Greece were eliminated, and the team that had been glorious for a decade was unable to continue their dream.

The Greek generation of players is also coming to an end.

Two games and two losses, even if it was to win against Ivory Coast in the final round.

After Dong Fangzhuo politely comforted the Greek players, he was surrounded by reporters on the spot. But Dong Fangzhuo actually has nothing to say.

The victory did not make any waves.

"Qualifying is only our most basic goal, there is nothing to celebrate and write about, I hope you reporters don't blow us to the sky, the knockout round is the time to test us."

His eyes are already on the knockout rounds, but in fact the third round of the group stage is just as important, because he has to think about finishing first and second in the group.

Group C will be the first and second in the different halves of the group, and the opponents will be different in the different halves.

The first of Group C and the second of Group D will be divided into the top half, while the second and first of Group C and D will be placed in the bottom half.

Now after two rounds, the top of Group A is locked in by Brazil, which means that if they finish first in Group C, they are likely to face the hosts at some point.

Of course, before the third round is completely over, everything is full of uncertainties, and there are other group opponents, not just Brazil, Argentina and Germany have to take into account.

Therefore, it is useless to think about it too much, if you want to go to the end, you still have to win all the opponents, it depends on what the team's goal is.

In fact, in this national team, Dong Fangzhuo is not the only one who maintains a calm mentality, such as Zheng Zhi, Zhao Xuri, Huang Bowen, Feng Xiaoting, and other veterans of the three dynasties are very calm.

Zheng Zhi said in an interview: "Take it one step at a time, don't be ambitious. ”

As the captain of the team, he, like Dong Fangzhuo, has little feeling about this victory.

Feng Xiaoting said: "We have always known that we can qualify, which is not surprising, isn't it common sense for us to qualify? ”

As for Sun Jihai, the patriarch of the Four Dynasties? That's not to mention.

'We know what we want to come here and everybody knows it, so we treat every game like a final, but we don't get complacent and I hope this year will be better than last time.'

At the press conference, Crowchen's change of formation was also highly praised, and everyone wondered if Crawford would continue to play in such a formation.

"Does today's formation mean that it is the formation and configuration of the game after that? This seems to be the most competitive formation and configuration of the Chinese team at the moment? ”

Crowchen smiled slightly, "Then it depends on the state of the players, as well as the opponent." I'm not willing to sacrifice Dong Fangzhuo. ”

"But he can still score."

'You never want to put a top scorer in the midfield position, it's just a flamboyance.

"Does that mean we don't have enough in the midfield?"

"If you compare it to Brazil, Argentina and Germany, that's the way it is. We still lack a lot in many areas, but we are more mature and consistent than any other team. ”

"Will the main squad be replaced in the third round and substitutes will be brought on?"

"It's something that I didn't think about until four days later, and I haven't thought about it for ...... time being"

※※※※

Four hours later, the other match of the group stage was over, with Colombia beating Ivory Coast to qualify for the group as well, with Group C probably the easiest of the eight groups. Ivory Coast also went home early, like Greece, and for these two teams, they are left with only a battle of honour, while China will face Colombia for top spot in the group.

Of course, this group doesn't necessarily have to be contested......

There are a lot of strong teams that have overturned in the gutter, Spain, Italy, England have not played the results they wanted, and it looks like they are more likely to be eliminated.

The official website of the AFC immediately sent praise to the Chinese team: the pride of Asia, they are our only hope for the World Cup.

This sentence was instantly protested by South Korean and Japanese fans, who scolded the AFC online.

"What is the only hope? Just because they qualified early? Could it be that Japan and South Korea are eliminated? Is there no hope for us to get it? The AFC This is Chiguoguo's discrimination and strongly condemns this irresponsible report! ”

The officials of the AFC were depressed, but it seemed that this expression was really wrong, and then they quickly changed the title to - the Chinese team is moving towards the highest goal, and no team can stop them.

I'm not going to bring Asia with me this time......

England's "Times" wrote with great envy: The Chinese team emerged from Group C strongly, while England may not qualify for the knockout round, and we need Chinese directors.

Spain's Marca newspaper said something about the same: where are our strikers? Even the Chinese team has qualified, while Spain is still struggling in the group stage, can't the defending champions even break through to the group stage?

Spain's "Global Times": Forget about the traditional strong teams such as Spain and England, the Chinese team is one of our strongest opponents, and if the two armies fight, we dare not say that we will win.

"People's Daily": Forward! Advance! Advance! ——The Chinese national men's football team advanced to the knockout round with an unstoppable momentum!

……

European teams have faced obstacles, but South American teams have been quite strong.

As it was a World Cup in South America, they had a natural advantage, with Uruguay, Chile and Argentina all victorious, leaving no team behind.

Three days later, the second round of the group stage ended, and England, Italy, Spain, and Portugal were all on the verge of death.

Especially Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo. After losing 4-0 to Germany in their opening game and drawing with the United States, even a win over Ghana in the final round will not be effective because goal difference is also a matter of consideration. Portugal's goal difference is minus four, Germany is carefree, they don't have to fight the United States, Portugal's fate is basically dead.

The depressed Ronaldo called Dong Fangzhuo and kept spitting bitterness.

"If Pepe hadn't played with fire in the first round, we wouldn't be in this desperate situation right now."

"I was back in the dressing room and I really wanted to beat him up."

"Alas......"

Ronaldo and Pepe are friends, and his friend has done something stupid, what can he do? The quadrennial World Cup seems to be over, melancholy.

Dong Fangzhuo still remembers Portugal's World Cup four years ago, when they lost to World Cup champions Spain because of an offside goal. At that time, he also comforted Ronaldo, but he didn't expect that four years later, Ronaldo would be even worse, and Portugal would not even have a chance to qualify.

"Some things are predestined, what can I do......"

He doesn't know what to say, Ronaldo doesn't have the World Cup, who called him in Portugal? After the golden generation retired from football, he was left alone with Portugal, and he was not Maradona.

No matter how sad you are, you can't be sad about Messi! Thinking that Messi won the World Cup runner-up that year, Dong Fangzhuo finally had something to comfort Ronaldo.

"Don't worry, Messi will be with you."

"Huh?"

"Messi?" Ronaldo, "That guy has a good fate, he fought in South America, and now he is out, what does he accompany, but his Argentina didn't play very well, and the game was ugly." ”

"Ahem, don't worry, there will be that day. You have to think about it, but there is no difference between the group qualification and the top 16 and quarterfinals, and when you get to the semi-finals or lose the final, the mood is even worse. Actually, only when you win the championship will you feel really good, but I think winning the second place is the most painful ......"

"Okay, that seems to make sense?" Ronaldo is ignorant, seems to understand, and doesn't seem to understand very well.

"Let's play well in the third round......

※※※※

Just when Dong Fangzhuo and Ronaldo were talking about Messi, Messi and Aguero happened to be talking about Ronaldo.

Aguero said: "That cocky guy is finally going home and if Portugal can qualify, I'll stick my head in my ass. ”

Messi didn't speak.

"You're not happy?"

Aguero wondered.

"It's good to have a Cristiano Ronaldo."

"However, he is not a real opponent...... Messi finally spoke.

"Oh, Dong." Aguero understood that from beginning to end, Messi only had Dong Fangzhuo in his eyes......

"You say, will we meet them?" Aguero suddenly said this.

“……”

Messi stopped talking again, and for him, there were only two words, nightmares.

Didn't the last World Cup lose to China in the knockout round?

I was in a panic!

But no matter how much they collide this time, if you want to meet, it seems that you have to be in the semi-finals or finals, right?

Thinking of this, Messi's heart became much more comfortable......

※※※※

The third round of the World Cup group stage came, and the two matches in Group A started at the same time, and finally Brazil and Mexico shared 7 points to qualify together, Brazil ranked first in goal difference, and the favored Croatia was eliminated, and the other team was eliminated from Cameroon.

Group B is embarrassing, defending champion Spain only finished third in the group stage, painfully leaving the World Cup in Brazil, Japan is the bottom of the exit.

Then, it's time for Group C.

There is no suspense in Group C, Colombia and China are the teams that qualify, but they have to separate the first and second teams in the group.

At the moment, they don't know the points of the next five groups, so it doesn't really make a difference if they finish first or second.

But Crouchen made a pre-match decision, he played with a full bench lineup! It wasn't until the press conference that the nation knew he had made this decision.

Why?

Everyone was amazed......

The explanation given by Crawford is that there is no need to go to Colombia again when it is certain that they will qualify from the group.

"Aren't you afraid of meeting your last rival, Uruguay, in the middle of elimination?"

"Coming off the bench, we lost."

"It's basically going to touch Uruguay!"

Many fans are uncomfortable in their hearts, but there are also fans who are very sensible.

"It's better to play Uruguay than Brazil in the quarterfinals, right? Is it bad to play the Netherlands or Mexico in the quarterfinals? If we can win against Uruguay, it's better than playing the hosts, and we only lost a controversial goal in the semi-finals of the last World Cup! ”

"In other words, whether it is against Uruguay or the Netherlands, we don't have any pressure, maybe that's why Crouchen made this decision!"

After the Colombian side learned the news, they were also very surprised, but they didn't expect the Chinese team to stop playing with them!

The result can be imagined, the Chinese team that sent a substitute team to play finally lost the game 0:1 and finished second in the group, while Ivory Coast and Greece drew 0:0, and Group C ended like this.

However, the next match in Group D was a big surprise, because Uruguay did not win the group, and it was Costa Rica who won the group!

In other words, the Chinese team did not meet Uruguay in the knockout round, but with Costa Rica......

Uruguay cried, and the Chinese team laughed.

Since Uruguay did not finish first in the group, they will have to fight Colombia to the core, and whoever qualifies will face the powerful hosts Brazil......

"Oh my God, can Crawford have predicted the game? It's like forcibly lowering the difficulty of the game, it's better to play Costa Rica than Uruguay, and then easily go to the bottom half. ”

"This is the best signing, the Chinese team will definitely be able to gnaw Costa Rica, and it will be the quarterfinals with the Netherlands at that time."

"Haha, I guess that's why Crawford has been the head coach of the Chinese team, right? Magical move, not convinced. ”

Another day passed, with the strong French team in the top half and Switzerland in the bottom half. Germany went to the top half, while Argentina came to the bottom half.

The Chinese fans laughed again.

"The second half is good, the strong teams have all played against the Chinese team!"

"The first half is horrible, Germany, France, Brazil...... Gee. ”

In the end, the top 16 all came out, and the situation was completely clear.

Brazil VS Chile,

Colombia vs Uruguay,

France VS Nigeria,

Germany VS Algeria,

Netherlands VS Mexico,

Costalia vs China,

Argentina VS Switzerland,

Belgium VS USA.

"What about South Korea, what about Japan? Didn't their fans protest against the AFC? They're coming out, aren't they aiming for the championship? Why the team is gone. ”

"Now, there is only the Chinese team left in Asia, and we are the only one seedling in Asia! The AFC's eyes are clear, and they were not mistaken. ”

In the last World Cup, a Japanese team entered the round of 16, and this time there is only the Chinese team.

After the match came out, the Chinese team's promotion handicap also came out, the Chinese team conceded a goal, and the spinach company was optimistic about the Chinese team again.

Several big clubs are also favored, and the quarterfinals don't look like much suspense. As for the top scorers? Messi and Dong Fangzhuo are equal, and both of them have the same odds......