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Chapter 722 The Curse of the Opening Battle

After the song and dance performance, the celebrities who were once famous in the football world appeared on the stage.

When the new generation of young green girls gallops in the arena, those slightly old heroes can only appear in the eyes of the fans in the form of guests and officials, Pele, Maradona, Bobby Charlton, Pratt Tini, Mateus, etc., each with a familiar name and a familiar face, the years have inadvertently portrayed wrinkles and wind and frost on their faces that have experienced vicissitudes of life, but in the much-anticipated Ellis On the Park Stadium, they still showed the lofty arrogance they once had, and their dream of green football.

Celebrities showed up one after another and sent their hopes and blessings to this World Cup amidst the cheers of the fans at the scene.

The Hercules Cup was jointly entered into the arena under the cooperation of the Brazilian football king Pele and the famous European and American singer Shakira.Although Pele's predictions and foresights before major matches make fans all over the world laugh and complain, the ball king with a crow's mouth is still the ball king, and the combination of "ball king" and "beauty" is particularly attractive. People's eyeballs also seem to indicate that only the truly strong are eligible to own the Hercules Cup, which symbolizes the pinnacle of glory.

In addition to football stars, singers, supermodels, and giant businessmen, dignitaries from various countries also gathered in the most conspicuous seats. More than 50 heads of state and political affairs, including US President Barack Obama, French President Sarkozy, and Argentine female president Cristina, participated in this event. The opening ceremony, while South Africa's current president, Jacob Zuma, stepped onto the pitch and delivered a speech.

The presence of many important figures in the international political arena made the atmosphere of the scene once heated. Only at this time, these politicians will give up "flying for dogs" and giving up all kinds of disgraceful transactions and interests. Everyone is like a real ordinary fan. , talking about football and happiness.

It was almost four o'clock in the afternoon, and the performers of the opening ceremony gradually left.

The football commentator's voice came over the live radio.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in this opening ceremony. This is a wonderful opening ceremony, and it is also a good memory that will last a lifetime! Well, let's get back to business! Four years of waiting, four years of expectation, Four years of dream, finally, the most exciting moment is coming! The World Cup is a feast for football fans, a festival for fans, and a symbol of passion and enthusiasm! Dreams come true now! For the highest honor of football, we would like to thank everyone A player who is struggling on the green field sends his best wishes in advance - come on, the highest honor of football is waiting for you ahead!"

"So... the opening ceremony is officially over, and the 2010 World Cup is about to begin! The real start!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready? Are you ready to enjoy this unprecedented football feast! Now, the sail of dreams has been raised, and the stage for the pursuit of glory and glory has been opened. For football, for glory, For the Hercules Cup...forward!"

Amidst the provocative and excited shouts of the on-site announcer, the fans in the stands once again burst into earth-shattering roars and cheers, and in such a wave-like sound, the referee Lafsey from Uzbekistan blew The first whistle of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The opening match between the host South African team and the powerful Mexico in Central and North America has officially begun!
South Africa is one of the most developed and prosperous countries on the African continent, but in the football world, they are not a football powerhouse.The best intercontinental competition South Africa has achieved in history is the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations held in the country. This is also the only intercontinental championship in the history of South African football.

On the stage of the World Cup, South Africa did not have any outstanding results. They did not have many chances to participate in the World Cup. They occasionally entered the World Cup finals stage, and basically they only played in the first round of the group stage, and they returned home early.

This time the World Cup came to the African continent and was held at home. South Africans are full of expectations for their national team. They hope that their team will not only achieve dazzling results, but at least make breakthroughs in their own territory.

In comparison, Mexico's reputation and influence are much greater than those of South Africa.Mexico is second only to Brazil, Germany, Italy and Argentina in the history of the World Cup, ranking fifth. Although their achievements cannot be compared with the previous four teams, they rarely miss the World Cup knockout round. Moreover, they reached the quarter-finals in the two local World Cups held in 1970 and 1986 respectively.

In the America's Gold Cup and the Confederations Cup, Mexico also performed well. They have also won championships in these two international championships.

Therefore, judging from the strength comparison on the bright side, Mexico is obviously stronger than South Africa.However, a football game is not just a competition of strength on paper. The right time, place and people are also very important factors for winning.

Because it is the World Cup held in China, the South African team occupies the home court advantage, and almost the entire scene is mostly spectators cheering and shouting for the home team, so in terms of momentum, the South African team has a great advantage in turn.

The most important point is that from the historical data of the World Cup, in the past 18 World Cups, the host country has never had a defeat in the first game, and even a draw.

Therefore, before the opening game, most people are still more optimistic about the South African team, which has a very high popularity and support rate, at home.

Of course, the opening game is always one of the most difficult games in the World Cup. Since England won the championship in 1966, the opening game seems to have entered a strange circle, that is, the curse of "the opening game is a draw". There were only 12 games where the winner was decided, and half of the games ended in a draw—and even in the games where the winner was won, the point difference was very small, and it was almost rare to open the gap by 6 goals.

It can be seen that the first game in the World Cup is really difficult to play.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the game, the South African team, which had taken advantage of the home court, was very imposing. After a simple test, they launched a fierce attack towards the opponent's half.

After resisting for a while, Mexico seemed to feel the host's strong desire to attack, and wisely chose to shrink the defense line to avoid the enemy's edge.

The rhythm of the game has become extremely fast since the 5th minute.South Africa is like a lion running on the vast grassland, pounced fiercely on the opponent, and technically speaking, Mexico is obviously better, but under the fierce and fierce offensive of the opponent, Mexico will inevitably be dwarfed by comparison , especially Mexico is known for its delicate skills and tactics, while the South African team is very targeted not to play skills with the opponent, but to use their body and powerful impact to collide with Mexico's defense.

With their own strengths, attacking the enemy with their weaknesses, the South African team's tactical arrangement at home was very right, and naturally began to take the initiative on the field.

In the opening 15 minutes, it was almost an offensive and defensive drill. The South African team immersed themselves in the onslaught, while Mexico defended hard, occasionally taking advantage of the gap left by the opponent's aggressive attack to counterattack.

The two teams came and went on the field, playing extremely lively. Although no goals were born, the rhythm was fast and compact.

But in general, Mexico still seems to have fallen into a slight disadvantage.

In the 17th minute, the South African team once again made a breakthrough in the frontcourt. Shalababa swayed the ball away from the Mexican defender Juárez. The latter reached out and grabbed the former's jersey when he completely lost his position.

The first yellow card of this World Cup was born. Juarez helped Mexico get a slightly embarrassing "World Cup No. [-]" statistic.

In the next half an hour of the first half, the two teams were still entangled with each other. Mexico was at a disadvantage overall, but its defense was still solid, while South Africa had a strong offensive momentum, but its overall strength could only be regarded as Generally, there is a lack of a decisive figure in the forward line, so until the halftime whistle sounded, neither side scored a goal, and the battle became 0:0 for the time being.

However, the first game of the first match day of this World Cup will obviously not be spent in a goalless draw, and the goal will come quietly and suddenly.

In the 53rd minute of the second half, in a strong attack, the South African team finally tore through Mexico's defense. Their No. [-] midfielder Sarababa jumped in from the midfield at high speed. Facing the Mexican defender, Sarababa used his speed to get out of the way He took a strong shot with his left foot from the penalty area line. The Mexican goalkeeper Perez couldn't make a save, and the football went straight into the upper right corner of the goal.

The first goal of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa was officially born!
Known as the "weakest host in history", the South African team scored their first goal in this competition and the first goal of this World Cup under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of hometown elders .

The scene was full of jubilation, and countless dark-skinned South African fans shouted "Wow~" and "Wakawa!" shouts one after another.

Such a goal boosted the morale of the hosts, and in the ensuing time, the South African team was even more aggressive.

On the contrary, Mexico showed signs of getting more and more depressed as they played more and more. In the second half of the game, they were almost completely suppressed by the home team.

However, Mexico was very lucky. After replacing the 37-year-old legendary veteran Blanco, although it did not help much in the passive overall situation, Mexico's counterattack became fiercer.

No.709 minutes, Mexico ushered in a good opportunity to equalize the score.

Forward Guadaldo quickly lapped the edge, and the Barcelona defender Marcos followed up. The former swept the football into the penalty area. Marcos followed up to grab the point and outflanked the goal to equalize the score.

Two goals were born in the first opening game of the World Cup in South Africa, which is quite a lot. The only thing that makes people dumbfounded is that the "curse of the opening game" seems to continue.

Although the two teams launched many threatening attacks in the remaining time, they failed to score any more goals in the end. The opening game of the World Cup in South Africa ended with a score of 1:1. South Africa and Mexico shook hands Make peace.

　PS: Thanks to the book friend Tel. Lost for the reward, Khan, bro, your name is too difficult to write, speechless! ! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)