Chapter 35: The Second Group Stage

The result of the Chinese team's first game was almost like a crazy victory shocked the world, 6:0, Ling Feng scored six goals alone, setting a record in the history of the World Cup.

Ling Feng, who has not shown his skills in the international arena for two years, immediately attracted the attention of the world again, as for the discussion in the media of various countries before the game, Ling Feng's level is up or down...... There shouldn't be any need to discuss it now, right?

The Chinese players were low-key at this time, packing up for Shanghai after a day off, where a second group game awaited them – against the United States.

This is the second time that the Chinese team has been assigned to a group with the United States in the World Cup - fate, it's really fate, I just don't know, last time the Chinese team beat the United States 3:1 - provided that Ling Feng didn't play, people think that if it wasn't for Ling Feng's injury at the last moment of the game with the German team, which caused the game not to play, the Sino-US battle would definitely be more than that.

Let's take a look at the scores for the rest of the first round of the group stage.

In the other game of Group D, Portugal unexpectedly lost 2:3 to the United States?!

Portugal's golden generation is a little old at this time, and when they participate in the World Cup for the first time, they will inevitably be a little unable to let go of their hands and feet when they play, although they can control the rhythm of the game, but they can't control the victory.

Three surprise attacks by the Americans shattered the nightmare of the Portuguese, who were participating in the World Cup for the first time.

The American team coached by Ari is no longer the bottom team of four years ago, and their ability to beat Portugal has put some pressure on the Chinese team.

Group E.

The big score appeared again, following China's 6:0 slaughter of Poland, the unfavored German team 8:0 slaughtered the so-called Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

Krauser scored the first hat-trick with a header in World Cup history.

8:0, compared to China's 6:0, the Saudi team feels that they can die head-on.

Before the game, the Saudi team arrogantly claimed that its strength was about the same as that of the Chinese team, but as a result, they won six goals and conceded eight goals, which added up, that is, a gap of fourteen goals - this is also called almost?!

As for man, he is self-aware.

The Polish players also breathed a sigh of relief, well, it's not the bottom, how can it be said that there is a Saudi team at the bottom, and it won't be their turn to be at the bottom.

Roy. Although Keane's departure has reduced Ireland's strength, in a sense, it has made the Irish team more united, they drew 1:1 with African powerhouse Cameroon, Mboma is old, Eto'o is still very young, and he cannot provoke the Cameroon team, so Cameroon team has not been able to win Ireland team without any big stars.

Group F.

The most eye-catching group is Group F, which is the deadliest group, Argentina, England, Sweden, Nigeria!

England coach Sven. Eric did not make the same mistake as Hoddle did four years ago, and the England squad was complete and played quite steadily.

Although once the big knife Alain. Shearer withdrew from the national team, but Owen has already picked up Shearer's class, as well as Liverpool's Heskey, and the pair still have a good understanding of each other.

In the first game, England drew 1-1 with Sweden, and although they did not win, they achieved their goal.

The Argentine team, which has been replaced by the old and the new, is in the limelight under the leadership of Maradona, which is completely different from the Argentina team in history!

In the first game against Nigeria, goals from Barty and Saviola helped them win 2-0!

Group G,

Italy comfortably beat Ecuador 2-0, while an aging Croatia lost 1-0 to Mexico as they did four years ago.

Group H,

The Netherlands, who had picked up a small life, finally lived up to the opportunity that China had fought for, Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal in the opening game helped them beat the European Red Devils Belgium 1-0, and Russia drew 0-0 with Tunisia, and all in all, the situation in Group H should be the brightest, and if nothing else, the Netherlands and Belgium will qualify side by side.

After the first round of the World Cup group stage, except for Portugal's defeat, there has been no upset.

Ling Feng felt a trace of relief in his heart, as a fan, he didn't want too many upsets, although the upsets represented the progress of football in other countries, but ...... Is it really progress?

Most of the time, in addition to the fans in their home countries, everyone still wants to see the traditional powerhouses compete in the last moments.

So the Chinese team is in the end, is it considered an underdog?

In the current environment, that doesn't count, but what if it's before, or rather, a person who has never watched football, when he looks at the Chinese team, he is only participating in the World Cup for the second time, so what's it?

China is the biggest upset, but this dark horse already has enough strength to be called a dark horse.

The second round of the World Cup then kicked off, with defending champions France coming from behind the beaten line, with Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry scoring a goal each to beat Uruguay to make it two wins in a row and become the first team to qualify for the round of 16.

Senegal and Denmark drew 1:1, and now in Group A, France has won two games and has six points, Denmark has one win and one draw and four points are in second place, Senegal has one draw and one loss and one point, and Uruguay has lost all two games and is at the bottom of the rankings, becoming the first team to be eliminated.

Group B.

Spain beat Paraguay 3-1 to make them the second team to qualify, while South Africa beat Slovenia 1-0 without Zakhovic to sit second in the group with one win and one draw.

Group C.

Brazil's momentum is still unstoppable, they beat Peru 4-0 to replace China, Ronaldo scored two goals in this game, it seems that the aliens are not willing to let Ling Feng shine alone on this field.

Brazil also qualified for the group after the victory, while Costa Rica finished second in the group after a draw with Turkey, but they will face a strong Brazil side in the final game, and Turkey's victory over Peru was expected.

In that case, both Turkey and Costa Rica have one win, one draw and one loss, and it can be seen that it is crucial for Costa Rica to lose a few goals in the last game and Turkey to score a few goals.

Group D.

Finally returned to Group D, the Portuguese team played one game first, and they regained their form and slaughtered the poor Polish team again with a very faceless 4:0 - ten goals were scored in two games, and one goal was not scored, and the Polish players were planning to commit suicide!

Shanghai Hongkou Stadium, the second game of China's group stage, the opponent is the United States team.

The head coaches of the two sides were surprisingly low-key before the game, and the press conference before the game became a tea party touted by Zhu Guanglu and Ah Rui......

What's even more surprising is that there is no name of Ling Feng in the starting lineup of the Chinese team.

Last time Ling Feng missed this game due to injury, so what about this time?

Seeing Ling Feng sitting on the bench with a relaxed face and talking and laughing with his teammates, people understood that the Chinese team did not take the American team in their eyes at all, and the reason why Ling Feng did not play was to avoid injury.

This American team is also wronged enough, the two World Cups and China are in a group, but they haven't seen the opponent's first player play in both games, what is this? !

For the Chinese team's behavior that is close to provocation, the head coach of the American team, Arella, has a long face.

In the last game, they defeated the European powerhouse Portugal and have confirmed their strength, but the Chinese team still has not discharged the absolute main force - this is only the second game of the group stage, and the Chinese team has not yet determined to qualify, and in case they can't win the game, the last game against Portugal, does the Chinese team have the confidence to win the opponent? !

Whether you can win or not, you can't rely on your mouth, the so-called just talking and not practicing fake tricks, the players of the American team know in this game, why did the Chinese team dare to put Ling Feng on the bench so confidently and boldly? !

Ari's tactics are very simple, that is, fast attack surprise, and score from set-pieces - this tactic is too clear to the Chinese team, because this is how the Chinese team played before.

The reason why Portugal lost to the United States is not that its strength is not good, but that it lacks the ability to score goals.

Statistically, both teams had about the same number of shots on goal, but the Portuguese accounted for 68 per cent of the time spent on the ball!

That said, the ball was mostly at the feet of the Portuguese, but they didn't convert their chances into goals, and the American's first surprise attack of the game was headed past by defender O'Brien.

If you want to talk about the U.S. women's football team, it can still compete with our Chinese women's football team, but the men's football team ...... Hehe, whether it is the overall strength or the individual ability of the players, it is not a team of the same grade.

At the beginning, the Chinese team played very relaxed, Ding Rui was injured, Ling Feng was not played, and the substitutes for the two of them were Yang Chen and Zhang Xiaorui, which were familiar faces to the audience, and they were also the first batch of players brought out by Ling Feng when he returned to China for the first time.

Look at the present, it is really a new person for an old, in the entire Chinese national team, in addition to Ling Feng, the players in the Asian Cup in 96 are only Hao Haidong, Fan Zhiyi, Yang Chen, Li Tie, Sun Jihai, Zhang Xiaorui, Su Maozhen and Jiang Jin, and the others are lagging behind in the face of the fierce and cruel national team competition, and are topped by a group of young and energetic players.

The U.S. team still wants to play the trick of quick counterattack when playing with Portugal, but the keen judgment of the defender Zhu Yujian has greatly reduced the accuracy of their midfield's passing and receiving rate, and the most famous veteran of the U.S. team, McBride, was also closely guarded by Wang Gang, all the way high and low, no matter what direction the ball was destroyed by him in advance.

The old duo of Yang Chen and Hao Haidong also played at a considerable level during the game, with Yue Lingxiang and Liu Dong, two world-class midfielders, in charge of passing, Yang Chen's header in the opening ninth minute almost broke through the door of the United States.

The director cut the picture to Ling Feng, who was pointing at the field with the head coach Zhu Guanglu on the side, and the main coach next to him, Shen Fu, was also constantly taking notes.

The Chinese team launched another threatening attack in the fourteenth minute, Zhang Xiaorui's through ball to the side, Liu Dong quickly inserted and made a quick stop to flash the defender of the American team, Mastroni, and then slightly adjusted the balance of his body and passed straight to the penalty area, Hao Haidong followed up to grab the point and push, but the opponent's defender fell to the ground at the same time to shovel the ball out of the bottom line......

Five minutes later, Yue Lingxiang then passed the opportunity of a quick counterattack straight ahead, and it was Hao Haidong again, who quickly plugged in, and the opponent's defender dragged him into the penalty area, but when he stopped and got rid of it, he was tripped by the opponent's defender, and the opportunity for the fast attack was destroyed, and when he got the ball again, the opponent's two defenders had returned to their positions, and this time the fast attack failed, and then his pass was pushed out by the opponent's defender.

It can be seen from the current scene that although the strength of the Chinese team without Ling Feng is still above the American team, it is still a little lacking in scoring - because of the lack of a top breakthrough and long-range player.

Yue Lingxiang and Liu Dong's free kicks are still good, and they often score through free kicks and long-range shots in their respective leagues, but now the positions of the two are fixed to the side, and Zhang Xiaorui, who played as a substitute for Ling Feng, although his skills are not bad, is far worse than Ling Feng.

The midfield was unable to form strong support, so the forward line just blossomed and did not bear fruit.

"Xiao Yue is not alone enough, and the number of times he dribbles the ball is too small." Ling Feng whispered to Zhu Guanglu on the side, who understood, and took the opportunity of the ball out of bounds to call Yue Lingxiang to the sidelines, and whispered a new tactic in his ear.

Next, the fans found very strangely that Yue Lingxiang, who was originally the right midfielder, suddenly began to control the ball very actively, and slacked off a lot in defense, while Zhang Xiaorui, who was supposed to be the front midfielder, retreated from time to time and went to the right side to make up for the vacancy left by Yue Lingxiang.

After Yue Lingxiang broke through a few times, the sweat on the head of the head coach of the American team, Ari, was dripping, because he had already seen that his left-back Pope was not the opponent of the opponent's No. 7 at all!

In the twenty-third minute of the first half, Yue Lingxiang successfully cut into the penalty area on the right side, shook off Pope all the way to protect the ball near the bottom line, and successfully attracted the attention of the opponent's midfielder and then fell to the ground and swept the ball into the penalty area.

The ball is in! The Chinese team leads 1:0!