Mendes's phone call brought Ling Feng good news and good luck.

A few days later, the day before the game against Costa Rica, England announced their starting line-up.

And Ling Feng, who has been an eye-catching substitute for two consecutive games, finally got the opportunity to make his debut!

The starter he squeezed out was none other than Welbeck, who still didn't play much in the last game.

Facing Costa Rica, which is the weakest on paper in the group, but has been upset one after another, Hodgson is also very cautious.

The starting personnel in the middle and back field have basically not changed, but some changes have been made to the front court:

Sturridge moved to the left, Wayne Rooney moved up front, Ling Feng played as a midfielder, and Raheem Sterling still occupied the right.

Obviously, Hodgson still wants to feed Rooney to the maximum through the combination of the side and the middle of the field, coupled with Ling Feng's through pass, to help him score his first goal in the World Cup and also help the team win.

After all, as England's top name, Rooney's eleven World Cup games without scoring are a bit unreasonable.

For England, the current qualifying situation is very favorable.

As long as they win against Costa Rica, they will finish second regardless of the outcome of the match between Italy and Uruguay!

So, they have only one task in this game:

Victory!

To win, you have to score!

And Ling Feng has already used two excellent performances as a substitute to tell everyone that he is the player who can create the most scoring opportunities in the current Three Lions team!

Not one of them!

。。。

June 25th.

The Three Lions have one of the most crucial games of the tournament.

Belo Horizonte, also known as the "City of Beauty", is the fourth largest city in Brazil and the city with the highest quality of life in South America.

The 62,000-seat Mineron Stadium was already filled with the singing of England and Costa Rican fans.

And this crucial match, which is related to England's qualification, attracted more than 40,000 English fans to watch.

Among them, there are also celebrities and major stars.

What made the fans excited was that David Beckham, the former England captain who just retired last year and was known as the "heartthrob", also brought his family to the scene!

Facing the camera at the scene, Xiaobei, who was handsome, just smiled slightly, and poured countless female fans in front of the TV.

As the match is played right at the home of Atletico Mineiro.

Therefore, the former Ballon d'Or, who is currently playing for Atletico Mineiro, the "football elf" Ronaldinho, also came to the scene.

Before the game, Xiaobei and Xiao Luo also had a friendly greeting.

After all, when they played in La Liga, one of the two represented the Galaxy Battleship and the other represented the Barcelona Dream II team, and they had played against each other many times.

And the two have also been teammates in Milan, which can be regarded as sympathy.

At the same time, inside the players' tunnel.

Debuting for the Three Lions for the first time, Ling Feng was a little nervous.

Nervousness, however, was quickly replaced by excitement and excitement.

You know, it's the World Cup!

It is a major stage that every professional footballer dreams of!

Standing in the queue of English players, Ling Feng couldn't help but turn his head to look at his opponent.

It is worth mentioning that this final round of Group D is the first official match between England and Costa Rica!

Therefore, the two sides can only make tactical arrangements through the lineup and form of the opponent and other teams.

And Costa Rica's performance in the first two rounds shocked the jaws of all fans and football experts.

3-1 win against Uruguay!

1 to 0 Italy!!

It is no exaggeration to say that Costa Rica can be called the biggest dark horse of this World Cup!

In the Costa Rican team, the biggest contributor to helping the team break through in the "Group of Death" in advance as a dark horse is the Costa Rican goalkeeper - Kylor Navas, who averages seven saves per game!

This season, Navas, who plays for Levante in La Liga, has played 37 league games, completed an astonishing 17 clean sheets, and the save success rate is as high as 80%!

This performance allowed him to beat Bravo and Courtois and win the best goalkeeper in La Liga this season.

In the original history, it was the amazing performance in the league and the World Cup that made Navas transfer to Real Madrid after the World Cup, and since then he has helped Real Madrid complete the great cause of three consecutive Champions League titles, and won the reputation of "Na Wall"!

Except for Keylor Navas, captain Ruiz, who could not play in the Premier League Fulham, and Campbell, who was loaned out to Greece by Arsenal, the other Costa Rican players basically play in leagues other than the top five leagues.

Costa Rica's entire team is worth less than 30 million euros.

And the combined value of the entire England team is more than 300 million euros!

The difference in value between the two teams is ten times!

Of course, the high value of a player does not determine the outcome of a match.

Otherwise, every football game is enough to compare the value alone, why play football.

Although the team does not have any stars.

However, the reason why Costa Rica was able to beat Uruguay and keep Italy clean sheet was because of their united fighting spirit and united defense!

As the weakest team on paper in the group, being able to qualify for the World Cup finals is already exciting and exciting for all Costa Rican fans.

As for how far they can go in this World Cup, they don't think much about it at all.

Without anticipation, there is no pressure.

From the first game, the Costa Rica team was free of any pressure and could relax and play on the field!

For Costa Rica's players, the World Cup is a chance they may only have once in a lifetime to perform, and enjoying the game is all about it!

So, most of them burst out with amazing energy!

Football has always been a team sport.

Both sides played on the field, and there were eleven men.

There is a gap in strength, but factors such as fighting spirit, tactics, and spirit will affect the final result.

Until the last second of the game, no one could say who would win the victory.

And that's the charm of football!!

。。。

"Welcome to the Minerlang Stadium, we have a Group D clash coming up."

"England vs. Costa Rica."

"Let's take a look at the starting line-ups for both sides."

With the introduction of the DJ on the court, the players from both sides lined up to enter.

Holding the little caddy, as soon as he stepped into the court, Ling Feng felt the enthusiasm of the fans on both sides.

The cheers suddenly resounded over the entire stadium!

Costa Rica still put on a defensive formation of 541 in this game to cope with England's fierce attack.

Due to the two wins ahead of schedule, they have already qualified for the top of the group.

Therefore, Costa Rica's coach Pinto opted for a certain range of rotations.

Including goalkeeper Navas, team captain Ruiz, striker Campbell and other five main players, the remaining six positions have been adjusted.

This is definitely good news for England.

Compared to Italy and Uruguay, who have to fight each other to qualify, England only need this win to join Costa Rica in qualifying.

The Three Lions have their fate firmly in their own hands!

During the broadcast of the national anthem, the stadium was directed at every player of the Three Lions.

When he saw Ling Feng appearing on the big screen of the stadium, a burst of enthusiastic cheers broke out in the stands of the stadium.

It was Ling Feng's first World Cup start for the Three Lions.

In the eyes of many English fans and football people, this nineteen-year-old British star will be the key figure in determining the outcome of this game!

And with a long whistle from the referee, this crucial battle, which attracted tens of millions of English people, officially began!

England kick-off first.

With Rooney's knock back, the ball came to Ling Feng's feet.

Ling Feng stepped on the ball, but was surprised to find that the Costa Rican frontcourt players did not step forward to press or press, but directly shrank to their own half of the court and directly set up the bus!

Obviously, Costa Rica has already qualified, and they have also rotated their squad.

However, this did not mean that they intended to surrender and give England a victory.

Their attitude is very clear:

If you want to qualify, then show real skills!

Of course, the Three Lions also anticipated Costa Rica's strategy and were not polite, launching a tentative attack from the start:

In the third minute, Ling Feng and Rooney hit the wall in the middle of the match, and the latter hit the outside of the big penalty area and did not hesitate to come with a powerful long-range shot!

The ball is fast, but at a slightly right angle.

Navas didn't dare to be careless, so he had to take a step sideways and knock the ball away with both fists.

Immediately afterwards, the Costa Rican defender kicked the ball forward for the first time, and it fell to the feet of England central defender Cahill.

Although there was no goal, this long-range shot that knocked on the mountain and shook the tiger still got a burst of cheers from the fans at the scene.

Rooney didn't forget to give Ling Feng the first praise of the day.

As the game progressed, Ling Feng, as the commander of the England field, soon discovered that Costa Rica had amassed enough troops in the middle.

There was too much crowd in the middle to get Rooney to play through balls.

So, he began to split the ball and let the two wingers break through and tear apart the Costa Rican defence.

And he is to swim the rib space of the opponent's defense line and respond.

In the eighth minute, Ling Feng came to the left and played a one-two with Sturridge.

And the latter in the left side of the penalty area outside a series of shakes, not fullback, after pulling out the space, directly to the middle of the pass to the low flat ball.

However, the quality of the pass was mediocre, very close to the six-yard box.

Moreover, Rooney was marked by two centre-backs like sandwich biscuits and could not receive the ball at all.

Keylor Navas made a small strike and easily confiscated the ball.

Five minutes later, England made a comeback on the left.

Seeing Sturridge reach for the ball, Ling Feng in the middle once again distributed the ball to the left.

Sturridge was so confident on the ball that he immediately dribbled down the left to face Costa Rica's right-back Gamboa.

With two small bikes under his feet, Sturridge cut inside and came to the line of the penalty area.

"Daniel!"

However, facing Ling Feng in the middle, Sturridge turned a deaf ear.

In his eyes, there is only the goal.

Under the interference of Gamboa's heel defense on the right side, he faked a real shot with his right foot, and after shaking the central defender who stepped forward to block it a little, he directly blasted a long-range shot with his left foot!

And this kick, which didn't even hit the goal range, flew directly out of the bottom line by grazing the goal post.

Sturridge had the best season of his career with Liverpool and won the Premier League Silver Boot this season.

As a result, Sturridge has high hopes for Hodgson in the Three Lions.

Naturally, he also sees himself as the Three Lions' forward answer.

Sturridge has the pace, the technique at his feet, and the ability to shoot well, making him one of England's top strikers at the moment.

But it's just that the style of playing is a bit unique, and the desire for personal performance is strong.

However, as a striker, it is normal to have a strong desire to shoot.

Moreover, in the face of dense defense, long-range shooting is also one of the effective offensive methods.

However, in Ling Feng's opinion, long-range shooting is the last thing they should do in this game!

Unless it's a world wave or fairy ball with a very tricky angle, it will still be very difficult to penetrate Navas's ten fingers with a long-range shot.

If you can't score, a blind long-range shot will only give up the ball to the opponent.

Of course, he wouldn't tell Sturridge not to shoot from distance and to make as many passes as possible.

He doesn't have that qualifications and doesn't want to teach Sturridge to play.

What's more, even if he did, Sturridge wouldn't necessarily listen.

Therefore, after thinking about it again, Ling Feng, as the midfield commander, decided to reduce the number of attacks from the left side.

Compared to Sturridge, who has a strong desire to shoot, Sterling has more explosive ability and is more teamwork.

It is worth mentioning that since coming off the bench in the first game against Italy, Ling Feng has completed a total of three World Cup-related achievements.

【World Cup debut】【World Cup first assist】【World Cup first goal】

Three achievements, which allowed him to gain three free attribute points.

And after tasting the incomparable happiness of making soup, Ling Feng did not hesitate to add all these three points to the [speed]!

Just like that, his [Speed] attribute also changed from 72 to 75!

The speed of 75 is enough for him to be caught up by his opponent who is chasing after making soup.

With Ling Feng's current [Burst] and [Speed], coupled with the "Little Demolition Expert" Sterling, it is completely possible to form a speed advantage in the local area.

Soon, the two played a very threatening offensive cooperation on the right side!

In the eighteenth minute of the game, Ling Feng came to the right side of the midfield and cooperated with Sterling with short passes.

"Rahim, let's change positions!"

Then, in Ling Feng's shouting, Sterling and Ling Feng came to a cross run and completed the switch.

As Raheem Sterling ran down the middle, taking a midfielder with him, Ling Feng moved to the right and had the rare opportunity to go head-to-head with Costa Rican left-back Dias.

Facing the serious-looking left-back in front of him, Ling Feng did not hesitate for a moment, revealing a mysterious smile.

Just when Dias was still wondering what the English player was laughing at, a sudden change occurred:

I saw Ling Feng push the ball forward with his right foot, and with a pot of soup, he shook off his defense!

In the blink of an eye, Dias only felt a white shadow pass by, and Ling Feng, who was still in front of him, disappeared from his eyes!

"So fast!"

After the breakthrough, Ling Feng even had time to look up and observe Rooney's running position, and directly crossed with his feet!

(End of chapter)