Chapter 183: The first in the group

Perhaps because of the different importance and nature of the quadrennial Olympic Games for a country, although the level is only a U23 level game, it is not a professional game, but the system gives Cheng Hai a very rich experience reward, a goal is 1 million experience, 10 times the Asian Cup goal.

In this Olympic group stage, Cheng Hai won a total of 1 assist of 500,000, 2 goals of 2 million, the best 1 million on the spot, and 2 million wins in the game, adding up to a total of 5.5 million experience.

After the game, the Chinese media and fans reveled in the victory.

Because this is the first victory of the Chinese men's Olympic team in the official competition of the Olympic Games, it is of historic significance.

What's more, Mexico is still the strongest in this group except for the Chinese national team, and after defeating Mexico, the Chinese national team has a bright prospect of qualifying.

Chinese men's football is likely to qualify for the knockout round of the World Series for the first time.

Therefore, although the score of 3-0 is not very big, it is much worse than the 10-0, 6-0, and 5-0 that Cheng Hai won against Lebanon and other teams in the national football team in the previous games, but it still makes the Chinese media and fans quite excited, just like the New Year.

However, in the eyes of the media and fans in other countries, Cheng Hai only scored 2 goals and one assist in this game, which is really a bit substandard.

Compared to the 10-0 Lebanon game, the gap was too big to bear.

Even if Mexico is stronger than Lebanon, but this is only a U23 game, not a senior national team game, how can Mexico's defenders stop the Champions League and can kill the four equations?

The explanation of the Chinese media is that in the first Olympic game of the Chinese Olympic team, the other team members were nervous and in poor condition, which dragged Cheng Hai back.

But foreign media still believe that Cheng Hai may not be so ideal to play the front midfield. Otherwise, it will not go from the national football team to the national Olympics, and it will slide all the way from 10-0 to 3-0.

According to this trend, after two more games, won't the Chinese Olympic team led by the world's No. 1 superstar Cheng Hai lose to the opponent?

Of course, everyone has highs and lows, and a game can't be concluded too early, and everyone is noisily preparing to watch Cheng Hai's next Olympic game.

Even more beneficial for the Chinese national team is that in the other group game in the same group, Switzerland and Gabon drew 1-1.

In this way, the Chinese team is firmly in first place in the group with 3 points and 3 goal difference, Switzerland and Gabon are in the second and third places, and Mexico is at the bottom of the group.

As long as the Chinese team wins one more game, they will advance from the group.

The next day, the London Olympics officially opened, and the world officially entered the quadrennial Olympic carnival cycle.

Subsequently, on July 29, the second round of the group stage was launched one after another, and Group B was led by the match between Mexico and Gabon.

Mexico was indeed the strongest team in the group except for the Chinese team, easily defeating Gabon with a score of 2-0, taking all three points and gaining the initiative to qualify for the second place in the group.

At 17:15 p.m. on July 29, 2012, with the whistle of the referee Orozco from Bolivia, the second match of the second round of Group B of the group stage of the London Olympic Games of China and Switzerland officially started at the Coventry City Stadium in England.

Although they failed to win the first group game, Switzerland, like Mexico, did not compete with the Chinese Olympic team.

Because of the fight with the Chinese team, the odds of victory are too small.

It's better to save your energy and play against Mexico in the final group game.

Even if this game is lost, in the last direct confrontation with Mexico, as long as Switzerland can win, it will still be able to qualify as the second place in the group, which is better than fighting with the Chinese team and being slaughtered by a big score in the end.

Therefore, in this game, Switzerland, like Mexico, hoarded heavy troops to defend at the back, and the central idea was to win less with less.

With such treatment, the Huaguo team will naturally not be polite, so they will treat it as offensive training.

Different from the first game, except for Cheng Hai, Zhang Linpeng, Hao Junmin and other national team players, everyone else on the field in the first game seemed very nervous, and the cooperation with Cheng Hai was not in place, and in the end only won 3-0.

With the adaptation of the last game, everyone's on-the-spot performance in this game is much better.

In the 8th minute of the opening game, Cheng Hai sent the ball to the head of Dong Xuesheng, who was standing at the top of the arc of the penalty area with his back to the goal, with a pick pass in the front court.

Dong Xuesheng's height of 188cm and weight of 82kg cannot be compared with Cheng Hai's physique, but when Cheng Hai attracts most of the defensive attention, he can still stabilize his body and get stuck in position.

This time, Dong Xuesheng played a key role, occupied the landing point, and successfully ferried the ball picked by Cheng Hai to Rao Weihui, a full-back on the left side of the penalty area.

Rao Weihui also had his back to the goal, and the opposing defender was close to the defense, unable to turn and shoot.

But he doesn't need to turn around and shoot, he just needs to get the ball where it needs to be.

This time, Rao Weihui also played very well, facing Dong Xuesheng's header ferry, without stopping the ball to adjust, he cushioned the ball with the instep of his inner foot and sent it to the position near the penalty spot in the big penalty area.

Cheng Hai, who had finished passing the ball to Rao Weihui, was rushing up there.

Although Cheng Hai is as eye-catching as a firefly in the night sky, his off-the-ball run after passing the ball is not something that the Swiss defenders can keep up with, whether it is the erratic nature of the movement or the speed.

Two Swiss defenders were left behind by him, and a defender rushed from the flank of the box to tackle the ball out of the box.

But Cheng Hai's speed and explosiveness are faster than him.

Between the lightning and flint, I saw Cheng Hai rushing into the penalty area like a cheetah, facing the ball passed by Rao Weihui, and volleyed the ball to the lower left corner of the Swiss goal.

Then Cheng Hai lost his center of gravity and was shoveled to the ground by the defender who rushed over next to him.

But this was no longer helpful, the ball kicked out by Cheng Hai had already been drilled into the bottom left corner of the goal by sticking to the far post.

Although goalkeeper Benagrio made a save, Cheng Hai's shot was too fast and too awkward, and he was finally out of reach and could only watch the ball go into the net.

In the 8th minute, the Chinese team played a delicate air pass in the front, and finally Cheng Hai sent the ball into the door of the Swiss team.

Hua Guo led 1-0.

The Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV immediately broke out in warm applause and cheers.

The Swiss team is really the same as Mexico, even if the score is behind, it still does not take the initiative to attack, giving the Chinese team a chance to counterattack.

Breaking the dense defense is a big problem for any team, even if the Huaguo team has Cheng Hai.

Fortunately, Cheng Hai has super individual ability and can threaten the opponent's goal with a long-range shot. Even if you can't score a goal, you can take a corner or free-kick and get another chance to score.

Although the Swiss team did their best to pile up all the manpower to defend at the back, and disrupted a lot of the Chinese team's attack.

However, their goal was broken again in the 37th minute.

This goal, it was a corner kick caused by Cheng Hai's long shot outside the penalty area, and then a corner kick by Cao Yunding, Cheng Hai grabbed the first point in the penalty area with his strong physique and bouncing, header ability, and shook his head to attack the goal, and pushed the ball into the Swiss goal.

Cheng Hai scored twice, and the Chinese team took a 2-0 lead.

With a two-goal lead, the players of the national Olympic team, who have already played a group stage, have no psychological pressure, play more relaxed, and play much better than in the previous game.

In the 40th minute, Cheng Hai used a bull's tail to break through the defense of a midfielder, and after attracting the defense of a full three defenders outside the sideline of the Swiss penalty area, center forward Dong Xuesheng ran out of a gap in the penalty area.

Cheng Hai immediately smashed the ball and dodged a gap, without waiting for the opponent to block the passing angle again, he immediately crossed with his feet, Dong Xuesheng took the lead behind the small penalty area line, grabbed the first point and shook his head to attack the goal, and put the ball into the Swiss team's goal.

Dong Xuesheng scored a goal from Cheng Hai's cross to help Huaguo take a 3-0 lead.

The last game was only 3-0 in the whole game, and this game was 3-0 at halftime, which shows the improvement of Cheng Hai and his teammates' state, as well as the fact that the opponent's strength is relatively weaker than Mexico.

In the next few minutes, under the strong defense of the Swiss team, the Chinese team did not score again.

In the second half, the Swiss team's tactics remained unchanged and they still couldn't hold on, and it seemed that they were determined to fight Mexico in the final group game.

The Huaguo team, after winning this game, can be sure to qualify for the group ahead of schedule, so the second half is not too pressed, in case of injury, it is not good for the knockout round.

Head coach Sun Wei even brought up two substitutes to let the substitutes feel the atmosphere of the Olympics and give the main players time to rotate and rest.

After all, not everyone has such perverted physical fitness and recovery ability as Cheng Hai.

Even so, the Chinese team still scored two goals in the second half.

One is that Cheng Hai grabbed the air ball from the opponent's clearance, and first used a delicate pick to pass the defender who was close to the defender outside the penalty area, and then immediately turned around and kicked the ball into the corner of the Swiss team's goal.

Cheng Hai scored a hat-trick to give Huaguo a 4-0 lead.

The last ball was headed in by Zhang Linpeng in a corner kick attack.

Because Cheng Hai's deterrent power is too great, the Swiss defenders are all around Cheng Hai.

As a result, Cao Yunding's corner kick was a little bigger, Cheng Hai and the defenders around him all leaked, and the ball flew to the back point, which happened to land on top of Zhang Linpeng's head, allowing him to easily push the ball in.

In the end, the score between the two sides was 5-0, and the Huaguo team won the second group stage with Cheng Hai's hat-trick and an assist, as well as a header by Zhang Linpeng.

After two rounds of group play, the Chinese team won all two games and ranked first in the group with 6 points and 8 goal difference, Mexico ranked second with 3 points and 1 goal difference, and Gabon and Switzerland only accumulated 1 point and ranked third and fourth.

With only one round left in the group stage, Gabon and Switzerland can't catch up with the Chinese team in any case. In the case of two qualifying places in the group stage, the Huaguo team qualified one round early.

Therefore, at the moment when the referee blew the final whistle, the Huaguo CCTV-5 commentator in the commentary seat excitedly explained in the loudest voice:

"The referee blew the final whistle!"

"It's over!"

"The Chinese team defeated Switzerland 5-0, and accumulated 6 points in two games to qualify for the group one round in advance."

"The Chinese men's Olympic team has entered the knockout round of the Olympic Games for the first time in history, and Chinese football has ushered in a new history."

"Of course, in fact, every step of the current national Olympic team is breaking history, whether it is points, victories, or goals."

In this game, Cheng Hai continued his brave play, not only scored a hat trick and an assist to help the national Olympic team achieve a 5-0 victory, but also once again used his physical strength in the midfield to run and defend, so that the only few counterattacks of the Swiss team were in vain, and finally kept a clean sheet against the opponent.

"We believe that under the leadership of Cheng Hai, the Huaguo team will eventually achieve more brilliant results and new history."

After the game, the Chinese team had a warm celebration, interacting with the overseas Chinese fans who rushed to the scene to watch the game, as well as Cheng Hai's fans, Cheng Hai also walked to the sidelines and signed a group photo for many people to thank everyone for their support.

After this round of the group stage, Cheng Hai ranked first in the scorer list with 5 goals, and there will be almost no suspense in the Olympic Golden Boot.

The media in various countries basically reported with the following headline:

"The second round of the Olympic men's football team is over, the Chinese team won all two games and qualified ahead of schedule, and Cheng Hai won two games with 5 goals! 》

"In the second round of the Olympic men's football team, the Chinese team defeated Switzerland 5-0 and qualified one round ahead of schedule, and Cheng Hai dominated the stadium with a hat trick and assists! 》

Not only did they qualify ahead of schedule, but the huge goal difference advantage of the Chinese team basically locked the first place in the group, and Mexico only had the possibility of a theoretical overtake in the final round of the group stage.

But everyone knows that it is impossible, because Switzerland will fight hard with Mexico, and Mexico cannot win more than 8 goals against Switzerland and at the same time let the Chinese team lose to Gabon.

Therefore, in the final round of the group stage against Gabon on August 1, the Chinese team sent a semi-main and semi-substitute lineup, rotating several main players to prepare for the knockout round.

On the Gabon side, although it is already known that there is only a theoretical possibility of qualifying, the Gabon Olympic team still does its best to fight with the Chinese team.

The Gabon Olympic team even lined up a 352 formation and attacked aggressively, wanting to win by a big score, hoping for a draw between Mexico and Switzerland, and the possibility of Gabon qualifying second in the group.

However, Gabon is less powerful than Mexico and Switzerland.

Although the Huaguo team has rotated some of the main players, with Cheng Hai here, it was only 12 minutes before breaking through Gabon's goal.

Cheng Hai's terrifying strength, the Gabon team naturally tried their best to defend, but they themselves played in a 352 formation, and the full-backs couldn't come back if they attacked it.

So, when the Chinese team broke the ball to counterattack and the Gabon defenders swarmed to intercept Cheng Hai, Cheng Hai sent the ball to the feet of Cao Yunding on the right side of the front court with an accurate long pass.

Cao Yunding cut inside with the ball on the side, forcing the last defender who was originally defending Dong Xuesheng to intercept him.

The next thing is simple, Cao Yunding sent the ball to the feet of the unguarded Dong Xuesheng. Dong Xuesheng received the ball in the big penalty area, faced the goalkeeper who pounced on him, and played a reverse corner.

The ball flew past goalkeeper Owonno and into the back of the net.

Hua Guo led 1-0.

With the score down by one goal, the Gabon team attacked even more aggressively to get the goal.

However, the more they attacked, the faster they conceded goals.

Cheng Hai's world-leading speed and full physical fitness make him cover quite a lot in the midfield.

Even though the Gabon team had as many as 7 players in the midfield, they still couldn't cope with it, and under the pressure of Cheng Hai and his teammates, they often conceded goals.

Although you don't always get the ball to attack, and you don't get your teammates to score every time you attack. After all, the teammates of the National Olympic team are far from Cheng Hai in terms of offensive ability.

But Cheng Hai is now a front waist, not a back waist. A lot of the time, he can attack with the ball on his own.

In the 26th minute, Cheng Hai staged a wonderful long-distance attack.

His pressing near the centre circle forced Gabonese midfielder Martinida to make a passing error, and the ball was cut off by Chinese defender Tang Jiashu.

Cheng Hai immediately ran sideways and pulled out a gap, and Tang Jiashu, who broke the ball, also immediately passed the ball over.

After getting the ball, Cheng Hai began his wonderful performance.

First, the ball passed Martinida, who was counter-robbing, and then dribbled to Gabon's penalty area, using Marseille spins, Matthews feints, and cycling to connect three more people along the way, and finally faced the attacking goalkeeper on the line of the penalty area.

Cheng Hai scored a wonderful long-distance run from the middle circle and four people in a row, rewriting the score to 2-0, and the Chinese team led by two goals.

After falling behind by two goals, the Gabon team was even more desperate and desperate, and all members pressed up for counter-robbery and attack.

But the defense of the Chinese team, with Cheng Hai in the midfield, really made the Gabonese powerless.

Moreover, their aggressive attack caused a large gap in their own backfield, giving the Chinese team a good opportunity to counterattack.

After two counterattack opportunities that were wasted by Dong Xuesheng, in the 39th minute, Cheng Hai looked up at the front of the field after taking the ball in the backfield, and then passed a long diagonal pass of more than 50 meters.

The ball evaded interception by all Gabonese people along the way and appeared in front of full-back Cao Yunding, who was inserted at high speed.

Cao Yunding was in an anti-offside position on the side, got the ball smoothly, and strode diagonally to the penalty area.

Although there were defenders in the middle who desperately chased back, they still didn't have time to stop Cao Yunding in the end.

After Cao Yunding dribbled the ball to the line of the big penalty area, he played a pick-up shot in the face of the attacking goalkeeper Owono and successfully broke through Gabon's goal.

Before the end of the first half, the Huaguo team led 3-0, basically locking the win.

This goal completely shattered all the delusions and hopes of the Gabonese, and lost the motivation to continue fighting and equalize the score.

A few minutes later, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half, and the two sides went into the break with a score of 3-0, and the Chinese team led by three goals.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides in the second half.

Although the Gabon team felt that they had accepted the reality of being eliminated from the group stage, their morale was a little low, the attack was no longer as fierce as in the first half, and there were not so many holes in the backfield, and the rest of the Chinese team did not attack aggressively to avoid injury.

However, Cheng Hai did not stop attacking.

Because the Olympic goal experience reward is too high, in line with the principle of scoring one more if you can score one more, Cheng Hai doesn't mind abusing vegetables to brush up on the number of goals in the group stage.

As a result, Cheng Hai scored twice in the second half through another wide break and then cutting inside, curling into the far corner from outside the corner of the penalty area and a powerful long-range shot from outside the box.

Cheng Hai completed a hat trick and an assist performance like in the previous game, and even the score of the two sides in the end was the same as in the previous game: Huaguo 5-0 Gabon.

In the end, the Chinese team won 3-0 Mexico, 5-0 Switzerland, and 5-0 Gabon, winning all three games, accumulating 9 points, 13 goal difference, and scoring 13 goals without conceding a goal.

In the quarter-finals, the Chinese team will face Senegal, who are second in Group A.

In the other match-and-die matchup, Mexico was the better side of the game, scoring a stunning goal in the 91st minute to beat Switzerland 3-2 and advance to the quarterfinals as group runners-up.