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The first match of the World Cup knockout round, Brazil VS Japan.

Throughout the game, the media and fans had almost the same attitude, believing that Brazil would win.

Even Xiaori said before the game that they played the game with a learning mentality.

Not to mention anything else, the youth training in my childhood was really awesome!

From being the third-rate team in Asia before, they have gradually begun to match the performance of European powerhouses. Even when playing against top teams, they can also perform brilliantly.

Initially he was technical, passing and controlling, but he quickly learned from experience and began to use defensive counterattacks and high-position pressing routines, always following the tactical pace of top teams.

This has also led to the gradual rise of Japanese football, reaching the first level in Asia, and even beyond Asia.

Of course, the current Japanese team cannot compete with the top European teams, let alone five-star Brazil.

Although Brazil has bid farewell to the strongest Brazil during the era of Ronaldo, Cafu, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho.

But there are still stars such as Kaká and Robinho in the lineup.

In addition, Kaká, who has completed the transformation and gradually moved towards the organizational line, is sitting in the midfield, sorting out the rhythm of Brazil. This Brazil is much stronger than the original time and space.

"Kaka's distribution of the ball is so reasonable!"

Modric couldn't help but praise.

During his time in Milan, Kaka was an aggressive attacking midfielder, but in this game, after returning to the national team, Kaka assumed the role of a midfield brain.

He no longer pushes forward deliberately, but uses his passing, vision and overall view to continuously connect the team's offense.

Sometimes, when an opportunity comes, Kaká can instantly switch to the rush mode, causing chaos in the Japanese team's defense.

Robinho on the wing is always eyeing him.

Under this situation, in the 12th minute of the game, the Brazilian team used Kaka's series attack to help Robinho open an offensive corridor on the wing and instantly broke into the Japanese team's penalty area.

The danger of Robinho entering the penalty area increased sharply. Coupled with the Japanese team's panic defense, Robinho easily scored with a shot to help the team open the scoring.

Seeing this, Modric sighed with emotion: "Brazil is difficult to deal with!"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Brazil's strength lies in consistency and their heritage.

The tactics they play are fundamentally different from European football.

Today's Brazilian football has not yet been influenced by Europe and still retains its own unique style. This is also the biggest headache for European teams when they encounter them.

In the future, Brazilian football will have its roots destroyed, blindly begin to seek European tactics, and eventually lose its own characteristics.

Faced with this situation, European teams can be said to be in control, and Brazil is gradually declining.

The 2014 World Cup is Brazil's biggest challenge.

The 90-minute game is over.

Brazil easily defeated Japan 2:0 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Suk saw Kaka smiling happily in the camera.

According to the original time and space, Kaka was "elbowed" by Ivory Coast player Keita in the group stage. Two yellows turned into one red and he left the field.

In this World Cup, this did not happen.

Some things won't happen.

But some things are bound to happen.

In the second game, Uruguay faced England.

Until the 88th minute of the second half, Uruguay led England 2:1.

In the 89th minute, when faced with a shot from Lampard and the goalkeeper was unable to retreat to save, Suarez actually pushed the ball away from the goal line with his hand.

"Fuck!"

Seeing this scene, Suk was stunned.

Only then did he remember that the famous 'Suarez's criminal handball' in the original time and space caused Ghana to be eliminated from the World Cup.

After that game, Suarez became the most hated person in Ghana.

However, this time Sukoare faced England and committed the same handball foul.

Suk was stunned.

Suarez!

If England didn't score this penalty, would you still go to Liverpool?

But Lampard is still solid!

Facing a penalty kick, he scored a goal calmly and dragged the game into overtime.

With Uruguay playing one less player, they began to run out of energy in the overtime period. In the second half of overtime, Gerald scored a World Cup goal to complete the goal.

England finally defeated Uruguay 3:2 to reach the World Cup quarterfinals.

Uruguay lost the game and Suarez's handball failed to pay off.

The others didn't have much feeling about this, except Su Ke who grinned at it.

If Suarez succeeds in disturbing England with this goal, then Suarez will not want to join Liverpool.

The Liverpool team had to tear him apart.

The first day of the knockout rounds is over.

But it still makes the fans happy to watch.

The match between Brazil and Japan was not very popular.

But the intense match between Uruguay and England was exciting to watch.

Especially after Uruguay took the lead, Suarez's handball, Lampard's penalty kick, Gerrard's overtime winner, etc., England struggled to win the game.

And this victory is a warning to other teams.

The knockout round is not a group stage, and any small problem can affect the outcome of the game.

"Go to bed! Go to bed!"

Suk stood up and stretched.

Others also walked out of the conference room one after another.

"It's so thrilling!"

"Lampard is under too much pressure. If the ball can't be scored, England will be finished!"

"Suarez was almost torn apart by England fans!"

"What's he afraid of if he doesn't play in England?"

Duimovich looked at Planic and said, "Do you dare?"

"Damn it, you asked this question!" Planich grinned.

To be honest, he doesn't know, but he should subconsciously make a handball action, but he will definitely lose his job after that.

But when it comes to the World Cup stage, there are some things that you don’t even have time to think about, they are all subconscious actions.

"Tomorrow is our game, sleep well tonight, tomorrow will be a tough battle!"

Sirna watched everyone return to their respective rooms, and then returned to his own room.

But not long after, Srna tiptoed out of the room.

He glanced left and right at the quiet corridor before walking to the room at the end.

Boom!

Srna knocked gently on the door.

"What are you doing?"

Suk's voice came from inside.

"Open the door!" Sirna whispered.

Squeak!

Su Ke opened the door and the room was very bright.

Sirna quickly walked in and sighed; "Damn it! I'm so nervous. Why can't I sleep?"

After Sirna walked in, the room was full of people.

Mandzukic, Rakitic, Duimovic, Vukojevic, etc.

"You?" Sirna said in shock.

Mandzukic shrugged: "Same as you!"

Su Ke climbed up on his bed and sat down, pointing at everyone and said angrily: "Look at how hopeless you are. You are so nervous in the World Cup quarter-finals. How can you play games in the future?"

"And you." Su Ke looked at Srna and said; "Thankfully, everyone here is familiar and knows your virtues. If other teammates feel that the captain is so cowardly, how should they deal with it?"

"The captain is a human being too!" Srna sighed; "I will be nervous too."

After saying that, he looked at the other bed, where Modric was lying on his side, breathing very evenly.

"Luka has such a big heart!"

"Shit!" Su Ke cursed angrily, picked up the pillow and threw it over: "Stop pretending to be asleep!"

Modric stood up awkwardly.

"How do you know I'm not asleep?"

Su Ke said angrily: "You grinded your teeth and farted while you were asleep!"

After Suk finished cursing, he sighed and said, "Speaking of which, what do you want to do?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Srna said: "Let's talk, we haven't talked for a long time!"

"What are you talking about?"

Suk asked.

Srna pondered for a moment and asked, "Which World Cup is the most memorable for you?"

Everyone looked at each other and almost said in unison: "1998!"

Modric smiled and said: "I remember that I was still in a hotel in Zaregb. We had no house and the family was crowded into a small room of ten square meters. My father bought a radio, and I also bought the radio. I know Croatia has reached the semi-finals of the World Cup!"

"I was watching TV, of course not my TV, but the neighbor's TV!" Mandzukic recalled fondly: "The atmosphere at that time was really lively."

Sirna nodded and said: "I also learned the news through the radio."

Most people were like this, except Su Ke who didn't say anything.

"And you?"

Srna asked.

Suk touched his chin and said seriously, "I'm most likely going through the trash can!"

"Looking through the trash can?" Modric said in shock; "Aren't you in an orphanage?"

"The orphanage is extremely poor. They only get a piece of bread every day, which is not enough. If you don't dig through the trash can, you will starve to death!" Suk shrugged.

Mandzukic; "Didn't you watch the World Cup?"

"What the hell!" Su Ke gave a thumbs up and said; "I remember there was a pub next to the orphanage. During the World Cup, the trash cans there were very abundant."

Sirna shook his head: "Forget it, let's not talk about this, let's talk about our first meeting!"

"That's enough to talk about!" Mandzukic pointed at Suker with a smile and said: "At first, this guy was so small, but he always looked awesome."

Suk narrowed his eyes and looked over.

Mandzukic grinned, his aura a bit weaker: "But after a few games, this guy is really awesome!"

Rakitic; "I'm not on the same page as you, but Suk was really in trouble at the time!"

"You're even worse!" Duimovic scolded with a smile; "You just came from Basel's youth training. You look so awesome that no one can look down on you until you are beaten by us main players. You have to be honest after pouring a lot of balls!"

Hearing this, Rakitic's face turned slightly red.

Who is still young and frivolous?

"Seven years have passed before I knew it!" Vukojevich laughed; "We have known each other for seven years. It feels like time flies so fast!"

"At the beginning, when we played for Dinamo Zagreb, we were all thinking about competing in the Champions League." Duimovic looked at Suker, Modric and Srna and said: "Now there are three Champions League champions. ”

Suk raised two fingers: "Four! I count two!"

Everyone rolled their eyes angrily.

"At that time, we were still thinking about entering the national team together. Now we have won the European Cup and are heading towards the knockout rounds of the World Cup." Mandzukic smiled; "If we go back seven years ago, tell ourselves at that time that we will be in the future. How awesome you are, I guess you can see very interesting expressions.”

Hearing this, everyone looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.

After laughing and chatting, everyone felt a little more relaxed.

"Can we win the World Cup?" Mandzukic suddenly asked.

The room suddenly became quiet.

"Who knows?" Srna shrugged, then pointed at Su Ke and said, "But Su Ke will definitely win!"

Su Ke was curious: "How to say?"

Srna smiled: "It's just a feeling, a feeling that you can do it."

Suk waved his hand; "Okay, it's been an hour. It's time to go to bed. Stop talking nonsense. Are you going to play the game tomorrow?"

Seeing Su Ke chasing people away, everyone shook their heads and left helplessly.

They also knew that they had talked enough and it was time to go to sleep.

Wait for everyone to leave the room.

Suk and Modric turned off the lights and lay down to sleep.

The house was quiet.

Modric turned back and forth and suddenly said: "Suk, I have the same idea as Srna."

Hululu~~~~

Modric grinned.

This guy fell asleep so quickly!

Modric shook his head, stood up and raised the curtains to look outside.

In the dark night, the stadium not far away emitted a faint light.

Tomorrow, they will play a World Cup knockout match there.

Modric thinks the same as Srna.

He also believes that Su Ke can definitely win the championship, but he also hopes that this championship will be won with them.

No one should be left behind

"Get up! Get up!"

At eight o'clock in the morning, Su Ke started knocking on the door from room to room until they woke up.

Finally, he knocked on Srna's door.

Sirna said sleepily: "What time is it?"

"It's eight o'clock!" Su Ke said angrily; "You can still sleep so well on a match day. Are you all so big-hearted?"

"We slept late!" Srna yawned.

Not long after, the Croatian players began to get up and wash up one after another, and then went to the cafeteria to have breakfast.

The tense atmosphere before the game has not yet spread, or in other words, has not yet fully reflected.

When they walked out of the hotel and headed to the stadium, the cheers of the fans, the attention of the media, and the various World Cup-related facilities in the stadium all told them that the World Cup knockout rounds were approaching.

And this also completely awakened their bodies and states.

At the same time, the same situation is happening in Portugal.

Ronaldo's face was extremely heavy. When they drew Croatia, his face never relaxed.

Among all the group leaders, Croatia is definitely the most difficult team to play if ranked carefully.

But they were so unlucky that they were drawn against Croatia.

Of course, Ronaldo also suspected that there was a behind-the-scenes operation in FIFA's draw, but he couldn't care less.

In terms of paper strength alone, Portugal is still far behind Croatia.

Suker and Modric alone are a huge headache.

One is his own rival.

The other is a teammate at the club.

Cristiano Ronaldo knows all too well how powerful these two guys are, and when they are combined, Croatia's performance in the group stage means everything.

But the game isn’t just about the lineup.

The state of the game and everything else is key.

For example, in the group stage, after Portugal played the game of massacre by North Korea, their condition became even more intense.

Compared with before the start of the World Cup, they have made obvious progress and growth.

Therefore, Ronaldo believes that they have no hope of defeating their opponents.

"In the group stage, Suker played Messi, and in the quarter-finals, Suker played Ronaldo!" Simang said with some irony.

He was unwilling to do so.

After all, this game changed from a team battle to an individual battle.

Except for Su Ke and Ronaldo, everyone else seemed to have become a backdrop. It was strange that they were happy.

"Don't say such things, we want to defeat Croatia, Ronaldo's performance is crucial!"

Just like Suker is to Croatia, Ronaldo is equally important to Portugal.

"Okay, boys, let's get ready and go to the stadium!" After Portugal coach Fernando Santos shouted, he patted Ronaldo on the shoulder alone, showing his appreciation.

Cristiano Ronaldo is definitely the sharpest spear in Portugal at the moment.

Whether they can defeat Croatia has a great relationship with Ronaldo's performance.

Not long after, they took a vehicle to the competition venue.

Cape Green Stadium, Cape Town, South Africa.

Cape Town, also known as the ‘Cape City’, is located in the sharpest part of Africa, adjacent to the Cape of Good Hope.

The entire area is covered with undulating mountains, with only a stretch of flat land near the seaside.

The city is also located in this area.

Green Point Stadium is right next to the cliff adjacent to the sea. When you come here, the sweet sea breeze blows on your face, dark clouds roll in the sky, and the wind is strong.

The weather here is like this all year round. Even in the stadium, strong winds will pass by from time to time, changing the trajectory of the ball.

During the warm-up, Su Ke watched the ball twisting and turning in the air, and it was difficult to judge where it would land.

He turned to look at Srna and said: "If we can get the left half, if there is a tailwind, we will focus on offense. If there is a headwind, we will focus on defense."

Srna nodded: "I think so too."

Attacking against the wind, the ball will not fly far at all.

Coupled with interference, it is difficult to determine the ball's landing point and trajectory.

In comparison, tailwind is much better.

As long as you control your strength well, you can kick a smoother long ball.

As for counterattacks against the wind, Croatia needs to make more short passes on the ground. This is also to reduce mistakes and not lose the ball easily.

Therefore, choosing a side is very important. Under the influence of such weather, both Croatia and Portugal have the same idea.

They will try their best to win the left half of the field to ensure that they take the lead in attacking.

Of course, if you have other ideas, such as attacking in the second half, then that's a different matter.

However, few teams will do this!

Unless their bench is holding a key player who can form a fierce impact in the second half.