Chapter 14: The Diaosi's Counterattack in Wales
After the second round of the group stage was all over, the Chinese team determined that Group E would qualify as the first. This result made all fans very excited. Everyone could not have imagined that in Group E, which has Brazil and the Netherlands, the Chinese team only used Stand out in two games.
Many fans also observed a moment of silence for Brazil.
In fact, the Netherlands was better. They lost their first game to the Chinese team. It was a positive defeat. No one could do anything about this kind of loss. Brazil was a bit tragic. They played two games and drew two games. In these two games, Brazil actually performed well, but the striker was a little weak, and then suffered two draws in a row.
After two draws, Brazil even has a crisis of qualifying for the group.
Now the entire Brazilian team has no time to think about the knockout round. They must pass the Chinese team first. If they lose the game, or even draw, they are likely to be eliminated from the group.
Brazil national team coach Tite is not a very famous coach. Although he is somewhat famous in Brazil, it is difficult for him to have much influence in the world after being in the Brazilian domestic league for a long time.
Tite's best coaching result was when he led Brazil's Corinthians to the Copa Libertadores two-leg final in 2012, beating Argentina's veteran powerhouse Boca Juniors 3-1 on aggregate.
After that, Tite led his team with high spirits in the World Club Cup, and met Wan Sheng and led Atletico Madrid. The result was a 3-0 cut, and he could only go home sadly. This is the intersection of Tite and Wan Sheng.
For these pasts, Tite will definitely not feel good.
After coaching Corinthians in Brazil, Tite followed the Brazilian men's football team in the early exit of the Copa America 100. The Brazilian Football Association announced the dismissal of coach Dunga, and then announced that Tite took over as the head coach.
This Brazilian team has high expectations. Tite has been questioned a lot since he took office. Whether it is compared with the former coach Dunga or the former coach Scolari, Tite's successful experience is too rare. .
Now, when leading Brazil, facing a crisis in the group stage, losing the second place in the group early, and unable to even qualify for the qualifying, Tite's pressure can be imagined.
"We have to win the last game!"
"I don't want to be optimistic about a draw anymore, that means we are probably eliminated!"
Tite's voice is powerful and still has some effect. Maybe he has coached for two years, and it is still difficult to have much prestige, but all Brazilian players know that they must win the last round, otherwise they will leave with sadness.
As the world's most successful football team, if they can't make it out of the group, they are really ashamed!
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Unlike the Brazilian team's intense preparations, the Chinese team didn't care about the last game at all, because they had already determined to qualify first in the group.
"Take this drill and tactics, pay more attention to the cooperation in the game, and feel the pressure of playing against a strong team!" Wansheng's players emphasized, "It's like what the media said, we came to the World Cup because Those who learn from experience, now is the best opportunity to learn from experience! With the experience of this game, when we meet a strong team in the knockout round, we also have experience, you must remember that feeling!"
Wansheng completely regards competition as training to learn from experience.
The Chinese team is qualified to do this because they are already the first in the group, and the Brazilian team won and they are still the first in the group.
In the past two days, the Chinese team did not prepare for Brazil at all, but set their sights on the knockout rounds. The most likely place they will encounter is Wales.
The entire coaching staff is also looking at Wales.
Under such circumstances, the Chinese team ushered in the final round of the group match against Brazil. There is still a lot of attention in this game. For the Chinese team, it doesn't matter whether the game is won or lost, it has no great impact at all, but There are still fans talking about the tragic loss of the Chinese team to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup, and they hope that the Chinese team can achieve revenge.
Brazil is more concerned, the third round will decide which team will advance to the knockout stage with second place in the group.
The two group matches that make a good round are played together, and the number of people watching the game between the Netherlands and Mexico is relatively small, because as long as Brazil wins the game, that game becomes meaningless at all, and the Chinese team will join hands with Brazil to qualify. .
"Probably the Chinese team will be waterproof!"
Some fans thought.
Especially some Chinese fans, they are all very excited. The Chinese team can "release water" when they reach the World Cup. Doesn't that prove the strength of the Chinese team?
The game seemed to prove what they thought.
From the beginning of the game, the Chinese team has been stabilizing the formation and constantly seeking cooperation. Although the Brazilian team achieved the suppression on the scene, the Chinese team took the lead in scoring. The breakthrough brought Zhang Yuning a chance. The latter volleyed and helped the Chinese team score the first goal of the game.
All Chinese fans were immediately excited!
This game is not against the Netherlands, not against Mexico. The opponent is Brazil. There is no doubt that in the eyes of most people, Brazil is the top team in the world. In comparison, the Netherlands is still a lot worse.
The Chinese team was able to score a goal in the first 6 minutes of the match against Brazil.
Many commentators are also analyzing --
"This goal is exactly the same as the second goal in the last match between the Chinese team and Mexico. Wang Qiuming moved in the middle and Zhang Yuning stepped in and scored. It seems that the Chinese team cooperated in such a small-scale routine. It's been done very skillfully!"
"Brazil coach Tite probably didn't study the game between China and Mexico carefully, otherwise they wouldn't make such a mistake!"
"Brazil's defense is very solid, but they are obviously not able to keep up with the Chinese team's shift from left to right!"
"..."
In the constant comments, it can be seen that many commentators have repositioned the strength of the Chinese team.
In their hearts, the Chinese team is no longer a weak team at the bottom, especially after a strong victory over Mexico in the second game, many people think that the Chinese team is at least a mid-level team in the World Cup, and it has the ability to challenge the world's top teams by playing well.
The Brazilian team is now facing a dilemma. They were well prepared before the game, but in the game, they were the first to score the goal. They had to step up their offensive and tie the score faster, because a tie also means that they are likely to Eliminated by the group.
So then the Chinese team was suppressed even more.
But no one thought that the second goal would come so late, the game was going on, Brazil had been attacking, they were constantly looking for opportunities in the frontcourt, the goal of the Chinese team seemed to be in jeopardy, but this situation It lasted until the 78th minute of the second half.
Brazilian striker Neymar received the pass and transferred it to the right. Hulk stepped forward and volleyed the ball, which was blocked by the post.
Just when many people lamented the bad luck of Brazil, the defender Fabinho who followed up shot the ball into the net!
Brazil scored!
But a goal was not enough for them, it was just an equalizer. They were eager to start the game without even celebrating. Next, Brazil continued to besiege the goal of the Chinese team. Finally, 2 minutes before the end of the game, Hulk played. Into the go-ahead goal.
2 to 1!
Brazil takes the lead!
This is just a goal, but it also means that the Brazilian team has qualified for the group.
This is the first time for the Brazilians to feel that it is not so easy to qualify for the World Cup. Without Hulk’s shot, they would definitely be eliminated from the group stage. Hulk saved Brazil and the coach. The fate of Tite's early dismissal.
Brazilian fans finally put their hearts down.
But it is conceivable that a new round of criticism will come again after the game. Brazil is not a Chinese team. They are the old and traditional strong teams in the world. They are the favorite teams to win every World Cup. Playing so dangerously, how far can Brazil go in this World Cup in Russia?
As the losing side, the Chinese team won praise instead.
During the match against Brazil, the Chinese team took the lead for 70 minutes and showed a solid defense in the first and second half. In the face of the continuous bombardment of the goal by the Brazilians, their defense was in jeopardy, and the solid line of defense also gave The Brazilians brought enough trouble.
Although the Chinese team lost the game, it was considered to be, "Played the momentum of the national football team! Even if they lose, they are heroes!"
Perhaps more importantly, the Chinese team doesn't matter at all. They must have qualified first in the group, and the victory or defeat would be meaningless. As for the so-called 'revenge' by some fans, what's the point of revenge? In order to get revenge, it is not good to hurt the vitality, but the Chinese team has to play in the knockout round.
On the day of the match with Brazil, the match in Group F also ended. In the end, Wales defeated Cameroon and successfully got 6 points, while Spain won 9 points from three games and three games, so the first place in Group F is Spain, the second is Wales, the Chinese team will be the first to face Wales in the knockout round.
Some fans saw that the Chinese team's opponent in the round of 16 was Wales, and could not help but feel that the Chinese team had a great hope of entering the quarter-finals.
But in fact, Wales is not easy to deal with.
The United Kingdom is a 'United Kingdom' consisting of four parts, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Ten or twenty years ago, there was only one team in England that was good, Wales and Scotland were second-tier teams, not to mention Northern Ireland, which was not ranked in the world.
But in recent years, Welsh football has developed rapidly. Before the opening of the World Cup, FIFA announced the latest national team rankings. Wales ranked 9th in the world, while England ranked 10th. Once surpassed the Three Lions to become the boss of the British Isles. It is worth mentioning that just six years ago, the Welsh team ranked 117th in the national team, which was lower than the ranking of the Chinese team that year, but four years later, Wales successfully staged a good counterattack. Play, the ranking soared 108.
Many football people have analyzed the reasons for the soaring ranking of Wales. The first important reason is the rise of Bell.
Wales' counterattack is inseparable from the rise of Bell.
Bell grew up in Tottenham Hotspur. He was transformed into a killer on the offensive line by Tottenham coach Redknapp. The performance of the Welsh national team has also improved significantly with the rise of Bell. Promotion, especially after beating Macedonia on October 11, 2013, and losing only one of the next 11 matches.
In the past few years, Wales have performed very well against strong teams. According to FIFA's points rules, the higher the ranking of the team, the more points will be awarded for winning. And in the past few years, especially in the last three years, Wales have won against England, Portugal and the four top 20 teams in Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has also given Wales a better Many single game points.
Wales' performance in the group stage also proved that they are not "parallel points".
Although they lost the game against Spain, it was only 1-2, and Spain did not have much advantage. In the other two games, Wales won all of them, and it was an overwhelming victory from the beginning to the end.
This performance is amazing.
Faced with such an opponent, even the world's traditional strong teams cannot guarantee victory, let alone the Chinese team.
After analyzing Wales, many media commented to remind the Chinese team, "Be careful!"