Chapter 45: Breaking into the World Cup
Lin Wei stood in front of Zhang Guan awkwardly, as a professional paparazzi, it is not unheard of to be caught, Lin Wei was even beaten because of it when he was young, it is said that he should have practiced cheeky kung fu a long time ago, but now, in the face of Zhang Guan's gaze, Lin Wei seems very weak-hearted. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info
"There are rumors outside that you are injured, it turned out to be fake, this is great, the national football team has a play, we can enter the World Cup!" Lin Wei opened his mouth and said, wanting to dissolve the awkward atmosphere.
Zhang Guan looked at Lin Wei with a smile, and after a full minute, he spoke: "Mr. Lin, I also know your reputation in the industry, so I won't go around the bend with you." I pretended to be injured to show the Korean team, but now that you have broken it, what do you say? ”
Lin Wei suddenly had a crying expression, how could he not know that Zhang Guan was deliberately deceiving the opponent to confuse him, maybe Zhang Guan still has a lot of back-ups, if he really pokes this kind of thing out, it is tantamount to destroying the tactics of the national team, in case the national football team can't enter the World Cup, if the account is settled after the autumn, the fans alone will tear themselves apart.
"I don't say it, I will never reveal half a word to others about this matter, even if it is my own parents, I won't say it!" Lin Wei immediately spoke.
"That's not enough." Zhang Guan shook his head, and then he said to the assistant beside him: "Go find a doctor, bandage my leg, and make it look like an injury." Lin Wei, you know what to do, right? ”
Lin Wei is also a smart person, he instantly understood Zhang Guan's intentions, he knew that Zhang Guan was going to deliberately send out false news, so he immediately nodded: "Don't worry, when you are ready, I will take a picture immediately, your 'injured' appearance will be reported this afternoon!" ”
Zhang Guan nodded with satisfaction, and said to himself: "You have to give the Korean team some reasons to work hard!" ”
……
The news of Zhang Guan's injury reached South Korea, and the whole of Korea was boiling. Originally, everyone thought that the South Korean team had little hope of qualifying, and even if they beat Uzbekistan, they would at most finish third in the group and play a play-off against the American team. Asian teams meet American teams and have little chance of winning, so third place in the group is just a death sentence that is not immediately executed.
Now, with Zhang Guan suddenly injured and will miss the next game, it will be difficult for China to win away from Qatar, and if China cannot win, South Korea could still become second in the group and qualify directly for the World Cup.
"Is the news true? Is Zhang Guan really injured? ”
"It's absolutely true, if you go to see the major portals in China, someone has already photographed Zhang Guan's injury, and it was taken secretly, his knee was bandaged dozens of layers, it looks like the injury is very serious, and he will definitely not be able to play in the next game."
"Since it was taken secretly, it must be true. Great, so as long as we beat Uzbekistan, we will be able to qualify directly! ”
"Fight, the last game, although it is away, but we must fight, as long as we win this game, we can advance!"
"I'm going to Uzbekistan, I'm going to cheer for our players personally!"
The whole of South Korea was excited, and many fans booked tickets to Uzbekistan to cheer for the South Korean team in person. The players of the South Korean team also look like they are united, and even several veteran players said that if they should not leave Uzbekistan, they will retire to apologize to the people.
September 5, the last match day of the top 12 of the World Preliminaries.
The Chinese team challenged Qatar away, and in the list of starters announced before the game, Zhang Guan's name was not seen, and Zhang Guan's name was put into the substitute players.
"There is no Zhang Guan in the starting line-up, and it looks like Zhang Guan really can't play."
"But there's also Zhang Guan on the list of substitutes."
"Don't worry about that, I think the Chinese team must have done it to boost morale."
At another venue, the South Korean team also learned the news.
"Zhang Guan is really absent due to injury, and the Chinese team will not be able to defeat Qatar nine times out of ten, and we are expected to advance!" The morale of the players of the South Korean team was boosted.
At the beginning of the game, the South Korean team was like crazy, and they worked hard without saying a word, even at the home of Uzbekistan, they always occupied the initiative in this game and always pressed the Uzbek team.
In the stands, although there are many fewer South Korean fans than Uzbek fans, their momentum is not inferior to the fans at home, every Korean fan is crazy shouting, and every time the Korean team gets the ball, they will hear their cheers.
At this time, the South Korean team was full of hope, they thought that as long as they defeated Uzbekistan, they could directly qualify for the World Cup, so everyone showed all their skills and did their best with every goal.
Hope can bring endless power to people, as if a person is lost in the desert, if you tell him that there is an oasis ahead, he will definitely do his best to move forward. But if you tell him that he is in the middle of the desert, he will probably give up trying to survive. The trick that Cao Cao used back then to quench Mei's thirst was also giving people a kind of hope.
This is the case with the current South Korean team, a few days ago, they felt that the best situation was only to play the play-offs, and it was still a situation of more losses and fewer wins, but now they suddenly have the opportunity to advance directly, which seems to be a life-saving straw, and the Korean team will desperately seize it. So the Korean team is extremely crazy and hard-working up and down.
The South Koreans' madness and hard work paid off for them, as South Korea's number one star Son Heung-min cut in on the flank to help them break through the Uzbekistan goal in the 35th minute. South Korea took a 1-0 lead away from home.
The score also remained until the end of the first half, and at this time, at the other venue, it was still 0-0 between China and Qatar after half-time.
Qatar is already destined to have no hope of qualifying, so the players played more easily, and the Chinese team, due to Zhang Guan's absence, was relatively conservative, so the first half of the game was tepid, there was nothing to remarkable, and the two sides did not rub any sparks.
Mr. Jang appeared on the bench with gauze wrapped in his legs, but had been watching the match between South Korea and Uzbekistan on his phone.
"The Korean team took the bait, thinking that I couldn't play, so I fought so fiercely." Zhang Guan had a satisfied smile on his face.
At present, Uzbekistan is 15 points, while China and South Korea are both 14 points, from the perspective of the Chinese team, of course, I hope that South Korea wins, and when the time comes, the same 17 points, the Chinese team has an advantage in goal difference and can directly qualify for the World Cup. If Uzbekistan wins, China will be one point behind and will have to play the play-offs, and no Asian team wants to play the play-offs against American teams. Of course, if South Korea and Uzbekistan draw together, it will be a very good situation for the Chinese team.
Considering that Uzbekistan is not weak, and the last game is Uzbekistan's home stadium, the South Korean team does not have a very good chance of winning, but Uzbekistan is more likely to win. So Zhang Guan sacrificed the trick of deception, so that the South Korean team felt that they had the hope of directly qualifying for the World Cup, and they would inevitably fight Uzbekistan away from home. At the same time, it also gives Uzbekistan one less point of determination to win, after all, if the Chinese team does not win, Uzbekistan can retain the second place in the group even if it plays a draw
Things were just as Zhang Guan expected, after the South Korean team was injured by Zhang Guan, they really tried their best to fight Uzbekistan to the end, and even took the lead away from home. And Uzbekistan's goal is obviously to maintain peace, but it is somewhat passive.
At the beginning of the second half, Zhang Guan still did not play, while Qatar played several beautiful attacks, and successfully broke the Chinese team's goal in the 53rd minute to take a 1-0 lead.
After the score fell behind, Zhang Guan decided not to disguise anymore and went directly into battle.
"Zhang Guan, isn't he injured?"
"Could it be that the injury is not good, in order to recover the score, I forcibly took the injury out of the game!"
In the midst of the worries of Chinese fans, Zhang Guan directly took the ball all the way to the Qatari penalty area.
Maybe it's because the goal just now is still in the excitement, or maybe it's because of the surprise of Zhang Guan's sudden appearance, Qatar's defense this time is obviously unsatisfactory, and the defensive actions of several players in the backfield are also slightly slower than usual by half a beat. But on the opposite side is Zhang Guan, a little slow half a beat means losing points, and the same is true for the Qatar team, which was directly broken into the penalty area by Zhang Guan and lost a goal.
Kadar's players were a little dumbfounded, Qatar had just scored the last goal, and they conceded the goal in the blink of an eye.
After conceding the goal, Qatar looked a little impatient, eager to recover the score, but was hit by Zhang Guan again and lost a goal, and it was only five minutes after Qatar last lost a point.
After all, Qatar is fighting at home, conceding two goals in five minutes, from a lead of one point to a point behind, the face must be a little unbearable, and the mentality is inevitably more anxious, and this is also used by the Chinese team. Soon after, taking advantage of the emptiness in the rear of the Qatar team, Zhang Guan made a successful raid and scored another goal to turn the score into 3-1, which was already an irreversible reversal of the result for the Qatar team.
……
The South Korean team is still launching a crazy attack, and the Uzbekistan team is not far behind, this is their home stadium after all, if they lose, they will not be able to explain to the home fans, not to mention that for Uzbekistan, as long as they defeat South Korea, they will definitely climb to the second place in the group and directly qualify for the World Cup.
After learning that Zhang Guan was injured, the Uzbeks also had plans to keep the draw, after all, Uzbekistan has 15 points, one point higher than China and South Korea, if the Chinese team cannot defeat Qatar, Uzbekistan can directly advance even if it keeps a draw.
The South Korean team on the opposite side played very hard, but Uzbekistan at home was not a vegetarian, especially after entering the second half, every ball was fought desperately by both sides, and the scene was very stale, and the score was 1-1 tie.
In the coach's box, South Korean men's football coach Stillik is also paying attention to the situation in Qatar.
"Qatar scored, 1-0 up? That's great! If China loses, even if we draw with Uzbekistan, we can play the play-offs! Stillik happily shared the news with the players on the bench.
However, within a minute, Stillik got the news that Zhang Guan was on the field.
"Zhang Guan is on the field? Isn't he hurt? Could it be that he was forced to fight with an injury? Yes, it must be so! ”
"1 to 1? Zhang Guan scored? He must have just come on, why did he score so quickly? Isn't he hurt? ”
"What do you say? Zhang Guan scored another goal! The Chinese team overtook the score! Stillik sat down in his chair, and by this time he had realized that Zhang Guan was cheating on himself.
"Zhang Guan is deliberately cheating! I see, this is to give us hope and let us go head-to-head with Uzbekistan! ”
"3 to 1? The Chinese team leads by two goals? Finished! Stillik looked at his watch, and by this time the game had been played for 75 minutes, and it was completely impossible for Qatar to pull it back.
However, Stillik did not tell the player the news, fearing that the player would be discouraged and still hoping for a win for South Korea so that they could at least get a play-off chance.
On the pitch, the players of the South Korean team did not know all this, they were still gritting their teeth and desperately attacking. However, by this time they had run out of physical strength.
Physical strength is indeed not what Asian players are good at, not to mention that in the first few minutes of the game, the South Korean team has been attacking, which makes their system much more consumed than usual.
So far in the game, both sides have been close to running out, and their movements, speed, reactions, and consciousness have declined to varying degrees, and scoring goals has become difficult.
"Is it going to be a draw?" South Korea's number one star Son Heung-min looked at the opponent's half, took a big breath, and then comforted himself: "If the Chinese team loses, even if it is a draw, we will not be eliminated immediately, and there are play-offs, we still have a chance!" ”
The Uzbekistan side learned that the Chinese team was ahead, and at this time they began to stop being satisfied with a draw, they wanted to win, so they went straight to the promotion, so they launched an offensive.
But they are also facing the problem of physical exertion, at this time Uzbekistan is more than enough but not enough, their remaining physical strength is okay for defense, but it is not satisfactory for attack.
The score of 1 to 1 was maintained until the end of the game, and the two sides shook hands and drew and scored one point each.
At the home stadium in Qatar, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and the score was fixed at 4-1.
However, the Chinese players did not immediately celebrate, they were the first to return to the bench and ask about the result between South Korea and Uzbekistan, only to start cheering when they learned that the other match was a draw, accompanied by tears......
"Qualified, we're qualified! We really made the cut! ”
After 16 years, China has finally entered the World Cup again!
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For European and American countries, whoever advances in Asia is the same, anyway, they are all "group tours", and basically cannot enter the knockout round, but for Asian countries, the Chinese team can advance, and there is no doubt that a shocking big satellite has been released.
In the first five games, the Chinese team was at the bottom of the group with 2 draws and 3 losses, although there is still a "theoretical" possibility of promotion, but everyone knows that the Chinese team is no longer possible.
After the World Preliminaries, the Chinese team won five games in a row, and won the promotion with a record of 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses.
Zhang Guan is the one who created this miracle, and naturally attracted the most attention. Many professionals began to analyze Zhang Guan's technical characteristics, and then found that Zhang Guan's technical characteristics were very similar to that of Ronaldo, but Zhang Guan's speed was faster than that of Ronaldo, and the combination of technical acceleration made Zhang Guan enough to become the world's top shooter.
However, there are also many people who feel that the reason why Zhang Guan is so strong is because this is Asia, and the strength of the opponents is relatively weak.
This point of view has been agreed by many experts, after all, the four major European leagues bring together the world's top players and top coaches, and the strength of Europe's top football clubs is also stronger than the world's top national teams.
The prospects of the Chinese team in the World Cup are also not optimistic, after all, the strength of Asian teams is still weak, and European and American teams cannot be compared.
……
As in previous years, the 32 teams are divided into four pots, the first of which is seeded, and the last three are divided according to regions, basically European bracket, South America and Africa Bracket, North America and the Caribbean and Asian teams are divided into bracket 1.
This time in the World Cup group, the Chinese team was divided into Group E, the seeded team in this group is the strong Brazil team, and the other two teams are Poland in Europe and Nigeria in Africa.
Judging from the situation of the grouping, this group is not a group of death, and the situation of two strong and two weak is very obvious, Brazil and Poland seem to have become inevitable to appear hand in hand, and the Chinese team is still unable to escape the fate of being eliminated from the group.
……
The national team's training ground has long been closed, and in order to prevent anyone from sneaking in and interfering with training, the Football Association has even hired a professional security company to patrol the area.
In the training ground, Zhang Guan's dress is obviously different from others, and his position is also different from others, he is standing in the penalty area, standing in front of the goal.
If outsiders see it, they will inevitably be surprised, because now Zhang Guan is no longer a striker, but a goalkeeper!