World Cup: Am I the Only One Who Wants to Win?

Li Gengcong, nicknamed “You Gencong,” is the strangest “normal” player in the history of Chinese football.

He enters the national team brimming with passion, only to find his teammates warming up in the locker room by practicing Baduanjin, the goalkeeper’s thermos labeled “Goji berries inside, add your own hot water,” and the forwards taking a break after running just a few steps because they “don’t want to overdo it.”

The rest of world football is even more absurd: Cristiano Ronaldo defends by strolling around, Messi jogs back at a leisurely pace, and players everywhere coast on their talent. Only Li Gengcong runs hard, fights for the ball, and takes his shots seriously.

So with his own two feet, he kicks the complacent football world into chaos.

Guam complains that he “ran for 90 minutes.” Syria’s coach accuses him of “disrupting football harmony.” Kaoru Mitoma posts that he “reminds people of 996.” Fans across the internet are in stitches: “Everyone else is playing a relaxing game, but You Gencong insists on turning it into hot pot!”

One scallion turns the World Cup upside down.

When the whole world is lying flat, taking things seriously becomes the sharpest weapon of all.

This is a ridiculous, feel-good story about “an ordinary person forced to become a legend in an abnormal world.”