It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 250: The fight between the Korean team and the knockout round (daily transition)
South Korean team training base.

Xu Dingmao and the teaching assistants sat in silence in the conference room.

They just analyzed the French team's game video again, and the final result was silence in the air.

Now all three rounds of Group A have ended. France has won all three games and accumulated 9 points, and it is no surprise that it will qualify as the first place.
Uruguay beat Mexico 1-0 in the final round and advanced as the second in the group with 6 points.

Now the last round of Group B has not started yet, and the South Korean team still has hope of qualifying as the group leader.

But everyone knows that the Argentines will definitely not let up in the last round. In any case, no one wants to face the powerful France in the quarter-finals.

"This is how to do ah."

Xu Dingmao sighed.

6 month 23 day.

Regardless of whether the South Korean team is ready or not, the final round of Group B's group stage begins.

The Durban Stadium was packed with people.

Domenegue also organized the players to start watching the South Korean team's games.

They have already qualified from the group stage and it's time to observe the form of their opponents.

"Charles, which one do you think will win, South Korea or Nigeria? Or, which one do you think will qualify, Nigeria or Greece?"

Henry came over with a plate of grapes.

It is June in South Africa, which is still winter, and all these grapes are airlifted from France.

Charles plucked a grape and started eating it. "I think Argentina can't lose to Nigeria, so as long as South Korea draws this game, they can qualify."

"Give me a string," Benzema came over, "As long as Argentina doesn't go crazy, there's no way they'll lose to Greece. If they fail by accident, we'll most likely meet Argentina in the 1/8 round."

"Argentina's attack is very gorgeous and it is very difficult to deal with them."

Lori nodded.

"None of this is good for us, so is there anything special about the Korean team that we should pay attention to?"

Charles began to recall the Korean team's lineup.

"Park Ji-sung can be said to be the best runner in Asia right now. He is very good at running."

"On offense, he is the organizer when he has the ball, and he will actively run to create space when he doesn't have the ball. It can be said that without him, the Korean team will drop a level;"

"And then defensively, he's the first line of defense, and he's kind of like the metronome for Korea."

"His impact is not reflected in scoring goals."

Henry sat down too.

"Besides Park Ji-sung, what about others?"

Evra, who is still in the Premier League, shook his head.

"Although the level of Asian football is constantly improving, apart from Park Ji-sung, there are no other players in the Korean team that are particularly worth paying attention to."

At the Durban Stadium, the match between South Korea and Nigeria officially began.

In the history of the two sides' encounters, the South Korean team remained unbeaten with 2 wins and draw.

Faced with this life-and-death battle, with no possibility of qualifying, the Nigerian head coach finally decided to use veteran Kanu.

But this is not a bad thing.

The game was intense from the start.

Just in the first minute of the game, Li Qinglong made a sliding shot in front of the goal and the ball hit the side net.

He was also injured by the opponent's goalkeeper and left the field for treatment immediately.

Afterwards, the game became increasingly tense.

Nigeria committed frequent fouls on the field.

In the 4th minute, Aila tackled Ki Sung-yueng from behind, but the referee only gave him a verbal warning.

"In this game, the South Korean team did not perform like they did in the 2002 World Cup."

Henry said with a smile.

"It seems that today's referee also wants to distance himself from the South Korean team."

In an instant, the air was filled with joy.

In the 6th minute, Park Ji-sung was brought down by Aila during a long run, but the free kick taken by the South Korean team was cleared.

In the next 4 minutes, the South Korean team was unable to make any breakthrough.

But in the 11th minute of the game, perhaps because the South Korean team relaxed, they conceded a goal to Nigeria.

Nigeria's O'Diar made a low cross from the right, but South Korean right-back Cha Duri did not mark the player closely enough, and Uche shot in front of the goal and scored.

1:0, no one expected that Nigeria would take the lead.

“Maybe after the competition, we might want to study Greece.”

Benzema said with emotion.

The ball is round, and especially in a single-round match, there are far more unexpected situations than in a two-round match.

"Let's wait and see, but Park Ji-sung's condition is not very good today," Charles said seriously while watching the game.

Domenegue, who was sitting at the back, also saw the problems of the South Korean team.

Park Ji-sung's performance is very important to the South Korean team.

His role is not reflected in the statistics, but he is the key to revitalizing the entire team.

Like this, the team is highly dependent on the performance and play of a core player. Under normal circumstances, it is fine, but if the core player is not in good shape, then it will be a disaster.

and many more!

Domenegue suddenly realized something was wrong.

It seems like, isn't it, that's what their team is like?

Thinking of this, Domenegue's face became sad.

On the field, South Korea's offensive situation was similar.

The South Korean team had many opportunities to shoot but just couldn't score.

In just 6 minutes, the South Korean team had 4 chances, but they were either blocked out of the sideline or hit the target.

In the 20th minute of the game, Nigeria began their counterattack.

But in the end, no goal was scored.

In the 37th minute, Obasi hooked down Lee Young-pyo while returning to defense and received a yellow card.

The South Korean team took a free kick and this time they finally scored.

Ji Sung-yueng passed the free kick to the back post, and Lee Jung-soo scored in front of the goal, 1:1, South Korea finally equalized the score.

In the 41st minute, Aila tripped Kim Jong-you and received a yellow card.

Lian Jixun's shot was saved by N'Yeyama.

At the end of the first half, Nigeria and South Korea were tied 1-1.

"How did the Argentina-Greece match go?"

Domenegue turned around and asked.

The assistant coach turned on his phone and watched the first-half live broadcast.

"Argentina and Greece tied 0:0. According to the current situation, South Korea can still qualify with the advantage of goal difference."

The intermission ended quickly.

Nigeria was the first to make adjustments.

Echeguire replaces Yabo.

In the 47th minute, Shitu committed a foul and the South Korean team got another free kick opportunity.

Park Joo-young scored in one fell swoop, and the ball went through the wall and into the far corner of the goal.

2:1, the South Korean team took the lead.

The game continued and Nigeria still did not give up. In the 65th minute, Nigeria played a wonderful combination. Ayla made a low pass in front of the goal. The ball had passed the goalkeeper Zheng Chenglong, but Yakubu's shot missed the empty goal.

Nigeria missed a great opportunity to equalize.

Fortunately, Benzema was not at the scene, otherwise he would definitely be blamed for this goal.

But just two minutes later, the South Korean team, who wanted to improve so badly, unfortunately conceded a penalty.

Yakubu made up for his mistake by deceiving Zheng Chenglong and easily scored in the lower left corner, 2:2, Nigeria equalized the score again.

The South Korean team, having no idea what the score was between Greece and Argentina, was in complete panic.

They keep trying.

In the 73rd minute, Park Joo-young dribbled past the opponent's defender in the penalty area and almost had a one-on-one opportunity, but O'Diar made a timely substitution and blocked the ball.

Two minutes later, Park Ji-sung broke into the penalty area and shook Echeguire, but unfortunately the ball went slightly wide and hit the side net.

Afterwards, Li Qinglong pushed the ball into the far corner of the goal from the edge of the penalty area, but it was again saved by N'Yeama.

If Greece were to stage another Greek miracle and defeat Argentina, all of South Korea's previous efforts would have been in vain.

Before South Korea could organize another decent attack, Nigeria made a comeback.

Martins lightly tipped the ball into the far corner facing the goalkeeper, but unfortunately the ball slipped past the goal.

Just one minute later, Nigeria had no time to regret.

After a good combination of passes at the front of the penalty area, Obinna's shot was slightly off target.

Nigeria is still going, but South Korea has given it their all.

Ji Sung-yueng, who had cramps, looked at the field with tears in his eyes and was replaced helplessly.

In the 89th minute, Obinna dribbled the ball in front of the penalty area, turned around and shot with his right foot, but the ball hit the side net.

A minute later, Obinna's long shot hit the post again.

Nigeria was finally punished for wasting many opportunities.

The South Korean team tied 2:2.

In another match, Argentina lived up to expectations and beat Greece 2:0.

In the end, the South Korean team qualified as the second in the group and won the qualification for the knockout stage for the second time since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

France's opponent in the round of 1 has also been officially confirmed: South Korea.

Argentina's opponent will be Uruguay.

Another Asian team, Japan, also entered the knockout stage, and their opponent is Paraguay.

Among all the knockout matches, the most noteworthy ones are the battle between Germany and England, and the competition between Spain and Portugal.

For the French team, the most noteworthy match is the United States vs. Ghana.

The winner of this match will be France's quarter-final opponent, of course, if France wins.

This is a good sign.

If he could choose, Charles would like the opponent to be the United States.

After the game, Domenegue went back to study the South Korean team with his assistant coach.

But the Koreans, who once again stepped into the World Cup knockout stage, began to cheer collectively.

"Korea is invincible. No team in the world can rival Korea."

"Park Ji-sung and Park Joo-yong are going to tear the French team apart."

Originally, this was nothing and the fans of the French team would not take it to heart at all.

At most, I think Korean fans are a bit noisy and arrogant.

But as time goes by, Koreans' remarks become more and more outrageous.

"The Italian players in 2002 were very arrogant, but they eventually fell to the Korean team. France was defeated by Italy in the last World Cup, so the Korean team can also easily beat the French team."

"Whoever dares to stand in the way of the South Korean team will be kicked off the field."

"According to research by Korean experts, Charles is Korean."

In an instant, all the French fans became furious, and the Italian fans, who were already extremely unhappy because Italy was eliminated in the group stage, also found a focus of their fire.

Because in the 2002 World Cup, when the South Korean team played against Italy, Maldini and Lee Chun-soo were both at the front.

It's just that one is trying to grab the point and the other is preparing to rescue.

Maldini made a quick tackle to clear the ball, but Li Tianxiu swung his right foot.

Without being able to kick the ball at all, he kicked Maldini directly on the back of the head.

In an instant, Maldini was bleeding profusely and received emergency treatment.

But the referee didn't say anything.

The South Korean team became more and more rampant under the protection of the referee.

Countless flying tackles, kicks, and even elbows on Piero were all let off by the referee.

The referee also disallowed two good goals by the Italian team and sent Totti off...

In the end, Ahn Jung-hwan scored a header in overtime to help the South Korean team advance to the quarterfinals.

"The South Korean team actually wants to challenge France. Compared with the South Korean team, which has few offensive methods, crude footwork and can only rely on the referee, perhaps an octopus can play better than them."

"No, Koreans only look to octopuses to comfort themselves, or say that octopuses are Koreans."

"Everyone knows what happened in the 2002 World Cup, but only the Koreans are complacent and not ashamed of it."

As public opinion online became more and more overwhelming, some Italian and French celebrities began to join the battle.

French star Evra originally didn't pay much attention to football and was immersed in supporting rural education. He had previously announced that he would turn over a new leaf in his life and couldn't help but accept an interview with Canal+ as soon as possible.

"It would be a disgrace if what happened in 2002 happened again."

"Besides, Lee Jung-soo, who kicked Maldini in the head from behind for no reason, was still on the field at the time. We had to worry about the safety of our players."

Since the start of the World Cup, former French midfielder Pires has appeared on the screen every day as a special guest of TF1.

After hearing the outrageous remarks from Korean fans, he finally couldn't hold back his true feelings that he had been hiding for many days.

"Go away, Xiba."

Compared with the emotional remarks of the French team's legend, Italy began to analyze the South Korean team more from a tactical perspective.

After all, lies don't hurt, the truth is the sharpest knife.

Gazzetta dello Sport: "Looking back at the three group matches, South Korea has scored a total of 5 goals."

"In the first match, we won 2-0 against Greece. Lee Jung-soo scored from a free kick from Ji Sung-yueng shortly after the start of the match;"

"In the second half, Park Ji-sung successfully counterattacked in the frontcourt and secured the victory."

"In the second round, when they faced a strong opponent and there was no referee, their true colors were revealed and they lost to Argentina 1:4."

"If it wasn't for Demichelis' mistake, the South Korean team wouldn't have even scored a goal to save their reputation;"

"In the third round, we tied with Nigeria 2:2. The way we scored goals was exactly the same as in the first game. All of them were from set pieces in front of the goal."

"And Park Joo-young scored directly from a free kick in the second half."

"If Nigeria hadn't made so many mistakes and wasted opportunities in this game, South Korea would have conceded so many goals."

“Perhaps they have been able to hold on until now because being exempted from military service is very important to them*.”

"On the whole, there are only two patterns for all the goals scored by the South Korean team."

"One is to take advantage of the opponent's defender's mistake, actively counter-attack in the front court, and score with a single shot;"

“The second is to score goals using direct and indirect set pieces.”

"But France's defence is well known and Lloris has already got three clean sheet bonuses."

"The Korean team is taking the wrong approach by trying to score directly from a set-piece."

Military service had not been exempted at that time, it was proposed by someone at that time.

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(End of this chapter)