World Cup of Great Powers

Chapter 297 Still Qualified

On the third day after the end of the Sino-French battle, each group played the second round of the group stage.

Compared with its neighbors, the national football team has obviously been "pit" again on the schedule.

Because there are only three teams in each group, one team will have a second-round bye.

That way, the team with the bye can either sit out and get better rest than the other two teams.

Therefore, in this round of competition, the two hosts of the three Asian countries have "byes", and only the national football team will play.

The result of Group A was Cameroon 2-0 Australia, and Group B was Brazil's 0-0 draw with Canada.

The news once again surprised the fans.

The Asian champion's draw with the world champion is considered an upset.

Is it a bit too much for your Oceania champion to draw with the world runner-up?
Anyway, that's the result.

Brazil failed to take down their opponents in a head-to-head match.

It also just verified Pele's words: Brazil has lost its samba flavor.

But in fact, this Brazilian team is also a second team.

Not only is there no "ear" in the team, even the candidates are mostly players from the Brazilian domestic league.

It is worth mentioning that Deco has also been invited by Brazilian Bamboo Shoes in the Confederations Cup.

But Deco has recently been working on naturalization in Portugal.

In order to avoid suspicion, he was not called into the team.

So the two strikers from Europe in this Brazilian team are Fiorentina's Leandro and Lyon's Anderson.

Coupled with the fact that the Brazilians like to fight alone when they can't attack for a long time, this 0-0 is also reasonable.

In the third game of the day, the Chinese team faced the previous Confederations Cup champion Mexico at the Niigata Stadium.

For the Chinese team, which was tied in the first game, this game can only be won!

Even if you win, you may not be able to qualify.

In this case, Zeng Zheng has nothing to do.

In addition to winning, you can only score more goals.

Mexico are the defending champions of the Confederations Cup, most notably captain Luis Suarez at the back, who has overtaken Matthaus to become the second-most capped player ever for his country. , Its momentum is close to the record holder Egyptian veteran Hassan.

Even so, the absence of famous players such as Blanco and Hernandez has also greatly reduced Mexico's strength.

At present, the team's heavy responsibility is handed over to striker Borgetti.

Borgetti scored 22 goals this season, helping Laguna win the Mexican league championship.

It is worth mentioning that all the players in Mexico are from the Mexican domestic team.

For the Chinese team, Zeng Zheng made some simple adjustments compared to the previous game.

The goalkeeper is still Ou Chuliang.

The four defenders are Sun Jihai, Li Weifeng, General Fan and Wu Chengying.

The four midfielders are Li Tie, Zhang Ran, Zhang Xiaorui and Shao Jiayi.

The two forwards are Yang Chen and Xiao Wang Tao.

The high-altitude bombing played a role in the French team.

Playing against a smaller team like Mexico, Xiao Wang Tao will definitely become the starting striker.

Because of the excellent performance of the Chinese team in the last game, this game once again attracted the attention of many scouts.

Before the game, scouts from all over the world took out their small books to record the Chinese players who performed well on the field.

Especially Li Weifeng.

When I found out that this guy was a direct descendant of Zeng Zheng, but he was still playing in his country's league.

It was even marked with a "key number".

Like the Chinese team in the last World Cup, Mexico was defeated in the top 16.

But the difference between the two is also obvious.

The Chinese team is participating in the World Cup for the first time, while Mexico has participated in the competition 10 times.

In the standings at the end of May.

Although the Chinese team dropped the 700 mark in points, the ranking has risen by 4 places.

The current score is 684, ranking 12th.

The national team points in this interval are relatively dense.

11名的南斯拉夫689，13名的罗马尼亚683，14名的墨西哥680，15名的英格兰673。

Wanting to win the French team is still a bit "idiot's dream";
But the fans are still looking forward to winning against Mexico.

Although Mexico had a bye in the first game, the team just lost to England 0-4 in a friendly match last week.

Under the exhaustion of boats and cars, it greatly affected the team's performance.

On the other hand, the Chinese team.

After the draw with the French team in the first game, the momentum was great, and they had the upper hand after the opening.

For several consecutive attacks, they were all clearly looking for Xiao Wang Tao.

Had it not been for the heroic save of Huadie Campos, maybe the Chinese team would have scored in the opening game.

After holding on to the high-altitude bombing of the Chinese team, Mexico played a beautiful defensive counterattack in the 12th minute.

Avant-garde Rodriguez swayed left and right in front of the penalty area, passing two defenders in a row.

Before rushing into the penalty area, he kicked up suddenly and made a strong long-range volley.

The ball went straight to the upper right corner of the goal.

Fortunately, Ou Chuliang's position was reasonable and his reaction was timely. He flew forward and threw a single palm to block the ball out of the goal frame.

In the 20th minute, there was a gap on the right side of the Mexican team, and Sun Jihai made a decisive cross.

This time, Sun Jihai passed a later point.

The ball flew over Wang Tao's head and landed on Li Weifeng's chest at the back post, forming a good opportunity for two-on-one in a small area.

Facing the opponent's defender who rushed up, Li Weifeng stopped the ball with his chest, kicked the ball back with his left foot.

Xiao Wang Tao, who had just landed, swayed his left foot to meet the ball. Campos missed the save and the ball went into the lower left corner of Mexico's goal.

After the goal, the morale of the Chinese team was boosted.

Li Tie's fierce press and Zhang Ran's concise through pass made the Mexican team tired of defending.

Coupled with the fact that the ball would stick to Zhang Xiaorui's feet and could not be broken no matter what, the Mexican became even more anxious.

What troubles them the most is.

Although Li Jinyu was not on the field, Shao Jiayi's free kick was equally dangerous.

The butterflies danced several times in a row to keep the goal.

In the 22nd minute, Wang Tao, a tall high school student, received a pass from Zhang Xiaorui near the penalty spot, turned around and shot decisively, almost expanding the score;
In the 29th minute, under the interference of the opponent's goalkeeper, Xiao Wang Tao deflected the ball 6 meters in front of the goal and missed a must-go goal.

This round of offensive completely knocked the Mexicans out.

It wasn't until 30 minutes later that the Mexicans gradually adapted to the Chinese team's style of play.

Under the command of old coach Mesa, the Mexican tried to use his personal skills to focus on the right side of the Chinese team, and by the way, consume the physical fitness of Sun Jihai, who has a strong assist ability.

In the 40th minute, the Mexican showed his superb foot skills in front of the world for the first time in this Confederations Cup.

The simple and smooth ground cooperation with a few feet instantly tore apart the formation of the Chinese team.

When his player went down to the bottom line on the right, Sun Jihai was still two meters away behind him.

"boom!"

Rodriguez passed a well-placed ball, and General Fan and Li Weifeng, who were guarding the front and midpoints, both took the lead.

Ruiz at the back post jumped high and headed the ball.

Unfortunately, under the interference of Wu Chengying, the ball was pushed straight out of bounds.

The Mexicans failed to level the score before the end of the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, Mexico, trying to save the defeat, replaced a striker and an avant-garde.

With the injection of fresh blood, the situation has changed a lot.

It was about to form a siege to the Chinese team's penalty area, but a low-level mistake by the defender made the team passive again.

In the 53rd minute, Sun Jihai made a successful steal in the midfield and quickly made a pass along the sidewalk.

The Mexican defender reached the front point and the clearance was not far away.

Shao Jiayi, who got the ball from the gourd in the penalty area, rushed forward and fell to the ground to shovel the pass, and the ball flew into the penalty area again.

In the penalty area, Yang Chen turned around and shot angrily after receiving the ball, the ball flew into the dead corner against the left goal post.

Campos beyond reach!
2 is better than 0!

While the Chinese team expanded the score, it also contained the Mexican counterattack.

It wasn't until the 60th minute that Pardo's ingenious pass from outside the penalty area broke through the Chinese team's offside trap.

The semi-single-handed Victorino tried to hit the goal from a small angle in the penalty area, but it was a pity that he was not only weak or too tired, and he didn't even hit the goal frame.

One minute later, Osorno, another striker who had just entered the field, also wasted the opportunity to catch up with the score in a semi-single-handed situation.

The opponent's two and a half singles in a row made Zeng Zheng frown.

The opponent's striker advances too fast.

If you can't compete for the first landing point, you will try your best to grab the second and third landing points.

Except for Zhang Ran, Li Tie, General Fan and Li Weifeng could only use their bodies to protect the ball forcibly when handling this kind of ball.

But this is what the opposing striker is best at dealing with!
The nimble little man stretched out his foot and poked the ball away.

After seeing how sensitive the opponent's feet were, Zeng Zheng decisively replaced Li Tie with Xu Yunlong.

After controlling the midfield, the Chinese team began to cheer again.

Judging from the performance of the Mexican team today, the level of its semi-main team is only on par with the Chinese team when they are not acclimatized.

If the Chinese team can not take this opportunity to win a big score.

With such a Mexican team, the French team abused them like a game.

For the goal difference, the Chinese team had to step up their offense again!
Because of their height and length, the national football team has obvious advantages in terms of physical fitness and figure in the confrontation.

Under the control of midfielder Zhang Xiaorui, the Chinese team began to firmly grasp the possession of the ball and the rhythm of the game.

On the other hand, the Mexican side began to completely compress the backcourt formation, completely tearing the midfield and frontcourt apart.

The midfielders defend intensively, and the forwards fight like crazy dogs.

Even after grabbing the ball, it is usually a 2-on-4, 2-on-5 situation.

Continuous long shots from outside the penalty area became the only way for the Mexicans to attack.

At the end of the game, forward Thompson, who had scored 13 goals in a game, was replaced.

Zeng Zheng ignored Chi Shangbin and Jin Zhiyang's reminders.

The Mexican's midfield has been completely out of touch.

Even with such a horrible scoring record, it is futile not to get the ball.

What's more, the Chinese team is not an underdog.

Zeng Zheng is still very clear about how much his own defense is.

He replaced Yang Chen with Qu Shengqing who just recovered from hemorrhoids, and replaced Shao Jiayi with Li Jinyu. Zeng Zheng stepped up his attack again.

As Zeng Zheng expected.

The Mexican avant-garde with good speed and good footwork ran several times in a row after he came on the field, but they were all empty runs in vain.

Under the Chinese team's central defense, he couldn't get the ball at all.

Although his speed and fighting attitude made many fans fearful, it is a pity that his playing time was too short, and his teammates did not have much support. In the end, he could only watch the ball and sigh.

In the 83rd minute, the Chinese team made a pass from the left. Campos flew out and hit the ball out of the penalty area in the air.

Outside the penalty area, after Li Jinyu stopped the ball, he immediately organized a new attack.

The captain, General Fan Da, did not walk out of the opponent's penalty area. After seeing Li Jinyu get the ball, he rushed towards the opponent's goal again.

Facing Dayu's high-altitude pass, General Fan leaped high and directly headed the ball towards the opponent's goal.

Seeing that the ball was higher than the crossbar, General Zoom couldn't help but cover his face and sighed!

In the 86th minute, the Mexican defender made a serious mistake when defending a high ball.

Qu Shengqing took a shot in a one-on-one situation in the penalty area. Campos blocked the ball with his feet at an incredible speed when he fell to the ground.
Can react at such a close distance.

Is that human being?
In the 88th minute, Li Jinyu, who came off the bench, received a cross from Sun Jihai and pulled a threatening curve ball with his left foot outside the penalty area. Unfortunately, the ball stuck to the post and missed the baseline.

In the 91st minute, Shao Jiayi passed the opponent after getting the ball from outside the penalty area, and also tried a long shot.

This time, the ball hit the right post and popped out, missing the opportunity to expand the score again.

Under the strict defense of the Mexicans, the Chinese team failed to get a chance to score again.

In the end, they could only defeat their opponents with a score of 2-0.

In the whole game, the Chinese team was strategically opposed to each other, making full use of their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses, giving full play to their physical and overall advantages.

It cut off Mexico's passing route and effectively curbed the opponent's performance.

The team used 45-degree punches and bottom crosses to frequently create murderous intentions on high-altitude balls, and scored twice successfully, once again showing the "China Head Team" in front of the world.

Although the victory is gratifying, the score is still not reassuring.

Now the Chinese team has played two games, one win and one tie, with 4 points and a goal difference of two.

As long as the French team wins Mexico by three goals in the next game, the Chinese team can only be reduced to second in the group.

Facing such cruel reality.

Apart from congratulations and consolation, the domestic media did not much promote the victory.

Everything has to wait until the results of the third round of the group stage.

Three days later, the third round of the League Cup group stage began.

Facing Africa's "boss" Cameroon, South Korea was poured 5-0!

So far, Cameroon has won both games in Group A and advanced to the semi-finals.

South Korea ranked second in the group with one win and one loss; Australia lost both games and ranked third in the group.

In Group B, there was another big upset.

Facing the strongest opponent in the group, Xiaotian also drew Brazil with a score of 0-0.

This is very interesting.

In Troussier's words, they learned from Canada's game experience and reproduced the tactics of the opponent's game.

In the face of dealing with himself in the same way, the Brazilian obviously did not learn from the experience of the game.

After 0-0 in the first half, the second half became a scene of "disobeying the coach's command and all playing alone".

In this way, even the score of Little Days was perfectly reproduced successfully.

At the post-match press conference, Troussier even said that they were not only prepared for 0-0, but also prepared for how to draw 0-1 after falling behind 1-1. Choose a plan!
In the small days of hard work and assiduous study, he "defeated" the "proud" Brazil team in this way.

At present, the small days in Group C rank first in the group with one win and one tie, and the group is qualified.

Brazil ranked second in the group with two draws, and Canada ranked third in the group with one draw and one loss.

Because South Korea had at least 3 points in Group A, Brazil and Canada were eliminated.

Soon, it will be the third match of Group C that Chinese fans are most concerned about - France VS Mexico!
The French team was uncharacteristically in this game.

Shortly after the opening, the French team took advantage of the powerful midfield power to completely control the situation on the field.

Only 2 defenders Sylvester and Desailly were left on the back line, and most of the players were fully bombarded in front of the Mexican team.

In less than 5 minutes of the game, the French team won two corner kicks in a row.

And the Mexicans are struggling.

If they are lucky enough to win the French team, it is also possible to qualify as second in the group.

However, the French team soon scored.

The first goal appeared in the 10th minute of the first half. Defender Sagnol, who played for Bayern Munich, dribbled the ball from the left and assisted the bottom line. The ball was given to another striker who played for Arsenal, Wiltord, who easily headed the ball in.

The score of 1-0 was maintained until the second half.

In the 63rd minute of the second half, Mexico's heavy pressure made a mistake on the left pass and went directly to the French team.The defender of the French team went straight to No. 10 Caeri who was not offside in the penalty area. Caeri made a light kick and sent the ball into the goal of the Mexican team again. The French team led 2-0.

Consecutive loss of two goals caused serious mental damage to the players on the Mexican team, but the French team played more and more smoothly. In the 29th minute, after a successful steal from the left, No. 7 Pires passed several Mexican players in a row and completed the French team. team's third goal.

In the 84th minute, the French team's fourth goal also appeared.

The ball was successfully intercepted in front of the penalty area in the backcourt, and it went straight to the frontcourt on the left at a fast speed. Pires got the ball and passed it across to the penalty area. A follow-up shot scored his second goal of the game.

The Mexican team did not change the score until the end of the game.

4 to 0, the French team achieved a crucial victory!

However, because the results of the other two games have already come out, Chinese fans also cheered after seeing the French team beat Mexico.

the reason is simple.

Although ranked second in Group C due to goal difference, the Chinese team, with one win and one tie, advanced to the semi-finals of this Confederations Cup as the best second in the group according to the rules.

(End of this chapter)