Lin Hai Ting Tao
Chapter 1155 Top Eight
Without the host country, the World Cup felt strange.
The fans' enthusiasm for football has also decreased.
The number of fans watching the next few World Cup Round of 16 matches on site decreased significantly.
However, FIFA shouldn't be dissatisfied with this. Although they lost the support of the host country, Brazilian fans, they gained a lot of attention and support from Chinese fans. China's population is about seven times that of Brazil... For FIFA, gaining China's attention completely makes up for the loss of Brazilian fans.
The Chinese team's entry into the World Cup quarterfinals has indeed set off a climax of attention to the World Cup in China.
Actually, it was already very high, but now it is even higher.
There are more and more news reports about the Chinese team in the World Cup on TV, newspapers, radio stations, and the Internet. At the same time, travel agencies in China have launched tour groups to Brazil to watch the games. In fact, there were already such tour groups, and now it's like another wave of supplements. Coming to Brazil to watch the games and travel at the same time is also a shot in the arm for the Brazilian economy.
FIFA's official website reported the news that the Chinese team eliminated Brazil and entered the World Cup quarterfinals in a prominent position, and also reported various news about the World Cup in China.
The enthusiasm of Chinese fans has been ignored by FIFA for a long time, after all, the Chinese team has nothing to do with every World Cup.
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After the match between the Chinese team and the Brazilian team, Colombia defeated Uruguay 2:0 and also successfully advanced to the quarterfinals. They will meet the Chinese team in the quarterfinals. After seeing the Chinese team's performance in eliminating Brazil, Colombia will definitely not underestimate the Chinese team. This will be an evenly matched contest.
Two Round of 16 matches were held on the second day of the Chinese team's match. The Netherlands were behind Mexico by one goal for a long time, until Sneijder equalized the score in the eighty-eighth minute. Just when everyone thought the game was going into extra time, Robben won a penalty for the Netherlands in the ninetieth minute, and Huntelaar scored the penalty to give the Netherlands a late victory over Mexico and advance to the quarterfinals.
In the later match on the same day, Costa Rica took the lead against Greece with a goal in the fifty-second minute, but in the subsequent match, Costa Rica's Duarte tackled Greece's Holebas and was shown a second yellow card and sent off. With one less player, Costa Rica was equalized by Greece when the game was about to end. The goal for Greece was scored by Papastathopoulos, a center-back who played for Dortmund. The two teams drew 1:1 in regular time and could only decide the winner with a penalty shootout. This was the second penalty shootout of the World Cup, and in the end, Costa Rica eliminated Greece 5:3 with the outstanding performance of goalkeeper Navas and advanced to the quarterfinals.
This is the first time in Costa Rica's history that they have reached the World Cup quarterfinals. The 1990 World Cup was the first time they participated in the World Cup finals. The coach at the time was the magical coach Bora Milutinovic. The team, which didn't even have a jersey sponsor, successfully broke through from the group stage and entered the Round of 16, but lost to Czechoslovakia in the Round of 16 match and missed the quarterfinals.
Later, this team entered the finals again in the 2002 World Cup and was in the same group as the Chinese team. At that time, the Chinese domestic media and fans were still fantasizing that the Chinese team could defeat Costa Rica in the first match of the World Cup and win the first World Cup victory in the history of the Chinese men's football team... The result was of course a slap in the face by reality.
Now, after twenty-four years, Costa Rica has finally broken through the limit of the Round of 16 and created the history of their national football.
The two teams that were once in the same group have now created new history, which is really感慨 (gan kai - filled with emotions).
In the match between France and Nigeria, France broke the deadlock in the seventy-ninth minute with a goal from Pogba. In the ninety-second minute, when the match entered injury time, France expanded the score again and finally defeated Nigeria 2:0 and entered the quarterfinals.
In the other match on the same day, the match between Germany and Algeria, everyone originally thought that Germany would win easily. After all, it was already surprising that Algeria could reach the World Cup Round of 16. The strength of the two teams was very different. But who would have thought that Germany would not be able to break through the Algerian team's goal for a long time? The two sides reached a 0:0 draw in ninety minutes of the match and could only go to extra time.
Just after the start of extra time, Schürrle took the lead for Germany, and then when the extra time was about to end, Özil's goal expanded Germany's lead. But just one minute after Özil scored, Algeria actually pulled back a goal, which suddenly made German fans nervous again. Fortunately, there was not much time left for Algeria at the end. After they scored this goal, they no longer had the ability to equalize the score.
In the end, Germany narrowly defeated Algeria 2:1 and also advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the last Round of 16 match, Argentina played against Switzerland. The strength gap between the two teams was also very large. Argentina, which has a group of world-class stars such as Messi, Di Maria, Higuain, and Aguero, is a favorite to win the World Cup. After all, the World Cup is held in South America, and Argentina still has home advantage. After Brazil was unexpectedly eliminated by the Chinese team, Argentina became the only reliance to defend the dignity of South American football.
But this game was very difficult. Argentina tried their best in ninety minutes, but they still couldn't break through the Swiss team's goal. They couldn't score in extra time either, until the one hundred and seventeenth minute, Messi broke through with the ball in the encirclement of five people, and then passed the ball to Di Maria. Di Maria followed up with a搓射 (cuo she - a shot with spin), and the ball flew into the far corner of the Swiss team's goal...
With this goal, Argentina narrowly defeated Switzerland and also entered the quarterfinals.
The last Round of 16 match was between Belgium and the United States. This match also went to extra time. Neither side scored in the first ninety minutes, and they shook hands and made peace 0:0. Just three minutes after the start of extra time, Belgium broke the deadlock with a goal from De Bruyne and took the lead. In the one hundred and fifth minute, Belgium scored another goal, pushing the United States to the brink of the cliff 2:0. However, not long after the second half of extra time had just begun, the United States pulled back a goal. But then the United States failed to score again. After one hundred and twenty minutes of fierce battle, Belgium defeated the United States 2:1 and became the last quarterfinal team.
In this World Cup's Round of 16, except for the three matches between Colombia and Uruguay, the Netherlands and Mexico, and France and Nigeria, all the other five matches went to the full one hundred and twenty minutes, and the score difference was very small, which fully illustrates the difficulty of this World Cup.
After all the Round of 16 matches are over, the World Cup enters a one-day truce. There are no matches on this day. Both players and fans can have a good rest and relax. For Chinese fans, after staying up for so many days in a row, they are indeed very tired. This one-day truce is very precious and necessary for them.
After this day of rest, the first quarterfinal will be held on the afternoon of July 4th.
This match is a direct dialogue between the two European powerhouses, France and Germany. France and Germany have performed very well in this World Cup, especially France. Looking back at South Africa four years ago, France didn't even make it out of the group stage and went home very disgracefully. Four years later, they performed very well and made it all the way to the quarterfinals.
After the match between France and Germany, the match between China and Colombia will follow.
Needless to say, this match is the one that Chinese fans are most concerned about.
If the Chinese team can get past Colombia, they will historically enter the World Cup semi-finals, which is a peak that the Chinese men's football team has never reached in its history.
Chinese fans also need to stay up late to watch this match. The match will kick off at 4:00 am Beijing time on July 5th. However, I believe that no matter what time it is, it will not stop Chinese fans from watching this match. Many fans may even be too excited and nervous to sleep at all and wait in front of the TV and computer for the match to start.
There are only these two matches on this day. After these two matches are over, the next day will be the other two quarterfinals, Argentina vs. Belgium and the Netherlands vs. Costa Rica.
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Although the World Cup gave everyone a day off, the Chinese team did not have a day off, because the match is tomorrow, and they have to seize the time to train.
The main training content on the last day was mainly based on set-piece tactics, and penalties were of course an indispensable part.
The training was not open to the public on this day. No reporters or fans could approach the Chinese team's training ground. They could only wait outside, waiting for permission to enter and interview.
No Chinese media complained about this arrangement. Everyone supported and understood Lippi's approach.
At this time, the interests of the national team are paramount, and everyone and everything must give way to the national team.
The Chinese team has never enjoyed such treatment. In this World Cup, with their excellent efforts and results, they have changed many people's inherent impressions of Chinese football. No matter what Chinese football was like before, at least this time, they deserve the support of 1.4 billion people.