mousepad-d2 Chapter 697 Rebuilding the Glory of Chinese Football is Our Duty!
Chapter 697 Rebuilding the Glory of Chinese Football is Our Duty!
This Spanish team is built on the core of Barcelona's central axis, but they face a serious problem: the absence of Messi, the battering ram.
Traditional football with Messi is the only truly complete team. Without Messi's powerful breakthroughs, possession-based football can easily turn into a situation like Spain's, where they dominate possession but fail to score!
Lin Feng remembered that in his previous life, after the Spanish team won the World Cup, they arranged a friendly match with the Chinese team.
However, against a weak team like China, Spain's attack was already quite ineffective.
In that match, the Spanish players besieged the Chinese team for almost the entire game, unleashing a barrage of 21 shots, but despite Zeng Cheng's outstanding saves, they were unable to score.
It wasn't until the final stages of the match, when Vicente del Bosque brought on Iniesta, that the Chinese team finally broke through their defense.
If they struggled so much against the Chinese team, playing against Brazil will obviously be no easy task, given that Brazil's defense is quite strong!
The key to victory for both teams in this match lay with two players.
For Spain, the key will be Iniesta's performance, while for Brazil, it will depend on Kaká's.
Iniesta is capable of dribbling, passing, and attacking, making him roughly equivalent to a younger version of Messi. He is the core of the Spanish team's attack.
And for the Brazilian team, it goes without saying that Kaká, as the team's star player, is the hope of the entire village.
However, neither of the two star players performed very well in this game.
Dunga deployed a group of workhorses in midfield to mark Iniesta closely. As soon as Iniesta received the ball, nearby Brazilian players would immediately double-team and press him.
On one occasion, after Iniesta received the ball, five defenders suddenly surrounded him, resulting in a world-famous scene!
Kaka is receiving similar treatment to Iniesta, and due to injuries, his form has declined significantly.
Both teams played aggressively throughout the first half, but neither created any clear-cut scoring opportunities.
In the second half, Spain continued to control the game and increased their long-range shots, but the effect was mediocre.
The lack of a goal has left the fans at the stadium somewhat dissatisfied.
The annoying vuvuzela sound became even louder, and everyone, from the players on the field to the spectators, felt extremely irritated by the noise.
The biggest 'highlight' or 'stain' of this World Cup lies in something called the vuvuzela.
This thing is actually just a long plastic horn that makes a whooshing sound when blown. South African fans love to use it to create a buzz.
But for foreign viewers and players who had never heard of it before, it was a bit too noisy and even jarring – vuvuzelas can produce noise levels of over 120 decibels, and longer vuvuzelas can even produce noise levels of over 130 decibels!
Such loud noise, and it was playing throughout the entire match.
It was unbearable not only for the fans in the stands, but also for the players on the field.
Since the start of this World Cup, FIFA has received numerous complaints from teams and fans.
Emergency measures had to be introduced to limit the length and volume of the vuvuzela.
But the effect was not obvious, and a large number of fans still brought this thing to the stadium and blew it loudly in the stands.
I feel a bit sorry for the fans who went to the game in person. Even watching it on TV, my head was spinning. I can't imagine what it's like being there!
[If you ask me, FIFA should be tougher and just ban this thing altogether. Every match is ruined by this, how can we even play football properly?]
[While the noise at the stadium was indeed quite loud, I'd say the biggest problem lay with these two teams. They'd been playing for almost 60 minutes and hadn't scored a single goal; it was almost putting me to sleep!]
[Given Spain's performance, I just don't understand who rated them as a top contender for the title. Do they look like they could win? The Netherlands, Argentina, and Germany—all those teams with fiery attacking prowess—aren't they much stronger?]
Spain has a strong squad, with top-tier defense and midfield. If they could borrow forwards from Argentina or the Netherlands, they would be invincible!
I think it's unnecessary to go through all that trouble. Just lend Messi to them, and this Spanish team will be at its full strength!
Compared to Spain, Brazil's squad is so weak. Remember how glorious Brazil was in the Japan-Korea World Cup? The 3R trio was unstoppable. Now, only Kaká remains. After Kaká retires, I don't know who Brazil can rely on for the future.
The Brazilian national team has indeed been struggling in recent years, and compared to their neighbor Argentina, their talent pool across all positions is significantly weaker.
[Please, you two guys on the field, score a goal already! My buddy's about to fall asleep from exhaustion!]
The dull match made even the fans watching the live broadcast yawn repeatedly; the match was originally scheduled to start at 2:30 a.m. in China.
Fans chose to stay up all night to watch the game because of the two teams' strength and reputation, but they ended up watching such an unbearable match, making them feel cheated.
It wasn't just ordinary fans who were disappointed; the members of the national football team who were watching the game were equally disappointed when they saw this.
"It looks like these two teams will end in a draw!"
Many players believe that while the Spanish team has an advantage in ball possession and shots, their threat to the goal is too small, and there is no hope of breaking through the defense for the time being.
While Brazil's counter-attacks were sharp, they struggled to win the ball back. Even when they did win it, their midfield couldn't organize complex attacking plays. In fact, Kaká himself wasn't in good form during the match.
If the two teams continue playing like this, there will most likely be no result.
But Lin Feng disagreed with these views. The answer was simple: time was on Spain's side.
One of the major advantages of possession-based football is its ability to continuously wear down the opponent's concentration and stamina. Defensively, players must be fully focused against continuous pressure and attacks, otherwise the opponent may find a weakness and send the ball into the penalty area to create a shot.
This constant state of mental tension will increase the consumption of physical energy.
Once their energy is depleted, the quality of their defense will inevitably decline, and they may not be able to stop Spain's attack!
Time proved Lin Feng's prediction correct. After 60 minutes, the Spanish team's attacking threat began to rise.
In the 61st minute, Ramos made an assist and delivered a cross. Llorente, unmarked, attempted a diving header from the edge of the six-yard box, but it was brilliantly saved by Brazilian goalkeeper Cesar.
This attacking move wasn't particularly noteworthy, but the Brazilian defenders failed to close down Ramos's cross immediately, and no one was marking Llorente, allowing him to comfortably get to the ball and head it towards goal.
This is a very bad sign, indicating that the quality of Brazil's defense is starting to decline.
Just one minute later, Spain's attack reached Brazil's goal again.
Torres received a pass from David Silva and backheeled the ball to Villa, who was following up.
Villa unleashed a long-range shot, and with a loud bang, the ball struck the right post and bounced out. The Brazilians escaped a close call!
But Spain's attack had clearly gained momentum. In the 63rd minute, Spain executed a series of passes in the attacking third.
Brazil's defense was initially able to keep up, but after the opponent completed five or six quick one-touch passes and short passing combinations, their defense was completely disrupted. Almost all the players' attention was focused on the ball and they didn't pay attention to marking their man.
Iniesta received a pass from Xavi inside the penalty area and cleverly backheeled the ball to Torres on the edge of the six-yard box.
Torres then unleashed a powerful shot, sending the ball into the goal.
Torres' goal broke the balance of the game, and the Brazilian team was forced into a corner.
After conceding the goal, Dunga immediately made two substitutions, bringing on two forwards to strengthen the attack.
However, Brazil's attack failed to yield any results. Instead, due to the weakness in their own defense, Villa scored another goal with a long-range shot in the 74th minute.
With less than 20 minutes left in the game, the 2-0 scoreline essentially sealed Brazil's fate, eliminating them from the quarterfinals.
For Brazil, the team with the most World Cup titles, being eliminated in the round of 16 is definitely not a good result.
Towards the end of the match, the Spanish began to use passing the ball back and forth to wear down the opponent.
The Brazilian team was frantically trying to get the ball, but they just couldn't.
With their physical strength nearly exhausted, they were unable to mount a high-intensity press to stop the opponent from controlling the ball and passing it around. They could only watch helplessly as the opponent slowly wore down their time.
Only now did the world realize how terrifying this Spanish team was.
Although their attack is very stagnant, once they take the lead, their opponents can forget about tying the score!
Therefore, against Spain, we must score first in order to avoid this predicament.
Despite being down 0-2, Kaka still didn't give up. Like a tireless robot, he fought with all his might to seize every sliver of opportunity.
But in this match, he and his teammates performed very poorly, and the Brazilian team didn't have many good opportunities throughout the game.
Seeing Kaká repeatedly sprint and fight for the ball in midfield but to no avail, Kaká's fans felt sorry for him.
If Ronaldinho were still in his prime, and if Ronaldo hadn't been injured, and if both of them were still with the team, Kaka wouldn't have had to work so hard.
Leading a team with a single core player is still too difficult!
In the end, the match concluded with Spain defeating Brazil 2-0 thanks to goals from Torres and Villa, advancing to the quarterfinals.
The result of this match was not unexpected, after all, Spain had a clear advantage in terms of the value of the two teams!
This match, which took place in the early hours of the morning, generated a lot of discussion and attention in Europe and South America, but it didn't receive much attention domestically.
Because the fans' attention was all focused on the game on the night of the 29th!
……
November 29th, 6 PM.
With only one hour left before the start of the match between China and Japan, the players from both teams, who had already finished warming up, left the field one after another and returned to the locker room to make their final preparations.
The huge Loftus Stadium was packed to capacity, attracting more than 50,000 fans to watch the match.
More than half of them were fans of the Chinese team, another 10,000 to 20,000 were fans of the Japanese team, and less than 10,000 were neutral fans.
In fact, the number of Chinese fans who came to South Africa was far more than this, but tickets for this game were extremely difficult to obtain.
The official price of a Round of 16 match ticket was $300, but due to scalpers, the price of tickets for this match was inflated to $1000 or even $2000.
Let alone in 2010, even in 2026, for Chinese people, spending $2000 to watch a game is still too high a price to pay.
There aren't many fans who can afford it!
Even so, some fans who hadn't managed to snag tickets, but had come specifically for the national football team, still endured the pain and bought tickets from scalpers.
Although they were ripped off, being able to witness the Chinese team advance to the quarterfinals in person was still worth it for the fans!
Of course, the prerequisite is that the Chinese national football team can advance. If the Chinese national football team loses in the end, then the fans who spent such a large sum of money will become clowns.
Inside the national football team's locker room, coach Zhu took advantage of the last few moments to give the players some pointers on important points for the match:
"Be careful to control the pace of the game and don't give the opponent a chance to muddy the waters and drag it into a chaotic battle!"
The Japanese team employs a ground-based technical style, with their quick passing and cutting combinations in tight spaces being very threatening. If players are not careful, it is easy for the opponent to find opportunities.
The Chinese team not only needs to win this match, but they need to win it beautifully. There are hundreds of millions of eyes watching them across the country!
We need to keep our spirits up and not lose face!
After the coach finished speaking, it was the captain's turn to express his opinion.
Lin Feng stood up, and everyone's eyes turned to him.
"During the 02 World Cup, I witnessed the national team's crushing defeat at home!"
In the final match against Turkey, I saw Yang Chen kneeling on the field after missing a scoring opportunity, saw Shao Jiayi leaving the field with regret and resentment after being sent off with a red card, and saw the substitutes sobbing uncontrollably in their seats.
At that time, I secretly told myself: if one day I put on the national team jersey and stepped onto the World Cup field, I will do my best to win every game.
Now that a new record is in front of me, I have to consider whether this might be my only chance in this lifetime!
It is our inescapable duty to rebuild the glory of Chinese football!
Destroy Japan and advance to the quarterfinals!
Lin Feng's speech completely ignited the atmosphere in the locker room.
After he shouted those words, Gao Lin, Han Peng, Chen Tao, and others reached out and covered the back of his hand, shouting in unison:
"Defeat Japan and advance to the quarterfinals!"
Zhu Guanghu, who had already left the locker room and was walking towards the court, nodded slightly after hearing the voice coming from inside the locker room.
The morale of the army is now high!
The Japanese team members, who had finished their mobilization ahead of time and were coming out of the locker room, all turned their curious eyes to the commotion coming from the locker room next door.
At this point, they had no idea what was happening.
But they'll find out soon enough! (End of Chapter)