green winger

Chapter 406 The Thundering French Team
"Totti! An excellent opportunity, can he make up for his mistakes with a wonderful goal or a successful assist!? After dunking the Croatian defender Kovac, he chose to hit the goal himself !!Oh, what a pity!!!Pletikosa, the goalkeeper who has just been replaced by Croatian coach Mirko Jokic kicked this curve ball with a single palm!Pletikosa made a contribution !!"

"Croatia fans had a false alarm. Totti's shot was absolutely world-class, but just when he thought he was redeemed, he didn't expect his opponent, the Croatian goalkeeper Pu Letikosa will do so well!"

Under the cheers of the Croatian fans again, Totti angrily threw a heavy punch towards the air in front of him, damn it!This is the position he often chooses for long shots in the Roma team, and he is almost [-]% sure of this position!And in order to confuse the opponent, Totti will deliberately not make any stops when passing here in the past ten minutes, making the Croatians relax their vigilance.And it was this kind of deliberation that made him get such a good opportunity, but what Totti never expected was that this high-quality shot that had been prepared for a long time was saved by the little-known Croatian goalkeeper!
damn it!
After cursing again in his heart and glancing at the goal unwillingly, Totti turned back and retreated towards the midfield.

Unlike Totti's reluctance, the Italian coach Zoff, who stood on the sidelines and controlled the overall situation, cast his gaze towards the Croatian coach Mirko Jokic on the other side after seeing the performance of the Croatian goalkeeper.

According to the information obtained by the coaching staff very early, the goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, who has just come off the bench, has outstanding physical condition and is the tallest among the three goalkeepers in Croatia. He has strong one-on-one ability and a wide range of activities. Relatively large, excellent physical fitness, quick response.At the same time, he played more times for the national team than the other two. In 1999, in the friendly match between the Croatian national team and the Danish team in Split, the 20-year-old Pletikosa wore the national team jersey for the first time. The atmosphere of the international competition, but until now three years have passed, but his skills have not improved much, and this undoubtedly greatly restricted his development, and it also made people not notice that this player who is still playing in the Croatian league goalkeeper.

For Italy, it couldn't be easier to crack such a goalkeeper. Inzaghi, who has a keen sense of smell, is the best choice.But at the same time, what Zoff needs to consider is what kind of purpose the Croatian coach dares to replace such a goalkeeper with obvious advantages and disadvantages.Does he really believe that his defender can watch Inzaghi to death?
"No. 801 minutes! The Italian team made another substitution adjustment. Loris Kenny came off the bench and replaced Zambrotta, who performed well in this game. It's a signal to give it a go! For them, losing one goal is no different than losing two goals. If they don't get a point today, it is obviously very unacceptable for the defending champion! "

After completing the handover with Zambrotta, Kenny came off the bench in the No.801 minute of the game. He ran to the field and Kenny loudly gave his teammates a simple arrangement from the coach: "Francisco, we two press up, We have to score at least one more goal!"

"Sure enough! Kenny, who came off the bench, showed a very strong desire to attack the ball at the first touch. He took the ball past a Croatian defender and passed the ball to Vieri's feet! Croatia's The players pressed up quickly, oh! What a beautiful return to the ball! Kenny took the ball again and cut inside to shoot!"

While the Croatian fans exclaimed again, the ball flew slightly above the crossbar to the stands.Seeing this scene, Kenny did not show the slightest frustration. He knew that Italy was now on the edge of a cliff!
Two minutes later, after a tough counterattack in the backcourt, Italy made a comeback again.This time Kenny did not directly participate in the attack, but covered and pulled on the flanks first, attracting two defensive players from Croatia, but it is a pity that the Italian team still returned without success this time. The grab point was blocked by Croatian captain Zivkovic sideways on the goal line.

Seeing this scene, Maldini and others quickly rushed to the referee and surrounded him angrily. In their opinion, Croatian captain Zivkovic's sideways blocking of the ball must be handball!But unfortunately, the referee indicated that he saw it very clearly. He determined that Zivkovic had no handball and signaled the game to continue. This also ushered in the laughter of a large number of Croatian fans in the stands.

But in contrast, the Italian fans responded to everything with singing in unison. After Kenny came on the field and successfully planned an offensive, and almost broke the goal of Croatia, the Italian fans who came from afar felt the players Their desire for victory, so even if the team is still behind, they are not anxious at all, they trust their players, and they respond to boos and taunts with singing.

"We have breath, heartbeat and dream, for the emotion that never dies, firm and powerful wings for flying, courage for dreams, and for never giving up halfway. We are here, no matter No matter what kind of weather, no matter whether you leave in the end, always open your arms to face the wind, because there is hope in your heart, a thousand voices, the same heart, and everyone is breathing at the same time. This festival full of light and magic, we and you, you And we, for a dream that never dies We and you You and we stand firmer than ever. Here we are, with a heart as blue as the color of our sky! Transparent and powerful as our sea ! We are a pacemaker, no one can stop us, like on the tip of a huge wave!"

The next few minutes have been spent in such an offensive of the Italian team, and the Croatian coach Mirko Jokic saw the aggressive momentum of the Italians and kept signaling his players not to be caught. Bringing into the rhythm of the Italian team, he signaled his players to slow down as much as possible. He kept yelling at the players on the field in Croatian, as long as they stabilize them, they can win and hope can be preserved!
You must know that they lost to the Mexicans in the first round of the group, resulting in nothing. If they are taken away by the Italians in this game, their hopes of qualifying will be shattered.Therefore, after hearing the shout of coach Mirko Jokic, the passionate Croatian players also came back to their senses. They realized that now is not the time to fight against the Italians. If they can hold the ball in the last minute, then they will be able to take all three points!
In the next round, facing Ecuador, which has lost two consecutive losses and has no hope, as long as they work hard to win, they will be the ones who will qualify in the group, and the ones who will be eliminated will be the star-studded Italian team in front of them!
Thinking of this, the Croatian players began to delay the time as much as possible, and its coach Mirko Jokic also signaled to seize the opportunity and replaced a strong substitute player to make his defense more dense while delaying time Let it air out.

Seeing such a situation, Italian coach Zoff patted his forehead in distress, he knew it was over
No.90 In the second minute, Kenny was tackled by former teammate Croatian captain Zivkovic in the breakthrough. This time, the referee showed a yellow card and awarded a penalty kick.After seeing the discussion, Totti stood in front of the ball, while the three of Vieri and the two midfielders were scattered in front and entered a state of preparation.After a whistle, Totti did not choose to hit the goal directly, but sent the ball to the position where Inzaghi was at the front point.But this time Inzaghi failed to grab the ball as he wished. Fortunately, Kovac, who was in a hurry, was unable to kick the ball too far and passed it to the front of the penalty area after being intercepted by Zanetti. Vieri.

Everyone's eyes are focused on this Apennine tank at this moment. Italians, Croatians, and fans from different countries are all staring at Inter Milan's leading striker.

"Bang!" When Vieri hit the defender again with an angry shot, the final stoppage time also came to an end, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and Italy went through the final crazy onslaught In the end, he lost to his nemesis Croatia 1:2.

The Croats, who could not hold themselves back, cheered enthusiastically after scoring the extremely precious three points, but the Italians could only pack their bags, return to the hotel silently, and began to prepare for a life-and-death battle with the Mexicans.However, what made the nervous Italian coaching staff breathe a sigh of relief was that they, who thought they would be criticized wildly after the game, were lucky enough to avoid disaster.

After all, compared to the news that the European Cup champion has not defeated his nemesis for decades, the early exit of the World Cup champion is the focus of people's attention.

"This World Cup in Japan and South Korea is definitely an amazing World Cup event. This is the first time that an Asian country hosts a World Cup. For European fans, it is also the first time that they find that jet lag can It’s so big. At the same time, in such a World Cup, the defending champion France failed to qualify for the group stage! This is definitely the most exciting news in the World Cup in the past few days!”

"As the champion of the World Cup in 98 and the runner-up of the European Cup in 00, France definitely drew a top lottery team. The group of this traditional European team led by Zidane can actually be called the basis for qualifying. There is no pressure in the group, but in such a group, the French did not score a goal, and in the end they could only score 1 point and be out at the bottom of the group!"

"What an unbelievable thing! They have Serie A, Ligue 1966 golden boots and Premier League silver boots as strikers, they have Real Madrid and Arsenal's main midfielders in the midfield, and they have a world-class defense. , has a goalkeeper from the Red Devils Manchester United! And this is the first time since [-] that the defending champion has been eliminated in the group stage. At the same time, the French also set a record, becoming the first player in the history of the World Cup to fail to make progress in the entire tournament The defending champion of the ball. Obviously, such a disastrous result is really a devastating blow to the French who just missed the European Cup!"

Although French coach Le Maire is quite uncomfortable with Pires' absence from this World Cup due to injury: we all know that players become more vulnerable to injuries during the season due to excessive game load.We think Pires' injury was caused by playing too many games.Pires and Henry are the two players with the most appearances in the French national team this season. They have played almost 45 to 47 games. After reaching their physical limits, their health problems have become a big hidden danger!
But in fact, before the start of the World Cup, people were unanimously optimistic about the French national team. Cruyff even said before the game that although several teams will compete for the final championship, the French will have the last laugh.

But what people didn't expect was that the French played a friendly match with South Korea soon after arriving in South Korea, and the price paid for this friendly match was too great, and the core Zidane was injured.Then in the opening game against Senegal, the heroic performances of the little-known Diouf, Fadiga, Diop and Dior left the French with nothing to do.In the face of Senegal's offense, Desailly has not been able to replicate the glory of the past at all. As he grows older, his speed is also declining, and his slow speed is exactly what the Senegalese take advantage of.On the other side, veterans Leboeuf and Djorkaeff are not in ideal condition. Neither of them can escape the torture of years, and they are full of fatigue on the court.So Senegal managed to make a big upset in the opener.

At this time, despite the absence of Zidane, people still regard the defeat of the French team as an upset, but when France faced Uruguay, the second opponent in the group stage, people knew that maybe they expected too much from this defending champion up.In the 25th minute of the game, Henry flashed the soles of his shoes during the scramble, and he did not escape the referee's eyes. In the end, he was sent off with a red card.Henry's red card made the French have to fight with one less man for most of the game. In the end, France could only draw a goalless draw with Uruguay.

(End of this chapter)