super storm

Chapter 1194
On the evening of June 29, at the Pernambuco Stadium in Recife, Brazil.

China played against Costa Rica in the fourth round of the knockout round of the World Cup.

When the game progressed to No. 306 minutes, Costa Rica made a backcourt clearance and kicked the ball directly near the center line. Feng Xiaoting forced the opponent's forward to head the ball back.

The old captain Zheng Zhi was suspended due to a red card, and the defensive midfielder Wu Xi was qualified to start. Together with Zhou Haibin and Chen Tao, he formed a three midfielder.

As soon as Zhou Haibin received the ball, he immediately distributed the ball to the left.

The starting left back Jiang Zhipeng quickly sprinted forward along the left side. After receiving Zhou Haibin's pass, he waited and watched the situation ahead. Facing the Costa Rican player who came up to defend, he feinted and then suddenly rushed forward.

Jiang Zhipeng's oblique pass was directed towards the back of the goal. In the penalty area, Yang Yang also threw off the Costa Rican defender at the fastest speed in an instant, sprinted forward quickly, and rushed forward before everyone else. Facing the falling ball, he lightly padd his right foot and directly padd the ball to the left of the goal.

Costa Rican goalkeeper Navas flew to the right to block the near corner, but he did not expect that Yang Yang deliberately hit a far corner.

In the end, the ball flew into Costa Rica's goal.

One to zero!

The entire Pernambuco stadium immediately boiled!

Thousands of Chinese fans who came all the way from afar cheered and sang the national anthem in the stands.

Yang Yang turned around excitedly, flew all the way along the way, pointed at the Chinese fans in the stands, and finally slid and knelt on the sidelines.

……

The first half ended with a one-goal lead, and after changing sides to fight again in the second half, the Chinese team continued to maintain a steady and steady tactic.

Costa Rica's offensive efficiency in the entire first half was extremely low, and no shot was even aimed at the goal, but even so, the Chinese team still did not dare to be careless.

Yang Yang, who wore the captain's armband, kept reminding his teammates repeatedly that they must pay attention and pay attention again.

Always stay focused!

At the same time, he is also actively looking for opportunities.

In 1 minute, the Chinese team launched another attack. Jiang Zhipeng went forward from the left to attack. After Hao Junmin got the ball on the left side of the penalty area, he did not make a pass from the bottom. Instead, he kicked the ball back and crossed it to the front of the penalty area.

Yang Yang stopped the ball with his right foot, took a furious shot with his left foot, and directly pumped the ball into the lower left corner of Costa Rica's goal.

Navas reacted quickly and flew to save, but after all, he was still beyond his reach.

Two to zero!
……

No.606 minutes, Costa Rica defender Adulte fouled while defending Yang Yang, accumulated two yellow cards and was sent off with a red card, which made Costa Rica have to fight with one less player.

So far, the game has basically lost its suspense.

In the end, the Chinese team defeated Costa Rica [-]-[-] with Yang Yang's brace.

Both teams tend to be defensive and play relatively average, but Yang Yang's two goals are relatively beautiful.

After defeating Costa Rica [-]-[-], the Chinese team entered the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time!
……

As soon as the match was over, not only the thousands of Chinese fans who came to the Pernambuco Stadium erupted, but also the whole country in China as far away as Asia. Countless fans cheered crazily. Fans in major cities couldn't help but took to the streets to cheer for the Chinese team's performance in Brazil.

This is the first time in the history of Chinese football!
This is another breakthrough in World Cup results!
Although this is not the first time that an Asian team has entered the quarter-finals of the World Cup, as early as during the Korea-Japan World Cup, South Korea and Japan have achieved such results, and even the South Korean team has reached the semi-finals.

But everyone knows how that report card came about, so no one wants to mention it.

But the Chinese team reached the quarter-finals this time, but it is worthy of the name, relying on real strength and performance to enter.

From the group stage to the knockout stage, the strength of the opponents is indeed not strong, but Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Greece and Costa Rica are also frequent visitors to the World Cup and strong teams.

Among them, Costa Rica beat Uruguay, Italy and England to qualify as the top of the group. If this team is not strong, then what are these three traditional strong teams that have won the World Cup?
Domestic fans and the media all praised the national team, especially Yang Yang's performance.

Since Brazil drew [-]-[-] with Chile in the knockout round of [-], they defeated their opponents with a penalty kick and Neymar did not score, so Yang Yang currently surpassed Neymar and Messi with [-] goals and topped the World Cup scorer list.

This also made countless fans cheer for Yang Yang.

In the other three games in the round of [-] knockout rounds, except for Brazil’s [-]-[-] draw against Chile, which defeated their opponents on penalties, the Netherlands conceded a goal first, relying on the goals of Sneijder and Huntelaar to reverse Mexico [-]-[-].

Colombia defeated Uruguay [-]-[-]. James Rodriguez, the rapidly popular midfielder in this World Cup, scored twice and achieved amazing results. At the same time, he also tied for the top scorer list with Yang Yang with five goals, which made James Rodriguez famous.

But amid the jubilation, there are also voices of doubt.

Both are Asian teams and are located in East Asia. Japan and South Korea have always regarded China as their sworn enemy. In recent years, China's performance has improved by leaps and bounds, and the appearance of a legendary superstar like Yang Yang who is enough to be recorded in the history of world football has made them jealous.

In this World Cup, except for China, the Asian teams can be described as annihilated.

But when they returned from the World Cup, they heard the news that the Chinese team defeated Costa Rica [-]-[-] and entered the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time. This made them envious and jealous, and the domestic media even made various comments.

For example, the Chinese team is Yang Yang's one-man team.

The most unified statement is that the Chinese team will stop at the quarterfinals.

Both South Korean and Japanese media firmly believe that since the Netherlands beat Mexico, the Chinese team will face the Netherlands in the knockout round of the quarter-finals, so it will be difficult for the Chinese team to make further progress and will stop at the quarter-finals.

The media of the two countries have listed a lot of data and evidence, showing that the Chinese team is behind in all aspects against the Netherlands and has no chance of winning, because the Netherlands team was the runner-up of the last World Cup and almost won the championship.

Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Van Persie, Kurt... Even Huntelaar and De Jong are well-known European stars. The head coach Van Gaal is also a well-known European coach for many years, and he is very familiar with Yang Yang.

More importantly, Ali Han has coached the Chinese team for many years, and the Chinese team is deeply influenced by Dutch football, so in the eyes of Korean and Japanese media, this is a bit like a student being tested by a teacher.

But students are just students after all. Whether it is the overall strength or the individual ability of the players, it is difficult for China to compete with the Netherlands.

The pessimistic remarks from Japan, South Korea, Australia, and media from all over the world have made domestic fans dissatisfied. Even in China, there are many voices who believe that the Chinese team has no chance of winning against the Netherlands.

"Even if we have the world's No. [-] Yang Yang, no matter how tenacious we are, the gap in strength is huge, which cannot be made up anyway. It is a satisfactory and even surprising result to stop at the top eight."

On the evening of July [-]th, the quarter-final match at the New Water Stadium in Salvador, Brazil, seemed to confirm the common view of the outside world, that is, China has no power to fight back.

…………

…………

Almost from the beginning of the game, the Chinese team was fully restrained.

Captain Zheng Zhi returned to the starting lineup, and the Chinese team once again played a four-five-one three-pivot formation, with Wu Xi, Zheng Zhi, and Zhou Haibin in the midfield, and Hao Junmin and Chen Tao separated on the two wings.

Queiroz's formation has only one purpose, and that is to strictly prevent the defense.

From the first minute, the Dutch team kept attacking the Chinese team's goal.

Sneijder, Robben, Dirk, Vlaar, De Jong, and even Van Persie, who had a good chat with Yang Yang before the game, changed their faces at the beginning of the game, and all attacked the goal of the Chinese team fiercely.

Yang Yang has retreated into the 15-meter zone since 30 minutes, which shows how much offensive pressure the Chinese team is under.

Queiroz developed an iron barrel defensive tactics for the team, even to some extent, under the strong offensive pressure of the Netherlands, the Chinese team did not even have a chance to counterattack.

Everyone in the team gritted their teeth and persisted, while the Dutch team kept creating opportunities and threats.

The situation on the court was one-sided. The restricted area of ​​the Chinese team was turbulent, and the goal was crumbling, but everyone in the team was struggling to support it. Even Yang Yang returned to the restricted area to defend many times, which shows how passive the situation on the field is.

But even so, the two sides still played zero to zero in the first half.

The Dutch are more or less cautious and do not dare to press too much.

But the situation changed again in the second half, and Van Gaal began to increase his investment in the offensive end.

The Dutch team won consecutive free kicks in the frontcourt. Sneijder scored two direct free kicks within 15 minutes. As a result, he hit the left post once and the crossbar once, both of which were almost scored.

The extremely passive scene made the Chinese players extremely painful on the court. Everyone gritted their teeth and persisted. Everyone stood inside and outside the penalty area to block the opponent from the goal.

From the 10th and [-]th minute, Van Gaal made substitutions, replaced by new forces, and injected fresh blood into the offense, but the Chinese team still strictly defended and would not easily move half a step.

At this moment, all the talents really felt Queiroz's transformation of the Chinese team's defense in the past four years, especially the cultivation of players' tactical literacy. According to bystanders, this Portuguese who is good at training young players treats the international footballers as young players and constantly instills various tactical knowledge and defensive awareness.

And this, in the end, helped the Chinese team to block the indiscriminate bombing of the Dutch.

After nine 10 minutes, the two sides entered overtime with a zero-to-zero score.

In the first half of the extra time, the Netherlands changed two players and continued to increase their attack. After changing one player, the Chinese team continued to guard against death, and finally successfully dragged the score of zero to zero into the second half of the overtime.

(End of this chapter)