Chapter 28: The Heroes (I)

Thirty-two teams, it can't be said that all of them are top teams, but it is definitely an incomparably luxurious feast.

Group A:

The first favourites are defending champions France.

Four years ago, France's triumph was thought to be a matter of luck, but four years later, France is one of the best in the world.

Thierry Henry has fully grown into a new generation of Premier League goalscorers, and Anelka, after changing the trajectory of his life, is also the Premier League's best hegemon, two French strikers, two Arsenal goalscorers, and two talented strikers who have been working together for five years.

This pair is enough to make any backline scared!

But it's not just these two strikers, France now have a lot of talent in the front line - 01-02, Serie A's top scorer, Trezeguet from Utus, who can only sit on the bench, and Ligue 1 top scorer Wiltord, who helped France complete the comeback in the Euro 00 final, now have no main place of their own.

There is also Zidane in his prime on the field.

Unlike history, before the 02 World Cup, Zidane was seriously injured and could not participate, and the strength of the French team was greatly reduced. In the end, he didn't score a goal in the group stage and went home in a gloomy way.

But now Zidane is not at Real Madrid, but at Fiorentina.

Fiorentina's player protection policy has helped their players to reduce injuries on the pitch and Zinedine Zidane has been able to prepare for the World Cup in the best possible condition.

Djokaeff is still young, and there are also Pires, one of the French first-class players who have performed well at Arsenal, and Parma's youngster Miku on the bench. But these two players can be described as victims of the Zidane era, because under the bald light, they can hardly find their place in the national team.

Miku aside, Pires is a top local player, in the history of the World Cup four years ago, when Zinedine Zidane was suspended for an uncool red card in the quarter-finals, it was his clever pass that helped Blanco break through the door of Chilavert, at that time Pires was already on the rise, and two years later, he was poached by Arsene Wenger to Arsenal to form a strong French gang.

As for the backline, it is almost the same as in 02, except for the veteran Blanco who announced his retirement, Thuram, Desailly, Leboeuf, Candela, Silvestre, etc. are all players who can take charge on their own.

Senegal, from Africa, can actually be described as a real dark horse in this World Cup, and they defeated the incomplete French in the first game in history, which shows that their strength is indeed extraordinary.

Diouf, Diop and others have also shone in this World Cup, so their performance is still worth looking forward to.

The Uruguayan lord looked a little embarrassed.

The morale of the army is unstable, internal contradictions have increased, and the former world champion has now been reduced to the point where anyone has to give a little face, but how the teenager Recoba plays has become the key to Uruguay's victory.

There is also Denmark, in the European Championships in 00, the Danish team no longer has the fairytale glory of the Laudrup brothers, and the last performance of the goalkeeper Schmeichel on the world stage can only make the Danish team not lose face.

Now that Schmeichel has also said goodbye to the national team, and Laudrup Jr. has responded to the call to return, whether Rau can lead the Danes who have made a change of old and new to regroup, this is a question worth discussing.

Group B:

Group B is a bit too peaceful, with Spain still playing the same team as they did four years ago. Slonia, who entered the World Cup for the first time, has the potential to be a dark horse, but unfortunately, their number one star Zahovic and head coach Katanic are at odds - Ling Feng naturally knows that after the first game with Spain, Zahovic was kicked out of the national team by the head coach, and he, like Roy Keane, does not accept the coach's management.

This also taught a lesson to many national players, Effenberg in '94, Asprilla in '98, plus Zahovic and Keane in '02, these people were the absolute main force of the team at that time, especially Asprilla and Zahovic, even to the extent of giving up on others.

But he was kicked out of the national team.

Ling Feng warned the team that if any player, including himself, dared to disobey the coach's arrangement, he would go home - including himself, that is, Zhu Guanglu didn't have the gall to control him......

Without Zakhovic, it is difficult for Slonia to make any big waves, and the other two teams, South Africa and Paraguay, are obviously dominated by Paraguay, and the magical goalkeeper Chilavert, who was not able to play with Ling Feng in the Copa America last time, represented the Paraguayan national team for the last time, and the young player Santamarous, who has been transferred to Bayern, is also quite threatening, and the strength is not a grade higher than that of South Africa.

Group C:

Group C doesn't need much introduction, because the brothers and sisters all know that Group C is the group that the national team stayed in that year.

The first thing to say is the king of Brazil.

Before the World Cup squad was confirmed, there was a person in the Brazilian team who attracted the attention of the world, this person was the absolute hero of the 94 World Cup, the abandoned player in 98, he is a well-deserved king of the penalty area, he has a nickname called the lone wolf, and his name is called Romario.

Truth be told, there is no shortage of people in the Brazilian team, especially strikers.

Romario, who is 36 years old, will have his last chance to play for his country at this year's World Cup.

In order to enter the national team to participate in his last World Cup, Romario adopted himself and constantly adjusted his form in the 01-02 season. He made 30 appearances for Vasco da Gama and scored 34 goals.

This achievement is different from history, perhaps. Romario was also stimulated by a group of young players.

With such a good competitive condition, the door of the Brazilian team finally opened to him, but only in the qualifiers, and the list was uncertain at the last moment, and no one could guarantee that he would be able to enter the national team.

Historically, the Brazilian team has not had a good year, quite a bad one.

They narrowly missed out on qualifying, and the manager changed five players, bringing in a total of seven (not clear, like seven) more than a dozen players. Only then did he staggeringly get a place in the World Cup.

But now it's different.

Ronaldo is not injured, and the strength of the aliens is much stronger than four years ago, more calm, more perceptive, and more terrifying.

Plus Ronaldinho, plus Rivaldo, and Romario, who was recruited in the qualifiers, if you count one more Robert Carlos, it's a 5R combination!

Brazil passed with ease, as if their country had secured a place in the World Cup.

But the attribution of Romario is still in doubt.

In the face of the last big battle of his life, the lone wolf lowered his arrogant head, he whispered to the reporter, begging the Brazilian national team to give him a chance, and with his performance, the domestic response to let him return to the national team is very high, and even there are people in the international arena to support Romario.

Robert Baggio.

Baggio, like Romario, faced the possibility of not being able to travel to the country, but this time he stepped up and spoke up for his rival eight years ago.

'I'm old, he [Romario] is old, it's our last chance to play in the World Cup, I want to be able to have the last fight with him in the World Cup, eight years ago he won against me and I hope to get it back in eight years' time."

When Baggio said this, tears welled up in his blue eyes, and his eyes were extremely melancholy, like the vast and boundless ocean.

It's been eight years, eight years.

How many eight years can a person have in his life? How many eight years can a player have in his life?!

The heroes of eight years ago, the heroes who once carved their names forever in the World Cup, are now no longer in their prime, and even the national team cannot enter.

Faced with the challenge of his old rival - not so much a challenge, but a sympathy, Romario quickly responded, not as arrogant and unreasonable as before, but very sincerely, I really hope that I can have a final showdown with Baggio in the World Cup......

The two former superstars, such a heroic sympathy made countless fans shed tears, supporting Baggio, supporting Romario in all corners of the world, finally, Brazil coach Scolari and Italian coach Trapattoni at the last moment, the two names were added to the 23-man squad.

Perhaps, neither Baggio nor Romario can play the main role, but they come off the bench and are an absolute nightmare for all defences.

Looking forward to Brazil, looking forward to having Baggio Italy......

Turkey, after 44 years, Turkey is back in the World Cup again, their own results are also very good, and their strength is quite strong in Group C, but Hakansuk is old, and he alone may not be able to provoke Turkey's pillars.

Peru, who came in as a substitute, can only be said to be so-so, and how Pizarro played in Bayern decided their fate.

Costa Rica, once created a miracle of dark horses under the leadership of Milou in 90, reached the top ten, and returned to the World Cup after 12 years, and its strength is not bad.

It can be said that the Group C team of Brazil, Turkey, the country, and Costa Rica, except for the garbage, the national team that conceded a goal in three games and did not score a goal, was indeed an embryo of the group of death.

Group D:

The host national team.

Needless to say, now this national team has been listed as the favorite by several major gambling companies in the world, and a team that has only participated in the World Cup for two times has won this honor, and in the entire history of the World Cup, except for a few teams in the second World Cup, it has never appeared.

Strong strength, terrible home field, walking to the street, everywhere wearing red Jinyou jerseys, everywhere shouting the slogan "the country must win", just the 1.3 billion people shouted in unison, it is estimated that the earth can be shaken so many times.

Many stars who have played in Europe's top five leagues and are famous, and there is even a Ling Feng who won all the championship trophies and all honors in Europe within five years of that year!

At present, there is one thing that is being discussed endlessly in international football, that is, in the two years since Ling Feng returned to China, has his strength increased or regressed?

The top scorer of the World Cup four years ago, Ling Feng, who broke the fate of scoring goals, what level is he at now?

Nobody knows.

It's not that the teams didn't observe Ling Feng, for example, Italy, they will be one out of eight teams that decide when they are likely to play against the national team.

But when I took the video of Ling Feng's game in the first division, Baggio, Nesta and Cannavaro, who were most familiar with Ling Feng, immediately spoke: "Jian Li, it's useless!" ”

Why? Because they all know that Ling Feng is a state player, when his competitive state is the most courageous, he can create a record of seven people with the ball in a row, and he can directly score with the ball on the field, and he can ...... In short, it can do anything!

But since returning to China, or rather, fighting Spain in Europe, no, it should be at Manchester United, Ling Feng's light has changed from outward to introverted.

He doesn't fight every game like he used to and he has to fight for the win.

He thinks about every game, but the belief in winning is not so strong.

But the World Cup is no ordinary competition.

For example, since the end of the World Cup in France, Ling Feng has been sharpening his knife, sharpening his own knife, four years of sharpening is enough to turn a scrap iron into a sharp blade, not to mention that Ling Feng is originally a glorious knife!

Four years of sharpening knives, just for that battle!

Back then, Nesta and Cannavaro were still confident that even if the two of them joined forces, even if they couldn't break Ling Feng's ball, they would be able to interfere with him a lot, which would make his next move sluggish, and then make mistakes, but now, the two of them really didn't dare to guarantee it.

Because although Ling Feng was strong before, he could still see it, but now Ling Feng is no longer visible......

Group D is the first time they face the runners-up in Group G, and although they also have Portugal – Poland and the United States – in Group D, it is hard to imagine what trouble they can cause to the country.

Although Portugal is present, it is also difficult for Portugal to stop the pace of the country's progress.

The Italian team has given a death order, in the group game, must win all, must be the first in the group, avoid the national team!