green winger

Chapter 415 Top 6 opponents, South Korea

Chapter 415 Top Sixteen Opponents, South Korea

"Hey Lloris, how many goals do you think the Portuguese will score in this game, two or three?"

Watching the start of the game, Zambrotta elbowed Kenny and asked curiously.The second day after the end of the game, the Italian players gathered in front of the TV again. What they have to pay attention to today is the battle to qualify for Group D, because there will be their opponents in the next game, and they will also win from this game. Opportunity to observe the enemy.

"Of course it's three goals, so it goes without saying! If the Koreans were not the hosts, maybe they would not have been able to qualify for the World Cup!" People's disgust, the mouth said.In Group D, in addition to the strongest Portugal, it can be said that the United States, Poland, and South Korea are all salted fish. In people's eyes, the South Korean team cannot be Portugal's opponent.

As the World Cup progressed, the inside story of the Korean bid to host the World Cup was gradually revealed. Although many people thought it was groundless and too illusory, as the saying goes, there is no wave without wind, but the Italian players knew this very well.In addition, the South Korean team injured Del Piero's friend and former Juventus teammate Zidane in a friendly match, so the zebra prince did not hide his disdain for the Koreans at this moment.

Del Piero’s point of view also represents the thoughts of most Portuguese players at this time, and everyone agrees deeply. Rui Costa, Figo, Pauletta, Pinto and others made their debut in 1991 and played in the European Cup in 1996. They shined brilliantly and entered the pinnacle of the European Cup in 2000. They are called the golden generation of Portugal. They are all well-known stars in world football. It should be no surprise that a Latin team like Portugal beat a second-rate team like South Korea. No problem!

However, Kenny has a different understanding of these opinions of his teammates. He thought about it and said, "Maybe everything is still unclear."

"How is it possible!?" Facing Kenny's thoughtful statement, even Vieri and the others cast unbelievable gazes: "Loris, you must have guessed wrong this time!"

The game between South Korea and Portugal started in Incheon, South Korea. The referee was Argentine Sanchez. Both teams played their main players in this game and both wanted to fight for the qualifying places. From the live TV broadcast, the Italian players were enough to see South Korea The fanatical home court atmosphere created by the fans, the host's home court advantage was undoubtedly evident for a while.

When the game started, the commentator's commentary came from the TV: "Incheon Stadium has a total of about 1 seats. There are three group matches held here in this World Cup, two of which have been held, namely Costa Rica 1-2. Turkey and Denmark beat France 0-4. And this game between South Korea and Portugal is the last World Cup match held at Incheon Stadium. The current situation in Group D after the first two games of the group stage is: South Korea and the United States are at the same With [-] points, South Korea ranks second with the advantage of net wins, the United States ranks second, Portugal ranks third with one win and one loss, and Poland ranks last with both losses in World War II."

"So for the host South Korean team, as long as the game draws with Portugal, they can qualify, while Portugal must win to take the initiative. In the case of the United States defeating Poland, the winner of Portugal and South Korea will definitely be able to enter the round of [-] , if Portugal wins, the United States will be first and Portugal will be second; if South Korea wins, the goal difference between South Korea and the United States will determine the group ranking; if South Korea and Portugal draw, the United States will be first, South Korea will be second, and Portugal will be eliminated. "

"Portugal took the lead and wore red jerseys. The South Korean team wore white jerseys. Portugal attacked from left to right, and South Korea attacked from right to left. The two sides fought in the midfield at the beginning of the game, and the ball was eventually caught by the Korean defender."

"Heh, isn't it a joke that Koreans and Portugal compete in the midfield?" Seeing the situation on the field and the commentators' commentary, someone taunted in a low voice, and the players around them also deeply agreed.The Portuguese midfield configuration is notoriously strong, but it is only slightly inferior to the full lineup of the French, led by Figo, Rui Costa, Conceicao, Bento and others. On the other hand, the Koreans are not only Instead, they want to head-on and avoid weaknesses. Six players were deployed in the midfield to confront Portugal.

Seeing this scene, many people thought the South Korean team was crazy, and even Maldini was puzzled: "Although the number of people can make up for the gap in strength to a certain extent, there are only eleven players on the football field. There are too many, but there are fewer corresponding places! How could Hiddink not understand this truth!?"

But at this time, Kenny thought for a while and said: "My captain, don't forget how the Koreans snatched the right to host the World Cup from the Japanese abruptly! With their superiority, they have a lot of ways!!"

Kenny's words undoubtedly attracted everyone's attention. The Italian players were taken aback. Totti said in disbelief: "No way!"

Although Totti said that he would not, his tone was not firm. Even FIFA can get through. It seems very simple to use a small plan to bribe the referee!Thinking of this, the Italian players can't help but mutter about the shamelessness of the Koreans. After all, once a competitive sport like football is involved in complicated factors, it will be difficult to guarantee its fairness!

Sure enough, in the first ten minutes of the first half, Figo was heavily marked by the Koreans. His two normal defenses were judged as fouls by the referee Sanchez. In the No. 14 minute, Figo was on the left side of the frontcourt. When dribbling the ball, he was tripped by Korean player Lee Young-pyo, but the referee ignored it.This also caused fragmentary boos to sound in the stands, and at the same time cast a shadow over the hearts of the Italian players.

At this time, Poland on the other side is already two goals ahead of the United States. As long as South Korea draws, they will be able to qualify first in the group. Then their opponent in the knockout round is Italy, which is second in Group G!Seeing this, coach Zoff couldn't bear it anymore. He walked to the central position. After the players automatically gave him a seat, everyone continued to watch the game in silence.

"This is a good opportunity for the Portuguese. They switched from defense to offense and moved the ball from the center of the frontcourt to the right. What referee whistled! The referee signaled offside! How is that possible? We can clearly see that Pauleta was not offside from the slow-motion defense! Portugal coach Oliveira was frustrated by the offside penalty. Obviously he doesn't agree!"

Amid the exclamation of the commentators, Pauletta explained to the coach with a look of grievance, but such an explanation did not help. The referee Sanchez did not hear his debate, but turned and left.This situation made the Portuguese fans very dissatisfied. Pauleta is a main Portuguese center who is good at assists and can score goals in various ways. He shoots in pursuit of angles and is a striker artist who pursues art in the traditional sense. He could almost certainly send the ball into the Korean's goal when he got the ball, but the referee Sanchez's whistle stopped it all!

"South Korean player Xue Qixuan counterattacked with the ball from the left. Beto tackled him and was given a yellow card. Due to the accumulation of two yellow cards, if Portugal qualify, Beto will also be suspended for one game! Beto must keep calm, so that The impulsiveness will not help the game or the team!"

"The South Korean team's pass was transferred to the right side of the front court. Ahn Jung-hwan dribbled the ball and was successfully intercepted by Costa. I don’t agree with it, he and the referee theorized that he didn’t foul! The Portuguese players are a little angry, they have to restrain themselves!”

"Figo dribbled the ball from the left, but Song Zongguo fought with him to break the ball! Park Ji-sung took the ball, and Pinto scissors kicked Park Ji-sung! How could this happen? He shouldn't be so impulsive. The Argentine referee Sanchez did not He hesitated to draw a red card, and Pinto went off angrily."

"Anyway, after Pinto left the field, Putaoyan faced a ten-man challenge! The South Korean team counterattacked along the right flank, and Park Ji-sung was kicked out of the right baseline by Costa when he wanted to go to the right baseline. This is a corner kick. The corner kick Before going out, the Portuguese goalkeeper Baia Zhongqi took the ball, eh? Cui Jinzhe knocked him down, and then another Korean player scored the ball! But the Argentine referee immediately signaled that the goalkeeper was first to collide, and the ball was invalid. This is indeed the case from the camera, there is no problem with this penalty, but the Portuguese goalkeeper Baya has to go to the sidelines for treatment!"

"After a short break, the game entered the second half. Although the draw with the opponent allowed them to qualify and was the first in the group, the South Korean team's offensive was still relatively fierce. After all, facing the enthusiastic fans in the audience, they did not want to let the fans Let's watch a dull game."

"Pauleta was sentenced to a foul when he was fighting for the top. This player started his career in the Portuguese League Two. In the 1995-96 season, he scored 19 goals to help the team upgrade. In the 97-98 season, he scored 15 goals in La Liga. At the beginning of the 98-99 season, the Deportivo team poached him from the Salamanca team. But this transfer was not a success for Pauleta himself. Shortly after the start of the 2000-2001 season, he Then he was transferred to Bordeaux in Ligue 930 at a price of 20 million euros, and this transfer also gave him the second spring of his career. In the first season, he won the league silver boot award with 22 goals. This season, he shared the title of Ligue 8 goalscorer with Cisse with [-] goals. In the World Cup qualifiers, it was his [-] goals that allowed the Portuguese team to qualify directly in the death group. He scored three goals in a row and became the second player to perform a hat-trick in this World Cup after Klose of Germany."

"And his performance in this game is also very active. It was Beto who kicked down the Korean player Lee Young-pyo in the frontcourt!!! He got a yellow card because there was already a yellow card just now, and now it is another one Yellow card, so Beto directly accumulated a red card and was sent off! The Portuguese will fight with 9 people! This."

Seeing this, the Italian players watching the game in front of the TV couldn't bear to watch it any longer. Kenny, who had known the result earlier, left the TV first, and then the players also gradually left. Only the coach Zoff and Maldini waited. People have always seen the end.Sure enough, the game ended with South Korea winning 1:0, so after France and Argentina, Portugal, the golden generation, also went home after the game!

As the South Korean team reached the second round with the top spot in the group, the whole of Seoul became a sea of ​​joy.The streets and alleys are full of thunderous singing, people dance unrestrainedly, and fireworks rise and fall in the air.Thousands of Koreans watched South Korea's 1-0 victory over Portugal on big screens at various important intersections in downtown Seoul.After the game, they formed a huge circle arm in arm and danced cheerfully.On the other hand, due to the defeat of Portugal and the unexpected 1-3 defeat of the US team to the Poland team at the bottom of the group in another game, the South Korean team with two wins and one tie advanced to the round of [-] as the first in the group. , the U.S. team, with one win, one draw and one loss, was lucky to catch the last train of the top sixteen with a one-point advantage.

After the game, the head coach of the Portuguese team, Oliveira, was very disappointed with the result in an interview: "We are very, very disappointed. This is not the result we expected at all. It is really a pity that we failed to enter the second round. It is." When talking about the two red cards shown by the Argentine referee in the game, he also expressed his different opinions: "We can't agree with the judgment of those two red cards at all, but it is useless to complain now. In the game We held on for most of the game with a small number of players, and even in the final stage when we fought with 9 people, we got some good chances. I want to thank my players for their hard work for the team to qualify The target has done its best."

The number one star of the Portuguese team, Figo, was very angry at the referee's decision: "This referee only thinks about how to get on the headlines of the newspaper the next day. Maybe I shouldn't comment on the referee's performance, but what he did It's really unbearable."

On the other hand, despite Portugal's tragic elimination, the chairman of the Portuguese Football Association, Madal, immediately publicly stated that the Portuguese coach Oliveira will not be dismissed because of the defeat in the game, and he will continue to work until the end of the Portuguese European Cup in 2004.

In this way, no matter what doubts the Portuguese have about the penalty and what they say in anger, Portugal's World Cup journey is over, and the golden generation's journey to the World Cup is also over.

As for Italy's opponents in the round of [-], the host team South Korea has been established!

(End of this chapter)