Chapter 167: Golden Boot and Golden Globe

No one expected that the third and fourth place finals between the Chinese team and Belgium would end with the Chinese team winning, and they would win with a score of 4:2.

Belgium was not much better than the Chinese team in addition to having longer possession time and more shots on goal in the whole game, and Tang Zheng had a suppressive performance at both offensive and defensive ends, so the sports media around the world were singing Tang Zheng's excellent performance on the second day.

It was not so much that this game was a victory for the Chinese team, but that Tang Zheng played the best statistics of his career, leading the Chinese team to defeat Belgium and win the third place in the World Cup in Russia.

There are many news reports that Tang Zheng led the Chinese team to win the third place in the World Cup with his own efforts, because Tang Zheng has a huge amount of data to support in addition to his unparalleled fame, which makes people think that his contribution is irreplaceable by no one, even the entire team.

Although football is a team sport, the Chinese team without Tang Zheng can only be said to be lambs to the slaughter.

How can there be a third place in the World Cup?

The media in China praised Tang Zheng first, and then praised other Chinese players and head coach Lippi.

Once upon a time, football may have been a team sport, but with the birth of Tang Zheng, football was nothing more than a sport in which Tang Zheng's team won the game.

The third- and fourth-place final between China and Belgium is not the last match of the World Cup in Russia, and the Luzhniki Stadium in the capital Moscow will be the last match at 6pm local time the next day in Russia.

This game is also the most important game of the entire Russian World Cup, but it has nothing to do with the Chinese team, even if Tang Zheng is likely to become the winner of the Golden Boot and Golden Ball in the Russian World Cup.

The Chinese players, including Tang Zheng, took a flight to Beijing at Pulkovo Airport at noon on the day of the World Cup final in Russia, and then disbanded on the spot.

At St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport, thousands of Chinese fans naturally came to the airport to see them off.

It is worth mentioning that many fans from other countries came to the airport, but they did not come to bid farewell to Tang Zheng and other stars, but to bid farewell to the head coach of the Chinese team, Lippi.

This time goodbye, if you want to see Lippi again, you have to look at fate.

In the face of reluctant fans, Lippi felt very emotional, but many times there was no choice, and it was difficult for him, who has turned 70 this year, to spend this kind of high-intensity work......

In life, you always have to choose.

Less than an hour of flight, most of the players of the Chinese team fell asleep, Tang Zheng did not feel the slightest sleep, he turned his head to look at the clouds through the porthole, and his mood was inexplicably uncomfortable, the semi-final defeat to England was too unacceptable.

It was difficult to overtake the score at the end of extra time, only to be equalized by England in extra time, and finally relied on penalties to advance to the final.

"If we can keep the score, we should be playing the final with France now, right?" Tang Zheng looked at the clouds and muttered to himself in a voice that only he could hear.

If the Chinese team can advance to the World Cup finals and be evenly matched with the French team in the group stage, then it should not be much worse in the final.

A lifetime of regrets!

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When the Chinese team was halfway through the direct flight to Beijing, the final of the World Cup in Russia between France and England kicked off at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Both France and England chose to prioritize defending in the early stages, after all, it is the defense that ensures that the team does not concede a goal first.

Only by defending without conceding the ball can the players gradually look for opportunities in the attacking end.

In addition, the offense of both sides in the early stage of the game was tentative, and there were not many technical attacks.

In addition, England captain Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling and France's Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe are all closely marked by opposition defenders, so there are only a handful of threats to Jordan Pickford or Lloris in the back of the net.

In the first ten minutes of the game, both sides combined to contribute only one shot on goal, and it was a long-range shot from outside the penalty area.

It can be seen that both sides played very cautiously in the early stages of the game.

However, it was not too late to score, and in the 18th minute, Harry Kane scored his seventh goal of the tournament, but this goal was not scored by Lloris in goal, but by his own side......

Therefore, Harry Kane's goal cannot be accumulated into his personal World Cup goals, but can only be regarded as an own goal.

The French fans at the Luzhniki Stadium were as excited as children and for them thought England's leading goalscorer Harry Kane had the ball in his own net as a good sign, as England would have struggled to score against a strong team.

There were exceptions, though, and ten minutes later, Alli equalised for England on the end of Kieran Trippier's cross.

Unfortunately, nine minutes later, Sterling was fouled for handball in the box, and the referee on duty, Piñata, blew his whistle after watching the video replay, signaling a handball foul on Sterling, and awarded a penalty to France.

Antoine Griezmann withstood the pressure and made it all the way to help France equalise again.

England then stepped up their attack, but did not find the back of the net until the end of the first half.

In the second half, England continued to strengthen their attack, hoping to score an early equaliser, but the French team gradually improved with the increase in participation, especially the improvement of the defensive end, as evidenced by not conceding a single goal in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

As the clock wore on, the mood of the English players to equalise became more and more anxious, and the defence was no longer as solid as it was in the first half.

In the 58th minute, Pogba first instigated a counter-attack in the middle and then took part in the final blow himself to extend the score to two goals.

With two goals down there is no way back for the English, and stepping up their attack is an option they have no choice but to play in the second half and with the clock ticking by, the hope of an equaliser will be infinitely close to zero if there is no way to close the score in the shortest possible time.

However, the cruelty to the English was that the score had not yet narrowed, and first their own goal was lost.

4:1

The scoreboard at the Luzhniki Stadium showed a score that left the English desperate.

Kylian Mbappe extended France's lead to three goals on the counter-attack, and with 20 minutes remaining, England had no hope of equalising.

Throughout the last 20 World Cup finals, no team has equalised from three goals down.

British Sky commentator Andy Grey was in despair: "The game is now in the middle of the game, and it means an early end. ”

In the ensuing game time, France consciously pressed the tempo while focusing on defense, or disrupted England's attacking rhythm and increased the success rate of the defense.

But there was still good news for the English, in the 69th minute of the game, Lloris hesitated to kick off, and substitute Rashford successfully stole the ball and scored an empty goal, and the score changed from 4:1 to 4:2.

The Englishmen in the stands seemed to see the hope of an equaliser for their team, and the huge chanting of the mountains and tsunamis was wave after wave.

Unfortunately, the score remained unchanged until the end of the game, as France defeated England 4-2 at the Luzhniki Stadium to win the World Cup for the first time in four World Cups.

The Luzhniki Stadium was reduced to a sea of joy for the French, but the Englishmen in the audience did not show too much disappointment, because the FA's requirements for the England national team were to qualify from the group, and the English did not demand much from the national team, so it was a complete surprise to reach the final.

In particular, beating the Chinese team in the semi-finals to advance to the final in a desperate situation has made the English feel extremely satisfied.

Of course, the most important reason is that the current England team is very young, and the Qatar World Cup in four years is the time to really emerge on the World Cup stage, and the Russian World Cup can be said to be the best training platform for England.

At the end of the race, the French were frantically celebrating their victory, and the staff were setting up a makeshift podium.

He Wei, the commentator of Xi Yang 5, said emotionally: "The French team finally defeated England 4:2 and became the champion of the 21st FIFA World Cup, but England captain Harry Kane, who scored six goals in the previous six games, did not score, which means that Tang Zheng, who scored eight goals in seven games, became the top scorer in this World Cup!"

As soon as the words fell, the commentator Xu Yang added: "According to the voting score of the FIFA Technical Committee, Tang Zheng is also likely to compete for another major individual award, although the Chinese team failed to enter the World Cup finals, but the Chinese team won the World Cup third place in a record, captain Tang Zheng is a great contributor, I think in addition to the world's media can see it thoroughly, the FIFA Technical Committee can also observe, so the winner of the Golden Ball Award of the Russian World Cup is likely to be Tang Zheng!"

Although the Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV did not see the Chinese team appear in the final of the Luzhniki Stadium against the French team, they were able to see Tang Zheng become the winner of the Golden Ball Award and the Golden Boot in the presence of fans all over the world, which can be regarded as fulfilling the World Cup dream of Chinese fans.

Shortly after, former Germany captain Lahm put the Hercules Cup, a symbol of the World Cup winner, on the podium, and the frenetic atmosphere at the Luzhniki Stadium was significantly strengthened, as was the mood of the Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV.

It's not that the Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV are the French fans, but the Chinese fans are waiting for the announcement of the World Cup Ballon d'Or winners.

Tang Zheng, who scored eight goals before, was confirmed to be the winner of the Russian Golden Boot after this game, and the only suspense was the World Cup Golden Ball Award.

It's Tang Zheng, or Griezmann, or Harry Kane.

The first individual award was announced for the best young player, an indisputable honour that was won by Mbappe, who was only 19 years old.

Immediately, the top scorers of this World Cup were announced on the live broadcast and on the big screen.

Yang 5 commentator He Wei listened to the commentary on the live broadcast, and his emotions became surging: "Tang Zheng, who scored eight goals in seven games, has become the top scorer of the World Cup in Russia......

In the midst of Hovy's words, the live announcer mentioned the last personal glory of this World Cup.

He Wei perked up, concentrated, and held his breath, for fear of missing even a word, until he heard the name of the Ballon d'Or winner, he suddenly shouted: "Congratulations to Tang Zheng, he successfully defeated Griezmann and Harry Kane to become the best player in the 21st World Cup in Russia in 2018!"

At the same time, the huge LCD screen at the Luzhniki Stadium also showed a huge photo of Tang Zheng.

Commentator Xu Yang said regretfully: "It's a pity that Tang Zheng is taking a flight to Beijing with the whole team at this time, and there is no way to appear at the Luzhniki Stadium to accept the trophy award from FIFA President Gianni Infantino." ”

In fact, the relevant FIFA staff won the league with Tang Zheng before the Chinese team left for St. Petersburg Pulkovo Airport, but Tang Zheng did not want to watch the World Cup final at Luzhniki Stadium, so he politely refused.

Although Tang Zheng did not appear at the World Cup final to accept the World Cup Golden Boot Award and Golden Ball Award, the World Cup final award ceremony still attracted the most attention from the World Cup champion French team, and not many people were dissatisfied with Tang Zheng's absence.

At about 9 o'clock in the evening local time in Russia, that is, at more than 2 o'clock in the morning of the next day Beijing time, the Chinese team arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport by flight.

Tang Zheng was the first to learn of the results of the World Cup Golden Ball Award, and he was not surprised by his election.

The 2010 South Africa World Cup Golden Ball Award winner Uruguayan Forlan is the best example, eight years ago Forlan led Uruguay to the fourth place, eight years later Tang Zheng led the not optimistic Chinese team to the World Cup third place, deserves to be rewarded.

And the Golden Globe is the best award.

In addition, Tang Zheng has the gimmick of being the first person in world football today, so he naturally adds a lot of points, and it becomes logical to win the Golden Ball Award.

It's just possible that Tang Zheng wants to give up all his personal glory and lead the Chinese team to win the World Cup.

However, there is no if in the world, and if you miss it, it will become a permanent regret......

The Chinese internationals who returned to Beijing did not disband on the spot, but went to the Beijing Hotel to take a break and attend the state banquet during the day.

With the current overall strength of the Chinese team, it is already a very good result to be able to win the third place in the World Cup, coupled with the huge influence of the World Cup in the world, it is absolutely necessary for the country to praise all the soldiers of the national team.

On this day, most of the media around the world were reporting on the French team's second World Cup victory, but the Chinese media focused on the Chinese men's football team's participation in the state banquet, because this was the first time in the Chinese sports world, the first time in history!

As the captain of the Chinese team, Tang Zheng naturally became the focus of attention of the people of the whole country again.

Because Chinese fans who watched the World Cup know that the Chinese team was able to win the third place in the World Cup, which was completely the result of Tang Zheng's personal efforts......