Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 629 A Depressed Asia

Following the Chinese national football team's victory over Ivory Coast, coupled with events that occurred at the press conference, the team has sparked some controversy.

The "park the bus" style of play has drawn criticism from some media outlets and fans, as it is considered rather unattractive.

However, Shan Yongzhuo's words still gained wider acceptance.

After all, in competitive sports, victory is the prerequisite for everything.

After this match, the media is quite optimistic about the Chinese national football team's chances of qualifying.

After the match, major Chinese media outlets gave the Chinese national football team a wide range of praise for their victory in the first game, highlighting their performance on the field, especially praising Shan Yongzhuo, who scored a hat-trick.

As for the next two group matches, how to advance from the group stage, whether to win first or second place, the media and fans are offering all sorts of suggestions.

According to domestic media and fans, the strength of this group is very balanced, and the fact that the Chinese national team was able to beat Ivory Coast means that the Chinese national team is capable of beating Colombia and Greece.

Greece lost to Colombia in the first leg by a dismal 0-3 score.

Having already lost one match, Greece needs to win both of their remaining matches to advance, so they will definitely go all out against China and Ivory Coast.

Colombia easily defeated Greece in the first leg and is widely considered the strongest team in the group; they will certainly strive for first place in the group.

Therefore, the Chinese national football team needs to win at least one of its next two matches to ensure its qualification for the knockout stage.

However, everyone within the national football team is full of confidence.

Everyone is fully preparing for the second leg match against Greece.

Head coach Gao Hongbo made the goal of advancing from the group stage clear to everyone.

The first opponent we need to face is Greece.

The next day, four more World Cup group stage matches were played.

In the two Group D matches, Uruguay, a semi-finalist from the previous tournament, surprisingly lost 1-3 to Costa Rica, causing a major upset.

Italy defeated England 2-1 in a high-profile match, thanks to a winning goal from Balotelli.

In the last World Cup, Italy, as the defending champion, was eliminated in the group stage.

Italy is making a comeback in this World Cup.

Their strong runner-up finish at the 2012 European Championship gave Italy tremendous confidence.

Their victory over their old rivals England in this match has boosted their confidence even further.

After the match, Balotelli arrogantly mocked England on his personal Twitter account and unethically claimed that Italy had already qualified.

Shan Yongzhuo really wanted to remind his former teammate, but considering Balotelli's unique way of thinking, he decided against it in the end.

England, on the other hand, suffered a heavy blow.

Every World Cup, England is touted by domestic media as the strongest England team and a top favorite to win the title, but the results are always dismal. In several consecutive World Cups, their best result is only reaching the quarterfinals.

This time, they got off to a bad start once again.

As usual, people seem to be more interested in what their wives and girlfriends wore than in their performance.

Shan Yongzhuo's teammate, Harry Kahn, was also selected for the squad, but he spent the entire first game sitting on the bench for 90 minutes.

The two matches in Group E were pretty much a foregone conclusion.

Switzerland defeated Ecuador 2-1, and France beat Honduras 3-0; neither of these European powerhouses managed to pull off any major upsets. The first leg of the matches concluded in the following days.

The outcome of the competition naturally brought joy to some and sorrow to others.

Shan Yongzhuo also keeps in touch with several of his Granada teammates who participated in the World Cup.

The most outstanding player was undoubtedly Daley Blind, who performed exceptionally well in the match against defending champions Spain and assisted Robin van Persie in scoring a stunning diving header.

Virgil van Dijk also had a commendable performance, starting the game and effectively shutting down Diego Costa throughout the match.

The Netherlands' 5-1 victory over Spain left both players feeling incredibly triumphant.

Nainggolan was also among the winners, as he provided an assist in the first leg, helping Belgium defeat Algeria 2-1 and secure a winning start.

Shan Yongzhuo was naturally one of the proud ones.

His hat-trick not only helped the team secure a winning start, but also put him and another German player, Thomas Müller, at the top of the scoring charts.

However, after the first round concluded, the performance of the Asian teams was quite disappointing.

In Group B, Iran lost 0-2 to Chile in the first leg. Considering that Iran will face the Netherlands and Spain in the next two matches...

In the view of almost all media outlets, the Persian cavalry is likely to suffer a third consecutive defeat and end in disappointment.

South Korea, who were drawn into Group F, also had a dismal performance in the first leg, losing 0-1 to Nigeria.

With Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina to face next, South Korea's chances of qualifying are far from optimistic.

Japan, who were drawn into Group H, were originally considered a strong contender among Asian teams.

Unfortunately, they failed to capitalize on their opportunities in the first leg against Russia, resulting in a 1-1 draw.

After all four Asian teams made their appearances, people were surprised to find that the Chinese team performed the best.

The other three teams also underperformed.

There's not much to say about Iran; they were already in the group of death, so qualifying is basically a pipe dream.

South Korea originally had a chance, but their first-round loss to Nigeria has essentially made their chances of advancing extremely slim.

Japan's performance was alright, drawing with Russia and earning 1 point, but it was still just barely satisfactory.

Some experts have even analyzed that, judging from the performance of Asian teams in this World Cup, it is very likely that only China will be able to advance to the round of 16, while the other teams will be eliminated in the group stage.

If that's the case, it's really not a good thing for Asian football.

The number of teams qualifying for the World Cup is linked to the performance of teams from each continent in the World Cup.

If Asian teams perform poorly overall, they may face the fate of having their quota reduced.

There are already too many Asian teams, and the original 4.5 slots are not enough. If the number of slots is reduced further, it would be a terrible thing.

For example, the Australian team joined the AFC because of the fact that Asia was less competitive and had a decent number of qualifying spots. Otherwise, with only 0.5 spots for Oceania, even though they are unbeatable in Oceania, it would be quite difficult for them to compete with other continents for a spot.

Unfortunately, this time they ran into the Chinese team. Although they secured 0.5 qualifying spots, they were then faced by Uruguay from South America, and suffered a crushing 0-5 defeat in the final two legs.

If Asian teams continue their poor performance in this World Cup, it will inevitably affect Australia as well.

(End of this chapter)