It's cheating, but Hazard

Chapter 269 The Usurper Enters Johannesburg
"Zhuangdianertai, Zhuangdianertai, you are now watching the 2010 South Africa World Cup final, France vs. Spain."

"It is said that music is the coordinate of time, so when we hear Italian Summer, we think of the 90 World Cup, and when we think of the Cup of Life, the 98 World Cup comes to life on paper."

"It is now July 2010, 7, and the World Cup final in South Africa has officially begun."

“‘Africa Moment’ rang through the venue.”

"All eyes around the world are on the Johannesburg stadium, where the French and Spanish national teams are fielding their strongest lineups."

"Every Frenchman, every Spanishman, every iris, every pomegranate, all want to spread their fragrance through this African land."

"For France, it is still the original starting lineup, there is no change;"

"Spain is still maintaining the same starting lineup as in the semi-final."

"The president of France and the King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain all arrived to cheer for their national team."

"Spain advanced to the World Cup qualifiers with a perfect record, and also won five consecutive games in the finals, setting a new record for the team. In the last 5 games, they have only lost two games."

"They are the fourth active European champions to reach the final and the fourth team to lose their first match but advance to the final."

“This Spanish team is full of mystery and uniqueness.”

"The French team that faced him in the final was also not ordinary. Although their performance in the first few games of the World Cup qualifiers was average, in the second half, France's state improved significantly. What's more special is that they have not lost a single game in this World Cup finals."

"In terms of World Cup results, France is clearly much better than Spain."

"After all, France has reached the World Cup final for the second consecutive year, and Spain's best result before was only the quarterfinals of the World Cup."

"But one thing is worth noting. On March 3 this year, France faced Spain at home in Paris. Although it was a friendly match, France lost to Spain in the end."

"The biggest difference between this match and the previous friendly, apart from the different venue, is that the French team has a healthy Charles who can participate in the match. In the previous match, Charles strained his soleus muscle and did not participate."

"I don't know how big a storm this single variable will cause in this game. Let's wait and see."

"Here are the match rosters for both teams:"

“法国队（4-2-3-1）：1-洛里/2-萨尼亚、5-加拉、3-阿比达尔、13-埃弗拉/19-迪亚比、14-图拉朗/10-夏尔、7-里贝里、15-马卢达/9-本泽马。”

“西班牙队（4-5-1）：1-卡西利亚斯/15-拉莫斯、3-皮克、5-普约尔、11-卡普德维拉/6-伊涅斯塔、16-布斯克茨、8-哈维、14-阿隆索、18-佩德罗/7-比利亚。”

"Spain is eager to win its first World Cup title and France is equally eager to add another star to their chests."

"Similarly, this match is also the threshold for Charles, Iniesta, Xavi and others to move from stars to football kings, and the World Cup is a must-win for both sides."

"Now, the three of them have all the club titles they can win. If they want to take over the scepter of the next football king from Maradona, the only thing left is to win the World Cup in front of the world audience and ascend the throne."

"In this match of the century, Charles, Iniesta and Xavi refused to give in."

"Who will take the first step to the top spot? Will it be the new comer who comes out of nowhere and surpasses his predecessor, or will it be the old starters like Xavi and Iniesta who are still going strong despite their hard work?"

Domenegue was still chattering in front of the whiteboard, speaking fluently.

Charles sat in his seat, stroking his fingernails.

He was very nervous.

And in front of him, a light blue transparent panel was shining.

"Special Status:"

"Cooperative Command: Forcibly improve midfield control through your own strength (5%), and slightly reduce the requirements for teammates."

"The degree of improvement in midfield control is related to the ability of teammates and the degree of tactical adaptability, and can be increased by up to 10%."

In this game, the main theme of the French team was very clear, which was defensive counterattack.

At present, the midfield strength of France, or the midfield of any country in the world, cannot compete with the Spanish team in ball control.

As a former member of Barcelona, ​​he knows too well how terrifying this midfield is.

However, with such a terrifying and highly efficient midfield, it is unclear whether a 5% improvement is a drop in the bucket or the last straw to save the French team.

The Spanish team's locker room.

Everyone was changing equipment and Boas was not present for the time being.

Busquets quickly changed his equipment, glanced at Iniesta and others who were putting on their shoes, then quietly unzipped the backpack in his arms and took a furtive look.

Finally, with Fabregas staring at him, Busquets sighed, finally zipped it up and put the bag in the closet.

Then, a man walked out of the locker room silently.

In the players tunnel.

The World Cup theme song is playing on loop.

Looking out from afar, all the lights in the spacious Johannesburg Stadium were turned on, and in the bright night, tourists took their seats one after another.

But there was no one else in the player tunnel except him.

Iniesta and Xavi looked at each other and walked out of the locker room one after another in tacit understanding.

Casillas soon discovered something was wrong.

Because the locker room, which was originally full of people, gradually became smaller, and all the Barcelona players were not in the locker room.

The disappearance of the second goalkeeper can be understood as warming up in advance, but your Barcelona's Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique... except for the latest member Villa, all disappeared. Isn't it a bit outrageous?

"Where did they go? Didn't the warm-up even start?"

Villa was also a little panicked.

No, Barcelona is planning some kind of team-building activity, but they just don’t want to invite him, right?
Isn't he isolated?

He is wearing the No. 7 jersey of the national team, and he didn’t ask for the No. 7 jersey of Barcelona?

Didn't you call him Little Sweetie back then? How come you call him Mrs. Niu now?
Just as Casillas and others were preparing to look for someone, Valdes, who had just returned from the bathroom, took a look at the situation in the locker room, instantly understood, picked up the red ribbon, and prepared to go out.

"Valdes, where are you going? And where are Iniesta and the others?"

Villa asked anxiously.

Valdez scratched his head.

"Nothing, they should go out for some fresh air, I want to go out for some fresh air too."

After saying that, he opened the door of the locker room and walked out.

Casillas and others looked through the crack in the door, and sure enough, all the Barcelona players except Villa were neatly gathered in the player tunnel.

Seeing this, Villa immediately followed.

"I want some fresh air too!"

Busquets was lost in thought as he watched the people coming and going outside the passage and the clock not far away.

Time passed slowly. It seemed like a year had passed, but it also seemed like only a second had passed. In this frozen time, Iniesta, Xavi and others looked back at the tightly closed door of the home dressing room and couldn't help but sigh.

"Sergio, go back, he won't come out early again today."

Busquets stubbornly looked at the closed door of the home team's locker room again, finally lowered his head and followed Iniesta back to the visiting team's locker room.

Tick.

The players came on the court to finish warming up.

Tick.

15 minutes before the final begins.

"This peak match will begin in 15 minutes. Cannavaro, the captain of the last World Cup champion, walked into the field with the World Cup trophy. He is showing the audience the highest honor in the football world."

"The youngest captain of the French team is staring at the World Cup trophy. Yes, there is no player who would not desire such an honor."

"Unfortunately, there can only be one winner on the same green field."

"Okay, next up is the South African president and FIFA president Blatter. They walked up to the players and shook hands with them one by one."

"The camera turned to the audience. In addition to these celebrities, Spanish and French football legends also appeared in the stands."

"Zidane is sitting with his teammates who won the World Cup in 1998. I wonder if they will recall themselves back then when they see this scene."

"Rosell, Florentino and Abramovich sat together. Maybe the presidents of Real Madrid and Chelsea were very grateful for what Rosell did after he took office.

"Guardiola sits with Cruyff, Wenger and Ancelotti. Perhaps these four football masters can collide with different sparks. The only problem is that they may support different teams."

"The referee for this match is Howard Webb, who is the fourth English referee to officiate a World Cup final in World Cup history, and the first top referee to officiate both the UEFA Champions League final and the World Cup final in the same year."

"At 38, Weber has become the youngest referee to referee a World Cup final in 72 years."

"Collina said that the most important thing in a game is fairness and justice. I believe this referee can do this well."

"This referee is familiar to both the French and Spanish teams because he refereed Barcelona's Champions League match in the 2008-2009 season, this year's World Cup qualifiers between France and Lithuania, and many other matches."

Tick.

With the referee's whistle, the South Africa World Cup final officially begins!
Spain has the ball.

After Villa kicked off, both sides were in the testing stage. Spain kept the ball firmly under control through continuous passing in the midfield and backcourt.

After some friendly exchanges, Gallas received the pass from Lori and immediately found the right time to pass it to Toularan.

After receiving the ball, Toulalan ran all the way, while Charles, Ribery, Malouda Benzema and others in the frontcourt all moved forward quickly.

The Spanish defense did not freeze, but responded in time to keep up with Charles' pace.

Ramos accelerated to chase back.

Just as the Spanish midfielder was about to steal the ball, Turan saw the right time and made another long pass to find Charles.

He knew very well that since he didn't have the ability, he should leave the things that couldn't be done to those who could.

In short, if you are not good at it, just give up, instead of practicing more.

Ramos was always paying attention to Charles' movements. Seeing that Charles was like a gust of wind, carrying the ball under his feet, rushing directly into the penalty area as if he was in an empty space, Ramos naturally grasped the distance and stuck to Charles's inside.

The defensive experience of three national derbies told him that when defending Charles, he must not just look at what Charles did, but must predict what he wanted to do.

Charles glanced at Ramos who was sticking close to him, but he didn't get in a hurry. Instead, he kept running towards the baseline.

Just as he was about to approach the baseline, Ramos' defensive alarm sounded.

He knew very well that although Charles could score goals from anywhere, his chances of shooting and scoring were the highest when he was outside the penalty area approaching the bottom line or at the top of the penalty area.

Ramos was mentally prepared, and sure enough, Charles suddenly pushed the ball backwards with the inside of his right foot, and at the same time as his left foot did it, he turned quickly, and at the moment his right foot landed, he pushed the ground with his left foot, and he was like a cheetah ready to pounce.

Ramos was prepared, braked quickly, turned around to face Charles, and followed immediately. But in this millisecond of reaction time, he fell behind Charles by half a body length.

Pique, Puyol and Capdevila have successfully positioned themselves and are guarding the penalty area.

On the French team's side, when Charles turned around, Benzema and Malouda were already ready in the penalty area.

Casillas lowered his center of gravity, spread his legs, bent slightly, and stared at Charles like a hawk.

Charles caught up with his pass in one step, stopped the ball deftly with the heel of his right foot, took a big step with his left foot to block the ball, and then Charles turned around again to face the goal.

The moment his left foot landed on the ground, Charles immediately pushed the ball outwards with the outside of his right foot. Ramos reacted immediately, but his front foot had just stopped and had not yet stabilized. His center of gravity was still forward, but when Charles changed direction with the outside of his right foot, Ramos still subconsciously moved to the left.

In this contradiction, Ramos was directly shaken.

Charles, who was less than half a meter away in front of him, caught up with his ball again and shot directly with the inside of his right foot!

The ball flew straight to the back point, Benzema and Pique rushed over at the same time, neither of them was willing to give in.

In the end, Pique knocked Benzema down directly, but due to Benzema's interference, the ball he originally wanted to clear flew straight towards the goal.

Puyol, who was guarding behind, broke out in a cold sweat. Just as Charles accelerated into the penalty area, Puyol quickly kicked the ball forward, ready to clear it.

"Snapped!"

Benzema immediately stood up not far ahead and blocked the ball back. Malouda was about to control the ball, but Iniesta was faster and passed the ball directly to the midfield, avoiding the increasing number of French players in the penalty area.

Benzema sat on the ground and raised his hands frantically, "I was knocked down, I have touched the ball, penalty, it's a penalty!"

Pique walked over directly and spread his hands innocently.

"Come on, I've seen through everything. Don't try to fake a fall in front of me! I saw it with my own eyes. What collision? It was you diving. After so many national derbies, how can I not know you?"

(The quality of the first two chapters is not high, so here is a free 500-word text for you as compensation)

"For Charles, Benzema and other players who have played for Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​this game is a bit like a variant of the Spanish national derby."

"When Ramos and Casillas were at Real Madrid, they always suffered a lot when defending Charles. They know Charles' offensive characteristics very well."

"When we see Ramos defending Charles, he is much more comfortable defending than other unfamiliar players. But perhaps it is precisely because of this familiarity that Charles can also easily use this to break through Ramos."

"Ramos was able to predict when Charles was about to turn around, as can be seen from the speed at which he turned;"

"But Charles also anticipated this, so when Ramos just accelerated and took one step, Charles immediately stopped and shook Ramos off."

"It was a pity that it was just a little bit short. At the moment when Benzema received the ball, Pique rushed over, knocked Benzema down and cleared the ball. Otherwise, France might have scored a goal."

"The game has just started and the competition between the two sides has become very fierce."

"Players from both teams found the referee at the same time."

"Referee Weber refuses to give a card!"

"In the 2008-2009 Champions League match between Barcelona and Bayern, Weber also refused to give a yellow card to the Bayern player who fouled Charles. He also judged that Charles dived and gave him a yellow card. Could it be that his eye disease has relapsed?"



(End of this chapter)