectant gazes, Mark didn't quite know how to dance it.
However, he still gritted his teeth and joined them.
Subsequently, "Little Pig" and Götze, bare-chested, also started dancing.
"Olé... Olé..."
"We've qualified!"
Just as everyone was singing and dancing, Löw also returned to the locker room. Seeing this scene, he didn't stop them, but just clapped and smiled, saying,
"Guys, you're as beautiful on the field as you are dancing off it!"
"This was a great comeback!"
Immediately after, he added,
"Oh, by the way, we have an old friend who's come to say hello to everyone..."
As soon as his voice fell, a tall and upright man walked in from the locker room door.
"Hey, guys! How are you doing?"
It was none other than Ballack, the former iron-blooded captain of the German Team!
Seeing Ballack, Lahm, Little Pig, Mertesacker, Klose, and others all stepped forward to greet him.
"Michael, long time no see!"
"Indeed."
After greeting his old friends, Ballack also came up to Mark and gave the junior a big hug.
"Buddy, you played brilliantly in this match!"
Mark also smiled faintly.
"Thank you, I just did my best..."
Looking at this young man, only eighteen years old, who had already achieved so much in the World Cup and remained unfazed by praise and admiration, Ballack's evaluation of him instantly rose significantly.
"This kid is truly extraordinary!"
Ballack's arrival was just a small interlude.
Because he wasn't the biggest name visitor.
After the first-round match against Portugal, Chancellor Merkel had come to the locker room to comfort the players.
It's worth mentioning that, besides congratulatory messages from his agent and teammates, Mark also received a message from Hisch on the team bus en route to the airport.
"Two goals, you're absolutely amazing!"
"We've qualified!"
In addition to the text, the cute emojis in the message allowed Mark to vividly feel the girl's emotions.
That evening, after returning to the camp, Mark messaged Hisch for nearly an hour before finally falling asleep, still feeling a sense of lingering satisfaction.
And a faint smile still lingered at the corners of his mouth.
The next day, major media outlets across Germany reported the news of the German Team defeating Ghana and securing an early qualification spot.
Among them, "Super Substitute" Mark, who came off the bench and scored two goals, was naturally the undisputed protagonist!
"Even though Klose equaled Ronaldo's World Cup goal record in this match, the protagonist of the game was still that eighteen-year-old super talent who scored two goals in the World Cup!"
"Mark Lane is showcasing his talent unreservedly on the World Cup stage!"
— Süddeutsche Zeitung
"This young man from Lower Saxony is not only the biggest discovery of this year's Bundesliga, but also the biggest discovery at the World Cup!"
— Bild
"Prodigy rivals Pelé, Mark Lane is using his unique footwork to tell everyone at the World Cup that Germans can also play Samba football!"
— Kicker
In addition to sparking heated discussion in Germany, Mark's goal and celebration, which resembled Ronaldinho's, instantly ignited the entire Brazilian internet, especially since he used a Samba star's scoring method and celebration on Brazilian soil!
Both the way he scored and his celebration afterward couldn't help but remind people of that smiling green field elf!
Someone also uploaded Mark's goal and celebration to YouTube, and in just one day, the views skyrocketed by two million!
As the Samba Elf gradually faded from football, a new green field elf emerged!
"New Ronaldinho!"
"German Ronaldinho!"
"German Elf!"
The media also bestowed various nicknames upon him.
Soon, the "original" Ronaldinho also noticed this matter.
The widely recognized Samba Elf posted a celebratory photo of himself making the "666" gesture on his social media account and tagged Mark.
He also captioned it:
"Buddy, your goal was spectacular! Especially the celebration after the goal, very cool!"
Mark also responded immediately:
"Thank you, my idol! You made me experience the purity and joy of football!"
The interaction between the two, along with the viral YouTube video, also gained Mark a large number of Brazilian fans.
His personal social media followers surpassed the million mark in just a few days!
It's no exaggeration to call him a million-follower internet celebrity.
Especially his handsome photos on social media received numerous likes and comments from Brazilian female influencers.
Many passionate South American ladies directly sent him private messages.
Besides greetings, most of them included photos of their hot figures.
Of course, for these temptations, Mark simply admired these beautiful photos with an appreciative eye, then uniformly made no replies.
Hmph, I'm not someone you can just easily get!
With the other second-round group stage match between the United States and Portugal ending in a two-all draw, the situation in Group G became clear.
The German Team won both matches, accumulating 6 points, ranking first in the group.
The United States had one win and one draw, accumulating 4 points, ranking second in the group.
Portugal had one draw and one loss, accumulating 1 point, ranking third in the group.
Ghana lost both matches, accumulating 0 points, ranking fourth in the group, and was already eliminated.
In the third match, the German Team will face the United States. Only a win or a draw will secure the top spot in the group.
If they lose, they will concede the top spot in the group.
Portugal's hopes of qualifying are now only theoretical.
Only if the United States loses, and Portugal achieves a goal difference of four or more against Ghana, can they possibly qualify!
It can be said that Cristiano Ronaldo is very likely to be the first world-class star to leave the World Cup stage.
Of course, for fans, it would be a shame if Cristiano Ronaldo left the World Cup.
But for Mark, Cristiano Ronaldo was just the first stepping stone for Germany's ascent to the top.
This World Cup is destined to be the domain of the German Team!
And what he has to do is ride this all-crushing steel war machine to the top of the world!
With early qualification secured, the German Team can make some rotations in the third round of the group stage.
Of course, even with squad rotations, the German Team's paper strength is still far superior to that of the United States.
Moreover, many people are speculating whether the German Team will choose their opponents.
From the current group situations, if the German Team qualifies as group winners, they will enter the upper half of the bracket which includes host Brazil, Colombia, and France.
If they qualify as group runners-up, they will enter the lower half of the bracket which includes the Netherlands, Argentina, and Belgium.
However, for the German Team, which aims to win the championship, both the upper and lower halves of the bracket are the same.
Just crush them all!
.....
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