Chapter 686
Unexpected upsets abound in the chaotic World Cup.
The Chinese national football team's opening victory in the World Cup is definitely a major event for Chinese football.
On the evening the match ended, major news websites had already placed this news in the most prominent position on their homepages.
CCTV's evening news broadcast reported the result of the match immediately after it ended.
As for the general public, online forums and football communities are already overflowing with people.
Countless excited netizens freely expressed their thoughts and feelings here.
This battle broke several historical records in Chinese football:
The first goal, the first victory, the first point, the first brace in the World Cup...
The minimum goals that fans had set for the national team were all achieved in this match.
This has greatly boosted fans' confidence in the national football team and filled them with anticipation for its future prospects.
Brothers, after watching this match, it feels like the Chinese national football team is going to advance to the round of 16!
Although the current situation is very favorable for the Chinese national football team, we cannot let our guard down!
Yes, we only beat Slovakia, the weakest team in the group. We haven't yet faced Paraguay and Italy, those two tough opponents. Only after playing them will we be able to determine the qualification situation in Group F!
After the first round of group stage matches, the Chinese team leads the group with a 3-point advantage and a goal difference of 4.
However, the three points from Slovakia are not very valuable. If Paraguay and Italy also defeat Slovakia, then the Chinese national team will need to get two points from these two teams if they want to advance.
To either draw with Paraguay and Italy, or defeat one of them!
This is very difficult, so don't be fooled by the fact that the Chinese team is currently leading in points; this lead is just an illusion.
In terms of qualification prospects, Paraguay and Italy are actually in a better position!
Of course, there is another possibility: Slovakia, who were considered easy targets, suddenly had a breakout performance in the following matches, defeating or drawing with Italy and Paraguay.
In that case, the Chinese team might only need to secure a draw to qualify!
Zhu Guanghu wasn't so bored as to bother calculating qualifying scores or anything like that; such things should be ignored.
The Chinese national football team's mentality wasn't particularly strong to begin with. If Lin Feng hadn't stepped up in time and scored the second goal to stabilize the team's morale, the Chinese team might not have been able to win so easily.
In this situation, he not only wouldn't discuss qualifying, but he also forbade his teammates from discussing it privately.
Calculating scores only makes you more and more nervous, and eventually it becomes a shackle that binds you.
……
After the game, Coach Zhu gave the team a half-day off, allowing the players to go out and have some fun.
Compared to the chaotic security situation in Johannesburg, the security situation in their small city was slightly better.
In addition, in order to maintain social order during the World Cup, the South African police department has deployed a large number of police officers from across the country to several host cities, further reducing the danger of going out shopping.
When the team members heard that they were on holiday, they were all very excited and discussed what to buy as local specialties to take back as souvenirs.
Lin Feng didn't join in the fun. Instead, he went to the hotel where his parents and the fairy sister were staying. After meeting up with them, they went out for a stroll together.
"Have you decided where to go on vacation after the World Cup?"
The fairy sister took Lin Feng's hand, rested her head on his shoulder, and asked softly.
"Go skiing in the Alps, or see the aurora borealis in the Arctic, or even see penguins in the Antarctic!"
Lin Feng wanted to find a less crowded place, but given his fame, he could basically forget about it in China.
In Europe, quite a few people know him.
But I've heard that Europeans have face blindness when it comes to Asians, so if he wears sunglasses, not many people would be able to recognize him.
"Huh? Why is everything related to ice and snow? I want to go horseback riding in Ireland!"
"Horseback riding? That works too! It's right by the sea, so we can enjoy a beach vacation package there!"
I haven't been to Linfeng, Ireland yet, but I've heard it's a nice place.
The climate was pleasant, prices were reasonable, and there weren't many tourists there, perfectly meeting his requirements.
Despite wearing sunglasses and disguising themselves, the two were spotted by fans and reporters shortly after they went out.
In just a few moments, a photo of Lin Feng and Liu Yifei holding hands, with her head resting on his shoulder, quickly spread across the Chinese internet.
[A perfect match, a golden couple, I approve of this marriage!]
[With both love and career success, Lin Huang is truly a winner in life!]
The couple's relationship was exposed during the Olympics, and many people used it as a basis for jokes and expressed their opposition to the marriage.
But as the couple officially registered their marriage, the number of people joking around gradually decreased, while the number of people offering their blessings increased.
During the heyday of the Chinese national football team, some of its players married popular celebrities, such as a certain national football player surnamed Gao and a certain female singer surnamed Na.
However, as the national football team's performance declined, the social status and reputation of its players in China also plummeted.
The number of national team players marrying popular celebrities has decreased, and eventually disappeared completely.
However, with the resurgence of the Chinese national football team's strength in recent years and its improved performance in various international competitions.
The status and social influence of the Chinese national football team have begun to gradually recover, and this trend of cross-sectoral collaborations seems to have returned.
But there probably aren't many people who can do what Lin Feng did.
After all, he is too special.
……
Perhaps due to Ronaldo's absence, Portugal, without Ronaldo, drew 0-0 with Ivory Coast in the first round of Group G.
Ivory Coast's strength is not particularly strong. In Lin Feng's eyes, they are not much different from Slovakia, which they just defeated.
Even without Ronaldo, Portugal's overall strength should have been enough to defeat their opponents.
But the impact of lacking the team's core player exceeded his expectations; the Portuguese players played very chaotically on the field, as if they had no leader.
Several opportunities presented themselves, but their hesitation caused them to miss out on chances, letting a victory that should have been theirs slip away.
This draw is not good news for Portugal, as they have another big boss in their group – Brazil – lurking in the shadows.
Given Portugal's current form, the chances of them defeating Brazil are extremely slim. However, considering that the Portugal-Brazil match is in 10 days, perhaps Ronaldo's injury will heal in the meantime, allowing him to return quickly.
Cristiano Ronaldo's performance in the World Cup has been less than ideal. As his teammate and friend, Lin Feng still hopes that he can seize the opportunity to prove himself.
On June 16, the final group, Group H, began its matches.
However, Spain, the pre-tournament favorite to win the championship, suffered a major upset in this round of matches, losing 0-1 to Switzerland.
The result of this competition was completely unexpected by all the experts.
With top stars from Real Madrid and Barcelona, Spain is the most expensive team in this World Cup.
However, they failed to even beat the Swiss team, whose squad value was less than one-fifth of theirs!
"Indeed, football is not a simple game of comparing player value. No matter how expensive a player is or how many star players there are, it doesn't necessarily help the team win!"
This news was so unexpected that even the national football team players were discussing it privately.
This was actually proven in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups.
Both Argentina in 02 and Brazil in 06 were highly valued, star-studded teams that were considered top contenders for the championship.
But they weren't the ultimate champions!
"This Spanish midfield is indeed quite strong, but since Torres got injured, it feels like their attacking line has suddenly become useless. Villa is good, but he's not quite there to replace Torres!"
Torres' injury has been underestimated as a blow to Spain.
In this match, the Spanish team did create opportunities, but they squandered them all.
If there had been one player on the front line who could deliver the decisive blow, this loss would have turned into a resounding victory.
"Actually, the tactics that the Spanish national team uses are a copy of Guardiola's tactics at Barcelona, so the striker who best suits their lineup is neither Torres nor Villa, but Messi!"
Lin Feng's words made everyone think:
What would happen if Messi were assigned to the Spanish national team?
You won't know until you think about it, and once you do, you'll be shocked:
"Damn, if this is true, then what's the point of playing football? Just give the championship trophy to the Spanish team!"
"If Messi were in the Spanish national team, their squad would be even more terrifying than Barcelona's. Who could beat them?"
"I heard that Messi has dual Spanish and Argentine citizenship. Since Spain is so strong, why didn't he choose to represent Spain before, but instead chose Argentina?"
It's not impossible for South American players to switch teams and play for European clubs.
To take a recent example, Portugal has a player named Pepe, who is a genuine Brazilian.
A few years later, Spain also naturalized Brazilian player Diego Costa to solve its problem of lacking attacking firepower.
Because of shared language and similar culture, Portugal and Spain are often the first destinations for many Latin American players to join the top five European leagues.
In order to obtain UEFA citizenship, most of them choose to acquire Spanish or Portuguese citizenship, becoming dual-nationality players.
In this situation, the initiative to choose whom to fight for is entirely in their own hands.
……
After the first round of matches concluded, the second round of group matches immediately commenced.
In this round, the host nation failed to create another miracle, suffering a crushing 0-3 defeat to Uruguay.
With only 1 point after two rounds, the South African team will face a do-or-die match in the next round.
As for Uruguay, with France's shock defeat to Mexico, they have almost secured their place in the knockout stage with 4 points and a goal difference of +3.
In the final round, they will compete against Mexico for first place in the group.
If South Africa's loss to Uruguay was expected, then France's 0-2 defeat to Mexico was a surprise to many.
After all, judging from the results and process of the first round of matches, this Mexican team doesn't seem that strong, otherwise they wouldn't have been forced to a draw by the host country, which is ranked far behind them.
But in this round, when facing the stronger French team, the Mexican team performed like a completely different team, displaying dominance.
The French team didn't look like a World Cup runner-up in front of them; they looked like a fake powerhouse. Mexico slapped off their mask and showed the world their weakness.
"Domenech's team is on the edge of a cliff. If they don't win big in the next game, it will be almost impossible for them to qualify."
Although they were not the champions of the previous World Cup, it was still shameful for them to be eliminated in the group stage as runners-up.
There was no time to feel sorry for the French; Chinese fans' attention was quickly drawn to a Group B match.
In the second round of Group B matches, Argentina swept South Korea 4-1, advancing to the next round and securing first place in the group.
In this match, the Argentine team demonstrated their powerful attacking force, completely tearing apart the South Korean defense, which had performed well in the previous game.
The South Korean team, which had initially seemed to have a very good chance of advancing, has now found its qualification prospects to be uncertain after suffering a crushing defeat to Argentina.
They originally had a goal difference of 2, but they added 3 in this game, so now they are one goal difference short.
If South Korea fails to defeat Nigeria in their next match, they will likely be eliminated.
The South Koreans are especially worried, given that Argentina has already qualified and might throw the final match against Greece.
After the match, instead of reflecting on their own defeat, the South Korean media focused on making demands of the Argentine team, hoping they would uphold sportsmanship in their final match and not deliberately throw the game to eliminate South Korea.
[These South Koreans are using cyber beggar tactics to morally blackmail people!]
If I were the Argentinian team, I definitely wouldn't pay them any attention. They need to prepare for the knockout stage; why should they fight tooth and nail for the sake of the South Korean team? What good does that do them?
[I think the South Koreans should stop begging for cyber tips and start thinking about how to deal with Nigeria. If they accidentally lose to Nigeria, even if Argentina didn't throw the game against Greece, it won't be South Korea that advances, but Nigeria!]
Group B is a more complex situation. Apart from Argentina, who have already qualified, the other three teams all have a chance.
韩国队目前1胜1负积3分倒欠一个净胜球，希腊队跟他们一模一样，同样是1胜1负积3分负1个净胜球。
However, South Korea has scored more goals than Greece, so they are currently ranked second.
Nigeria has lost both of its matches and has zero points, leaving it two goals short of a goal difference.
Nigeria appears to be ranked the lowest, but if South Korea loses their next match against Nigeria, Nigeria is very likely to advance!
Because if Nigeria wins, their goal difference will surpass that of South Korea.
If Greece loses to Argentina, Nigeria, currently at the bottom of the standings, will overtake both of their competitors and become the ultimate winner.
That's the charm of the World Cup—even winning just one match gives you a chance to advance! (End of Chapter)