Chapter 29: The Boat Will Naturally Go Straight when It Reaches the Bridge

Portugal finally defeated Ghana 2:1 with Cristiano Ronaldo's winning goal before the end, but Germany only narrowly defeated the United States by one goal, which also meant that Portugal's goal difference, which gained three points, still lagged behind the losing United States. Team.

The two qualifying places in Group G are Germany and the United States, and the qualifying places in Group H are Belgium and Algeria.

With the end of the last four group matches, the Brazil World Cup group stage has come to an end.

The competition in the group stage was full of joy and sorrow. After half a month, the top 16 teams were finalized.

Among them, European teams are tied with South America for the most seats, with five seats each. Central and North America and the Caribbean are surprising, occupying three seats, Africa two seats, and Asia one seat.

Group A: Brazil and Mexico; Group B: Netherlands and Chile; Group C: Colombia and China; Group D: Costa Rica and Uruguay; Group E: Argentina and Nigeria; Group F: France and Switzerland; Group G: Germany and the United States; Group H: Belgium and Algeria.

The arrangement of the 1/8 finals of the Brazil World Cup knockout round is the same as in the past. Two adjacent groups staggered for the first round of knockout rounds, that is, A1 vs. B2, B1 vs. A2, C1 vs. D2, D1 vs. C2, E1 vs. F2, F2 To D2, G1 to H2, H1 to G2.

In the eight 1/8 finals, each game is divided into 1-8 games. A1 versus B2 is the first game, B1 versus A2 is the second game, C1 versus D2 is the third game, and D1 versus C2 is the third game. Four games, in this round, until H1 versus G2 in the eighth game.

Then in the 1/8 finals from 1 to 8, it is set as the upper and lower halves, the first and third games, the fifth and seventh games are the first half, the second and fourth games, the sixth and sixth games are The eighth game is the second half.

Upper half: A1 vs. B2, C1 vs. D2, F1 vs. D2, G1 vs. H2.

Lower half: B1 vs. A2, D1 vs. C2, E1 vs. F2, H1 vs. G2.

The 1/8 finals between the Chinese team and Costa Rica are in the second half, which means that the Chinese team can defeat Costa Rica in the 1/8 finals, and the opponent they face will be the winner between the Netherlands and Mexico.

Of course, the 1/8 finals have not come yet, and it is too early to think about the 1/4 finals.

Costa Rica was able to stand out in Group D of the death group, and still qualified as the first place in the group. Apart from a certain amount of chance, its strength cannot be underestimated.

In the two days before the Chinese team prepared for the knockout round in Recife, head coach Lippi talked more about the players' mentality. Don't take it lightly just because Costa Rica is not well-known. You must maintain 100% concentration on the game.

The reason why Lippi focused on the mentality is entirely because the mentality of Chinese players is generally very complicated and confusing.

If the opponent is weak, it is easy to lose concentration in the game. If the opponent is strong, it is easy to give up. Therefore, fans who watched the past games were extremely worried.

After reversing Colombia 3:2 in the first round, Tang Zheng had a meeting with his teammates, and his mentality was indeed right. He performed well at the beginning against the Greek team in the second round, but as the Greek team played one less player, it was easy for the Chinese players The contempt that had arisen was exposed again, so a draw with Greece was achieved under a good situation.

At the end of the group stage schedule, the World Cup in Brazil got a two-day break.

The day after Portugal was eliminated, the entire team was disbanded. Cristiano Ronaldo met with Tang Zheng at the hotel where the Chinese team stayed before leaving Recife. Many Chinese and foreign media who were 'ambushing' around the hotel became Extremely excited, they took out their cameras one after another and kept pressing the shooting button.

In fact, the purpose of Cristiano Ronaldo's visit to Tang Zheng was very simple, which was to cheer up his club friends in person.

Because Tang Zheng personally attended the match between Portugal and Ghana to cheer for him, Cristiano Ronaldo, as the captain of Portugal, naturally wanted to thank him in person, and while thanking him, he naturally provided some encouragement and support.

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The World Cup has entered a short hiatus.

The atmosphere of the World Cup in China is unprecedentedly enthusiastic. Many business places are filled with promotional posters about the Chinese team's participation in the 1/8 finals of the World Cup in Brazil.

What about staying up all night watching football and drinking beer for free, Internet cafes giving you peanuts for watching football all night long, buying one get one free on beer at a bar, etc...

Even many merchants offer pre-orders. If the Chinese team can beat Costa Rica by one goal, the discount will be 10% off, if the Chinese team beats Costa Rica by one goal, the discount will be 20% off, if the Chinese team beats Costa Rica by three goals, the discount will be 20% off, and so on. If you can win by ten goals, everything is free.

It has to be said that as the Chinese men's football team makes further progress in the World Cup in Brazil, the domestic economy has also increased.

Although it may not seem obvious, it makes many businesses make a lot of money.

You must know that from the beginning of the Chinese men's football team's preparations for the World Cup until now, Central Committee 1 to Central Committee 5 have been constantly reporting on the Chinese team's preparations. As the Chinese team becomes the only team in Asia to advance to the top 16, China The domestic football fanaticism has become unprecedented.

At this time, the domestic media in Japan and South Korea, which symbolize the pinnacle strength of Asian football, seem very embarrassed, especially the South Korean media.

In the past, the Korean media and the Japanese media were very aggressive, saying that their respective domestic players were the top in Asia and could play the absolute main force in the five major European leagues.

But now it seems that it is useless.

After joining the AFC in 2006, everyone heard that it was gradually becoming easier for Australia to qualify for the World Cup. However, there is still a big gap between Australia and the world's top football. In the first two rounds, it lost to Chile and the Netherlands and was eliminated early.

Iran and Japan will not be eliminated early, but they will only delay the time of death.

The Chinese team is different. One win and one draw in the first two rounds basically set the tone for the group appearance. If not for the draw with Greece in the second round while occupying a good situation, they would have qualified for the group one round ahead of the seeded team Colombia.

It has been ridiculed and ridiculed by Japanese and Korean media for so many years, but now it is finally clear that the Chinese domestic media will inevitably exaggerate.

Therefore, in the few days when the Chinese team was preparing for the 1/8 finals, many Japanese and Korean students had conflicts with domestic students. The fundamental reason was that Chinese fans showed off the excellent results of the Chinese team, which led to dissatisfaction among the Japanese and Korean students, and then there were quarrels. , until physical conflict.

Closer to home, while Chinese players are actively preparing for the 1/8 finals, Lippi and his coaching team are also studying Costa Rica.

In fact, Costa Rica's ability to qualify from Central and North America is directly related to three players. The first one is naturally the team's top star, No. 10 Ruiz, who currently plays for Fulham in the Premier League, and then there is Ruiz, who plays for La Liga Levante. Goalkeeper Navas, the last one is Campbell, a player born in the 1990s on loan from Arsenal.

The three players just formed a central axis, and they performed very well and showed their best selves. In addition to luck, they advanced to the top 16 to a large extent because of their strength.

Therefore, Lippi communicated with his Chinese assistant Li Tie more than once, asking him to sound a wake-up call to the players every day to avoid the situation that occurred in the second round of the group stage from happening again.

Tang Zheng is China's number one star. He has a high influence on the team. He often cooperates with Chinese assistant coach Li Tie to instill the importance of concentration in the game. He also explains from time to time that a lion should use its full strength to beat a rabbit.

Besides, Costa Rica is not a rabbit, and the Chinese team is not a lion.

Although the personal reputation of Costa Rican players cannot be compared with that of Tang Zheng, they are better because the strength of many players is not much different. With Ruiz, Navas and Campbell leading the three more famous players, they can actually perform at their best. Strong strength.

In the blink of an eye, the two-day gap period between the World Cup in Brazil has passed and the war has resumed.

There are two 1/8 finals on the first match day of the knockout stage. The first match is the host Brazil and the opponent is Chile.

However, due to time constraints, Tang Zheng did not have time to pay attention to this game, because the game time was at 2 pm local time in Brazil, and the Chinese team had an outdoor training plan, so he could only watch the short game live broadcast during the training break.

Both teams played very cautiously in the first 1/8 finals, and reaching the knockout stage also means that no one can afford to lose!

Especially in the first ten minutes of the game, neither side devoted much force to the offense, and focused more on the defensive end.

Until the 19th minute of the game, Neymar took a corner kick from the left. Thiago Silva, who had taken the lead, headed the ball and then his partner David Luiz shot from behind.

The Chilean team, which was lagging behind, consciously strengthened its offense. Scolari, who coached the Brazilian team, was a defensive expert. He was particularly concerned with the team's defense. After taking the lead, the defense was tight and tight.

However, accidents often occur everywhere. In the 32nd minute of the game, the Brazilian left back Marcelo threw a sideline ball from the backcourt. The Hulk's return pass was intercepted by Vargas. The latter passed into the penalty area and Sanchez After getting the ball in the right rib of the penalty area, he calmly fired a low shot into the far corner to equalize the score.

After that, neither side made any achievements and entered overtime.

Unfortunately, neither side broke through the opponent's goal in overtime and had to enter a brutal penalty shootout.

Just as the Chinese team's training session came to an end, Tang Zheng was able to watch the penalty shootout on his mobile phone.

In the first round of the penalty shootout, the Brazilian team sent center back Luis, who hit the goalkeeper vigorously and scored the ball. Then Chilean player Pinilla, who took the penalty kick, was saved by goalkeeper Cesar.

Brazilian player Willian, who took the penalty kick in the second round, deceived goalkeeper Bravo, but his penalty shot missed the goal post.

The next player to take the second penalty kick on behalf of Chile was Tang Zheng's good friend Sanchez, so Tang Zheng, who was holding the frame of his mobile phone with both hands, felt a little nervous.

Sanchez is Chile's number one star, and he is under great pressure. As long as he scores the ball, the penalty kick score will become 1:1.

I don’t know if it was due to excessive pressure, but his penalty kick was also rejected by Brazilian goalkeeper Cesar.

In the broadcast, Sanchez looked very remorseful and painful, holding his head in his hands, as if he couldn't believe that his penalty kick was saved by Cesar.

The third round of penalty kicks continued. Marcelo and Aranguiz, who represented their respective teams, both scored. After three rounds of penalty kicks, the score was 2:1, with Brazil leading.

The fourth round can be said to be the turning point of the penalty shootout. Hulk's penalty kick was blocked by Bravo with his legs. Midfielder Diaz withstood the pressure and scored the penalty kick to equalize the score.

The fifth player to appear in Brazil's penalty shootout was Neymar. He withstood the pressure and hit the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.

Although Jara, the fifth starter who represented Chile, deceived goalkeeper Cesar, his penalty kick was rejected by the crossbar...

As a result, Brazil eliminated Chile with a total score of 4:3 and became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

The 1/8 finals that took place two hours later was still a South American derby, with Colombia facing Uruguay at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

It is worth mentioning that in the last round of Uruguay's life-and-death battle with Italy, striker Suarez made an obvious move to bite Chiellini during the game. Although the game was not seen by the referee, it was inevitable after the game. responsibility.

The FIFA Disciplinary Committee decided to ban Suarez for nine games. The first ban was the 1/8 finals between Colombia and Uruguay.

The remaining eight games of the ban are the remaining games of Uruguay's World Cup. If Uruguay is eliminated in the 1/8 finals, the remaining eight games will naturally extend to the World Cup qualifiers.

At the same time, he will not be able to participate in football-related activities for four months and will be fined 100,000 Swiss francs.

The most beneficial thing for Colombia is undoubtedly that Suarez missed the 1/8 finals, so Colombia will have much less pressure on the defensive end.

Cavani's ability is also outstanding, but without Suarez in the frontcourt, it will be difficult for Cavani to find opportunities.

The 1/8 finals between Colombia and Uruguay started at 8 pm local time in Brazil. As usual, Tang Zheng watched the live broadcast in the hotel room with his teammates who had a good relationship.

It has to be said that James Rodriguez is in very good condition. When striker Falcao missed the World Cup finals due to injury, he took up the offensive banner of the national team. He scored 28 goals in the first half Minutes later, he scored a stunning left-footed volley.

Unsolvable world wave!

Only five minutes into the second half, it was James Rodriguez again. He received Cuadrado's header in the penalty area and directly pushed the goal with his foot. He scored twice and entered his personal World Cup. The sixth goal.

There were no achievements in the subsequent games. Colombia finally defeated Uruguay 2:0 with the help of popular James Rodriguez's brace and advanced to the quarter-finals. They will face the host Brazil in the quarter-finals.

Looking at the proud James Rodriguez in the broadcast, Tang Zheng was very envious.

Although Colombia lost its biggest star Falcao, it was a blessing in disguise. The younger James Rodriguez shined and led the national team to the quarterfinals.

So Tang Zheng is wondering whether he can lead the national team to defeat Costa Rica in the fourth 1/8 finals tomorrow night at the Pernambuco Arena and advance to the quarterfinals like Colombia.

After the game ended, his teammates left one after another. Tang Zheng was still thinking about the 1/8 finals tomorrow night.

After an unknown amount of time, he came to the window and looked at the night view of the city of Recife through the glass window, and his thoughts gradually became firmer.

It’s just the 1/8 finals, is there any need to worry so much?

all will be good!