Champion’s Heart

Chapter 22 The qualifying situation of Asian teams

While the Chinese team is preparing for Spain, the World Cup group matches are going on non-stop.

All group matches have been played for two rounds. At this time, it is basically clear who will qualify and who will be eliminated.

After the second round of Group C, Colombia defeated Cote d'Ivoire 2:1, winning two games and qualifying early. Japan drew 0:0 with Greece and only accumulated one point after two rounds. It has basically bid farewell to the knockout rounds of this World Cup. In the last round, the Japanese team will face Colombia, the strongest team in this group, and it will be difficult to win.

In the second round of Group D, England, which had already lost one game, faced Uruguay in a desperate battle. If they want to emerge from this group, they must beat Uruguay. But the final result was surprising. England lost to Uruguay 1:2, lost both games, and was eliminated early. This news really shocked England. The favorite before the game was now eliminated one round early. It was a great shame. But maybe except for the English themselves, no one else is surprised by this result...

England won the World Cup at home, but its performance at other times was not considered a favorite. Their great strength was completely blown out by the developed media in England...

In another group match, Italy, which had won one game, only needed to defeat Costa Rica to qualify from the group early. However, the upset was revealed again, and Italy lost to Costa Rica 0:1! Costa Rica, which defeated Uruguay and Italy successively, qualified from this group early. Costa Rica, which was considered the weakest in the group during the grouping and was the target of other teams competing for points, became the first team to qualify. Some media have already called Costa Rica the biggest dark horse in this World Cup...

In the second round of Group E, Switzerland and France met. The two teams staged a goal battle. In the end, the French team defeated Switzerland 5:2 and also qualified for the group ahead of schedule.

Ecuador defeated Honduras 2:1. In the final round of the group stage, both Ecuador and Switzerland have hopes of qualifying, but Switzerland's opponent is Honduras, which was eliminated early, while Ecuador has to face the powerful France.

Argentina met Iran in the second round of Group F. They thought they could win easily and advance early, but they were forced into a panic by Iran. It was not until the 90th minute that Argentina scored with a direct free kick from Messi and defeated Iran. Get three points and qualify early.

The match between Nigeria and Bosnia and Herzegovina was also 1:0, with Nigeria winning. Nigeria now has four points, Iran has one point, and Bosnia and Herzegovina has been eliminated early after losing both games. In the last round of the group stage, Nigeria faced Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iran fought each other. If Iran wants to qualify, they must defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last game and hope that Nigeria loses to Argentina. Nigeria's loss to Argentina may not be a suspense, but whether Iran can defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina is not easy to say...

In Group G, Germany is highly favored.

However, they unexpectedly tied with Ghana at 2:2. If Klose hadn't come off the bench to score the savior, the German team might even have lost the game. Klose's goal also tied him with the legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo's total number of World Cup goals. The two of them both scored fifteen World Cup goals and tied for the top scorer list in World Cup history.

The match between the United States team and Portugal also ended at 2:2.

In this way, Germany and the United States both have four points, Portugal and Ghana both have one point. In the last round of the group stage, Germany will play the United States and Portugal will play Ghana. Anyone may appear, and anyone may be eliminated. It is quite complicated. After a 4-0 victory over Portugal in the first game, the German team, which was considered the favorite to win the championship, may also be eliminated. For Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, if they want to qualify, they have to hope that the German team beats the United States, and they have to defeat Ghana by a big score. Only in this way can they rely on the net score with the same points as the American team. The goal advantage edged out the United States. But since they lost 0:4 in their first game, the goal difference is -4, and the American team now has a goal difference, and the gap between the two sides is five goals. They must first ensure that they have the least difference over Ghana. Four goals, and then hope that the United States team loses to the German team by at least two goals, so that they can gain an advantage in goal difference, but it is quite difficult, because Ghana also wants to qualify from the group, and they will not sit still and wait for death.

In the second round of Group H, Belgium defeated Russia 1:0, winning two games and qualifying early. Before the South Korean team faced Algeria, which is said to be the weakest in this group, the domestic media were very ambitious and believed that the team could beat Algeria. In that case, their chances of appearing with four points would be greatly increased. As a result, they lost to Algeria 2:4 in this game. After two games, they only accumulated one point. In the last round, they had to face Belgium, the strongest team in the group. It can be said that the hope of qualifying from the group was very slim.

At this point, the second round matches of all groups are over. From a points perspective, the performance of the four Asian teams is not satisfactory.

The Chinese opponent has two points and will have to fight Spain in the final round.

Japan, Iran and South Korea all have only one point, and their chances of qualifying are very slim and only exist in theory.

It's easier for the Chinese team to qualify. As long as they can beat Spain, they don't have to look at other people's faces. If the other three teams want to qualify, they have to meet very stringent conditions and have to look at other people's faces.

So far, the four Asian teams have not even won a single victory in this World Cup, and their performance is very different from the previous World Cup. In the last World Cup, the last two teams in Asia entered the knockout stage. It was the best performance of Asian teams in the World Cup after the 2002 World Cup. After that, Asian football became ambitious and wanted to be in the world football. seek a more important position. As a result, this session was brought back to its original form.

The Chinese team originally attracted much attention. They performed well in the qualifiers and have many top-notch players who studied abroad in Europe. Who would have thought that before the start of the World Cup, their core player Zhou Yi was injured in the Champions League final, causing him to miss two World Cup group matches. In these two World Cup group matches, the Chinese team only got two draws.

Now that the final round of the group stage is about to begin, the fate and glory of Asian football may depend on this.

※※※

On June 23rd, there will be four group matches of Group A and Group B. Among them, the two group matches that will be held at the same time at 1 p.m. are Group B games. The most eye-catching ones are naturally the Chinese team and Spanish game.

Then there are two group matches in Group A that kick off at the same time at 5pm. Whether the host Brazil can qualify from the group depends on their game against Cameroon.

The match between the Chinese team and Spain is at 1:00 noon local time, 0:00 Beijing time. For Chinese fans who stay up late to watch the game, this time period is very good, not too late, and it is only 2:00 after watching the game. , do not delay sleep.

As a life-and-death battle for the national football team, and possibly Zhou Yi's first game back, it naturally attracts much attention. The domestic ratings will definitely set a new high for domestic live broadcasts of under-bed sports events. Some organizations predict that it may even exceed the previous one. The ratings for the World Cup final...

Before the start of this game, reporters frantically inquired about the Chinese team's starting lineup.

One moment there was news that Zhou Yi would definitely start, another moment there was another news that Zhou Yi might come on as a substitute, and then some time later the new news said that the previous news was wrong. Zhou Yi suddenly felt unwell before the game and might be absent. This life and death battle...

All kinds of news are flying all over the place, some are published by Chinese media, some are published by foreign media and then reprinted in China, and there are even three unsourced news made up by netizens themselves. The Chinese fans were dazzled and couldn't believe any news.

At present, the most certain news is that Lippi will not announce the starting lineup until the last moment. As long as you wait patiently until two hours before the start of the game, the answer can be revealed.

With two and a half hours left before the start of the game, the entire Chinese team boarded the bus at the hotel and prepared to leave for the final battlefield, the Baishada Arena.

Chinese reporters gathered outside the hotel to take pictures of the Chinese team boarding the bus and setting off.

Zhou Yi appeared on the team, of course, this does not explain anything. Because all the players on the team have to go to the stadium, just because they go does not mean they will be able to play.

When they saw Zhou Yi, the Chinese fans who had not bought tickets and could only wait at the hotel door burst into cheers. They shouted to Zhou Yi: Please! Zhou Yi! You must play! Must qualify!

Zhou Yi waved to them and then boarded the bus.

CCTV's on-site reporter held a microphone and stood in front of the camera with the scene of the Chinese team boarding the bus as the background. He said with some excitement: ...so far, we don't know whether Zhou Yi will start, but Zhou Yi's expression is very... Relaxed, there is no depression or frustration of not being able to play. I hope this is a good sign... The Chinese team is all on board and ready to go! They are carrying the expectations and high hopes of 1.4 billion people! Let us cheer for the soldiers of the national football team! This One moment, they are fighting for China!”

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