Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 660: The Intriguing Semifinals
soon.

The quarter-final match between Belgium and Argentina also took place on time.

Shan Yongzhuo was also waiting in front of the TV early, ready to watch his friend's match, which might also be Nainggolan's farewell match in the World Cup.

However, to Shan Yongzhuo's dismay, Nainggolan spent the entire match on the bench.

This left Shan Yongzhuo somewhat confused.

Belgium's head coach, Marc Wilmots, was a spiritual leader for Belgium during his playing days and participated in the World Cup finals four times.

At the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, Wilmots scored 3 goals, bringing his total World Cup goals to 5, making him Belgium's all-time top scorer in World Cup history, and leading Belgium to the round of 16 in the Korea-Japan World Cup.

Wilmots later retired and became the head coach of the Belgian national team in 2012.

However, compared to Belgium's current star-studded squad, which can be described as a Galácticos-like team, Wilmots' coaching career seems somewhat lackluster.

In this match, Wilmots chose Fellaini and Witsel as the starting defensive midfielders.

No matter how you look at it, Shan Yongzhuo felt that these two people were simply no match for Nainggolan.

While Axel Witsel, who plays for Zenit Saint Petersburg, has some ability to control and protect the ball, he is physically weak and his defensive efficiency is not as good as Nainggolan's. He is also less adept at choosing the rhythm of attack and defense transitions than Nainggolan.

Witsel's greatest strengths are his versatile dribbling skills with both feet and his ability to cut inside and shoot. Technically speaking, he is better suited to the position of winger rather than defensive midfielder.

As for Fellaini, his technical characteristics are not at all like those of a defensive midfielder.

In Shan Yongzhuo's view, Fellaini is somewhat similar to Australian legend Tim Cahill, possessing excellent attacking ability and a keen sense of goal.

However, neither of these two players, as defensive midfielders, possesses top-tier sweeping defensive abilities, falling far short of Nainggolan. Furthermore, their ability to make forward passes is also inferior to Nainggolan's.

The choice of these two people over Nainggolan is something Shan Yongzhuo doesn't quite understand.

These two players failed to effectively limit Messi, while Nainggolan was able to completely restrict Messi in the attacking midfield position with his excellent physical strength and sweeping ability.

If Messi, the attacking pivot of Argentina, is contained, and his dribbling and passing abilities are restricted, Argentina's overall attack will be greatly weakened, and they will have to rely solely on Di Maria's breakthroughs on the flanks.

After honing his skills last season, he served as Granada's primary midfielder and playmaker for the entire season, and together they won the La Liga title.

Nainggolan is now absolutely capable of completely containing Messi on the World Cup stage.

Unfortunately, he was placed on the bench by Wilmots for this match.

When the match started, things went exactly as Shan Yongzhuo had predicted.

The match had only been going on for 8 minutes.

In the center circle, Mascherano intercepted De Bruyne's ball and passed it to Messi. Messi turned several times, shaking off Witsel and Fellaini, before passing the ball to Di Maria on the right wing. Di Maria crossed the ball, and Higuain, 13 meters from goal, volleyed it past Belgium.

With this goal, Higuain scored his fifth World Cup goal, ranking fifth in Argentina's World Cup goal tally, tied with Messi.

Not to be outdone, Belgium then launched a counterattack.

However, another problem in Belgium has also come to light.

Although their attacking lineup is very impressive, in previous matches, Nainggolan's overlapping runs acted as a mediator, providing a shield around De Bruyne and allowing him to perform with ease.

In this match, Fellaini was only focused on penetrating into the penalty area himself, while Witsel acted more like an assassin, failing to provide protection for De Bruyne.

After De Bruyne received the ball, he was immediately surrounded by Argentina's defense, especially Mascherano, who made it impossible for De Bruyne to receive the ball and organize the attack in a relaxed manner.

This situation also fragmented Belgium's attack. With De Bruyne contained, Belgium could only rely on Hazard's breakthroughs.

However, without De Bruyne's support, Hazard was forced into individual battles, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of Belgium's overall attack.

On the contrary, it's Argentina.

Under Mascherano's leadership, Argentina's defense appeared to be in complete control, and their counter-attacks were also very effective.

In particular, Fellaini and Witsel's constant forward runs allowed Messi to operate with little restriction on counter-attacks. His long and short passes after breakthroughs often found Di Maria and Higuain, the two key attacking players, very accurately.

Fortunately, Belgium's defense is quite strong, and under Kompany's leadership, they performed very well, which prevented the score from being extended.

However, the inability to score goals has become Belgium's biggest problem.

Argentina stubbornly held on to the score of 1-0 until the very end.

Shan Yongzhuo was quite disappointed about this. He really hoped that Belgium could defeat Argentina, or even the Netherlands or Costa Rica, and that the Chinese team could defeat Germany.

Then, I'll face off against my friend Nainggolan in the final.

However, this idea has now been abandoned.

Shan Yongzhuo must now focus his energy on the match against Germany.

This match is one in which Shan Yongzhuo cannot afford to be careless in the slightest.

After all, that was Germany, one of the biggest favorites to win this World Cup, the German team that is known as the world's number one team at beating weaker opponents.

Unlike Brazil, which was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, this German team can be said to be the peak of their development after many years, and it was almost a natural choice for them to win the World Cup.

Even Shan Yongzhuo felt a little apprehensive facing such an opponent, after all, the overall gap was too obvious.

Even with sacrifices, Shan Yongzhuo couldn't guarantee he could defeat Germany, the steel-clad war machine, and advance to the finals.

After the match between Argentina and Belgium, the final quarter-final match also began smoothly.

After 120 minutes of intense play, the Netherlands and Costa Rica are still tied 0-0.

After a penalty shootout, the Netherlands successfully eliminated Costa Rica, ending their dark horse run and advancing to the semi-finals.

With this, the four semifinalists of this World Cup have been determined.

Last year's runner-up, the Netherlands, has once again made it to the semifinals, where they will face Argentina.

Robben, Van Persie, and Sneijder led the Netherlands to the top of the World Cup once again, with the trio surrounding Messi.

Will the Dutch trio once again challenge for the World Cup title, or will Messi finally lead Argentina to a breakthrough?

That's the biggest highlight of this semi-final.

The other match, Germany versus China, is considered a game shrouded in mystery.

The German team, known for its teamwork, besieged the Chinese team, the ultimate representative of a one-man team with the superstar Shan Yongzhuo.

Will it be a victory of teamwork, or will the superstars continue to shine?

This is another major highlight.

(End of this chapter)