Chapter 12 Group Qualification

In the remaining time of the first half, Mexico played a good offensive, but still failed to break the gate of the Chinese team, and the Chinese team continued to lead until halftime.

After returning to the locker room, Wansheng praised everyone's performance, they continued to work hard to maintain their skills, and strive to defeat Mexico in one fell swoop and complete the group qualification of the World Cup.

Mexico coach Herrera summed up the first half, asking players to pay more attention to the defense of the two wings, and in the midfield position, it is more necessary to strengthen penetration.

"They are very fierce in the midfield. If we keep entangled with them in the midfield, we will not have too many chances, so we need to strengthen the cooperation and penetration in the midfield, not too sticky the ball, and hit the ball decisively and quickly. frontcourt."

At the beginning of the second half, a substitution was made, and left-back Hector Moreno came on.

This Mexican full-back, born in 1992, plays for Eindhoven in the Eredivisie. He is a well-known 'butcher' in the Eredivisie and even European football. He is known for his tough defense. The way of play is also called 'rubbish-rubbish' by many other angry fans.

Herrera let Moreno play in order to limit the offensive on the right side of the Chinese team. Moreno's toughness may limit the cooperation between Wang Qiuming and Zhang Yuning. It was the cooperation of the two that made the goal in the first half. .

This kind of defensive shift adjustment was also highlighted at the beginning of the second half. It is not easy for Zhang Yuning to rush forward to find opportunities. Any striker will be very distressed when facing Moreno, because the latter seems to be completely unconcerned about what his feet can do to the opponent. bodily harm caused.

At the same time, Mexico's offense has also become decisive. They didn't stop in the midfield, passing the ball to the frontcourt whenever they had time, trying to directly threaten the goal of the Chinese team.

This style of play made the Chinese team have to be more cautious about the frontier defense of the penalty area.

Taking advantage of the opening time, Mexico played a good situation. They suppressed the Chinese team for nearly five minutes in a row. This suppression also gave them hope of scoring goals, so they played more actively and pressed further forward. .

Wan Sheng stood on the sidelines and kept shouting to remind the team to pay attention to defense. The Chinese team played so well in the first half that many people forgot that their tactics in this game were actually based on defensive counterattacks. At the beginning of the game, a few players stood very forward, which also caused a danger to the defense.

Hearing the coach's shout, the Chinese team players also became much calmer. They began to retreat into the formation and tighten the penalty area.

After more than ten minutes, Wan Sheng was not too worried.

The Chinese team has regained a sense of defense, and the formation has been maintained very stable. Although Mexico has frequently pressed on and has the momentum to break the goal, it is difficult for them to find a chance in a good position. All outside the restricted area.

Herrera certainly doesn't have a football training master system, and their players don't have a shooting ability bonus, so most of these shots are just wasted opportunities.

Mexican players have also found that it is not easy for them to break through the gates of the Chinese team quickly.

20 minutes into the second half.

There is an old saying in China, 'In one go, you will fail again, and three will fail'. Herrera doesn't know this sentence, but he understands the meaning. It is also applicable in football matches. , the next opportunity is bigger, but after 20 minutes, the rush is completely over, their offensive is getting more and more tired, and the chances of breaking the goal are getting less and less.

Herrera had to make substitutions, and he chose to use a striker instead of a midfielder.

In this way, Mexico's formation has been adjusted from 352 to 343, which is almost equivalent to a full attack style. The 343 formation has sufficient offensive, but the Mexican players on the field are already exhausted. They have been attacking for a long time and working hard for a long time. If they failed to break through the gate of the Chinese team, even if they made a substitution adjustment, their attack was actually no more violent than before.

The Chinese team has been shrinking defense.

In the case of leading, the Chinese team is not in a hurry to play a wonderful offensive, but to ensure the score, as long as Mexico is not a big threat, or when there is a very good opportunity, they will take the initiative to attack.

The Chinese team not only has a tight defense, but also plays very tough. Especially in terms of physical confrontation, they have already tasted the sweetness. When their own team is particularly tough, the opponent will be softer, just like Mexico in the second half. They almost gave up and The Chinese team is fighting in the midfield, and they continue to use cooperation to pass the ball to the frontcourt. This style of play seems to be technically improved, but the turnover rate has also increased. Without toughness, Mexico wants to grab the ball at the feet of the Chinese team. Also smaller, which is not good for them.

Mexican players are very uncomfortable, and they are already tired by this time.

On the surface, it seems that Mexico has been pressing the Chinese team to play, but in fact, they have found very few good opportunities, and the offensive threat is much worse than the opening of the second half. For a long time, the goal of the Chinese team was Pretty safe.

Wang Xiaolei felt the deepest feeling.

At the opening stage of the second half, he has been putting all his energy into paying attention to the ball. Now that the football will not fall in front of the goal, he feels a lot easier.

Wan Sheng sat on the coach's bench.

This trend did not let the media say anything, but it has already expressed his mentality.

He is very comfortable with the game.

The players on the field are doing very well, the team has a goal advantage, and the opponent is starting to show weakness.

The game has basically been won.

————

In the rest of the second half, Mexico made a lot of efforts in order to be able to break the gate of the Chinese team.

In the 81st minute, Herrera used up the last substitution and replaced it with a striker.

So Mexico has four strikers.

But the increase in the number of forwards did not bring qualitative changes to Mexico's offense. They still had nothing to do with the solid defense of the Chinese team. At this time, they finally knew why the Netherlands had worked hard for the whole game and could not break the gate of the Chinese team. .

It's not that the Netherlands did poorly, or that their players didn't wear boots, but the Chinese team's defense was really good.

If you want to break the gate of the Chinese team, you need not only strength and cooperation, but also a lot of luck. .

The Netherlands is out of luck.

Mexico has no luck either, at least so far, the game will be over in five minutes, almost all the players of the Chinese team returned to the backcourt to participate in the defense, and even after Wang Qiuming arrived at the center line, the Chinese team put on a defensive position. Vice-preventive posture.

Offense and defense are just the opposite. They are the two extremes of the football game. When the entire line retreats, even if Mexico has a large space in the backcourt, the Chinese team cannot use it to create threats, because they put all their energy on guarding the goal.

Mexico also thinks so, perhaps saying that by this time they can no longer care.

They have been desperately launching the offensive.

Just in the 89th minute of the game, a wave of Mexico's offensive entered the penalty area. Striker Hernandez touched the ball over his head, but put the ball on his teammate's arm. Because the football popped out of the penalty area, the referee did not do anything. Sentencing.

After that, Zhang Yuning drove the ball forward with a big foot.

Wang Qiuming rushed up instantly! He let go of his legs and ran forward desperately!

Wang Qiuming didn't think about scoring a goal, he just chased the ball forward and tried to bring it forward faster, so as to buy more time for the team, and 20 meters before the Mexican penalty area, he caught the drop. the ball, at which point he realized the opportunity.

The only Mexican player who can rush over to defend is the central defender Marquis. Marquis runs beside Wang Qiuming. He is a veteran who is almost 40 years old. He is very experienced, but his body can no longer keep up. , especially after such a long game, he couldn't run at all.

After Wang Qiuming caught up with the ball, he stepped forward with a big foot and continued to chase the ball.

Marquis could only hang behind, he kept running, but it was impossible to catch up.

Wang Qiuming continues to dribble!

There was a loud cheering sound from the audience!

"Wang Qiuming! Opportunity! Great opportunity!"

"He must be single-handed!"

Mexican goalkeeper Talavera attacked ahead of time. Without the assistance of the defender, he had no choice but to choose to go on his own. But Wang Qiuming was too experienced. Seeing Talavera attacking, he immediately chose to shoot!

Not a very strong lob shot with one kick!

But facing the football nearly two meters above his head, Talavera could only stop and turn his head to watch the football fly into the goal, but only despair flashed in his eyes.

————

Mexico loses!

When the football flies into the goal, even before the game is over, everyone already knows the result.

It is impossible for Mexico to score two goals in stoppage time, which means they will lose the game, and the Chinese team is the winner of the game.

All Chinese fans started to celebrate the victory with excitement, and the cheers resounded across the country, from Russia to Beijing, and from Beijing to the world.

"Team China! Win!"

"The second game of the World Cup! One for the Netherlands, one for Mexico, and the Chinese team all won!"

"They made it out of the group!"

"It's a miracle, the Chinese team will definitely become the dark horse of the World Cup!"

"I don't know how far they can go in the future, but this moment belongs to the Chinese fans!"

Amid all kinds of shouts, the game time passed a little bit.

3 minutes.

1 minute.

30 seconds.

Finally, Mexico ended the last wave of offensive, goalkeeper Wang Xiaolei kicked the ball out, and the referee also blew the whistle for the end of the game.

In the second group match of the World Cup, China beat Mexico 2-0.

Coupled with the 1-0 victory over the Netherlands in the first game, the Chinese team has already scored 6 points. Considering Brazil's first draw with Mexico, in other words, the Chinese team has completed the group qualification ahead of schedule!